Ho Ho Ho

I really tried to capture how bright and cheery this card is but I think it's one of those things you have to see IRL. The CARDtober challenge was to use Diecuts in layers so I cut about 5 for the sentiment. I like to use my scraps for these since you don't see them and it gives a nice thickness and weight to them you just can get with foam tape or pop dots. Them I glue the layers together to make sure they'll stay bonded. 

The round corner stitched dies are from Pink and Main which I used for the cardstock and pp panels. 

Feliz Navidad

This is by far one of my favorite background stamps from Stampin Up. I like to use the dark grey from Simon Says Stamp to get that washed out look. It has such a homey type feel to it and I kept it clean and simple which sometimes is hard for me to do. 

The deer silhouette is a die set from W9Plus stamps. The circle is from Papertrey Ink and the sentiment I believe is also from SSS. 

Happiest of Holidays

Another favorite stamp are these adorable elves so I couldn't resist getting to use them at least once more. This CARDtober challenge was to use scraps and stamps so the pp are all pieces from cards I have made this past week. 

I think they worked together nicely but I do believe they are from Pink and Main just 2 different pads. The images again colored with copics which I am now realizing I use so much I'm starting to run out of inks. And one marker was completely dried up and I'm guessing it's because I never used that color. Go figure. 

Have Yourselfie

I had so much fun with my last polaroid selfie stamps I decided to make one more for the CARDtober challenge which wanted us to use a pun with a cute critter or person. 

The pp is from Pink and Main and the image was colored with Copics. 

Bright Christmas

This is another new set from MFTS and the challenge was to use a stamp and die set so really pretty easy IMO. I did also buy the HOHOHO background stamp and I used several different Ranger's Distressed Inks to get the rainbow of colors. 

Of course I also colored the images with my copics and the background plaid paper is from Lawn Fawn. 

Happiest of Holidays

For this CARDtober challenge I needed to use some shiny spray and honestly I struggled with it. This was probably my third attempt and it still wasn't the way I wanted. I initially sprayed some gold on the background but it was so blah, then I wondered if I could cover it up with some blueDylusion spray color. After that I decided to add some texture paste using my snow stencil and that's how the background came to be. The trees and sentiment from MFTS, the Deer from La La Land, the stars from Lawn Fawn and the snow bank for SSS. Way more complicated than it should have been. 

Holiday Selfie

This card features brand new spanking stamps from MFTS. When I saw these Christmas sELFie stamps you know I had to have them and as soon as they went live to purchase I had them in my basket and was ready to checkout. Did not want to miss out. They are so stinkin cute. 

And of course I also had to purchase the Polaroid die with them. No regrets, I love this stamp set and already thinking about buying the Picture Perfect set, mostly cause I love those little kitties. 

So for the CARDtober challenge I was to use some textural dimension.  For my take on it I added some red glitter to Rudolph's nose. I just love how simple and easy it was to pull this card together.

Joy to the world

Another card that went in one direction and ended up another. The challenge here was to make a holiday card and add some twine or ribbon. I kind of cheated and used a sticker for the three but I'm pretty sure it still meets the challenge. 

Wishing You

For this card challenge I needed to make an interactive card. Normally I'd just go for a shaker card but I have these dies and while I have used one that makes the zip pull I have never used the other which you pull the card out so I figured I'd make a go at it.

This is the card in itself

 and when you pull the card open

All in all a pretty elaborate card that took some time. I do like the end effect and I might make one more for the grandkids but honestly I'm more of a quick and easy person of course except for watercoloring but then that's more of a therapeutic thing and not making a card kind of thing.

Believe

Another challenge and this one is for thick titles So diecut your title 5 times and stack them together which is exactly what I did on this card and I really wanted to showcase just the title word rather than images with a title.

I have done something very similar with this diecut before but every time I use it I feel it needs a little bit of sparkle so I did add a panel of a glitter card for that effect as well as some red mirror cardstock.

Monkey Christmas

This card uses about 3 different stamp sets to get the complete scene. First I stamped those trees using Hampton Art tree set then diecut the snow scene from SSS and after that I added the 2 presents from Lawn Fawn and the little monkey from MFTS Birth-yay stamp set.

Kind of an involved card but it couldn't be helped. The sentiment is also from the Lawn Fawn set.

Merry and Bright

I confess I'm not sure where this card fits into the CARDtober challenge. I wanted to use it for a thick title challenge but the card went a whole other direction and I didn't want to abandon it.

I love the bright pinks and blues for Christmas and the only reason I can think of is when I was about 5 or 6 I had a neighbor named Chantel {most exoctic name I had ever heard} and she invited me into her home and that's when I spied this beautiful white tree adorned with all kinds of pink and blue bulbs and I was hooked. Not that I would ever put that tree up in my home but in my secret closet obsession I would like to think I would in some small way find a way to perhaps display a small version of it somewhere.

So this card is of course inspired by all those bright pretty colors.

Tree Card

Another CARDtober challenge was stash and scraps. I admit my first thought when I saw this stamp is to pair it with red foil, wouldn't that look divine on a white card. But alas despite having red foil you know I had zero ways to adhere it to the stamp {plam to forehead} I used to have this stamp and stick embossing powder from Stampin Up but couldn't find it which means I dumped it, why or why. So left with no alternative but use some detailed white powder.

Then not really knowing why other than out of pure frustration since I had used a Tim Holtz matte stamping paper why not use some of his inks, I used Ice Spruce, Green Bough and then for the hell of it festive berries.

I then used one of this paper pads to seal the deal. And there you have it, one Tim Holtz inspired card.

Pair Of Cards

Back to Christmas cards, I couldn't help myself. I was actually thinking of white Christmas cards, clean and simple and that's what this CARDtober challenge was a pair of CAS (clean and simple) cards using similar material I think I crushed the challenge if I do say so myself.

This was the second of the two I made. Using the leftover pp was an easy move and so was using the blue ink for the Snow stamp (Papertrey Ink). Then the other choices from the stamp set fit right in so after remembering I had the silhouette die from IO (Impression Obsession) the rest just fell into place. The snow hill is from a SSS (Simon Says Stamp) die set. 

When I think clean and simple this stamp set from PI is one of the first ones I think of. It gives you options of a diecut or a stamp and I went for the diecut first. I used some cute blue polka dot paper from Pink and Main then remembered I had the snow embossing folder so I quickly added that, then popped placed on a nice white card for a crisp white look then left it pretty simple and only added some enamel dots. Easy Peasy, definitely a 5 minute card set.

Hocus Pocus

It was time for a little fun craft so I went shopping and bought some black fitted tees, shimmery metallic iron on transfer sheets and cranked up my Cameo Silhouette to create these fun tees for my daughter and myself.

I confess I have long been a fan of the Hocus Pocus movie when it first came out despite the cries of boring but to me it had a bit of whimsy to it and I kind of like that plus I am a Bette Midler fan.

Any hoo browsing Pinterest I saw some tees and said Hey I can do that so I pinned it but put my own shimmery twist on it.

And of course you know I had to add a little fun to the back side as well.

Daddy TIme

Another page closer to being caught up at least with the girls. I still have a whole bunch of grandson pictures I haven't even printed let alone ready to scrap. 

I think for me some of the most difficult part of creating a page is knowing what to title it. Some are pretty obvious but then others like this one I can struggle with. 

Sweet smile

Another favorite photo of mine. This little girl shows how much she loves the person taking the photo, which was my ds. She definitely does love her daddy. 

The buttons are from Chatterbox if you remember them. Still miss some of my favorite companies, like Chatterbox, Making Memories and KI Memories. 

Done

I love this photo of dgd asleep on my ds, it's such a sweet and tender moment. 

The background paper I used is from WRMK. I have collected so many papers it was nice to use up the older stuff especially when it's a leftover piece of a set. I do like how it's self distressed. And hard to see it but I actually did some sewing on the page. It's on the arrow pp, leftside edge.

Story Time

Apparently no sketch challenges this month over on 2peas so it's up to me to create pages, which I am doing and meeting challenges for the team event. I must admit it was a bit more fun when someone said here's a sketch go complete it.

However between PageMaps, Scrapbook.com and Pinterest there are a plethora of sketches to be found.

Also back in the day when we would subscribe to all those magazines I would tear out pages and save those so I also have an abundance of those which can be pretty inspiring to just have a completed page to jump start you.

Spooky Halloween

For this CARDtober challenge no 5, we were to use scraps. So my banner tag, green strip and tag topper are all out of scraps. And techniquely so is the white tag since I punched it from the leftover paper I used to stamp and diecut the wolf boy who is from Pink and Main. 

Haunting We Will Go

Well another Halloween card for the moment. This is for CARDtober challenge no 4 which was to create a scene.

I used colorburst sprinkled onto watercolor paper then heavily misted with water to get the powders to meld. After getting my background paper where I wanted it, I die cut from Stampendous graveyard dies my scene and popped up the bottom panel for some dimension then added the little velvet ghost stickers I picked up from Hobby Lobby. After everything was in it's place I wanted a sentiment and was going to use a white banner until I remembered by Bella Blvd sticker sheet and found something I think works better.

You are Fang-tastic!

This card was for CARDtober challenge #6 {Clean and Simple} I feel like I might have gone too simple with this one, but I do like the silhouette factor on it.

The die is from Tim Holtz.

Got Candy?

Well I can tell this week is going to fly by, way too much going on already and barely had some time to go play in the craft-room today, but managed to squeak out a card. I plan on working on some pages, hopefully sometime tomorrow (fingers crossed). 

This card was for CARDtober challenge no. 8 {Dimension} which I did by popping up the tag. 

The stamp is from Stampin Up, very old stamp in fact and the tag die was from MFTS. Image was colored with copics. And to get my drippy tag I first punched it using Martha Steward drippy punch then used the tag to die cut just the top. 

Too Cute Not To Sppok

Ok one more card before I leave you for a few days. I figured if I was gonna make a Christmas card I also needed a Halloween card..so for this challenge it was about layers.

Crazy Hair

A layout not previously shared here on the blog but part of the sketchtempber challenges. This was for a double page layout but I didn't have enough so I condensed it down to one page.

Will be gone over the weekend for a wedding which means no upates to the blog probably unless I manage to get something done tonight. But I should be back next week with the October sketches.

Yep It's a Christmas Card

Ok I know it's like way too early but I am waiting for the Octobersketch to start and well it is CARDtober and there are challenges to participate in over at 2peasrefugges so what the heck I might as well partake in those.

This is for challenge No. 2 Lots of Critters so I went with the Yeti.

Lamplight Lounge

This was another double page layout that I struggled to find enough photos but thankfully I had some Disney ones that fit the bill.

The twist was to use woodgrain so I opted for background pp which I wouldn't have thought would have worked but it did.

You can find the sketch for this one here.

Fort Bragg

I finally completed all my sketches so I am pretty proud about that and equally proud of this layout.

One because it took 2 days to find enough photos, Two because I had to find the right paper, in fact I went with mostly cardstock because that's all I really had and three because embellishments for a fishing trip are pretty null in my cupboards. I did manage to find a leftover pole from something else I had already used and those fly hooks were on some irregular shaped squares so I just pulled them off and glued them on.

You can find the sketch here