Halloween Banner Card

This is by far the fussiest Halloween card from my Pennywise Arts design month.  

I die cut each jewelry tag and added a rub-on letter, then I folded the top of each tag over my twine 'rope' and glued the tab to the back.  To keep them from all sliding together, I ended up putting each on a pop dot.  I found (okay, I raided the humongous stash of bat things that I have) a few little bat buttons for the knots on either end of my rope. 

The background was a little to plain for me, so I ran the patterned paper through a polka dot embossing folder.  I still wasn't happy, so I decided to stamp a swirl with Versamark and use the O'So Sticky Powder to cover it with Ultrafine Microbeads.

The beads looks like they're colored, but they're clear! They just add a little bit of sparkle.  The word "Happy" is from a Papertrey Ink die - I also used O'So Sticky Powder to adhere it to the card. 

On a side note, remember my Panic! at the Disco cards?  Well, I gave one to a friend who is also in their fan club and we met them at one of their concerts.  She  had the band members sign hers!  I freaked out a tiny little bit (A LOT!) and just had them sign their cd.  EEEEEEE!!!!!

Thanks for looking!

Halloween Skulls

It's time for another Pennywise Arts sponsored card.  Today, I'm all about the skulls and not about bats.

I clear embossed the Boo on crumpled patterned paper and dp'd some red ink over it.  I love the effect! 

The skulls are grungeboard that I covered with white acrylic paint.  After they dried (okay, okay - after they were dryish), I covered them in Versamark and did two layers of clear embossing powder - UTEE would be perfect here, I just can't remember where I put mine - and while the ep was still hot and sticky, dipped them in Ultra Fine Clear Beads.  I added an additional three layers of ep and beads, heating between each layer and ending with a final layer of ep.   Ta-dah!

After they cooled, I cracked them a bit - I tried to rub them with a dye ink pad but it wouldn't stick - duh!  Black Stazon would have been a better choice, but it's apparently run off with my UTEE  and they're living in sin.  :)  

I think I'm going to try this little trick with some colored microbeads and maybe some other shapes - I want to see this technique on a heart or flower shape.   I would be tickled pink if anyone decided to try it and left a link for me! 

Only 46 more days til Halloween!!!

Schulentute Challenge

It's Halloween over at Bella Creations'  Celebrer la Fete group.  One of the challenges this month was to create a BOOtuten (a schulentute with a Halloween twist), so of course, I jumped right in.

Here's my first attempt.  Color me surprised with the bat theme!




I decided to branch out and choose non-traditional Halloween colors for my next BOOtuten. I have a hate/hate relationship with pink, so I found some pale pink scrapbook paper that I will never use.  I stamped it with a chandelier from a Martha Stewart set and created my own 'new' background paper.  I added some ribbon and created a exhibition ribbon (also at Celebrer la Fete) inspired embellishment. 

I did, of course, still manage to get a bat in.  :) 

Thanks for looking!

Gingersnap Creations Art Exchange - Magnets

Gingersnap Creations is having another art exchange - Encouraging Words Refrigerator Magnets.  I decided to try for a heart theme and set about making my magnets. 

I did a shaker magnet.

I tried a new technique (the 'puddle' of white embossing power with the sentiment 'embossed' in it).

I used my new Papertrey Ink set for the first time.  I love this house!

And then I stalled.  I had the quote: "A friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart."  The sentiment was too large, I didn't like the color on the vellum, I couldn't think of anything else to do, blah blah.  I dithered and I dallied and I finally came up with a magnet that was... done.  I didn't love it, I didn't hate it.  I hung them all on the fridge to test the magnet adhesive overnight.  

This afternoon, I started taking pictures.  I did the first three and went I went for the fourth...it wasn't there.  The magnet was still on the fridge but the actual piece was missing.  I asked hubby if he'd seen it - nope.  I searched high and low - it's not under the fridge (yes, I made hubby move it), it didn't fall down the side, it's not on the counter. It's gone.  There are two suspects who have a long criminal history when it comes to crafting mishaps but this is impressive, even for them.

They're not talking, of course.  I suspect the mystery may never be solved.  So, I'm off to make another magnet!  I think I'll have to give the heart theme a pass this time and skip the fridge test. 

Wish me luck!!

Halloween Blues

I love bats! If every card I made could have bats on it, I would be a happy girl.  Seriously, this is how much I love bats:

That's me, on vacation in Australia, volunteering at a bat hospital!  That's Mystique, she's reaching for a bit of banana.  So beautiful!

So, in honor of bats, here's another Halloween card, graciously sponsored by Pennywise Arts!

The adorable sentiment is from Stampotique and the bat is an embroidery sticker that I've had in my stash.  The stars are plain chipboard which I covered in Versamark and dipped into O'So Sticky Powder from Pennywise.  You heat it up just like embossing powder and it gets - wait for it - sticky!  :)  I then covered the stars with ultra fine glitter and set the powder with another blast from my heat gun then added them to my card base and voila - a happy little Halloween card!

As always, thanks so much for looking!

Halloween at Pennywise Arts!

September is my design team month over at Pennywise Arts Blog.  Definitely check it out; they're currently giving away 10 sheets of double-sided O'So Sticky Tape and only two people have entered - great odds if you ask me!  I'm not eligible to play, so go, get your friends to sign up!

On to my first Halloween card of the season! (Mad props to my crazy staging skills! LOL!)

I took some double-sided paper and made the base card, then I flipped the paper over and made a paper 'ribbon' from the print on the back side (yay! bats!); I couldn't get the tail right, so I ended up using the corner of a medallion shaped die.

Papertrey Ink stamps and die helped make the tickets out of more patterned paper and I added a some hand-dyed seam binding.  To finish it all off, I took a small square of O'So Sticky tape, removed the rubber liner and adhered it to some black paper, which I then punched with a bat. 

I removed the paper liner and dipped it into Clear Mini Beads.  You could use the Black Opaque beads too, if you wanted a little less sparkle but I like a little bit of bling.  Stick it on with some foam tape and you're done!

Thanks for looking and stay tuned for more Halloween goodies!!

Tag Tuesday: Postage Stamps

The Blog Challenge Garden is featuring postage stamps this week for Tag Tuesday.  I looked through my stamp collection (I have a huge box that I purchased at a garage sale 5+ years ago) and found one that I liked.  It's crazy simple but I loved the flower design.   I have no idea what country it's from, but it's worth 2 of something. LOL!

I tried to keep my tag as simple at the stamp and just carried the images over.  I stamped the background squares, the year, and added the rest in punches.  I didn't have a fish so I added the little fish charm at the top.  The seam binding is all hand-dyed from ink refills.  I like how it turned out.

As always, thanks so much for looking!

Random Redhead Challenge - Planes and Trains

Slipping in under the wire again at Gingersnap Creations for their Planes and Trains Challenge with a hint of steampunkishness. 

The vellum is printed with clocks and I stamped the plane on the front with StazOn but the other images are on cardstock underneath the vellum. 

This is one of my favorite sentiments, I use it for 'missing you' and 'thank for your help' cards.  I love how hazy it is under the vellum. 

I didn't like how boxy the finished card was, so I ran the top panel through a edging die to add the cool border on the left. 

As always, thank you for looking!

Challenge: Varying Visages of Vincent

So, you may know that I'm a huge horror buff - I love scary movies and scary stories and bats and blood and all the fabulous things that make other people shudder and run.  And I love Vincent Price.  First, his movies are incredible - he had such a incredible presence - and he always managed to make most of his characters, no matter how murderous, somewhat tragic and you (I) ached for them.

This week, Haunted Design House is doing a tribute to the Master of Horror - they have a fantastic blog candy offer:

For a chance to win, pop on over to their blog and check it out.

The rules for entering blog candy drawing:1. Readers shall hop to each of the Macabre Minions blogs to see their take on the challenge...
readers must comment on each of the (6) posts.
2. Spread the word about the candy corn via your blog, Twitter, whatevah. Then just comment on this HDH post with a link to the announcement about it.
3. If you play along with the HDH Macabre Monday 100th challenge, you get TWO extra chances to win... just linky up and then add two more comments.

 

I did a little mini shrine which I hand cut from some paper (I believe it's a retelling of Sleepy Hollow) with some halloween scraps such as a few StazOn colored bat pins, a poison brad and a shrink plastic raven (which is an idea that I absolutely stole from Blackdragon and her fantastic piece - check out her jewelry art as well - so, so beautiful!) and a wicked stamp.

Here's a little better angle of the Wicked sentiment.  

So run, don't walk, to Varying Visages of Vincent and win a bit of macbre candy.  

Thanks, as always, for looking!  

Gingersnaps Challenge - On the Road

I'm just a posting fool this weekend!  I have been crafting my little heart out and I was so pleased to find out that Gingersnap Creations was doing some Steampunk themed challenges.   I've been plotting on the best way to raid my husband's toolbox.....

Below is my entry for their On the Road Challenge.  I don't have any car stamps, but I found this cool picture in my ephemera stash.  No need for purloined toolbox items yet, but soon.  :)

I stamped the letters in Memento and highlighted the Gear embossed background with the same using a dauber. 

Enjoy!

Two New Challenge Blogs

Stretching my wings a bit to participate in challenges at two new blogs.  Over at Sentimental Sundays is to Focus on the Sentiment.  And, it just so happens, that Little Red Wagon is looking for heat embossing. 

This is the first time I've ever used this stamp from Wordsworth, I think I've always worried that it was too large but it's perfect with this background.  I stamped it in Versamark and clear embossed it before I did some very casual water coloring over the top.  I really like the effect.   Next time, I might trim and mount it, but I worry about going overboard.  The word 'enough' and I do not have a great working relationship. 

I'll definitely have to try this watercolor effect again.  I love how soft it looks.

Thanks for visiting!



Out! Out, Damn Spot! Challenge

Well, it's been a while! My husband unexpectedly needed hospital care (he's out and recovering) and my crafting had to be put aside.  But now I'm back and ready to stamp!

I decided to jump back in with the fabulous gals over at Haunted Design House because I love their latest challenge: "Out! Out, damn spot!" - something that is covered in splatter, drips or drops.   Of course, it doesn't have to be blood, but what would be the fun in that?

I actually made this for a friend, who is enchanted with the BBC series Sherlock, which is modern day reworking of Sherlock Holmes.  Instead of being a (mostly) proper Victorian gentlemen, he's a high-functioning sociopath.  Aaahh, there's nothing like a little murder to get the blood flowing. Or, in this case, splattering.

My blood is acrylic paint; red ink didn't keep it's beautiful bright color.  I was rather disappointed to find out that I don't have an axe stamp, because I thought the piece would have been perfect with one; I'm not sure what that says about me. LOL!

Enjoy and thank you, as always, for looking!

Birthdays and Frogs

The sun in shining - what is up with that? 

So, I am going for another two  new challenge blogs today.  Crazy me!  I actually love this color combo - the orange isn't something that I normally reach for when I'm doing crafting, but I thought this all went together perfectly. 

I'm entering this into the Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge - Flowers over at  Marks Finest Paper,  as well as the DIY Embellishment challenge at Tuesday Throwdown because I made that fabulous little flower from 4 loose flower petals from Oriental Trading Company.   This will be my first time entering a challenge on both of those blogs.  

I added beads to some Pennywise Arts micro beads and dropped a little frog charm into a card shaker (that I also got from Pennywise) and sealed it up with a stamped background.   I don't know where the lily pad stamp came from - it's foam mounted white rubber and comes with an adorable little frog but it was busy when I added him.  The leaves and the sentiment are Papertrey Ink.

Enjoy! And thanks for looking.

Monochromatic

Blogger is still being a total pain and won't allow me to comment on 75% of the posts that I see.  I hope they get this resolved soon. 

Anyway, I decided to be brave and branch out with a few more challenges.   Over at Less is More the challenge is doing a CAS card that is monochromatic. 

I think it turned out nicely - I originally stamped the sentiment crooked, so I 'fixed' it by stamping the sentiment on the same color paper, punching it out and layering it over the original goof.  I think it gives it a little bit of omph without going overboard.

I wish my photography was as satisfying as the card.  It seems a little washed out.  I have got to figure out what I'm doing.

I also did a card for last week's challenge for the same blog - Pick A Square - but didn't get it uploaded in time.  

Apparently I like the lower right hand of cards.  LOL!  This was my first card using this particular Papertrey Ink stamps and I enjoyed working with them.  Although, they do seem to stamp better with chalk inks - I need to expand my color selection, I only have about a dozen colors.  Time to warm up the credit cards!

As always, thanks so much for looking.

Ride 'Em Cowboy!

I wasn't even born when Clint Eastwood starred in For a Few Dollars More - I saw it when I was an impressionable pre-teen and I fell in love with the Man with no name.  So, when Gingersnap Creations posted their Chestnut Theme - Cowboys and Cowgirls, I knew I had to include my first movie star crush. 

Say hi to the sexiest cowboy ever.  Swoon.

I distressed a black and white photo that I grabbed off the web and put it behind a rolled opening.  I colored a few chipboard stars and highlighted them, as well as the background paper, with a black gel pen.  I hand folded the rosette and added the twine.  I found a sheriff's badge in my charm drawer and I was done.

As always, thanks so much for visiting!

The Mark of the Beast

I'm totally slipping in under the wire over at Haunted Design House - this week their challenge is The Mark of the Beast.   It just so happens that I'm a total horror movie freak - and one of my top 5 favorite movies is The Omen.  So here is my homage to my favorite little antichrist - Damien Thorn.

The requirement was to use six of something three times; I did six flowers, 6 little crosses and Damien has six letters.  I printed out a publicity still from the movie, covered it with scratched acetate that I stamped with the number 6 and added a frame.  I was going to do a straight forward gloom/doom sorta thing but the background of Damien's picture seems so bright and cheery with the blue and green and I couldn't resist making the flowers to match.   Hey, just because you're the antichrist, it doesn't mean that can't enjoy a little scrapbooking!

As always, thanks for looking!

Flowers, Flowers

I love making flowers for my cards - a few years ago, I purchased a 500 flower pack from Oriental Trading Company.  It had 3 shapes, in 4 colors. I adore making these little flowers:

The small bud is one layer, the larger flower is 5 layers and the dual color flower is 4 layers plus 1 layer.

Here's the card:

I really love using the palette stamps for my backgrounds, particularly when I'm stamping on textured card stock.  I've also found that I get the best image when I layer color if I do a combination of inks - in this case, I used two Memento dye inks for the background with Brilliance pigment ink for the flourish.   I spritzed the stamp with water before I stamped on my paper.  You can see the faded water droplets on the dye portion; the Brilliance didn't react at all. 

Enjoy!

Red and Gold Gingersnap Creations Challenge

Where has the time gone? It's been almost three weeks since my last post.   Yikes!  In my defense, I got my first ever stamp order from Papertrey Ink, and for me, new stamps equals 0 creations because I spend all my time touching and ooohing and fondling and aaahing and rearranging all my other stamp sets and very little time actually stamping.

But! I did manage to get photos of this this beastie.  Here's my Red & Gold color challenge for Gingersnap Creations.  I used several papers/labels that I purchased from Collage Stuff (definitely check out her page - she has some cool swaps going on).  

I painted a slide mailer gold and layered my Asian papers, added a few punched flowers, a charm and some gold embossing powder.  The spine is covered in red velvet ribbon (which you handily can't see) and accented with a takeout chopstick from a local eatery.  I simply cut it down to size with my husband's bolt cutters and then sanded the end until I was happy.  Distress ink aged it nicely and I wrapped it in some gold cord.  I had a rough time getting it to stick to the spine so I ended up having to use hot glue.    

Inside are some more papers that I accented with Asian labels, a crackle stamp, clear embossing powder, more distress ink and some plastic slides.  The labels were glossy and didn't really take the distressing ink that way I would have liked.  I should have distressed first and then embossed.

I'm unsuprisingly incapable of not adding black to red, so I snuck in some black fibers and ivory beads with my gold and red tassels.  

As always, thanks for stopping by and enjoy!

Pennywise Arts Blog Hop!!

Welcome to the Pennywise Arts (PWA) Blog Hop, featuring fabulous Micro Beads!

Not only is Pennywise Arts the BEST place to get over 20 different colors of micro beads in 3 different sizes, they also have a huge gallery of project ideas, freebees and tutorials.  You can even join the Yahoo group - there are over 1,670 members! 

The hop will run from Saturday morning, through Sunday, April 17.  There will be tons of opportunities to WIN blog candy and a Grand Prize for a $25 shopping spree at PWA!  To enter, just leave a comment (with your email address) in any of the hop blogs and periodically check the PWA Blog for winners!  Suzanne is also offering a free handmade item from the design team for every web order this weekend.   

All the hop projects are crazy good, so I thought that I would slow it down a bit and feature just a few different ways that you can use microbeads to add a little extra umph! in your every day projects. 

Here is my plan card - it's nice, didn't take me too long to make and is a good general all purpose card.  There's a close-up of the main embellishment - I used the negative frame of an H chipboard die cut.

 In the first sample, I've used the same basic card, but this time I've added Clear Ultra Fine Micro Beads to the frame. I love the texture and shine it gives.  Trust me, you can't resist running your fingers over it again and again.

  

  For the next card, I've added a mixture of the Clear Ultra Fine Micro Beads and Royal Blue Opaque Micro Beads to the opening of the letter.  (Here's a 'not so secret' secret - the clear Micro Beads can be colored with alcohol inks so you can customize your colors! How cool is that?)

And last, but not least, I made a little shaker card out of the die cut by adding acetate and foam tape.  This time I threw in a few Gold Opaque beads as well. 

(Excuse my static cling! It's easy to get rid of, just rub your acetate with a dryer sheet.)

Now I get the pleasure of sending you to visit the always awesome Artistic Guides over at Stamper's Quest magazine! They have many projects guiding you down your creative trail working with micro beads.  Wait until you see their exquisite designs...oooh lah lah!

Thanks for visiting!

Bella Creations Blog Candy!

Check it out! Bella Creations has a new Blog and they're giving away some fantastic Blog Candy once they reach 100 followers.

I've been a Bella member for 2 months and have all ready made new friends, participated in 3 challenges and 1 swap!

This is for the Papercrafter's Alphabet - A Collaborative Collage Project.  I had the letter 'I' and went with Industrial.

This is from the ATC Shrine Swap!

 Run, don't walk, and check out their new blog.

Thanks for looking, as always!!

Gingersnap Coaster Exchange!

My husband has had strep throat and an ear infection for the past two weeks and I'm exhausted.   I haven't got to craft at all, so I'm just going to post the coasters that I made for the Gingersnap Creations yahoo group Coaster swap.  The theme was hearts.

This one took me the most time - the entire thing is hand punched hearts and then each heart was individually curled with a awl and then glued down. 

This beast was a pain - I had the coolest gold paper incorporated but I decided at the last minute to add some gold embossing powder to cover up any glue overlap.  When I used my heat gun, all the gold bits melted and I had to go back in with a glue pen and more embossing powder.   Note to self: don't apply heat to things that melt!

Years ago, I purchased a shoebox full of stamps at a garage sale.  The stamps are still attached to envelopes, so I sat in front of the tv and peeled stamps off bit of paper and sorted them by color during a horror movie marathon.  Go Friday the 13th!    

Last, but not least, is this cute little clown girl.  The background was embossed with a Tim Holtz folder and then randomly heat embossed.   I was in the throes of a short-lived ruffle fascination for this one and the one above.   I have odd interests. LOL! 

Enjoy and thank you for looking!!