A Few Halloween Cards

I haven't gone all out for Halloween cards this year, but I did manage to get some done with my favorite little witches.

This is Hazel from Wee Stamps.  She's just too cute to be a witch!  The papers I used are from my stash of years past.  Next year I just have to get new papers! The fence is cut on my Cricut and the black swirls are Recollections by Michael's.

Hazel is colored with Copics.

This card is actually recycled from a project I did last year when I made a CD case cover.  Just a bit of trimming and adhering it to purple card stock turned it into a sweet card.  This actually combines digital stamps from two designers; the Twisty Tree is from Tiddly Inks and the Witch and Frog is from Sassy Cheryl.  The bats were cut on my Cricut and the edge of the scene was cut with Bat Wing scissors by Fiskars and mounted on a piece of black card stock.

The images were colored with Copics and the background rubbed with chalks.

This is Betty Belfrey by Tiddly Inks.  Such a sophisticated witch!  I followed the pattern of the paper by using the Nestibilities diamond dies.  The black swirls are from my stash.

I love this little sign!  I think I should make one for my studio door.  There is a matching stamp that says "The Witch is Out."

Copics, as always, was my coloring media of choice.

I actually colored these little witches last year and, as part of my resolution to clean up unfinished projects, three fresh cards went into one of my shop locations.  Two sold the first week they were out!  Why did I wait so long?!

I hope your week is going well.  We are sweating through October here in Branson with temps in the 80s, but the chill of fall is just around the corner!  Thanks for stopping by and keep on crafting!

Sassy Cheryl Challenge #126 - Pretty Papers

It's been awhile since I joined in on Sassy Cheryl's challenge --- but I've been taking peeks at all the deliciousness from the design team.  I've been back in the groove a bit lately and actually have a card to show tonight.  The challenge this week is "Pretty Papers" which is not a problem with me!  Like all of you I love my papers, almost to the point of hoarding them! 

This glimmery pretty paper is from the DCWV Nantucket stack, which is all so beautifully coordinated around a nautical theme.  I used this stack when I made lighthouse gift boxes a year ago for my son's wedding rehearsal dinner.  (I can't believe they have been married a year already!)

This is Precious Callie all colored in pretty lavender Copics.  She's such a cutie pie!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you all have a great weekend.  Keep cool wherever you are!

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge #107 --- Think Spring!

Ahhhh! It is definitely spring around here! The red buds, dogwoods, Bradford pears and forsythia add their colors to the winter-drab landscape even before the trees start to show their tender green leaves.  I call this our fifth season because it has a beauty all its own from the other four.  

In celebration of spring Sassy Cheryl and her fantastic design team are showing their spring colors and challenge us to do the same.  Of course what would spring be without Easter, both in celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus and the playfulness of the Easter Bunny and egg hunts.  To make up for my absence the past few weeks I have THREE cards to post today.  

This is Cheryl's "Dancing Easter Bunny".  She is just the happiest thing!  The image is colored with Copics and the white panel is embossed with a Sizzix folder I just picked up at Hobby Lobby.  The flower is made from a silk daisy that I removed the center from, added this K & Co. brad and leaves cut with the Nesties die. The border is Martha Stewart.  The bling was an after thought to add sparkle.

This is the "Wanna Be Bunny Girl".  Gotta love those floppy ears.  She is colored with Copics and mounted on a Nesties scalloped rectangle die cut.  The papers are scraps from a stack, but I don't remember which one.  The little silk flowers have a variety of patterned brads to go along with the polka dot ribbon.  The sentiment is Stampin' Up.  I wanted lots of color on this and I think I accomplished that!

This is "Wanna Be Bunny Boy".  I like that Cheryl has the matching boy and girl images here.  These make great cards for my grandniece and grandnephews.  The background paper is also a scrap and I kept this simple with just a bit of the red gingham rickrack and buttons.  The sentiment is the same Stampin' Up.  And, of course, he is colored with Copics.

So, there you have three of my cards to celebrate spring.  Now, you really owe yourself the fun of hopping over to Sassy Cheryl's to see what the design team has come up with! 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a great week! 

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge #105 --- Sketch Time

"My Easter basket is THIS big!

This week Jackie of Sassy Cheryl's design team gave us this great sketch to play with. 

So I grabbed this adorable digi called "I Love You This Much", changed the sentiment to fit in with Easter, and had fun with the lively color scheme. 

The red and teal color combo is one I have seen used by many creative folks out there, but never worked it myself.  I'm glad I did!  These are two "high octane" colors and I think I will be using them more.  As it turned out I had dp from the DCWV Farmer's Market stack that worked well with the image, which I had already colored.  Now, there is one little piece that is not your typical cardstock.  The sentiment is mounted on a PAINT CHIP!  It wouldn't take the ink from the printer so I used it as a background.  See, we NEVER throw anything away!

Gotta get me a hat like this!!  The image is colored with Copics, laid on pretty thick, especially the red.

I really enjoyed using this sketch and have four more Sassy images colored and ready to go.  They will look great on this sketch, so check back later........... there will be more!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to hop over to Sassy Cheryl's Challenge #105 for the sketch and more inspiration from the uber-talented design team.

Sassy Cheryl Challenge #103 --- No Embossing!

Sassy Cheryl has put together quite a challenge this week --- no embossing!  What?!  No embossing??  But... but... well, ok.  It is a challenge after all!

Now if this card doesn't bring on day dreams of spring I don't know what will!  This is Cheryl's new digi "Sally Sits In Wonder".   With a couple of lady bugs for company she certainly looks content!  I used matching double-sided scrapbook sheets from my stash for all the dp pieces.  The little flowers are punched from scraps of the same paper.  The green lattice is a Martha Stewart large border punch.  I followed the rules and skipped the embossing; there's not even a scored line to be found.  But for texture I did distress the edges of some of the pieces.

I colored the whole scene with Copics, using the colorless blender to push the blue ink in the sky for clouds.

I think most of us are definitely ready for spring to arrive, even though winter has been pretty mild in most of  the northern climes of the U.S.  Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to hop over to Sassy Cheryl's to get more inspiration from her very talented design team.    

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge #93 --- It's Santa!

Just 16 days before the Big Buy starts his annual trek around the world, jumping down chimneys, chomping on cookies and stuffing stockings!  Paying tribute to this bearer of glad tidings is Sassy Cheryl's Design Team with the challenge theme "It's Santa!".

I think I have finally caught on to the clean and simple style of cardmaking, but now my challenge is FLAT cardmaking.  I have lots of cards to mail so I really need to keep them within the one-stamp per envelope range. I do so love layers and embellies, but those will just have to be saved for those cards hand-delivered or attached to packages. With the card for this challenge I managed to keep it flat and with a minimum of embellies that could get into the hands (or noses) of little ones.

I used Jen del Muro's December sketch for this card.  Her sketch is below and I will enter this in her challenge, too.  It's a great sketch and I turned it on its side to accommodate the shape of the image.  All of the papers are from the Jolly and Bright mat stack by Recollections at Michael's.  The shapes are all cut with Nesties dies --- what would we do without them?

Santa is colored with Copics and I used Stickles for the dots on his coat and the swirls.

Now, what would Santa do without his elves?  Since I was making all these clean and simple FLAT cards I thought I might as well show them off here, too.  It's not often I have so many new cards made in such a short time! 

Gotta love Cheryl's new character Polly and she is all decked out to help Santa.  I just can't bring myself to color her pigtails anything but red/orange!  The papers are from the same Jolly and Bright mat stack.

She is also colored with Copics.

Noah is a helpful little elf, handing out the ornaments for the tree.  This card is really simple with the circle die cuts creating an ornament-type layout.

Again with the Copics and dp from the Jolly and Bright mat stack.

Now, this one was really simple!  The Christmas Tree Elves, looking very much like the Marx Brothers, are taking more ornaments to the tree.  The background dp is from the Jolly and Bright mat stack. (I don't know why this is so dark, but the paper is really bright and pretty.)

I embossed the Nesties die for the border around the group.  They are all colored with Copics and I used Stickles to add the sparkle to the ornaments.  I really love this image and just might make a couple more cards like this.  It is so simple and festive.

All of these images, and so many more, are available at Cheryl's store here.  

In case anyone was counting, this is my third post today.  Whew!  I do have more cards to make yet, but will probably have a bit of a break from posting for a couple of days....... maybe ;-)

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to pay a visit to Sassy Cheryl's Challenge Blog to see some very fun Santa cards by the design team.  

Sassy Cheryl Challenge #92 --- Winter

Today has been a very wintry day and there is the threat of a rain/snow mix tonight.   For southern Missouri that often means ICE.  We have to drive to Fayetteville, Arkansas tomorrow morning, but hopefully we will encounter only wet roads.  In this part of the country there is not a single road that is straight or flat.  That makes for s scenic drive --- on good days.

All of this fits well with Sassy Cheryl's challenge this week --- WINTER.  

Cheryl's image "Winter" just says it all!  Getting all bundled up in boots and mittens and a muffler to run outside and catch the snow flakes of the first snowfall.  Paper like Michael's Recollections and snow flakes from a Martha Stewart punch help to put that first scene of winter right in someone's hands. 

The image is colored with Copics and the snowflakes are Stickles.  

I'll soon have all the cards made that I will need for Christmas and holiday greetings.  Then I'll move on to the next few seasons and should stock up on birthdays and other sentiments.  But in the meantime, I'm loving all the new winter and holiday images by Cheryl.  Be sure to hop over to the challenge blog to see what the amazing design team has created.  

Thanks for stopping by!  If you are experiencing winter weather, please drive safe and keep warm!

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge --- Anything Goes

This has not been the best of weekends.  Yesterday my laptop died, or else it is just in a coma.  Not sure, but the keyboard stopped working and it never recovered from a restart.  Will get it fixed later rather than sooner.  I have my hubby's laptop which he doesn't use, but I couldn't get it hooked up to the wireless router.  Argh! I like using the laptop in the dining room with my morning coffee and the desktop is downstairs in the studio.  I spent way too many hours last night putsing with the puters to no avail. 

I got out for awhile this morning then came home and decided to get one more Thanksgiving card done and post it to Sassy Cheryl's challenge blog. Got the card done, took some pics of it, and went to put the pics in my trusty (new) desktop computer.  Panic set in again when the USB slots on the front wouldn't take the card reader from my camera!  OMG, now what?  I thought the card reader finally bit the dust and since I use the large compact flash card in my camera --- and the new computer doesn't have a slot that large (grrr) I decided to learn how to transfer pics from the camera with the cable.  Found the cable, the instruction book, but had to search for the software disc before I could start this new operation.  Installed the software, hooked up the cable and ..... I just wanted to cry!  Still no life in the USB ports.  Only one thing left to do --- restart the computer.  So I waited.... and waited... and waited.... this took way too long.  Gran mal panic attack coming on.  Well, I got the computer restarted, files all intact, and VOILA! the USB ports sprang to life and all was good with the world again!

So, at long last, here I am with a card for Sassy Cheryl's "Anything Goes" Challenge.  

I love this image of Sally and her Thanksgiving turkey.  She's got quite a grip on that bird!  I used all sorts of autumn/Thanksgiving paper scraps for this card, along with Nesties, Martha Stewart border punch, and ribbon.  Adding the feather was an after thought.  I made up the sentiment a few days ago while I still had a sense of humor!  If computers had turkey necks I'd have a firm hold on one, too!

Here's a close up.  Lousy photos because by the time I got the card done I didn't have natural light left for a better shot.  (Boy, I am sounding whiny tonight!)  Anywhoooo, I colored her with Copics, of course.

Well, maybe I'll get one more card done tonight.  Watching some great Christmas movies on Hallmark so I am getting that ol' holiday spirit!  Thanks for stopping by and take care of yourself!

Bah! Humbug! #43 --- Snowmen

Oh my gosh! I just noticed I haven't posted for almost a week!  Where did the days go?  I do remember spending one luxurious day coloring images..... now I'd better get busy making them into cards! I missed a couple of favorite challenges, again, but I'm able to get this one in for the Bah! Humbug! Challenge.  This week we are celebrating SNOWMEN!  Snowmen and Snowladies are some of my favorite people and they are such cheerful characters on Christmas/Winter/Holiday cards.  

It's not hard to find adorable stamps of snowpeople, but it is difficult to match the unique creations of Sassy Cheryl.  I am using one of her many characters, "Cappuccino, Anyone?"   

I kept the card quite simple.  The snowflake background is made with Martha Stewart's new snowflake "punch all over the page."  I bought one of the first ones she offered, but it was difficult to line up the pattern to make a lacy grid like this one.  The new style has the pattern engraved around the base, like on the border punches, so making this nine-snowflake pattern was easy-peasy!  Michael's had a bunch of these new punches.

Here is the new MS punch and you can see the patterns all around.

I colored the snowman with Copics.  Hmmmmm, that trademark green apron has me thirsty for a Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Latte!  The card base and oval die cut are made from a semi-glossy red card stock.  The image is also cut with a Nestie.  

I hope you all are having a great week and taking good care of yourselves.  Thanks for stopping by and be sure to hop over to Bah! Humbug! for more cheerful goodness in the form of snowmen!

Sassy Cheryl Challenge #87 - Pink and a Bit of Inspiration

Throughout the month of October Sassy Cheryl and the DT have been including pink for breast cancer awareness in the challenge.  This week an additional inspiration has been added in the form of the photo below:

Not only are these dishes beautiful inspiration for this week's challenge, but what a gorgeous table they set!  Anyway, I have been AWOL the past few weeks so I wanted to be sure to get an entry in this week. 

I just got this adorable Christmas images, Lucy Lou and Her Big Ornament Trouble over at Sassy Cheryl's and colored it with Copics and added clear Stickles for some shimmer. The DP is from a DCWV Christmas Stack that I've been using for a couple of years.  I love the papers, but I have promised my bank account no new papers until I use up anything that is two years old or more.  So you just might be seeing more of this!

Here's a close up of the image.  

The sketch is from Sketch 'n' Stash #73 and I thought it was perfect for this image.  The circles, scalloped circle and tag are Nestabilities.  This card has lots of layers!  I haven't done that lately.  I'm posting it to the SNS challenge, too.   

Thank you for stopping by today.  For some really inspiring projects hop on over to Sassy Cheryl's and Sketch and Stash.  Have a great week and take care of yourself. 

Sassy Cheryl Challenge #83 --- Autumn Colors

Sassy Cheryl's challenge this week is Autumn Colors.   I think just about everyone loves this time of year when the trees magically change colors and the air has a cool crispness that helps us to forget the heat of summer. 

 This "Country Gal" is saying farewell to one of her favorite summer critters, the ladybug.  I used a bunch of odds and ends for this card.  I figure if I use them up I won't feel so guilty when I indulge in something new!  The covered brads are by Michael's Recollections. The green vine is a Martha Stewart border punch that I used on both edges of the strip of paper. I used a deckle rectangle Nestie to cut the image so continued the distressing on all the edges. I don't know why the photo is so dull, but the background paper is really a lovely yellow gold color. 

The image is colored with Copics.  Again, the photo is a bit dull but the colors are nice and autumnish. (spell checker didn't like that word!)  I love this image; her floppy hat and her long skinny legs, which I NEVER had!  She is a cutie!

I hope you all have had a great weekend and we able to get in some crafting.  There's still time to get something done for Sassy Cheryl's challenge and, for sure, you'll want to see the fantastic projects by the design team. Thanks for stopping by today!

Sassy Cheryl Challenge -- Something Good to Eat!

Today is cold and rainy -- brrrr!  A perfect day for a frothy latte or a hot cocoa topped with whipped cream. This fits in well with Sassy Cheryl's challenge this week - Show Us Something Good to Eat! 

 It isn't quite cold enough for snow, but Cheryl's Snowmen are always welcome here, especially when serving up a luscious latte!  I used fun dp from the DCWV Belle Cafe stack, one of my favorites.  The lovely die cut, that is nearly all hidden is actually from the Cricut cartridge "Elegant Edges".  I just bought this cartridge (on sale at Michael's for $29.99 -- saved $60!! Woo Hoo!)  I have a feeling the cartridge will get quite a work out!  Loads of designs that can be frames, elongated, and even borders. The bow is from ribbon edged organza and I learned the double bow technique from Jak Heath's tutorial.  She is always generously sharing her skills and creativity.  This was actually very simple! 

 I colored the image with Copics and used Liquid Pearls for the froth on the latte and the top of his hat. 

Inside is a plain yellow space for a personal note and a scrap of the dp for a border.  The swirl at the top is the cut out from the die cut on the front of the card.  I'm trying to get into the habit of doing the inside of the cards with scraps as I go along.  It's so tempting to just finish the front but the inside can be just as fun!

I also want to give credit for the sketch to The Deconstructed Sketch and will enter this card in their challenge as well.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you are enjoying your weekend, whether it is cold and rainy or warm and sunny. 

Sassy Cheryl Challenge #80 -- Wrap It, Bag It, Box It!

It has been awhile since I've been able to participate in Sassy Cheryl's weekly challenge, so it is especially fun to be back for this one.  I am so used to making cards that this week's challenge -- Wrap It, Bag It, Box It --- made me think outside the box, ironically.

I do a lot of photography and often give CDs of the images to those in the pictures.  It is fun to create the CD labels.  This challenge made me think of a special CD jewel case for the photos of the spooky Halloween goblins.

The images used here are Sassy Cheryl's "A Witch and a Frog".   She is really too cute to be a wicked witch, but I'm not so sure about that frog!  This creepy tree is actually from Tiddly Inks.  I love the twisted trunk and it made the perfect background for this little scene.  The bats are cut with the Cricut  and can be found in the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge.  The label on the side of the jewel case was computer generated.

The tree and the witch were colored with Copics.  The background is various shades of blue, lavender, yellow, and pink chalks from Stampin' Up.  I applied the chalk with Q-tips.

The whole scene was trimmed up with bat wing craft scissors and mounted on black card stock.

I really like this project, even though I don't have little goblins to take photos of.  But then, my little grandniece and grandnephews will probably cast some spooky spells on their neighbors. 

Thank you for stopping by!  For much more inspiration from the DT, hop on over to Sassy Cheryl's Challenge.  You won't be disappointed!

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge --- Gift Card Holder for New Baby

I finally finished a card for Sassy Cheryl's challenge but have to get it posted very quickly!  Tomorrow will be a whole new challenge.  Well, that's tomorrow....... today I am posting this pillow box for the challenge "Gift Card Holder for New Baby." 

This image is called "Artificial Flower Girl" but I think she is just as real as can be and absolutely adorable.  I took a little different twist on the new baby theme, as you will see in a minute.  The dp is some hot pink stripes cardstock I've had for quite awhile. Same for the flowers and brad.  But the image is new and I colored her with bright pink Copics.

Here is the pillow box.  I know that templates are readily available, but I disassembled packaging that a pair of trouser socks came in. It was the perfect size for gift containers.  Never let a box go to waste!

On the inside was a liner in this shape, so I used it as a template, too, and did a computer-generated image of a gift card (actual size).  The sentiment (I made it up) is the different twist I was talking about for this "new baby" card.  In any case, it's a great little box for the gift card with room for a small item, too. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope your week is starting off well.  Be sure to hop over to Sassy Cheryl's to see the inspiring creations by the design team