A Little Halloween with a Little Potter Mixed In

Is that okay? Can I squeeze in one more Halloween card for this year? I had fun with this one, taking some fun Halloween stamps and giving them a bit of a Harry Potter twist. Because who doesn't love a sorting hat and a Nimbus 2000? Right? Right. Good. Glad we had this chat.

So, not gonna lie. This one sat on my desk for several days while I decided if I was brave enough to share it. Now that I'm looking at it fresh again, I think I actually really do like it. It's fun! I stamped the hat and the broom from the Simon Says Stamp Toil and Trouble stamps and dies set onto kraft paper and then colored with Spectrum Noir colored pencils. I went for the weathered Sorting hat look on the hat and um..... I REALLY REALLY LIKE IT. K? K. Thanks. I die cut both pieces, along with the tree from the Ghouls and Tree die set from Simon. 

I finished the card by adding just a touch of Reverse Confetti patterned paper and then stamped, embossed, and die cut the sentiment and frame together. 

And, my friends, there you have it. A bit of Halloween and a bit of Harry Potter all rolled into one fun card. Now... where did I leave my robes, I gotta fly......

Because RAINBOWS!

Yup. I yelled rainbows. I'm gonna do it again. RAINBOWS!!! You guys, for reals, though. This awesome Build a Rainbow stencil and the accompanying die from Simon Says Stamp is freaking awesome. 

I used the SSS Rainbow Ink Cubes and blending brushes along with the stencil to create the rainbow itself. Then I die cut the bottom panel and inked the cloud edge to create the cloud look. LOVE IT. The sentiment is the You Are Enough die from Simon, too. Finally, I went a little old school and pulled out an old wood starburst embellishment, used a paint pen to make it white and then covered it with... you guessed it... STICKLES! I think Sterling (my toddler) is bringing back my love of glitter glue. Mostly because he puts it on everything he possibly can. 

Stenciling is super popular right now and it has never been a big thing for me, so I am trying to give it a shot here and there. I think I may end up loving it. This was certainly a TON of fun to create and not a SINGLE stamp was used to create it. WHAT?! That's craziness. Absolute craziness. I do adore how vibrant the colors are, though! That's pretty awesome! And the cool variation you get from using the blending brushes with ink... yeah, I'm liking that, too.

What technique have you been trying out recently? I'd love hear about it! 

Cute Spooks

 So, seriously. When you give me absolutely adorable Halloween supplies I just cannot help myself! I am loving creating these cards! 

For this one, I started by die cutting the  Simon Says Stamp Window Webs from a white panel. I just knew I had to create a super cool background to put behind it, so I decided to ink up another cardstock panel to create a night sky using distress inks. I then put a little white ink from a bottle of reinker on a paint brush and splattered it to create the stars in the sky.

You guys! This was a lot for me. LOL! I don't do a ton of messy things anymore, but I absolutely LOVE how this turned out and I super love that it uses those techniques and still results in a clean and simple card.

I stamped the absolutely adorable ghost witch stamp and the spider from the Too Cute To Spook stamp set from Simon Says Stamp and colored them with Spectrum Noir colored pencils. I cut the ghost out, but you can purchase dies with the stamps if you prefer to go that route. Either way... this stamp set is THE CUTEST!

The sentiment is stamped and embossed on a strip of black cardstock to finish off the card. I am linking this little guy up to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

I hope you have enjoyed my Halloween fun this week! I may do more, I may do some other stuff... we shall see. Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to leave a comment to let me know you are here! 

Friendly Little Bats

 I mentioned that I really like bats, right? When I saw the Reverse Confetti challenge to create a card with a Thanksgiving or Friendship theme, I figured it was a perfect time to combine my love of Halloween and bats with a friendship sentiment for a cute little card.

I stamped the three little bats from the Reverse Confetti Best Witches stamp set and colored them with Spectrum Noir colored pencils. I am discovering that I REALLY love coloring with colored pencils. I honestly feel like I work better with them than I do with my markers a lot of the time. I am loving it. It is also wicked relaxing to feel the smooth pencil over the paper. I don't know...I just really enjoy it.

After stamping and coloring the bats I added a quick stamped star and then finished it off with a great Lawn Fawn Hello die. The friend is actually hand written with a Copic pen to get the look I was going for.  

This card was one of those ones that I just really enjoyed creating. It makes me smile.

What are the kinds of things that just make you happy when you create? Is it coloring? The actual stamping? Putting together various design elements? I'd love hear about it in the comments!

Spooks and Spiders

 I love Halloween! I truly do. It is just so super fun and, well, candy. There is sooooo much candy. What could possibly be bad about all that CANDY?! This week, I have a couple of Halloween cards I'd like to share with you to get you ready for the fun!

As it turns out, Simon Says Stamp has a BUNCH of super cute Halloween stuff! I love these because I can use them both for cards and for scrapbook pages! WHAT?! Yeah. Love it. 

Let's talk about the goodies I used fort his one. I started with this SUPER cute Creepy Crawlers Cling Background by CZ Designs. Can I tell you how much I love Cathy's stuff?  A lot. I love it... a lot. I stamped and embossed it with white embossing powder on a black panel for a nice pop!

I die cut the sentiment 'window' from that panel and then cut the sentiment itself in both black and gold. This is all done with the adorable Here for the Boos die from Simon Says Stamp. I layered the two sentiments just slightly offset for a shadow look. 

Finally, I stamped and colored the wicked cute little ghost from the Simon Says Stamp Boo Day stamp set. You can get this set with or without dies, but MAN is it an awesome set! So many cute images AND there are great pieces in this one you can use all year long. I lover versatile stamps! I colored him with some Copics and popped him up for just a bit of dimension. SO FUN!

I am linking this one up to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge for the Spooky Halloween Challenge! 

I had a BLAST creating this card. I love how the elements all came together so well. What do you like to create for Halloween? Even better - do you have any fun traditions to share?

I Can Do Hard Things!

 That is what I learned while trying my best to participate in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge this week. You see, the challenge was to create an interactive card. 

Cool.

Not my thing. 

I mean...I think they are awesome and all, but I have the patience of ... well, let's just say I've seen my toddler stick focus on a project for longer than I generally do.

So, yeah... interactive cards are tricky! 

I had this cool Waffle Flower Pull-tab Tree die in my stash and I hadn't used it yet, so this was the perfect chance to give it a shot!

I stamped this wicked fun cat tree stamp from Mama Elephant and colored it with colored pencils before die cutting the tree. This stamp is a perfect fit for this die! I love it when that happens! The cats were super fun to color, too. And that's coming from a dog person!

A simple punny sentiment on the bottom over the Simon Says Stamp tiny star stenciled background finishes off this super fun holiday card. 

It was hard. But it was fun. And it's interactive! YAY!

Have a great day!

Well, Bats!

 I love bats. I really do. They are just so great!

I have this wicked old Tim Holtz bat stamp in my stash and I just can't help but to pull it out around this time of year. It's just too good.

I combined it with this Hello die from Simon Says Stamp. You, guys! This die is one of my all time favourites! Seriously. It is THE BEST. I love how huge it is. It makes me happy.

I stamped the bat on the card and then again on another bit of cardstock, cut out the second image and popped it up for a bit of dimension. I did a bit of snipping off the sentiment to make it fit comfortably under the popped up bat, keeping the design all cohesive. 

I had a lot of fun with this one. I think we tend to shy away from using older supplies sometimes, but you know what... if you love it, USE IT! Go batty! 

Have a great day!

A Little Bit of Sparkle

 Hello! Thanks for coming back! I am so happy to see you here.

Okay, you are right, I can't really SEE you, but I can tell you are here and that makes me happy. 

So, the other day, a crafty friend posted a 'feature company' in one of the Facebook Groups I am in (Share Handmade Kindess), featuring Picket Fence Studio. As it happens, I am a fan of Picket Fence! As a matter of fact I find Nicole's designs to be wonderfully unique in the industry and I really enjoy working with them. I posted that super fun fox card the other day using Picket Fence stamps and I have another card featuring a gorgeous floral image today. 

What I really love is that these two cards feature the same company and they are SO different. One is cute and playful and the other is 'pretty' and floral ... and sparkly. Because, well, I happen to really love sparkly. 

I stamped this gorgeous floral image with Gina K Amalgum ink, allowing me the flexibility to use any kind of coloring medium on it, really. I had a couple of ideas when I was stamping it, so I wanted to leave my options open. 

I then stamped the strong thank you sentiment using VersaFine black ink to be sure to get a good, solid image. 

Finally, I used a Spectrum Noir glitter brush to add some sparkle to the image and a few sequins for just a TEENSY bit of color. 

You can find this gorgeous Wild Rose Bouquet stamp set at Butterfly Reflections Ink and the thank you sentiment is available at Simon Says Stamp.

As for fun things around here, last. night we carved a pumpkin with The Little. He has dubbed it his 'Wampire Pumpquin' and said that he loves his Wampire Pumpquin very much. That video may end up landing on my Instagram. LOL! We'll see. 

Have a super fantastic day!

For Fox Sake

 I mean, it's only been five years. That's not all that long in the grand scheme of things, now is it?

It is?

Okay. Fine. It is.

But, here's the deal...I've done a lot in those five years. I was working at Spotify and that kept me pretty busy and doing a bit of traveling, and then I left Spotify and went to work at DraftKings, where I work now and love super lots. We had a kid, so, that's pretty huge. He's coming up on 2 1/2 now and keeps us VERY busy. And there was the whole Covid thing.... Oh... and come to think of it we bought a house in there somewhere, too. A house that needs constant work that we are constantly working on. So, yeah..... lots of stuff happened in those five years.

On the crafting front, well, I haven't been designing for companies and I haven't been playing the publication game for a few years now. I miss it a little. I have done some crafting when I have time here and there, but lately, I have really been trying to jump back in and I am LOVING it! So, here we are. Dusting off this old blog. Because I like making things and I like sharing those things with others. YAY!

This seems an appropriate card after a five year 'break'. HA! 

I love this super fun stamp and die set from Picket Fence Studio! It isn't brand new, but you can still find it here. And there are SO MANY adorable images in this set!!!! I love it. I do apologize that my stash is not all filled with the latest and greatest anymore. I will have some newer stuff sometimes and I will also be using my old faves that I've had around or things I pick up just because I love them.

I colored him with Copics after stamping with Gina K. Amalgam black ink. I die cut him and popped him for that fun 'in motion' look. the partial circles are just some washi tape stuck onto cardstock and then punched with a good ol' Martha Stewart circle punch. 

And, that my friends, is what I have for you today! Thanks for stopping by! I missed you!