September is ending!

Well, obviously I'm having too much fun this month because September is almost over! Did you get some new goodies? Create with any new special products? Did you at least stamp something for National Stamping Month?!!!!

Here is what I have been up to with some of the newest goodies that will be available for just a few more days!

Share the Season~

Perk Up with Pumpkin Spice~

"BOO"~ tacular Halloween Cards and Complete Creativity Cricut Layout~

These are just a few of the new, fantastic products that are available now! You can always find more artwork on my Instagram. (link in right hand column) Please also check out my website for all the latest promotions and specials. Do your shopping there too, but don't wait too long!

Twist and Pop Halloween Cards

I love interactive or moving cards. They are fun to make and I think that the recipient enjoys the surprise within them! When I first saw a Twist and Pop card on Instagram, I wanted to give it a try!

I made a few of them recently with different Halloween themes. I enjoyed mixing old papers and stamps to make each one unique.

This one has some adorable little creatures and an unexpected, non~Halloween paper mix!

Here is the card popped open~

and a close up on those silly skeletons~

This one has an old Scaredy Cat Halloween paper collection and a Spooky Night scene!

A haunted house popping out at you~

A close up~

Finally, there's nothing like a punny witch card!

Don't you just love this little witch and that sentiment is sweet!

A close up on that cuteness~

I'm done twisting and popping for now, but I'll return with a few more Halloween cards to inspire you just in time for tricks and treats!

Halloween Witch Hats

Are you creating your Halloween cards yet? The spookiest holiday is just around the corner, how exciting! I have a not-so-spooky card to share with you today. You may remember the August Stamp of the Month, Purr-fect Halloween set. That is where you can find this witch hat and the bat too. I simply stamped them, colored and laid them evenly on the card front. The bats were stamped once on the reverse side of the stamp, then on the correct side showing the outlined image. Then the strip was placed at the bottom of the card front over some fundamental papers. A little sentiment and free hand outline and this card is complete!

If you missed out on this Stamp of the Month, be sure to check out the other Halloween inspired stamp sets available online. Some of these sets are also limited, so don't miss out!
Shop online here.

Nightmare Before Christmas?

Today I am sharing two versions of this week's Freshly Made Sketch! I feel like I didn't create enough Halloween cards this year, so I wanted to make just one more fun skull card. After seeing all the wonderful inspiration from the design team, I wanted to create a Christmas card too. Aren't you so lucky to get two versions, one to use now for Halloween and another to use later for the Holidays!

Yummy, Yummy! Look at those colorful skulls and that awesome Cricut cut sentiment from the Artistry cartridge.

What a happy and festive snowman, looking so dapper in his top hat and scarf!

Be sure to check out Freshly Made Sketches for more inspiration or to play along!

Trick or Treat Cutie

I saw this idea from another consultant Jennifer Bennett. I thought it was a darling card and using the Artbooking images in a mini version was such a great idea! I never would have thought to scale down an image for what is intended to be a page of a mini album. How cute!

Haunted Escape in a Volkswagon!

Here is a fun Halloween card idea for you! I used one of the Pop-up cards on the Artfully Sent cartridge to create this card. Instead of using the Volkswagon bug on the inside of the card, I cut it out to create a Haunted scene on the front of the card. I stamped and colored the little characters and added a spring under the skull to make him more animated!

I love making Halloween cards fun and whimsical, it makes me think back to when I was a little girl! Go ahead, be silly with your cards and scrapbook pages this Halloween!

Embossed Scary Halloween

You have seen dry embossing many times, but have you seen a diffuser? Well, don't be scared of this new tool! It's a lot of fun to play with and you'll get some really awesome results from it.

Close To My Heart now offers a circle and square diffuser that you can use with any dry embossing folders and a die cutting machine like Cuttlebug and Sizzix Big Shot. I played with the circle diffuser so far and this is the Halloween card I created.

For this card I used an older skeleton folder and the circle diffuser. I simply laid the diffuser over my folder that contained a piece of white cardstock in the middle. I then ran it through my Big Shot. What you have in the end is the embossed image all over the cardstock except the middle, circular portion. Now I can stamp or embellish as I desire on the flat surface. For this particular card I stamped a winged scroll image in black then I layered a skull metal charm on top. You will also notice that I sponged some ink on the embossed image to allow it to stand out more.

Here is a close up view of the center image~

Here is a look at another piece of cardstock that I rolled through the Big Shot using the circle diffuser and the new Confetti folder.

The diffusers come in square and circle. You can also reverse the effect by only using the punched out circle or square allowing only that small portion to be embossed on your card base. (you can search a video of this technique in action by following CTMH on Instagram)

Finally, one last look at the finished embossing using the circle again with the quatrefoil folder.

You can find these diffusers and all the embossing folders online.

A Little Boo Ghost

After making some of the Cut Above Halloween Treat Bags, I discovered one little lonely ghost left over! I thought he would look perfect on the Freshly Made Sketches sketch this week! I dressed up the ghost piece a bit, but I left the rest of the card clean and simple with some Scaredy Cat papers and doodling. Here is the card~

Card with the finished treat bags~

Halloween Characters!

Today I have the other card I made for the Fall/Halloween card exchange that did not make the final cut! It is still a super cute card with the most adorable characters on it and I really can't tell you why it was not my final card. I think that maybe it was just too predictable, I wanted to really mix things up more. I can also tell you that like the first card I showed you, this one has an image on it that I carried over to my final card!?!? OMG what can it be??

I used the Scaredy Cat paper collection, Frightfully Fun MyAcrylix stamp set, black epoxy stars and black striped twill ribbon. I stamped all the images in black ink and then used ShinHan Touch Twin markers on just the outline. It gives them just a bit more character and color!

Scaredy Cat Paper Collection X7185B

Frightfully Fun B1453

Be sure to come back this weekend to see all the cards from the exchange and pictures from the event!

Halloween Candy!

This Saturday I will be hosting a Fall/Halloween card exchange. This year I have a total of 7 participants including myself. I always enjoy seeing the different creations that everyone brings. Card exchanges really let you see ideas that you never would have thought of and gives you inspiration to try something new!

You will have to wait until this weekend to see all the cards, but for now I can share with you the cards that didn't make the final cut.

The first card I'm showing you today turned out really cute, but just wasn't everything I wanted. Plus, there was too much fussy cutting involved! I will tell you that an image from this card did make it on my final selection!! I wonder what it could be?

The stamp set I used on this card is one of the Hostess Rewards stamps found at the beginning of the Annual Inspirations Idea Book. {page 5}As a Hostess you can earn this stamp set with a qualifying order for only $10!

Come back soon as I reveal my other card that did not make the final cut! Then, be sure to visit this weekend to see all the cards from the exchange!

A Bow on Your Skull!

Playing along with Freshly Made Sketches today, I used some older products I found while cleaning my Scrapbook room! I thought these were cute papers from Imaginisce and put my daughter to work assembling the sticker chipboard pieces. In a promise to her that I would really use them after all her hard work, I created this card. The sketch at FMS was nice and simple and allowed me to keep the card simple as well. The background paper had plenty of detail so I decided to leave the title piece simple with little embellishment. I just added a skull girl with a bow and a trick-or-treat sentiment!

If the broom fits...

...Ride it! This new Halloween stamp set is so sweet and funny too! I played with some fussy cutting and coloring with the new Shinhan markers to make it just how I imagined in my mind. I wanted trendy with a little bit of a vintage feel. I used the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches as my starting point. I decided to emboss the background paper in chevron to add some interest.  The ribbon I used is also a new item. It is a soft, black striped twill ribbon, I love it!

Here is the sketch~

Halloween Greetings D1605~

Chevron Embossing Folder~

Black Striped Twill Ribbon~

Thank you for stopping by! If you would like to recreate this card, you can find all the products online here.

Fall 2013 Card Exchange

My Fall themed card exchange took place this past weekend. Participants were asked to create cards with a fall theme such as leaves, feeling of the season, Thanksgiving or Halloween. You will see that I was the only one that did a Halloween card while the ladies were truly inspired by Fall colors. {I think they secretly coordinated with each other and didn't tell me!}

Here is the table with everyone's cards displayed~

Here are the cards from the very talented ladies~

And here is my Halloween themed card?! Well, actually it lays flat like a card and fits in an envelope, however when opened up becomes a cool luminary!

In addition to the card/luminary they received a little decorated box with a tea light battery operated candle inside.

It looks amazing lit up in a dark room! Unknowing to me, the tea light looked like it would be a clear white light, but instead gives a red/orange glow! Spooky cool!!

 

 

I am also entering my card in the Paper Players Challenge this week, it's a trick and a treat!