Happy Hallowe'en!

Something homemade of a different kind:

As you can see: 1) I decorate cookies sort of the same way I make cards -- simple is good!
                       2) I'm not getting a job as a food stylist any time soon
Have a safe and fun Hallowe'en!
P.S. Please come back on Wednesday... I'm going to be starting a month-long guest designer gig!  Pin It Now!

Friends with Flair and Sympathy

I needed a sympathy card to send to a friend, and this is what resulted. It was my first chance to ink up this Unity/Webster's Pages image. The beautiful patterned paper was part of the amazing goody package my friend Meg sent me, and I used a strip of the reverse side instead of ribbon. A little different from my usual standard sympathy card approach, and I quite like how it turned out. It's going in Simon Says Stamp's current Anything Goes challenge. 
Be sure to stop by the Unity blog for lots of other Friends with Flair goodness!


Supplies: white cardstock, Crate Paper Portrait Collection patterned paper, Unity/Webster's Pages Love stamp, Bevy of Butterflies sentiment, Brilliance coffee bean ink, clear embossing powder Pin It Now!

Two CAS CASEs for Hallowe'en*

These are the last of my Hallowe'en creations for this year. I'm almost sure. ;) And although I thought I was still on a run of ideas, I suddenly hit a creative Hallowe'en wall. It took me a few days, but then it hit me... I have the September/October issue of PaperCrafts magazine (thanks, Meg!) and could look to it for inspiration! My first card is inspired by the online bonus project on p. 41.

When I first looked at the thumbnail picture, I thought, ooh, a yellow vellum moon, what an awesome idea! Then I discovered it wasn't vellum, it was cardstock. But I went with a vellum moon anyway; and I like how the patterned paper behind it gives it a bit of moon-like shadowing. A bat, a sentiment, and a black base... and call it done.
If you've seen this magazine, you'll recognize the source of my inspiration for the second card on p. 36.

This is a much closer CASE: black cardstock wrapped with twine, an image and a sentiment. I rounded the corners because I could; and because it echoes the round shape of the little (so not scary) owl. 
That's a lot of seasonal cards for someone who's not even that big a Hallowe'en fan! :D
*Just in case you're not part of the cult hobby... CAS = clean and simple, my kind of cardmaking style; CASE = copy and share everything, or in other words, take a card idea from someone else, tweak it, and make it your own. ;)


Supplies: (bat card) black cardstock, yellow vellum, Karen Foster patterned paper, Imaginisce Happy Hallowe'en stamp, Brilliance graphite black ink, clear embossing powder, Martha Stewart bat punch; (owl card) black & white cardstock, Unity Mix-Up of Cuteness stamp, Imaginisce Happy Hallowe'en stamp, Brilliance graphite black and moonlight white inks, clear & white embossing powders, Prismacolor pencils, Twinery mandarin twine, Marvy corner-rounder punch, dimensionals Pin It Now!

Friends with Flair Friday... a Hallowe'en Break

I have managed to pause in my current affection for making Hallowe'en cards long enough to make a completely all-purpose one:

I really like this tail-wagger puppy; he's probably the favourite dog stamp I own. (That being said, I think I only have four or five dog stamps, as opposed to a dozen or more cat stamps. It's not my fault, sometimes people GIVE me cat stamps! :P) He's also easy to colour, easy to cut out, easy to use in a variety of ways.
Enjoy checking out the Friends with Flair creations, and have a great weekend! 


Supplies: white and Stampin' Up textured crushed curry cardstock, Unity Tail-wagger and Bevy of Butterflies stamps, Brilliance coffee bean ink, clear embossing powder, Sharpies, corner-rounding punch, dimensionals Pin It Now!

Yet More Hallowe'en

Yes, I'm still on the Hallowe'en kick, and here's my latest card:

I decided to use the Marah Johnson set, "Moxie", that I won from the All Things Unity challenge. It's the most gothic stamp set I own by far! I also may not decide to stamp and cut out one of these frames any time in the near future. :P I purposely overheated my embossing powder (honest!) to make it a little bumpy to add to the goth factor. (I'm not sure it really does, but it seemed like a cool idea.) I came across the CPS card sketch for this week, and decided it was a perfect layout to use. I didn't have the appropriate bat stamp (I have a "cute" sort of one) so used my Martha Stewart bat punch and a post-it note as a mask to sponge the bats on the card base. The hardest part of the card (next to cutting out that ornate frame, at least) was making sure the inset inside was centred so the "Boo" showed perfectly through the vellum window. 
Besides the current CPS #240 challenge, I am also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Hallowe'en/Goth challenge, the CAS-ual Fridays challenge to make Hallowe'en cards without orange, and the Wee Memories challenge #72, Holiday Madness. And yes, I've started work on yet another Hallowe'en card! 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up rich razzleberry cardstock, vellum, Unity Marah Johnson Moxie stamp, Brilliance graphite black & Memories black inks, clear embossing powder, Martha Stewart bat punch Pin It Now!

Scraps, yes. Orange, no.

I usually make a grand total of two Hallowe'en cards. I'm on a little bit of a roll this year! 

This was inspired by three challenges. This week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge is to make a Hallowe'en card without any orange. No problem, I'm not that big an orange fan anyway. ;) Simon Says Stamp is also having a Hallowe'en challenge. Then along came the challenge at Do You Stack Up? (DYSU#41) to use your scraps. Well! See that spooky tree? THAT is some scrap rubber left over from a Unity stamp set I bought a few weeks ago! When I removed the stamps, I thought right away that this particular leftover rubber piece would make an awesome Hallowe'en tree. Initially I tried to make my own background using some distress inks and an acrylic block, but it wasn't what I'd hoped. Then I took a look at this patterned paper and realized it would make a fine stormy Hallowe'en sky. (Not precisely a scrap, but I had cut into it before.) It's not really showing up in the photo, but I even sponged the edges of the crazy cat moon. (Me! Sponging edges! Oh, and stamped on a scrap of white cardstock, of course.) The sentiment is also a scrap... from a Twinery Hallowe'en freebie. 

I even have other Hallowe'en card ideas percolating in my head. No idea what's going on here... :P

Supplies: black & white cardstock, Karen Foster purple swish patterned paper, Amuse smiley cat stamp, scrap rubber, milled lavender distress, Memories black & Brilliance graphite black inks, clear embossing powder, Twinery Hallowe'en printable gift tag, dimensionals

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