It's pumpkin season!!

Hi everyone, since it's pumpkin everything season I thought I'd join the band wagon, lol! But honestly, I don't like pumpkin anything...well, unless there's stamping involved ;)

How can I not like pumpkins when they're this darling?? I started out with a slightly larger than a standard A2 card base in chocolate cardstock and layered on the mustardish/orangish panel. Using a Pretty Pink Posh stitched border die I cut a piece of lime green and layered that on. I cut 3 tags (from Mama Elephant) and temporary adhered them to my work surface. I stamped polka dot background then stamped the pumpkin patch border in the center making sure it extended across all three tags then filled in the rest of the tag with a sentiment and images from the autumn and leaf accents petite four sets. After adding a little ribbon treatment to the tags, I popped them up on the card using foam tape/pop dots. I thought it still needed a little something more so I added some tiny 4mm clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

I'll see ya later!! :)

Pumpkin Everything!

Hi everyone!! Well, it's that time of year where pumpkins have started taking over our lives in lattes, muffins, side dishes and jack o' lanterns! So, being the follower that I am I thought that I'd bring you some pumpkin love here too. ;)  

I started off by cutting a cream colored panel and randomly stamping little leaves from the Autumn Stamp set all over. I set that aside and cut a smaller panel and using the other leaf and little acorn from the stamp set made a border around the outside edge. I stamped the Pumpkin Patch Border stamp in the middle towards the top and colored it in with TomBow markers then stamped my sentiment under it. I layered this panel onto a piece of kraft then layered that panel using foam tape/pop dots onto the panel I had stamped with the leaves. I was going to layer all of this onto an A2 sized kraft card base but changed it up and used a piece of chocolate cardstock instead. I finished it all up with a cute little bow/button treatment. 

Don't forget, we are still having a challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room. They start on the 1st & 3rd Mondays of the month. There's still time to join in our current challenge :)

 Our current challenge is called 'Autumn Bliss'!  Please create a card/project INSPIRED BY THE PHOTO AND INCLUDE A PUMPKIN!

Autumn wreath

Wow, this feels weird, I haven't had a Monday to post whatever I want since - hold on...checking the date, lol! OMG, it's been almost a year!! Tomorrow in fact will be one year since I joined my very first design team, The Shabby Tea Room!! Wow, time sure has flown by! I'm still just as in awe and honored that I was selected to join! Recently Paulina Nakamura from Pretty Pink Posh did a little series on her blog about applying to Design Teams and what they are looking for. It's great information to think about if you're on the fence about joining one. Here's the LINK to all parts in her little series. It's totally worth the read!! Well, anyway, as I was saying, I haven't had a "free" Monday in a whole year but we have decided to shake things up at The Shabby Tea Room a little and are now having our challenges run the 1st & 3rd Mondays of the month to give y'all a little more time to join in the fun! Here's the LINK to our current challenge that goes until 5th of October...there's still time to join in on the fun and since we now have 2 sponsors per challenge we are picking 2 winners!!

Alrighty, let's get on with today's post shall we? This is one of my favorite fall cards from my archives, it's sweet and super simple and can be mass produced in a jiffy!!

Two little pieces of cardstock and 3 stamps is all that this little card took! I started off by making an A2 sized card base in chocolate and set that aside. I cut a cream panel to fit the card base and punched to top two corners then started stamping. I stamped my sentiment first so that I'd be sure I had plenty of room for it. Had I done the wreath first I just know I would have stamped it too low and had to redo it...sigh! I learn from my past mistakes, lol! ;)  So after stamping the sentiment I stamped the Winter Wreath. Now don't let that cute little wreath's name fool you, it's pretty versatile! Think how pretty it would be with some nice green leaves and vines or for Christmas you can stamp little pine boughs and pine cones on it...can ya picture it...darling, right? Who doesn't like a little the little grapevine wreaths we see at all the craft fairs...think of this stamp as a blank grapevine wreath...possibilities are endless! Haha, I totally got off track didn't I? I'm easily distracted when it comes to DeNami stamps, I just can't help myself!  After I stamped the wreath I broke out my Solid Leaves set and stamped the tall fern-ish one in green all the way around the wreath then using two fall colors I stamped the other two leaves (oak & maple) over the top of them. I added a grosgrain bow to the top and some dots of glitter to finish it all off. See, easy peasy and FAST to make! 

That's it for me today, I'll see you on Wednesday!!

DeNami Design Blog Hop - November 2013

Hey y'all, how are you on this beautiful day? :)  Today you are in for a real treat...another fun fill blog hop brought to you by DeNami Design!! Let's get started!

One of my fave crafty go to supplies!!!!

 

When: The blog hop starts on November 10 at 6 AM, PST. However, you have until November 11, 2013, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs (to be eligible for a prize).Why: To be inspired by fun DeNami Design creations and also the chance to win mini shopping sprees on the DeNami Design website!

Prizes: We are giving away THREE $20 gift certificates to our website! We'll be giving away one gift certificate to a random participant (DT members not eligible) and then we'll also be giving away TWO gift certificates to TWO people who comment along the hop!

 

You should have arrived here from Lisa Elton's blog...she is so amazingly talented and is constantly blowing me away so I'm sure that was some serious eye candy she had there!! If you didn't start from the beginning or have gotten lost along the way, please go to the DeNami blog. There is a full list of participants & blog links right there for you :)

 

 

I have 2 things to share with you today. I absolutely LOVE twine and tend to use it quite a bit on my cards. A little twine bow adds the perfect finishing touch to most cards and really, you can never go wrong with it! But for this hop I wanted to challenge myself and use twine in a different way....

 

For my first project I took a cue from our own sweet and lovely, Paulina. She's shown us how she die cuts an image and then layers yummy sequins under the negative. Taking a que from that I started out with a large (6" tall) kraft tag and built a fun panel that I raised up on foam tape.

 

I cut 2 maple leaves from my panel, distressed inked both the panel and tag then stamped and layered all of my "goodies" (even one of the die cut leaves) on the panel. I cut 2 small pieces of cardstock and wound different colors of twine around them. I placed them behind the leaf negatives then added the panel to the tag using foam tape.

 

DeNami Products:

Mini Pumpkin

Leaf Vine Swirl

Thankful For You

Boutique Buttons

 

I hope you liked my (not so little) tag! Now onto a fairly CAS Holiday card. This little card was easy peasy to put together. I made the card base and stamped the sentiment then ran it through a dry embossing wood grain folder. I die cut a fancy little panel that I attached to the card base using foam tape. The wreath was SUPER EASY!! I simply punched a circle out of cardstock then punched a circle out of the middle of that circle. I wound the twine around it and secured the end with a little piece of tape. You can't even tell that I didn't perfectly center my smaller circle ;) hehehe! I used a little Crystal Lacquer to attach it to the card then attached a few loops of red twine and some fussy cut holly leaves that I had stamped out. You can get any easier than that!

See the pretty green scroll? That comes in the holly stamp set from DeNami. You can stamp the scroll and then stamp the different sized/shaped holly leaves and berries on it. I decided to change it up and have it highlight my sentiment...I like the effect I achieved using it this way :)  Ohh, I forgot to mention my "berries"! I'm completely smitten with them...little teeny pom-poms I got at a local stamp shop. It was one of those purchases that you don't know what to do with the item but you just HAVE to have it, lol!

 

DeNami Products:

Crystal Lacquer

Merry Christmas

Elegant Holly Set

 

Well that's it for me today. Now off you go to visit with Kerri Smith! I bet she has something yummy cooked up for you :)  I'll see you right back here tomorrow with a brand new challenge for The Shabby Tea Room!

 

Autum leaves

Happy Wednesday everyone :)  I hope your week is going smoothly!

 

Fall is definitely in the air here in Missouri! The leaves have changed and the crisp cool air is wonderful. I wanted to capture all that yummy goodness in a card.....

 

I just absolutely ADORE the new solid leaf set from DeNami! Perfect sizes and shapes :)

 

I started out with a cream card base then layered on a strip of golden yellow cardstock with just a slight texture. Using another piece of cream cardstock and Hero Arts Shadow inks I randomly stamped the 3 leaves then cut my panel down to size. I ran it through a dry embossing folder that reminded me of swirling wind and attached it to the cardbase. I made a little flag (little leaf from the Autumn stamp set and sentiment, is from DeNami also) and added 3 little rhinestones to finish it off.  No coloring, no bow tying and took me a whole 10 minutes...easy peasy, right??

Thankful For You

Recently I was introduced to a (new to me) medium called Goosebumps. It's great for adding texture AND you can stamp with it because it acts as a resist. In the class I took we used it by distressing cardstock then spraying it on and we stamped a cute little dear with it and then distressed the rest of the cardstock. The effects you get is really cool weather you're using it to ad texture or using it as a resist and I couldn't wait to try it out at home with my solid leaf images from DeNami!  

 

I wanted to keep my card simple but still give it some color so I inked up my wood grain dry embossing folder and placed a piece of cream cardstock inside then ran a brayer over it. By doing this I achieved a distressed inking look with no actual embossing. I then sponged a different ink along the edges and adhered it to a kraft cardbase. Using the Goosebumps (with the dobber, not the spray one) I "inked up" a solid leaf from the Solid Leaves set and stamped it on a panel of white cardstock. (Blogger Note: When stamping with Goosebumps, you MUST clean your stamp when you've finished stamping, you do not want this medium drying on your stamp!!) After the Goosebumps was dry I used orange & brown inks to color/distress the panel. Using the same brown ink I stamped my sentiment and then layered the finished panel on a lime green panel. I finished it off with some twine and button. I just love the results I got using the embossing folder and Goosebumps the way I did :)

Daisy love

Usually, when I sit down to make a card, if I don't already have an idea in mind, I tend to just stare at all my stamps and try to decide what to use.  In these situations, I always go for the Daisy to get the creative juices flowing.  First off, its a super cute stamp.  Secondly, it can be used for so many things.  And finally - what's not to love about this stamp?  So after stamping, die cutting and layering - voila!

 What is your "go-to" stamp when you want to get your card mojo flowing?

But it's not thanksgiving....

Heya everyone!

Today I have an odd little card for you. I've recently started submitting to magazines. Now, they are way ahead of the game when they put out calls for certain kinds of cards. This little creation was submitted...and rejected...for a November issue. Hope you like it better than they did, lol!

I'm thinking that if they had any clue how stinkin' hard it was to line up that little wheat stalk so perfectly each time they would have picked me....well, that's what I'm telling myself anyway. It's okay to live in my fantasy world, mmk ;) ?

This card fits with our current challenge theme too. You still have time to enter! Just click the link on the sidebar for all the info :) I think Paulina from DeNami Design is rubbing off on me...I almost gave a little tid bit peek about the next challenge that starts on the 11th!! ;)

I'll see ya'll back here on Friday!

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!

Thanksgiving is almost here...

Thanksgiving is almost here and I'm not even close to being ready! There are cards to be sent out and I just checked my stash...I'm in trouble! I had to get busy...

A little closer look...

 One down and many many more to go....sigh, why do Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas have to come so close together???



Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!

Elegant Fall Floral

Back on October 1st, for WCMD, DeNami had a little challenge for us. Paulina gave us a most gorgeous picture that we were to interpret and were allowed 3 entries. I took all three lol. I was on a roll, what can I say? Here's one of my entries that was rejected. Two rejects outta 3 still ain't bad in my book! Don't ya wish you were a fly on the wall when the gals start discussing cards for challenges...I mean, I have the hardest time trying to figure out what they're always looking for...sigh.

I just LOVED the warm rich colors and organicness (is that a word?) of Paulina's picture and tried to capture that with this little number. This was the first time I've ever used core paper and doing the sanding distress technique...LOVE this effect. I will tell you that instead of buying one of those expensive sanding sponge thingy tools that the craft stores sell, I snuck down to the basement and grabbed one of hubby's sanding sponge thingies from the Home Depot paint department, seriously, around a buck...now that I can live with! ;)   I did the double stamping with the large leaves and large solid leaves then cut them apart so I could layer them and tuck them up under my bow and little flower embellishment. The flower and the coppery glittered strip were both store bought.

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!

Thankful for you

First off, I have to apologize for the quality of the photos for this particular card. I couldn't find and angle where there wasn't a glare, or that you could see all the little subtleties so after taking entirely too many shots from various angles I just gave up - HA! (again, NOT a photographer....).



And now for a closer look:



Stamps used for this card: PF50 Ornamental flowers, E144 Thankful for you, E150 Water Lily.

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!