A little trick or treat

 I'm sometimes amazed at what I find when I go looking. In this instance it was Halloween crafting supplies. I rarely make Halloween cards, but I knew I had a folder where a few items were stored. "A few items" turned out to include images, patterned paper, and even chipboard embellishments. 

The image was colored with pencils, then fussy-cut. I chose three coordinating patterned papers and two chipboard pieces to finish off the card.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2539 -- Halloween/fall

Double D -- trick or treat

Double Trouble #201 --  3-2-1 from your stash challenge (3 patterned papers, two chipboard embellies, one image)

The Paper Funday #81 -- Cute or creepy (cute, obviously)

Creative Inspiration -- Autumn/spooky

Gem of a Challenge -- anything goes

Polkadoodles challenge  -- anything goes

DigiChooseday -- anything goes 

Word Art Wednesday #718 -- anything goes 

Can't resist fall leaf

"Can't resist" in the title is word play -- I used two different resist techniques on this mini slimline card. To create the background, I used emboss resist -- stamping and white-embossing the hatched design, then sponging color over the panel for a colorful background -- the embossed area resists the sponged ink and stays white. For the leaf, I used waxed paper resist, which involves crumpling wax paper, ironing it on glossy card stock, then sponging on colored inks. The wax resists the color.

Both the tag and leaf were cut with stitched dies. 

This card is entered in these challenges

Double D -- make your own background

Inspiration Station -- Inspired by photo of fall leaves/trees; fall is my favorite season and colorful leaves are a symbol of the beauty of the season

Die-cut Divas -- anything with die cuts

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2537 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #717 -- anything goes

Digi Chooseday -- anything goes

Polkadoodles -- anything goes 

 

 

A little gold for Christmas

 

I found this bit of gold-toned polished stone background in my stash, where I suspect it has been hiding for like a decade. I decided it would make a lovely Christmas ornament, so I die-cut it and added a bit of bold metallic string through the handy-dandy little hole the die provides. I matted it on a a stitched rectangle I cut from dark green card stock and splattered with metallic gold paint. The green panel is popped up on foam take. The sentiment is embossed with a gold metallic EP. 

This card is entered in these Challenges:

Jingle Belles -- Baby it's GOLD outside

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- Add some metal 

Creative Inspirations -- Christmas

Die-Cut Divas -- anything goes

Crafts Galore Encore -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #716 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2537 -- anything goes

A Cut Above -- use diecuts 

Gem of a Challenge #10 -- anything goes

Digi Chooseday 9 -- anything goes

Polkadoodles challenge  10 -- anything goes

The Paper Funday #80 -- anything goes 

Fun with flowers and folds

 I describe myself as fun-fold challenged, but sometimes I feel up to a challenge, like with this corner fold card. This particular fold was a bit of a struggle, because you have to flip it over at a certain point to get a vertical orientation -- I missed the flip and ended up with a horizontal card, which doesn't really bother me -- and the paper works in any direction.

I used a few scraps of leftover patterned paper to die-cut the stitched flowers and added a bit of ribbon and some acrylic dots as additional embellishment.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Crafters Cafe #322 -- use patterned paper

Pammie's INky Pinkies #2534 -- anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #714 -- anything goes

Creative Crease #106 -- use a fun fold

A Cut Above -- use a diecut

Digi Chooseday #9 -- anything goes

 

Quick Christmas Card

I may have set a land speed record for card-making with this card. I had the embossed panel in my stash. I die-cut it with a stitched die, added a silver-embossed sentiment, and highlighted the moon and stars with Wink of Stella. Attached it to a white top-folded card and it was done. CAS for the win.

This card is entered in these challenges:

ABC Christmas -- Q is for quick

Word Art Wednesday # 712 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2532  -- anything goes

The Paper Funday #79 -- anything goes

Gem of a Craft Challenge #9 -- anything goes

Digi Chooseday #8 -- anything goes

Polkadoodles #9 -- anything goes 

 

Sketchy Christmas

 

The Jingle Belles posted a fun sketch, so I tried my spin on it. I went through my Christmas supplies and found a circular stamp I'm not certain I've used before. That gave me the circular element the sketch called for. Then I went looking through my Christmas patterned paper and found several snippets that looked good together. I didn't even have to cut the two smaller pieces (yes, I do keep very small bits of paper sometimes), and the trims on the striped paper were minimal.  Since the central image and one sheet of paper included sentiments, I didn't see any need to add another, so the small strip is just a fun accent rather than a spot to say Merry Christmas.

In the end, my card is a pretty close match to the sketch.

 

 

This card is entered in these challenges:

Jingle Belles: Sketch

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2532 -- anything goes

Polkadoodles #9 -- anything goes

Gem of a Challenge #9  -- anything goes

Creative Inspiration -- anything goes

Digi Chooseday #8 -- anything goes 

Now I know what a protea is

 The current Double Trouble Challenge asks us to try the spotlight technique. It's a technique I learned years ago and haven't used in ages, so I took the challenge. In my stash of stamped images, I found this image of a flower called a protea that a friend sent to sent me. I'm not familiar with the protea, so I had to google it. It turns out it's a South African flower (see, stamping is educational). The most common color I saw in the online images was pink, and some of the flowers had a purplish center, so those are the colors I chose to work with.

I used a thin circle frame to create the spotlighted area. For a sentiment, I used some metallic tape that's cut into happy words and phrases, like "smile" and "Sweet memories."

This card is entered in these challenges:

Double Trouble #197 -- (3-2-1 recipe, blossom, and TSOT sketch)

Try a Sketch on Tuesday # 676

Word Art Wednesday #710 -- anything goes

Gem of a Challenge #9 -- anything goes

Crafts Galore Encore #138 -- anything goes

CRAFT #761 anything goes option

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2532 -- anything goes

Beautiful Blossoms #31 -- any floral option