celebrating w joanne

Joanne of Mainly Flowers blog fame's celebrating the safe return of the stampin safari by offering blog candy pictured at left, so stop on by before October 31st!

spooky? I don't think so!

This is my first time playing with the smooth operators from Stamping 411 - they offer Saturday sketches and this card's based on their SSC120 sketch ... the black pebbles (they were blue, I painted 'em black) were arranged differently 'cuz my spidey's so darn large, and the ribbon's missing 'cuz it's located in the bedroom where my DH is currently napping ... so imagine there's ribbon on the top right, okay? Great! Now, don't 'cha just love this flocked DP? I limited myself to one sheet last year and still had a little bit left ... almost hate to use it! Do you have hoarding tendencies? I sure have to fight 'em!


stamps: A Muse Artstamps' Spooky Night; paper: Making Memories' Flocked Spider DP, Paper Reflections' black and SU Very Vanilla card stocks; ink: Heidi Swapp's black acrylic paint, StazOn Jet Black ink; accessories: chipboard spider, Panacea mini discs and Westrim googly eyes

hippo birdie 2 ewe, Mark!

Autumn is a second spring, where every leaf's a flower. - Albert Camus

I like that sentiment! Altered from a class project, I'd made arrangements for a buddy of mine to pick up the materials (thanx, Pat!). This card's DP and card stock were already cut to fit, compliments of a LSS, Karen's Creative Stamping. I've been heading there every other Saturday for a make-'n-take where we make a pair of 6x6" scrapbook pages and 2 cards. I missed last weekend's class because my DH, eldest son, and I were participating on a Area XIII Special Olympics' Bowling for Champions team! I missed THIS weekend's noon - 2 p.m. make-'n-take at my OTHER LSS (just plain lucky, I guess, to have two shops locally) because I got too late a start so headed straight to an early afternoon appointment. All I needed for this card was assembly, then I added the acorn and leaves stamp and sentiments, inside and out. Easy peasy and heading in the mail to my b'rer Mark in hopes that it arrives in time for his birthday later in the week!

stamps: Recollections' 115465, The Paper Co's Autumn Harvest, Stamps by Judith's D02, D45, O29 (for the inside - a hippo, birdie, and sheep/ewe ... get it?!); paper: unknown (supplied by shop); ink: SU's Soft Suede

love leaves memories

I needed a sympathy card for a friend and had coincidentally ordered the Irish Blessings stamp set from Waltzing Mouse Stamps just a couple weeks ago, thinking of her. The stamps arrived this week so I pulled together a quick and simple card to share, based on a layout at the stamp's site. I'll make this a quick post today as I've 5 birthdays to celebrate this month. When it rains, it pours.

stamps: Waltzing Mouse Stamps' Irish Blessings; paper: SU's Old Olive, Soft Suede, Whisper White card stocks; ink: SU's Soft Suede, VersaMark, and PC-generated (for inside sentiment)

and the tie-breaker IS ...

Here's my other fav from yesterday's stamp camp led by the lovely and talented Angie. Now, I ask you, had you ever looked at the Pick a Petal stamp set and thought about making a face from it? Angie shared that this was a sample from SU's demo site. It must be a t'riffic resource - methinks this scarecrow's SO STINKIN' CUTE! Thanx for stopping by!

stamps: SU's Pick a Petal, Sanded BK (on my wish list); paper: SU's Basic Black, Kraft card stocks; ink: SU's Basic Black; Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango, Old Olive, Soft Suede; accessories: unknown raffia; tools: 1/2" circle punch

I love Thursdays

... especially 2nd Thursdays, 'cuz that's when Pat and I generally head to Angie's stamp camp. She holds a few each month, but last month I wasn't able to make any of the dates. I've two favorites this month - this elegant piece and tomorrow's cutsie post; with the tie I needed a tie-breaker and this was my DH's fav so it made tonight's upload. I love all things silhouette lately and the wider satin ribbons. Funny ... I never used to use ribbons but I love 'em lately!

stamps: SU's Pocket Silhouettes; paper: SU's Soft Suede and Whisper White card stocks; ink: SU's Soft Suede; accessories: SU's 5/8" Whisper White satin ribbon; tools: Cuttlebug's D'vine Swirls embossing folder

is it just me?

... or, when you see a stamped element on a card that's facing the outside of the card, do you cringe a little? For example, a card I just looked at had a small snowman on the right side of the card, but it was facing right ... I just wonder, did its maker give any thought to taking a pic of it and flipping the image around vertically before coloring the image? ... or putting it on the left side of the card so it looked toward the center of the card?

is it just me? I'm just askin'!

top 5 things about fall

Kerri Bradford of serendipity blog fame recently posted about her top five things about fall. I was up north with my local sibs, Mom, and niece over the autumn solstice, but thought it'd be a nice idea to share. I love the change of seasons ... tho' I'd appreciate shorter winters, LOL (wink!), I figure winters make me more appreciate spring, summer and fall!

My top 5 things about fall: 1) attending craft shows, 2) walking in fallen leaves, 3) pulling out my fav sweaters and sweatshirts, and 4) relaxing with a mug of hot spiced cider, while enjoying 5) a fire in the fireplace. ... so, what are YOU thankful for?

Celebrating WCMD

Don't you just love WCMD celebrations?! Cruising blogs this evening, I noticed that Christine of Creative Journey blog fame is offering blog candy - so stop in to visit her by day's end Sunday October 11th!

enabler (blog candy) alert

FYI, folkes - Suzanne's got candy, so head on over and check it out by Oct 8th (and thanx, Jan, for the "heads up!").

happy WCMD

So, how'd you celebrate World Card Making Day? Earlier today I went bowling with my DH and eldest son as a team in the Area XIII Special Olympics' Bowling For Champions program. I used to bowl on leagues with friends and my DH but that was many moons ago. Today I perfected the left gutter throw ... it was a sad sight! BUT the event's tee shirts were awesome, so that's all that matters! That, and my son had a t'riffic time!

Just before hitting the hay tonight I made this "welcome fall" card to celebrate autumn, which has arrived here in the Midwest. Tho' the trees in my yard are mainly maples, I couldn't find a maple leaf punch this evening so dug out this recent oak leaf find from the dollar stamp section at my local Mike's. This card's based on a couple challenges - the layout's based on the clean and simple FTL60 sketch challenge and the leaves are from Sharon Johnson's ssnotime106 leaves subject challenge. I stamped the leaves on the pretty indian summer DP, then cut them out and use glue dots to adhere them to the white background.

stamps: Recollections' 115465, studio g's series 20; paper: Basic Grey's indian summer DP, SU's soft suede, whisper white card stocks; ink: SU's soft suede; accessories: a muse artstamps' mini dot twinkle stickers

boo!

I'm loving the clean & simple blog sketch challenges. This card's based on their FTL61 sketch and I'd been looking forward to using some of this ribbon for a web-look card. The stamps are from the past spring's Mega Meet - some sei stamps I'd picked up along with a mini "boo" word book that I've yet to embellish! So much to do and so little time, y'know?! What do you think the chances are that the recipient of this card realize the mini spiders are the "o's" in the word "boo?"


stamps: sei's eerie alley; paper: SU's Whisper White and Paper Reflections' black card stocks; ink: StazOn's Jet Black; accessories: unknown webbish looking ribbon; tools: Cuttlebug with Nestabilities' standard petite circles and large classic inverted scalloped circles dies