Happy Halloween!

It is MUCH too warm here tonight to feel like Halloween, but it's always my favorite day of the year! My oldest (12) had been saying all week that he thinks he's too old to go trick-or-treating this year, but as his younger brother was getting into costume shortly before sunset, he had a change of heart. Ha! So he pulled together a costume with pieces from his last 3 costumes and it turned out pretty good. They both got huge amounts of candy and began trading like mad once they got home. Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Swap Day Aftermath

Another card swap has come and gone. This month we did a sketch challenge with a Mojo Monday sketch. I ended up changing it up a bit because the original sketch and I just were not getting along. I used the Halloween kitty stamp from Inkadinkado, stamped in black pigment ink and embossed with clear embossing powder, and colored in the moon with an orange Spica glitter pen. I went looking for orange brads to attach to the ribbon, but I couldn't find them. I came across the orange rhinestones during my search, though, and they worked just fine. The cardstock is SU and the polka dot paper is something I picked up a few years ago at Hobby Lobby.

My dining room table is always a disaster area once I finish my swaps. I can't work on swaps here in the closet since I need lots of room to spread out when I'm mass producing, and I just don't have that kind of space here in the closet. Anyhow, I've since cleaned off the table, but here's how it looked after I finished the cards. A complete mess! :)

Supplies:
Stamp: kitty, Inkadinkado
Ink: SU Basic Black Craft
Paper: SU Basic Black, Green Galore, Only Orange, Georgia Pacific white, patterned paper from my stash
Accessories: SU black grosgrain ribbon, Kaiser orange rhinestones, Marvy circle and scalloped circle punches, Spica glitter pens, SU clear embossing powder, Stampin Dimensionals

Happy Halloween!

The boys picked out their creepy costumes (if you look at the larger version of the photo you can see the blood oozing over the bones in the costume on the left -- he controls it with the red pump in his hand) and had a great time trick-or-treating and then giving out candy later and scaring the little kids who came to the door. It was a nice chilly night too, so no worries of them getting too hot in their robes. Ahhhh, Halloween... Hope everyone else had a frightfully fun night as well!!

There are a couple of online sales going on to mention. Free shipping at Bella Stamps on orders over $45 through Nov. 4. The code is 8d43d7 (it's case sensitive). I've already placed an order today. And now I see that Hanna Stamps is also having a sale so I'm off to check that one out before settling in to watch my favorite scary movie -- Halloween! :)

Happy Haunting!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

It's my favorite time of the year! It finally feels like fall outside, the sun sets earlier and now we're just a day away from my favorite holiday. I took the week off from work so I could enjoy it all a bit more. The kids have their costumes and I've stocked up on candy, so once the pumpkin is carved we'll be ready for the big night.

This is one of the cards I received in the SCS Halloween swap. Don't you love how the olives look like eyeballs?! Such a fun card -- it would be great for a Halloween party invitation! It was made by Carmen Ramirez. I'm not sure how well it shows up in the photo, but she used Crystal Effects for the 'beverage' in the glasses. Love it!!

Well I finally broke down and got a Big Shot! So now I can finally make some of those cute baskets I've been seeing everywhere. But for everything else, I was doing just fine with the Cuttlebug, so don't go thinking you HAVE to have the Big Shot to use the Top Note Bigz die or Tulipe or Scallop Circle Bigz dies -- they all work in the Cuttlebug with 2 'B' plates. The tricky ones are the dies that include score lines -- the Cuttlebug will slice through the score lines without some type of mat, from what I've heard. I love my Bug, though, so I'll be keeping BOTH!

Supplies:

Stamps: Cheers To You, Tasty Sweet (both SU)

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, black

Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black, Going Gray, Naturals White

Accessories: crimper, Crystal Effects, vintage brads, blender pen

Batty For You

This is the other SCS Halloween swap card I made. I had already made these black cards with the SU Sanded background stamped in craft white ink, so then I just had to figure out what to do with them. I had also put together these little batty scallops for another project and ended up not using them then, so I didn't want them to go to waste. (Yes, I know, smiling bats -- but I actually do like this set!) But here's what I discovered (the thing that drove me batty, so to speak, as I alluded to in my previous post) -- this set does not lend itself to full-sized cards very well. It's great for treat covers and 3x3 cards, but aside from a few cute ideas that have been done many, MANY times since this set came out last fall, there was not much coming to me. In fact, I thought it was just me, so I went to check out the SCS gallery, and most of what I found was for treats and smaller cards. Hmmm... What could I do to make it different? Then I remembered a nifty trick I just saw on an SU stamping DVD. You can punch a large circle (larger than any of SU's current circle punches) using the rounded tab punch. You just punch it twice, at two different angles, and it makes a circle. A circle which the SU scallop circle punch will fit in very nicely. So once I had a home from my scalloped bat (adhered to a piece of white c/s on the inside of the card), the card was easier to finish. I didn't like the way any of the designer paper looked with it because the background was already busy enough as it was. So a plain pumpkin strip with two black brads, a couple more punched bats and a 'happy halloween' sentiment were all it needed. I considered adding some ribbon, but I didn't want to overdo it. Ha!

I've been watching QVC's papercrafting fair today, but, amazingly, I haven't ordered anything yet. There have been a couple of cute Halloween kits, but I've managed to resist. The one thing I really want is a set of the new Glue Dot dispensers (yes, Michelle, this is all your fault!) but there's other stuff thrown in with QVC's set that I don't need, so I'll just wait until I can find them on their own.

I'm going to start gathering up some unused/unwanted supplies this week to put in a crafting garage sale coming up at our local scrapbook store next month. I've got a few QVC scrapbooking kits that I've never used, among other things, that need a good home. And with ebay fees what they are now, you barely make any money there anymore. So with just a one-time $5 fee to display my stuff at the store's garage sale, it is definitely worth a try to free up some space here in the closet. Maybe then I could finally buy a Big Shot!

Supplies
Stamps: SU Batty For You, All Holidays, Sanded background
Ink: Staz-On black, SU whisper white craft pad
Paper: SU Whisper White, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: scallop circle punch, rounded tab punch, 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, paper piercer, black (vintage) brads

Spooky Nights

This is one of the SCS Halloween swap cards I came up with. For such a simple card, it really gave me fits! I must have changed it at least half a dozen times. I'm not a big fan of cutesy Halloween stuff -- I prefer the creepy, weird, eerie images rather than smiling spiders, though I have lots of both -- which is why the new House of Haunts stamp set is one of my favorites. Even the jack-o-lantern in the set looks just a wee bit demented. Heh. Anway, since the bats in this new Halloween DSP aren't smiling, they worked well with my spooky tree. I sponged around the focal image with black ink -- but not the SU Basic Black classic pad. Why? Because it looks purple! Drives me nuts! I had the Staz-On black pad out anyway, so I just used that, even though that ink dries so fast it's not the greatest to use for sponging. At least it's a true black. And this was an all-SU swap, so I tried to stay true to that. I'll post my other card this weekend. It also drove me batty, but I'll explain that in the next post. I'm thinking maybe the creative juices just weren't flowing this week.

Still no Paper Crafts magazine. If it doesn't show up in tomorrow's mail, I'm going to go buy a copy at AC Moore!

Supplies

Stamps: House of Haunts, Halloween Frights

Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Basic Black cardstock; Ghostly Greetings DSP

Ink: Staz On black

Accessories: small and large oval punches, circle punch, black (vintage) brads, sponge, stampin' dimensionals

Enjoy Every Moment

I finally got to do some stamping this past week, though I'm still woefully behind on my projects. This was a birthday card I made for a friend whose birthday was three weeks ago -- eek! I didn't want to use a 'happy birthday' sentiment since the card was so late, so I pulled out my SU Enjoy Every Moment set for the sentiment. The background of the card is CASEd from a card by Jill Hilliard. I loved the Baja Breeze, black and white combo with the flowers from the Embrace Life set colored in with the white gel pen. I just changed the sentiment and its presentation on the card. Initially I had stamped the little flower in the middle of the "O" in "enjoy" in Baja Breeze, but it was just sort of floating there and didn't look right. So then I thought it would pull everything together nicely to punch a circle in the Baja Breeze cardstock and place it within the letter "O" then stamp the flower in black and color in the middle of it with the white gel pen. Except none of the SU circle punches are the right size to fit just inside the "O" without covering it up, so I had to dig out every circle punch I had until I found the one that worked -- the Paper Shapers 5/8" circle punch. Perfect! On the inside I used a sentiment from a retired SU birthday set that says "Life is not a matter of counting years. It's a matter of making years count." I tell you I am going through this Baja Breeze cardstock VERY quickly. I love it!

I stopped in Michaels yesterday on my way to work to pick up a magazine with my half-off coupon. Turns out they have now stopped accepting coupons for magazines! What?! AC Moore tried that restriction for a couple of months earlier this year, but then came to their senses and began allowing it again. Probably because it's bad for business when there is a Michaels store one block away! So yeah, I probably won't be making nearly as many stops in Michaels now. Craft magazines cost way too much to pay full price -- especially the Cards and Paper Trends mags. Maybe I should look into subscriptions... Speaking of which, I have seen the new issue of Paper Crafts magazine in the stores for two weeks now, but my subscription copy has yet to appear in my mailbox! Ack!! I have to have it! It's the Halloween issue!

And finally, in my never-ending quest for the best in Halloween stamps, I have discovered THESE new wood-mounted stamps by Inkadinkado. I especially had to have the Katmoondu stamp! They are on their way to my mailbox as we speak! I have to say I am VERY happy with all the Halloween crafty goodness that has been released this season. I don't think I've ever had such a fabulous selection from which to choose before, and it's been pretty much across the board with so many different companies coming through with must-haves for my most favorite of holidays! Love it!!

We All Scream For Halloween!

Look at these Halloween goodies I found at AC Moore last week. The stamp sets were on sale for 30 percent off and I used my half-off coupon on the owl punch. (Isn't he evil looking? Love it!) The glow-in-the-dark stickers were just 1.99 so I had to throw them in with the other things. I'm going back tonight on my way to work with another half-off coupon for another punch. Maybe the bats border punch.

I also found some great new Halloween papers and mat stack pads by K & Company that I scooped up immediately.

Haven't done much stamping in the past week, between watching Olympic swimming and gymnastics at night, working extra hours and the mad rush to get ready for the start of the new school year (the boys' first day was yesterday) I just haven't had time to sit and play for very long. I may have to lock myself in the closet on my nights off this week, though, so I can put some ink on all these stamps. I was hoping for a little tropical weather during those nights off to make for great stamping weather, but now the forecast has it turning more west and away from us. Oh well, maybe we'll still get one rainy night out of it.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

I decided to tackle the issue of my ever-expanding ribbon collection while I had some time off a few weeks ago. I don't want to think about how many hours it took me to spool more than 100 lengths of ribbon onto clothespins to put into glass cannisters (a la Nichole Heady's ribbon storage solution). The sad thing is, that's not even HALF of my ribbon! But the good thing? The next time I went to Michaels, I didn't even stop at the dollar ribbon bin at the front of the store! This may have finally cured me of my impulse ribbon purchases! At least until I can use up some of this stash.
Still waiting on my holiday Cuttlebug order. It shipped last week but still isn't here. Hopefully it comes on Wednesday so I can play on my nights off. In the meantime, I have found more Halloween goodies to add to my wish list. First and foremost, these Halloween punches at Michaels! I mean are you kidding me -- Halloween BORDERS?! Clearly Martha understands my needs! And then there's the matter of this Inkadinkado clear set. Check out the bat flourish!! Plus the A Muse crew is hinting at a Halloween release to die for coming very soon. I've signed up for 3 or 4 Halloween swaps due next month, but with all this great new stuff, I won't know what to use!
Got to see The X-Files movie on Sunday. I hadn't exactly heard great things, but it is pretty much my favorite show of all-time (those last two seasons notwithstanding) so I had to go. And I LIKED it! Be sure to stay for the end of the credits for an image of Mulder and Scully you never thought you'd see! Hee!