Dancing out the Halloween season

Woohoo! I was finally able to get some stamping done today. I needed one more Halloween card, so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone & make it fit the Saturday Night Spotlight challenge SSHPO5, In So Many Words. Although I didn't stamp the words to highlight the card, I chose a paper by Cloud9Design that has almost all of the words that relate to Halloween. Don't you just love the dancing skeleton? He's definately one of my favorite Halloween images.

This card was easy peasy to make. I stamped the skeleton on the alternate side of this design paper with dye ink. The orange paper was another contrasting piece that I had that just happened to match up with some American Crafts Elements ribbon that I got for a song at Big Lots a couple weeks ago. The card was too plain with just the ribbon & matted skeleton, so I matted a couple images from Holly Berry House stamps to complete the scene. As you should know by now, I had to add some bling, so I grabbed a couple square jewels from my stash & turned them to match the Holly Berry House images.

I never leave the inside bare, so I stamped another Inkadinkado image that I got at Tuesday Mornings yesterday for only 99 CENTS! I wish I had embossed it, but it shows up much better in real life. I have an old foam stamp set that had the Happy Halloween image in it that fit just right, so I stamped it inside the other image with dye ink. Next I cut out the image & matted it on some of my purple cardstock stash after I inked all of the edges. To finish it off, I glued it all onto another piece of the Cloud9Design paper & it was done. I wish they all went together so easily!

It's a good thing this was so easy because I have plenty of stuff I want to buy from the vendors that are involved with the Fall Virtual Convention over at Rubber Stamp Chat. If you're like me & can't get to the real stamp conventions, this is the next best thing! Lots of vendors have tons of stuff marked down for this sale. There's even games to play for some really cool prizes. If you've been planning (or not) on buying anything stamp related & then some, you better click on the Rubber Stamp Chat logo on my sidebar & see all of the companies that are involved in this awesome convention. There's no better way to shop then sitting at your computer in your jammies while you're sipping on some coffee & choose what you want to buy at your leisure! It will be over on Monday, so you better get over there quick!

Lee

Card Recipe:

Skeleton image by Inkadinkado

Bat & Flying Witch images by Holly Berry House

Spider Web frame image by Inkadinkado

Happy Halloween images by unknown

Black Dye Ink by Memories

Colored Dye Ink by Ranger Sea Brights

Ribbon by American Crafts Elements

Bling by unknown

Adhesive by AdTech & Aleene's Tacky Glue Pen

Check out Holley's Blog Candy

Do you like blog candy like I do? I don't even have to wait for an answer! One of my friends from a Yahoo group I belong to is offering some really great blog candy. If you have a Cricut, you won't want to miss it because it's a Cricut Joys of the Season cartridge. So, you're like me & don't have a Cricut. No problem! She's offering 25 assorted rubber stamps to the winner if you let her know that's what you want instead. SWEET! She's even got a bonus prize, but you have to check that out yourself at: http://holleybarnhartsblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/its-blog-candy-time.html?showComment=1256998797886#c6420882983327654008

Lee

Santa Claus is here already

I made this card for the monthly sketch challenge over at Rubber Stamp Chat that is sponsored by Bombshell Rubber Stamps. Although I have made many cards with this sketch since it's so easy to work with, this was the only one that I took a picture of to show you.

The card is 5" x 7" which is bigger than my usual cards, but it worked better with the image & the sketch. The Santa image was stamped & embossed on a piece of white cardstock. I choose to emboss it with purple to match the papers better. I then colored the image with chalk & then put Crystal Glaze in the inside of the wire frame to look more realistic.

After I inked all of the edges of the card & papers with dye ink, I matted the image on a circle mat. Next I glued it on top of the two pieces of design paper that was cut about 1/8" shorter than the card. To make sure the ribbon stays on better, I cut a slit on the inside edge & ran the ribbon through the slit & glued it on the outside & inside of the card. I added some sparkle with the glistening yarn & glued the snowflakes on top of the ribbon. The inside was then stamped & embossed & the Operation Write Home image was stamped on the back of the card. One thing I did add after I took the picture was a little white dot with a gel pen on each of Santa's eyes. If you don't have a white gel pen to do this, you can always dip a toothpick or end of a paintbrush in white paint & just barely touch in the eye as a highlight.

Since this card will be going with the tons of other cards that I'm sending to Operation Write Home to be sent to our soldiers overseas, I wanted to make sure that I didn't add glitter, but Santa does deserve a little sparkle! I love to use non-traditional colors for my holiday cards as much as possible, so I can use more of my everyday papers. Don't forget to come back on November 14th to my blog & all of the other participants for the Operation Write Home Blog Hop. Don't forget to sign up as a follower on my blog for your chance to win some awesome blog candy after this blog hop. You won't be disappointed!

Lee

Card Recipe:
Image by Victorine Originals
Candy Violet EP by Joann's Craft Essentials
Embossing ink by Top Boss
Purple ink by Memories
CS & DP by Hobby Lobby
Chalk by Kaisercolour
Crystal Glaze on eyeglasses
Ribbon by unknown
Snowflakes by Craft Essentials

Black, White & a Pop of Color challenge card

I was blog hopping last night & came across a challenge from Paper Maniacs at http://papermaniacblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/paper-maniac-inspirations-challenge.html They wanted cards made with black, white & a pop of color. Can you believe that I had just finished making one that fit the challenge? Usually I see the challenges & can't find them again. Well, this time I actually wrote it down so I didn't forget to enter! They will have a new challenge on Sunday, so you better be quick if you want to enter

I really love this image from Impression Obsession, but I couldn't decide what to do with it. I remembered that I had bought a ton of these foil squares at a garage sale, so I decided to give them a try. Boy, I'm glad I did! I love how it really sets this scene off!

First I stamped & embossed (yes, embossed, even w/the fine details!) the image on white cardstock. Then I stamped & embossed it again on the foil & cut out just the sky area. I then glued this section carefully on top of the main image. Finally, I stamped & embossed the image again on some more white cardstock & cut out just the sled. For the final touch, I glued the embossed sled image on top of the foil image of the sled. It really popped, but the wreath on the door needed something. I decided to get out some 1/4" red ribbon & made a bow to balance the color. I thought I was done, but now that I look at the picture, I think I may add some snow to the rooftop, or not!
Lee

Card Recipe:

Image: Impression Obsession K1026 'Twas the Night

Cardstock: The Paper Studio

Ink: Black Versafine

EP: Ranger Black Superfine

Foil: unknown

Ribbon: 1/4" red Hobby Lobby

Adhesive: Ad Tech Glue Runner & Tacky Glue

Veteran's Day Operation Write Home Blog Hop

I got my confirmation yesterday that I will be one of the stops on Operation Write Home's Blog Hop on the Saturday after Veteran's Day, November 14th. You won't be disappointed! This organization accepts handmade cards from all over to send to our troops overseas. OWH ships the cards to them so they can have something nice to send home to their families. With all the stores in the US that we have all over the place, it's hard to imagine that our heroes can't go out & buy a card for their loved ones in stores in places like Afghanistan or Iraq. They're lucky if they get a regular shower!

As soon as I heard about the blog hop, I knew I wanted to join in. If you don't already know, my daughter is a Sgt. in the Colorado Army National Guard 220th MP Unit. She did a tour in Baghdad, & she will probably have to go to Afghanistan since she reinlisted for 3 more years last year while she was in Baghdad. Making cards is one of the few activities that I'm still involved with due to my disabilities.

I will be offering BLOG CANDY to one of my followers that comments on my blog on November 14th. Some of the items I will be offering include a custom stamp with the Operation Write Home logo for the backs of your cards (not required, but it helps them out in the mailroom!), rubber stamps by Judith & CC Rubber Stamps, The Paper Cut White Luster Twist Cards, Martha Stewart Crafts ribbon, K&Company adhesive gems, tons of design paper & LOTS more! I'll try to get the picture up later today.

If you want to be involved in this Blog Hop for our Heroes, click on the Operation Write Home logo on my sidebar for more information. The last Blog Hop they had on Memorial Day had over 150 blogs involved, so you won't want to miss this one!

Lee

Stamp Something Brown Challenge

On the Stamp Something Challenge Blog, they have a challenge asking you to use the color brown on your card. The sponsor of this challenge is iCopic, & they're offering a set of 12 soft pastel Copic Ciaos. You can bet your bootie that I want to enter this challenge! I've heard so much good about Copics, & I would love to win this set to give them a try before I buy! I just LOVE the color brown on almost anything, so I didn't have far to go to find this card.

You can get to this challenge site by following this link: http://stampchallenges.blogspot.com/2009/10/brown-plus-something-challenge.html

I stamped this card a while back with this beautiful Holly Berry House Butterfly medallion stamp. I stamped the image 3 times, embossed each layer with bronze embossing powder, added Magic Scraps glitter, layered the butterfly image with Pop Dots & then placed it on a layered background that uses LOTS of browns! I've been on another medallion stamping spree lately, so whatever doesn't go to the nursing home will probably end up on my blog soon.

Card Recipe:
Rubber - Holly Berry House Butterfly medallion
Ink - Versamark
EP - Ranger Bronze
Glitter - Magic Scraps & Art Glitter,
Cardstock - Paperabilities, Bazzil textured, DCWV the Metallic Stack,
DP - DCWV Once Upon a Time Matstack, Colorbok Carnival Pack
Adhesive- Pop Dots, Scotch taperunner & Zig 2 way glue pen
Decorative Scissors - Fiskars

Happy "Brown" Stamping!
Lee

More Stoney pics

My service dog, Stoney, became a member of the family very quickly. Her real personality took a little longer to show up. She's almost as big of a ham for the camera as my grandkids. Scratching her back on the grass rates right up there with playing with her tennis balls or Nylabones. Do you think the back scratching has anything to do with the harness she usually wears??? ~ Lee

Stampscapes tag swap

I know I have been MIA lately, but family does come first! Hopefully, things will be back to abnormal soon, so keep checking back for more!

I was in a tag swap in my Yahoo Stampscapes group, so I thought I would share with you some of my creations. My swap partner is Darsie Bruno who is a truly gifted artist, so I hope she won't mind this newbies tags! This is the first time I've used glossy papers with my Stampscapes images. I truly have so much to learn, but I really love the ease of using makeup sponges as brushes with my stamp pads.

The tags may look hard to do, but they really come together quickly! Kevin has done such an excellent job of designing his Stampscapes line. They really blend together well & are very forgiving (good thing for me!). If you make a "mistake," you can usually cover it with another stamp. You can really add dimesion to the scenes by adding more images at the front of the scenes like the tree branches I used.

The images are stamped on glossy card stock. For this swap, I cut out 4 pieces of one sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" Kromekote glossy paper that I got this paper from a local copy shop, after coming up empty at all of the big name office supply stores.

On the first tag, the main image is stamped 2 times. I used the right side of the stamp on the left side of the paper & then the left side of the stamp on the right side of the paper. You can just put some torn paper towels over the image that was already stamped, so you don't end up with a lot of overlapping. Next, I stamped the cumulous clouds several times in the sky. The fun part was the coloring. Start w/the lighter colors & work up to the darker ones. There isn't a main light source on this tag, so the shading & highlights weren't as pronounced. I wish I had left more white spaces on all of the tags, but I guess you have to start somewhere! After I was done coloring, I added the bass, bird & branch images to the scene. There is some color on the bass, but the other images were left as is. Always spray these pieces with some sealer when you are done. It was finished off with a sticker sentiment & layered over the DP & card stock.

The next tag was stamped with portions of the stamps again. First, the cabin image was stamped. After covering w/torn sheets of paper towels, I stamped the right side of the cove image to the left of the cabin. While the cabin was still covered, the left side of the cove image was stamped in the forefront of the right side. I messed up on this image some, so I covered it up w/aome extra tree images. The clouds were added & colored like the rest of the images & then the branch, fisherman & duck were stamped last. It was finished off w/glossy sealer & matted & a ribbon was added to the top. I found another sentiment sticker to add that seemed to fit this image perfectly, but Kevin at Stampscapes has some great sentiment stamps that he just added to his line of stamps recently that would work just as well.

The third tag followed the same process as the others. The right side of the cove & the left side of the boulders & trees were stamped first. The clouds were added & everything was colored. The branch & the pine trees were added to the scene for dimension, & I blotted black ink around the edges. After spraying w/sealer, a sticker sentiment was added. Some more matting & a Kimberly Poloson rub-on was added at the top.

The last image would have to be one of my favorites especially since it uses one of my numerous covered bridge stamps! This image is by Wildlife Enterprises. I started w/the covered bridge image, & then added some rocks by Art Impressions to the right of the bridge. I covered the bridge & added the mountains. I stamped the main mountains about 3/4 of the way from the left edge, & then I masked this image & stamped the mountains again to the right side. I think I had to stamp a bit more of the mountains to the right of the bridge to fill-in the scene better. The clouds were added & everything was colored. The branch was added to the right side, & an unknown maker bare tree was added to the bottom along with the tops of the pine trees. This scene was triple matted & another rub-on was added to the top along with a stray silk leaf.

Ta-Dah! This was the last tag in my first Stampscapes group swap. I hope I will be involved in many more if the group allows. I just love seeing all of the great images that have already been added to our photo album over at the Yahoo group Stampscapes II. I have to add one more image of a card I made to thank Darsie for being my swap partner, & it was also her birthday last week. This card used one of Kevin's earlier images that he created when he worked for A Stamp in the Hand. I decided to try my hand at highlighting with a white gel pen. Kevin using this technique all of the time, & it just adds so much more to the scene. I have a way to go before I master this technique, but I really love what it does to the scene. I added a Coloroasis sticker to the card, & a ribbon from Hobby Lobby.

Happy Stamping!

Lee

Recipes:

All images by Stampscapes rubber stamps unless listed

Ink: Main images - Black Memories dye ink

Adirondack, Seashells, Sea Brights, Stamp it & Memories dye ink

DP: 1st tag - Frances Meyer Blue School Skirt
2nd tag - Karen Foster Design Natural Burlap
3rd tag - the Paper Studio Green Country Cackle
Cardstock: Paperabilities

Ribbon: Unknown except as listed

Embellishments: Unknown except as listed