Happy Halloween!

The witches fly
Across the sky,
The owls go, "Who? Who? Who?"
The black cats yowl
And green ghosts howl,
"Scary Halloween to you!"

Gourd Vader, Edward, and a Birthday~

After a fairly prolific week of stamping last week, this week has been rather dry. It's just a busy time - my mom's birthday is Sunday so it was a must to get her card finished before the weekend. I started her card this morning and finished in between taking Morgan to the doctor and picking Brett up from school. Luckily, what we thought could have been worse, is just a virus, but it's been making her life miserable for the last few days.

On Monday Brett's teacher assigned each child a small gourd with instructions to dress up the gourd in a costume of their choosing. No glue, pins, or markers on/in the gourd. There will be a "parade" of sorts tomorrow with judging, and more importantly, prizes for best costume, most original, etc. Brett, being a Star Wars fanatic, wanted his to be Gourd Vader. Using a few of my craft supplies, a photoshopped mask glued to cardstock, felt and cardstock for his outfit, and a red straw saber and Vader was complete. He's pretty awesome, if I do say so myself!

In addition, Brett's Halloween costume has been coming together. He is a big Tim Burton fan, loves all his movies, and this year decided he wanted to be Edward Scissorhands. The "dressed for public" Edward Scissorhands. So it's been a week of thrift shopping, creating faux scissors (painted chipboard for safety after initially considering the real thing) sewn on black gloves, making suspenders with the safety pin closure, and more in order to complete his costume. Now, mind you, he will be a blond ES as he tried on a wig and the look on his face was priceless, he's pretty sensitive to odd textures and I could tell that wig was a big nope! ES costumes are available online but we couldn't find anything related to ES at the Halloween store or big box stores, plus it's more fun to see how creative you can be when presented with making your own, isn't it?

Anyway, that's been my week in a nutshell..... :)

V.~

Supplies for the card above:
Stamps: Kind and Caring Thoughts, Warmest Regards by SU!
Ink: Memento Rhubarb Stalk, Pear Tart, SU! Sahara Sand
Paper: Gina K Pure Luxury White, Chocolate Kiss, Green Apple
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye The Merry Days of Christmas, Fancy Pants Christmas Carol (yes Christmas papers, but they work well for other days as well)
Other: Green satin ribbon, silver mini brads, sand marker and ink spritzer, Dimesionals

Butterfly Thanks for a Cause~

A stamping friend asked if I'd be interested in donating a stamped card, altered item, etc. for a silent auction that will benefit a woman who was struck by a car while collecting her mail at the mailbox. Absolutely. Something many of us do everyday, get the mail, and to have it bring one's life to a standstill is just unimaginable.

I made this tote and coordinated cards set this morning to send off for the auction basket. I needed the tote to be able to arrive safely and not crumpled so I used a clear card box and covered it with patterned paper chipboard. Kendra posted this design some time ago and I've used it a few times since, it's a wonderful way to present 6 - 8 minimally embellished/layered cards and envelopes

For this project, one sheet of patterned paper (My Mind's Eye) was used to complete the box and cards; the pink strip (in lieu of ribbon) is the reverse side of the paper. Turquoise, Kiwi and Vanilla cardstock round out the cardstock choices.

The butterflies are punched out with the Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly punch and attached with dimensional foam. Butterfly "trails" are made free hand with a piercing tool. The butterfly on the box itself has a pink button body with turquoise wax thread antennae.

Piercing at the card bottom is done with the Tim Holtz Design Ruler - I just love that ruler - it's a centering ruler and it's so easy to make sure your pierced holes are evenly spaced across the card.

Thank you sentiments (2 variations) are from SU! and are stamped with Soft Suede before punching out with an oval punch and matted on a scalloped oval.

Ribbon handles are threaded through Cropadile holes and secured with a grosgrain knot of coordinating ribbon. Now, just a bit of bubble wrap and into a Priority Mail envelope and off it goes!

I hope that Amber gets loads of donations!

V.~

Wanna {Paper} Pieced Pumpkin?~

Yesterday was a DD challenge and one of 2 things I forgot yesterday. Sorry Rio Seco (totally spaced out on a volunteer task I was supposed to do, first time in 19 years!) and sorry, Jodi for not following your oh so simple directions for your "You Want a {Paper} Piece of me?" challenge; paper piecing and either fall or Christmas colors. I had a card almost all set to go, ahead of schedule by one day, and then read the fine print. What? Fall or Christmas colors? How did I space that one out? Mine was neither, so it went in to the recycle pile to be tinkered with later. What can I say, my brain must have just had a meltdown.

After coffee this morning and before walking to school with Brett, I threw this card together. About 10 minutes, tops, from start to finish. At least I could get the challenge done, a tad late. Can't do much about the other forgotten task. Easy peasy paper pieced pumpkins are grounded on a strip of patterned paper which is on a simple vanilla base. AMuse Kitchen Collection papers with Kim Hughes images and 2 orange brads complete this easy as pumpkin pie card.

V.~

For a boy, for a girl~

Birthday Tent Topper cards, one for a boy, my brother and one for a girl, his girlfriend (also to match the boxed set below.)

Stamps for him by Unity Stamp Co.
Paper: Gina K's Pumpkin Spice and Ivory, SU! Soft Sky
Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye
Ink: Memento Cottage Ivy, Potter's Clay and Desert Sand

Stamps for her by SU!
Paper: Neenah Natural White, Gina K's Chocolate Kiss and Green Apple, SU! Baja Breeze
Patterned Paper: October Afternoon
Ink: Memento Pear Tart, Versafine Vintage Sepia, SU! Baja Breeze

V.~

South Forty~

My morning project today is one of my card boxes and 8 coordinated cards made from the fabulous South Forty patterned paper from the Farm Fresh line by October Afternoon. These are my FAV colors and I love the mix of flowers and plaid on this particular piece of the series. This set is a belated birthday gift for a good friend, I hope I am forgiven for my tardiness.

There are four monogrammed cards and four all purpose cards in this set. The monogram stamps are by JustRite and the butterfly/leaf stamps are SU! Inks are Versafine Vintage Sepia, Memento Pear Tart and SU! Baja Breeze. Simple image medallions and a ribbon bow allow the paper to be an integral part of the design.

Have a wonderful weekend!

V.~

Twix Terrors~

It's a bit seasonally schizophrenic around here, Christmas yesterday, Halloween today - part and parcel of having these 2 sets as part of my design team selections for the month of October.

This is another candy box I made that holds wrapped Twix bars inside. The box is a variation of a crayon-type box. I winged it to fit 4 treat sized Twix bars - all that's left from the bag from the store last week. A better hiding place is sorely needed around here! LOL Its finished size is 4"T x 3.5"W x 1"D and is made out of The Spider's Web collection by My Mind's Eye.

The candy corn goblin from OCL's Sweet Tooth Terrors is stamped on Neenah Natural White with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored in with various Copic Markers. He's trimmed out with a Nestabilities circle die before matting on Gina K's Pumpkin Spice and then mounted again on an Onyx Black Scallop Circle die using dimensional foam. The finished panel is mounted to the box flap with dimensional foam. A bit of wide striped ribbon and a coordinated tag round out the box set.

V.~

Jolly, Jolly, Jolly~

A quickie post today, a Jolly Ornaments goody bag with a matching card and box envelope.
Bag is 4" x 11", scored at 4-1/2" and 6-1/2", die cut a window on the front panel, a bit lower than center to compensate for the topper.
Bag topper is 4" x 3", scored at 1-1/2", decorative edge punched on both sides.
Prefold and set all scores, fill cello bag with treats, assemble all three together, holding securely together. Punch 2 holes with a Crop A Dile and thread ribbon through all holes, tie with a bow. Embellish as desired.
*original tutorial on the Scor-Pal site, however, I found that I needed to adjust the paper to size to 11" otherwise the tops didn't line up evenly.

Card is made from scraps after making the bag project. Finished card is 4" x 2-3/4" and a custom made box envelope is made from the last bit of patterned paper to complete the coordinated set.

V.~

Stamps: Jolly Ornaments by Our Craft Lounge
Ink: Memento Pear Tart, SU! Rich Razzleberry, Bermuda Bay
Paper: Gina K Pure Luxury Ivory, Prism Intense Kiwi, SU! Rich Razzleberry
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye Colorful Christmas
Other: Nestabilities Circle Dies, Scallop border punch, Crop A Dile, Dimensional foam, Polka Dot Grosgrain, Cello bag, 3/4" circle punch, Candy, Scor-Pal

Congrats!~

Yesterday on SCS the Try a New Technique Challenge was to make an easel card. I had never made, or seen, one of these cards before, so I decided to try one and make a Congrats card to a friend of mine who just was selected as a teacher of the year. This card is 4" x 4" when folded down, but you can make them any size as long as the bottom, folded portion, is twice the length of the main image panel.

Stubby pencils are from Making the Grade by Kim Hughes (CHF) were stamped on a scrap of vanilla, colored with Copics and cut out before attaching to the image circle with dimensional foam. Congrats is from Tag, You're It! and the sentiment was printed on the computer after a quick Google for teacher quotes.

Patterned paper is Girl Friday by Cosmo Cricket, the rest is a combination of Prism, Gina K, and SU! paper. Ink is Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black and SU! Rose Red. A button at the center of the bottom keeps the easel opened up for display.

A few punches round out the card; Round Tab, Scallop Border, and a Spiral punch. No ribbon? What was I thinking?! LOL

Tonight Jay and I are going to see Lion King, I am so excited! We bought a mini season ticket package this year for 6 shows - this is the second one of the season. It is also a celebration night out for our 18th anniversary which was yesterday. Last night we celebrated with the kids at Olive Garden. I am still stuffed!

Have a terrific Tuesday!

V.~

Missing You~

I realized I totally forgot to share this card from Gina K's SCS WCMD color challenge; brown, pumpkin and vanilla. Patterned paper is WeRMemory Keepers, stamps are from Kim Hughes, Bloomin' Beautiful-retired and Tag, You're It. Layout is a Joy-Fold card. Copic markers were used to color the flowers which are popped up with dimensional foam for a bit of added interest. Green mini brads and piercing embellish the simply stamped panel, chocolate grosgrain ties it all together.

I haven't felt much like stamping all week, but needed a quick birthday card yesterday and loosely followed a card from the Featured Stamper Challenge to come up with the mo and jo to stamp the card. The "flowers" are circle punched from the My Mind's Eye patterned paper, stems and leaves from the same KH set as above, and "wish" is from another KH set called Cute Curls.


Last night Morgan and I, with 2 of our friends, went to see Jason Mraz - we had a great time but both of us are a tad tired today. She's already at school....I'm sure a nap will be calling her name this afternoon. I know I'll have a bit of quiet time at some point, after the usual mundane Monday tasks are done.

Happy Monday!
V.~

And the winners are........

For the OCL Crafty Clear Jolly Ornaments set:

Tammy Nichols

And for OCL's Fueled by Caffiene:

Michelle/Eliotstamps

Please email me your snail mail address by using the email link in my profile
and your stamps will be on their way!

My email is located when you click "view my complete profile" on the left side of the screen.
Thanks for all the comments and stories about your holiday card making and coffee drinking habits!
And happy WCMD weekend!

V.~

A Couple of SCS WCMD Challenge cards~

I participated in the Unity Stamp Co. Quotes Challenge and made this card to give to Jay for our 18th anniversary next week. Quote printed on the computer, leaf image is from Unity's gratitude = joy set. Patterned paper is College Press, cardstock colors are SU! Bermuda Bay, Gink K Chocolate Kiss, Green Apple, and Ivory. Ink is SU! Kiwi Kiss. Grosgrain ribbon, a red button, waxed thread and a scalloped edge finish off the card. Finished card measures 5.5 square

This card was for the SCS challenge: Gratitude, Chocolate and a Sketch.
Leaf images are from the same Unity set used above, "thanks" is from Unity's Sentiments O' Simple. Ink is Memento Pear Tart and Versafine Vintage Sepia. Paper is Gina K's Chocolate Kiss, Pumpkin Spice, Ivory; Patterned paper is Wild Asparagus. Button, ribbon, waxed thread and brads round out this card. It is already in the mail headed to the midwest as a thanks for a package I got in the mail the other day.

We started off our day at the soccer field, Morgan's team won and she was ecstatic to be playing again - not only in goal, but in forward, as well. I had to let my nervousness go as she was in her element and so happy. After the game it was time to get ready for the Scor-Pal challenge and hostess thread, so much fun. I tried to play in Gina K's challenge but plum ran out of steam by 9pm, so I will try her challenge this morning before we head out to my mom's reception for her new show up in Poway.

Remember you can still enter the blog candy contest down below! Just leave a comment on one or both posts and I will draw a winner tonight at 7pm.

V.~

SCS WCMD Scor-Pal Challenge~

Here are the full sized samples of the 2 cards I sneak peeked for the SCS WCMD Scor-Pal Challenge. Head on over to this SCS thread:

WCMD09I ~ Scor-Pal Challenge (8:00 EST)

for all the details!

This card is a variation on a traditional "Z" fold and is upright instead of horizontal, you'll find a tutorial in the thread over at SCS, actually 2 tutorials, one in imperial and one in metric.

There's prizes involved by playing and posting at SCS, read the rules in the thread for all the deets!

Happy WCMD!
Remember to enter the blog candy posts below!

V.~

WCMD OCL Fueled by Caffeine Blog Candy!

Two blog candy offerings in one day! That's what I call a WCMD celebration!
If you'd like to enter the blog candy contest for this set, Fueled by Caffeine by Our Craft Lounge, just leave a comment below and tell me if you are a coffee drinker or not, do you drink full strength, decaf, hot, cold, mocha, frap, drip, instant, french press, etc. In other words, what's your favorite way to drink coffee? Or are you like Jay who doesn't touch the stuff, but have friends who do that you will create cards and gifts for using this set?

For me, it's pretty simple, I drink half caf, ground here at home with my red Cuisinart coffee grinder, a generous splash of french vanilla creamer and I'm ready to peruse the morning paper, starting with the comics and working my way to the real news on the front page. I do splurge on a half caf soy vanilla latte on occasion!

I will draw a random winner for this set, Crafty Clear Fueled by Caffeine by Our Craft Lounge, on Sunday night 7pm Pacific Standard Time.

*****fine print*****

• one comment per person - multiples will be deleted
• as I ship from my home, you must have a US address to be eligible
• if you are comfortable doing so, please leave your email in your post
• if not, that's okay, just be sure to check back for the winning results on Sunday night and email me within 1 day with your snail mail address
• if the winner cannot be reached within 1 day, a new winner will be drawn

Check back at 8EST (5PST) for pictures and information for the SCS Scor-Pal Challenge!

Good Luck!

V.~

Comments are now closed. Off to draw a winner!

WCMD OCL Jolly Ornaments Blog Candy!

In celebration of World Card Making Day, how about a little blog candy? To enter, just leave a comment on this post and tell me if you make your own holiday cards to send out, do a family photo card, or are you wild and get store bought cards after the holidays to use for the next year? I admit, I did that for years! Now I make ours, on a limited basis as we've scaled our list down in recent years. If you make your own, you'll have fun with this set which has variety of ornaments and holiday sentiments to choose from to make your cards and tags.

I will draw a random winner for this set, Craft Clear Jolly Ornaments by Our Craft Lounge, on Sunday night 7pm Pacific Standard Time.

*****fine print*****

• one comment per person - multiples will be deleted
• as I ship from my home, you must have a US address to be eligible
• if you are comfortable doing so, please leave your email in your post
• if not, that's okay, just be sure to check back for the winning results on Sunday night and email me within 1 day with your snail mail address
• if the winner cannot be reached within 1 day, a new winner will be drawn

I've scheduled another blog candy giveaway for after lunch (12:01 PST), come on back and enter that contest, too! We'll be up in Temecula for a few hours at Morgan's first post-injury soccer game. She's excited to get back in there, I'm a tad nervous!

Good Luck!

V.~

Comments are now closed. Off to draw the winner!

SCS WCMD Sneak Peek #2

A couple more snippets of the projects posting tomorrow over at SCS and their WCMD celebration!

Since it is WCardMD, not WBoxMD, the project I am posting as a challenge is a card (or 2) and the challenge time is later in the day EST. No early bird call for me! For more details, click on the SCS WCMD blinkie on the left side bar, it will take you directly to the SCS info thread.

Please check back tomorrow for full sized pictures of the projects and then play in the challenge for a chance to win an SCS prize. Remember I'll also be having a blog candy contest of my own here. Details to follow tomorrow.

Happy Friday!

V.~

Goblin Goodies~

How did it get to be October already? In celebration of Halloween I made this Goblin Goodies basket of treats. I'm not really a card sender for Halloween but everyone I know loves a little basket of chocolates in a fun seasonal basket. I used this template: Scalloped Basket
as my starting point, leaving off the scallops and adding pickets instead.

The base of the basket is Gina K's Pure Luxury Black Onyx and the pickets are Moonlit Fog that have been sponged in Memento London fog. If you want a strong and sturdy basket, Gina's cardstock is IT! I make lots of baskets and such, as you well know, and this is by far the sturdiest cardstock I have tried and it works wonderfully with the Scor-Pal.

The candy corn goblin is from OCL's Sweet Tooth Terrors. He's stamped onto Neenah Natural White with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored in with Copic Markers before cutting out with a Nestabilities Circle die, the green mat is also a circle die; the whole shebang is attached to the basket front with dimensional foam . The CK Brick House font was printed on my computer on orange cardstock before banner cutting and attaching to the basket with dimensional foam. Instead of having holes in the front and back of the basket as the template shows, I set large eyelets in the basket sides to thread the wide striped ribbon through to create the handle handle. A cello bag of assorted chocolate miniatures is inside. YUM!

V.~