12 Kits of Occasions: Welcome to my Nightmare!

Hooray!  It's time for another 12 Kit of Occasions.  Our host Jessica (from The Paper Parade) put together the cutest Halloween kit, and I loved every single thing in it!  Make sure to hop over to The 12 Kits of Occasions Blog, so you can get all the details on the kit and see a peek at the other awesome designer's creations.

Here's a peek at the kit.

When I first opened this kit I was a little giddy with excitement when I saw the color scheme and the super cute papers.  The little orange monster was my favorite, so I decided to make him the focal point on my first card. I only have two Halloween sets with me at the moment, but I kind of loved how the little bat from one set looked perched atop the "boo" from my other set.

I thought the embossed spiders on this next one were so neat that I didn't want to cover them up, so I kept it super simple.  After just typing that I realize how odd it is that I felt that way considering I can't stand spiders in real life.  Eww...the little creepies do just that...creep me out.  Still love 'em on this card, though.

This next one is my son's favorite.  I intended to color my mad scientist, but when I was playing around with the layout, I decided I kind of liked the contrast of the white...kind of like color blocking, so I went with it.  I love how the different shines of the purple stand out against the big blocks of color.

I'm entering this one for the CASology Cue Card: Science Challenge.  It ended up being a bit more layered than I intended, but I just loved the teal and had to use it.

My final card is my favorite.  I adore this spooky row of houses, and this card came together so easily.  I'm pretty sure this fuzzy yellow brad was always meant to be a moon and this paper was definitely meant to be a sky. :) And yes, I even snuck a little vellum on this one.  It seems to be making an appearance on a whole lot (like the last five in a row!) of my cards lately.

And guess what?  I have a few more cards to share, so stay tuned.  We've had SO MUCH rain the last few days.  It's been pretty continuous and school even got cancelled today because of the amount of flooding in this area.  As soon as I get a hint of light outside, I'll take some pictures and share the rest of my cards.  Make sure you take some time to hop around see all the other designer's fabulous creations.  (This kit is seriously so cute!) It will definitely be time well spent and you'll finish with a smile.  

The 12 Kits of Occasions Blog

Lisa Elton (filling in for Cathy)

Michele Ferguson

Sharron Gregory

Kim Heggins

Jeanne Jachna

Marybeth Lopez

Tracey McNeely

Joyce Mehrberg

I'm so glad you visited today!  Hope you are having a wonderful week!  Happy autumn, my friends!

Hugs

Today was another beautiful rainy day, and I was happy to sneak in some time to try the two-toned sentiments for PTI's Make It Monday #224.  I didn't think I'd be able to try, but my sister has an embosser!  It must be really old and I'm sure it has been years since it has been used, but I was so excited to find it. My colors were inspired by cQc #309.  I thought the combination of colors conveyed the message I was trying to send--that there is bright hope even amidst the darkest greys of life.  Unfortunately the colors don't look quite right in the photo...they really do resemble the ColourQ photo with shades of grey and deeper yellow and orange, but I had to run out in the rain to take the picture and a card can only get so wet before it is ruined. :) So please use your imagination to replace the black in the photo with gray and lessen the contrast between shades.  Well, I'm off to catch some sleep tonight.  Thanks for the visit! :)

 

PTI September Blog Hop: Fall Thanks

Happy Fall!  The leaves are starting to change and though I'm missing summer, each day gets a little more beautiful and I'm feeling grateful to experience the beauty of the season.  With that in mind, the inspiration photo for Papertrey's September Blog Hop was too fantastic to pass up, so I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning to make this card.  The rain made it difficult to photograph, but I did my best. :)

Inspiration Photo Credit

I forgot how much I love to create chalkboard art with stamps.  I used PTI's Big Hugs, Embellished Elegance, Graceful Greetings, Sending a Big Thank You (thanks to Marybeth!), and a little of my own handwriting and doodles.  I wanted the vines to stand out but not too much if that makes sense, so I ended up stamping them on vellum.  I love how all the randomly inked colors smooshed together when I stamped on the slippery vellum.

I used some textured cardstock, but since it isn't patterned paper, I'm also linking this up to Simon Says: No Designer Paper Challenge.  And I'm also entering this into the Work It Wednesday September STAMP challenge because I most certainly used a lot of stamps. :) Thanks so much for visiting today!  I'm looking forward to see what everyone else created.  Have a terrific weekend!

Simple Stamped Popcorn Sketch

Hi!  Just popping in (hee hee) to share a quick card I made with some leftover scraps.  I was inspired by (CAS)E This Sketch #141, Simon Says: No Designer Paper, and Curtain Call: Pop Pop Pop.  I thought the ink splats kind of looked like popcorn popping when it really gets going in an air popper.  Can you see it?  The sun is shining, so we're off to play outside.  Thanks so much for visiting!

 

Hope

Hello!  It's been a beautiful rainy misty day here and my little one took the longest nap of her life. :) Oh, and I also got to make this card.  I think it goes without saying...but I'll say it anyway...today's been a great day! :) This week's Simon Says: Die Crazy Challenge is featuring WPlus9, so I decided to pair that challenge with WPlus9's Throwback Thursday #7.  I really wanted a twig wreath, which I don't have, so I built the wreath by stamping the berry twig in WPlus9's Fresh Cut Florals a bunch of times.  I fussy cut my homemade wreath, but then I die cut and stamped a few of the flowers and leaves in the set.  The sentiment is from WPlus9's Pretty Patches: Christmas set.  It always makes me happy when I can use a holiday stamp set for a completely different occasion.  I wish I could giant size this wreath and hang it on my front door.  Hope your week has started out to be a good one!

Hello!

Surprised to see me again? :) I know...I basically don't post for three months and then I post three times in less than 24 hours.  I'm just so excited that I have something to share that I can't bear to wait to share it. :) As soon as I saw the inspiration photo for The Card Concept's Daisies Challenge, I knew I had to make a card.  It features one of my all-time favorite color combinations.  'm also happily linking this card to Simon Says: Die Crazy Challenge and Darnell's NBUS Challenge #5.  I used two of my never-before-used PTI dies from the box of stuff I talked about in this post and some textured cardstock (really enjoying that!).  It's a CAS card, but it seems more than that because of the intricacy of the die cut.  I love the fall, but with the move I feel like we basically missed the summer, so it seems that I'm holding on to it with my cards with kites and flowers and such.  I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. We're headed to Dollywood tomorrow and are so excited to be doing something so fun as a family.  Hope to be visiting your blogs soon!  Thanks so much for stopping by today! :) 

One Card, Two New-ish Products, Three Challenges

The last few months Papertrey has done a Create Along With Us Release Week Challenge.  I thought it was an awesome idea.  I'm always so inspired by the projects I see, and I love that this challenge encourages us to CASE their amazing work.  My card was inspired by this beauty made by Heather Nichols.

Heather's Card

Just before we found out we were moving I placed an order with PTI.  My order arrived and I barely got the chance to peek inside my package.  Ironically, I threw it in the box I labelled "Most Used Craft Supplies".  It was a happy mistake because that is the only box of crafting supplies I have right now, and I had fun using some of my new goodies tonight.  Since this card features NBUS and it uses a die, I'm linking it up to the oh-so-generous Darnell's NBUS Challenge #5 as well as Simon Says: Die Crazy Challenge.

Penny Kites

I had the chance to pick up a few crafty goodies at the store a couple days ago and today got the chance to use them.  Hooray.  One of the must-haves I acquired is some paper...hooray!  I also picked up these little kits at my mom's urging.  I knew they were on clearance, but was pretty shocked when I only paid 12 cents for a package of 12!  I would say that a penny for a darling kite like this is a pretty good deal.  Since this card is made with NBUS, I am happily linking it to the kind and wonderful Darnell's NBUS Challenge #5.

Since my first card came together in about 5 minutes I decided I had plenty of time to make a second card....right after I helped my son free his dinosaur skeleton from the rock plaster he'd been chipping away at.  It took much longer to free the dinosaur than it did to make the card. Ha!  

Anyway, I only changed it a teeny tiny bit to fit CAS-ual Fridays Musical Challenge.  Did you notice the music printed on the kite?  Loved that detail.  I was kind of combining the thought in the sentiment with the "you make my heart soar" idea on this card.  

That's it for now, but guess what?  I made two more cards today!  Shocking, right?  It was for me anyway. :) I'll be sharing them shortly.  Have a wonderful day my friends!

A Ghosty Card

Hi!  I found a few of my supplies. Yay! Thank goodness I labeled one of the boxes "Most Used Stamp Supplies" and we kept it separated from the majority of our stuff.  What I should have done is realized that there were a lot more things that I use on a regular basis. :) As I tried to create a card I kept wanting to use things I didn't have.  Anyhow, I'm happy to have some stamps sets, a few inks, my favorite scissors, and my die cut machine and dies.  Still no cardstock, but I scrounged up a few pieces at my mom's house.  Our things have been in storage much longer than anticipated, with no end in the near future, so I think I'm going to have to break down and buy a few things.  The good news is that with a few supplies in hand, I was able to make a card!  It's simple, inspired by several challenges that have long since closed, but it does use a stamp, so I'm happy to be linking up to the Simon Says Stamp It Wednesday Challenge.  In fact, it uses one of my sister's really old rubber stamps...I forgot how difficult it is to stamp straight with a rubber stamp! Hope you are all happy and well!  Thanks for stopping by.