September 12 Kits of Occasions: "This is Halloween"

Good morning!  It's the last day of September and definitely the best part of the end of the month is getting to share my cards for the 12 Kits of Occasions.  It's almost as good as the beginning of the month when I receive my kit in the mail.  Receiving a package from Jeanne (our fabulous hostess this month) is like getting a Christmas package no matter what the time of year.  It is packed with papers and die cuts and embellishments and stamped images and  she always includes a little treat...which I typically eat before I ever get a card made. :) The photo of the kit above is just a sampling of the items Jeanne was so generous to send.
Now as luck would have it, we've been in the middle of a complete kitchen remodel this month, and we have tons going on the first couple weeks of October, so I had to severely limit my playing time with this kit.  So think of today as the appetizer, and I'll hopefully squeeze more time in before Halloween to play with this kit.

I started off with the fun subway art and cute Simon Says Stamp and Reverse Confetti images from the kit, and I turned them into tags for my kiddos.  I love buying books...they're my favorite gifts to give, so naturally each of my littles will be receiving a Halloween book to add to our collection. 

 Next is a super simple card.  The sentiment and little ghost were such a perfect little pair.

The only problem with using supplies from a kit is that you don't really have much room for error because if you ruin something from the kit, it's gone for good.  Unfortunately that was the case with this next card.  The fabulous Happy Halloween die cut in the kit was destroyed when I learned the hard way that chunky glitter is a no go for a fairly delicate word die cut.  That being said, if the look of a hairy spider is what you are going for, chunky black glitter is the way to go. :)  I tried to salvage the card anyway.

And last is actually the first card I made.  It looks dim here, but the metallic sequins are actually very bright, colorful, and shiny.  I thought about adding some color to these cute little characters, but in the end kind of liked having the color concentrated just in the middle.

 And one last shot of them all together...oh, I just love all this cute Halloweeny goodness!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and HUGE thanks to Jeanne for this fabulous kit, all of details of which can be found in the supply list on 12 Kits of Occasions Blog.  Make sure you head there to see a peek of all the other DT members' and our three guest designers' projects.  They'll certainly make you happy that the fall season is upon us.
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Fall Roses (Curtain Call + Altenew Hop)

Hello, friends!  Today I needed to make a card.  Not because I had to, but because it has been quite a while since I was able to create and sometimes I just feel the need to be creative.  I could hash out the details of the multitude of "oopses" I made on my card, but instead I'm choosing to be grateful.  After all, the fall colors always remind me of gratitude.  I'm grateful I had time to create (and in the daylight at that!), grateful I could make a card my rose-loving grandmother will appreciate, and grateful that I could just relax and do some simple stamping without worrying about layouts or techniques or embellishing, etc., etc.  I'm also grateful I could join Altenew's Ultimate Blog Hop and Curtain Call's Fall Florals Challenge.  The beautiful bouquet in the inspiration photo certainly inspired me to pull out Altenew's Vintage Roses, which was perfect because I bought this set a few years ago specifically so I could make special cards for my grandmother.  Well, I'm off to spend some time with the kiddos.  Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Where Creativity Meets C9 Peek

Hello, friends!  Today I'm over at Where Creativity Meets C9 sharing another card I made for our Celebration Challenge.  I hope you'll stop by and take a look.  Have a beautiful day!

Where Creativity Meets C9 Challenge #1

Good morning!  I've been waiting with a lot of anticipation for this day.  The first challenge is finally live at Where Creativity Meets C9.  Yay!  Appropriately, the theme for this challenge is "Celebration".   My cute, tween-aged niece will be celebrating her birthday in a couple days, so I made this card with her in mind.  She is so special and truly sparkles.  

I've always wanted a big round balloon stamp and was really excited when I looked at Concord & 9th's Love you. Mean it. set and realized that I could make one.  I built my balloon with the round scribbled circles and the heart outline in the set.  I bent and partially inked one side of the banner in the Happy Day set to create the balloon tail.  I stamped several balloons in the background and added the little stars from O Christmas Tree to the focal balloon because the only thing more fun than a giant balloon is a giant confetti filled balloon.  

I thought the "It's your day to sparkle" sentiment from Happy Day was the perfect sentiment, but I wanted it to stand out a bit more, so I replaced "sparkle" with one I stamped using Sophisticated Script.  I'm still so in awe at how well you can build words with this unique alphabet set.  I love it!  Then I added a bunch of Wink of Stella, so the word literally sparkles.   

I'm not gonna lie....I love how this balloon turned out.  It makes me want to make a bunch of birthday cards with giant balloons. :)

Now make sure you go over to Where Creativity Meets C9, so you can see lots of fabulous inspiration and find out all the details about entering the challenge, which starts today (the 9th) and ends on the 29th of the month.  And of course there are prizes. :) A winner will be randomly selected from the challenge entries to receive a $25 gift certificate from the ever generous Concord & 9th (our challenge sponsor).  A challenge winner will also be selected to guest-design in an upcoming challenge.  You can also find Where Creativity Meets C9 on Facebook and Instagram...we'd love for you to join us there! 

PS I've used affiliate links to Concord & 9th within the post.  I'm new to this, but basically if you click on the link and purchase something from their site, I will receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you).  That being said, I truly love this company.  I know...I've said that many times before, but I love their products and am so impressed with the people behind the company.  

Where Creativity Meets C9 Design Team (and a card)

Have you seen that Concord and 9th is starting a challenge blog?  And even more exciting is that I've been asked to be on the team.  Eek!  When Jessica asked me to be a part of the team a few weeks ago, I was floored.  It shouldn't come as a surprise that I love Concord and 9th's products...they've made their way onto most of my creations lately...and I cannot wait to have a reason to create  We were asked to share a bit about ourselves on the Where Creativity Meets C9 Blog (you can read what I wrote here...and make sure you do head over because there is a giveaway), but I thought it would be fun to give you a few random facts...nine to be exact...about myself on my blog.  So here it goes...

1. My sister was the first person in my family to get into cardmaking.  After my first year of college I was home visiting, and she had us all sit down to make a card with acrylic stamps (something I'd never seen before).  It was so hard and time consuming for me to make just one card that I decided right then that card making was not for me.  (Ha!).

2. About half of my idea ideas for cards, especially color schemes, come from children's clothing.

3. I love food and am constantly trying new recipes. (I warned you that these would be random facts. ;) )

4. The only things I like to buy more than crafty supplies are children's books.

5. I'm far more willing to spend $15 on stamps or dies than I am to pay that much for an article of clothing.  In fact, my husband laughs at me because often when I'm debating whether or not to buy something I'll say things like, "But that costs as much as two stamp sets!"

6. I have two super cute kiddos. Okay, I know that isn't new info, but I love them, so I had to include them.

7. I'm not a big fan of chocolate.  I'd choose fruit or a fruity dessert over chocolate any day.

8. I used to live in Utah (we just moved away a year ago) not far from the birthplace of Concord and 9th.

9. Concord and 9th has a thing for the number 9.....and I do, too!  It's been my favorite number for the last 17 years.

Okay, if you've made this far, the least I can do is share a card with you.  Among the cards I had lost (I talked about them here) and happily found last night was this one using Concord and 9th's Brushed Blossoms and Wildflower.  The woman I made it for has beautiful yellow flowers in her yard that she always loved and talked about how happy they made her.  I'm hoping these yellow flowers and the prayers and love sent along with this card will help cheer her up.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and sharing in my happiness. :) Don't forget to go to the Where Creativity Meets C9 Blog to check out the design team announcements during the next few days and to enter to win a $25 gift certificate to Concord and 9th.  My fingers are crossed that one of my sweet blogging buddies wins. :) 

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