Halloween ATC

Earlier this year the official Penny Black shop marked down several of their stamp sets (I think they are being retired)  and this fun Halloween set Spooktacular was one of those. (I just checked and it's marked down to $3.95!!) I'm not usually so much into Halloween but do like some cute stuff whether it's stamps or decorations and I just couldn't resist this CUTE cat!

When I read the new theme at the Tag Along challenge was circles I immedately had this idea in my head. It's not often where something turns out the way I imaged it, but I actually liked it so much that I made a similar card at full size (A2) which I will share at a later time.

I started with a small circle for a moon mask then inked the background using Carved Pumpkin Distress Oxide ink. Some water was splashed onto the background for that fun reaction but it's hard to see. Next I stamped the cat (part of it anyway), removed the mask and stamped the spider. While the stamp set with the cat includes a spider, this particular one is a bit more creepy and it's from a wood mounted Halloween stamp (Creepy Crawly Halloween K4018) also ordered from that Penny Black sale. This one is no longer available through Penny Black. The small dots at the very top and the sentiment are all part of the "spider" stamp. I do not like spider at all but do find them fascinating at the same time. 

I inked the edges with Villainous Potion Distress Oxide ink and ran a black inkpad just along the edge. The sentiment all comes in one line along with that spider (PB K4018) but I cut each word apart to fit onto the ATC. Oh, and I also used a Tim Holz mini tiles stencil on the background for some more interest.

I am entering this ATC here:

• Crafting Happiness Challenges - AG
• Crafts Galore Encore - AG
• Crafty Animals - AG
• Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! - Stencils
• Creative Inspirations Challenge - AG
• Critter Crazy Challenges - AG
• Everybody-Art-Challenge - ATC
• Lost Coast Designs - Black and white plus one (Orange)
• Moving along with the Times - Four Legged Friends
• Penny Black Saturday Challenge - PB Stamps opt. dies (I used a circle die for the mask)
• Simon Says Stamp - Stamps
• Sparkles Forum Challenges - AG
• Tag-Along (and ATC's) - Tags and ATC opt. of Circles
• The Little Things  - AG 
• The Paper Funday - AG
• Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge - Halloween

As always, thanks so much for visiting! Have a wonderful weekend. 

August Card Chain Challenge Reveal Day

It's been quite some time since I last joined in at the Card Chain Challenge but came across their fun optional August themes just a day before the linky tool was closing and immediately had an idea in my mind for the card. So I signed up :) My card went to Tina in Slovenia this time and I was happy to hear that it arrived safely.

As always there were several challenge options to choose such as a sketch, themes, colors, product or a technique. I chose the color options, mice and baking plus the design was inspired by the sketch although it's not an exact match.

Ok, so these mice look  more like they are getting ready to eat these baked treats and not actually bake them 😊 They are from the set Sweet Treats by Colorado Craft Company. Stamped with Memento on Xpress it card and colored with copic markers. One of the little mice has been fussy cut because I wanted to use a smaller circle for it to follow the sketch idea somewhat.

Background paper is old from Tim Holtz (Idea-ology). I added a few die cut flowers and sentiment is also from Tim Holtz (Tiny Text stamp set). The card base is kraft cardstock where I used a polka dot stencil on the front side. Some glitter was added to the flower centers and cake decor. 

I am sharing my card with these challenges:

• Addicted to Stamps and More - Die cuts and/or Stencils (I used both)
• Crafty Animals - Animals
• Creative Moments - Make it Cute
• Critter Crazy Challenges - Critters
• Simon Says Stamp - Stamp It
• Sweet Stampin - Use Die Cuts
• The Paper Funday - AG option

It was a joy to receive some happy mail from Greta in OR. Thank you so much! Love these colors and the flowers are layered so beautifully!

There is still time to sign up for the next Card Chain Challenge where everyone sends and received a physical card. So nice these days when most things in our mail boxes are ads or bills. You can find out all the details here. 

Little Squirrel Amongst the Sunflowers

It's hard to believe but September has arrived!! I'm always sad when summer comes to an end but luckily here in Illinois we usually still have summer-like temperatures throughout September (in fact we are currently having a heatwave) and the weather stays mild until mid October (usually). And my Dahlias and Zinnas are still blooming happily with lots of butterflies around them. 

I do love working with autumn colors and themes so really enjoyed making today's card for the new Four Seasons challenge where we've now switched seasons and it's now All Things Fall/Autumn. As always we have a wonderful moodboard if you need a starting point.

I am actually sharing 2 cards today, they are similar but not exactly the same. First one is the one for the Four Seasons design team.

Card No.1:

 

The moodboard (see below) inspired me to reach for this beautiful sunflower PSX stamp (G-2003). A real oldie released 2006 that I purchased from eBay several years ago along with a few others. After stamping I used my Zig Clean Color brush pens for coloring and "smooshed" some distress ink color onto the background using a small acetate sheet. Then I stamped the script from Tracy Evans stamp set Magnolia and the little squirrel is also from a Tracy Evans set, Alpha Florals. Sentiment is from a Hero Arts autumn stamp kit from several years ago. I added gingham ribbon and a couple of staples, and used my black Posca pen for splatter.

Our moodboard is below, isn't is wonderful? As you can see my inspiration came from the bottom right image of sunflowers and black gingham ribbon, and then just had to add a squirrel!

You have until September 25th evening to join us and hope to see you there!

I am entering my card with these challenges:

• Ally's Angels - AG
• A Perfect Time To Craft 
• Beautiful Blossoms - AG
• Classic Design Challenge - AG
• Crafts Galore Encore - AG
• Creative Fingers - AG
• Cupcake Inspirations - In the Garden
• DL.Art Linky Challenge - AG
• Love to Craft 
• Simon Says Stamp - AG
• Word Art Wednesday - AG

Card No. 2:

While I had the sunflower stamp out I decided to make a second card, this time a birthday card. It's just slightly different the the card above so I thought I'd include it in the same blog post.

Here I used the My Favorite Things Birthday background stamp (part of it) instead of Tracy Evans script stamp and the gingham ribbon was placed above background stamping. Instead of a squirrel I used a little blackbird from one of Tracy Evans sets Amongst the Flowers. Love her little critters!! Sentiment came from a Stampin Up set with lots of small sentiments (found at a thrift store so it's most likely retired). On this card I used Faber Castell Polychromos pencils for coloring instead of the Zig Brush pens I used on the first card.

I am sharing the second card with these challenges:

• Kleuren Met Potloden - Use Colored Pencils
• Retro Rubber Challenge  - Old Stamps and Anything Goes
• Seize The Birthday - Opt. of Anything Goes

Here they are side by side. Not sure which one I prefer :) But probably the birthday card as it's just a little bit more CAS.

The Great Outdoors

Hello everyone, it's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge and Brenda is hosting with the optional theme of "All Creatures Great and Small". Always a favorite one as I love working with creature (animal) stamps just as much as I love florals. This time our prize comes from Lavinia stamps so I took this opportunity to play with some of mine. Sadly I have to admit that they have been neglected recently.

I started with a die cut circle mask for a moon and used Lavinia's Feather Leaf stencil with Dried Marigold and Mowed Lawn Distress inks. Before removing the mask I used Marigold ink again just around the circle. Next I stamped the large fox from Lavinia's Fox Set 1, Pixie Lanterns and Field Grass. I colored the lanterns using Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. Next I used a torn paper mask for some grassy hills. While looking for a sentiment to use I found this one from a set by Tracy Evans for Aall and Create (Blackbird - retired) and remembered the cute little foxes from a recent Tracy Evans set (Blossoms of Hope) so I stamped that right above the sentiment. I finished off the card with a few black Posca pen splatters and a Sakura clear sparkle pen over the lanterns and around the moon.

I am sharing this card with these challenges:

• Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! - Stencils
• Double Trouble Challenge - at least 3,2,1 Recipe (I used 3+ stamps, 2 colored ink pads, 1 stencil)
• Just Us Girls - Stencils
• Krafty Chicks - Masculine
• Simon Says Stamp - AG
• The Paper Funday - AG
• Try It On Tuesday - Inspired by a song (anyone remember "What does the fox say? "😊)
• We Love Stamping - Summer Blooms
• Word Art Wednesday - AG

As always, thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Hope you're having a wonderful weekend. Supposed to be cloudy over here but we're expecting another heat wave next week!