WHOA, it's already the end of November?!

I cannot believe the last time I posted was before Halloween!  Where on earth has the time gone?  And to boot, I even made a few Thanksgiving cards and never had a chance to post and share anything!  I think that's the story of my life these days: wake up, blink, and it's already time for bed again!

Anyway, I've been following the Make-it-Monday challenges over at Papertrey Ink, and I decided I had some time to work on this week's challenge: splitting/trimming die cuts.  This is totally up my alley since I'm always trying to stretch my dies' capabilities.  Since my Christmas card-making is in full swing (yes, I'm a slacker and STILL making Christmas cards, gasp!), I thought I'd try to make a card that could fit the challenge.  I came up with this:

The dies I used, .....well, it looks like they are all Papertrey's, heh.  I guess I'm a fan, who knew??  I sliced the damask snowflake in half and placed the 2 pieces behind the label (from the Pretty Peonies set) to give it an extended look.  And because the original holly die cut was not going to place nicely next to "Holidays," I snipped one of the leaves and placed it over the two original pieces, giving it a more clustered look.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you like the card...enjoy!

(Other items used: 'happy' die and stamp from the Pretty Peonies set, Snowflake Medley stamp set, 'Holidays' from the Think Big Favorites #20 set, Mistletoe & Holly stamp and die set; patterned paper is Powder Mountain Flakes from Bo Bunny's Powder Mountain paper collection)

So Busy!

I have been running around all day today.  I cannot believe it is only Tuesday and already I am so bogged down with things that aren't even happening until Friday!  I can't even really say I'm looking forward to the weekend because my son's team made it to the playoffs, so it's technically still football season in our house...and with that comes hours and hours of practice, as well as the game itself on Saturdays (which is pretty far away this Saturday - lovely.  Not!).  Plus, my oldest has soccer, soccer, and more soccer until mid-November, so there's still a whole lot of running around to be had before we go to bed tomorrow night!  

In any case, I had a little bit of time to try out some new products late last night (well not too late... ::cough2AMcough::) and wanted to join this week's challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays: create a card with an element hanging off the card.  I thought this was such a fun idea to try, and I had a great element for this:

These gorgeous fall leaves are from My Favorite Things (Die-namics); there are 3 dies in this set and I really like the detail of all 3 leaves - so pretty.  Patterned papers are from (what a shocker!) Authentique's Thankful collection; I used Vintage Photo Distress Ink for all my edges, sentiment is from Northwoods, doily die is from Papertrey Ink's Doily Details collection, and the button is from BoBunny.  I gave the leaves some texture using Papertrey Ink's Tin Types Background Basics stamp, as well as 'Magical Background' by Hero Arts.  The card base is Papertrey Ink's vintage cream...another great paper to work with!

I plan to make a few of these cards to give to my sisters-in-law, since they are the ones we visit over Thanksgiving break.  I might embellish a little more for them, but I wanted to keep it simple for this challenge.  Thanks for stopping by!

Hope you like the card...enjoy!

CASology Week #15

I was going to post this days ago, but oops - I guess that little thing called 'life' sort of got in the way!  But no worries, for I still have just shy of an hour to join the challenge at CASology...and since I uploaded my card pictures days ago, this should take me just a few minutes to post and share with everyone.

Week #15's trigger is "night," and since I've been making Halloween cards for friends and family, as well as goodie bags for my boys' classrooms, I thought I might join the challenge with this card:

For this card, I used an Impression Obsession die that I was trying so hard not to buy because it was way too seasonal...but I couldn't pass up the cat with the wiggly tail and the laughing jack-o-lantern.  The moon and star is a separate mini stamp set from Lawn Fawn ( called 'Hoppy Halloween,' which I really should make a card with because the bunny with the fangs is pretty hilarious), patterned paper from Authentique's Enchanted collection, Bazzill Basics cardstock, Memory Box's Gothic Halloween sentiment stamp, and inks from Color Box and Sakura.

Overall, this was a really fun challenge.  My boys made the comment that they thought the moon should have been yellow; I told them they were more than welcome to make their own card with a yellow moon on it. ;P

Hope you like the card...enjoy! 

Make-It Monday #87 @ Papertrey Ink

This week's challenge involves using alphabet dies as a stamping tool.  I have to say this was a pretty brilliant idea, and since I'm such a huge die collector, it's so nice to think I have other ways to use my dies and stretch their purpose.  Very fun technique, and here is what I came up with!

I had a great time working on this card.  For the base, I used Papertrey Ink's Vintage Cream cardstock.  I didn't have any alpha dies from Papertrey Ink, so I used the one I had from Memory Box.  I'll be honest and say I never cut anything but paper with my Cuttlebug, so it was nice to experiment with other materials (I've already tried thin wood, tin, and chipboard - fun!).  I thought the stamping would turn out blotchy, but it came out rather decent.  

Hope you like the card...enjoy!

(Snowflakes from Snowflake Medley; Crackled stamp for the Edgers #4 border piece; Vintage Cream, Lemon Tart and Simply Chartreuse Inks; Patterned papers from Authentique's Peaceful collection; Little Yellow Bicycle gems; Rustic White and Rustic Cream cardstock for the die cuts)

CAS anyone?

I hope I'm not breaking any internet-challenge-code-of-conduct rules if I try to post this card on two different challenges!

I discovered the CASology blog just a few days ago after reading through some of the posts over at Papertrey Ink, and thought one of my MIM cards could easily apply to this week's CASology challenge: leaves!

This is the card:

Who doesn't think about leaves these days?  Ours are rapidly falling from our trees, and of course we also get our neighbors' fallen leaves because they live on a higher hill than us, heh.  It's a good laugh, especially since Tony is usually the one raking outside. ;P

I've already listed my supplies for this card in my previous post, so check it out!  I love this woodgrain impression plate from Papertrey Ink.  It is very life-like, not cartoonish at all, and gives such a rich texture to otherwise plain cardstock.  Sometimes plain cardstock is all you need as a background, so the impression plate gave it just enough of a 'kick' to make it more interesting (with little work involved).

Hope you like the card....enjoy!

Make It Monday #86 @ Papertrey Ink...revisited!

I must love this week's challenge because here I am again with another card!  I'm really liking this idea of embellishing the inside of the card...I'm sure we've all thought at some point or another that dressing up the inside of the card is something that requires little brainstorming, unlike the front of the card.  And even so, we will tend to ignore that slight interest in stamping the inside of the card......but once you get the hang of it, then suddenly all those little images that you'd otherwise not pay any mind suddenly spring to life!

For this card, I used Bazzill cardstock for the card itself and the layering brown panel.  I passed my brown panel through my Cuttlebug using Papertrey Ink's woodgrain impression plate...what a great effect it made on the paper!  I am slowly embracing dead, or open, space in a card.  Sometimes less is truly more!  

(Products used: Fruit Fusion: Apple mini stamp set; Strawberry Patch stamp set, and its additional sentiments set; the little apple stamped inside the card is from the Teach and Inspire stamp set; inks are all by Colorbox; light green "THANK" alphas are from My Mind's Eye; the "u" comes from Basic Grey's chipboard series from the Clippings collection)

Hope you like the card...enjoy!

Make-It-Monday #86 @ Papertrey Ink!!

I missed Papertrey Ink's Make-It Monday that featured the glitter tab last week....so cute!!  But where does the week go?  By the time I was ready to sit down and create my version of the challenge, it was already Monday night (as in 14 hours past the cut-off time, heh)!  Oh well, thank goodness a challenge can be had every week!  So, moving forward to this week's challenge!

Here is my take on it:

  
For my card, I used some rustic white paper for my sentiment, and the sentiment comes from the Mistletoe & Holly stamp set.  I also stamped the holly and berries from the same set to create my background.  The dotted side "bursts" come from the Hello Sunshine set and the flower is from Petaloo (misted with 'Lobster' Glimmer Mist).  

The sentiment stamped inside comes from the Happiest of Holidays stamp set, and the top and bottom flourish comes from the Gratitude Journal stamp set.  Overall, I think the card is okay.  I might try this same sketch in different colors perhaps.  I'm not sure if I completely love this card...I think it might be the flower being too red, or possibly too big....one thing is for sure: someone will be receiving this for Christmas this year, and I hope they like it! ;D 

I don't usually stamp the inside of my card, so this challenge was a great way to think about prettying up other parts of the card, in addition to the front.  And of course, this is just another nice way to really utilize those stamp sets with little images that might not get used as often as they should.....

I'm already looking forward to next week's challenge.....keeping my fingers crossed to find some time to do them all!

Hope you like the card...enjoy!