Happy Halloween!

The jack-o-lanterns have been carved, Halloween candy bought and the weather should cooperate for trick-or-treating!

This is probably my last Halloween card for this year. My friend, Jenny, is on the Squigglefly design team. When I saw this Halloween card on her blog, I had to go check out the store. I bought the kitty version that Jenny used as well as this adorable puppy version. (I love how the green Scrappers' Floss mimics the look of the pumpkin vine!)


A fellow Angel, Julie, posted a link on her blog to this fun site: Candy Corn Treats. (Julie's Candy Corn Pudding is featured in the article.) There are lots of fun recipes! I'll be making more of my friend Courtney's Pumpkin Bars today. They disappear, well, like Halloween magic! :-)

High Hopes Challenge 50 - All About Kids

I thought this cute Santa with a puppy would make a cute kids' card. (In fact, it's probably going to be Ali's Christmas card this year.) So, here is my entry for the "All About Kids" challenge on the High Hopes blog:

Supplies: red cardbase is made from red PTI cardstock - Kraft cardstock from TAC - green swirl paper and red ribbon from Michaels. - Santa stamp from High Hopes (purchased through 7KidsCollegeFund) - "enjoy" is a stamp from TAC - image colored with COPIC markers.

Fab Friday

Welcome once again to Fab Friday! When I was blog hopping this week, I discovered an awesome blog, Simply Stamped. I love the clean & classy look of her projects. They are so pretty! I love how she uses unconventional colors like kraft in her Christmas cards. I'm going to have to try that out, too.

This morning I just finished assembling the Halloween card I was going to post last night. So, expect a few last Halloween cards tonight and tomorrow. Then, it's back to Christmas crafting for the December 5th craft show at Our Lady of Lourdes!

Yummy, Yummy!

Are you tired of Halloween and pumpkin cards yet? I hope not because I've got another Halloween card on tap tonight and I'm working on another one for tomorrow! :) I bought this adorable digi stamp, Yummy Frogs, from Pink Cat Studios.


The cute little circle image is one of the freebies I mentioned last Friday. You can find it here. (Note: I resized these quite a bit to have them fit the largest of my CM circle punches, which fits nicely inside the SU! scalloped circle punch.)

I got to use my new Mallow COPIC marker on Betty's dress. (It's blended with Amethyst for shadows.) Thank you, Diana, for recommending this color. I love it!

Sweet Sketch Wednesday #21

It's Wednesday, so you know what that means... another great Sweet Sketch Wednesday sketch! This week is a double challenge - a sketch and a color challenge.


In celebration of Halloween, you can choose between two different color challenges. This "traditional" color challenge or a Halloween color challenge:
I chose to do the Halloween color challenge, so I used a lot of orange in my card.


The pumpkins are from Inkadinkadoo. I just love anything swirly!

Now that you've seen my take on this week's challenges, be sure to stop by the SSW blog and check out all the other cards!

Pawprints on my heart

If you know me, you know I have a gigantic spot in my heart for animals. A fellow stamper & animal lover, Suzanne Dean, is offering some awesome blog candy if you help support her local animal shelter. Please check it out and consider helping her support this cause.

Hope Fights

I ran into a former scrapping & stamping buddy at the Hatton show and she told me that her cancer had returned. (She's been cancer free for several years.) I wanted to send her a card and when I ran across this image last week, I knew it was the perfect one for my card:


Hope Fights is one of the freebies that I shared with you on Friday. While she's not a freebie anymore, you can purchase her for a mere $2.50 on the Whimsie Doodles site and all proceeds go to support breast cancer research.

I'll be keeping my friend, Laura, in my thoughts. If you could send a few good thoughts her way, I'm sure she would appreciate it. Thanks!

Skiing Santa

No, this isn't your typical skiing Santa - he's on waterskiis! I just bought this stamp from 7 Kids College Fund. They just started carrying High Hopes stamps, so now there's a convenient vendor for those of us in the U.S.


This is my entry for High Hopes Challenge 49 - Non-Traditional Christmas. I think a waterskiing Santa is pretty non-traditional, don't you? :)

Fab Friday

Well, my own Friday did not start out so fabulous... I got rearended on my way to work this morning. Fortunately, there wasn't any damage to my car (can't say the same for the person who ran into me), but it still was not a good way to start the day.

Anyway... since my stamping time these days is pretty limited, I thought I'd try a new weekly feature, Fab Friday, where I share something fabulous (of course!) with you.

This week, I've got a bunch of FREE digital downloads to share. Free is always fab, right?

While blog hopping, I found these great Halloween digis. They would be cute as embellishments on a card or tags on Halloween treats.

Next up is an awesome download of black and white paper from The Angel Company. Check out their downloads page to find other great freebies, including their first set of free black and white digi paper.

My last find, Hope Fights, is fabulous... and not. It's a free digi image for Breast Cancer Awareness. It's fab that Whimsy Doodles is giving this cute image away. It's not fab that there are men and women facing this disease. :-( Today is the last day to download this freebie, so hopefully you're reading this in time.

Go check out these links and create something wonderful with your new FREE goodies! :)

Stamping Fun

Last night I had some local stamping friends over for a little Christmas card making session. As hostess, I had to come up with 3 cards ideas. I used 3 favorites from The Angel Company, including two new sets from the Fall supplement, Inspiration Avenue.

My first card was a simplified version of Jan Tin's beautiful snowflake card. I had intended to try her resist technique, but could not find my white gel pen. (Of course, you'd be lucky to find anything in my craft room, but that's another story...) So, necessity being the mother of invention, I simply stamped some white snowflakes with my Opaque White Staz-On (which unfortunately, didn't turn out very opaque -- it was really not my night!)

The little snowflake in the corner is a clear, iridescent Jesse James "button". (Can you really call them buttons if they don't have holes are were never meant to be anything but decorative?) Stamps: Ornamental Snowflakes, greeting from a previous hostess set (TAC)
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink in Faded Denim, Opaque White Staz-On

I knew I wanted to use Joyful Ornaments on my second card since I think it's so pretty and yet so quick to stamp with. (As much as I absolutely LOVE to color, it is time-consuming so a bold stamp is a nice alternative.) I was going through my supplies looking for a neglected item and found these premade cards from K&Co. I wasn't happy with the way these cards worked when I first tried them, but after scoring the layer at 5.5" and gluing the punched end together, the card opened up much nicer. I used some of my favorite papers on this card - Scarlet cardstock (the BEST red), Brown cardstock, and Reece dp, all from The Angel Company. The Joyful Ornaments are stamped in Moulin Rouge Palette ink and I used some Burnt Umber Palette ink to sponge on edges of the layers.

Since this card is large (the rectangular part of the card is 5 X 6 inches), I think this card would be perfect for putting a photo inside.

This was the last card that we made, which is based on Sketch 17 from the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog. I love snowmen, and this set, Merriest Wishes, has the most adorable snowmen & snowladies ever!

I used more TAC Scarlet cardstock, as well as some green Bazzill Monochromatics cs. The dp is from Hobby Lobby and the pink paper is just something from my scrap pile. (This card layout is good for using up those little strips of paper we stampers often find ourselves with.) The hearts are more Jesse James buttons and I used my COPIC markers to color in this snowlady. (I have to assume anyone wearing a hat with flowers and a shirt with ruffles is NOT a snowman, lol!)

Sweet Sketch Wednesday Sponsored by DigiStamp Boutique!

Yay! Sally-Ann Hancock of DigiStamp Boutique agreed to be one of our regular sponsors at the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog. I know you will all love her designs as much as I do!

Sally-Ann is sponsoring this week's sketch, #20:


Here's my take on the sketch using the adorable new Izzy the witch with her little feline friend:


The "Happy Halloween" stamp is from Inkdainkadoo. The Simple Spooky Stripes paper is from K I Memories and the orange dp is from The Paper Studio.

Be sure to visit the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog and check out the other DT members' cards!

Pumpkins!

Here's a sneak peak of a card I made for a Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge later this month:


Don't forget to visit Sweet Sketch Wednesday this week to see the latest sketch! (It's not this one!)

As promised, here's the recipe for the pumpkin squares I posted about yesterday. Note: If you don't have a jelly roll pan, a large cookie sheet with rolled sides works. Also, when I made these yesterday, I cut the oil to 3/4 cup. They still came out nice and moist. Enjoy!

COURTNEY’S PUMPKIN BARS

Blend:
4 eggs
1 cup salad oil
2 cups sugar
15oz can pumpkin

Combine:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon clove
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Stir into blended mixture.
Bake in jelly roll pan 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
(I use a rectangle cake pan 9x13 or whatever)

frosting:
6oz cream cheese
1/2 cup margarine
1 Tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

Halloween Happenings

We were busy this weekend getting ready for Halloween. The decorations are up inside, DH is working on the outside decorations, and we bought our pumpkins today.


One of our neighbors has a farm outside of the city and sells her pumpkins from her driveway each fall. It's not quite as festive as going to a real farm with hayrides, etc., but it is cheaper and a lot more convenient.


Here are our pumpkins outside our front door, just waiting to be carved:



This was my papercrafting project of the day:


I've had this idea rattling around my head for a few weeks and was glad to finally get a chance to try it out. It didn't come out as nicely as I'd hoped, but I'm pretty happy with the results.

I used my Creative Memories oval cutting system for the pumpkin, handcut a scrap of brown for the stem, and used a QuicKutz die in my Cuttlebug for the "vine". I sponged Palette ink in Orangerie and Burnt Umber around the edges of my ovals to add dimension.

I also made these yummy pumpkin bars:


The recipe came from my friend and fellow Mid-MO-Mom, Courtney. They are similar to carrot cake, without the raisins. YUMMY! Alison had fun eating the leftover icing and taste testing the first pumpkin square. They are easy to make, make a large batch and are super delish. Perfect for bringing to work or to a party! I'll share the recipe with you Monday night.

A Scary Card for a Sweet Sketch

It's time for another fun sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday! Here's Sketch #19:


I've started to get a little tired of Christmas after working on so many craft show projects and I've been seeing so many cute Halloween things on the web, so I decided to make a Halloween card. I bought a bunch of cool Halloween Inkadinkadoo stamps last Fall and never used them, so I had fun pulling them out and putting the bat stamp to good use.


The "happy haunting" stamp is from The Angel Company. The striped paper is "Simple Spooky Stripes" from K I Memories. I just *love* striped paper, especially with thin stripes of bright colors like this. Be sure to check out the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog and visit the other DT members' blogs. (Check my sidebar for links to my fellow DT members' sites.)

More Christmas Crafting

These are another popular craft show item. I use reclaimed thin cardboard for my covers (from paper packs, etc.) so they are fairly inexpensive to make. I really have a lot of fun making these. (Well, maybe not so much fun punching all the paper for the insides pages...)

Here are some holiday ones:

At one point, I was apparently madly in love with this paper and must've bought every sheet HL or Michaels had. I have quite a thick stack of it, so most of my Christmas notepads will have this paper. Good thing it works with a variety of images! The snowman on the left is a retired SU! set and the bird is from a current TAC Christmas set.

And here are some "everyday" notepads:


The little girl with the bird is "Fly Free" is a Leanne Ellis image from Funkykits. It's just too cute and is one of my favorite stamps. The girl on the right is an Anya stamp from The Greeting Farm that my friend, Diana, let me borrow a while ago.

If, like me, you always have trouble remembering what order to put your covers in before you bind them, check out this great tutorial: Bind-It-All Basics Part 2. Great for newbies or those of us who haven't used our Bind It All quite so recently...

Santa's got nothing on me...

I have rarely been posting beyond my weekly challenge card for Sweet Sketch Wednesday. The past few weeks I've been working whenever possible on craft projects. Last weekend we did the big Hatton craft show, where we were invited to participate in a local craftshow in December. I don't want to have to do a marathon of last minute projects like I did for Hatton, so I've been working on projects pretty steadily this past week.

Here are a few samples of the "Candy Bar Sliders" that I made. (K. Werner has an awesome tutorial her blog.) These are always popular at craft shows, especially around the holidays. They make great stocking stuffers or Secret Santa gifts.


For my images, I used a Gingersnap digital image, a Santa from a retired TAC set, and a caroling Milly from DigiStamp Boutique. I bought this striped paper a few Christmases ago at Hobby Lobby. It's cardstock and is just the perfect weight for making the sliders.

Come back Monday night for a peek at another Christmas project.

Sweet Sketch #18

It's Wednesday, so it's time for a new sketch! We have a new sponsor this week, Jen of Say It With Stamps.


For my card, I used the shoe saying from Jen's "Girlfriends" release. It was the perfect sentiment for this cute little Poppet, Sammie, from DigiStamp Boutique. Be sure to check out Jen's store for other great sentiments and backgrounds.


Now, I'm off to visit the other DT members' blogs! Be sure to stop by Sweet Sketch Wednesday and check out the other great cards this week from my fellow SSW DT members! :)

Happy (belated) World Card Making Day!

Did you know that Saturday was World Card Making Day? I knew that it was but I spent my day selling cards, not making them! ;-) I did the annual Hatton Craft Show with my friends Diana and Jenny. We did pretty well and it was a fun day hanging out together and running into people I knew.

I tried really hard to get a card made to celebrate the day, but I'd been up since 5 AM (Jess had an out of town volleyball tournament) and was tired. By 10:00, I gave up! But I managed to get my card finished today:


Isn't she adorable? I used one of the new Poppets from DigiStamp Boutique, Sammie. Alison just adores her and asked how many I'd give her to color. :) Be sure to hop on over to the store and check out Sammie and her friends!

Tricks and Treats

Halloween is a HUGE deal at my house, as it is DH's favorite holiday. He even shops garage sales during the year to find things to add to his project making supplies. (Who needs animatronics when you've got a rotating floor fan to breathe life into your monster?) He's already started making additions to his "graveyard".

So, with a nip in the air and Halloween projects in my garage, I've started gathering some Halloween ideas to make and to share:

Foster Design House - Barb is a fellow TAC demonstrator and huge Halloween fan. She's got lots of cool Halloween projects on her site. Also, be sure to check out her projects on the official Angel Company site: Fall Into Fabulous with Barb Foster.

The Angel Company - Check out their homepage for a sneak peek of the spooky Bone Appetite projects on the Savvy Projects blog.

Other cool projects I've found are Jan Tink's Coffin box and these fun little S'mores in a Jar.

Have a hauntingly good time checking out these links!

Friday Funnies

Friday is already a pretty darn good day, but a little humor always makes it even better. Today, this really cracked me up:



When I'm looking for a little laughter and a little stamping all in one shot, I like to visit Jan Tink's blog. I like looking at her cards (she's added some cool video tutorials, too!) and love her sense of humor about her stamping and her kids. This one was one my recent favorites: Ruminations of a mom.... I can relate. All I can say is that I'm glad my girls have their own bathroom. Like Jan's girls, they have an assortment of washes, shampoos, etc. in their shower. The irritating thing is that they each have to have their own bottle of shampoo and conditioner - even though they use the exact same kind! Because you know you can't share something with your SISTER -- eew!!!

Fun, fast project

I found these little notepad and pens sets at Michaels this past summer:



When I bought them they were already "decorated" with images on the front (plane, car, etc. - travel theme). I simply cut my images to fit over the existing design. The kraft cover was a nice, neutral base to work with.

All images from The Angel Company.