Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Halloween. We have even had a few trick-or-treaters this year after none last year! The kids were older ones - the little ones just don't seem to go out door to door anymore. Such a shame - some of my fondest memories are of trick-or-treating throughout the neighborhood. Times have changed.

So here's some treats for you. If you use them in your art, I'd love to see what you do!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

More cards

We were away for a quick weekend in Kansas City to celebrate my MIL's 80th birthday. I managed to fit a visit to Archivers in - what a treat. It's a huge store filled to the brim with great papers, stamps and accessories. I am hoping that now that Recollections is closing in the DFW area, they will open stores here!

Here's a "cuttlebugged" thank you card I made for my SIL and BIL for letting us stay with them. The raised areas are lightly chalked.

And here are a few more Halloween cards using my new "Jack" stamps from Just for Fun. Aren't they fun stamps?!

More Christmas Cards

Here are more cards for the cancer fundraiser. These are all very simple cards, but I hope they will sell well.

Fall/Winter Arrives in TX

Fall (or maybe winter) officially arrived in Texas today. After temps around 90 yesterday, we woke to rain, wind and temps that barely made it to the high 50s today! It was a shock and feels colder than it actually is, but is a very welcome change from the heat and humidity.

Blogger has had some "hiccups" lately and I haven't been able to upload any photos for several days. It's finally working again, so here are a few quick Halloween cards I made last week. The first two use pumpkin face squares cut from a piece of Heidi Grace patterned cardstock. I centered a square cut from a sheet of Tacky Tape over the images and sprinkled with ultrafine iridescent glitter. The scan doesn't pick this up very well. All the stamps used on these cards are dollar stamps from Michael's. There were some really cute ones this year!

And here are a few Christmas cards I'm sending to a friend for a breast cancer fundraiser.

Ornament stamp by My Sentiments Exactly and gold embossed on white.

Stamp by Denami Designs, gold embossed on dark green cardstock. The snow is Liquid Applique which puffs up when heated. Also added gold Stickles for stars and bottom edge.

Trees are a cheap foam cube stamp. Edge sponged with red ink. Dove is an eyelet I got at a convention a long time ago.

Image Share

I tried to post this yesterday but Blogger wouldn't let me load photos. Anyway, this is a photo of my husband's grandmother and his father (standing) and aunt. It was probably somewhere around 1927. Granny doesn't look very happy, but then, even in later life when I knew her, she rarely smiled. I guess living through the Depression didn't help... Feel free to use this in your art. I would love to see what you do with it!

You Make Me Smile Award

My good friend Jeri at http://artfulgathering.typepad.com has awarded my blog the "You Make Me Smile Award." Thank you Jeri!

In turn I must award this to two blogs that always "make me smile." This is not easy as there are many, many blogs that I visit regularly to get an art-fix and keep me happy. So, I nominate: Linda Findley (http://theartsook.blogspot.com) and Vicki Chrisman (http://vickichrisman.blogspot.com) - two wonderfully creative, productive and amazing artists. You must visit their sites. Linda and Vicki - you both make me smile every day! Thanks for the inspiration.

Sad news

I am currently working at Recollections and love my job. Michael's (which owns the 11 Recollections stores throughout the country) just announced that they will be closing all eleven stores around the beginning of next year. We all found out Friday morning and are still in shock! Our customers, who have become part of our "family", are also devastated. It is very sad, especially since our store in particular does very well and fills a definite need in our area. I will be sticking around til the very end and hope that something as fun and fulfilling will come my way after that. Needless to say, I have not been motivated to make much art this week!

Days of the Week Project

My local group just finished a swap based on the poem "Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, etc...". One of the members bought little paper mache boxes which came with eight sturdy chipboard ATC-sized tags. These are punched in the upper left corners and held together with a chain and fit perfectly inside the box. Each of us chose a day of the week and decorated seven tags according to the corresponding line of the poem. We then swapped them and each of us altered our own box. I had "Friday's child is loving and giving" - here's the front of my tag.

And the back:

I covered the box with patterned paper from SU and used my new Martha Stewart border punch to make the eyelet trim and the "paper lace." Here's a photo of the "ribbon" which is just a strip of cardstock punched on both edges and makes a pretty accent.

Fall 4" x 4"

This 4" x 4" artwork was made for a monthly "inspiration challenge" mingle I participate in. The first photo shows the given "inspiration" piece - a pillow from Pier One - followed by my interpretation. The background is several green inks smeared on white glossy cardstock. The leaves were stamped and randomly embossed with silver, copper and gold.

Inchie Art

Not much time for art this week, but I did get this "inchie" finished for an upcoming "Fall Inchie" swap. This is actually not an inch square, but 1 1/2 inches square. This is an 8-for-8 swap and we will be exchanging them this coming Tuesday. I punched 1 3/8" squares from a fall leaves patterned paper and sprayed with Golden Terracotta Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels (love this stuff!) and layered it on a 1 1/2" square of rust cardstock. I edged this with a copper pen. The title "autumn" is part of a small collage stamp which I stamped on glossy cardstock on which I'd smooshed several colors of Adirondack dye ink. The two tiny leaves were punched from bits of inked and embossed scraps and attached with a tiny brass brad.

Today is World Cardmaking Day

What did you do to celebrate WCD today? I worked at the store - we had our Holiday Open House showcasing the new holiday classes and products. I demoed the new StampPress, stamping directly on photos, coloring photos with Distress Inks and Twinkling H2O's, using Perfect Medium as a resist, and using Perfect Pearls with Perfect Medium. I didn't really make any cards - just backgrounds and portions of cards.



But I did "almost finish" two cards this evening for my upcoming card class. Almost - because I need to add a few embellishments or stamps when I go back to work. Understandably I can only use items we have there so I couldn't quite finish them up.

On the first card I used a brass stencil (normally used for dry embossing on paper) with Artist's Cement to make the pumpkin image. Once dry I colored it with chalks. The base card is a metallic bronze which doesn't show up in the scan. I still need to put a "thanks" metal tag on the ribbon with the new Tag Curler.

This one was done with a Heidi Swapp leaf mask on ivory cardstock. I then sprayed Adirondack Colorwash (Butterscotch and Cranberry) over the cardstock and carefully lifted off the mask. I cut it into equal squares and adhered them onto another piece of ivory cardstock, leaving a small space between each. The orange and black checked ribbon is layered over a strip of black cardstock. I will either stamp "fall" in black along the bottom or use black glitter letter stickers. I may also punch two black photo corners and place them on the upper right and lower left design area. Unfortunately this scan doesn't show the variation in colors that you get with the colorwash sprays.

Blog Candy Drawing Today!

First, I want to thank all of you who visit my blog, either frequently or occasionally. And I especially appreciate your comments on my work!

To celebrate my 100th post last week, I offered an assortment of fall goodies to one lucky person drawn from all who commented on a post during this past week. I was blown away by the number of people who posted - 26 in all and some posted multiple times! Thank you!

And now, the lucky winner is........Jodene! When you read this, Jodene, please e-mail me privately with your mailing information so I can get the package out to you.

Thanks again everyone. Stay tuned for the next 100 posts!

Hope Sees a Star Benefit Auction

Don't forget to visit the auction site for the Hope Sees a Star Benefit which runs through Sunday of this week. http://www.HopeSeesaStar.com There are lots of wonderful art pieces to view. And, if you see something you can't live without, be sure to place a bid - you might win some great art and you will be helping a great cause at the same time!

Halloween cards

Here are two cards I made for a card class in October. There is no stamping - just papers and embellishments. I must say that these are harder for me to do than cards with stamping. I just feel like something is missing! However, this class is for selling tools, products and embellishments so...

I embossed the background of the first card with the swirl plate of the Cuttlebug. I used Lasting Impressions black paper as it is distressed to begin with and also has a white core (I sanded lightly after embossing to reveal the white swirls.). The funny pumpkin face is a pre-made felt sticker.

The second card didn't scan well as the pumpkin square is glitter. I cut the square out of a sheet of Teresa Collins' Whimsical Halloween paper by Junkitz. I cut an identical size square of Tacky Tape sheet and laid it on top. Then I sprinkled Art Institute's Ultrafine iridescent glitter to cover. The stripe paper is a Heidi Grace design and the white scalloped edges are Paper Frills by Doodlebug Designs. I love these things. They come in 12" precut strips of different patterns (scallops, zigzag, floral etc.) in lots of colors.