I thought I was done...

...making Halloween cards until, at the last minute, I decided to make a couple for some special people in my life.

I made two simple designs, as I had to get them done quickly so that I could get them in the mail. This first card features a black rectangle of CS that is popped up on foam squares. I cut out the three circles, and then I cut three slightly larger orange circles to adhere to the card directly below each cutout.

I stamped the spiders and "Boo!" on the orange circles and used my glitter pen to give them each a little sparkle.

The inside was also simple - a sentiment, along with another spider, and a strip of the patterned CS across the bottom.

This was another simple, but fun, card that features the spider from the Doodlecharms cartridge. The main body of the spider is covered with black flocking (fun!), and I added a couple of googly eyes, too. I used the MS drippy goo border punch to get the black border across the top. The flat-backed gems are dark--almost black--but still reflect colors around them. They were perfect for this card.

The spider is actually popped up on a foam square to add some dimension. The "EEK!" sentiment was made with some black sparkly letter stickers by Reflections.

Another simple interior with room to write a quick note.

I'm entering this card into the following two challenges:

• Ladybug Crafts Ink Photo Inspiration Challenge
• Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge #139 - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Down to the wire for Halloween...

 

Halloween will be here in just a few days, and I've been working hard to finish up my Halloween cards. I am truly feeling down to the wire, but I think I am finally done! Here are some that I finished up yesterday: 

I made these four fun Halloween cards using an idea from a great tutorial from Dawn's Stamping Thoughts. Dawn called this card a Peek-a-boo Window Card. Click on the link to watch her great video tutorial.

The skull and crossbones on this card is cut from a Cuttlebug die. I put some green paper behind the eyes and nose and painted it with glow-in-the-dark paint.

The fancy label and shadow are cut from the Elegant Edges cartridge. I added a border at the top using Martha Stewart's drippy goo border punch.










It's difficult to see how the peek-a-boo window works in this picture, but hopefully, you'll see it better on one of the other cards.

The ticket stamp was one that I found in the dollar bin at Michael's. I embossed it with white embossing powder on black cardstock. I love the way that looks.








Here's another card, very similar to the one above. I used the same tools for the border and label, and I also painted this skull and crossbones with glow in the dark paint.











Another card with a spider cut from the Doodlecharms cartridge. You can't tell in this photo, but I ran the body of the spider--a top layer that was cut separately--through my Xyron, added the googly eyes and then added flocking to it before I adhered it to the first layer of the spider. It's so cute in person.

The candies at the bottom of the card were dimensional stickers. Doesn't it look like that spider is just eyeing the candy corn, ready to pounce on it?

Finally, I made this card with three scalloped circles on the front. The top and bottom circles are adhered to the left side of the card, and the ghost in the center is adhered to the right side.












Here are some successive photos to give you a little idea of how the peek-a-boo works:

Once I got the hang of making these cards, they came together really quickly. The peek-a-boo mechanism is so much fun, and I think the kids are going to love it.

Thanks for stopping by today, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Cheryl

 

 

 

Why, yes...I drive a stick.

I've seen this sentiment in several places around the Web, and it makes me laugh every time! I just had to make a Halloween card with it.

The witch and the bats were cut from the Happy Hauntings cartridge. I embossed the straw end of the broom with a woodgrain embossing folder and then inked it up with Walnut Distress Ink. Did you notice that I added a sparkly band to the witch's hat with a glitter pen?

The moon is actually a circle cut into the gray swirly paper so that the pale yellow mat beneath shows through. The sentiment was punched out on a label maker. Then I just flagged the ends to make a little banner.

The inside is pretty simple. Just a stamped sentiment and a couple of stamped bats.

The "photo corners" were made by using a small die to cut out 2 scalloped squares with my Cuttlebug. Then, I cut them in half and notched the centers. Voila! You then have four photo corners.





I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

• Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge #138: Halloween
• Cardz TV Challenge # 38: Ghost and Goblin Party
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Halloween or Halloween Colors
• Make My Monday: Halloween

Thanks for stopping by today, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

P.S. Oh yes, I DO know how to drive a stick!

Halloween "Trick or Treat" craft...

I had this Pepperidge Farm cookie tin sitting around for a long time, waiting to be turned into something fun. When we decided to go and visit my daughter and her family in their new home this past weekend, I knew I wanted to fill this can with a fun treat to take along. First, though, it had to be "modified."

The first thing I did was take my black ProMarker and color the edges that I knew would not be covered with DSP. Look at the amazing coverage I got. This turned out to be the perfect solution. Using either paint or paper in these areas would have made it impossible to put the cover on, but it was no problem after using the ProMarker.  Is there anything these markers cannot do?

Then I covered the sides and the cap with some fun Halloween paper. I also added a spooky, gooey border and the "Trick or Treat" cut from Create a Critter 2. The inverted scallop circles were made with some Spellbinders dies. The little dotted line around the upper edge of the can was made with some gold Liquid Pearls.

The can had a circumference of about 13". That meant that a 12" X 12" sheet of DSP would not fit around it. I found, however, that if you angled the sheet of paper it would come together perfectly, albeit at an angle like you see in the photo above. I figured that was okay for this project, since I made sure that the seam was in the back.

My sweet granddaughter Polly helped me mix up the goodies to put inside - candy corn and dry-roasted peanuts! Together they taste like a salted nut roll.

In fact, this treat is so tasty that it was completely consumed in just two days!

I'm entering this project in the Cardz TV's Challenge #38: Ghost and Goblin Party

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Thanksgiving will be here before we know it...

I decided to take a break from making Halloween cards, and I made a Thanksgiving card instead. I've had this strong desire to do some paper piercing, so I decided to give that a whirl for this card. I even bought an honest-to-goodness paper piercing tool, instead of using some other sharp object or a needle from my sewing supplies.

Here's what I came up with:

I was pleased with how this turned out. It's what I would call a "quiet" design - not a lot of frills or embellishments. The sentiment was computer-generated and cut out with a Spellbinders oval die.

The piercing didn't take long at all. I just printed a flourish design from Gem's Cottage, used some temporary adhesive to hold it in place over my cardstock and poked away. I did not have an extra mouse pad laying around to use as a cushion, so I used a piece of fun foam that I folded in half for extra thickness. This is something that is easy to do in front of the TV while watching your favorite shows.

Here's a little closer look at the piercing detail. The rust-colored cardstock has a white core, so after piercing it, I did go back and "poke" each hole with a black, fine-tipped pen so that the white core wasn't so obvious. Next time I will try this technique with some solid core paper. I think that will eliminate having to go over my pierced pattern with a black pen.

I decided to do some piercing to decorate the inside, as well. It not only adds a design element to the card, but it also adds some texture. I find myself running my fingers over the design after it's done to "feel" how pretty it is.

I generally send out at least a dozen Thanksgiving cards, so I've got quite a few more to make. I think I'd better finish my Halloween cards, first, though!

I'm also really going to have to focus when it comes to finishing my Christmas cards. With about 75 more to make, I'll need to keep my nose to the card-making grindstone.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

A couple more Halloween side-step cards...

I am having a lot of fun creating these Halloween side-step cards for my grandkids. I embellished these two cards using mostly stickers that I picked up last year after Halloween. It feels a little like cheating to use stickers, but they were so inexpensive and so cute that I couldn't help but buy them.

Don't you love the expressions on the faces of these little ghosts? And I love that they have more than one layer. All of these stickers came in one package, which cost less than a dollar.

You can't see it in these photos but the ghosts and skulls (in the card below) are a glittery white. So fun!

I thought I was pretty clever, putting just this eyeball sticker on the inside. I did enhance the sticker a bit by adding some Diamond glaze to give the eyes a little shine.

Here's another card made with some more of these dimensional stickers. Notice that I added some Diamond Glaze to all of the eyeballs on this one. I did die cut that purple striped candy. It was left over from another project and I thought it added just a touch of "sweetness" to this ghoulish card. LOL

I have a Halloween banner stamp that I used for the inside of the card. I also used green and purple ProMarkers to color the banners to match the front.


If you'd like to see just how to make a side-step card, there's a great tutorial on Splitcoaststampers. This type of card can work for any occasion, and I find that they are a great way to use up some smaller pieces of DSP.


Thanks for stopping by today, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Happy anniversary...

Today is my husband's and my wedding anniversary. I decided to use a few distress inks (six of them, to be exact) to create a little scene on my card for him.

 
I tried to create a little scene by first using a mask to ink a yellow moon in the sky. Then I created the sky by inking the top half of the card in blues and a little purple. I brought a little of the blue ink across the moon to give the illusion of some wispy clouds. The bottom half was inked with more purple and some dark greens and browns. The last thing that I did was to stamp some trees on either side with black ink.

The sentiment was computer generated and matted with black CS. The little scene was also matted with black CS.

I kept the inside very, very simple. I believe this is a Fiskars sentiment stamp.

I hope he likes this card. I thought about what a great guy he is the whole time I was making it. I'm a lucky woman!


Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Double-slider Happy Birthday...

Our son-in-law's birthday is on October 16, so I decided to make a double-slider card for him. I don't know that I've ever made a slider card like this before, but it was easy and fun.

The sentiment in the above photo is a Fiskars stamp that I've used a few times for birthdays. I like it because I know I don't want to grow old OR grow up! The papers are from the GCD Studios Indian Summer paper stack. This particular stack has a lot of papers that work well for masculine cards. The polka dot paper is on the back side of the chevron patterned one.

Here is a picture of the card with the sliders out. All you do is pull on the blue tab on the topmost slider and as it is pulled out, so is the bottom slider. The sentiment on the lower slider is another one from Fiskar's and I'm not sure what company made the "Happy Birthday" stamp. It's a fun card - I played with it myself a few times before I put it in the envelope and sent it on its way. LOL

There are basic instructions for this card here on the Splitcoaststampers website. I like to look through their tutorials from time to time for some fresh ideas.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

A beautiful 10-year-old cardmaker...

Beautiful, right? The girl, I mean. Oh, yes. And her card, too.

This is my 10-year-old granddaughter, Sophie. She came over today and asked if she could make a card for a friend who is having a birthday. Of course, I said YES! I love to make cards with my grandchildren.

I gave her some of my Cricut cartridge handbooks to look through (they all love to cut images on the Cricut).  She picked the frame from Cindy Loo and the fish from Pagoda. Sophie loves animals and really wanted to put one on this card. She thought this fish was pretty cool. Don't you think that frame looks like it has water splashing out from all four sides?

She selected the images she wanted on my Gypsy, sized them and placed them on the mat so that we could easily add the different colors of cardstock. Once everything was set, she hooked the Gypsy up to the Cricut and entered the commands for loading the mat and cutting. Pretty soon she'll be more adept at using that Gypsy than I am. She took to it like a fish to water - pun intended!

Here's a little closer look at her beautiful creation. Notice that she used a blue flat-backed gem on the top and bottom of her frame. Not too girly, but it did add that little bit of sparkle that I think her little girlfriend will love.

When I asked her how she'd like to decorate the inside, she said she "definitely wanted to stamp." She loves to play with my stamps, too! She picked out a birthday sentiment and then a little swirl stamp that she wanted to use on the inside. We went through my inks and pulled out all the blue and green ones. She tested them all and decided which ones she wanted to use and then went to town--stamping like a Stampin' Up demonstrator!!!

I think Sophie did a spectacular job, don't you! We had a lot of fun, and I hope she comes back for another cardmaking session very soon.

I'd love it if you'd leave Sophie a little note of encouragement, because I'll make sure she sees this post. I already told her it was definitely going up on the blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Arrrrrrgh...Happy Birthday, Matey!

Our grandson is turning 9 years old tomorrow--Happy Birthday, Sebastian!--and he no longer wants a "cutesy" card, so I decided to try my hand at pirate card. I saw this idea on the Stampin' Pretty blog, and while I didn't have the exact same tools used on that blog, I figured I could still pull it off.

I used a Spellbinders Label 8 die to make the shaped card base and a circle die to round off the scarf on the pirate's head. More circle dies helped make the eye and eye patch, mouth and gold earring.

The nose--believe it or not--is the major portion of a smaller label die (by Lifestyle Crafts, I think). I inked the edges and the bottom of the nose to give the illusion of nostrils.

The little bit of hair that is peeking out from under the scarf was made with a grass border die!

The scarf tails and the eyebrow were hand cut.

Here's a look at the inside of the card front. I cut this black skull and crossbones with a cuttlebug die that I got at a super sale price of 29 cents. I figured that even if I NEVER used it, I should still buy it at that price. I always have trouble passing up a bargain like that.

The inside sentiment was printed with my computer. Notice that both inside liners were cut with a slightly smaller Spellbinders Label 8 day.

It's always fun to try to figure out how to put a card together when you don't have the tools that are called for. It makes me stop and consider what I DO have and how it can all be used in multiple ways.
  
I sure hope Sebastian likes his pirate card, but more than that, I hope he has a terrific birthday.

Thanks for stopping by today, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Another fun sidestep card for Halloween...

Once again, this card uses a combination of Cricut cuts and dimensional stickers. The Halloween bags, striped candies and "BOO" were cut from the Create a Critter 2 cartridge. The candy corn and the spider are dimensional stickers. I did add some Diamond Glaze to the spider's eyes, though!

I think you can see in this photo that I've also coated the striped candies with some Diamond Glaze.

If you look closely at the "BOO" that is adhered to the top of the last step, you'll see that there are two googly eyes - one inside each "O." This cut has a little round tab inside each "O" that is perfect for adhering these eyes. How fun is that?

The inside is simple. I just printed "Happy Halloween" with my computer and added another dimensional sticker.

I think the grandkids will like their Halloween cards, don't you? I am sure having fun making them.


Thanks for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Cheryl

At last - a Halloween card...

After seeing so many Halloween cards on the blogs I follow and on Pinterest, I felt I was really behind not having made a single Halloween card yet.  Well, last night I decided I was going to start--and finish--a card. Here's what I came up with:

I had such a good time, using my Cricut to cut the house, cat, pumpkin and ghosts from Create a Critter 2 and the "Boo" sign from Everyday Paper Dolls.

This is a side-step card, and it's really fun to add little images to each "step." I plan to make a few more of these with other images, and I'll share them once I have them done.

Here's a closer look at the little haunted house. It's just two layers, so it is very easy to put together.

The little ghosts were actually cut using the pirate ghost image. I just didn't use the pirate hat or eye patch. I used a scissor to cut off the excess parts and a couple of punches to punch the eyes and mouth in the top layer.

The little sign was actually a one-layer image in the Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge. It's very easy, though, to just cut it out a couple of times and use one of the cuts to make a top layer. I used one of my Halloween stamp sets to stamp the "Boo" onto it.

For the inside section (underneath the haunted house), I added a piece of off-white cardstock so I can sign the card. I used just a couple of stickers that I had on hand to wish the receiver a Happy Halloween and decorate it a bit. The candy corn stickers are dimensional and shiny. I picked them up on sale, knowing they would come in handy.

Here's one last look at this fun card. I can't wait to get started on the next one.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl