Stolen (intellectual) property...

This is a Halloween card design that I stole, swiped, lifted, borrowed from my sister. She had made a similar card and posted it on Facebook, so I decided to copy, emulate her. It's a great way to use up a lot of card scraps and even stickers. The scalloped squares were cut with a Lifestyle Crafts nesting die. It was just the right size for this design!

The "Trick or Treat" square in the bottom center is a sticker, and all the other little embellishments (bat, skull and crossbones, spider, etc.) are stickers.

For the center strip, I adhered some orange glitter tape to some patterned paper, which I cut just wide enough to evenly separate the two rows of squares.

My black card base was not as sturdy as I would like, so I lined both the top and bottom of the inside with patterned paper. I fussy cut an element from a Halloween card kit that I had and added it to the top. For the bottom, I stamped "Happy Halloween" and adhered a couple of candy corn dimensional stickers.

This is definitely a quick way to make some nice-looking Halloween cards - fun, too. Thanks again, sis, for a great idea!

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

Best witches...

I've had a stamp of witches legs for a couple of years now, and saw this idea on Pinterest for using it. This was also a fun way to use up some scraps of Halloween paper.

The skirts were hand cut and I used decorative-edge scissors to make each hemline a little different. I had originally thought I would color the striped stockings to match each skirt, but at the last minute decided to mix them up.

The sentiment was computer-generated and cut out with a Spellbinders Fancy Label die.

On the inside I added a strip of the patterned paper and a little witch's hat that I cut using my Cricut and the Create a Critter 2 cartridge.

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

September Christmas cards...

My sister (bless her!) decided to boost my supply of Christmas cards by giving me six that she had made for a Dickens-themed Christmas fair in her home town. I had a LOT of company in September and really didn't have time to make my usual four or five cards, so I am so grateful that she helped me keep my commitment to add a few cards to my stash each month.

Here's one of the cards she gave me:

She told me, but I can't for the life of me remember who made the stamp she used for the street scene. I should have written it down!  Maybe she'll leave a comment on this post letting us all know.

The lamp post was made with a Tim Holtz/Sizzix die, and she cut the holly leaves out of felt and glittered the berries.

The "Greetings" was also die cut, but I don't think she mentioned which die she used for that. Again, maybe she'll let us all know in the comments.

She used two different sentiments on the inside, and this one was my favorite.

I was thrilled to have these cards to add to my stash. THANK YOU SO MUCH, MICHELLE!

I'm getting oh-so-close to having enough. Then I can start working on all those Christmas gifts!!

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

Thank you from the bottom of my heart...

My sister has the Butterfly Heart die by Memory Box. She let me cut a few pieces of cardstock with this die when I visited her recently. This is one of the cards I made from those die-cuts.

These pictures are not good, but I think you can see what I did here. I gently lifted each butterfly wing, slipped a piece of scrap paper underneath and inked the edges.

I then added a dot of Liquid Pearls to the center of each butterfly.

Here are two cards, made exactly the same. the enamel dot look-alikes are melted pony beads that happened to match my cardstock.

This photo from the side, shows the pretty dimension of the butterfly wings when they are lifted a little from the card.

I thought that the phrase, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart," was perfect for this card. I think this die-cut would work beautifully for Valentines and many other types of cards.

These photos really don't do this die justice. The cut is so pretty IRL. Thanks, sis, for letting me use your die!!

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

More Halloween cards...

 
This little haunted house was cut from the Create a Critter 2 cartridge. I love that it is just two layers and sooooo easy to put together. The tiny bats are from a little Studio G punch that I have used a zillion times on Halloween cards. My daughter gave it to me and it is so handy!

The "Fright Night" gravestone is a sticker that I picked up for 70% off last year at Michaels. I often try to pick up some after-holiday stickers to use the following year.

For the inside, I used some green glitter tape, which is actually closer in color to the "Fright Night" sticker than it appears here. I also used some more of the DSP and yellow cardstock, along with a strip of dripping goo, punched with a MS border punch.















The daughter who gave me the little bat punch also gave me some Halloween card blanks with cat cutouts/windows. I decided to dress one up a bit by adhering two purple gems for the cat's eyes and adding a sentiment along with some more of those little bats.

Adding those eyes meant that the inside of the card had two little gems kind of hanging there in mid-air. Wish I could think of something to do with them that made sense but didn't interfere with or show through the cat cutout. Any ideas?

Well, that's it for me to day. I am definitely making progress on my Halloween cards.

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

First Halloween card...

I make quite a few Halloween cards, and I'll be sharing them with you over the next few weeks. This is my first one, and I loved making it. Mostly, because I used a new product (new to me, but probably not to most of you), and I was pretty amazed with the results.

My twin daughters gave me a gift certificate to Michael's for Mother's Day and one of the things that I bought with it was a set of Perfect Pearls. I've seen some projects using this product that were absolutely stunning.

My first use was small - insignificant, even - but fun nonetheless.

I bought the witch's cauldron stamp from Michael's for $1.50. It came from one of those bins in the dollar aisle that is piled high with inexpensive seasonal stamps.

I stamped the image with Versamark and then used one of the brushes that comes with the Perfect Pearls to apply the powder. I had purchased the Metallic colors and used the bronze for this image.

The instructions say to set it with a mist of water, which I did. I discovered, however, that it still rubbed off a bit when I touched it, so I also sprayed it with a finishing spray that I often use to set the colors when I use chalk on my cards. It worked great. I love the metallic finish from the Perfect Pearls. It truly seems to glow!

The enamel dots in the upper right corner were made by melting pony beads and the bottom purple section was embossed with my Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls embossing folder. I also inked the embossed paper a bit with some Dusty Concord Distress ink. It helped to deepen the color of the swirls and to hide any little paper cracks that happened when I embossed.

For the inside (sorry for the blurry photo), I used more of the embossed/inked purple paper and a framed oval cut from the Happy Hauntings cartridge. I inked the edges of the oval with some Memento London Fog ink. I left it blank so that I can write a personal note inside.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my first Halloween card. More to come!

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

Thank you inspired by Halloween colors...

Can you tell I'm getting into the Halloween mood? I just happened to have some orange and black Washi tapes and some orange glitter tape, and I decided to use them on this card.

This photo shows a little more of the sparkle in the glitter tape.  Love that!

This is such a simple card to make. My card base is black and I cut a white mat that was 1/4" smaller in length and width. Then I began placing my tapes, wrapping the ends around to the back of the mat.

I adhered my mat directly onto my card base, but it could certainly be popped up on foam dots or tape for a little extra dimension.

If you've got some fun Washi tapes, give this a try. I think making some Christmas thank you cards using Christmas-themed/colored Washi tapes would  be fun...and perfect to have on hand to send to folks who have given you a gift during the holidays.

Hmmm...since I don't have any Christmas Washi tape, I should probably go shopping. After all, the craft store aisles are already lined with Christmas goodies!

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

Covering up an ink smudge...

I recently needed a card in a hurry, and made this one:

I cut two pieces of solid color cardstock so that a narrow band of the patterned mat beneath it would show through. I then embossed those two pieces of cardstock and adhered them to my mat.

The sentiment was stamped with Versamark ink and heat-embossed. It actually looked a little bolder IRL than it does in the photo.

I also stamped and heat-embossed the flower, cut it out and then added a flat-backed pearl to the center, some Liquid Pearls to the stamens and popped it up on foam tape.

I stamped the same flower on the inside and thought I was done.

When I flipped the card over....AAAACK!...I found an ink smudge right in the center of the back. Has this ever happened to you?

While this card hadn't taken long to make and it wasn't anything spectacular, I still didn't want to throw it away because I didn't have time to start over. But how could I cover that smudge?

Well, here was my final solution:

I have this little stamp to put on the back of my cards. I used to use it quite a bit, stamping each card on the back at the center bottom. Well, to cover my smudge, I needed more than this stamp, so I heat-embossed a strip of the dark turquoise cardstock and centered it on the back of the card.

Do you think it looks ok or just weird? Are there other ideas for handling a problem like this, or should I have thrown it away and started over? I would love it if you would leave a comment telling me what you would have done.

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

Anniversary card...

A while back I was making a wedding card and decided to make an anniversary card at the same time. It seems that once you have your papers out for one, you might as well make two!

Pretty simple card.  The corner die is by Spellbinders and comes with a little "sprig" die, as well. I think I'll use both of these a lot.

The white hearts were cut with a Sizzix die. I then traced around the die and fuss-cut that heart to form the shadow.

As you can see, I used some Liquid Pearls on the corner die-cut and also in the center of each heart.

The inside is as simple as can be. The white embossed paper is so pretty, that I let it shine on its own.

This white embossed paper is from a stack that I bought at Costco years ago. It was all different colors and patterns of thick fabric-like paper that is a dream to work with. I only have a few sheets left, so I'm pretty careful in how I use it.

Well that's it for today--short and sweet. Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Yellow and turquoise card and a fabulous deal from a crazy store...

I made this card recently using one of my favorite color combinations: yellow and turquoise. The flowers were stamped and cut out using a Sizzix stamp and die set. I love this set and use it often.

The label was cut and embossed with this die:

I got this set for something like $3.00 from the Cricut website when they were having a mega sale. I didn't know if I'd use it all that much, but for $3.00, I figured it would be a good deal even if I used it only very occasionally.

While the label was still in the die, I inked it with the same ink that I used for the flowers. I thought that this larger label and the flowers made a nice focal point for this card.

Here's a little closer look at the label. The sentiment was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed, using some pretty turquoise embossing powder.








The label was adhered to the card with some double-sided foam tape that I got at a crazy local store called Ax-Man. It has all kinds of crazy stuff for sale at reduced prices. My husband and I were strolling through this store one Saturday afternoon, just for fun, and I came upon this:

A HUGE wheel of double-sided foam tape. I've put my A2 card on it so you can see the relative size.

And the price was a mere $2.95!  The best part is that it is really great quality with superb stickiness on both sides. I've gotten inexpensive foam tape before with very little stickiness - so aggravating.

I'm thrilled with this purchase, however, and will be using this stuff for months and months. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts.

Well, that's it for me today. Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle card...

I had so much fun making this cute card for my grandson who just turned 7 years old. Once I set up a couple of shapes in my Gypsy, it was easy peasy to cut and put together.

I cut ovals for the bottom of each turtle's head and a little bigger ovoid shape for the top of the head. I also cut little banner flags for the eye masks. I love that, with my Gypsy, I could make sure it all fit together properly on the card size I wanted to use. Then I was able to cut everything at once.

To make the little noses, I simply hand cut a small portion from the top of each oval leaving a little rise in the center for the nose. I did draw a straight line across the back of each oval and a little bump where the nose should be so that I didn't miss-cut any of them. The eye mask was then tucked behind this little rise to accentuate it.

The eyes were made by using the castoffs from a hole punch (the usual size used for notebooks) and then adding some black liquid pearls for the eyeballs.

 My grandson's favorite color is orange, so I used it for the matting on both the front and the inside.  The dotted embossing folder is by Darice and the sentiment was computer-generated. The orange paper is actually an embossed cardstock that was purchased that way.

I also made an envelope with my WRMK envelope punch board, since this was not the usual A2 card.

This was a fun card to make, and I was happy when my grandson knew immediately that these were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! I was afraid they might not be recognizable. LOL

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