Halloween 2021

 Well. it's been a while since I posted, but I have been escaping to the world of card making and crafting every chance I get - just haven't felt like sharing since my Number 1 Fan, my sister, passed away.  But,  here I am and it's Halloween 2021.  

Yes, I HAD to have the Tim Holtz Moon Masks!  Of course I did : )   I used Distress Oxides for the background and added one of the witches from Toil and Trouble on her broomstick.  Love the spookiness of this card.

This is the second card I made using the Toil and Trouble die set.  I stamped and embossed Floral Outlines before getting inky with various Distress Oxides.  The die cuts are from black glitter paper and I cut off the legs of the broomstick flying witch and reattached them so that she could stand over the cauldron.   

Although I had firmly decided never to buy another Colorize set, I could not resist these little characters from the Costume Party die set.  (The genius of the Cricut die cuts lies in their initial shadow layer which enables you to piece all the subsequent layers in order.  TH and the Sizzix folks seem to have figured this out and these were much easier to build.  Plus, there are great little Colorize videos to help with the placement : ) )   This little monster is on an action wobble.  I love him!

 My last card, for my youngest DGD, is from the Costume Party die set, and is also on an action wobble. This little mummy is so much fun!   I even remembered to run the flaps of the envelopes of my cards through the Big Shot using an ancient Cuttlebug embossing folder.  Yes!

Thank you for visiting today.  Happy Halloween!   Love you and miss you, Number 1 Fan!     : ) Christine 

Sending Hope...

Our family was so happy to say goodbye to 2020!   We were hoping that 2021 would bring everyone much happiness but so far, not so much!    Even the weather has been atrocious and we've had flooding, landslides and beach erosion.   We happened to arrive for our usual morning walk on the beach on Sunday just before high tide and although we did not get our walk, we were treated to some absolutely amazing and awesome wave action.  A little silver lining there!   

Hero Arts included a wonderful two piece die set in the latest monthly kit and because I find paper piecing so relaxing and such fun, I used the die on four different floral backgrounds intending to recreate the word Hope by gluing in the colored pieces.  I was able to make four cards with the four cuts.  

And yes, there is one purple piece in there because I lost the green one I planned on putting there!    I transferred the die pieces onto an old, well used, Cricut mat that I had cut into four pieces, after running them through my Vagabond but still managed to lose 3 little pieces!   

Background: Distress Oxides, Speckled Egg, Broken China and Blueprint Sketch 

Sentiment stamps: Hero Arts, Sunny Studio

The innies:

And then as I was clearing my workspace, I noticed that I had put one of the die cut negative spaces on a piece of iridescent paper left over from another project and voila!   There were four more cards begging to be made!  

And inside:

'Hope' the recipients like their cards as much as I enjoyed making them.   Stay safe, stay healthy and stay dry!   : )  Christine

And the rest of the Christmas cards...

 Minus the baking, and freezing, and shopping, and thorough cleaning that usually presages the Christmas season, I had lots of time for card making.  I was so happy to be able to send home made cards to friends and family this year, but of course, I missed terribly the usual pre holiday rituals.  (Well, maybe not the cleaning!)   

How could I resist this Lawn Fawn stamp set?  I used the wreath builder from Gina K to stamp the bubble wreath and then fussy cut and pop dotted the stamped and colored images.

Inside:-

Last year I bought this Tim Holtz snow globe set of dies but didn't have time to play with it.  There are 23 dies in this set!  

Inside:-

Sunny Studio sentiment.

This year's Tim Holtz purchase - Sketch Greenery.  Love the versatility of these stamps.  I got lots of practice with the Misti and masked the holly so that it would sit on top of the rest of the greenery.   The wood grain stamp comes from LaLa Land.  The TH deckle edger is an early present to myself!

Inside:-

Sunny Studio and again with the snowflakes!!!!!!

Here's a spectacular pop up card from Dreaming Tree.  This mechanism is awesome and easily adaptable for many images from Cricut Design Space.

Although I do not like that little edge of the presents showing under the 'snow.'  Wonder how to prevent that edge from showing without interfering with the mechanism?  Hmmm!    

All that remains is to hope you have a very Happy Christmas despite the restraints and disasters.  I wish you all the very best for 2021!   : )  Christine

Another Hero Arts Card for Christmas

 I ordered an 'add-on' with last month's Hero Arts monthly kit - the Etched Winter Scene, and followed the HA directions for its use rather than loading it in my Misti.   It was an interesting technique and I got almost perfect results every time.  I was inspired by this card, but used silver embossing powder for my card.  (I had to justify my purchase of a new heat gun!)   I also discovered that after activating the embossing powder, I could use an embossing pen to touch up the image.  Plus, I was able to embellish the worst areas with the snowflakes!  

Inside:

The little tree is amazing and looks almost like metal.  Sentiment is from Sunny Studio stamped with navy Hero Arts ink.

This was a fun and easy card to make!   Thanks for visiting : )  Christine

Hero Arts - November Kit

 I treated myself - we all need a treat now and then - to a subscription to the Hero Arts Kit of the Month and I am loving all the bits and pieces that come in the kit!   The November kit is perfect for hand crafted Christmas cards and I just had to CASE this slimline card from delandartie.com.

I simplified card and added snowflakes instead of dabs of snow.  The 'Peace on Earth' sentiment is included in the kit.  

The innies:-

Sentiment - Sunny Studio

My favorite card so far...   : )  Christine

Hanukkah + Cricut Foil + Slimline Card

 When you have new 'toys' just begging to be played with...

and a Hanukkah card that needs to have been mailed YESTERDAY!  Then...

You find images in DS that can be foiled,  use the new slimline dies on silver card stock,  glue, glue, glue, take awful pictures because you have only 25 minutes to get to the Post Office, address the envelope and add a stamp without noticing that it's one of the new Santa Claus Christmas stamps (Ooops!)  and get the card in the mail with seconds to spare.

Actually, the card is very pretty and it looks like I spent a lot more time on it than I actually did.  Shhhh! 

Happy Hanukkah!   : )  Christine 

Have a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving

When I mentioned to my DD that we would probably not be able to invite her family to our Thanksgiving dinner this year, her first reaction was disappointment and her second, an instant later, was joy in anticipation of cooking her own turkey and getting to eat, "all those yummy leftovers!"   There's the silver lining!   It IS going to be a different holiday season this year, but we'll just keep looking for those silver linings and make it the best we can.  Right?

Last year I made these cute matchbook treat holders for everyone.   They contain a Ghirardelli treat and the sentiment "Gobble til you wobble!"   The turkey, naturally, is on a wobble spring and I loved everyone's reaction to the wobbly turkey!  

This year, I had to return to card sending for the holiday and here, after many changes, is my final version:

Designer paper from Carta Bella 'Hello Autumn'

Sunny Studio Pretty Pumpkins stamps and dies

Sunny Studio mat Frilly Frames Lattice

Sunny Studio sentiment from Bountiful Autumn embossed with gold Stampendous embossing powder.

Inside:

Sentiment from Design Space plus text - Folk Art Festival

Version 1 - Distress Oxides for a subtler look on the bolder paper.

Version 2 - Distress Ink for a darker, bolder look on the lighter paper.

Time to clean up the chaos and start on some Christmas cards.    Happy Thanksgiving!   : )  Christine