The Calm Before the Storm

Hey friends!  Just popping in tonight with a quick post.  Hurricane Sandy is headed our way beginning tomorrow afternoon or there abouts, so I thought I'd better get my blog post in just in case we lose power.  If you listen to the news reports around here, it has been mostly doom and gloom.  I do hope they are wrong this time.  We are as prepared as we can be at this point and will just have to wait and see and hope for the best. 

My mother-in-law's birthday is tomorrow; and in view of the weather forecast, the family got together tonight to celebrate her birthday.  It was a lot of fun to get out and think about other things for a few hours.  Here is the card I made for her birthday.

I really enjoyed making this card.  All the papers are from Carta Bella 6x6 paper pad Beautiful Moments.  The red paper was adhered to a premade blank card.  I then added the paper with the banner onto it.  Strips of paper were cut to layer onto that.  A Martha Stewart lace punch gave a bit of a fancy look to two of the strips.  A piece of Recollections self-adhesive lace was added to the right side.  The pink flower and leaves are Prima.  I'm not sure who made the other flowers.  To finish it off, I made a bow out of white hemp and added some pink Liquid Pearls to the banner and the punched lace strip.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend; and if you're in the path of the hurricane, be safe.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Fall Tag

I thought I would make a tag, and it would be quick and simple.  Not.  I can't tell you how much inking and shading with distress inks and pastels that I did here!

I started with a Recollections tag.  The background image is a Halloween stamp from Recollections stamped in sepia ink.  It has such cute and tiny vintage Halloween images that are difficult to see here.  Here is where all the coloring came in.  I inked the edges with Distress Ink in antique linen and tea dye.  With my fingertip, I applied orange and brown pastels all over the tag to mute the cream tag.  The pumpkin is also from Recollections which I stamped onto Core'dinations orange cardstock which I sanded first.  The orange was still a bit bright, so I applied some brown pastel over the pumpkin with my fingertip to tone it down.  I used some green glitter ink on the leaves but that didn't show up too well, so I used so a green pastel to emphasize them.  The stem was highlighted with brown pastel.  I attached the pumpkin with foam squares for dimension.  The pie sticker is from Melissa Frances.  The tiny pumpkins that spell out FALL were given a coat of Glossy Accents to make them stand out.  A couple of Crafty Secret leave stickers were added around the pie sticker.  I had a small piece of SEI twill that I inked with antique linen and tied to the tag.  I then glued a button and a hemp bow to the twill.  Finally, I applied some Distress Glitter Ink in antique linen around the edge of the tag.

Just for fun, I set the tag into the center of the wreath on our front door.  Photo isn't that great (sorry for the glare), and I didn't leave the tag there.  The tag was a bit of work, but I thought it could be used up to the Thanksgiving holiday.

I finally switched most of our clothes out for the cooler weather and, as luck  would have it, the temperatures are expected to go above 75 this week.  One last blast of summer, I guess.  I'm probably among the few people who actually prefer colder weather!  I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Get Well Card

Can you believe it is just about mid-October?!  Time is just flying by--at least if you are having fun!  I had a very stressful beginning of the week; but thankfully, the week ended on a better note.  I met two friends from high school for dinner on Thursday night.  We had a great time and enjoyed catching up.  It's nice to know that after all these years, we can still pick up where we left off.  Saturday was the annual fall outing at a local orchard with my SIL and nephew.  My son, even though he is 22, still loves to go but had to work.  We had a fun time.  I came home with fresh apple cider as well as cider donuts.  I'll share photos later.

Today's card was made for a cousin who recently had surgery.  The papers are MME.  I used my EK punches to layer the plain and scalloped circles onto a doily.  I then tied a white ribbon from my stash around the side of the card.  The flowers are a combination of Prima and Recollections.  The leaves are Prima.  The black swirl is from Colorbok.  A Martha Stewart butterfly punch was used on more MME paper and accented with Recollections rhinestones.  A PTI sentiment finishes it off.

A new week is about to begin and I hope it brings the best to you.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I really appreciate your sweet comments!

Once Upon a Halloween

Happy day after World Cardmaking Day!  I enjoyed browsing various blogs and viewing all the beautiful creations.  I hope you had a chance to create a card or two as I did.  One of my birthday gifts was a 6x6 paper pad as well as stickers from Webster's Pages Once Upon a Halloween line.  I had so much fun creating these three cards.

My first card was made by adhering the purple pattern paper onto green cardstock.  The black stitching around the edges is actually a rub-on.  I then attached a Webster's sticker sentiment onto a Recollections diecut.  The leaves, flower, pumpkin and lace are also from Recollections.  I attached a Webster's tag sticker to purple cardstock, cut around it and attached it to the flower with purple hemp.  The owl was cut out from the Webster's paper, attached with foam squares and accented with yellow Stickles.  The purple witch's hat is from Queen and Co. 

My second card was made by using both sides of one sheet of the paper.  I simply cut it apart and flipped it over onto a base of black cardstock.  I then took a strip of another piece of paper and punched the lace edge with a Martha Stewart punch.  I applied Webster's word stickers down the edge of the strip and accented it with rhinestones.  I put a piece of purple adhesive lace from Recollections along the side.  The flower is held together with a Queen and Co cat brad.  The leaves are Prima and the black swirl is Colorbok.  I cut out another owl from the paper as well as the scaredy cat sentiment, attached them with foam squares, and accented them with yellow and green Stickles.  Here is a side view.

Last, but not least, is my favorite.  I love this particular paper.  Two different papers are attached to the card base.  I used the lace punch again on a piece of the green pattern paper and attached a Webster's sticker sentiment.  The owl was cut from the Halloween paper and attached with foam squares.  I accented his eyes with yellow Stickles.  Isn't he the cutest thing?!  I then put some Recollections leaves and flowers with a bit of cream twill around the branch the owl is sitting on.  In the upper left corner, I applied a Colorbok swirl and another Recollections flower. 

Well, that's it for me today.  I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  Thanks so very much for stopping by and for your very sweet comments.  Have a great week!