Batty Boo

Welcome to night 2 of the Halloween Hex-Travaganza!  And tonight we're hanging out with a couple of spooky bats.

I love that Ghostly Greetings pattern with the orange swirls and I finally convinced myself that I really needed to use it on some cards.  The moon was super easy too--it's just a circle cut out of a marbly pattern from the retired Perfectly Artistic DSP.  The only thing that took a bit of time on this card was fussy cutting my bats, which are from the Autumn Apparitions stamp set (another eBay find from a couple of years ago).  I've spent this entire year picking up extra Halloween stamp sets just for the Hex-Travaganza and I still have some that I haven't played with yet.  So here we are on night 2 and I'm already certain I will have another Hex-Travaganza next year.  For the moment, I need to start mailing out these Halloween cards!

Stay spooky, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Autumn Apparitions
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Perfectly Artistic DSP, Ghostly Greetings DSP
Accessories:  2 1/2" circle punch, Glitter Enamel Dots, Mini Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Hello October!

Mornin' y'all!  I am continuing to recover from my appendectomy last week but I'm happy to report that I'm feeling better, though I still sleep a lot.  Hopefully I'll be able to get back in my craft room very soon, but in the meantime, I have a card that I made last week and didn't get to share with all the craziness.  Here it is:

Hello October!  I had to use the Gathering Together DSP for the Addicted to CAS challenge:

Which I paired with the sketch from CAS on Friday:

I couldn't resist adding a couple of stamped leaves and an acorn above my greeting but I think it's still CAS.

Didja see the first Halloween Hex-Travaganza card I posted at midnight?  I'll be doing spooky sweet cards for the entire month of October because it makes my little goblin heart happy : )  I've been planning for that all year and I'm tickled to finally get it started.

Anyway, time to get the kiddo off to school.  Cheers!
Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gathering Moments, Everyday Arches
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Early Espresso
Paper:  Basic Beige, Gathering Together DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Gold Cord

Spooktacular Monster Bash

It's the witching hour, y'all!  Last year I lamented how I didn't get to share nearly enough Halloween cards, and I love Halloween cards so I had to think of a way to fix that : )  The answer:  a month-long Hex-Travaganza of Halloween goodness!  Every night at midnight for the month of October, I will be sharing a Halloween card with lots of stamp sets and Halloween papers from years past.

We're kicking off the Hex-Travaganza with a monster bash!

Our friendly spooks here are all cut out of the Spooktacular Bash DSP so the only stamping is the greeting on the headstone-shaped die.  I started making cards for this last December (which is good because it means that last week's drama queen appendix won't affect the Hex-Travaganza) and I frequently start with the CASE-ing Tuesday Sketches as a jumping off point.  Here's the sketch I used for this card:

And the card in the annual catalog that the sketch is based on:

I am looking forward to sharing lots more Halloween goodness this month, this might just be my favorite type of card to make!

Keep it spooky, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Spooktacular Bash
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Basic Black, Crushed Curry, Terracotta Tile, Basic Beige, Monster Bash DSP
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, Ornate Frames dies, Matte Black Dots, Dimensionals

Hocus Pocus, It's a Sketch

Mornin' y'all!  I didn't get really anything done last week because I went back into the hospital on Saturday morning.  Turns out recovering from the appendectomy is just as challenging as the part leading up to the surgery!  I'm taking it slow, the hubs is taking great care of me with Ryan as his nurse and Daphne is the emotional support/physical therapy member of our team (because petting a doggo is physical therapy).  And my parents got here yesterday afternoon to help too.

All that to say, I have a Paper Players card to share today.

I had my card made well in advance, and luckily I had already added it to the Paper Players post, but as of last Monday I hadn't written my own post here for it because I thought I had lots of time to get it done but then my appendix had other plans.  But I couldn't just not share it here because it might be my favorite card that I've ever made.  Like EVER.  And here it is:

It's Winifred Sanderson!  I swear I pulled out ALLLL the Blends for this one and I am just so tickled with how she looks.  I made her cheeks VERY pink like in the movie; Bette Midler said she wanted Winifred's makeup to look like she put it on herself and couldn't see very well while doing it.  Probably should have put more eye shadow on her though.

Anyway, I found the perfect cloudy night sky in the Everyday Skies DSP pack and then pulled up a reference photo of Winifred to color her in.  I fussy cut her, popped her on some Orchid Oasis glimmer paper, and then used my Blends to color some rhinestones in Orchid Oasis for a little embellishment.

Here's what Winnie looks like from the back : )

Go check out the Paper Players blog to see just ow versatile this sketch is and don't forget to link up there, we love to see what you create.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Sisters and We Fly from C.C. Designs
Ink:  Secret Sea, Stampin' Blends in Pumpkin Pie, Shaded Spruce, Shy Shamrock, Petal Pink, Melon Mambo, Orchid Oasis, Pecan Pie, Darling Ducking and maybe that's it?
Paper:  Shy Shamrock, Thick Basic White, Everyday Skies DSP Stack, In Color Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, rhinestones, Dimensioanls

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

  and now me : )

Hide & Seek Champion

I wasn't trying to play hide 'n seek this week, but it's been a wild time.  Monday afternoon I started having strong abdominal pains but it wasn't until after being admitted to the ER twice that they figured out my appendix came in like a wrecking ball.  Got that taken out on Wednesday (by which time it had ruptured, to add insult to injury) but today is the longest I have been upright since Monday night.  The hubs, Ryan, and Daphne are all taking good care of me.  I'm going to sit up for as long as it feels okay and then climb back in bed.

As it happens, over our weekend at Estes Park, Missy was wearing a Bigfoot shirt and I mentioned that I own Bigfoot stamps that hadn't been inked up yet.  Well, on Monday (before the fireworks started), I got out that stamp set and here's what I made to send to Missy:

What do you think?  I love the fall palette from Creative Colour Challenges:

I made the card base Early Espresso to make the colors pop, and I used Pecan Pie for Bigfoot.  I also had fun playing with the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I don't much like to make square cards, so I stretched the sketch out into a rectangle.  Hoping to be feeling better soon but it might take some time before I get to post as much as I did before.  That said, I made another card on Monday that I may share this afternoon so I don't miss out on entering challenges : )

Cheers, y'all, and an important life lesson:  Don't let the ER doctor release you without a diagnosis.  I wish I had stayed instead of going home on Tuesday afternoon.  Just glad it's over now!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Autumn to Remember, Squatch on from The Ink Road
Ink:  Pecan Pie, Granny Apple Green, Lemon Lolly, Pumpkin Pie, Versamark
Paper:  Early Espresso, Granny Apple Green, Lemon Lolly, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Accessories:  White EP, Starburst Sequins, Dimensionals

Rodalbens

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  We were actually gone last weekend; we drove up to Estes Park with friends.  We visited the Stanley Hotel (only to get a souvenir for my mom), walked around the town a bit, enjoyed some fall foliage, and did a really great Jeep tour up into the Rocky Mountains National Park.  We saw lots of elk, some deer, and the hubs caught a glimpse of a bear near our cabin.  He also got an unintentionally close look at some elk when he went out for an early morning jog.  We took many many pictures and I need to upload them onto the computer so I can see them larger.

Anyway!  Today's layout is also fall colors:

This was one of our early explorations in Germany in 2020, when pretty much all we were allowed to do was to go hiking while staying away from other people.  Rodalbens was only a short drive from where we lived and we got to see some pretty neat sandstone formations even though Ryan opined that "Hiking is just walking and trees are boring!"  Yeah, we're planning to go back to Estes Park and do some hiking around there.  I want to go to the national park again, it was amazingly beautiful.

Today's fall palette includes Wild Wasabi, Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze, Close to Cocoa, and Very Vanilla.  I haven't done any scrapping in a while (as I've been preoccupied with the Nancy Drew stuff) but this is making me really want to bust out the 12x12 paper again.

Time to go walk the Daph.  I think she was happy to see us yesterday but she spent most of the afternoon sleeping--must have worn herself out playing with other dogs at the dog sitter's house.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Empire Alphabet Upper, True Friend, Coffee House Alphabet by Inkadinkado
Ink:  Really Rust, Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze marker
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Really Rust, Close to Cocoa, Thick Very Vanilla, Crushed Curry DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies

Misty Watercolor Memories with the Paper Players

Hey y'all!  It's Sunday which means it's time for a new Paper Players challenge, and Jan has a fun one for us today:

I was quite taken with the idea of a watercolor landscape, so here is what I made:

I die cut a piece of watercolor paper with the square from the Stylish Shapes dies, and then die cut some mountains from the Scenic Adventure dies, which did cut my square into two pieces but we'll get to that in a minute.  I watercolored my scene, hit it with my heat tool to make it dry faster (impatience, thy name is me), and then adhered both pieces to a Basic Beige card front and stamped the greeting on it.  I die cut the trees out of Mossy Meadow and scrunched up a piece of cling wrap, inked it up on my Mossy Meadow ink pad, and pounced it on the trees to give them a bit of texture.  Easy!

My mom is still recovering from open-heart surgery, so I sent this card off to her as soon as I finished making it.  I hope you'll play along and share your card on the Paper Players blog.  Don't forget to keep it CAS!  And take a look at what the other Paper Players made for more wonderful inspiration!

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

  and now me : )

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Scenic Adventure
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Lost Lagoon
Paper:  Basic Beige, Mossy Meadow, Watercolor paper
Accessories:  Scenic Adventure dies, Stylish Shapes dies