Pumpkin Patch

Mornin' y'all, and a misty morning it is too.  Glad to see the weather is getting into the spirit of October as well!  I have a pair of pumpkin patch cards to share today:

I decided to pick the easy option and do pumpkins for the new Color Hues Challenge:

I used Golden Glow (how do I love thee, Golden Glow) and Cajun Craze for the two colors, with Early Espresso on the left card and Pecan Pie on the right card for neutrals.  For the left card, I colored in the pumpkins using Blends, and on the right I used the stencil masks to sponge on softer color.  I really need new Cajun Craze Blends, I think the lighter one is dried out.  Anyway, I combined the colors with the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge:

I needed something easy to make yesterday after I deep cleaned the kitchen (it looked great for three hours and then Ryan got home) and Daphne tried to assassinate me (more on that in a minute).  Painted Pumpkins has been pretty much just living on my craft table for the last month or so, I love how I could stamp and die cut three pumpkins at once easy-peasy for today's cards.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pecan Pie, Golden Glow, Cajun Craze, Blends in Cajun Craze & Golden Glow
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Golden Glow, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Painted Pumpkins dies & stencils, Nested Essentials dies, Mini Dimensionals

So anyway, Daphne tried to assassinate me yesterday while I was cleaning the kitchen.  I took the mat from by the back door outside and shook it out on the back porch, and apparently that flipped a switch in her brain because right after I came back inside, she launched herself at me like a 68-pound cannonball with fur and knocked me down.  I may have yelled some highly uncomplimentary things at her from my position on the floor.

Here she is on the couch last night trying to be all casual sitting next to the person she tried to straight up MURDER yesterday afternoon.  I twisted my right knee on the way down, my left ankle is unhappy, and somehow she damaged my right wrist (not difficult, it's already wonky) and the inside of my right elbow which is the part that really confuses me.  She took out three of my limbs with one hit so the only one that still works is my left arm, which is unfortunate because my left hand is deeply stupid and uncoordinated.  Everything hurts today but not as bad as I had feared; I'm in my 40s so I don't bounce back like I did when Sadie tried the same maneuver and I was in my 20s.  At least this time I didn't bang my head on a sidewalk, but I'm going to keep a close eye on Miss Daphne Louise.  I don't trust her intentions anymore.

Tombstone Cupcake

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  I think the Halloween Hex-Travaganza is off to a good start, and here's my second card:

I just had to use this stamp set for the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge:

I used Tahitian Tide, Parakeet Party, and Petunia Pop for my colors, all retired In Colors from Stampin' Up!  Maybe not a traditional Halloween palette, but I think it works here.  I can't wait to play with this stamp set more, I haven't even gotten to the eyeballs yet : )

Stay spooky, y'all!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Spooky Sweets by Simon Says Stamp
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate, Ivory, Tahitian Tide, Parakeet Party, Pecan Pie, Petunia Pop
Paper:  Parakeet Party, Basic Black, Basic White, Tea Boutique DSP Stack, Unbounded Beauty DSP
Accessories:  White EP, Dimensionals, Shimmer Star Foam Stickers

Hello, October

Mornin' y'all and happy OCTOBER!  If you haven't seen it already, the Halloween Hex-Travaganza started at midnight so I'll be posting Halloween cards every night this month because I have so many Halloween crafting supplies that I want to showcase.

But October isn't JUST about Halloween so I have a fall card to share this morning:

I used the colors from the Creative Colour Challenge this week:

I absolutely could have used the Painted Pumpkins bundle again but that seemed too easy and I wanted to play with the leaves anyway.  I paired that with the sketch from Atlantic Hearts:

I didn't really follow the sketch so much as use it as a jumping-off point though.  I don't really like making slimline cards but I did like the grid look.  I couldn't find any DSP in my stash that worked with what I had in mind, so the TGIF Challenge inspired me to make a watercolor background:

I spritzed watercolor paper with water, added some drops of ink refill, then spritzed again to make the colors blend a little and finally sprinkled with salt.  Then I used my heat tool to make it dry faster because I have no patience, brushed off the salt and voilà!  I used a one-inch square punch to make my grid pieces so they'd all be the same color, and added my leaves and greeting on top.

Ryan wants me to drive him to school for the rest of the week but given that the temperatures have dropped a bit (hallelujah) and that it's been pretty rainy, I think that's fair.  So I'm off to take him to school and then deep clean the kitchen.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Leaves
Ink:  Azure Afternoon, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Versamark
Paper:  Azure Afternoon, Basic White, Watercolor Paper
Accessories:  1" square punch, white EP, Dimensionals

Haunted Halloween Hex-Travaganza Begins Now!

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends, and happy October!  I loooooove making Halloween cards and over the past 20+ years, I have amassed quite a collection of Halloween goodies, and every year I was sad I didn't use more of my stuff to make new cards.  So last year I started the Halloween Hex-Travaganza:  for the entire month of October, I'm posting a new Halloween card every night at the stroke of midnight!  And this is the first Hex-Travaganza post of 2026, woo!  I didn't prepare as well this year so hopefully I can still do all 31 midnights.  Even if I don't quite manage that, I will be posting lots of Halloween cards!

So for tonight's card, I decided to start with the SOS Challenges theme, to make a card featuring...chickens.

That's right, I said CHICKENS.  How do you make a Halloween chicken card, you may ask?

Like this:

I picked up the Unity stamp set The Coop is Haunted back in July and I've just been waiting for the right time for this trio to make its debut.  I had so much fun coloring them in!  You can't really tell from the picture, but I used the Tile Garden dies for the black mat so it's got some texture to it.  I chose a scrap of long-retired Halloween paper that just seemed to go with these three pullets and that's all there is to it.  My bird-loving child approves this card.

If you like Halloween cards as much as I do, you're in the right place.  If you click on the Hex-Travaganza label at the bottom of this post, you can see all of last year's cards, and like I said the next card will be coming up at midnight.  I'm looking forward to a deep dive in my Halloween stash.

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies:
Stamps:  The Coop is Haunted from Unity Stamps
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Pool Party, Azure Afternoon, Poppy Parade, Golden Glow, Pumpkin Pie, Smoky Slate, Highland Heather, Old Olive, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Old Olive, Basic Black, Basic White, Ghostly Greetings DSP
Accessories:  Squares Collection Framelits, Tile Garden Dies, Dimensionals

A Spooky Sweet Cupcake

Mornin' y'all!  Happy LAST DAY of September...tomorrow starts the best month of the entire year!  I'm so excited, I absolutely love October--fall colors, cooler weather, comfy sweaters, pumpkin everything.  And lots more Halloween cards on the way but of course I started early and I have another one to share today.

New schtuff alert!  I first discovered this Simon Says Stamp set called Spooky Sweets back when I was looking for eyeballs for Mystery of the Glowing Eye and I finally added it to my Halloween stamp hoard last week.  I had to make a pastel candy-colored cupcake card for the Inspired By... Challenge:

I used Pretty in Pink, Highland Heather, and Peach Pie for my colors and I think I should have gotten an extra pack of that Unbounded Beauty DSP, who knew it would be so good for pastel Halloween cards?  Maybe I should have used Fresh Freesia for my purple but I still like it with Highland Heather.  Anyway, I've already made another card with this stamp set which you will be seeing soon, and I have a couple more cupcakes to ink up too.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Spooky Sweets by Simon Says Stamp
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Highland Heather, Stampin' Blends in Highland Heather, Peach Pie, Pretty in Pink, Ivory
Paper:  Highland Heather, Peach Pie, Pretty in Pink, Basic White, Unbounded Beauty DSP, Peach Pie DSP
Accessories:  Spooky Sweets dies by Simon Says Stamp, Layering Circles dies, Dimensionals, Cute Stars Sequins

It's Wednesday, so how about a Work In Progress (WIP Wednesday) update on my stitching project?  Here it is:

I've been a little bit obsessed with working on this because I think the pattern is SO cute and I finished the first block last night (there will be twelve blocks total).  This pattern was released by Shannon Christine Designs as a Stitch-Along (SAL) where one part was released each month over the course of a year; I also have her Spooky Houses SAL and I bought the floss for that already.  I'm going to go through SO MUCH black floss, but that's okay because I bought a cone of it several years ago and that should cover both of these Halloween projects.  Anyway, I finished off this square last night and started a little bit of the curlicues around the Frankenstein bucket that will go to the left, but I took this picture before I moved my stitching frame so you could see the jack o' lantern in all his glory.

And here's my stitching buddy last night, I don't know how she could breathe laying like that.  It's a rainy day today so she was staring morosely out the window because she knows I won't take her for a walk if it's actively precipitating; now she's facing the opposite direction because she's mad at the weather.  I will take her later if the rain lets up, we go if it's just wet outside but not if it's still falling from the sky.  Anyway, Daphne likes to hang out with me while I'm stitching, we've been rotating between episodes of Smallville, Pushing Daisies, and Scooby-Doo while I work.  She's the best couch companion.

A Sketch to Fall For at SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  I'm running late with my blog post this morning, Ryan asked me to drive him to school and that threw off my morning schedule.  I've gotten used to him riding his bike instead : ) Then I had to do the grocery shopping and put everything up and Daphne is now giving me the hairy eyeball wanting to know when we can go for our daily perambulation.  But I told her I have to write this blog post first and it's time for a new challenge from SUO Challenges!

I always love a good sketch and here's what I made with this one:

I didn't look at Tammy's card when I was working on mine and yet we ended up with the same DSP and stamp set so we are on the same creative wavelength.  I do like that plaid pattern in the Autumn Opulence DSP and this was the first card I made with Elegant Leaves, I just happened to make it a few weeks ago (I try to work ahead on my design team commitments).  It's a simple little card but I still managed to use three different sets of dies for it!

Hope you'll join the challenge!  Don't forget to keep your card to Stampin' Up! products only, that's the whole point of our challenge.  Well, that and to have fun of course.  Byeee!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Elegant Leaves
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Lost Lagoon, Blackberry Bliss
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Blackberry Bliss, Very Vanilla, Autumn Opulence DSP
Accessories:  Elegant Leaves dies, Perennial Postage dies, Tile Garden dies, Dimensionals, Earthy Matte Dots

Hide 'n Seek

Mornin' y'all.  I am tired this morning, I kept waking up last night but I can't remember now what I was dreaming about.  At any rate, I hope you had a good weekend, ours was pretty low-key.  I made some cards, I worked on my stitching, and I finished season 6 of Smallville : )  Plus watched a few episodes of Scooby-Doo.

So here's today's card:

I think these three friends are playing hide 'n seek in a spooky forest, what do you think?  I was going to do fall leaves or something when I saw the Sunday Stamps sketch:

But then I remembered the tree die cut in the Oh My Fright bundle so that's what I had to do.  I let the die cut and the Frightfully Fun DSP do the heavy lifting on my card--the three friends are cut out of one piece of the DSP and the moon and tree background is a different piece, with a scrap of stars and swirls for the horizontal band on the sketch.  I did move that band down from where it is on the original sketch just to work better with the shape of the tree.

Time to get Ryan off to school and then Daphne has an appointment to get some vaccinations.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Oh My Fright
Ink:  Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Granny Apple Green, Basic Black, Basic White, Frightfully Fun DSP
Accessories:  Oh My Fright dies, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Glitter Enamel Dots