Cutest Halloween Collection

Hey y'all.  Man, I didn't get to do ANYTHING in my craft room yesterday on my day off.  I couldn't get focused in the morning and then I had to go pick Ryan up from daycare at noon because the daycare provider's son came home sick from school so she had to close.  I feel like I wasted my only time off this week :(  Well, some days are just like that.

As it happens, I DO have something to share today.  Not only that, I have four cards to share.  I spent some time just playing around with the Cutest Halloween suite when I was working on my card for the SUO Challenges Halloween challenge.  But I made several other ones and I figured I'd better hurry up and share since Halloween is this weekend.

I was all set to resist this suite entirely *until* I saw that adorable Flirty Flamingo paper with the bats.  THOSE BATS.  I'm ded from teh cute.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cutest Halloween
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Cute Halloween DSP Stack
Accessories:  Tasteful Labels dies, white EP, Dimensionals

I love the idea that skulls can blush ;)  And have you ever seen a cuter skull?

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cutest Halloween
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Highland Heather, Cute Halloween DSP Stack
Accessories:  Tasteful Labels dies, white EP, Dimensionals

I made this with the stamped images first, and then decided to punch them out of the DSP after the fact.  Yeah, the DSP is totally what sold me on this suite.  The stamps are cute, but the paper is totally adorable.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cutest Halloween
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Cute Halloween DSP Stack
Accessories: Dimensionals

I was just trying to use up the rest of the sheet of bat paper from the other two projects for this card.  I love this pattern but I had a hard time figuring out how to use it!  If you use a die to cut out one or two of the bats then most of the rest of them are unusable because they get their edges cut off.  Frustrating!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cutest Halloween
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Highland Heather, Basic Gray, Cute Halloween DSP Stack
Accessories:  Ornate Labels dies, white EP, Dimensionals

We're doing a trunk-or-treat thing tonight and another one tomorrow.  Wish me luck with my kid on a major sugar high...Happy Halloween!

Birthday Pumpkin

Mornin' y'all!  I had to whip up a quick birthday card yesterday morning before work so I could get it in the mail ASAP.  Here's what I came up with in under 20 minutes:

The leaves are GLORIOUS right now and this one fell off a tree near my work; I had to pick it up when I left work Monday afternoon because it was so pretty.  Anyway, the card!  I sent this off ON the birthday girl's birthday so it will definitely be late, but that's an excuse to celebrate longer, right?  After I took this picture, I decided the pumpkin needed some Wink of Stella because I always like Wink of Stella.

I started with the Fusion challenge:

I'm just squeaking in under the deadline on this one :)  I pulled my colors from the photo:  Very Vanilla, Mint Macaron, Cajun Craze, and Baja Breeze, with some Early Espresso for the birthday sentiment and the pumpkin stem.  My card also fits with the Global Design Project theme challenge:

Pumpkins?  Yes please.  Last up is the Paper Players sketch:

Couldn't resist using the Watercolor Shapes stamp set for the three panels in the background, though they're wider than the panels on the sketch.  I figure that falls under creative license.

October ends this weekend, but as far as I'm concerned, pumpkin season is a year-round thing (especially if it involves this coffee cake).  I'm hoping the fall colors last a bit longer, I'm loving it!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gather Together, Watercolor Shapes, Sharing Sunshine
Ink:  Mint Macaron, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso
Paper:  Thick Very Vanilla, Mint Macaron, Baja Breeze
Accessories:  Gathered Leaves dies, hexagon punch, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

SUO Challenges: Holiday Catty

Mornin' stampy friends! It is time once again for a new challenge from SUO Challenges!  How is it the last Tuesday in October already?!  I need like a whole 'nother month of October, please.

Our challenge is so fun this time:  use your favorite stuff from the holiday catalog!  Easy peasy, right?  When I first saw the catalog, my #1 very favorite thing in it was the Blackberry Beauty DSP, and my #1 favorite stamp set was Nuts About Squirrels.  So for today's card I combined the two!

The paper is fancy (especially with the gold) and the squirrel is sassy (so PINK) but I think they work together??  I'm super excited I finally did a brightly colored squirrel with this stamp set, too.  All the Sword in the Stone vibes!  (I need to do a blue squirrel for Merlin!  Though the Nuts About Squirrels stamps aren't grumpy like he is.)

Make your own SUO holiday catty creation and share it on the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nuts About Squirrels
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Cinnamon Cider, Polished Pink, Cinnamon Cider Stampin' Blends
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Polished Pink, Thick Basic White, Blackberry Beauty DSP
Accessories:  circle punches (may be retired?), Dimensionals

Leaf Peeping, Part 1

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  We had a nice weekend here with some really beautiful weather yesterday, so we went out for a family bike ride which unfortunately ended with a crash for Ryan.  No major injuries but it did make us go back home and feed Ryan popsicles because he hit his mouth pretty good.  Glad he was wearing a helmet!

Anyway, today I have a couple of layouts to share that I just LOVE.  We've got the pretty fall colors happening here in Germany right now and they're also happening all over this layout.

This was from our trip up to New England in 2016, when I was pregnant with Ryan.  These pics are from a state park in Massachusetts and we took so many pictures that I loved that I had to do several layouts.

I love the long-retired Orchard Harvest DSP which is good because I bought several packs of it when it went on the clearance rack.  I stuck to the color palette from the DSP for all my layouts (this is just part 1, more coming next Monday) and just changed around which of the patterns I used.  I used Wonderfall for the leaf accents, which is a fabulous leaf stamp set.  There's a coordinating die for it, but this was back in the day before there were the wafer-thin dies for everything that you can see exactly where it's cutting; the die is a big solid block which means it's impossible to cut out stamped images accurately, and it's a PAIN to stamp on already-cut images so I fussy-cut all the leaves on my pages.  Worth it!

There's the Orchard Harvest palette:  Cajun Craze, Lucky Limeade, More Mustard, Raspberry Ripple, Island Indigo, Early Espresso, and Very Vanilla.  I miss Island Indigo.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Calendar Alphabet, Wonderfall
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Lucky Limeade, More Mustard, Raspberry Ripple, Island Indigo, Early Espresso
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Lucky Limeade, More Mustard, Raspberry Ripple, Island Indigo, Orchard Harvest DSP
Accessories:  None

Fall Flowers

Happy Friday, y'all!  I was at work yesterday, working on my giant cross stitch piece (I can do that at work, it's great) and thinking it was about two in the afternoon when my phone alarm went off because it was actually FOUR and time for me to leave work and pick up the spawn.  Time flies when you're having fun, I guess!

Yesterday morning I made a quick card because we have lots of birthdays coming up in November and I need to get ready.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the color combo from CAS Colours & Sketches:

And the theme from the Paper Players:

Now, two of those three challenges are specifically CAS, so instead of using patterned paper or something and adding a layer for the background strip on the sketch, I used some Post-It Notes to mask and used a blending brush to make a soft Night of Navy stripe directly on the card base.  And because I'm hard-headed, I took a deep, rich, dark color combination and made it light by applying ink to the fill-in stamps with a sponge and then stamping them.  So I used all the specified colors but I kept the card light and airy.  I did add some Wink of Stella to the flowers (because don't I always?) and some gold gems from a previous Paper Pumpkin kit for a little glitz, but I still think it's CAS....okay, maybe CAS-plus.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hand-Penned Petals, Peaceful Moments
Ink:  Night of Navy, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella, gold gems

Hand-Penned Pink Poinsettia

Yup, Halloween card yesterday and a Christmas card today!  I'm sure I'll have more fall stuff soon too :)

I used this week's Global Design Project sketch:

And the Color Throwdown palette:

Today my stamps are current, but two of the colors are long-retired.  I used Pretty in Pink, Highland Heather, and Cool Caribbean for my colors.  I won't lie, at first I was trying to figure out how to do Agnes in pastels (yesterday's witch), but in the end I couldn't shake the idea of a pink poinsettia.

Gotta get ready to go to work.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Poinsettia Petals
Ink:  Cool Caribbean, Pretty in Pink
Paper:  Cool Caribbean, Pretty in Pink, Thick Basic White, Hand-Penned DSP
Accessories:  Poinsettia dies, Seasonal Labels dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Witch Way Agnes

Hey hey, happy Wednesday!  How many of y'all took advantage of SU!'s one day stamp sale?  *raises hand* I admit, I impulse-bought a few stamp sets!  Hey, it's a reward for having blood drawn this morning, right?

But for today, I'm going back to some retired stamps!

It just isn't the Halloween season without at least one appearance from Agnes, Frankie, and/or Vlad! *gasp* HOW have I not inked up Agnes or her friends since 2017?!  Oh yeah, this was long overdue.  I had a great time today coloring in Agnes with various Stampin' Blends, and then I masked her off (I have a mask I cut out ages ago that lives in the stamp case) and used a blending brush to add in some Coastal Cabana background for her.

How fun is the Try Stamping on Tuesday sketch?

Here's the theme challenge from Cupcake Inspirations:

And the challenge from Retro Rubber:

I want to say I've had Best Fiends since about 2006, and Haunt Ya Later is from 2015, so they're both very firmly in the retro category :)

I've only got two hours left before I have to go pick Ryan up from daycare so I'd better hurry up and get some things done!  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Best Fiends, Haunt Ya Later
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Gorgeous Grape, Coastal Cabana; Stampin' Blends in Highland Heather, Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, and Cinnamon Cider
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Highland Heather, Thick Basic White, Cute Halloween DSP Stack
Accessories:  Key Tag punch, Basic Borders dies, Dimensionals, Monster Bash Enamel Shapes