A Natural Witch

I had such a wonderful afternoon.  After the DS's got up from nap, the three of us coloured together for about an hour.  I love that they will craft with Mommy.  My eldest drew a picture that we are going to have made into a set of cards for grandma.

The image in this one is a Tiddly Inks by Stamping Bella that I just adore.  I tried playing with Sketch Saturday but I'll be honest, while I have all the elements, things have been shuffled around a bit.  I can't seem to follow a sketch to save my soul.

The card is part of my Hope You Can Cling To challenges as my Monster Mash inspiration.

Challenges this Card Meets:
Cupcake Crafts - Two's Company
Creatalicious - Halloween
Oldie but Goodie - Inspired by Song - Witchy Woman
Papertake Weekly - All Creatures Great and Small - Witch's Familiar in her lap
Sketch Saturday #229
Stamping with the Dragon - Halloween
Stamptacular - Boo-tacular

Season of the Witch

Here's a card that I've been thinking about for a couple of days.  I decided I wanted to try one of Michelle Zindorf's tutorials.  I tried her Graveyard Tutorial because I liked the colour of the night sky.  She writes wonderfully clear tutorials with great photographs.  It was easy enough to follow, although all my work was done with sponging since I don't have a brayer.  I also substituted Distress Inks for Stampin' Up colours when I was close enough since my little spots just are not that juicy.  I do need more practice with the technique but am really happy with the end result.  I would do a darker green for the ground next time since I think the "land" is a bit soft and fades into the horizon. 

The sentiment, witch and pumpkin are from Inkadinkadoo's "All Hallow's Eve" and the tree was from Mark's Finest Papers' "A Walk in the Woods."  The bats are a Martha Stewart punch.  I had really wanted to add my new rickety fence stamp with a little black cat but I couldn't find it.  Isn't that so frustrating when you know you have the perfect accent and simply can find it to use?

The card itself is quite large, 5.25 * 7.5 inches.  I was trying to keep it 5 x 7 but I didn't like  the way the tree and pumpkin looked like they were floating so I added the banner.  

Here's the inside of the card.  I normally don't decorate the interior but since this is such a large card, it definitely needed something.  These images are also from "All Hallow's Eve."

Challenges this Card Meets:
Speedy TV's Sketch with a Twist - Use Primary and Secondary Colours Colours
Stamping with the Dragon - Fall Colours
Stamptacular Sunday - Less is More

Birthday Tricks and Treats

DS (age 3) wanted to make spider webs today. I don't know where he got the idea or how he wanted to do that but this is the result. How does one make spiderwebs?

I must say, I love sponging with little kids. He loves playing with ink and there's no right or wrong unlike stamping, which smudges. After sponging the web, he decided he wanted some spiders to go on the web. The large one is a Martha Stewart Punch, the smaller two are a Creative Memories punch. The small spiders and the strip of green he just grabbed off my craft table, which is good since the punches are hard for little hands. DS wanted to stamp the big spider himself and I just rescued my punch in time to keep him from stepping on it to get the leverage he needed. On one hand, that's great problem solving. On the other, I can't afford to replace all my punches when he wants to craft. We compromised by having him hold onto my hands as I "helped" him punch. DS also stamped the sentiment himself.

The card is for DS's uncle who has a birthday on Halloween. I know it's not very birthday-ish but this is the card that DS wanted to make and I'm sure his young uncle would rather have this than something cutsie anyways.

Challenges this card meets:
Cards for Men - Autumn
Craftalicious - Autumn
Incy Wincy - Anything Goes
Little Hands Can Do - Anything Goes
Simon Says - Photo Inspiration (Colours Orange and Green)
Stamp Something - Something to Celebrate (Halloween and Birthday in one card!)
Tuesday Throwdown - Use Punches

Trick or Treat with Mommy

DS is three and LOVES to papercraft with Mommy. He saw my Stamping Bella card shown here today and desperately wanted to make his own. Mommy scored the base to fold it and helped him put on the DP he chose but other than that, I was blown away by his independence. He needed help with the sandwich on the Big Shot but he was able to find all the pieces himself and really was only confused by how the Nestie and paper fit. (He wanted to put the paper down first so he could see the Nestie at all times.) He turned the handle all by himself. He picked the stamps and stamped them himself. I then showed him how to sponge ink and he was off to the races. He loved sponging! DS even placed all the shapes himself. I did have to cut the adhesive into strips so he didn't use all of it on one card. Boys do love their tape!

I can't believe how independent he's getting. (sniff, sniff)

I am submitting this card on his behalf for the following challenges:
Little Hands Can Do - Anything Goes
Delightful Challenges - Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere
Creative Card Crew - Autumn or Fall
Paper Sundaes - Fall or Halloween Colours

Witching Hour

My apologies for being absent. My cardmaking Mojo went walkabout. On a positive side, I have finished my 2009 scrapbooks. Yes books - it took 2 to fit it all in. I also managed to clean my craft area trying to find said Mojo. It's amazing what you can find in little cubbies.

My card was an attempt at Paper Jewel's challenge to create a night scene. Brayering is not a technique that I have accomplished yet. Next time I will stick to sponging. On the other hand, this is something very new for my and I'm quite happy for a first attempt. The sky is brayered with Ballet Blue, and Brocade Blue. I should have taken some of the excess off first. The moon was made by masking off the paper with a post-it note. I then used plastic wrap to dab over top to soften the brayering lines and make the sky more misty.

The witch from Inkadinkadoo is stamped with tuxedo Black Memento and the trees from Flourishes, is stamped with Brown Momento. The cardstock is then mounted on SU Pumpkin Pie and Not Quite Navy.

Other Challenges This Card Meets:
Creative Inspirations - Autumn Colours
Charisma Cards - Try Something New (brayering, creating a scene)
Creative Card Crew - Autumn or Fall
Daring Cardmakers - Masks

Cupcake Kind of Day

Ever have a card that just said "Create Me!" That was last night. I was trying to clean up and pack for a crop today and all the supplies just serendipitously were all together on the table at the same time. I didn't have to cut a thing. I even remembered some challenges this week that featured cupcakes. Well that was it.

The cupcake image is a single Inkadinkadoo. The sentiment came from "Going Places" by MFT. It actually said "Celebrate the Journey" but I masked off the rest of the sentiment. I love all the bling on it! I even used the colours I rarely ever touch. The icing is even covered with clear stickles for some extra glitz. I used Bashful Blue and Creamy Caramel for the cardstock and coloured with my SU markers.

Challenges this meets:
Daring Cardmakers: Diecut Crazy - The scalloped circle matting the image.
Fussy and Fancy: Birthday with a Sweet Treat
Paperworks Co: Use Cupcakes - Happy Birthday, Peggy!
Pile it On: Make it Sweet
Stamp with Us: Birthday
The Pink Elephant: Colour Aqua

Sweet Birthday Wishes

I have three teenage nephews - I am constantly trying to find ideas for them. I have come to the conclusion that it is not so much what the card looks like; it needs to be interactive. Somehow the favourite cards are the shaker cards, the gel cards, the hidden picture, etc. Even my brothers who are now in their 30s still like cards that do something. This one is bound to be a hit. It's not only a shaker but it uses candy! I just hope he waits until I've gone home before ripping it open - I have no illusions.

The picture is not doing it justice. The yellow background paper is a bright neon and it is mounted evenly. I think I took the picture at a strange angle. The cupcake is also paper-pieced using the background paper as the cupcake wrapper.

This card fits the following challenges:
Crafty Catz - For the Boys
Cute Card Thursday - Celebration
Delightful Sketches - Will teenagers count as kids?
Cards for Men - Happy Birthday

Is there such a thing as a Vintage Cupcake?

vddsmm,ssss
I've had the pieces for this card on my dining room table all week but haven't had the opportunity to put it all together. The lace was my Tuesday night effort where I went digging under the house in my teaching "art supplies" boxes. There is a reason my husband says "There be dragons!" I'm really disappointed with the photo. The card really looks nice in real life but doesn't turn out on the scanner. I may have to set up a photography space for my cards. I wonder how long it would take my DS to tear that apart.

I'm going to submit this to:

Paper Sunday Challenge, assuming that I make it in time. This week it was to use Pink, Brown, Lace and Flowers.
A Spoon Full of Sugar - Freestyle
Stamp Something - Delightfully Delicious