Halloween test tube treats (teacher gifts)

   Happy Halloween!  Here is my treat bag I dropped off at school for the girls' teachers.  Both of my girls have been taking turns being very sick (bronchitis....poor sweet girls!)  This explains my absence from the blogosphere and all things crafty, but I have been getting in major snuggles with my girls for the past ten days.  Only one girl is home from school today, and she is doing much better.

  I never want to forget to make a little something for the teachers and staff that work with my twin cuties, so after they went to bed last night I had to come up with something quick.  I needed 8 gifts, so I searched my stash for tags, stickers, twine and ribbon....and I had one box left of these wonderful test tube holders.  (See teacher appreciation 4-test tube holder, double-test tube holder, and my video & tutorial to make a single test tube holder.)

A little Echo Park "Chillingsworth Manor"

 and lime crinkle ribbon:

EAD stickers, Recollections tags, Twinery "lilac"

and My Pink Stamper "Spook-alicious" sentiments:

 These tags were super slick and my Stazon black ink pad is dry;

I tried the My Pink Stamper hybrid ink and it worked!

No ink smear :)

I hope your Halloween is wicked cool;  I am "fangful" for my bloggy friends and followers!

Washi Tape Debut

   I have long admired the many uses of washi tape demonstrated by The Crooked Stamper (aka lovely friend Leslie.)  I think Leslie took pity on me since I did not own any washi tape and she gave me a dozen rolls!  The three washi tapes pictured above came from my Leslie stash.  First I used my Martha Stewart drippy border punch on a scrap strip of black card stock.  Then I took 1/2" strips of white card stock from my scraps and covered them in washi tape.  My sentiment is an EAD sticker.  I was following this Operation Write Home (OWH) sketch:

 but I thought it needed a little more, so I added the crinkle ribbon, and the self-adhesive goggly eyes by Stampin' Up!  I popped up the panel on SU! dimensionals and added doodle dots as a border.

Then I pulled out my My Mind's Eye washi tapes that I purchased at Shop Pumpkin Spice:

  I added crinkle ribbon again, an old Making Memories rub-on sentiment from my stash, and little bells from Stampin' Up!

My first cards with washi tape...fun stuff :)

Happy Monday!

You take the cake, Freshly Made Sketches

  It has been my goal for the past two months to get my craft table spic-and-span; complete void of clutter between projects.  This has proven to be a monumental task :)

  I was playing with my Cricut Imagine last spring and I had printed and cut this little cupcake, the word "cake" and the oval frame.  I popped up the the cupcake and "cake" with foam tape.  This little oval has been sitting on my craft table since last May, and I have not been able to create a card with it.  Then yesterday as I was cleaning up a little bit of my craft table, I came across some pink Bazzill card stock that I had in a card kit from 5+years ago.  The pink Bazzill matches perfectly.

  The pink Bazzill is embossed with Cuttlebug "Seeing Spots."  It still lacked dimension, so I rubbed my white ink pad over the embossed dots.  It is subtle, but it gave me the contrast I desired.

  I decided to use this week's sketch from Freshly Made (again):

To follow the sketch, I needed ribbon.  Matching a light aqua blue from the cupcake seemed daunting; I often find that I have every-shade-of-ribbon-but-the-one-I-need...but not this time.  I had a little bit of this aqua American Crafts ribbon...just the right amount!  I used it up :)  SWEET!

Happy Sunday!

"This & That" is my cup of tea! (Faux chipboard tutorial)

  I really like my Cricut "Love You a Latte" cartridge, but I have only used it twice previously.  I was searching for an image, and this tea cup seemed inviting.  Originally I planned to make this card for the pink Christmas challenge at Jingle Belles, but my mojo wasn't with me.  Let's call this "the five day card." It just would not come together!  Yesterday I was determined to make it into a card, so I used the current challenges at Freshly Made and CAS-ual Fridays to inspire me.

I chose these two patterned papers and the solid pink (tag) from Echo Park "This & That" collection.  I used Tim Holtz "Rock Candy" on the steam waves and glossy accents on the entire tea cup.  My twine for the tag is Twinery "blossom."

  My ribbon and tag are off the sides of the card; I was inspired by the current challenge at CAS-ual Fridays:  Create a clean and simple card with an element that goes over the edge.

I was also inspired by this Freshly Made sketch:

  I wanted to add my crinkle ribbon across the middle like the sketch, but it competed with the tea cup paper.  I tied my bow, like in the sketch, and embossed white card stock for the strip across.

Faux Chipboard Tutorial:
  I cut the tea cup three times from white card stock, then a fourth time from patterned paper.  I glued them all together, creating a nice thick tea cup!  I love the dimension it has IRL.  Since I used heavy glossy accents to the tea cup, it did not warp the paper due to the thickness.

Happy Saturday!

Life...a wonderful journey

  I was perusing my Shop Pumpkin Spice purchases, my Echo Park collections in particular, and I realized that "This & That" has not been out to play in a while.  The reds in this collection are so pleasing to me.  I honestly had no direction while I was creating this card; I chose to let the stickers inspire me.

  The element stickers (sentiment tab, the oval with three children, and the aqua ruler)  jumped out at me.  I also liked the decorative white & aqua border sticker (bottom of card) from the alpha stickers.  Then it was just a matter of choosing the papers from the collection that I wanted to use.

  I also used Spellbinders Nestabilities "Labels 1" for the die cut shape.  At first I was going to use my sewing machine to stitch the floral paper to the polka dot background, but first the needle broke, then I tried to change the bobbin and now the machine is all locked up...so I opted for a little paper piercing.

I hope I have inspired you to use your sticker stash and to remind you to check out Shop Pumpkin Spice for your paper crafting needs :)

Happy Thursday!

Hello, Beautiful Sparkle Bees

  I was so pleased with my shiny Neat & Tangled lady bug (on this card), that I wanted to try it with the bumble bee.  Whenever I make a bee-themed card I go to Echo Park "Country Drive."  For inspiration, I used this Freshly Made sketch:

 and I used SOS (Shopping Our Stash)

tic-tac-toe challenge:

I went horizontally across the bottom

sparkle/sentiment/yellow

  For my "sparkle" I added Stickles to the bee's wings and glossy accents to the bee body:

Happy Thursday!

Faux Tile technique - making use of sticker stash

   Do you hoard your old stash or donate it?  I do a little of both.  And I have some that I keep, yet have not used in years...and it haunts me.  These Creative Imaginations stickers were haunting me:

 
  The first (and only) time I used them was for a Mother's Day card I made in 2008.  Yep.  Old stash.  I thought I could use up those last four pink and orange-yellow squares, but update them by turning them into tiles.  I came across some tiny butterflies that I had punched from K& Co. "Que Sera Sera" and put into a tiny ziploc bag when I was actually looking for something else.  I put the butterfly bag on my craft table before I had a chance to forget I had them.

  Faux tile tutorial:
I carefully snipped the four sticker squares apart, then separated them on the sticker sheet by placing them in another open spot.  Then I added glossy accents to each square to make it look like a tile.  I carefully placed a butterfly in the wet glossy accents, then added a little more glossy accents to the butterfly.  They took about 2 hours to dry.

  Time to make a card!  Uh oh...I donated my "Que Sera Sera"papers in my craft room purge last year...but the butterflies are tiny enough to match something else, right?  I found a good match with my BasicGrey "Indian Summer" pad.  I used Spellbinders Nestibilities squares to cut the window and frame in the large pennant.  The smaller banner is a PTI die.  The sentiment is a rub-on by American Crafts "Ginger".

  Except for the PTI small banner die, everything I used to make this card is from 2008 or 2009.  Old stash, but not seriously old (I still have stuff from 1998 when I started crafting!)  If your old stash haunts you too, I hope you participate in the weekly challenges at SOS (Shopping Our Stash.)  It assuages my guilt a little to use my older stash and I like to challenge myself by trying to take the old and use current trends to make it feel new.  This week's SOS challenge:

I went horizontally across the bottom row:

sparkle/sentiment/yellow

  I hope this inspires you to use your stickers or something from your older stash.

Happy Wednesday!

Freshly Made Neat and Tangled Halloween card

  Today I wanted to play with virginal craft items:  my new Carta Bella "All Hallow's Eve" 6x6 papers and this bloom stamp by Neat & Tangled.  The "Halloween" sticker is from Echo Park's "Chillingsworth Manor" alpha stickers sheet.  The glazed pumpkin brad is also Carta Bella.  I stamped the flower 3 times and fussy cut; I added glossy accents to the polka dot flower petals.  I embossed the kraft card stock with Cuttlebug "Seeing Spots" and the black Carta Bella strip with "Swiss Dots."

  And I needed an excellent sketch, so I went over to Freshly Made Sketches.

Here is a close up of the flower:

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Sunday :)

Shop Pumpkin Spice Halloween hop

  Welcome to the Shop Pumpkin Spice Halloween blog hop!  Shop Pumpkin Spice is my favorite online store.  Everything I used to create today's Halloween card are from my purchases at Shop Pumpkin Spice.  And there is a spooky kit available (while supplies last) that includes 12x12 papers from Carta Bella, Echo Park, My Mind's Eye, card stock, lots of trims, flowers YOUR choice of Penny Black stamps, and more.  Click HERE to view the kit.

Hop order:

Carissa

Lenae

*June *

Diana

Court

Lezlye

Shop Pumpkin Spice blog

Artful Delight sketch

Supplies:
paper:  Echo Park "Chillingsworth Manor"
stamp:  My Pink Stamper "Spook-alicious"
ink:  My Pink Stamper "Darkest Night" black hybrid ink
gems:  irock hot rocks by Imaginisce
buttons:  Lush 2 orange
twine

Your next stop is Diana!  Happy hopping :)

Echo Park sketch

   When I was scrolling through my blog reader I saw a sketch by Davinie Fiero on the Echo Park Paper blog:

I used Echo Park "Country Drive" papers and sentiment sticker.  I followed the sketch literally.  I originally was going to use brads or buttons for the 3 small concentric circles, but I decided to go more CAS.  I added some pink sorbet twine, then popped up the 4"x 5 1/4"panel with foam tape.  Check out Davinie's stunning "Chillingsworth Manor" Halloween card HERE.

Happy Friday!

Rescued trees for a Merry Christmas card

    Last month I purchased My Mind's Eye "12 days of Christmas" collection at Shop Pumpkin Spice.  I am thrilled with the patterns and colors and I am anxious to play with it some more.  My inspiration came from these three trees that were on my craft table.  I cut them too large on my Cricut for a Christmas card I made nearly a year ago!  Rather than put them away some where and forget them, I decided to create a card using these three trees and my new MME collection of papers.  My sentiment is  from the My Pink Stamper "Biggie Christmas" stamp set.  I added Stickles to the hearts and grass for interest.

Papers:
My Mind's Eye 12 days of Christmas "It's the Season"; "Season's Greetings"; "Merry & Bright"

Cricut cartridges:
Campin' Critters (trees p.62)
Plantin Schoolbook (hearts p.73)

  I am happy that I made use of these trees...it saved me time to cut more and I am happy I did not just toss them in the trash bin.

Happy Thursday!