Monday Monster Mash Halloween Count Down Blog Hop - Week Four

Another week has whizzed by and now it's time once again for Shirley Pumpkin's Monday Monster Mash Blog Hop.  I thought I would share the rules with you today so you can play along.  So here's Shirley's rules:

 Do you want to Play along with the Monster Mash Blog Hop.?

Here are the rules:

1. It has to be Halloween, card or 3D item.

2. It does not have to be 100% SU 80% is ok.
3. Yes using Retired is OK...
4. Use Shirley's her Monster Mash Badge/Graphic in your post (see above)  and a link back to her blog (http://lookatmycutestuff.blogspot.com.)
5. Add your card to the blog hop then put the code on your post.
6. You can enter as many times as you like, just has to be a new card and post.
The Blog Hop is every Monday for 12 weeks. Shirley is picking a favorite every week for 12 weeks and then out of the 12 picking a Grand Prize winner. The Prize is $25.00 in new cool stuff from the new Holiday Mini. The winner will be announced on Halloween.

Okay so here's my entry for this week:

For this card I added some no-name DSP for the background and stamped the Scroll from the "Bliss" set in Versa Mark ink and them embossed it with Black Embossing Powder.  Love the feel of it on the card front.  Lots of texture.  The pumpkins are from a retired stamp set called "Autumn Harvest ".  I Stamped the small pumpkin on the bottom and then created a mask from a post it note, to protect the pumpkin before I stamped the other two pumpkins.  I loved being able to pile these guys together.  I used an aqua painter and Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, and Parfait Peach inks to colour the  pumpkins. The pumpkins are mounted to the card with dimensionals.  The "Spooky" sentiment is from the "Wicked Cool" set.  It's stamped in basic black and distressed with Concord Crush ink and mounted on a Concord Crush decorative label punch out.  The teenie rhinestones I've used to add some bling are non-stamping up.  If you want to make coloured rhinestones to match your designs, simply use the blender pen to colour over your basic rhinestones.  I would have done this, but I use them so much I've run out!  LOL!

The crystal effects on the pumpkin's mouth adds a great effect, with little effort.  It pops the black ink up to a new level, just make sure you let it dry well.  The webs in the background were embossed with clear embossing powder and then I added one of Stampin' Ups! new bling products called "Dazzling Details" (#124117 pg 41 Holiday Mini $3.25).   This is an irridescent glitter glue that adds a dazzling effect to the webs.  Warning............ you only need a little to get that beautiful shimmer.  

Inside of card. 

It's not too late to join this week's blog hop.........but don't wait too long!  You could be next!

Holiday Mini - Christmas Stocking Big Shot Die

Good morning everyone!  With the sun shining so brightly here and some of the warmest temperatures expected this last week of our summer, it's a bit hard to think about Christmas decorations and projects.  Nontheless, I want to share some Christmas Stocking creations made by Diane Sisneros using the Holiday Stocking Bigz Die on page 24 in the Holiday Mini, #124098.  Diane has done such a fabulous job on these that I just have to share them.  My next order will be including this die for sure and some of the awesome Designer Papers she's used.  Let me know what you think.  I'd like to know which stocking is your favourite.  Here's the sample and be sure to go and look at all the other stockings she's created.  Just click here.  While you're visiting Diane's site make sure you leave her some love on these projects and let her know you linked from my blog.  Thanks! 

SUO Challenge 27, Ribbons and Bows! - Ribbon Candy

This week over at SU-Only Challenges blog they are offering up a challenge for using ribbons or bows on a card, scrapbook page or project.  Since I'd just finished making a card I call "Ribbon Candy" I thought I would play along.  Here is my card:

I used Riding Hood Red cardstock for my card base and embossed it with the new Snow Burst Textured Embossing folder.  A layer of Brushed Gold cardstock was added next and then another layer of Red Riding Hood.  To this layer I added Very Vanilla cardstock that has been stamped with one of the sentiments from the new Christmas Lodge stamp set (Holiday Mini),  My Riding Hood Red and Very Vanilla ribbon is reminiscent of the "ribbon candy" we would get at Christmas time and adds a festive touch.  Three basic pearls finish the card front. 

For the inside of my card I decided to use the sentiment again in Riding Hood Red and add one of the Christmas Stockings from the Stitched Stockings set in the Holiday Mini.  Maybe a little overkill on the sentiment but I liked it enough to repeat it. 

All Occasion Card Class Wednesday September 7th, 2011

How would you like to learn a new technique and make some beautiful All Occasion Cards that can be changed up simply by adding the appropirate sentiment?  Well I can teach you how.    Here's a sneak peak at two of the four cards we'll be making.  This is a fun and exciting class, and you'll be amazed at the cards you create. 

Date:         Wednesday September 7th, 2011

Time:         12:00 to 3:30pm

Place:         Abbotsford, BC 

Cost:          $20.00 (includes class fee, materials for the cards and four envelopes)

                   Payment accepted before class begins.

RSVP:       This class is limited to six people so email me now and save your spot

                  pennyhanuszak@telus.net

Note:          Please bring your own adhesive, glue tape and scissors. 

                  This class will be repeated on Wednesday September 15th at 5:30pm

The Open Sea Still Available

Great news for those of you who loved "The Open Sea" stamp set but were unable to buy it before the August 30th deadline, you'll still be able to do so.  Isn't that terrific!   Stampin' Up! just announced that The Open Sea Stamp Set will still be available as a write in item until July 2012.  Here are the codes in case you want to order it:

• The Open Sea W (item # 123030)
• The Open Sea C (item # 123032)

Monkey 72 - Christmas Sketch

When I saw this week's A La Card Monkey Sketch # 72 I just loved it.  Simple yet really classy!   I loved the plaid used for the background of the sketch and having just received my Frostwood Lodge DSP ( #124002) paper in my recent order I had to use plaid too.  As I don't want to miss this week's challenge, I'm not including a lot of details just pictures that I hope you'll enjoy.  The recipe is below.

My background paper is one of the beautiful plaids from the Frostwood Lodge Designer Series Paper.  I ran it through the new Snow Burst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder to give it some more texture.  This kind of reminded me of the old flannel pyjamas we got as kids.   

I absolutely love every stamp in the new Christmas Lodge (#123767W or #123769) stamp set on page 29 of the new Holiday Mini catalogue.  This set has that old fashioned Christmas feeling to it and I anticipate using it a lot for this season's bevy of cards.  There are two fabulous sentiments included in this set and the Merry Christmas one I've used is stamped in Garden Green on Whisper White cardstock and then mounted on Red Riding Hood cardstock. 

Don't you just love this old Lodge?  I've stamped it in Garden Green on Whisper White cardstock and mounted it on Riding Hood Red.  A little border of Brushed Gold cardstock trims the bottom and a 1/8" garden green colour of satin ribbon is on top (non-SU). 

For the inside of my card I used the second sentiment from this stamp set stamped in Riding Hood Red.  To continue the old world feel I used a full strip of the flannel DSP and edged it with the scallop border punch. 

Monkey 71 - I Missed it!

Okay so last week I had lots going on, but I really wanted to do the Monkey 71- Fall Sketch.  I'd dutifully saved the picture of the sketch to my challenge file, printed out a copy of the sketch so I knew what I was making.  Because I have a very limited number of Fall stamps, seasonal sentiments and designer papers I was really feeling stumped about what to make.  A few days passed and then one afternoon towards the end of the week when I was walking Murphy around the lake, a lightening bolt of inspiration hit me.  Here I was walking through these beautiful woods and all about me golden brown and rust leaves are falling and gathering at my feet.  At that moment I knew what I was going to design and so I ran home, dragging poor Murphy behind me so I could get at this card.  This is what I came up with, but alas it was too late!  The Monkey 71 linky was closed.  Oh well I decided I loved the card and was going to post it anyway.  So here you are: 

I remembered a tutorial on watercolouring with blender pens that Ann Schach made last fall that used the Autumn Spendor set and the simplicity of her techique and her beautiful finished card really impressed me.  So, before starting my project, I  went back and viewed her video and I was really happy I did.  Because I often feel challenged in the watercolouring department and Ann made this technique look so easy, I think viewing the video really helped make me make these leaves look real.  If you want to check out Ann's video and blog post click here. 

The card base is Always Artichoke, topped with a layer of River Rock that's been texturized with the ever popular Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  The rectangle is made with layers of Always Artichoke, Cajun Craze, and River Rock.  The leaves from the Autum Spendor stamp set were stamped on River Rock and cut out by hand.  I used a blender pen to colour them using Cajun Craze, Old Olive and More Mustard inks.  I've used glitter (non SU) to accent the leaf veins. 

Three artichoke buttons are tied with teeny little stips or Cajun Craze cardstock.  The "Many Thanks" sentiment is from a retired Stampin' UP! set called "Of the Earth" that I simply can't part with, and it was stamped in Cajun Crase on River Rock cardstock and then punched out with the Decorative Label punch. 

The inside of the card has a Lacey Border punched from Cajun Craze and a layer of River Rock for the base layer.  The sentiment again from the "Of the Earth" set was stamped in Cajun Craze too. Okay that's it.