Monday Monster Mash Halloween Count Down Blog Hop - Week Six

It's my most favourite time of the week again, time for the Monday Monster Mash Halloween Countdown (MMMHC ) and it's week six.  That's right week six .........the halfway mark!  I'm ecstatic as I basically have only two Halloween sets to work with right now and I've actually made six cards.  Whoo Hoo! 

So, if you'd like to play along and have been too shy or haven't had time yet or whatever reason, don't worry there's still time to join in.  Hop on over to Shirley Pumpkin's awesome site and see all her wonderful Halloween creations and other projects. Leave her some love while you're there.  Her projects are awesome. 

This week she's combined her MMMHC with the Scaredy Cat Swap that she recently attended over at Terry Blais's place.  What fun!  She's got all the rules for her MMMHC on her fun blog hop, so check them out.  I can't wait to see what you'll make so get card making!

Okay so here's my entry for week six, hope you like it.  I decided since I really like making circle cards to use that format for my entry this week. Circle cards are so easy to make and they are such a fun wow in a class.  They're also awesome to receive.  I've made this one in traditional Halloween colours of Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz, Basic Black and Pumpkin Pie cardstock.  No DSP is used.

I've used the cute little halloween girl from the "Greeting Card Kids" stamp set as my focal point.  I've coloured her with blender pens on watercolour paper.  She has a little bit of bling added to her great pumpkin with glitter glue and a shiney purple rhinestone on her witchy hat (see tip below). 

The Best Witches (don't say that fast...lol!) sentiment is from "Halloween Hoot" and I've stamped off some little bats from SU's "Wicked Cool" set.  The image is stamped on Pumpkin Pie, and the large oval punch was used to punch out the sentiment.  It's mounted on a scalloped oval punched out in basic black.  A few purple rhinestone complete the sentiment.  This sentiment is popped up on dimensionals so that when the card is opened it has a prop or anchor to hold it open.  The inside of the card is made with layered circles in corresponding card stock and lots of room to leave a message.  

View of the card opened up. I've used basic black ink to distress around the entire scalloped edge of the card to give it some extra detail.

I've used the bat image from "Wicked Cool" to stamp around the scalloped circle.  I stamped it in versa mark, basic black ink and then heat embossed it with clear EP.  I could have used Black embossing powder too.  It gives a kind of shiny look to the background of the card.

I added a bit of green glitter glue around the Pear Pizzazz layer to add some additional sparkle. 

Okay so here's my economizing tip of the week:

Did you know you can colour your own basic rhinestones inexpensively with any permanent alcohol based marker  (Sharpies work well because they let the colour sparkle through).

That's right your can now have red, green, blue rhinestones...........even black to match your favourite coloured cardstocks.  So no more searching for matching bling, just colour your Stampin' Up basic rhinestones yourself!

All you have to do is j=-0[st colour over the rhinestone with your marker pen and voila! instant colour. Go over it until you get the shade you want.  If it's too dark you can take a cute tip swab to lighten the colour by dabbing a bit of rubbing alcolhol (90% or more works well) on a Q-Tip swab and lightly dab it on the basic rhinestone.  You can also use an alcohol blending solution but be careful as both solutions will remove the colour. 

Okay bye everyone.  Happy card making.

Stamping 411 - Saturday Sketch Challenge #220

I decided to play along with the Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge #220 this week.  If you've never followed this site before make sure you check it out.  The sketches are always beautiful and they offer some measurements to help you along.  Here's this week's sketch:

I chose to do another Halloween Card for this challenge.  The only changes I made to my card are the addition of rhinestones instead of brads and I changed the circular configuration to a rectangle.  Here are some views of my card. 

Man the lighting was poor for this inside view of the card........... my apologies.  The witch and sentiment are stamped in Black Stazon Ink.

Details:

The cardbase is Pumpkin Pie cardstock.  A small piece of "Halloween Fright" DSP (retired) was used for the bottom half of the card front.  Instead of a ribbon I punched out a strip of Concord Crush with the Lacey Border punch, and then wove 1/8" green ribbon through the center.  Layers of Concord Crush DSP and Wisteria comprise the layered rectangle.  The image is stamped in basic black ink on Whisper White cardstock that's been distressed with concord crush ink.  Green glitter was added to the top of the cauldron for a small touch of bling. 

Monday Monster Mash Halloween Count Down Week 5

Hi everyone.  Can you believe that it's Week Five already of Shirley Pumpkin's "Monday Monster Mash Halloween Countdown Week 5"?  Only 7 weeks to go to the big day!!!  Are you getting excited? 

Talk about excited, I sure was!  Shirley notified me at the end of week 4 to say she'd chosen my pumpkin card as her  favourite entry for the week.  I was bowled over let me tell you!  My grin was as wide as the one on these pumpkins funny little faces!  "Thanks Shirley for your vote of confidence, I really appreciated it". 

This was my entry for Week Four. 

I really had to put my thinking cap on for this week's entry.  I wanted to do something a bit different and with my limited Halloween stamp supply I was feeling a bit stumped.   While I was scratching my head and staring at the mess on my worktable I looked at the card I'd completed for Stamping 411's Saturday Sketch Challenge #220.  It was laying upside down and one of the images looked like something else to me.  The glimmer of an idea started to take hold and I grabbed a stamp pad and a stamp and this is what I came up with:

Here's a close up.  Aren't they just the cuteest bullfrogs?  

Okay and here's the stamp image that gave my idea for these little frogs:

It's the witch's cauldron from the retired Stampin' Up! set Halloween Hoot.  And here it is the way I saw it upside down.

The wheels on the cauldron looked like eyes to me and the rope or whatever it is around the middle of the pot looked like a big wide mouth, and the handled looked like a frog's tongue going for a fly or something!  Okay if you can't see it squint or something!  LOL

Details:
The card base is Very Vanilla.  I added a strip of Old Olive to the front of the card (for the slimy pool) and then ran it through the Big Shot using the Web Embossing Folder.  To add some shine to the web I drew on each of the web strands with a Versamark Ink Pen and then sprinkled on clear embossing powder and heat set.  The webs were then sponged in Old Olive ink with a dauber to give it a bit more colour and depth. 

The bullfrogs were stamped in Old Olive ink. I glued on some wiggley eyes for fun with Crystal Effects.  The Lily Pads were punched out of Old Olive cardstock with a 1 3/8" circle punch.  They were stamped with  the bubble stamp from the Halloween Hoot set and the edges were distressed with Old Olive ink.

I hope you enjoyed this card today and come back next week for Week Six.  If you're interested in playing along with the the blog hop, check out Shirley's website for the rules.  They are simple and fun and there's still time to get in on this great weekly event. 

Happy Anniversary Heather and Ken

My beautiful sister Heather and her wonderful husband Ken were married 7 years ago today in a fabulous outdoor wedding.   I was ao happy and excited to be my sister's maid of honour, and we had such a fun time leading up to the wedding.  When the big day arrived everything was perfect just as they'd planned. For obvious reasons I didn't want to post this card earlier but I've been just busting at the seams to share these cards with you and now that their special day is here and the original's off in the mail it's okay.  I'm dedicating this post to them..........Happy Anniversay Heather and Ken, hope you're having fun today!

The idea for this card stemmed from my prep work in assembling a four card  "All Occasion Card Class" featuring butterflies and clean and simple designs that even a beginning cardmaker could easily do. Since I really like working with monochromatic designs and tone on tone neutrals (white or very vanilla) my colour choice for these cards was simple.  For my secondary colours I chose various shades of blues and purples to coordinate with the Butterfly Pansy technique I would be demonstrating.

While making my mock up card, I was attracted to one made by Trudy Sjolander featured in the September 2011 CardMaker Magazine.  Trudy used natural cardstocks for her base and layers and minimal stamping and die cuts for the rest of her fabulous card. That fit in nicely with my concept of "clean and simple (CAS)" and from that moment I could envision how my card would look.

So without further ado here's the card I designed for my All Occasion Card class which is running on September 15th.  The card base and top layer of the card are in Brocade Blue. I've texturized the top layer with the new Snow Burst Embossing Folder in the Holiday Mini (it's not just for Christmas Cards as you can plainly see!).  A layer of Whisper White is nestled below that.  A little later on in this post I'll share a tip on how to conserve your paper stocks when you're layering, but first I want to show you the inside of the card and take a closer look at the butterflies. 

The inside of the card, features the Top Note Die stamped in Brocade Blue with the "Congratulations" sentiment from Stampin' Ups! Spring Occasions Mini catalogue. This hostess set called "Something to Celebrate" included nine sentiments covering every occasion and was so worthwhile earning! The butterfly and flowers are also from a treasured retired set called "Of the Earth". As you've probably noticed, I just can't seem to put this set away. 

Inside view of the card

The butterfly is double punched from Shimmery White Cardstock and mounted with dimensionals.  A small bow in Whisper White Taffeta ribbon was added to the center of the butterfly using Crystal Effects to mount it. 

This view shows the butterfly layers

Although it's hard to see from the picture, Shimmery White cardstock was used for these butterflies die cut using the Beautiful Wings Sizzix Embosslits Die.  Basic Pearls are the only adornment.

And finally here's the Anniversary Card I made. For Heather and Ken's card I decided to use the colours and texturizing that Trudy had incorporated into her design.  Don't you just love the look of this card too?

Inside view of the card.  The sentiment "Happy Anniversary" is from the "Something to Celebrate" hostess set previously mentioned.  The Butterfly and Flower stamp verse are from the "Of the Earth Set".  All are stamped in Crumb Cake ink to match the cardstock base and layer. 

I've only used one Butterfly die cut topped with the Whisper White Taffeta bow on this card.  Don't you just love that little bow?  They are so fun to make.  If you want a lesson on how to make them check out Diana Gibbs lovely tutorial ............that's where I learned to make them.  They are fun and easy to do!

Basic Pearls are used to add detail to the butterflies.  The small butterflies are adhered to the cardstock using Crystal Effects.  The larger butterfly is mounted on two dimensionals to give some depth. 

Okay so here's my tip I promised to share with you on conserving paper.  For my card I used the negative die cut from the Top Note die as my Whisper White layer.  Yup........... you got it!  The actual Top Note layer was used for the inside of the card and because I centered my 5 1/4" by 4" piece of cardstock over the die before running it through my Big Shot I'm able to use the leftover cardstock for the outer layer. 

This is the negative cut from the Top Note mounted to the front of my card.  I've applied double sided adhesive strip around the frame to secure the next layer. 

This is showing the negative strip before I glued it to the card front and applied the Texture Embossed layer.  Once all the layers are in place no one will even guess that the Whisper White layer isn't a full layer of cardstock. 

Okay well this was a rather lengthy post today but I hope you've enjoyed it.  I still have room for anyone interested in attending my "All Occasion Card Class" on September 15th, so let me know if you're interested in attending.    Have a great day!  

Customer Appreciation Cards

To show my appreciation for all the great customer orders I received in August, I've been busy making these "Thank You For Your Order" and "Just For You" cards.  I hope everyone who gets one in the next week enjoys them.  

These cards are so quick to make and they could be used for any occasion.  I used stamps from the Pocket Silhouettes stamp set on both the card and envelopes.   

Concord Crush DSP and Inks on a Whisper White card stock base make the Pocket Silhouettes Stamp set look amazing!

Poppy Parade and Pocket Silhouettes on Whisper White Card Stock base.

These "Just for You" cards were stamped in Peach Parfait on Whisper White and Peach Parfait DSP was used for backgrounds.

Pear Pizzazz DSP and Inks on Whisper White cardstock. 

All Occasion Card Class - Evening Session

Just a reminder that I'm hosting the second of two All Occasion Card Classes - The Evening Session on:

Date:            Thursday September 15th, 2011
Time:           6:00 to 9:00pm (Note this is a time change to accomodate gals coming from work)
Place:           My Studio - address and map will be supplied upon RSVP
Cost:            $20.00 buys you an evening of fun, creating four beautiful All Occasion Cards.  You'll get to use a variety of Embossing Folders and the Big Shot Dies.  All supplies for the cards are part of the fee and light refreshments will be served.
Bring:           Your adhesive (tape runner, Tombo etc).

RSVP:          Please contact me at 778-880-1296 or email:  pennyhanuszak@telus.net to book your spot.
                      Maximum of six per class (if we go over that number I'll book another date). 

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!