Thinking Happy Thoughts

Happy Halloween (and Happy Day of the Dead)! It's been a crazy week--both kids have been sick but with different illnesses. But, I'm thankful that's all. My thoughts go out to all those affected by Sandy.

I did manage to make a card for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge. This week's colors are Cinnamon, Squash, Sage, Vanilla:

We were all sent stamps from DRS Designs. The stamps are unmounted red rubber, and they stamped beautifully. This week's digital challenge at Two Peas in a Bucket is to use orange, which worked great for this week's PDCC colors. I got the cutest elephant ever from DRS Designs, and I used him to make this card:

I started by printing some digital papers from Truman Studio's new Fall Days papers. Then, I paper pieced Jungle Jim the Elephant onto the squash paper and used some older My Mind's Eye to paper piece her nails (I'd say his nails, but the nails look more girly to me :). Here's a close-up:

I partially stamped the sentiment from DRS on the (slightly distressed) patterned paper. I die cut some of the Fall Days papers and added a bunch of stitching to finish it off.

If you like the colors and want to play along, DRS Designs is offering a prize to this week's winner.

You can enter your project HERE. While you're there, be sure to say "thanks" to Amy Tsuruta and Connie Mercer, the Private Blend Designers, as this is their last week. They were awesome teammates!

If you'd like to enter the Two Peas Digital Challenge for this week, you can find the details HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I really appreciate it.


Supplies
Rubber Stamps: (Jungle Jim the Elephant, One Line Happy Thoughts) DRS Designs
Dye Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Memento
Digital Patterned Paper: (orange and plaid from Fall Days) Truman Studio
Patterned Paper: (red and kraft polka dot from Kraft Days) My Mind's Eye
Die: (Scalloped Border die) My Favorite Things
Twine: (Natural twine) PTI

Thinking About Vacation

Happy Thursday! I hope you're having a good week. This morning I'm volunteering in my daughter's class for the first time. Luckily, she's still young enough that she's excited to have me come to her class and not embarrassed about it. ha ha

It's time for another Play Date Cafe Challenge! This week's colors are Mint, Gold, and Leather:

Isn't her hat to-die-for? Love it! This week, we're sponsored by Technique Tuesday. I used the Think Vacation stamps by Teri Anderson to make this "beachy" card:

I stamped the little beach scene from the Think Vacation set, added some patterned paper below, and then added a mixture of sand (out of my kids' sand and water table) and gold glitter flakes to look like a tiny island.  I thought the glitter made the sand look a little more gold, but now I can't decide if the mixture looks like an island or like dirt. ha ha. Here's a close-up:

I added some sponging to the borders and the sun, distressing, and sewing to give the card a more rustic look.

Want to play along? The winner will win a fab prize from Technique Tuesday:

You can link up your card or project HERE. The uber-talented Teri Anderson is joining us this week, so be sure to stop by her blog to see how she used her stamps.

Thanks for looking! I really appreciate you taking the time to stop by. :)

Supplies
Cardstock: (Rustic White) PTI
Patterned paper: (mint dot, gold stripe, and woodgrain from The Sweetest Thing-Lavender collection) MME
Clear Stamps: (sentiment, palm tree, chaise from Think Vacation) Technique Tuesday
Ink: (Antique Linen Distress Ink) Ranger; (Wet Cement Mid-Tone) Hero Arts; (Pool) Fresh Ink

Guesting at The Cameo Spotlight

I hope you're having a great weekend. I'm thrilled to be Guest Designing at The Cameo Spotlight Challenge. I've only had my Cameo a few months, but I use it all the time...it's in my living room (yes, I'm serious). I love it!

The new challenge at TCS is Halloween. I went out on a limb (for me) and made a home decor project. I never make home decor projects, but the Cameo made it really easy. I'm always inspired by the giant lollies and decor at Rhonna Desings, and so I ended up making a lolly:

First, I printed digital papers from the Horrified kit by Polka Dot Pixels on both sides of the paper (the orange paper is so wicked cool, I want to wallpaper a room with it). I used my Cameo to die cut a doily and two rosettes. I did take off the perforations before I cut the rosettes...it took a little more effort folding, but then the perforations don't show.

For the center, I die cut the Samantha Walker pumpkin image out of awesome black woodgrain paper from the kit. 

My two-year-old helped me with painting the wood veneer frame. Somehow he ended up with blue paint on his ear (note there is no blue paint--ha ha). We layered pearl, black, gold, and orange paints and covered it with a crackle paint. Here's a close-up:

I put the lolly on a similarly-painted dowel and used an up-cycled spool as a stand. Here's the full project:

For the spool, I kept it pretty simple. I used the same Basic Grey herringbone paper I used on the doily and the negative die-cut of the orange paper for the rosette. I also added a small strip of turquoise paper for contrast and a little twine:

Have a Cameo? You can check out the details of the challenge, including information about the prize from Gel-a-tins, over at The Cameo Spotlight blog. If you don't have any Halloween images, the Silhouette online store is running a special right now on Halloween images. You can make a card, a tag, or a home decor project for the challenge, so try it out!

A big thanks to Jackie with TCS for asking me to Guest with the super talented team. 

Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend.

Supplies
Patterned Paper: (herringbone from Little Black Dress) Basic Grey; (turquoise from Oct. 31) Fancy Pants
Other Paper: (orange, black newsprint, cream, and black woodgrain from Horrified) Polka Dot Pixels at Two Peas in a Bucket; (Premium Matte Photo Paper) Office Max
Die cutting files: (Antique Doily, 3D Rosette Flower Pointed, 3D Pleated Accordian Flower, Jack O Lantern Cameo Frame) Silhouette Online
Accents: (wood veneer from Heydey) Studio Calico
Fibers: (natural twine) PTI

Watercolor Hearts

Hi! I hope your week is going well. Did anyone celebrate World Card Making Day this weekend? It's been a crazy long week here...is it Friday yet? ha ha

It's time for another Play Date Cafe Challenge. This week's colors are Bubblegum, Tangerine, and Pear:

Ooo...love those shoes! This week's challenge is sponsored by Simon Says Stamp.

I came up with another CAS little hybrid card:

I just used a few digital brushes from the Valentine's Day Watercolor Brushes to make the hearts and the three lines. I stamped over the hearts and voila--insta-card (if only it was that straightforward--hee hee).

Interested in playing? The winner of this week's challenge wins a gift certificate from Simon Says Stamp

You can link up your project HERE.

For World Card Making Day, I offered a giveaway. The winner of the Lawn Fawn stamps is Lynnda! Lynnda, I'll get in touch with you to get your address. :)


Supplies
Digital Brushes: (hearts and lines from Valentine's Day Watercolor Brushes) Just Jaime; (sentiment from Word aRt Love) Robyn Meierotto
Paper: (Premium Matte Photo Paper) Office Max

World Card Making Day

Happy Saturday! I don't typically blog on a weekend, but today is World Card Making Day and I'm participating in the Paper Crafts Magazine's blog tour. To see the full list of blogs, click on the WCMD icon on the sidebar or click on the Paper Crafts' blog.

I won't be able to do much crafting today (my kids don't celebrate WCMD--ha ha), but it's great to have a day to celebrate the papercrafting community. I've met so many sweet and fabulous people through blogging, and I just wanted to say thank you!

I wanted to share a card in honor of the day:

It's a hybrid and I made the backgroud by stamping the circles repeatedly (yep, it was hard getting those circles to line up!). I used one of the Studio Calico digital brushes that is no longer available, although it's the same stamp that's coming out as a clear SC/Hero Arts stamp HERE.

To celebrate WCMD and say thanks, I thought I would do a little giveaway. I'll randomly draw a name from the comments to win a brand new Lawn Fawn You've Got Mail set. You don't need to be a follower (although that would be nice, too!), but you'll need to comment to win. I'll draw on Wednesday night (10/10).

Thanks for stopping by! I really appreciate it!

Hello Boo-tiful!

Happy Thursday! This week has flown by, and it's already time for another Play Date Cafe post. This week's the challenge is a color splash with plum as the color:

That plum color is so pretty, and it instantly made me think of Halloween. I got out my new Teri Anderson Technique Tuesday stamps and made this card:

That spider just cracks me up! I love these stamps. :)

I started off by misting black cardstock with Graphite and Blueberry Metallic mist and then embossing the spider and sentiment over. I'm not sure if it was misting first or luck, but I had almost no stray embossing powder to remove (with embossing powder that never seems to cooperate). I'll have to try embossing over misting again to see if it was a fluke.

Here's a close-up so you can see that cool metallic mist:

And since I am officially addicted to metallics at the moment, I made some metallic confetti. I took sequins, punched holes in them, and used the punched pieces. My husband thought I was completely nuts when he saw the residual sequins on the dining room table. hee hee

Want to play along? To sweeten the deal, this week's sponsor wins a prize from Freckled Fawn.

They're also offering free shipping for PDCC players--you can see the code on the blog. To play along, you can enter HERE.

Thanks for stopping by. I really appreciate it!

Supplies
Cardstock: (purple) The Paper Studio; (True Black) PTI
Stamps: (Eek!) Technique Tuesday
Ink: Versamark
Spray Inks: (Blueberry, Graphite Metallics) Maya Road