TOB - Boo Kitty

Hello crafty friends,

Welcome to the official start of the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge, where the theme is always anything Halloween related.  The current Challenge runs from the 2nd to the 28th of the month. 

I gathered up some new and some old stamps to make my inspiration card for this challenge.  First, let me show you the card and them I'll tell you how it all came together.  I went for a scary night time bike ride feel.

The finished card measures 5x7 inches.  Initially, I was going to attached my stamped and colored panel directly onto my white card base, but ended trimming it a bit and matting it onto orange cardstock for a pop of color.  

I stamped the Vintage Bicycle Basket (IO - J20006) first, stamped it a second time onto a posted note focusing on the basket mostly... fussy cut the posted note stamped image and placed it over the stamped image on my card panel creating a mask.  Next I lined up and stamped the Boo Kitty (The Rabbit Hole Designs) so that he (or she) was sitting in the basket.  In all honesty, my masking was a little off, because I didn't plan for the back sides of the basket handles, which should be behind the kitty, but by masking them along with the whole basket they stamped in front of the kitty.  What I should have done is not inked that part of the stamp, either by putting a small piece of tape in the area that falls behind the kitty that therefore not be seen or clean the ink off the area before stamping.  In this case my mistake wasn't a big one, because I was going to color my kitty black and it would cover the stamped handles. 

To fill in the card, I stamp the Branch (IO - L20755) several times and stamped several bats and even a few spiders from the Tiny Halloween (Lawn Fawn) stamp set.  

As for the "MEOW-OWEEN" I have no idea what stamp set it belongs with/in.  I used it so much last year that I forgot to put it away.  If you recognize it, please let me know.   For additional inspiration here's November's mood board: 

 Challenge ends on the 28th, winner will be announced on the 1st on the month before the start on the new challenge.  For a full list of all the rules please visit Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge home page.  unit next time... take care.

Impression Obsession - Autumn Colors

Hello crafty friends,

This card idea has been on my mind as an entry for the Impression Obsession "Autumn Colors" challenge for SEVERAL days, but being the procrastinator that I am, I only just sat down to make the card this afternoon.  I know I cut it close on this one considering the challenge ends tomorrow (Oct 6th), but never the less, it was a fun card to make and I love playing with my IO stamps.

I stamped the pumpkin three times, twice masking off the center part of the stamp, so that the eyes and mouth wouldn't stamp.  I watercolored all my stamped images.

I used the Pumpkin Cup CL778 stamp set, which is currently not available on the IO website, but here's a link to other cute cups stamps, some of them would work for a stacked design.  I especially like this Coffee Cup and this Tea Cocoa die set.

Thanks for stopping bye... wish me luck.

Impression Obsession Challenge "Have a Heart"

Hello crafty friends,

Created this floral heart card for the current Impression Obsession "Have a Heart" challenge.

I used a heart die to create a faint outline of a heart, so i have a shape to follow when stamping the flower clusters from the Sweet Bunny stamp set.  I watercolored all the flowers and the inside of the heart.

Thanks for stopping bye...

Scrapy Land - Challenge 129

HAPPY New Year crafty friends!

I created a Happy New Year shaker card for our first challenge of the year.  I used the Alarm Clock die and the Merry Christmas (DIE330-R) die sets by Impression Obsession.  Unfortunately, the set w/the Happy New Year die is not currently available... If you are interested I recommend waiting for it to come back in stock, because I love that this die set also contains a Merry Christmas die.   But if you are looking for just a Happy New Year die, this one by Paper Rose is available,   

So happy to be home relaxing today!  Of course, card making is on the agenda.  Other than when you sit down to make a card for someone or something specific, how do you make cards?  Do you sit down and stamp a lot of images for later coloring?  Do you stamp and color one image at a time?  Would love to hear how to tackle card making.  I do a mixture of the two... if I have a card design in mind, I will sit down and work on making it.  It can involve stamping and coloring or die cutting.  I almost always die cut or color more than I need, so I'm left with random pieces... NEED to find a way to organize these pieces in 2020!  Also, challenging myself to actually mail the cards I make.  As I type this post, I STILL haven't mailed out the Christmas cards I made this year!

Thanks for stopping bye.... I hope you'll join us for this challenge.  One winner... selected randomly will receive a $15 gift code to Scrapy Land.  Top three and honorable mentions will be selected by the Designers.  Until next time... take care.

Scrapy Land - Challenge 128

Hello crafty friends,

My last Christmas card for the challenge this year is this simple glitter card stock one.

I stated by covering my card front with a gray striped pattern paper that has a tiny red line.  Then i die cut all three of the Elizabeth Craft Designs Beaded Ovals from red glitter card stock and arranged them on the card overlapping.  This set is currently not available, but the store has the Circle set in stock.

Next I die cut the shadow from the Tim Holtz Sizzix Shadow Script Christmas Words "Merry" from green card stock and the top layer from red card stock. This set is currently not available, but the store has these other three sets.

At this point, I felt the card needed something else, so I looked through my dies and found the ornament shaped tag from the Impression Obsession Shaped Tags die set.  I die cut it from green card stock and placed it towards the top of the card.  I fussy cut the "string" for it.

this photo shows the Elizabeth Craft Designs Stitched Squares, because the card started as a 5.5x5.5 square until I trimmed the sides and turned it into a regular A2 size, because I thought it went better with the oval dies.

As always, thanks for stopping bye.... I hope you'll join us for this challenge.  One winner... selected randomly will receive a $15 gift code to Scrapy Land.  Top three and honorable mentions will be selected by the Designers.  Until next time... take care and HAPPY Holiday to you and yours.

Impression Obsession - Hot Colors Challenge

Hello crafty friends,

I should have spent the day cleaning out our guest bedroom, but instead I spent the day having fun making a few new cards.  This card I'm submitted to Impression Obsession's current challenge "Hot Colors". 

I used trim the Sunflower Background die to create corner flowers for my 5x7 card.  I used three colors of tiny dot pattern paper for my flowers for a pop of fun hot colors (get it... LOL).   I added the "thinking of you" sentiment from the Greetings Bottom Edgers in white, so it wouldn't stand out too much... I wanted the flowers to be the focal elements. 

Thanks for stopping by to check out my card.  Wish me luck.

Impression Obsession - Sending Sunshine Challenge

Hello crafty friends,

I'm back with this bright sunny card

for the Impression Obsession Sending Sunshine Challenge that goes until July 9th.  

I used the following IO products for this card:

I started w/a die cut tag, onto which I embossed the Bird Silhouettes stamp with superfine white embossing powder.  I then water colored the tag with yellows and light orange using a combination of watercolors and distress ink.  I set the tag aside to dry, while I worked on the card's front panel.  First, I stamped the Starburst with distress ink.  Using the same ink, I then stamped the  Bird Silhouettes on all four sides of the card panel.   oops, forget to say that I cut the card to a square 5 1/2" before stamping the birds all around.  I die cut the thinking of you and tucked it under the ribbon.  Since the ribbon had black on it, I stamped the tag sentiment with black ink.   The sentiment is not IO, which tells me I have a gap in my IO sentiment collection that needs filling... LOL.  I added nuvo drops in orange, yellow and black as my finishing touch.  

Thanks for stopping bye and wish me luck.

Impression Obsession Challenge - Birthday Wishes

Hello crafty friends,

Birthday Wishes is the theme for the current Impression Obsession Challenge.

 

I created this card for the challenge using the Verbena Blossom, which I stamped several time using masks in order to create a full floral background.   I left a section of my floral panel white, so I could placed my die cut Happy Birthday (from the Greetings Bottom Edgers die set) on it.   I actually die cut the Happy Birthday twice (black card stock and Purple card stock) and stacked them a tiny bit off.   I colored my flowers with watercolor pencils.

Thanks for stopping bye.  

Scrapy Land - Challenge 111

Welcome to Scrapy Land Challenge 111, craft friends...

I created two Easter cards using the Impression Obsession Bunny die set for this challenge.

As you can see the cards are somewhat the same, but different. 

On this card I die cut the bunnies from yellow watercolor pattern paper and one of the Sizzix Garden Greens leaves from green watercolor pattern paper.  I arranged them onto a card panel with a light pink egg stenciled background.   A stamped Happy Easter and pink Nuvo drops finished this card.

This card was a lot quicker to make.  I die cut a panel of pattern paper with the one of the Stitched Rectangle dies by Elizabeth Craft  and next die cut my bunnies from the panel.  I mounted the panel onto a black card base.  A stamped Happy Easter and lime green Nuvo drops finished this card.

Thanks for stopping bye.... I hope you'll join us for this challenge.  The winners... one selected randomly and one selected by the Design Team will both receive a $10 gift certificate to Scrapy Land.  Until next time... take care.

Impression Obsession Challenge - Happy Easter

Hello crafty friends,

I'm submitting this card to the Impression Obsession Challenge running until April 2nd.   The theme is Happy Easter.     

This card kind of evolved on it's own.  I started with the stamped egg carrots and added the bunnies around them.  When I was done it looked like a section of an Easter mandala.   

Thanks for stopping bye.  

Impression Obsession Challenge - Sending Hugs

Hello crafty friends,

I've had this card sitting on my desk for days, and still I procrastinated so long that I almost missed entering the Impression Obsession challenge running until Mar 19th.   I used the big and beautiful Verbena Blossom and the sweet Baby Bunny on my card. 

Thanks for stopping bye and wish me luck w/my last minute entry.

Impression Obsession Challenge - Flowers

Hello crafty friends,

The Impression Obsession challenge running until Mar 5th has a flower theme, so I used the larger flower cluster from the Sweet Celebration stamp set to create a circle wreath element for my card.  I die but the circle first and then stamped the flowers around the circle.  I used Distress Oxide inks for all my water coloring.  Next I stamped the "Happy Birthday to You" sentiment from the old Birthday Cakes stamp set (sorry, can't find it on IO's website).  I kind of messed up here, because i should have stamped it a little higher, so it could be seen after I added the stamped cake element, which I popped on foam tape for dimension.

Thanks for stopping bye... wish me luck.

Impression Obsession - New Beginnings

Hello crafty friends,

The Impression Obsession challenge running until Jan 22nd is about celebrating new beginnings.  I used the Sweet Celebration stamp set for my one layer card that celebrates the start of 2019.  I first stamped the cakes and using a mask to cover them I stamped the sparklers.   I used Distress Oxide inks for all my water coloring. 

I got this stamp set (and a few others) for Christmas and I just couldn't wait to use it.

                                   

Thanks for stopping bye... wish me luck.

IO Challenge - Happy New Year

Hello crafty friends,

I'm using my design team Happy New Year card as my entry into the current Impression Obsession challenge , which has a theme of Holiday Greetings (any holiday). 

This card was a quick one to build.  I die cut my harlequin pattern onto my card base panel.  The Happy New Year is one of two dies in the Merry Christmas die set.  For this card I die cut it three times for a thicker card element. 

Thanks for stopping bye... wish me luck.

Halloween Kitties In Pumpkins

Hello Crafty Friends,

I can't believe Halloween is next week and October is almost over.  I have to get all the Halloween cards I've made ready for mailing this weekend.  But before I send them all out, I've selected a few of my favorite to submit to challenges.

This card, created with a watercolor background full of stamped Pumpkin Kitty from Impression Obsession hides a surprise.

I used Chibitronics lights to make most of the jack-o-lanterns light up.  Here's a short video showing it light up.

I'm submitting this card to the following challenges:

Impression Obsession's Happy Haunting Challenge

Simon Says:  Halloween/Spooky, Monday Challenge

Simon Says:  Halloween/Spooky, Wednesday Challenge

Thank you for stopping bye and wish me luck.

Scrapy Land - Challenge 100

Hello crafty friends...

WELCOME TO OUR 100TH CHALLENGE! 

We are so excited to share this huge milestone with you.  
This is a CELEBRATION where YOU win the prizes!


 Each prize package will be a fun Mystery Box worth $25  

Here are the four ways you can win:

 One Random Choice Winner

 One Designer Choice Winner

 One Blog Hop Winner (more info on this below)

 One Additional Random Winner if the Scrapy Land Challenge blog
 goes over 100 entries (so please share with all your friends).

Our 100TH CHALLENGE theme is CELEBRATION.  

However, the Anything Goes theme is also an option... Just make sure a die cut from any brand that Scrapy Land sells is included on your project.  Here's my project... 

The theme of celebration doesn't have to be a birthday or anniversary card.  It can be the celebration of your kid's first steps, the purchase of a new home or as in my case... a card celebrating Halloween, which is my favorite holiday.

I used these fun dies for this card... IO's Six Witches, don't they look like they are having a fun time?  The card front was created with the Party Light Collage die, which only cuts the middle oval with the banner "lights".  I created a shaker element... note to self, double check the orientation of your card before closing your shaker element. Lastly, I added a Celebrate die from ECD. 

Our 100TH CHALLENGE BLOG HOP will run until Nov. 4th, and will feature lots of great CELEBRATION theme inspiration from our Designers.  The Blog Hop Winner will be chosen from comments left on each of the Designers' blogs and on the Scrapy Land Challenge blog.

have fun hopping... your next stop is Sherry blog. 

IO Challenge - Fall Rainbow

Hello crafty friends,

Made time to play in my craft room this weekend, stamped and colored a few of my IO Halloween stamps.

Jumped over to the IO Challenge blog to see what the theme of their current challenge was and created this card for it:

The theme for the challenge was rainbow colors and since I wanted to make a Halloween card, I pulled out my mini distress inks cubes and using IO's Cover-A-Card Gradation stamp I create a Fall layering of colors.

I used the Halloween Banner stamp in the center of the card.  I simple colored the stamped element with my Copics and covered it with my clear Spectrum Noir Glitter Brush Pen.

Thanks for stopping bye... until next time, take care.

IO Challenge - Stamp a Background

Hello crafty friends,

UPDATE 5/25:   I'm doing a happy dance, because I just found this card won the "Stamp a Background Challenge"!  Thank you Impression Obsession!

Impression Obsession current challenge is "stamp a background", which is such a fun challenge.  Creating a stamped card background is so easy and can be done with the very same stamp you are using for the card's main focus.  Here's the card I made...

I started by stamping a few Hearts With Flowers on post-it-notes to create a few masks.  Next, using the masks, I stamped the Hearts With Flowers on my card background turning the stamps to vary the placement.  In a matter of minutes (fussy cutting the masks took the longest) I had a stamped background that would match my card's main element perfectly.  As you can see, I used the Hearts With Flowers as my main focus element.  To add interest, I stamped it three times and fussy cut it into three sections.  The heart (top), the blue flower and leaves (2nd layer) and the purple flowers.  placed the sections on top of each other with foam tape for dimension and interest. 

I made go back and add Nuvo Drops to circles on the stamp background, but I can't decide on what color of drop.  Any suggestions?   Thanks for stopping... until next time, take care. 

Scrapy Land Challenge #89

Hello crafty friends,

Welcome to the start of Scrapy Land Challenge #89, where the theme is always "anything goes".

I love how this card turned out.  I used two dies and two pieces of pattern paper.  First, I die cut the "thinking of you" towards the bottom of a piece of white card stock that was big enough to fit the flowers, which I die cut second.   Once I had my final die cut element, I attached it to my ombre pattern paper and wrapped bakers twine in between the flowers and the words for added interest.  I used foam to give this panel dimension on my card.  I added some red sequins as a finishing touch.

The two die sets I used are Frantic Stamper Contemporary Floral Border and Impression Obsession Bottom Word Edgers, which sadly is currently not available...  so I'm linking the Holiday version, because they are on my wish list for Holiday cards this year.

Thanks for stopping bye.... please join us for this challenge.  The winners... one selected randomly and one selected by the Design Team will both receive a $10 gift certificate to Scrapy Land.  Until next time... take care.

Easter2018 Card1

Hello craft friends,

My Easter cards are going in the mail tomorrow... more likely, Tuesday.  So it's time to show them off and I'll start with my favorite.  I used  Impression Obsession's Easter Egg Carrot (E2391) to stamp a card panel, which I colored with my Zig Watercolor Brushes.  No fancy coloring... just three colors (orange, green and purple).  I used a stitched rectangle die to cut my stamped panel 1/4th of an inch shorter than my card, so i could add an orange mat under the panel.  I finished the card with some purple and orange Nuvo drops.

Thanks for stopping bye today.  I'll be entering this card in IO's Pick a Holiday Challenge, which runs until 4/3, so wish me luck.