I love fall

There is a funny thing about having seasons change, spring and summer you can't wait wait to put away your long pants and sweaters and get into shorts and t-shirts. I am in the long pants and sweaters stage. I am ready for the cooler weather. 

The leaves are beginning  to change here in Pa. and the hotter days are fewer  and fewer. My creativity is leaning to Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas cards. The next few months are my favorite time to craft.

In honor of the start of fall, I am using my gift set from Simon Says Stamp called "Fall Frenchies".

I am joining the fun at a few challenges.

The Male Room

Inspired By... 

I am also going to submit a second card to AAA Cards.

So put on your long pants and sweaters and joining in these "cool" fall challenges!

Another thank you card

 Hey everyone!! Doing a little mid week posting. Why? Well.... just because I can. No start of school for me gang!! Yay!! My time off is just about me!!

So to celebrate, I am playing along at AAA Cards. They are having a sketch challenge with the option of using a critter. I am all about critters!! Love them and have a gazillion critter stamps!!

This sketch appeals to my CAS heart.

Have you guys heard of Wish? Wish describes itself "as shopping made fun".  It is all super cheap-75-95% off and sometimes things are free. You do pay shipping , but shipping is cheap too. Shipping is on each item. But when you are paying $1-4.00 for something, 2.00 is ok. At least with me. It does take weeks (and I mean weeks!!) for the items to come in. It’s all coming from China. The  company buys left over lots of all kinds of things. I noticed they had me targeted for crafting stuff on Instagram. I checked it out and sure enough, they had stamps, dies, ink pads, markers etc. They have TONS of dies. The stuff appears to be brand name. Stamping Up, Simon Says Stamp, My Favorite Things, Mama Elephant, Avery Elle, Penny Black, Clearly Besotted and Honey Bee to name a few.

Everything is from free to 4.00 for the most part. It is kinda like going to a thrift store, you have to wade through a lot of crap to find the good stuff. Using good search words helps. I put in stamps and dies 2019 and I was able to buy a bunch of very current stuff. When you receive your shipment, it is just the stamps with  absolutely no labels of any kind, just a sheet of stamps or dies. I found the acrylic seemed a bit flimsier than what I have, but everything stamped fine and with a MISTI, you can always double stamp. The dies cut fine, you can always add an extra shim.

I am not sure if you guys will hold this against me, but these companies are selling to Wish and the prices are good, so I get more bang for my buck. I am curious to see what you think.

Anyway the point of this rant is that the THANKS die is from Wish. I die cut without a problem. Not sure what company it is from. Maybe one of you know. The sweet kitty is from Newton's Nook.

Head over to AAA Cards and play along.

Monster Mash

My husband and boss are rockers, guitarists, and total music lovers. I have been collecting lots of music related stamps and this set from Your Next Stamp is one of my go to sets.

I decided to spend some early morning time in my studio before the 94 degree heat set in and play along at AAA Cards, AAA Birthday and Addicted to CAS. 

This card involved a bit of masking. Now this is something that normally I never do. It just seems like to much work. But I will tell you it was so worth it. 

Head over to AAA Cards, AAA Birthday, and Addicted to CAS and play along too.

Just prance

Well this a first for me,  a holiday card in July! I never start them before November. AAA Cards is hosting a cool challenge to leave lots of white space with a twist for a Christmas card.

I had to dig out my holiday stamps and then find a set I wanted to play with. I decided to go with Clearly Besotted's "Let's Prance". I could just picture a reindeer flying across the top of my card.

I kept it very simple making it a one layer card. 

A little stickles later and this CAS white space dominant card was done. 

Head over to AAA Cards and play along!

Crafty inspiration

Hey there everyone. It has been a crafty weekend for me. I have had to make birthdaycards, birthday cards and cards just because, like the one I am posting today. AAA cards has a cool challenge. They are asking you to make a one layer card with a optional twist of using only black and white.

I am a very CAS stamper, but I still usually have someting popped up and yikes- black and white!! This was a challenge for me. I like bright colors. Also, you need to be very aware that when the card is only black and white, you can't hide your mistakes. LOL!!!

I rarely by kits from stamp companies, but the May kit from Hero Arts was one I couldn't pass up. It is perfect for making cards for all my crafty friends.  The sentiment is from Atenew's "crafty friends" set. Someone special may be receiving this card in the mail this week.

I toyed with the idea of adding some bling or glitter, but forced myself to keep it simple and let the black and white speak for itself. I actually like how it turned out.

There is so much awesome inspiration to be found at AAA cards. Check this card out from Tinstar. I think it is so clever. AAA is having a design team challenge. I am throwing my hat in the ring and keeping my fingers crossed.  

White Christmas

No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's looks, lectures, and assignments.!!! Yep, school is done!! I graduate this Wednesday with my Master's Woo hoo!!! I have all the time in thworld to stamp and create. Just in time for Christmas!

Today's card is for my annual holiday card swap with my crafting buddies. It is inspired by the challenge at AAA Cards. Their challenge is to create a CAS card that is "mostly white". Well I am down with that, especiall as most of my cards are mainly white.

 

I used a very old Cuttlebug holiday embossing folder, and a just bought Lawn Fawn set called "Winter Village", that I colored with neutral copic colors. I am entering this card in the "anything goes Christmas" challenge at Inkspirational Challenges and the Christmas card challenge at CAS on Friday. 

 

Since this card is for my swap tomorrow, I better wrap up this blog posting to cut and prep the card. Hit the links in this post and check out the challenges and play along.

Hippo hippo hipporay!

How exciting to get my mojo back and to be blogging. Crafters- when you feel your mojo or when lack inspiration, my advice to you is to check out a challenge.  I was checking out various challenges and saw two that inspired me.

AAA Cards is one of my "go-to-challenge" sites. The challenge is bright and beautiful. I think my card is bright, I don't know if it is "beautiful", but it is fun and whimsical. Can you see what mistake I made on this card? I will let you think about it and tell you at the end of my post. AAA Cards are having a DT call. I had stepped down from all my previous DT commitments due to school, but things have settled down, so I am ready to be part of a challenge team. So, I am throwing my hat into the ring at AAA Cards.

Another challenge that I love is CAS-usual Fridays. I have been lucky enough to win this one a few times. They are celebrating their 6th birthday!!! To celebrate the challenge is to use 6 of any item. I know you are looking at my card and are thinking 6 of anything- where is that? Well I used 6 stamps from one item- one set- the "Wish Big" set from Essentials by Ellen.

Remember if you need and inspiration check out these great challenges. Wish me luck with the DT call at AAA cards.

OK- if you couldn't figure out what was wrong with my card, the banner embossing folder is upside down!!😄

Cool Chick

Gosh- I know it has been awhile since I have blogged, but I didn't think I would forget how to use blogger! I had the worst time trying to upload my photos from iphoto. Anyone having problems with that?

Anyway, I figured out a workaround. Grad school has been incredibly stressful and time consuming. This past week was the first time I have had to really sit down and stamp.

Today's card fits the bill for a few challenges. These were supposed to be Easter cards, but since I didn't get to stamp until after Easter, they are spring cards!! 😀 

I used this super cute stamp set from Simon Says Stamp- Some Bunny. The background was done using this fun stencil from Timmy and a rainbow of distress inks. 

This card just makes me splashing in puddles, dancing in moonlight, spinning under the sun kinda happy!

I am entering it in a few challenges:

AAA- stencils

Addicted to CAS- rainbows

CAS on Sunday- stencil

Use a Stencil

I have a few weeks off until I am back at school, so hopefully you may see me again soon. Until then check out these great challenges!

The Male Room Challenge: Halloween

Have you noticed how many folks are into Halloween these days? People go all out with costumes, decorating their houses. What a great holiday for creativity. It rates up there with Christmas and Valentine's Day.

This week at The Male Room we are challenging you with a Halloween theme. Coffins of fun huh?!!?
 

Distress inks are perfect for Halloween. You can make such spooky color combos with them. I die cut a circle and sponged it with mustard seed, wild honey, crushed grapes, and chipped sapphire. Splattered a bit of water and I had and awesome background for my spooky scene.

Be afraid, be very afraid!

AAA Cards challenges matches up with the Male Room's this week- Halloween- CAS so I am playing along there also.

 

I hope you join us at the Male Room and play along with this spooky theme!

Feelin' like autumn

 I work right across where the Pope will be staying when he comes to Philadelphia, needless to say it has been getting progressively more intense as we get closer to Friday. I have to stay at work the whole weekend. So I get camp out with some of my fellow workers. Because I will be at work all weekend I decided to give myself today off and play. I watched the first day of "Watercolors for Cardmakers: exploring mediums". 

I have both the Zig markers and the set Kristena was using, but I hadn't really had a chance to mess with them. I decided to play with them and enter a few challenges while I was at it. My card is a riff on Jennifer's and Debby. The stamp set is a very old Amuse set that I won when taking a stamp class. The poor thing had never been inked before today!

AAA cards is having an autumn colors challenge, so I am joining in there.

Addicted to CAS is having a challenge with leaves, well duh! This is a no brainer!

Lastly, Inkspirational has a color challenge using green ( the most beautiful color in the world!) and orange. Maybe I am stretching it, but I did use green and orange on my leaves.

 Surprise days off are the best! Well I better figure out what I will be taking with me this weekend. I am planning on a few make-n-takes with bored staff.

Check out the class and challenges and have fun creating!