Thursday, 31 October 2013

More Halloween Cards

My second blog post for the night. Halloween wrapped up pretty quickly this year due to rainy weather. It's been nice to have an early night to work on my blog, however, I am now faced with a lot of extra candy that I wasn't planning on.

I have picked out a few of my favourites treats to keep in my desk at work (Coffee Crisp). A lot of the candy will be going to my daughter's school. They have a great program for donating the extra candy. Once we get the notice from the school, I will be shipping whatever is accepted there. The rest will come to work and I am sure my staff will have no problem making the rest disappear.

Here are a couple of more Halloween cards that I have created. For both cards I used older sketches from Deconstructing Jen. I really love Jen's sketches. I have a number of them printed and put into a binder for quick reference. If I get into a creative slump or I am a bit pressed for time, then I have these sketches within reach.

You can find all of Jen's sketches (here):


Deconstructing Jen: Sketch 08
Image: Hampton Arts (Michaels)
Paper:  K& Co, October Afternoon
Jolee's Boutique pumpkins


Deconstructing Jen: Sketch 01
Image: Stampendous "Kitty Candy Kiddo"
Paper: K & Company, MME

I tomorrow I will be tucking away my Halloween supplies for another year. I suppose I should pull out those winter and Christmas stamps soon. With the weather we have been having I am expecting snow any day now. I am not ready for winter or Christmas.

Happy creating fellow crafting geeks!

Tracy


Frankenstein Halloween Treats

This year for Halloween my daughter's and I were inspired by Frankenstein. The girls and I like to create something crafty to showcase the treats we are handing out and this year we made Frankenstein lollipop covers.

The idea for this project came from the Your Next Stamp blog (see the original post here). They have a great lollipop cover die (here), which I couldn't use for this project because the dies dimensions were too small for the lollipops I bought.

Using their design as inspiration I created my own cover.



Here are the measurements for my altered lollipop cover template:

Dimensions of the cover: 2" by 6".
Score at: 2 1/4, 2 3/4 and 5 inches
Out of one 12 x 12 sheet of green card stock, I was able to get 12 bases for "Frankie".
Cut the hair from black card stock (size 1" by 2"), trim one end with decorative scissors.
I used my Crop-a-dile to punch a small hole on the fold for the lollipop stick.


For the eyes we used a 1/2" circle punch (white) and a regular hole punch for the pupils. YNS used googly eyes, however I was afraid they would fall off in transport to the school.

For the bolts, I used a scrap of shiny grey card stock that I had (Recollections I believe). I cut a pile of small strips to glue to the side of "Frankie's" head.


We had a great assembly line for this project. I cut, scored, folded and gave "Frankie" his hair. My one daughter punched out all the eyes, while the other one assembled them and drew on the mouths. They both stuffed in the lollipops and I glued Frankie shut.

We made a total of 72 Frankensteins for their classmates, daycare teachers and for my staff at work. I don't know about the kids, but my staff were so excited about their treat.

Of course we didn't forget the girl's teachers. Here is what they received:



The plastic paint can came from the dollar store. These went together so quickly. The biggest challenge was taking the handles out and lining up a hole in my paper, so I could reassemble the handle after "Frankie" was put inside the can.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween (ours was wet). Enjoy the tricks and treats.

Tracy



Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Halloween Distress

I love creating cards for Halloween. Last year I purchased a lot of fun Halloween images and papers, so it was fun to finally pull them out and put them to use.

I really enjoy using Distress ink. I created the back ground using spiced marmalade, wild honey and squeezed lemonade. The moon was created by masking off with a circle. The haunting scene was from an Impression Obsession die. I added yellow paper behind the pumpkin and house window to create the look of a light. The sentiment was heat embossed.


Challenges
Little Red Wagon - Halloween
Your Next Stamp - October 2013 YNSFFC05
Simon Say Stamp - Wednesday Challenge Anything goes

Happy Haunting everyone.

Tracy

Monday, 28 October 2013

Witchy

This card was a happy accident. Initially I was hoping to create a pair of "Witch" boots for my card.  Since I don't have a image to cut with my Cricut, I was attempting to create the boots by hand. As I worked through a few different pairs of horrible looking boots, I realized one template I created actually resembled a pair of shoes.

For my Witch's shoes, I stamped versa mark ink using a dot background stamp and heat embossed with clear embossing powder for a bit of texture. I added an eyelet to her shoes for laces.

The Witch's legs and skirt were all made by hand.


Challenges:
Little Red Wagon - #208 - Brads or Eyelets (I actually have a large number of eyelets in my stash so it was fun to use them for a challenge)
Your Next Stamp - October 2013 YNSFFC05
Simon Says Stamp - Halloween or Halloween Colours

Thanks for taking a look.

Tracy Penney

Tuesday, 22 October 2013

Welcome Baby

This is a card that I made for a family friend that recently had her first baby. I used the Deconstructed Sketch No. 123 from Deconstructing Jen.


When I made the card on the weekend I kept the look very neutral.


I used my Cricut "New Arrivals" cartridge to create the baby buggy (cut at 3 inches). The circles were also cut using my Cricut. Once I heard she had a baby boy, I added the charm, blue hearts and gems.


The card size is 5 x 6.5

Supplies:
Die: Cricut "New Arrivals"
Paper: My Minds Eye "Fine & Dandy", Echo Park "So Happy Together"
Sentiment: My Favorite Things "Bitty Banners"
American Crafts Ribbon and twine
Recollections gems
Charm - I have had this for a long time, I think it came from a dollar store

Tracy

Saturday, 19 October 2013

A Latte minis

The challenge this week over at Little Red Wagon is "Mini-mize me", which means a card no bigger than 3x3. Pretty easy right? A small card like that should take no time at all. I cut my first card base, stared at my scrap bin, rummaged through my stamps and dies and............I got nothing. No inspiration, nothing is coming to me. What am I going to make for a space so small? How am I going to layer and embellish with next to no room? Clean and simple is what it should be and that's always so difficult for me. I don't know why.

After putting the mini card aside and making a few other cards, I returned last night to this challenge, this time with a bit of inspiration. I made three mini cards all with a theme from my inspiration. Can you guess what I was craving?

You can check out challenge #207 Mini-mize Me at Little Red Wagon.


Stamp: Fiskars Latte Love

Stamp: Fiskars Latte Love

Stamp/Die: Your Next Stamp "Hot Stuff Mugs", cut with Happy Holidays die
What's your caffeine beverage of choice? I do love my Starbucks. My regular drink would be a Chai Tea latte. During the fall season, I also enjoy the occasional Pumpkin Spice Latte. I expect the winter selections (Gingerbread latte) will be here before we know it!

Supplies:
Stamps: Fiskars "Latte Love", Your Next Stamp "Hot Stuff Mugs"
Dies: Your Next Stamp Happy Holidays
Sentiments were heat embossed white (Recollections), Chestnut (AC Zing)
White gel pen
I used only scraps to create these cards, so I don't have the names of the paper that was used.

Enjoy your caffeine of choice today and thanks for stopping by to check out my creations.

Tracy

Friday, 18 October 2013

Spectacular

I am so excited to finally used this stamp. I bought it back in April at Scrapfest from Your Next Stamp. I really love their stamps. They are so cute and a lot of fun to colour. This stamp "Spectacular" I had to get because I think it looks a lot like my oldest daughter. Of course, I am now on the look out for a stamp that reminds me of my youngest daughter.

This card is my submission for the Your Next Stamp October Sketch challenge (YNSFFC05)


The image is YNS "Spectacular", coloured with Copic markers. I used Glossy Accents on the classes for a bit of dimension. I also used YNS Smarty Pants stamp for the lined paper and A+.

Inside the card I used the YNS "Smarty Pants" ruler and sentiment. I find I cannot call a card finished unless I decorate the inside. 

I haven't yet decided on the occasion that I will use this card. When the time comes I can add an additional sentiment inside the card (if needed) to create a thank you or even a birthday card.

Supplies:
Your Next Stamp: Spectacular, Smarty Pants
Cuttlebug Spots and Dots embossing folder
Spellbinders Standard Circles Dies
Copic markers

Thanks for stopping by.
Tracy