It's a hoot of a card!

Today's challenge @ Practical Scrappers was to use stitching on a card.  I combined this with a challenge at Hero Arts to use non-Christmas stamps on a Christmas card.  I used the owl and branch stamp from Hero Arts, and added a freehand cut Santa hat, and some stamped ornaments.  Machine stitching and an embossed frame add a little texture. 

CAS-ual Friday's sketch challenge

This week, CAS-ual Friday is hosting a card sketch challenge.  Here's my Christmas card based on the sketch.  I used the Cricut Elegant Edges cartridge to make the card shape.  Since everything else on the card was kept pretty simple, I thought the card shape needed to be a little different.

Lily Pad sketch challenge

I needed a card to welcome a new baby boy into the world, and was inspired by the card sketch at Lily Pad this month.  I flipped the sketch and used a circle design element instead of a square, but I think it worked out well.  I love this teddy bear and moon stamp; it's been in my stash forever but I love to use it for baby cards.

We love our pets @ Practical Scrappers!

Today @ Practical Scrappers we are featuring projects with pets.   Check out the adorable projects posted today - there are some awfully cute pages being featured!

My project today was a card, using a Whimsie Doodles digital stamp.  I love their stamps; they are just so cute!  This one was colored with Copics with a little red glitter thrown in for good measure. 

Cricut 360 challenge

Cricut 360 is having a Spooky Halloween blog hop, with a challenge.  If you visit all the DT blogs, you'll get the clues you need to create your challenge project. 

For my project, I altered a paper mache book to create a "Potions and Spells" book.  The letters on the book were cut from Storybook in green and orange, with the shadow cut in purple.  The spider is from Lyrical Letters (who knew there was a creepy spider on that cute cartridge!)  I added lots of glitter to all the cuts, and also used some black magic mist and purple stickles on the spell book.   I think I might officially be out of room for any more Halloween decorations now, LOL!

A Practical Scrappers challenge to use those stamps!

This week's challenge at Practical Scrappers was to use at least five stamps on a project.   For someone like me, who tends to collect stamps and not use them, this was a real challenge.

I started with this Thanksgiving card, where I used three stamps from an old Stampin' Up set, two word stamps and one graph background stamp.  The kraft background was embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder, and then the graph background was stamped diagonally across the center.  The leaves and acorn were stamped, colored with Copics and then punched with a 1.25" circle punch and matted. 

For the scrapbook page, I started with some papers from We R Memory Keepers and some old photos from 1985 - our first and last year of tent camping (thank goodness!  We bought a small camper the next year.  :)   This patterned paper already had a lot going on, so I kept the stamping pretty low-key.  I used alphabet stamps to spell out "Versailles, IN" and a canvas background stamp and leaf background stamp on the paper strips under the photos.  The "posted" note is a stamp, as is the zigzag stitch at the bottom, the circle stamp around the numbers on the left side, and the buttonholes and straight stitch under the photos.

I hope you get a chance to dust off those rubber stamps and use them on a project sometime this week!

More Halloween projects @ Practical Scrappers!

Today, we are featuring altered projects for Halloween @ Practical Scrappers.  There are some wonderful mini albums, treat bags and holiday decorations - you're sure to find some spooky inspiration!   You can check out the projects here. 

For my project, I used one of the 7Gypsies printers trays I've been hoarding, along with some Bella Blvd. "Too Cute to Spook" papers and die cuts.   I cut some of the die cut images apart so they would flow over more than one opening on the tray, and then added some crochet thread, glitter, twine and ribbon embellishments.   The "happy halloween" sentiment was die cut with my Cricut and then glittered over the top.

Check out the Halloween cards at Practical Scrappers!

Practical Scrappers is featuring Halloween cards today.   You really need to see these - there are some fabulous cards posted on the blog - from ghosts and google eyes to pumpkins and witches!

Here's my card for ths challenge.   I used some Halloween rubons, some black magic mist and tulle on this one.

A Halloween tree

I was in Michael's a few weeks ago and found this fold up Halloween tree for $2.    I thought it would be fun to turn this into a Halloween tree for my table.  I stamped different Halloween images, punched them out with a 2" circle punch, and then used my Cricut and the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge to cut some circle tags at 2.5" from black cardstock.  All the images were colored with Copic markers and Spica glitter pens, and then inked with the new Fall Distress Inks.  I added a few smears of copper and purple Stickles on the tree for a little bit of sparkle.  I think it turned out cute, and it was very inexpensive!  I think decorating for Halloween is so much fun!

A month of sketches AND a 40% off sale @ My Scraps and More

If you are looking for some scrappy inspiration, friendly people and a great sale, check out MyScrapsandMore.com.   Tammi is having a month long sketch crop and she's also offering a 40% off sale through October 9th.   This sale includes all the new releases that have just arrived in the store; it's a great way to stock up on those holiday papers at a great price!   I've ordered several times from Tammi and always gotten great service and quick shipping.   And I highly recommend joining the forum....everyone is so nice and there are tons of challenges going on with lots of inspiration.   Hope to see you there!

It's a Sassy Lil Sketches send off!

It's sad news for sure, but Sassy Lil Sketches is closing their sketch site.  It's been a real joy to be on the card DT here and work with Cherie and Katie and all the other designers and I'll definitely miss everyone on the site.

But.....the good news is that we're closing down with a bang...a real Sassy Send Off!   We'll be releasing one sketch per day through October 9th.  You have until October 23rd to link your projects using the sketches for a chance to win the new Sassy Lil Sketches eBook!   That's eight chances to win, so we hope to see your projects!

Here's the sketch and my card for the Day 2 challenge: