Swap Cards

 I have been working on some swaps for Stampin' Up's Onstage Convention which is usually held each November in Salt Lake City.  Unfortunately, with COVID that is not going to happen.  There will be a virtual event and one of the demonstrators is having a swap that I will be participating in.  I have been working on those swaps and they are now ready to put in the mail.  I signed up for Masculine, Artistic, Birthday, Holiday Catalog, and Fun Fold swaps!  Several of the swaps I was able to use the cards I had made for the NC Demo Quarterly that was supposed to happen last May but, again, COVID made that event impossible. 

Below are a couple of the swap cards I made.

I don't usually make many Halloween cards or buy Halloween stamp sets but I loved this designer paper from the mini catalog.  You can find Plaid Tidings 6"x6" designer paper on page 57.  The patterns can be used for holidays and well as all year long.  I love plaids!  I also bought the Festive Post stamp set (page 63, mini catalog) because I can use it for several holidays - Christmas, Halloween, and Valentines  The stamp set coordinates with the Rectangular Postage Punch.  When I can use a punch, I love it!  I dyed the white ribbon black using my Stampin' Blends!

This is my Holiday Catty swap. 

This next card is one I was able to use from the NC Demo Quarterly cards.  I stamped the tree root with Soft Suede that I stamped off first so it wouldn't be so dark (from Rooted in Nature) on Very Vanilla cardstock.  I stamped the tree on top of it with Early Espresso ink and the sentiment in Soft as Suede (full strength).  Next I ran the piece through the Big Shot embossing it with the Subtle 3D embossing folder and then matted it onto a piece of Early Espresso.  I ran another piece of Very Vanilla (5 1/4" x 4") through the Big Shot embossing it with Tin Tile 3D embossing folder and sponged Soft Suede ink lightly over top of the embossed areas.

Masculine Swap Card

This Rooted in Nature stamp set is a great one for those hard to make masculine cards!

 

Halloween Paper Pumpkin Style

Remember me?  I can't believe it's been so long.  I've had a lot going on and dealing with some personal things that have gotten me a little down.  I'm usually a real optimist and pretty happy go lucky, but this last month I have been really down in the dumps.  I am not going into detail here but hoping things will work out and soon!!  I'm ready to be back to my old self.  So, say a little prayer for me!

This week I have been working on Halloween cards using September's Paper Pumpkin kit.  Halloween used to be one of my favorite holidays.  I loved dressing up and trick or treating when I was a kid and loved it even more when my kids were all dressed up and Sonny was taking them from house to house in the neighborhood.  Where I live now, we don't get any trick or treaters.  Our house has a really long driveway plus there are only 3 houses on our cul-de-sac so we don't bother turning the lights on.  Although last year, we had one person to ring the doorbell!  I didn't have any candy to give out so Sonny and I just didn't answer the door.

The Paper Pumpkin kit included enough supplies to make 24 of these little treat bags.

I didn't really need 24 bags so I proceeded to cut up some of the bags and use other items to make cards instead.

 I used the retired Spider Web embossing folder to this card below and colored the lines with Silver Wink of Stella.

 For the card below, I cut up one of the bags and adhered it over the Mango cardstock.

Love this candy corn look!  I ran it through the Subtle Embossing Folder to give it a little texture.

I still have lots of bags left over!!

October Stamp Club Cards

For this month's Stamp Club card, I concentrated on fall and the holidays. 

If you would like to order any of the items to make these cards, please order online using my October code: 6G7GE4YW   Your order will be mailed directly to you.  You can also check out the Clearance items and include them with your order.

I used the following stamps for this card: Cookie Cutter Halloween; Goulish Grunge; Happy Scenes; Timeless Textures

l  Stamp the Brick Wall (from Ghoulish Grunge) on the white card with Smoky Slate ink.  Use the little splatter stamp (Timeless Textures) and stamp with Pumpkin Pie ink. 

l  Stamp Spider Web in corner with black ink.  

  Next the trick was to find a spider!  Finally found one on a retired set from last year, Happy Scenes.  Probably just as easy to use a marker and draw him in! 

The 3 black squares are 1 3/4" each. The Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pizazz & Wisteria Wonder square were die cut with the Squares Thinlits.

l  Next stamp creatures onto white paper & punch out w/Cookie Cutter Punch; color and adhere to the black squares.  Stamp the sentiment (again, I used a retired set called And Many More.

 The Ugly Christmas Sweater card was a big hit!  I had others to choose from but everyone picked the Christmas one.   If you Google Cable Knit Sweater Card, you will find a bunch of different sweaters with instructions.  It's really pretty simple.  Run your card stock through the Big Shot using the Cable Knit Embossing Folder.  This is a really thick folder and I found it helpful to mist the card stock with a little water before embossing.  For the white shirt underneath, this is the white card base.  I used the Circle Thinlits (or a 2" Circle Punch) to punch a circle.  The ribbing is made using a Crimper but if you do not have one of those, you can use your Score Board and score on every line.  This is a fun card to play with and come up with lots of different ideas as I did below.

 The next card uses the beautiful Petals and Paisleys!  I love the DSP, the stamp set and the framelits!  Here are my directions:

Emboss the Rich Razzleberry card stock with the Petal Burst embossing folder.

Adhere DSP to top of Razzleberry card stock.

Tie knot in Mint Macaron ribbon and adhere around Razzleberry card.

Adhere Razzleberry card to Night of Navy card.

Stamp sentiment onto Vanilla card stock and cut out.  Matte onto Night of Navy and adhere to Razzleberry card stock.

Stamp scallop circles in different colored inks; die cut with Paisley thinlits; adhere them together with dimensionals.  Adhere Candy Dot to center.

Die cut large Paisley from Copper paper and the floral pieces from Mint Macaron and Night of Navy; arrange all onto card.

 Next is the cute little scarecrow from Cookie Cutter Halloween.

Use a sponge or dauber & sponge So Saffron on bottom of white card

Sponge Soft Sky on top (use a cloud template)

Stamp wheat from Wetlands w/Delightful Dijon on bottom of card.

On scrap white, stamp Scarecrow & color.  Use Cookie Cutter Punch & punch out.

Stamp sentiment w/Dijon ink.