Quick and Simple Cards-Halloween Style

1.

How about a bunch of quick and simple Halloween cards?

I'm also adding one of these on this week's Blogger's Challenge.

I know, last week was Halloween but this week is black and white with a splash of color.

Work for Halloween- right?

I don't see myself as a card making queen-

but I go for basic and simple.

They go off to the college daughter-

I send several each week.

Its great to get mail when you're in school,

I remember eons ago loving something in my mailbox-

hey wait-

I still love something in my mailbox.

And its great for me since my daughter Katie keeps all my cards

Since freshman year-

and now she's a senior!

That's a HUGE complement.

So card 1-up above-

This is just a Sizzix embossing folder which I inked directly on the folder to get the black background. 

Then I added a die cut voice bubble that I stamped.

2.

Too bad this photo isn't so great.

I embossed the spiders (Sizzix) and embossed the black strip (Anna Griffin) and I sprayed the strip with Perfect pearls to make it a bit glossy.

Then I used 2 Hero Arts stamps- the ghose and underneath a cat which I embossed in orange.

I wanted the figure to be like our cat in a ghost costume.

Then I added the word bubble which was stamped-like on the other card.

3.

I die cut the black arch and added it to the card.I outlined it in white to looked like stitches (ok, messy stitches but stitches are stitches.) The cute little goblin (Stampotique) was stamped twice-once on the card and once on paper. On the card it was a white image and on paper, black. Then I cut out everything except the arms and legs and popped it up on the card.

The moon is a circle die cut, sprayed yellow,  a little black paint added to look like clouds, and then I added the Impression Obsession witch die cut out. Saying is Stamp Francisco.

4. Super simple stenciled background, die cut gravestone-a bit sprayed and then stamped (IMpression Obessession) and a bit of added tape.

5. And below here-

Layered cardstockwith a bit of spray, stamped skull (Inkadinkado), stamped and cut spider web cut into 2 pieces to make the banner, die cut tombstones (Sizzix/Tim Holtz) and 2 plastic spiders and a wood tombstone.

6.

For this card I started by layering some gelli printed deli wrap (say that 5 times fast-ha-ha). Then I stamped, colored and cut out this fun spooky cat (Hero Arts), and die cut the words (Tim Holtz/Sizzix). Over the words I put some black Viva paintPen and then outlined them in white.

7. I used a Sizzix Framelit die to make the base of this card, and added a Spellbinder's cut witches cauldron.

The ghost is a cut I made with my new Scan and Cut.

Silly ghost trying to scare someone.

Ha!

And I've posted these before, but just in case you missed them.

8. Love this card. I used my scan and cut to cut the web which I designed.

and

9.

and finally, making it a nice even 10

And finally, this fun batty lady from Oxford Impressions.

I am so excited it is the weekend. Didn't realize how exhausting last week was until I got home last night and collapsed. Things to deal with with National Honor Society (my extra-curricular advisoring job at school), 8th grade open house, kids needing help, grading, prepping, getting exams ready...all part of the job but sometimes, man, it is a lot.

So hope you enjoyed all these cards. Probably kind of late for any Halloween inspiration but always fun to see what other people were thinking and created right when you're feeling the most full of holiday cheer-or should I say chills and spookiness.

Thanks for visiting.

More Spooky

So yesterday was cloudy all day. Kind of a bummer but we spent the day doing some more cleaning up and organizing around the house that needed to get done. Organizing and cleaning out has become my mantra for 2013, and its great!

I also was craving pumpkin pie, so I put one of those together. You know, I never made a pumpkin pie before a couple of years ago and then I did, and boy are they pretty easy to whip together.

One of these days I might even try cooking down my own pumpkin instead of using canned pumpkin.

Plus, as bad as it may be for me, I feel like you can have a piece for breakfast and its ok on the nutrition scale.

Is that weird or what?
I must say it was NICE to have a low key but productive day hanging around the house.
Last week knocked me out, maybe because work was so busy and I was feeling pretty down from losing Emmie.
Now I am ready to have fun today.

So a few more spooky things to show you, starting with this card. I was very very naughty and bought one of Brother's new Scan and Cut machines off of Amazon when they came out 2 weeks ago. I really like it, except I think the sticky pads don't stay very sticky very long and it does take some exploration to get how it works all figured out. Not hard to use at all though, and it didn't take very long to get that down.There's a learning curve to figure out what it cuts the best though; that's probably the biggest thing I have been working on.

Not unhappy with the purchase though, and you can see this cool whole front card size spider web I designed and cut. I do love how I can take an image and save it, how I can make multiple copies of that image and how I can resize that image. 

Spider is from Sizzix.

And here's another sprayed background card. Image is stamped and cut out-its from Chocolate Baroque. The card shape was made by tracing a die cut shape onto a folded card and then hand cutting it to this final shape.

So are you doing anything exciting today?

I hope you get to make some art!!!!

Put a W in the results column

Yeah- it was very exciting at the hockey game last night- FINALLY Maine won a game in hockey east and beat Lowell-4-3. Our good old Black Bears were back and unlike the last 2 games, was a really good game to watch and get excited about. (Might be why my voice is a bit horse this morning....)

We don't have any more tickets for a month until they play Boston University in early December, but we're hoping in the 3 games they have until that they will continue to improve.

Or win!

OK, got that off my chest.

Now I can move onto something that might interest you more.

Silly cards. I made these for my college daughter back for Halloween- and I know

I am going to be totally out of the season,

Halloween seems like a long time ago to me,

but let me show these to you.

(I asked this question because my daughter, being a college student, is still taking tests.)

I like the card- stamps are from Paper Smooches (Spookalicious and He Said/She Said). I added some Viva Paint pen in red for the dripping blood off the fangs. The moon is a die-cut circle (Sizzix Framelits circle set) which is sprayed with Dylusion's yellow in and distress just a tad.

HA-HA-HA!

And then for the next silly card for the college kid:

I made the brick background using a Crafter's Worshop stencil, red, yellow, orange and brown acrylic paint and a deli wrap, and then I used black paint and the old receipt Crafter's Workshop stencil over the bricks. Some Paper Smooches stamps, same Viva Paint pen red for the blood, and then some old black sticky trim I had (I have no idea who made this).

The answer to the silly joke question

Ok, so I will never make it as a comedian, but here's one more for you to roll your eyes at.

I know, these ghosts don't have hair-

though I thought about adding some in.

This time I used the same Paper Smooches sets, and plain black background paper. I added some silver Stickles to look like stars-since ghosts do come out at night, right?

And for the answer this time-

Hope you had a little tiny laugh from these,

enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Lots of Cards!!!

Since Halloween is just about here I thought I'd better post the last of the holiday cards I made. Who wants to look at Halloween cards once we get into November? Actually, I am kind of tired of them now-lol- but I think these are pretty cute and I want to share them with you.

What a lucky kid I have who gets these sent to her at college! Ha-ha-I am such a nice mom. I don't worry about making too fancy of cards, but I like to make fun cards for her.

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Here's card my first card. I used a Provocraft embossing folder for the background-on black paper with white ink rubbed over the page. The tombstones are one of the new fall releases from Tim Holtz/Sizzix.

And then something a bit simpler. The village is from a Martha Stewart set. I added lots of silver Stickles to make the stars. The stickers are from Making Memories and you might notice the witch flying on the left hand side. I didn't color her in since I didn't want her to POP too much on the card. She is on a small Halloween cube from Northwoods Rubber stamps.

I also wanted to play with my dies and card cutting. I made 2 cards doing this. The top pumpkin is using one of Sizzix's new news. The face is Tim Holtz/Sizzix's magnetic dies. I used a Memory box spiderweb die to make the web and the Spellbinder's mini-leaves die to make those little leaves.

And here I used a Spellbinder's Tombstone Nestabilities set. I embossed the skull (Paper Artsy)...stamped on the date and the postmark using Versamark (for a watercolor effect). I doodled the spider web and added the little plastic spider. (Wish I could find more of these. Several years ago I found a big bag of these mini plastic spiders and they are great for these projects. I am getting low.)

I stamped the crow on paper and then cut it out and added it to my tombstone.

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Finally, here's a card I actually feel pretty creative making. I used the arched window dies from Memory Box. I colored the window panes and then used Crackle Glaze on them to make them look old. The skull is from October Afternoon. The spider is from the Sizzix Tim Holtz candelabra/ spider die.  The colored background is one of the pages that I mono-printed with my Gelli plate. 

So I'm writing this yesterday and we're on the hurricane watch here. Hurricane Sandy is suppose to effect us somehow tomorrow into Tuesday. Well not the actual hurricane but the rain and wind effects from it.  UNH cancelled classes for both of those days and is asking people to go home in case of the power outages they are talking about.

We shall see.

Katie is psyched though since her birthday is Tuesday and she won't have to go to classes.

Think she's going to be hanging home for a few days.

Nice little mini-vacation for her.

I don't know if we'll have any issues or school cancellations or not...I would love a day off BUT I don't want to have to make it up in June. Since who knows what we'll have for snow days this winter.

We shall just have to wait and see.

Today we're having our big birthday dinner for both Katie and Dave.

Can't believe my little girl is going to be 21-GASP!

Thanks for stopping by.

Halloween Cards Flying onto this Blog

Here's not only some Halloween cards but this week's Blogger's Challenge cards. OK, the tree is a little weird. Didn't quite emboss the way I thought. It is a stamp from Paper Artsy and I was trying to emboss several times with a few different colors to make it look really like old and ragged. But I love love love this owl stamp from Rubber Stamps of America.  And I like the way the card stock came out...I stenciled the black circle explosion on another piece of paper with black acrylic paint and then use the negative image from the stencil to make this background.  Then I brushed on some black ink.

and

These birdies are  from Inkadinkado. Silly birdies. I die cut the little card and then stamped and colored. I stenciled the card stock with black acrylic paint. I used this great black and white chevron Wash tape and a sticker on an old sheet of Hallowen stickers from Making Memories.

Pretty quick and easy.

And finally, free broom rides here. Still flying in.

This card started with orange card stock. Then is used a Crafter's Workshop stencil and some black acrylic paint.  Then I die cut the giant circle with yellow check paper and sprayed it with some yellow Dylusions spray ink.

The witch is Tim Holtz' Sizzix witch in black. So is the bat, but I dressed him up in black Stickles.

Then a bit of orange paper tape and some black Viva paint pen dots.

The saying is from Jillian Vance rubber stamps.

So had a fun day out yesterday. Picked up Katie in the morning and first we drove 2+ hours down to Mom's-visited and had lunch and this yummy restaurant near her house. Then Katie and I went off and went to Wrentham, Massachusetts to go shopping at the outlets there. It was fun and too successful, but I did get some birthday and Christmas shopping out of the way.

Love that.

 (Not that I am one of those super early shoppers- but if I can get something, then I might as well take advantage of the opportunity.)

And right now, I am watching last night's Maine/Notre Dame hockey game (in  Nebraska or Kansas or some place far far away from New England) we recorded since I wasn't home until way after the game started and after it ended...granted it is all over and in the books this morning but we've been avoiding checking on-line to see who won. So I am sitting here in my hockey shirt rubbing it for luck. GO MAINE!!!!!

OK, besides a biology geek I am a hockey geek too! Just many facets of me...ha-ha-ha.

It is very exciting  hockey season has started and in 2 weeks I am off to Providence for the first live game of the year.

Anyhow, back here at home-

Cold here in New Hampshire-had to turn on the heat is was only 63 in the house...think this will be a great inside studio day for me.

Have an excellent day!

And

Thanks for visiting.

2 spooky cards

I think this one of my favorite Halloween cards that I made this fall. Pretty simple too, though this photo really doesn't do it that much justice.

I distressed some grey cardstock and the ripped up some great Martha Stewart spider web tape which I randomly attached. Then I added a strip of spider tape-also by Martha Stewart. Using the Sizzix I diecut the opening in the card and then traced the opening on white paper and cut out the white paper just a tad bit larger than the opening. I will attached that to the inside of the card shortly. I stamped the inchie images (Inkadinkado) on acetate and colored them-don't forget, color the unstamped side. Then I glued them down on  white background paper and attached that from the inside of the card so there was a small over lap-basically, I didn't want any openings between the front and the inside of the card.

Here's another card I made that I like a lot...always trying to use up things I have or try new things. This time I distressed some orange cardstock and attached part of a piece of cut out Prima felt that I had laying around. I used orange Stickles to color in the center image and then glued down 2 little plastic spiders and a white plastic skull. Then I stamped the word Spooky (Tweety Jill). Simple, but not a bad card I think.

So it is Thursday...I am getting caught up and the stress is slowly going away-YAHOO. Hate that brain dead feeling. Dave was away last night and though I love my hubby and want him home, I enjoyed a night to myself...just what the doctor ordered for my mental sanity. Maybe today I will take a trip down to my crafts store after school, or maybe not. That's always a good stress buster good for my sanity trip too, though I shouldn't spend any more cash on craft supplies right now...I just don't really need anything. But then again...how much of my stash do I really need anyhow and how much is there because it makes me so happy and fills my time (when I have it) and breaks the stress of a long day at school...as of late?

Anyhow, thanks for stopping by.

Tomorrow we're back to the 10 things right now list-already!

More Halloween Cards and...

And today we go get Dave's new car and tomorrow we get to take it to the Cape. Yahoo!! It is a BUSY weekend but there it is, and it is what it is. I brought home way too many papers to grade but with this trip to the Cape Sunday, maybe I can look at it as grading time.

Maybe...

So here's the cards I said I'd show you.

Today we have 2 different trick or treating witches. This card above started with brown cardstock and a grey spider web I cut from a Cheery Lynn die. I also used a Sizzix die to cut the square of lined paper, and on it I stamped the witch girl (Red Lead). I colored in the eyes of the Jack-o-Lantern with a Spica pen. I also distressed the edges of the square and added the spider (Hero Arts) though I needed to draw in the web string he's hanging from. The saying is from the same Red Lead set as the girl, I just stamped it onto a Nestabilities die cut banner, which I also distressed.  Then I added the orange owl (a die cut from Cottage Cutz), and made its eyes that glow in the dark yellow. Finally, I added some black Viva dimensional dots.

 Here's a close up of the saying.

Now this card is very different, but still it is a trick or treat witch girl  I started with green cardstock and added some torn orange cardstock, and then distressed it all. I also added a pirce of orange paper going vertically down the paper and added my black Viva dimensional dots. While drying, I stamped Nether (Stampotique) on white twice and colored the images. I added Nether and then added a double face, shirt and shoes just to give it some pop-though you can't tell here. And I stamped the kitty (Stampotique) twice-once on the card and once on paper. The tail and 1 back leg are stamped on the card and not on the paper...which ocne again you can't really tell. The hat and trick-or-treat bag are from Hero Arts. The words-good question. The wild thing is an ancient stamp of mine and I stamped it onto a tag I stamped (Artistic Outpost Apothecary set) that was suppose to be used on something else but wasn't. I added the Happy Haunting (Hero Arts) just because it seemed to belong there.

So there you have it, 2 very different witches going out for Candy. Which on would you prefer to ring your doorbell?

Oh yes, and today is my 23rd wedding anniversary.

And it falls on a Saturday just like the day we got married. We had a beautiful fall wedding-very New England country in an old farmhouse resaurant with the prime rib roasting on the fireplace and leaves drifting down on a mostly sunny day.

Hard to believe it has been that long when I can remember it so clearly...

I was 28 then...

And now...

We just won't discuss that right now.

Thanks for the visit.

Enjoy your weekend.

Monday's Cards

It is a SPIDER day. Since card 2 depends on card 1 I will show you both of them.

I decided I wanted to make a few more Halloween cards but was sick of using black, grey and orange. So teal blue was my choice, why not?

I used this great black printed paper (Making Memories) and set it off center. Why not?

I used some sheer brown trim with white polka dots and a piece of the cardstock I had trimmed off when making the card. They were just what the card needed to finish it off. Then I die cut the spider (Sizzix) in brown and attached her. I think she's a scary spider...part of a great set of 3 dies on the Sizzix Outlet. I added some hand drawn eyes and then some white dimensional paint (Ranger) as the web. The boo is cut from a piece of orange cardstock I embossed with a new Tim Holtz Sizzix Halloween die. I actually embossed, cut out the boo, sanded it and rubbed black Memories Ink over the word. Finally, I added 3 Viva black dimensional dots.

Now on this card I used tan cardstock for the background and took the empty sheet with that I die cut the spider from and then stenciled the spider in brown.  I drew on the black scalloped edging and colored it in with black Sharpie . The barette girl is from Stampotique...I thought she looked  just enough the kind of girl to love spiders without being too obvious. So I stamped her twice, once on the card and once on white paper. I cut out her face, her dress and the shoes from the white paper and glue them over the corresponding parts on the stamped card image. I colored in her legs and arms  and darkened her hair on the card image, but she goes all together just well. I colord her outfit with Copics and drew in the little web design on her outfit. Maybe she needs a few more?

Well, maybe not.

Finally I stamped the words-this girl just loves her spiders. The words are from an ancient stamp set that was designed by Elsie Flanigan...what was her stuff called? Looked it up, called Love Elsie by KI Memories. This was from a doggie set.

Anyhow, that is my art for today....

thanks for visiting.

I appreciate you stopping by.

More Halloween Cards

In order to celebrate the fact that I am working on my 31st Halloween card-nearing the end of my goal to make 31 Halloween cards- let me show you a few.

At least one or two.

Here's a simple basic card that I am HAPPY about.  Grey coordinations card stock that is slightly distressed with sandpaper and the edge is trimmed with some deckle scissors.  I then attached a frame by Cottage Cutz. The frame was cut on planbe orange paper but I colored in the top spier with brown Copics.

Then I stamped the 2 jack-o-lanterns from Hero Arts on the same orange paper, but I took a darker orange Copic and did a bit of coloring and outlining to give these pumpkins some depth. I also used a black Spica marker to add a bit of sparkle to the black triangular faces.

I attached them and then stamped the witch's hat (Martha Stewart) in black on paper, cut it out and popped it on the tall pumpkin.

I put some tiny silver Stickle dots along the top of the paper to look kind of like stars. Once dry, I stamped a trick or treat saying on white and cut it out and then glued it down. Finally, I added some black fuzzy trim (What do you call that stuff? Garland?)

As you might be able to see, I am trying out diferent lay outs and designs and techniques on my cards. For this card I stamped the background word saying (Impression Obsessions) with Versamark and black embossed it. Then I punched a giant 3 inch circle on some light yellow speckley paper and using an ochre ink pad I turned it into the moon. I also used another IO backgrounder-the new release with pine trees (I love this stamp and have used it a lot for various things). I wish the trees had stamped darker and more visable on the grey card, but they are there enough.  I stamped the bat (Hero Arts) on white and colored him in. Although it doesn't show here, I used a Sakura glitter pen to outline the black swirls on the wings. Then I cut him out and glue him down on the moon. Finally I added the eeek word (an old Wordsworth mini stamp) and added some black swirly tape- trim. This bat makes me laugh-and I will say I am quite happy with how it looks on the moon.

In fact I am having so much fun making these cards...I may continue after I finish this last card ...or maybe I will make another Halloween project. I have a few ideas there...just don't know what really tickles my fancy.

What tickles yours?



October 2- a cloudy Sunday

Yesterday was a dark and wet day. Good day for a long nap on the couch...which I did after my BIG lunch with my friend Vicky...we went to a local fried seafood place  and I finally had some fried clams AND a big piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream-mmmmm-haven't had pumpkin pie since the holidays last winter and it was SOOOO tasty...oumpkin pie is such a fall taste-it wouldn't be anywhere near as good during the spring or summer. And since it is now fall...with all the rain the leaves are coming down...I don't think the color this year is going to be very fantastic...things seem to be yellow and falling. No spectacular colors yet at least.

This photo is from a couple of weeks ago...a lone pretty leaf...actually I quite like the contrast of the single leaf on the very textural but neutral pavement.

I'm still enjoying this dark weekend...relaxing...but still mildly productive...just what I need right now to recharge my soul and my brain. My only goal is to finish reading my Sookie Stackhouse short story- 100 pages you'd think I'd have been able to finish it over the past week but I didn't. Time to move on to another book so it is time to finish reading.

So been thinking about my February vacation...have any of you ever been to New Mexico? I want to go southwest (since Europe is out of the budget right now...I can fly 2 of us roundtrip to the west for the cost of  1 of us to Europe...at least) and want to go someplace new...another state to cross off the list....but we will see.  I really financially should just sit home...but nah...that sounds so unappealing to me.

So time for some Halloween!!!!!

I'm up to 21 cards....having so much fun playing with my Halloween bin of stamps...I use them only for short period of time each year so when I pull them out it is so much like getting a bunch of ner stamps.

So this is a good warning for the up-coming season. I used a brown card but layered a grey piece of cardstock on the right. I used the same make of cardstock (Coordinations) so they would match and be the same weight. I stamped the spider webs on 3 of the corners (Character Constructions) with black ink. I stamped the dancing skeleton (might be Stamp Francisco...it's a stamp I got in a set on eBay a long time ago) in white Memories pigment ink-love this brand for white ink...I've had this pad for like 10 years and it is still going strong. The 3 spiders are all from Martha Stewart, and are black embossed...The hanging spider I drew in the piece of webbing.  Then I stamped the word (Martha Stewart) in Versamark and I LOVE how it embossed. I started by shaking on just a bit of black embossing powder on the top and then added the red glitter powder on the bottom.I love the 2 color look.

So here's the card I made from the other half of the cardstock I used above (cutting a 12x12 sheet). Anyhow, I started by stamping the owl image (Northwoods) in black in on white paper and colored it with markers. Then I embossed some acetate with Tim Holtz/Sizzix's spider web embossing folder. I cut out the acetate just to the size of the owl image and attached the 2.  Before I attached the image I brushed a bit of black ink on the cardstcok. Once attached, I added the spooky word (Close to the Heart) and then I cut out the saying from a new Memory Box stamp and cut the saying into individual words. I actually stamped the words in white paper which I grungily colored with yellow markers and distressed with a tad of ochre colored ink.  Finally I glued down some back oak leaves-these are from a pack of Martha Stewart confetti I bought a few years back.

So here's the Memory Box stamp I used for the yellow saying on the owl card:

 

These are great phrases I think. I used the spooky forests saying on the card I showed you yesterday with the howling wolf. I just stamped the whole set (since it is a single woodblock stamp) and cut out the sayings I want. Love it.

Thanks for visiting!

And Happy Sunday.