Bitty Bat Punch Halloween Card

Here is a fun card I made at our last DIVA Day! Our theme was "Halloween." It was a fun time and there were SO many fun Halloween cards to be made! I loved making every one them. Each unique in it's own way and all of them were just FABULOUS!

This card was made by Amy. First of all I LOVE the colors here. And the striped paper the pumpkin was punched out of is just perfect! It is from the Designers pack. It's such a bargain pack of papers. I have them in all the color groups and I LOVE it. I have some designer paper for every color of card stock I want to use! I never thought to use it with the dies! Such a great idea Amy!

The bats were punched out using the new "Bitty Bat" punch. It's one of those punches I'm SO glad I bought. I have used it a lot and I think it's just too stinkin' cute!

The center of the bats is a black rhinestone. Something I did not order but have had the opportunity to play with it on a few cards.

This was a very fun card to make and such a perfect Halloween card. Not too scary for the kiddies!

Thank you Amy for the fabulous card!

And thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Fast & Fabulous Get Well Card

It is just that! Fast and Fabulous!!! This was a very quick and easy card to make. And it's a perfect example of not paying attention to detail! If you didn't catch it I will point it out to you. See the oval with the "Teeny Tiny Wishes" get well wording. Notice anything there? I used white card stock instead of vanilla. DUH! So I'm going to have to try to remove the white and replace it with vanilla. I don't think I should have any trouble removing it, a piece of dental floss slid underneath it should do the trick!

I SO love using embossing folders and this new "Vintage Wallpaper" is SO pretty! I embossed a piece of Marina Mist card stock. Yes, I know I used Marina Mist on yesterday's post. I do believe this is my favorite color!!

I layered my embossed piece on top of a half sheet of Basic Black card stock.

Next I measured the block on my paper cutter and cut a piece of Very Vanilla to that size. I stamped the image using Black StazOn.

Then I got out my Stamp-a-ma-jig to help me line up the colored part of the image. It's a little off but I don't think it's one of those images that you can get perfect. I LOVE that because it gives you a little wiggle room to NOT be a perfectionist!

I sponged the edges and taped the piece on top of a piece of Basic Black card stock.

I stamped my words (on white card stock) and punched out my ovals. I set them in place using Dimensionals.

That was it. A very quick yet elegant looking card. This card would also be great as a birthday card, a thinking of you card and a sympathy card. Very versatile, which is what I love in a stamp set!

Thank you for visiting today,
Wanda

Wednesday Sketch Challenge Aviary Get Well Card

Yup, it's Wednesday's Sketch Challenge time again. I SO look forward to the sketch challenges. And this one was worth waiting for. It has lots of layers. Something I just LOVE!!! I try to make my cards fairly simple because I know a lot of you like to reproduce them for yourself or for swaps and Stamp-a-Stacks. But once a week I let my hair down and play with these fun sketches and the more layers the better!!!

For today's card I used the Stampin' Up! "Aviary" set. A fun little set I don't use enough! I have found myself in need of three get well cards and you know me, I don't like to take one out of my sample drawer. I would prefer to make a fresh one! And no, I didn't make three of the same card. Even though none of them live or even know each other to compair cards!!!

Anyway, back to my card. I used Basic Black for the base of the card. I then layered it with a piece of Marina Mist that I textured using the Square Lattice embossing folder.

Next I cut the two strips, pieces 2 & 3. I used the Marina Mist decorative paper from the Subtles package. I'm having a lot of fun with those papers. It's SO great to know you have decorative paper in any color you want to use.

Then I stamped the bird cage using Black StazOn. I stamped the owl using Marina Mist and I sponged the edges with Marina Mist.

I added the "get well wishes" words in the "Optional" spot. I love that "Teeny Tiny Wishes" set. It's got pretty much every occasion covered in it. That little space at the bottom did scream for something and those ovals were perfect for it! I attached a piece of the new 1/8" thin Marina Mist Taffeta ribbon. It's my first spool of that new ribbon. I'd like to get more colors in it and will do it a little at a time. Oh, I almost forgot. I did attach the ovals with Dimensionals.

Now I have one get well card and hopefully I can get it sighed and addressed and out in the mail in time!!!

SO, if you have some time, play with this card layout. You can go to SplitCoastStampers and print out the sketch. I print them out every week and keep them in an album. They print out the exact size of a card. I usually just hold my card stock up to the layers and mark them with my fingernail and head on over to the paper cutter to cut the pieces out. It's easier than using a ruler and quicker too!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Bitty Bat Punch Weekend Project

I was playing around with those cute Ghost Peeps today. I needed to make a couple of gifty type centerpieces. They had to have a Halloween theme and they also had to be small. And this is what I came up with! Click on the photo for a closer view.

I took a couple of small votive cups and tied a ribbon around them. Then I filled them with the candy corns.

Next I opened the package of Ghost Peeps and took them apart. I was not aware that they were stuck together. I'm not a Peeps fan so I don't usually buy these. I like the looks of them just not the taste/texture! Once I got them apart I inserted a sucker stick up the bottom middle of each one. I then put the ghost inside a food safe plastic bag and closed it with a bread twistie thing. Is there a name for those things?

I stuck them in the votive cup.

Then I punched out some bats. I cut some wire and wound it around a small dowel rod. I left about 3 to 4 inches of wire straight on both ends. On one end I attached the bat. You need to punch out two bats and sandwich the wire between them. Then I glued them together. When the glue set up I stuck them in the votive cups along with the ghosts. That is all there was to making these. Aren't they adorable? I may have to give this a try at Christmas time. I LOVE the looks of those Peeps too! They're just fun to play with!

This was a fun and quick project to do!! Gotta LOVE that!!!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Wicked Cool Halloween Card

Here is another card from our last DIVA day event and Shoe Box Swap.

This card was made by our great leader Sue! I thought this witch hat was adorable and those shoes.... well, they're cute but not my style. No matter what you've heard from others!!! LOL

Sue used the new large circle scallop to make the jagged edge circle. It's easy to do too! Just punch out one. Next put that piece on top of a piece of copier paper. I little dot of tape is needed to hold it in place. Line up the pointed parts of the scallop on the punch to be in the center of the scallop you have punched out. Punch it out and you have a very jagged edge. A new look for your cards! Isn't it cool?

The green background was done using the new Spider Web embossing folder. It's such a cute background!

Around the image you can see three black dots. Those are the new black rhinestones. I didn't purchase those. The budget can only go so far and it just wasn't in my budget this time to get them. But I was glad Sue used them on this card so I could at least play with them! They are very stunning in person!

You can also see the new Concord Crush ribbon. It's so pretty and is a nice touch on this card.

The hat was stamped and then cut out by hand. It was set in place on the card using Dimensionals. A must for every stamper!!! I LOVE those things!

I thought it was an adorable Halloween card. Not too spooky to give to those who may not care for scary cards!

Thank you Sue for letting me post your card on my blog!

And thank you for visiting today,
Wanda

Long Fellows Turtle Birthday Card

This turtle is just TOO darn cute. I had stamped a few images from it last month using Sharon's set. The images are still on my worktable. Sometimes I get around to playing with them! Today was one of those days.

I used a cute Cuttlebug texture for the background. I cut it into panels and layered them on the Garden Green card stock. I thought this texture had a "turtlely" look to it!

I colored the turtle in using a variety of green markers.

Under the turtle layer I tied a piece of 1/4" white grosgrain ribbon. I wanted to keep the card simple looking but yet give it a bit of texture and dimension.

Thank you Sharon for letting me make a few images from your adorable set!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Candy Cane Christmas Fabric From Rags to Riches!

Here is a snowman that my friend Peggy gave me last year. I hope it was last year and not two years ago! I can't keep track of things anymore!! Anyway, she had giving me this snowman because she new how much I love them. It needed some work and she figured I could dress it up. It ended up in the garage and after we got some FABULOUS shelving built in there we ran across "stuff" we forgot about! And of course this was one of those things that hubby thought should be tossed because of how it looked. I'm trying NOT to be such a hoarder but I told him I wasn't going to give it up. I told him the plans I had for it. Now to have plans and to actually carry them out are two different things. SO realizing that I took the snowman in my workroom and began to dress him up.

Now why is it the buttons just fall off but when you try to remove them it's such an effort??? I couldn't believe how tight those remaining buttons were stuck on! I did get them off with out ruining the paint job. I removed the scarf and began to dress him up.

I got out my "Candy Cane" buttons and laid them on top of the snowman. I liked the colors I picked and knew t he "Candy Cane Christmas" fabric would be so cute on him. I glued the buttons in place with Crystal Effects. Wonderful stuff!

I cut a couple of strips of the "Candy Cane Christmas" fabric. I tied them around his neck.

I was debating whether or not to remove the fuzzy yarn wrapped around the hat. And as you can see I left it. I just added some greens and red beads for berries. It was enough to dress it up.

For his nose I used an orange brad. I poked the wood with my piercing tool just enough so I could push the brad in and it would stay. The brad was just the perfect size for this guys face!

Here is the after photo. Isn't he cute? Click on the photos for a

closer view. The buttons were covered by the scarf but they are there and they are adorable!

Thank you Peggy for this cute snowman!

And thank you for visiting today,
Wanda

Bells & Boughs Christmas Card

I was looking at my new "Bells & Boughs" set and thinking how pretty that bell is. I was wondering what layout to use with it. I wanted to use some of the new "Deck the Halls" decorative paper with it too. SO I headed over to my cutting station and cut a piece of Always Artichoke card stock and went from there.

I chose the Always Artichoke card stock because I thought it matched the decorative paper the best.

I stamped the image on a piece of Very Vanilla card stock and colored it in with markers and a blender pen. When I got to the ribbon I was a bit stumped as to what color to use on it. I was leaning towards red but I thought the berries in the holly would get lost. SO I went with my favorite color Marina Mist. And as I was putting the card together I realized I had not used the Marina Mist anywhere else on the card and I needed to have it on there somewhere to tie the colors together.

I ended up getting out the new buttons from the Winter Mini catalog. I had purchased the "Candy Cane" package and it contains the blue buttons!!! Lucky me!!!

I used the new crochet trim "Victoria" ribbon on my card. I LOVE that stuff. You can always tie a nice bow with it. The "fabric" doesn't slip or slide while you are tying it. I LOVE that!

I like how this card turned out. It's not one I'll make for our Christmas card. Usually by now I have our cards all cut out and in the process of making but not this year. I have a feeling I'm not going to be getting them out by the first of December this year! Oh well, I do know I will get them out!

SO this is my card for today. I want to play with this set more. It's got lots of possibilities.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow. I have a very fun project that I'm excited about!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Lattice Die Notebook Weekend Project

I just thought I would whip up a little notebook here. I had the paper punched a while ago and found it in a stack of papers I was going through. It's retired Lovely Lilac I believe. Or is it Lavender Lace? I always got those two names mixed up.

Anyway, I put the notebook together and was looking at it and wondering what to put on the front of it. I had ran across an envelope with a few of these dies cut out so I thought I'd put one on the cover and make it a quick project!

I used a custom made "notes" stamp and stamped it on Whisper White card stock. I layered it with more of the colored card stock and a scalloped oval of Basic Black.

Just a simple easy peasy notebook!. There's nothing on here that would get hung up in a purse or satchel. The "notes" is just taped down without any Dimensionals. I would normally have used them but not on notebooks. They don't last long on them if they are put in a purse. I like to keep the covers as flat as possible.

I'm hoping that I don't run across any more retired papers. It's tough to do anything with them if you don't have all the inks or accent papers to go with them!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

A Cardinal Christmas Wednesday Sketch Challenge Card

This is the card I made for this weeks Sketch Challenge.

I love how the details are etched into the image. All you have to do is color directly from the marker. No blender pens at all. I used the Cherry Cobbler marker on the cardinal. It looks like I blended the colors. But nope, the image is made so it looks like that when you are done! I just LOVE that!!!

And when you can color like that it doesn't take long to make a card.

I added a bow and some punched out branches. At the stem of the branches I added some of those fun pearls too!

The background paper is from the "Deck the Halls" package. I thought it would go well with this bird and it sure did!

If I could get my hands on 50 sheets of that paper I would use this for our Christmas cards. Minus the bow of course. I'd just use a piece of ribbon and tie a knot. One knot seems to get through the postal machines. But I don't think I want to purchase 25 packages of that paper to make my card so I'm still on the quest for this years Christmas card. I'd better decide on something soon. My time is filling up with other activities and projects. And it won't be long and December will be here! Sorry but you had to be told!!! LOL

If you have time play with this sketch. See what images you have that fit in the #3 space. These sketches are really not that difficult to do. I think the most difficult part of it is finding the image you want to use. I print out the sketch. Then I open up my catalog and set the printout over the image ti see if it fits and if it does then it's on my list of ones to pick from. Sometimes I'm lucky to take the first one I find because I see the finished card in my head.

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Elements of Style Meets Symbols of Solicitude

WOW! It's been a while since I've done my "Julia/Julie" challenge. You can read more about that by clicking here.

The set in question here is the retired "Symbols of Solicitude." I wanted to catalog a current set and found I have no room for it. I remembered I had started going through my stamp sets and was going to make a card with it and then sell the set. I didn't plan to do this in a year like Julie did in the movie by going through the "Joy of Cooking" cookbook. My plan is to go through my retired stamp sets and sell them to make room for the stacks of new and other current ones I have. I need to get more organized. It's not working though. I have too many cards I want to make from other sets and lets not leave out the forgetful part either. I totally forgot I was challenging myself here! SO on with the challenge.

I made this card using the current "Elements of Style" set. I used the "Direct to Rubber" technique. I colored directly on the rubber with markers. Because it was such a big image and it took a little while to color it all in, I huffed on it before I stamped it to remoisten the ink. The image stamped perfectly. I LOVE how the colors turned out. And this image fit the "Symbols of Solicitude" set perfectly!

When I looked at the stamp set the "friendship" image was the only one I ever used from that set. So sad!

My card stock color is Regal Rose but it came out looking like Cameo Coral! Must have been the flash on the camera bouncing back. I need to try to take my pictures with the Ott light and see if that makes a difference. Maybe they should make Ott light flashes on the cameras!!!

The black dots on the edges are 1/4" round pieces of Basic Black card stock. I punched them out and glued them in place. Those edges needed something and that is what I came up with!

It was a fun card to make and it was quick too. Coloring on the rubber does take a little bit of time but this card was done in less than 20 minutes! I consider those "quick cards." If you check the side bar and scroll down you will find a label with lots of cards you can make in 20 minutes or less!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Just Believe Thank You Card

I really LOVE this "Just Believe" set. I love the images in it and also that it is a very versatile set. I can see myself using this set for birthday cards, thinking of you cards, get well cards and even a sympathy card. I think I could even work this up into a masculine card too!

This time I used it to make a thank you card. It was a very simple and quick card to put together too. I used the decorative paper from the "Brights" pack. The base of the card is Wild Wasabi as are the layers. I stamped my image on Whisper White card stock. I used the direct to rubber technique for the image. I colored in the flowers with Melon Mambo and the leafy parts with Wild Wasabi. I find I'm using Wild Wasabi more now than I did when it first came out. I guess it just took that long to grow on me!! LOL

I liked making this card because it was very simple to do and quick. And I do like using the direct to rubber technique, it's a fun way to get a lot of color on your image!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Baby Bundle Baby Card

This is the card that Nancy made for our Shoe Box Swap. The image is from the "Baby Bundle" set. Just too cute isn't it?

If you look closely you can see the tiny pearl on the top part of the carriage.

The ribbon used here is the new "Crochet Trim" 5/8" lace. It's SO pretty and being it's 100% cotton you can die it with your ink pad or inkers. Here is wasn't dyed. It is in it's "natural" state! I have used this ribbon on several cards and projects. I'm adding it to a fun project I will be showing you in a few days. Or sooner if I get my other work done first!

This is an adorable card and I thank you Nancy for allowing me to show it on my web site.

Thank you SO much for visiting my web site today,
Wanda

Birthday Bakery Birthday Card

I thought it was time to put together the "Birthday Bakery" level one hostess set. I thought the cakes all in a row are just TOO darn cute. The set has wording with it but I just wanted a simple "happy birthday. Those words came from the "Teeny Tiny Wishes" set.

The background paper is from the "Subtles" decorative paper pack. Those packs of papers are wonderful to have. It's great to have every color of papers so you can whip up a quick card in no time. And the color of the papers along with the wonderful designs allows you to make a nice looking card too. Plus it doesn't look like you just "whipped" up a card!

The base of my card is Basic Black. On top of that is a piece of Pretty in Pink. The decorative paper is layered on top of that and then the smaller layers.

For the cakes layer I just take the whole wooden block to the paper cutter and I cut the paper to that size. The layers are only 1/8th inch bigger than the previous layer. I just like a sliver of color behind the layers.

Now here is one thing to remember when making your cards. Once the card is done DO NOT set it next to your stamp scrubber and proceed to clean a stamp. I got some splatters on this card. Try not to look too closely at it but that one BIG dot to the left is very visible! I usually slip my cards into a clear sleeve for safe keeping. But this time I decided to clean up after stamping. See what happens when you clean up??? That is why my workroom is so messy. I shouldn't clean up after stamping because accidents could happen! I think I like that story. I may have to use it a few times! LOL

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda