Cards in the Mail - Halloween!

I better get this post live, just in case you are looking for some Halloween inspiration! My grandmother, great-aunt, and now my mom mail Halloween cards. Personally, I sometimes stick a Halloween card in my kids' lunchboxes, but that's it. Still, they're pretty cute, and definitely fun, and I got a few of them as swaps this year!

If you missed this amazing card Kris shared in a recent blog hop (and swap!) check out her post HERE. She shares all the details to make this easel card!

 

 And this is the inside of Julie's card, making perfect use of the punched out cat!

How about you? Do you mail out Halloween greetings?

Purple Autumn Trees

Hello again!
Late post today but this one is short and sweet. Card #4 from my latest class was also short and sweet!
I am really loving Fresh Fig! I think it lent itself very well to this autumny card. I also discovered today how I'm going to incorporate Fresh Fig into Christmas cards, so that's exciting, haha!
This card was so simple- we stamped the background and the tree using Sahara Sand ink, then sponged the Fresh Fig leaves! Couldn't be quicker!
There absolutely are purple trees- I call them apartment cherry trees. I swear every apartment complex I have lived in has them. The cherries are no good, only good for staining everything they come in contact with... And the leaves are purple. That's what I thought of when I gave this a try. It is also not a 'thank you' card, the way I'd planned the class, but this phrase works so nicely on the card that everyone went ahead and used it too!

Supplies:
Stamps: Hardwood, Lovely As a Tree, Thoughts & Prayers
Ink: Sahara Sand, Fresh Fig
Paper: Sahara Sand, Fresh Fig, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Fresh Fig ribbon, Stamping Sponges

Spotlight Watercolor

My class was last weekend and I wasn't kidding- I missed doing classes SO much!! It was such a fun night with friends! I've already shared two of the five cards we made, and here is number three!

I love this wishing well! I love it! It just turned out that it is a little tedious to color... and you never know what other people think... I thought for a long time how I could use it in a class, and I've pinned dozens of ideas and then for no reason at all I remembered an old technique- Spotlighting! I didn't find any examples of it, but this is how I did it:
First, I decided on the Viva la Verve sketch HERE. We stamped the well on Whisper White card stock in it's entirety. Then we stamped the well on a square of Shimmery White card stock (which I put on an angle) and you just color the part that you got! So quick and easy! And it was fun to show off the Watercolor Pencils!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bright Wishes
Ink: Archival Black, Calypso Coral
Paper: Calypso Coral, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Shimmery White card stocks, Delightful Daisy DP
Accessories: Calypso Coral Ombre Ribbon, Watercolor Pencils, watercolor brush

My swap!

I mentioned the other day that I was working on my latest swap. Autumn is my very favorite season, so I wanted an autumny card.

I went to Pinterest for some inspiration, which I found right HERE. Yep, my card is a pretty close CASE. And that's okay!

Supplies:
Stamps: Colorful Seasons
Ink: Cajun Craze, Old Olive
Paper: Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze card stocks, Delightful Daisy DP, Copper Foil DP
Accessories: Big Shot, Woodland Embossing Folder, Seasonal Layers Dies, Glitter Enamel Dots, Aquapainter

Maybe this angle shows the shine of the copper better? differently? haha...
Not only is this my swap, it's also going to be part of my upcoming class! I really am so excited to get back into classes! Let me know if you plan to come!

Stampin' Up! News!

Stampin' Up! Has more than one fun promotion going on right now! 

1. World Card Making Day! This is usually the first Saturday of October, but we are celebrating til the 10th! Until October 10th, you can get 15% off of 12 different stamp sets, and 15% off of the Notecards & Envelopes (found on page 195). Also- if you order a Fast Fuse Adhesive, you'll get TWO refills for free! View the choices HERE.

2. Sale on Designer Series Paper! Until October 31, when you buy three packages of select DP, you'll get a third FREE! View the choices HERE.  

3. A Hostess Freebie! If you hold a $300 workshop, or place an order of $300 or more before Oct 31, you'll get an exclusive Christmas stamp set FREE! 

4. Paper Pumpkin! If you're already a subscriber, you probably know that the October and November kits will coordinate. I don't know what that means yet (part of the surprise!) but it says you'll "have everything you need to create holiday gifts and cards"! If you're interested in this, and not yet a subscriber, make sure you join before October 10th!

  

And, don't forget the Holiday Mini! If you didn't get one in the mail, I have it posted on my blog's sidebar. There are some super cute and fun products you won't want to miss out on!

Blog Hop: Paper Pumpkin Stepped Up!

Happy October 1st to you! A new month always means a new blog hop around here!
You may have noticed there was not a lot of stamping in September. Hardly any. None...? I did three posts and two weren't my own work and the first was done in August! Yikes! Don't get me wrong, I was super busy with plenty of other things...but I have high hopes for more stamping to come very soon!

I haven't got to play with my last few Paper Pumpkin kits, and I thought that was a good place to start for this hop! This is the latest Paper Pumpkin kit, and the refill kit is available to subscribers HERE. (Refill kits don't include stamps or inks, just the papers and embellishments to create more of the kit)

First up, I made the projects as they're designed:

Eight mini cards like this.

And eight cute pillow boxes like this!

And here they are together.
I would like to point out they provide 18 total of each style of leaf, tho the colors do vary. The kit is designed for 16 projects but there are already supplies for extra! I love that!

And then, I used the latest Freshly Made sketch to design my own card with the same supplies! 

I used the different greeting (now you've seen all three) and the little leaf stamp(which I didn't use on the die cut leaves...) and added the exact leaf bundle from the pillow box above on this card. I turned the greeting tag the other way and that's really it! I also put it on a Crushed Curry base, rather than the Soft Suede. 

Sooo now that I look at it, maybe my card isn't stepped UP, but it is a different way of using the Paper Pumpkin kit! And you know what else? It took me exactly one hour to make all three cards, including looking for a sketch to utilize for my own card, and settling on the card stock base! That's not bad all!  

Anyway, continue on with our October blog hop by clicking the hand below and moving on to see what Cheryl created! And please leave us your thoughts- we all love comments! 

If you'd like to see the instructional video on this Paper Pumpkin kit, and a few more ideas, check this post out HERE.
There are so many ways to use these fun kits and I really hope to get them pulled out and used up soon! You can always sign up to get the monthly kit sent straight to your door every month! I definitely enjoy the cute projects! Just click the Pumpkin icon on my sidebar if you'd like to sign up with me as your demonstrator! It's that easy!