Blog Hop: Pumpkin Style!

Wow, another month down...
Anyone else dragging today with post-Halloween-wipeout? I am just so utterly exhausted, lol... and maybe too much junk food...definitely not enough real food... annnyway, my Halloween can be summarized with these two frames:

Charlie Brown, a pumpkin and "Hermione from the third{Harry Potter} movie"...
annnd a Harry Potter themed party!

(inspiration & sources found all over Pinterest...I have a Harry Potter board...)

So today is November and temperatures are supposed to start dropping! Fortunately for you, a new month means a new blog hop, bursting with inspiration! Just in case you have enough energy to stamp today! Or later this week works too!

Today, I have a stepped up thank you card, which, of course everyone needs in November! I love the idea of sending a thank you card each day, tho I haven't ever pulled it off... If nothing else, you'll want a sweet way to thank whoever hosts your Thanksgiving dinner, or if you're hosting, then whoever helps your Thanksgiving dinner! This one is perfectly autumnal!

The inspiration came from HERE, and actually, I used the stamped version at my card class last month! 

Supplies:

Stamps: Swirly Bird, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Pear Pizazz

Paper: Pumpkin Pie & Whisper White card stock, Color Theory DP

Accessories: Old Olive Mini Chevron Ribbon

And for my stepped up version, I definitely stuck closer to the inspiration, and I used the same supplies except the dies instead of the stamps. Super easy!

(I just forgot to stamp a greeting on the front til I went to photo it, ha!)

Supplies:

Stamps: none

Ink: none

Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pizazz & Whisper White card stock, Color Theory DP

Accessories: Old Olive Mini Chevron Ribbon, Big Shot, Swirly Scribbles Dies, Fine Tip Glue Pen

Both are quick little cards you can whip up ahead of time! 

Now you can hop on over to Cheryl's blog and see what she's shared to get your creative juices flowing! Then continue thru the hop and be sure and leave all of us your thoughts! We all love comments on our work! 

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!

Cards In The Mail

Well since I am furiously working on swaps to get them in the mail already, it must be high time to share the latest several *I have gotten in the mail!

 

A Summer Project

We're so far back in to school, I've almost forgotten summer...! However, there was a creative project going on that definitely needs to be shared here.

Last summer was a weird one...we moved in with my parents while building our new house, I was working three days a week and I was very pregnant. The kids didn't do many things that we typically would have done. There was way, way too much screen time, and I didn't want to do that again this year. This year, the kids did have a lot more to keep them busy, most days, but at least one day a week, I planned to go to my parents. The intent was to get things done for and with my mom. I knew the big kids could and would have to help with the baby, but I didn't want her nap time (and when the other kid was babysitting) to be screen time, the entire day again.
Just before school got out, my son was was complaining letting me know that I am so far behind on their scrapbooks. I mean, he is absolutely right, I am extremely far behind on scrapbooks. I think my daughter has one Christmas scrapped, ever. No one has to tell me this piece of information, haha...... But I really CAN'T fix it right now. I have too many other things to do and this is just not the season of life I can possibly pay attention to scrapbooks. Sorry not sorry...
Well, my wonderful husband put the two "problems" together for one happy solution- on the day we went to my parents, the kids were supposed to take their own scrapbook project with them to work on! Less screen time AND pages done. BAM. haha.

The kids started off SO excited! I taught them the basics that I would teach in a scrapbook class, showed them everything they were allowed to use, taught them how to choose colors, what to look for in choosing embellishments, the importance of journaling...everything. And even tho I hate to give up "control" of their books, haha, I was excited to see how they would do on their own, and what would get accomplished.
I started off getting a picture of them with their pages, but that didn't last long... 

And they didn't get a page done every week like they were "supposed to". Some weeks we were too busy, some weeks they were gone! (scout camp, etc...) And some weeks they just didn't want to do it and they didn't. But over the course of the summer, they got pictures out of their shoeboxes and on to some pages and that makes me happy. 

I think it makes them happy too.

It was really interesting to me to see their different styles.

My son usually enjoyed using stamps, but didn't want embellishments that make his pages "too crowded". 

This section are his pages:

  I have no idea what made them pick the colors they picked.

My daughter started off loving embellishments, and avoiding stamps as much as possible. She prefers the "doodling" method. 

Her pages are below. 

The only critique I gave was this. One of the things I've been doing at my mom's is scanning in old photos, and then labeling the scan with names and dates, so that future generations know who on earth is in the photo and why we care. I have literally spent days glued to the computer working on this project, which is a little frustrating when there is no information. I reminded my daughter that she needed journaling on her page, even just names. She insisted she already knew who was in the pictures, so it was fine.
Are.
You.
Kidding.
Me??
Soo after her masterpieces were complete, she had to "ruin" it with words that she hadn't planned on. silly girl.

I also thought it was cute that three different times, her whole page comes down to "I {heart} my family!"

They each have a shoe box of photos, separated by event, as close to "in chronological order" as possible. My son would grab a random section of photos from his box, and my daughter went in order.

I also thought it was interesting that I had printed *my favorite shots of each event, and more often than not they didn't use all the pictures I had. Lots of suddenly-considered-extra photos went into albums over the summer too!

Honestly, I'd love it if this became a Sunday thing for them, during the school year. I really honestly don't have time to scrapbook and we just keep living life and taking more pictures so it feels a little bit like I will never, ever, ever catch up, haha... But, I'm not going to push it so much during the school year either. Maybe next summer. 

Blog Hop: Step It Over Style!

Another month has zoomed on by!
Although, as busy as I was, in some ways August just. kept. going.
My big kids started school and marching band and swim team and soccer...! And the preparing for all of these things and all the other stuff that happens...in some ways I'm looking forward to September to at the very least, get used to all the things. Autumn is my very favorite time of year, plus it might cool off soon!!
Today is also my wedding anniversary!

But YOU are here for the blog hop, so lets dive in to that!

Today I chose to go with a "stepped over" project. I used the same package of DP, the same stamp set and dies, just mixed up the colors and the actual stamps. I used the same sketch, from the Freshly Made Sketches blog. I even have a favorite between the two..!

First up, this pink flower card. 

Supplies:
Stamps: Jar of Love
Ink: Powder Pink, Flirty Flamingo, Old Olive, Soft Sky, Black
Paper: Powder Pink, Flirty Flamingo, Whisper White card stocks, Delightful Daisy DP
Accessories: Big Shot, Everyday Jars Framelits, Dimensionals

And then a fun firefly card! I have wanted to make a firefly card since this set was first released and all over Pinterest, so it was about time!

Supplies:
Stamps: Jar of Love
Ink: Black, Daffodil Delight
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy & Whisper White card stocks, Delightful Daisy DP
Accessories: Big Shot, Everyday Jars Framelits, Dimensionals

I love how easy it is to take the same supplies and mix it up to create something completely different! I've said it before- but this is exactly why I love sketches!

Let me know which card is YOUR favorite, and hop on thru to see everyone's creations! 

We're a little short today, including a blogger skipping out because she is busy dealing with a hurricane... So it won't take you long, and we all love feedback on our work!

Thanks for stopping by!