Halloween Wishes

Waltzingmouse sketch challenge blog's offering for this week caught my eye. http://waltzingmousesketchchallenge.blogspot.com/ I'm waiting for my first ever WM order and am so excited! I've been making samples for my challenge for the Harvest Home Haven event. Use paint chips! The Waltzingmouse sketch seemed perfect for paint chips. I added some zigzag stitching with my sewing machine.

The sentiment is from Hero Arts. The background paper is from a Christmas stack. (I know, very strange, LOL) The painted wood skeleton was a RAK from Ann in Utah. Thanks!

Pocket card and pin

The Summer Haven event ends tonight. It has been such fun and has pushed me to be creative. Daniel challenged us to create a card with a pocket and something to go in the pocket. The pocket had to be low as the quilted heart pin is too big to fit under the pocket. In addition to the stamps by Hero Arts, Me & My Big Ideas, and Cornish Heritage Farms I made a lot of use of die cuts.

The heart pin is quilted over a felt base. It had been ages since I did Crazy Quilt embroidery and it was a blast. There is a plastic back piece and pin back glued on with Diamond Glaze. It took 2 tries to get it to hold. I love punching holes in the tag to attach the pin to. Gives it a nice finished look I think.

I even pulled out my crochet cotton and hook to make an edging around the heart. Yes it took time to do the whole thing but it satisfied me greatly!

Window on the World card

Summer Haven 2010 is getting going. http://www.stamphaven.com/ I have a couple of challenges including this fancy fold card.

Here are the instructions which you are welcome to print out for your own use. Right click on the diagram. It will open in a new page. Then print. That's it!

You can cut out the window anyway your want, die cut, Coluzzles, punch, scissors or craft knife. Just be sure you only cut the one side of the card!

Lastly this is the front of my card. Have fun!

Scrappy Sketch

If you seem to have a lot of those little strips of colored and patterned paper left over from your cardmaking this sketch is for you.

You'll need a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" cardfront, a 1 1/16" x 5 1/2" scrappy strip (instructions below), and a focus piece in whatever shape you like. Pretty easy!

I like to make a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" piece of strips adhered to cardstock. [You don't have to do this but is makes enough Scrappy Strips to make 4 cards. You can make just the one strip for your challenge card.] Once you have covered your cardstock with strips cut it into 4 sections measuring 1 1/16" x 5 1/2". I like to layer this onto a piece of cardstock that is 1 3/8" x 5 1/2" to mat it. Tip: Choose your colors to work together and repeat patterns.

Now you get to choose your focus piece. The sketch shows it as a circle but it can be any shape you want. You might choose text on it or an image, a flower, chipboard, a button, really any embellishment.

Hope you feel inspired! Have fun creating your own Scrappy Strip card.

Inventive Recycling, one

This was the card I sent my dad this year. The blue patterned squares are all envelope liners. This sketch was designed by Kristina Werner for her A Year in Cards class at Two Peas in a Bucket. The star stamp is from Outlines Stamps.

The center image is from Scottish Borders Stamping. It goes amazingly well with the 2 envelope liners I used!

For this card I used 3 envelopes all of which had that cross hatched pattern. It made a nice quilt style background for the dragonfly stamp. The sentiment and the dragonfly are from Serendipity Stamps. The pieces really are sewn together on a sewing machine.

Summer Haven, the stamping event at StampHaven begins on Saturday the 27th. I'm hosting a challenge on Inventive Recycling. The idea is to use things you would recycle to make or embellish your card. You can join in the fun. It is free and welcoming! http://www.stamphaven.com/

Using the liners of bills is a favorite bit of recycling here. My family saves their liners for me too. (We're a big recycling family!) What will I do when we are all paying our bills online? LOL