Whoodo you voodoo this Halloween?

"Frazzled"

When I received this little Unity/Ippity "Itty Bitty" stamp in the mail, I just HAD to put together some cute cards for a select few members of my family and friends who would appreciate the humor of having "someone" in their lives to put a voodoo hex on!

(I happen to know a friend's attorney who better watch his back!  whaahahaa!)

 

 

 

So I made a trio of the little ghoulish girlies!

I was cropping away from the house and away from my markers, so I colored them with pencils.

Not thrilled as I would be with the Copics, but the basic look works well enough for this purpose.

I just think this little doll is too cute NOT to utilize her.

I know MY doll and pins will get used!

 

 

The burlap paper is the new release from DCWV!

I love that it comes in the 6 x 6 pack and cuts really easily

with your paper cutter

(cut burlap side down for a nice sharp edge)

The paper is also DCWV,

"Bewitched".

 

Have a great week!

And celebrate 110 years of Harley Davidson by keeping your eyes on the road and pay attention to those bikers!

Most accidents are caused by the drivers of the cars,

not the bikes.

 

~Jan~



Stampendous Challenge Part Two

I have another House Mouse project for the August challenge at Stampendous today.

This time it is a simple holiday card with another

adorable House Mouse!

 

Hanging Around

 

Close up of image

 

I debated adding "snow" to the branches and leaves but didn't want to distract from the cute little image!

 And notice the difference when shadows were added to the image.

They didn't show up very well in the photo, but adding shadows gives dimension!

 

 

 

I am so excited to see these little images available at Stampendous!

My Christmas cards are almost completely finished and it's only August!

Yippee!

 

Papers: October Afternoon

White Trim:  May Arts

Red Trim: Recollections

Copics Markers

 

Have a great weekend!

~Jan~



I'm melting.....

Dustin Pike has a new release of absolutely adorable

Christmas images available at the

Doodle Dragon Store



 

 

Not that we'll EVER get enough snow here in Phoenix

to build any type of snowman,

but if we did, this is how I imagine he'd feel!

 

 

Check out all of the new images today!

I'm sure you have some clever sentiments of your own to use!

Entered in the sketch challenge at:
Tuesday Morning Sketches

 

Thanks for looking at my post today!

~Jan~

One of My Favorite Things...

Over the months that I was not feeling well enough to create,

I missed so many of my favorite stamps and blogs.

 

My Favorite Things was one of those.

Now that I'm feeling much better and am back to my stamps, markers, glue, and papers,

I couldn't wait to jump back into these challenges!

 

The current sketch at MFT:

 

My take on that sketch along with one of my favorite little gals-

 

 

I enjoy making these little fans so much that I may just make a dozen or so just to have around!

And cutting out her little kimono is just too much fun!

 

 

 

 

My hands may still shake a bit when I hold a Copics marker, but that's not going to

stop this girl from making cards and layouts!  Practice, practice, practice....



There's a mouse in the house!

In case you haven't heard, Stampendous is now carrying

House Mouse stamps!

Yes, selected House Mouse is now available through your

local LSS/Stampendous dealer and online here!

 

I was fortunate enough to be at my friends' house playing with our markers and colored up a few of these little darlings!

 

This is what I decided HAD to be done with this fella!

 

 

I'm old school...the best mouse is a captured mouse! LOL!

 

 

Is he not the cutest thing ever?

 

 

I used the Stampendous Shabby White embossing powder inside the jar, with some sprinkle Christmas snow from Michael's to add volume to the pile of snow he's landing in!

(Be careful when you heat the powder to melt. The jar will get very warm!)

 

And if you're wondering how I mounted him in the jar, here's my secret:

After coloring my image, I glued the entire thing to a piece of black cardstock. I then fussy cut it out and that made the back appear more finished.

I cut a small square wooden stake about 2 inches long, and glued one inch length of it up the backside and painted it's upper half black to match the back of my image. The bottom half I painted white and glued "snow" to it so as to blend into the snow drift. Hot glued it to the bottom of the jar, and filled with the fluffy snow material.

Lastly, I hot glued the pine and holly berries inside and outside of the lid, along with more "snow". done!

 

 

My mother has limited space now to display any type of holiday decorations, so I think she'll love having this little guy hanging around!

 

Copics markers used:

R29, 46, and 59

E33, 35, and 37

E50, 51, and 93

N0 and N2

 

Also entered at the wonderful challenge at:

House-Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge (Transport)



Follow Your Dreams...

My latest card is an easel.

Had fun with this one!

Loved digging out all my JustRite stamps and combining sets.

  

The challenge this month is "Wings".

 

The airplane stamp is from "Going Places Vintage",

the Carte Postale is from "Greetings from Paris",

and the sentiment, "Follow Your Dreams"

is part of the OLD, OLD set "All Occasion Nested Sentiments".
 

 

 

 

I heated embossed everything I could ink up,

and then carefully colored the plane with Copics markers.

The little airplane charm and metal gears are from Michael's,

and the paper is DCWV, "Cinnamon Luster" stack,

with the map background stamped with an old world map from

my very, very old stash.

I hadn't made an easel card in a long time, so I was feeling crafty! Also, I love to work with 6 x6 cards, so this worked as a SQUARE card also!

 

Let's just say, I really tore up my room for this one! LOL!

 

This terrific challenge can be found at

JustRite Inspiration

and goes until Wednesday, August 21st,

so you still have time to enter!

Also, entered at:
Cards for Men (use Metal)
Here Come the Boys (Square card)
The House That Stamps Built (Wings)

Word Art Wednesday
 

And as always, thanks so much for reading my post today!

Please leave a comment so I know ya'll are out there!

 



Another very CAS-ual Friday here!

Made this cute little mini album cover for the color challenge at

CAS-ual Fridays

today.
(Orange, Aqua, and Green)

It will hold the photos taken of my grandson's first day going to third grade at his new school!

It only has a handful of chipboard pages, but I only have a few photos, so perfect!

As is the rule with CAS-ual Fridays, they keep it clean and simple.
The eyes are washers that I heat embossed with "Aged Aqua Embossing Powder" from Stampendous. It is absolutely beautifully
AQUA, but hard to tell in the photo! I used the over-sized "bottle caps" for the rest of the eye. 

I will be adding a title when I decide on one!

Papers:  DCWV, "The Green Stack"
Twine for tassle:  Bazzill

Also entered at the "Twine" challenge at
"Craft Your Passion" blog!
Pink By Design, "Round" out your summer!
(use circles)
The House That Stamps Built (Wings)
Lessology (Open that bottle!)

Thanks for looking!

 

 



Do it with a Flourish!

The color challenge at

 Flourishes

this month is such a pretty combo!

Here's my first WINTER card!

 

 

 

 

 

Difficult to think about when the high today in

Arizona will be 109!

 

I stamped and heat embossed the Flourish image in a dark grey.

I used Copic markers for the pretty

stamp, "Snow Wonderful",

and my

DCWV Screen Print Stack

with the raised designs!

The dark gray paper has tiny raised dots, with the dark teal sporting the gorgeous white

dotted pattern that reminded me so much of snowflakes!

 

This card is entered in the color challenge at

Flourishes!
CRAFT (Christmas theme)

ABC Christmas Challenge ( P is for...pearls and pine branches)
Inky Impressions (wings) 

Digi Darla's (Feathers) 



WOW! Great Color Challenge!

When I see a large group of colors that are all to be used on a card, I get a bit over-whelmed!

The variety of the colors in the challenge at

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards

was one of those!

 

Beautiful selections!

 

I pulled out the most colorful paper I had and picked out the pieces that most closely matched those in the sample.

 

I like the card. I hope you do!
 

 

Thanks for looking at my blog today!

 

Paper:  DCWV, "Fiesta"



Life's a Beach...

I love the fact that August is already half over and

I still have a Summer beach trip to go on in September!

It stays so warm here in Phoenix,

that we often think that the rest of the

country is 85 degrees in late summer, too!

Florida should be just about perfect around mid-September!

 

Here is my Summer Fun card!

 

 

 

 

The cork paper makes an ideal "sandy" background for the tiny seashells.

 

This card is entered in the challenges at:

Totally Paper Crafts,   "Summer Fun"

Fab 'n Funky,   "Anything Summer"

Ribbon Carousel, "Summertime Fun" and use ribbon, twine, etc.

(I used brown jute/twine)

 Crafter's Café (Beach)
 

My striped paper and the cool cork is DCWV!

The little shirt is from Jolee's, and had in my stash for years!



DCWV August Card Sketch Challenge!

If you're looking for some FUN sketches, and  would like a chance to win some great papers,

go to

DCWV Diary

and read the details of how you can play along!

 

I, myself, am in love with the new releases, and would be thrilled to win some products!

 

 

August Card Sketch

 

Here's my fun little project!

 

 

I have several friends expecting new babies in their families, and without knowing if some are boys or girls, this will be a great addition to any gift.

 

 

These little critters from the "Kidlet" stack are adorable! 

Can't get better than a sock monkey!

 

If you have a few spare minutes, all you need is DCWV paper (new or old) and some imagination!

PS...They have a terrific layout sketch challenge every month, too!

Back after what seems like FOREVER!

As some of you may know, I have been very ill for quite some time.

Without going into a lot of boring detail, I suffered from severe anxiety and weight loss from issues stemming from the sleep deprivation caused by Ambien.

Yes, you either increase your dosage (which I refused to do) or give in to the fact that while taking it, you will sleep shorter and shorter periods of time.  I had hit bottom at two hours per night for several months. Take my word for it, sleep meds are not the answer. 

 

But, I am thrilled to say that I am better now, close to my "fighting weight", and feeling like I can again join the rest of humanity in enjoying life!

 

Enough of that...

 

I made my first challenge card today in a very long time!

 

 

 

I have been exploring the stamp blogs as if I had never seen any of them before!  Six months can leave one very mesmerized!  But then, it now all seems new and fresh to me!

 I saw this challenge for a "Silhouette" card on

http://sweetstampsblog.blogspot.com/

Sweet Stamps!

First off, I LOVE the stamp images they offer, and second, I have none!

So, I grabbed what I DID have and made this sweet heat embossed card.

 

Thanks for coming back after my having abandoned my blog for so terribly long.

Please forgive.

 

Paper:  MME, "Lost and Found"

Images: Tim Holtz and TPC

Embossing Powder:  Stampendous, "Detail Black"

Flowers: Prima