PTI October Blog Hop Challenge

It's Papertrey Blog Hop time again! This month's theme is right up my alley! The challenge is that since Christmas gets so much crafting attention to make a card for any winter holiday except Christmas. Hanukkah cards here I come! I made three cards for today's hop. They didn't all turn out exactly like I thought, but I figured I'd show them all anyway. ;)

The first card uses the Sunshine Impression plate which I absolutely love on Hanukkah cards and I'm not even sure why. Maybe the circles remind me of the glow from the candles? I dunno, but I like it! I think this one would be good for a guy. It's clean and kind of graphic. You could mass produce this card pretty easily. The dreidels don't take long to color and, if I cleaned the adhesive gunk off my scissors, would be easy to cut out.

The window idea I've had in my head for a while. It's a little more rustically (is that a word? and if it is, is that how you spell it?) imperfect than I had intended, but still cute. The wood frame and shutters are kraft cardstock run through the woodgrain impression plate and sponged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Then I handcut the shapes and added some outlines with a Copic multiliner. The menorah is outlined with a Sakura Stardust pen, but I'm not sure if clear or silver. I wish those things were labeled. The window itself is a square of office transparency. All held together by scor-tape then popped up.

I wanted to make a card with an untraditional color scheme, but I didn't really have any ideas and it was getting late so I ended up casing my own card layout from Holiday Cards and More. Kind of embarrassing, but I think the colors make it different enough from the original that I don't feel too bad. I also wanted a more light-hearted greeting to go with the offbeat colors and in the end this is what I came up with. I want some really cute and fun sentiments for Hanukkah, anyone with me? (And, out of curiousity, am I the only person to have lost several of my Simple Alphabet letters? I'm going to need a new set before long to spell anything!) The candles are a cuttlebug embossing folder that is supposed to be for birthdays but has so far only been used for Hanukkah. I blinged them up with some Shimmerz paint.

Thanks so much for looking and I can't wait to see what everyone else came up with! Check out all the creations from Nichole's blog.

Supplies:

Dreidel card

Stamps - Papertrey Mazel Tov

Ink - Memento Danube Blue, Tuxedo Black

Paper - Papertrey white, Stampin' Up! Brilliant Blue, GinaK Pure Luxury Good as Gold

Other - Copics (B21, B23, B24, B000, 0), Bic Mark It Midnight Navy, Sakura Stardust pen gold, Papertrey Sunshine Impression plate, Long Rectangle Nestabilities dies, pop dots

Window card

Stamps - Papertrey Mazel Tov

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Ink Vintage Photo

Paper - Papertrey kraft, white, Enchanted Evening

Other - Copics (Y15, YR16, B23), Papertrey Woodgrain Impression plate, office transparency, Sakura Stardust pen, Copic multiliner, 1/8" scor-tape, pop dots

Delightful card

Stamps - Papertrey Mazel Tov, Simple Alphabet

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Vivid Raspberry

Paper - Papertrey Ripe Avocado, Aqua Mist, Raspberry Fizz, white

Other - Copics (Y17, Yg93, YG95), Birthday Wishes Cuttlebug embossing folder, Pixie Dust Shimmerz Blingz paint, pop dots

Tuesday Trigger

I got to play this week's Tuesday Trigger challenge! Isn't this a great inspiration piece! I love the vignetting in the photograph and the monochromatic feel.

I don't have any spooky stamps, but I think it works on a birthday card. Yeah, I guess I do have a slightly dark sense of humor to make a birthday card inspired by a graveyard. :)

The vines were made with a Tim Holtz mask that I bought (under $3) after seeing a card Melanie Muenchinger made with it on her blog. That was over 6 months ago and this is my first time to use it. (Yes, I'm lame like that.) Love the effect! You just stick it down and sponge over it. (I use an art sponge cut in quarters on things like this and save the sponge daubers for cards that need smoother results.) The butterfly from GinaK Hope Is Faith is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics then sprayed with Vanilla Smooch Spray for a subtle shimmer.

Supplies - Stamps: GinaK Hope Is Faith, Sew Pretty (sentiment)

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Ink Soot Black

Paper - Papertrey Ink Soft Stone, True Black, Georgia-Pacific White (for coloring)

Other - Copics (B000, C0, C1, C3, N5, C7), Cutterbee scissors, Vanilla Smooch Spritz, Tim Holtz mask, sponge

Double Challenge Cards

So I'm back on a spending freeze. I have a couple of planned purchases, but, otherwise, back on the wagon. Jaala (The Witch Crafts) started one and I decided to jump back in with her. No craft shopping until we make 50 projects. She came up with the added rule that if it isn't blogged, sent, or given away it doesn't count. Oh my! That definitely complicates things! You may be seeing lots more of me in the near future. I really like to shop. :) On that note, I got to make a couple of double challenge cards! Always fun to kill two birds with one stone. Well, metaphorically anyway.

The first card uses the StampTV color challenge: red, chartreuse, and black. It's very striking. Remember me posting that Melanie Muenchinger was giving one of her new stamp sets away on her blog a few weeks ago? I won! I've been itching to use it and have other things I had to finish up. Splitcoast has a Hope You Can Cling To challenge to use something old and something new. Obviously, the stamps are new and I'm pretty sure everything else is at least a year old. Now, I will admit, I'm not that awesome at 2 step stamping. I need to just play with this set to really get a good feel for it. I love it, though, and I can't wait to try another card with it. I did stamp the flowers on a cardstock scrap so I could get the placement right this time. And so I didn't have to be super careful coloring. ;) On the jar, I outlined the glass with B000 and then tried to color in some water with C0. I'm not sure about the water. It seems like it should be there, but doesn't look right. Thoughts?

The second card is for the StampTV sketch challenge and the Hope You Can Cling To challenge to make a vintage card. I love this stamp set. Love. It. I had fun coloring her dress. I don't own a lot of pink Copics so I don't do a lot of pink coloring, but I tried R00, R20, and R22 and it worked pretty well! Isn't this a cute sketch? I might try it again sometime!

Floral Jar Card: Stamps - GinaK Buds and Vases

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - Stampin' Up! Real Red, Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black, Georgia-Pacific White

Other - Copics (R22, R24, R29, YG03, YG06, YG09, YG95, B000, C0, Y15), Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder, pop dots

Sew Vintage card: Stamps - GinaK Sew Pretty

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Palette Charcoal, Distress Ink Tattered Rose

Paper - Georgia-Pacific white, Papertrey Ink Sweet Blush, Soft Stone, Stampin' Up! Basic Gray, Basic Grey Bittersweet

Other - Papertrey Ink Sweet Blush button, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Nestabilities Ovals and Scalloped Ovals dies, sponge

Unity Tuesday Trigger

A super quick post for the Tuesday Trigger. I loved this week's trigger picture! It's so happy and peaceful and fun. (And inexplicably at the bottom of this post instead of the top.)It reminded me of the super cute bird and tree fabric I bought recently so I decided to use it. I really need to bust out my sewing machine for cards more often. My sewing on cards skills need improvement! The sentiment is Unity and also qualifies this for the Unity WCMD stitching challenge. TFL!

Supplies: Stamps - Unity (It came in a grab bag I won from them)

Ink - Palette Burnt Umber

Paper - Stampin' Up! Peach Parfait, Melon Mambo, Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate

Other - JoAnn's fabric, sewing machine, Nestabilities Ribbon Slider die, brown ribbon

Moxie Holiday

I am loving the fall weather we're having now! I want to eat pumpkin bread and sip caramel apple cider 24/7. Therefore, I feel a little funny showing Hanukkah cards, but hey, it's not that far away and there's a Moxie Fab challenge!

The first card has a traditional color scheme of white, silver, and navy. The navy is actually the backside of a Christmas card someone sent us last year. It's really nice cardstock, I couldn't just let it go to waste! The cool background is the PTI Sunshine impression plate. I love that thing! I stamped the menorah from PTI's Mazel Tov in black and outlined it with a clear spica pen. The candles and flames are colored with copics. The silver cardstock is from GinaK and it is fabulous! It's nice and thick and embosses really well in the Nestabilities dies. The blue rhinestones were clear and I colored them with a navy bic marker. My heat gun and I haven't been getting along lately, but we called a truce long enough for me to emboss this sentiment without the whole page getting warped. I finished it off with this pretty white ribbon from Stampin' Up!. (Yeah, that does look weird with the exclamation mark and period. Remind me to always use Stampin' Up! in the middle of a sentence and not the end. Thanks.) The card base is 6x 4.5 inches.

My second card has most of the same elements - menorah stamp, sunshine plate, bling, nestabilities - but in a non-traditional color scheme. :) This is a dual challenge card as it's also for the Hope You Can Cling to card drive over at Splitcoast to send cards to MD Anderson Cancer Center. Lydia issued the challenge to make a pink holiday card so I made this one. This one uses Nestabilities Labels 4 and even more rhinestones.

TFL!

Blue Hanukkah Supplies:

Stamps - Papertrey Ink Mazel Tov

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Encore Silver

Paper - navy scrap, Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White, GinaK Pure Luxury Silver Lining

Other - rhinestones, navy Bic Mark It, Copics (C1, Y15), clear Spica pen, Papertrey Ink Sunshine impression plate, Stampin' Up! white satin ribbon, Stampin' Up! silver embossing powder, heat gun, Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels One dies

Pink Hanukkah Supplies:

Stamps - Papertrey Ink Mazel Tov

Ink - Vivid Raspberry

Paper - Stampin' Up! Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette, Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White

Other - Stampin' Up! Pretty in Pink marker, Yellow Stickles, rhinestones, Papertrey Ink Sunshine impression plate, Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4 dies

Scalloped Mermaid

I hope everyone had a fabulous World Card Making Day weekend! I got 7 cards made! Hooray! One of those cards was for the Moxie Fab World Offest Scallop Gallop challenge that ends, of course, today. One day, I will not be a last minute crafter. Maybe. ;)

As soon as I saw this challenge I knew I wanted to pair the scallops with The Greeting Farm's Mermaid Anya. She's the cutest mermaid around! I love how this turned out. Once again with the red hair, purple shells, and green fin. What can I say, The Little Mermaid left an indelible mark on me! And I just love red hair. One day I'll have it again! I used a ton of Copics in her hair. I wanted it to have some texture. I need more practice, but it's a decent start. :) Since mermaid Anya doesn't have scales on her fin I made dots with the colorless blender and then drew in scallops with the clear spica pen, again, just for some texture. Her hair baubles have stickles on them.

The scallop scales are rows of SU Old Olive cut with the PTI large scallop border die, sprayed with vanilla Smooch Spritz, and adhered to each other with 1/8" scor-tape. I flicked them up with my fingernail a little bit, too. The purple ribbon was a gift so I don't know who makes it. It's a beautiful shade! I wish I had cardstock to match! The sentiment is from a longer Hero Arts sentiment but I just inked the 'hello'.

Thanks so much for looking!

Supplies: Stamps - The Greeting Farm Mermaid Anya, Hero Arts A Warm Hello

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - Papertrey Ink Stampers Select White, Stampin' Up! kraft, Old Olive

Other - Copics (E00, E30, YR02, YR04, YR07, YR14,YR18, E09, YG03, YG06, YG09, YG11, YG93, V12, V15, V17, 0), clear Spica pen, Papertrey Ink Large Scallop Border Die, 1/8" Scor-tape, Vanilla Smooch Spritz, Stardust Stickles, purple double-stitched ribbon

Heart to heart Card Drive and Happy October!

Happy October everyone! It's my birthday today! Lunch with all my guys, free mocha toffee frap, and lots of birthday messages and calls makes for a very nice day. I'm hoping to get a little crafting in tonight, too! We'll see, though. I kind of miss sleep. ;)

Speaking of crafting, you need to make a card for Carolyn King's Heart to Heart card drive. Carolyn lost her grandmother to Alzheimer's a few years ago and has a card drive to honor Alzheimer's caregivers. They need appreciation and recognition! It is exhausting caring for someone with Alzheimer's. There is a huge prize as well.

My grandmother passed away from Alzheimer's this year. Her care progressed from her just needing to be driven places, to having my brother live with her to be sure she took her medicine and didn't fall, to full time supervision. It took a lot of energy from a lot of people to take care of her. I miss her. A lot. Her birthday is coming up and I can't think of a better way to celebrate than by thanking the people who are helping patients and family members walk this road. I've made three cards so far and I'm hoping to make several more. I'll take them to the nursing home where Grandmommy was living, but Carolyn provides an address and even a sample note if you don't know where to send a card or what to say.

My card details are very simple. The first card uses the Clean and Simple challenge sketch from Splitcoaststampers this week. The fabulous pumpkin is from a set that Carolyn designed in honor of her grandmother and she donates her proceeds to the Alzheimer's Association. (She rocks. And she's super fun, too. I know, I got to meet her once.)
The second card I made from old mail. The flower is torn from the base of a card my kids destroyed and the the leaf is torn from the cover of a jewelry catalog. I inked the edges, glued the layers together, and added some stickles and dew drops. Dawn McVey has an awesome tutorial on making flowers like this (much better than this).

Go make a card for Carolyn's card drive and head to her blog. You might win an amazingly huge prize and you will definitely make someone happy. Complete win.

Pumpkin Card Supplies:
Stamps - GinaK Designs Whimsical Autumn, Thanks a Million
Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa, Tuxedo Black
Paper - Papertrey Ink kraft, Stampin' Up! Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Georgia-Pacific white
Other - Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impression Plate, Orange Zest button, twine, Nestabilities Scalloped Rectangle, Copics

Flower Card Supplies:
Stamps - GinaK Designs Inside and Out
Ink - Palette Burnt Umber, Stampin' Up! Tangerine Tango, Old Olive
Paper - Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue, Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate, orange and green scraps
Other - Dew drops, Stickles, Papertrey Ink Large Scallop Border, green grosgrain