Donut Days!

Okay so as addicted as I am to making the sugar skull stamps, I'm equally addicted to making these donut cards!  That's probably a good thing.  They are all birthday cards and I have a TON of guy birthdays in the next few weeks.

These cards are another creation using Amuse stamps and inspiration from an Amuse class.  The card from the class was a really pretty CAS card.  I had these wicked old Amuse card bases that made the look a teensy bit more masculine, well as masculine as polka dots and sprinkles can get.  LOL!

The donuts were all colored with Copics and the sprinkles were colored with Tombows (so they wouldn't bleed through the cardfront).  When I colored the yellow frosting version, I realized I could make the image it look like a fried egg too!  Now I've just got to find 5 minutes to step away from the sugar skulls and donuts to play with fried eggs. :-P

Hope your Wednesday finds you some time to play!

Sugar Skulls

So yesterday got away from me!  I was going to share these, but DH and I were relaxing with some leaf-peeping and a last beach walk for the season.  Hope you had a relaxing Sunday too!

These skulls are from Amuse, stamped with Memento Tuxedo, and colored with Copics.  The base is a PTI die that I thought was just perfect as background accent (and to hide the marker that bleeds through the back!).  My next batch will have some sparkle though.  These went out to an Etsy customer as a little "thank you for your order" gift. :)

I stamped out a bunch more of these to play around with and can't wait to use them on more projects!  I can't get over how popular these have gotten this year.  When I taught ELL in South Carolina, my students would use these to decorate alters for Dia de Los Muertos on November 1st and 2nd.  It is a beautiful celebration of ancestors who have passed on and have been blessed to take part in this celebration in years past.  If you don't already know about this celebration, I encourage you to learn about it.

Have a beautiful Monday!

Some Halloween Fun

I got the chance to take an Amuse Stamps Halloween card class last week and thought I'd share them with y'all!  I made a little oops with my "spooky" (it is a little wonky), but I love the little skeleton dudes.  They remind me of Karate Kid, the original one with Ralph Macchio.  Dating myself a bit huh.

Not much going on here.  I wanted to take a nap today, so what happened?  Everyone else is asleep and I am wide awake typing this post.  Oh well, at least it is quiet. :)

Gonna play with some sugar skull stamps I got from the class.  They are pretty addictive!  It's fun to go wild with bright colors!  If I get anything finished I'll share with you tomorrow...

Lovin' Lobsta'

I love lobster! I've loved eating lobster since I was little (in spite of the fact my mom and uncle raced them across the kitchen floor before cooking them!!!!). I really should enter into a lobster eating contest.  It's embarrassing to watch me eat them too.  I have to eat whole lobsters outside because it is a full body experience, butter everywhere, bib covered in shell bits.  Dreadful sight I tell ya.

Well this summer I was obsessed with all things nautical.  Bags, clothes, shoes, jewelry- then I starting hoarding, um I mean collecting, nautical stamps.  I made a few kits to assemble with my friends at The Cape.  These were the leftovers!  Can you tell I was obsessed?!?  Since I signed up for a couple craft fairs in the area, I decided I would package these goodies up as kits.  In the meantime, I'm adding these kits to my Etsy Shoppe.

Hope, if you live in the Northeast, you were able to stay dry today.  Me, I'm a drowned rat!  Cida likes the light rain, but the downpours had him running for the door! LOL!  I've got some new pics coming of him, so stay tuned. :)

Witchy Treat

These days we aren't allowed to have treats like this at school.  This is almost as good in that it is sweet to look at!

The card is 4.25"X4.25", my favorite size.  The image is PTI, the b&w paper is cut with a PTI die, and the witch hat is an MFT die.  The other goodies are this 'n that from my stash.  I'm thinking I'll make another one and give these out to my roomies on Halloween. :)

Do you have anything fun you do with/for coworkers on Halloween?

A new kit

I'm getting ready for a couple craft fairs on my calendar.  Last February my valentine kits were a huge success, so I put together a Hanukkah kit.  I meant to have a Rosh Hashanah kit, but time got away from me.. Always next year right? :)

I've got a couple Christmas and a Halloween kit in the hopper.  Hopefully those will be more concrete by weeks end.  In the meantime, we are headed back to Obedience Class tonight.  I think Cida thinks it is for us, not him. LOL!  We're all sure to sleep well tonight regardless.  Class is at 8pm and lasts an hour, and it takes 15-20 minutes to get there.  Our household is in bed by 9 and up between 5:15 & 6:15.  Tomorrow morning is going to be "ruff"!

Have a wonderful Monday!

Forgotten, but not lost

I thought I had shared this a while ago, but I scrolled through everything and couldn't find it in a past post.  It was inspired by a class I took many moons ago and uses negative space in such a pretty way.  I should make more cards like this!!! 

It looks like it is so much more work than it really is and the best part is you have a great shaped piece to use on another project!  Love when that happens.  Now if I would only stop hoarding all those "pieces" I'd be all set. LOL!

I'm off to battle vacation traffic, but it is all worth it because I'll get to see some friends and family this long weekend. :) Do you have any fun plans this weekend?  Will you get to have a long weekend?

It's a Good Day

The weather was beautiful today and so were the leaves. :) It's a good day to share something pretty and even better when the pretty has the perfect sentiment!

It was a good day for more than the weather for me.  I had a meeting at work that went way better than I thought.  I'm a terrible worrier and can't eat when I am stressed, so this meeting called for a run to Subway for a 6" and a soda!  I don't know the last time I had soda and it tasted WONDERFUL.  Of course I crashed after eating everything, but I had my faithful-ish pup Cida to cuddle with on the sofa for a bit. :)

Now the "crash" meant I didn't get anything I planned to do actually done.  Except for laundry, but let's face it, laundry does itself once you add water & soap.  LOL!  Oh, you mean it doesn't fold itself too???  Darn, I guess I didn't get anything done!!!!

Well, hope you enjoyed this day and you got more done than moi!

Jar of Happy

Thought I would share an anniversary card today. :) I've had this image colored for a long time, but could never get it to work on anything!  This is such a fun color combo that I couldn't bear to throw away the image and thank goodness for that!

Pretty much everything here is rescued from the scrap pile.  The circles are leftover from when I was making Easter cards last year.  The banner is from a miscut piece on a custom order in my Etsy shop and the white sprayed with Amuse inks was an experiment to see how the sprays looked. :)

Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope your Wednesday treated you kindly.

Sparkly & Rustic Thanks

Morning' Peeps! Boy how time flies!!!! I made this card a bit ago and discovered I hadn't shared it, which is a shame because it is one of my favorite looks.

Sparkles from gems and Sticklers mixed with some rustic burlap ribbon.  Ahhhh, love the juxtaposition.  This card was inspired while I was trying to make some anniversary cards.  This bouquet kept begging to be used by getting mixed in with the other supplies, so I finally said to myself  "okay use it!" LOL!

The daisies were originally just flat, so each center got some bling with the addition of Stickles centers.  The photo doesn't truly do the bling justice!

Tonight should be interesting for me.  I am taking my first French lessons in 20 years!!!  I'm wicked excited and nervous too.  I've had my "test" to see where I fit and I'm happy to say that I am functioning at about a Grade 3 level.  That may be higher than when I was in High School French. *hee-hee*. Class is late, 7-8 pm and I'm sure to be exhausted. 

What new things are you about to try, or would like to try?

More Thankfulness

While I was on my Spooky banner kick, I went ahead and made some new Thankful banners too! They are modeled after the ones my coworkers had asked for last year. They are so much fun to make and each end up with their own personality when embellished.  I'm loading them into my Etsy Shoppe and I'm in the process of filling out all the paperwork for about 3-4 craft fairs this year.  Time to get BUSY, BUSY, BUSY! :)

For anyone in the Lowell MA area- OMG!  DH and I went to the Lowell Open Studios yesterday and we were blown away by all the talent!  We vastly underestimated how many studios were involved and have vowed to return to the next one much earlier in the day.  We saw only a small fraction, but WOW.  I am inspired to try a couple new techniques on my cards.  We'll see if they make the blog post cut. LOL!

Well, just a quick post today as I'm off to my "day job".

It is early yet, but what are you thankful for this fine Monday? 

Gray and Orange

A big thanks to the sun for coming out to shine today!!!  We totally needed the rain, and I LOVE a good rainy day, but the colors on the trees look AMAZING when the sun hits them.  Honestly one of these days I'm going to go off the road with all my leaf peeping.

This card is a combo of the cloudy weather we've had and the colorful leaves all around. :) I am still crushing on this ribbon I made.  A couple weekends ago I went nuts with dyes and created another 9 or so versions in pinks, greens, springtime Monet-style multi-colored ribbon, and a wicked cool version that looks like an autumn tree in full blaze (can't wait to come up with something for that!)

The plan today is to go visit a friend's studio up in Lowell.  It is in an old factory and the whole place has been hosting an Open House all weekend.  I can't wait to see everything and get inspired!!! It also looks to be a good ride with leaf-peeping opportunities (fingers-crossed I stay on the road! LOL!)

Happy Creating!

Spooky Banners

Morning' Peeps!! I'm still checking off items from my Summer Resolutions List. Guess I just can't let go of Summer! LOL! So along with finally getting my final boxes of donations out the door (I can check that off the list now), I've created some new banners. :)

These banners were fun to play around with, especially to embellish!  The bonus is that my Halloween box is looking a little more empty now. Yay! 

Lots of times I make a bunch of the same thing with the same colors, sorta assemble line style.  This time I went outside of my box and played around to see how this would look with different combos. :)

The letters I cut with my Cricut and the doilies are cupcake doilies. :) For this banner I also cut shadow letters from a grayish-brown chevron paper and I love the look!

This last banner was originally going to be only orange, black, and white.  It was just too match-matchy (I can't believe I said that since I kinda swoon for match-matchy!).  Green was just the right thing to add for some spooky pop. 

I've got a couple more banners in the works.  We'll see if they make the cut to be shown off.  In the meantime, these puppies are in my Etsy Shoppe for sale and I'll be showing them off at work to see if anyone wants to order one. :)

With the yucky weather we are having this weekend, I'm off to clean (and hopefully create) in my studio.  Happy World Card Making Day (realy weekend)!!!!