Spellbinders Shapeabilities

I have a lot of fun with my Spellbinders Shapeabilities. I was lucky enough to win a boatload of Spellbinders sets a couple of years ago and I enjoy jazzing them up for holiday cards. Check out this kitty - Micah thought it was the best thing ever. I die cut black American Crafts cardstock - THE BEST for die cutting in my opinion - and embossed it. then I added light green gems after I adhered it to the card. meow!
As for most of the other shapes, I inked over them with white ink (Papertrey Ink Fresh Snow). The light gray tomb was inked with black. The orange is glitter cardstock from American Crafts and it really shows off the black accents. It's hard to tell in the photo, but it's super sparkly.

I just think scenes like this are so fun to make! Thanks for taking a peek :)

My Favorite Pumpkins

I mentioned before that I love pumpkins.

Now, I love the traditional looking pumpkins, but I REALLY enjoy doing the not-so-traditional kind as well. I actually own a set of nested pumpkin dies and I do use them. However, this is how I make my favorite pumpkins - out of eggs!

Yep, these are actually "Nested Egg" dies from Spellbinders. I love cutting out all sorts of lovely Easter eggy goodness in the spring, but these babies pull a double duty by letting me make pumpkins in the fall.

I like to cut out a whole bunch of these, so I use various shades of orange/gold/yellow cardstock and different scraps of patterned papers of the same color scheme. I like to emboss the cardstock pieces for some texture as well. Then, I can take any three I want and create a pumpkin. I position the bottom two first, angling them out slightly and touching a bit. I take the top middle egg and adhere it over the others with foam dots. Then, I cut a but of a stem out of patterned, embossed or glittery green paper. Or - like one card below - I use stuff like gems, buttons, etc.
Sometimes I ink over the embossing and sometimes I leave it plain. The fun part of these is finding out just how many combinations you can come up with!

Thanks for taking a peek :)

Ready or not - here it is!

Well, whether or not I was ready, fall has arrived! We got down in the 30s this week for a low and today was Cccccccoooooold and rainy. I did make time to cook up a whole large squash (one that substitutes for pumpkin) and make a yummy pumpkin spice dessert yesterday. There's nothing quite like fresh cooked pumpkin/squash in a dessert! So much better than canned.

I've been so busy with classes and cards that I haven't had much time to post. I made up a big ol' batch of fall cards and took them into the store this week. I'm in the process of making some really fun Halloween cards for the Scrap n' Art October issue as well. I do have a couple fall cards to share with you today. I have been pulling out the Spellbinders dies and going to town because I won a huge supply of fall/winter dies last summer and I LOVE to use them :) The banners are a new addition and I love them as well!
That pretty bow is made with May Arts ribbon. Isn't it just an amazing color?


Well, hopefully I'll be back soon with more to share - thanks for taking a peek!

September SNA and a chance to win!

Have you seen the newest issue of Scrap n' Art? I spy some Unity stamps, some Want2Scrap, Photojojo and more! There are some really fun tutorials with step by step photos along with reviews. Digi scrappers - don't miss the Pixel Gypsy download! Also, remember to check the SNA blog. We have great projects and features every week for FREE!

I also wanted to point out this chance to win.

http://kwiksurveys.com/?u=consumeradhesives

Be sure to take the survey by the end of the month for a chance to win a Brand New Cricut Expression 2!

The Great Pumpkin

No, I'm still not quite ready to give up summer.

This week, Hobby Lobby tried to entice me to do so with its holiday scented aisles and pretty decor, but I plugged my nose and walked on by. Having a fully stocked Christmas section by mid July is a bit nauseating, but I have to admit that once the fall decor goes up and they bring out all those warm, spicy candles and pumpkins - well, I get a little excited.

I love pumpkins.

I love cinnamon.

I love fall colors.

I love baking and chilly evenings.

*sigh*

Ok, so maybe I can still hold onto summer with one hand and use the other to smell fall candles. I guess I'm wavering a little. I really do like pumpkins a lot.

Here's a little card I made, hoping to get all that fall nonsense out of my system.

It didn't work.

I think I may do more.

Thanks for taking a peek ;)

Supply List:

Pumpkin: Spellbinders Nested Pumpkins dies, Provo Craft Cuttlebug embossing folder (Ornamental Iron), American Crafts cardstock

Tickets: Unity Stamp Co, Cosmo Cricket paper, Memento ink

Stickers: American Crafts Thickers

Card base: American Crafts Cardstock, Cosmo Cricket paper

Just us Chickens

School is officially back in session! Tomorrow marks the first full week back and so far everything seems to be going smoothly. The kids love their new teachers and have many friends in their new classrooms. My professors seem to be fairly normal and it's nice to be back to more of a routine. I'm not quite ready to let go of summer though and I hope we have a good long while before the sky starts throwing white stuff at us. Sadly, being busy with all those school and life activities will probably make the time fly.

Speaking of things that fly, I do have a card I finished a couple weeks ago. My mom loves chicken and rooster items and she happens to have several real chickens and roosters as well. That's where I picked up this cute little feather.

I've had a little drawer of feathers just waiting for the perfect cards. When I saw these stamps by TPC studios at Hobby Lobby (they completely re-stocked their stamps!) I knew they were mine. I haven't had much time to play with them yet, but I did do this country style card for my mom. I stamped with blue ink on blue cardstock and then I sponged brown ink on the corners and sides.
The circle and red decorative circle were made with Spellbinders dies (Classic Circles and Lacey Circles). The pleated cream ribbon is from May Arts.

Thanks for taking a peek - hopefully I'll be back soon :)

Almost back to school part 2

Alexis found a fun book called Rock Your School Stuff by Laura Torres at our local library this past week. It's right up her alley and has inspired her (and me) to jazz up some of her school supplies. A couple posts ago, you saw how we altered her old pencil box with hot glue, buttons and letter tiles. Today, we made her plain spiral notebook a WAY cool girly notebook with a real pocket! Here's how we did it :)

First of all, we rummaged through some clothes that had gotten too small. I wanted to use blue denim, but the only thing that fit the bill was a pair of tan jeans. If you plan on using a color spray, like Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, the tan jeans would actually be the way to go. Cloth absorbs the mist quite well, so you could really get some neat effects. I think that's what I'm going to do on my next altered notebook with the remaining tan material. I cut the bottom off of a pant leg and then cut up the seam so I had a flat piece. I used Beacon Adhesives Fabri-Tac (don't miss the ROCKIN' post about this in today's SNA blog!) and smoothed the denim onto the notebook cover.

Next, we cut off one of the back pockets. We just cut right outside of the seam.

Alexis wanted some ribbon on the side, so I glued (Fabri-Tac again) some pretty trims by May Arts near the spiral. I just can't get enough of May Arts ribbons and trims! We also glued the pocket onto the notebook.

We finished it all off with some gems and a pink bow. The whole process took less than half an hour.

The kids got their teacher assignments yesterday and are pretty darned excited. I have a feeling that we're going to be doing more crafts before school starts on the 22nd! Thanks for taking a peek :)