Halloween treat bags

I made up a batch of goody bags for my oldest son's class Halloween party. The bag clips are created using several sizes of circles/scallop circles (all Nestabilities) glued onto everyday clothespins.

For a bit of added fun, some of the clips have googly eyes added. Other than the elbow fatigue from running so many sheets through the Cuttlebug, this was such a quick & easy make!

Challenges:

• Bloggers Challenge - happy hauntings
• Crafting for all Seasons - Halloween
• Crafting When We Can - Halloween and/or anything but a card
• Decorate to Celebrate - Halloween

Have a Meowy Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ... at least in the stores ... so I decided it was time to start making Christmas cards.

The image is one of my all-time favorites from Mo's Digital Pencil. I've coloured the image with Copic markers.

Challenges:
4 Crafty Chicks - Marker it up
ABC Christmas Challenge - Use your old stash (the embellies are both over a year old)
Mo's Digital Challenge - Favourite Mo image plus a sentiment
Crafting When We Can - Christmas
Sparkles Forum - Christmas songs (personally I think they are singing "The Friendly Beasts" certainly not "Silent Night"

Spooktacular Halloween

It's been awhile since I made anything but a standard card so I decided to make this Halloween card an easel design. The digi is from Dustin Pike's Doodle Dragon Studio (I just can't get enough of Dudley the dragon) and I've coloured him using my wonderful Copic markers. The corners are punched using one of Martha Stewart's around the page corner punches.

Challenges (lots of halloween inspiration this week!):

4 Crafty Chicks - marker it up
Southern Girls - stripes & polka dots
Crafting for all Seasons - halloween
Creative Card Crew - spooky fun
Creative Stamp Friends - halloween
Digital Tuesday - halloween
Dream Valley Challenges - halloween
Here Come the Boys - halloween
Magical Monday - halloween
One Stop Craft - halloween
Paper Creations Ink - halloween
Paper Take Weekly - halloween colours
Quirky Crafts - halloween
Simon Says Stamp and Show - stripes
The Crazy Challenge - halloween
Whimsical Wednesdays - halloween
Sentimental Sundays - fancy folds
Through the Craftroom Door - halloween

Tough enough to wear pink

This was a totally fun card to create. The image is a freebie at Dude Time Doodles and we were asked to create a project using pink. Now pink & gargoyles don't really go together in my mind but I'm actually really liking the finished card.

Along with the DTD  image, I've used patterned paper from Martha Stewart. And in the 2 corners, I've embossed two pieces of scrap acetate (from packaging) using a funky Halloween Cuttlebug folder. The sketch is from Card Positioning Systems.

Cards for Men - make us laugh
CAS Sunday - think pink
Corrosive Challenges - flying things
Crafty Cardmakers - cute with a dark twist
Creative Stamp Friends - halloween
Dream Valley Challenges - halloween
Here Come the Boys - halloween
Incy Wincy Designs - recycle (the acetate)
Magical Monday - halloween
Paper Creations Ink - halloween
Simon Says Stamp and Show - things with wings
The Crazy Challenge - halloween

Have a ball on your birthday

Today's card is a fun & simple birthday card that I created for my niece. I was really pleased with how my colouring of the image (from Karen's Doodles) turned out so I decided to go with a very simple card design. I simply matted the image on some glossy red paper, placed it against a starred background and then added a "ribbon" of the same red paper. Super simple! I was inspired to add buttons over top of the balls - I think it's a fun and dimensional touch.

Challenges:

• CAS Sunday Challenge - anything goes
• Diva's By Design - buttons
• Lollipop Crafts - critters
• One Stop Craft - anything goes
• Scrap, Stamp & Doodle - circles (the buttons)
• Sisterhood of Crafters - birthday

Thankful

I'm having a wonderful day! It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada which means a turkey dinner to look forward to and a long weekend. The weather is good (well, at least it isn't raining) and the kids are actually getting along! And on the subject of kids, I just finished packaging up the latest delivery of cards for the BC Children's Hospital. You can read all about it here on the Send A Smile 4 Kids (Canada) blog. Part of that delivery is this assortment of Halloween cards that I made using some wonderfully cute Bo Bunny paper and Cuttlebug embossing folders.

The second batch of cards (except for one) are made using the sketch from I{heart}2Stamp.

Challenges:

• 2 Sisters - Halloween
• Challenge Up Your Life - Halloween
• C.R.A.F.T. - bright colours
• Fussy and Fancy - Halloween
• I {heart} 2 Stamp - sketch
• My Craft Spot - cute Halloween
• One Stop Craft - anything goes
• Papertake Weekly - anything goes
• Sparkles Forum - Halloween
• Tuesday Throwdown - Halloween
• Wee Memories - Halloween

Queen of hearts tag

I felt like doing something a little different so I threw together this tag (ha, it actually took me what seemed like hours of playing with the elements and fiddling with those little black gems).

The image is fussy-cut and matted onto black paper. The saying ("She had all the royal makings af a Queen") and the backing paper came from the same Graphic 45 paper pack (Halloween in Wonderland). My favourite part of the whole project is how the gems swirl out from her finger - I can imagine her poking & pointing with such vehemence that she raises a wind.

Challenges:
Altered Alice - something that twinkles or shines (the crown and gems)
Card and Scrap - embossing (the crown) / distressing
Cooking it up with Katie - Fabulous, fun & "F" (fussy-cut)
Craft Your Days Away - tag it
Craft Your Passion - Anything goes with ribbon
Papertake Weekly - Anything goes
Simon Says Stamp & Show - Wendy Veschi style
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle - Anything but a card
Truly Scrumptious - Distressing

Simply Hallowe'en

Today's Halloween card will be donated to the BC Children's Hospital via Send A Smile 4 Kids (Canada). The image is a digi from Simply Betty Stamps (she also does rubber!) and I've coloured her using Copic markers. The spider web is a scrap of acetate (left from last year) which is adhered behind a window cut into the card - I added the faux stitching around the edges to transition the cut.

And since I'm sharing a Simply Betty stamp today, I thought I would also encourage everyone to check out her shop. Please consider supporting Simply Betty Stamps by purchasing stamps or donating through her site. Her son was recently diagnosed with cancer, and all sales will help with medical bills - http://simplybettystamps.blogspot.com/2011/10/special-release-and-some-very-sad-news.html.

Challenges:
Clear it out! - Halloween
Come & Get It - Halloween
Crazy 4 Challenges - Anything goes but donate to a charity (I'm donating this card to SAS4K Canada)
Lollipop Crafts - Halloween
One Stitch at a Time - Use a digi
Secret Crafter - Halloween
The Pink Elephant - Trick or Treat (Halloween)
Tuesday Throwdown - Halloween

Send A Smile 4 Kids Challenge

I'm really excited today because I get to share a couple of cards that I created as a guest dt member for Send A Smile 4 Kids Challenge. I've recently entered into a partnership with SAS4K and now am running the Canadian arm - SAS4K (Canada). Being an occasional guest designer is probably the most fun perk!

The challenge is called Fall Color- Anything Goes for Kids and runs for two weeks. The sponsors are Bee Crafty (3 digital stamps of the winners choice) and Prairie Fairy ($15 gift certificate). I've chosen an image from each of the sponsors because I just couldn't decide between them. Both cards will be donated to Send A Smile 4 Kids (Canada).

This card uses an image from Prairie Fairy - isn't she just the cutest? I've been spotting this girl all over blogland lately and have been wanting to get my hands on a few. I frame the image using a Spellbinders die and then added some felt flowers and silk leaves that I touched up with glitter (because everything is better with glitter). I've left the inside of the card blank thinking that the sentiment on the front "Swinging by to say" could be finished off in so many ways ("happy birthday", "congratulations", "good luck"). I used this week's Midnight Madness sketch.

The card uses a Bee Crafty image - I love how simple the lines are. I didn't want the embellishments or papers to complete, so I kept the background papers subtle and just added a sheer ribbon and some tulle flowers. Again, no sentiment so that it can be used for a variety of purposes. For this card, I used this week's Skipping Stones sketch.

Challenges:

• 4 Crafty Chicks - anything goes
• Crafting for all Seasons - fall colours
• Paper Crafting Journey - die cuts/punches
• Rainbow Ladies - Fall/Autumn flowers
• Scrapbook Sisters - leaves
• Simon Says Stamp - anything goes