A Vintage Christmas Card for Halloween!

Hello and happy Halloween, well almost!  I can not believe how quickly this month has passed and I am sure November has no intentions of being any different!  It's a good thing I managed to get a few Christmas cards made.  That gets me a little closer to being ready!  

I stayed true to my plan of using older papers, and while I'm sure my DH would still say I have too much, I feel better that I'm actually using up what I already had!  I did manage to squeeze one new product on this card-the silver sequins!  They are part of a winter sequins pack in the Holiday catalog.  I loved the wonderful snowflakes too, but they didn't quite fit the theme of the card!

Even though this card has layers, sequins, and ribbon, it is still quite easy to put together so I won't bore you with details!  I may end up adding some dazzling details to the berries before I consider this 'done'.  I think it will balance the shiny factor of the sequins!

I am so glad you took the time to visit today and I hope to return the favor soon!  But now I have to get our home ready for the trick-or-treaters that will be arriving this weekend!  Happy Halloween!

Card Recipe: Paper-sahara sand, very vanilla, Be of Good Cheer dsp (ret), Ink-early espresso, gumball green, cherry cobbler, Stamp Set-Bells and Boughs, Accessories-sequins, cherry cobbler seam binding

ABAC Challenge 40-Springing into Fall

Hello there! Fall is in it's full glory in southern Indiana and I couldn't be happier!  This is my favorite season for so many reasons.  I love the beautiful colors that seem to appear overnight; the air is somehow 'cleaner' and cooler, and it is the perfect time for campfires. So needless to say, I chose to do a fall project for Anything But a Card's Autumn Magic Spring Wonder challenge.  Of course, if you are on the other side of the globe, Spring may be inspiring you to make something equally colorful but in a different way!  I hope you will join us in celebrating both Spring and Autumn with a project of your own!

I knew immediately what my project would be.  We have two wonderful friends who have done so much to help us over the past year, and while I know I can't repay their kindness, I can reciprocate with a special thank you gift!  I bought an unfinished wood birdhouse to alter for a fall decoration.

I started with a base of light blue acrylic paint to match the mixer in their kitchen.  DD#1 took one look and said "Isn't her mixer more of a greenish color?" AHHHH! So on went a coat of Bahama Blue acrylic paint which is a cross between mint and turquoise.  This was deemed closer to the shade of the mixer. The roof was painted with Antique Copper metallic acrylic paint and the base was painted espresso brown.

I glued a large piece of aluminum foil to some printer paper, then cut the pieces to fit the dimensions of the roofs.  These were painted with the antique copper paint, set off to dry, then ran through the Fancy Fan embossing folder. It made a pretty cool shingle-like pattern.  I added some bahama blue accents to the foil roof to give the oxidation effect.  The blue/green house was given a generous coat of clear rock candy crackle paint to age the paint job to match the roof.  When the crackling was finished, I brushed on some crumb cake ink to fill in the cracks and age it a bit more.

My final touches were adding a few punched leaves in pumpkin pie, real red, and chocolate chip dsp. and some buttons.  I rubbed a little of the copper paint onto two vintage buttons and threaded some coastal cabana bakers twine through the holes.

The ultimate compliment came when DH declared the house to be really cool! He couldn't believe that I made the roof. :)  

Whether you prefer Spring or Fall, I hope you will join us in this month's challenge.  We would love to see your creations!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a fantastic week!

Flashback Friday and a little Christmas too!

Wow! Posted twice in one week!! That hasn't happened in a little while!  I am also happy to say I used up a bit more of the stash of older Christmas papers to make a few more Christmas cards!

Once again, the card is quite basic and was quick to create.  Hopefully, there will be a bit more free time soon for me to make something a little more time consuming.

This was as simple as cutting a piece of dsp, adding ribbon and a punched sentiment.  Then a metal button from a collectables/antiques store was threaded with some bakers twine and glued to the ribbon.  Easy peasy!

As the title of the post hints, the dsp is very retired and now there is only a little bag of scrap pieces left!  I may have to come up with a little something to use them so I can say I completely used the whole pack!

We have a busy schedule for the next few weeks, but I do have a couple of posts scheduled so there will be a little activity on my blog anyway.  I am hoping there will be some free time for me to visit blogs!  Somehow, there never seems to be enough hours in the days this school year!  I hope you find plenty of time to be creative and have a wonderful weekend!

Card Recipe: Paper-chocolate chip, whisper white, Ski Slope dsp (ret), Ink-chocolate chip, Stamp Set-Good Greetings, Accessories-real red stitched ribbon, cherry cobbler bakers twine, decorative label punch, metal button from stash

Now, how did that happen?!

Hello! I am so glad you stopped in today, and even happier that you haven't given up on my poor neglected blog!  Since school began, I have not been able to squeeze much creative time into my life, but I think things are finally starting to gel into a routine.  

My girls and I were recently talking about upcoming events and they mentioned Halloween.  I laughed and said we had plenty of time until Halloween was here...Ummm...Hellooooo! It's the middle of October!! Now, how did THAT happen?!  I don't usually make Halloween cards, so no worries about being behind on cards, but that does mean that the C word is just around the corner...

As luck would have it, I had a bit of free time last week to make a few cards, and I will be sharing them over the next few days.  I decided that I really need to use up my older papers before buying anything new for Christmas!  I made good progress last year, but there is still quite a bit there. Maybe by the time I finish scrapbooking Christmas, it will be gone!

Today's card is pretty simple in design because the paper had such a bold stripe pattern.  It might be a little difficult to see, but the banner is actually three dimensional.  I scored the strip on either side of the sentiment so it would pop up a bit.

Not much more to say about this one-pretty basic!  

We recently had a family reunion at a local park with a beautiful walking trail.  The leaves are just beginning to change and I managed to get a few nice pictures when DD#1 and I went for a walk.

Well, that's all I have to share for today.  Hopefully, I will get another post up soon so my poor blog won't feel so lonely!  Have a wonderful and creative day!

Card Recipe: Paper-old olive, whisper white, Holiday Treasures dsp (ret), Ink-chocolate chip, Stamp Set-Good Greetings, Accessories-circle framelits, scallop circle punch