Ugh! Sooo far behind...

I see that everyone is already working on Christmas/holiday cards. I’m only just getting around to making Halloween cards I want to send out this year. In fact, except for the recent Caardvark challenge card I just made, I don’t know if I’ll get around to creating new ones this year…but I hope so! Fortunately, I made several last year that I was really pleased with and plan to tweak and use again this year…keeping them in my permanent card repertoire.

I like these cards because I feel they capture…in part…the essence of “who I am,” although I’m not even sure “I” know what I mean by that! I LOVE old black and white movies and the scary flicks of yesteryear. I love Arts and Crafts homes and old children’s nursery rhymes and stories. I’m still a very modern woman, but somehow these cards feel like a favorite, but forgotten old sweater found lying at the bottom of my bureau.

This first card I call the “Bates Motel” card. Every time I look at this card (or the paper I used) I think of Anthony Perkins in “Psycho.” The DS paper is just one of several papers I spied at Joann Fabrics last year and knew immediately it could be used to make some fun cards. The paper, a 12x12 sheet, is by Die Cuts With A View and aptly titled, “Haunted House.” I used the portion of the paper with the Haunted House for this card, saving the rest for another use. I went online to get some ideas for Halloween sayings and adapted them to fit the card. I used a ‘Haunted House’ rub-on and stamped some black bats using a Martha Stewart stamp. I made one of these cards for my husband last year…since I can “every-now-and-then” be kind of witchy.

This next card I call “Creature from the Black Lagoon,” since this portion of the ‘Haunted House’ DS paper reminds me of a dark and murky lagoon. I added a ‘Happy Halloween’ rub-on and used the Martha Stewart bat stamp. I glued a portion of another DS paper (by Paper Pizzaz called “Halloween House”) to the inside base of the card. I found this wonderful saying by Dexter Kozen on the internet and typed it in WordArt.

This third card is one of my favorites, because of the poem inside by Jack Prelutsky. This is a very simple card because Mr. Prelutsky’s poem, “its Halloween”, is the true beauty of the card. I distressed orange and rust card stock, inked the edges and affixed them to a black card base. I used the MS bat stamp and added a piece of “Happy Halloween” ribbon in the same color scheme. I typed Mr. Prelutsky’s fabulous poem on cream cardstock, distressed and inked the edges.

I made these cards for the wonderful librarians at my son’s school last year and attached them to these bat and spider bags with some Halloween cookies.

Thanks for stopping by...

Caardvark Challange

So…I’ve wanted a scoring tool for some time now, but just haven’t gotten around to it yet. So I’m excited about this Caardvark challenge…although my card (and scoring) is very simple.

The idea for this card came from a book, A Creepy Countdown, by Charlotte Huck, which belongs to my son. He’s outgrown it so I now put it to good use in my pre-school classroom. After reading the book to the children, I asked the art teacher to help create an art project based on the book and she came up with this great math and sorting idea where the children color and paste the various Halloween Ghoulies (that she drew) from the book onto construction paper. I thought it was a great idea and could be adapted to make a fun Halloween card, which is pictured below. I’m not good at photo taking…thus too many photos.

The background papers are by Paper Pizazz and DieCuts With a View. The stamped images are by Martha Stewart, except for the ghost, which is from a foam set I bought last year at Michaels or AC Moore. I used the Matura MT Script to type the words. I had a lot of fun making this card!

Halloween Invite

I love Halloween and love to celebrate the day. So we’ve invited friends to a post-Halloween dinner party on November 1. I spied a really great party invitation kit by Martha Stewart at Michaels (black cardstock, white lettering, spooky-looking stamped envelopes), but I prefer to send out invites that I’ve hand crafted. So…I played with the concept and incorporated her embellishments. My headstone is wobbly and kind of goofy looking, but I like it. It’s hand-drawn using auto-shapes in Microsoft Word and using the Mael, Blackletter and Blackladder fonts.

The backside was created in a text box using the Mael font and several quotes I got off the Internet (although I think the “ghoul back to us” might be mine, but I can’t be sure.) The bat and spider web are die-cut from MS punches and the glitter sticker on the envelope front is also also by MS, which I got on sale! All-in-all, my invites may have cost the same --- or a bit more ---as MS’s kit, which was also on sale, but they’re my hand-made creations, which gives me little twitches of joy!

Thanks for looking!

Hoping to be back...

I haven’t attended to my Blog for quite some time. First, because of end of summer travel, then the start of a new school year…for all three of us: first year of middle school for our son; teaching at a new law school for my husband; and my first year as lead teacher at pre-school. How odd that we’re all three in school…in one sense or another.

My husband thinks maintaining a Blog will be too time consuming…and stressful. (I’m sure he also worries about the house and the laundry.) Secretly, I worry the same. Can I maintain the pace? There’s so much to keep up with…new techniques to learn, new supplies to want and to buy…can I afford it (both the time and the money)?

I always have ideas running through my head but I don’t always get to implement them. Time is partly the culprit but currently it’s mostly my work area being overloaded from piling everything into the room while I was getting ready for school. My craft area is on one side of our guest bedroom. While it’s a nice sized room and affords me quite a bit of space, I’ve also acquired quite a bit of supplies during the past few years. Not to mention that I save EVERYTHING! Ironic that I have a dedicated craft area, but that can't get to it to craft.

Working at the kitchen island is not optimum, so I’ve let my card making slide. But its Halloween…my most favorite card making season, besides Christmas. I’ve only had time to create one new card this season, but I plan to rectify that soon! So I hope to be back blogging (and creating) on a regular basis…