I put a spell on you…

A very simple card created for the current HA’s photo challenge.

I don’t normally like to post photos of my family, but this photo is so old and I’ve always thought it was so cute.

I have Halloween on the brain and the phrase, “I put a spell on you” popped into my head.

I used the HA’s clear designs fanciful swirls alphabet set to create the phrase and Heidi Grace Halloween clear stamps for the inside.

I really enjoyed creating a card with photos will be doing more of it…so thanks Hero Arts for the fun challenge!

Thanks for stopping by…

This is what happens…

when you’ve been away from crafting for too long.

So…I was all a twitter about this week’s Hero Arts Challenge using photos as the background.

Our photos are still packed in a box somewhere, so I decided I’d use one of the vintage photos I’ve picked-up at estate sales, etc. and saving for special occasions.

I couldn’t find those either, but did happen up an old postcard I thought might work and this is what I did with it…


So, lucky me…I’m creating my card, feeling pretty good about it. I go to pick-up my laptop to write my post and that’s when I realized…I haven’t used any HA stamps!!!!

Ugh!

Silly me! I used rub-ons, which I love, instead. Completely got carried away and forgot.

Don’t know if I can go back and add a stamp or, if I can use a HA stamp…inside.

Does that count?


Anyway…getting back to the card I did create---the writing on the bottom of the card is actually what’s written on the back of the postcard. I copied it before adhering the postcard to the background card stock.

The bats are a stamp by MS, the headstones and the ghost are confetti and the broom is probably from Michaels and something that I’ve had for some time.

Back to the drawing board…Jeez!

BTW: I got the idea to use the vintage photos (and postcards) from some really Fab altered vintage photos cards I saw in the most recent Somerset Studio’s The Art of Paper and Mixed Media.

If you haven’t yet seen this issue, check it out!

Thanks for peeking…

Caardvarks Sketch Challenge #5

So yesterday I finally jumped in and entered my first challenge in some time.

Today, I figured I’d stay the course and enter another Caarvarks challenge with this sketch designed by Heidi Van Laar...

This sketch said “Christmas” to me. Unfortunately, most of my Christmas ephemera and embellies are patiently waiting (somewhere as yet unbeknownst to me) in a box in the lower level of my new home.

This sketch said “Christmas” to me. Unfortunately, most of my Christmas ephemera and embellies are patiently waiting (somewhere as yet unbeknownst to me) in a box in the lower level of my new home.

So I went with my other most favorite theme…Halloween!

This card isn’t anything like what I started with, but I think we all know how that goes…

Not sure if this meets the specifications of Heidi’s sketch…

The “Boo” is actually the cardboard packaging from a Wilton Cookie cutter. I was going to trace the cookie cutter onto cardstock, cut it out and embellish, when I thought…”Hey. Why not just use the packaging since it’s so colorful?”

I also figured “Boo” could serve a dual purpose…the curved shape and the greeting.

I usually like to finish the inside of my cards, as I did here...


Thanks Caardvarks, and Heidi, for another great challenge…and for helping to get me back on the horse.

Caardvarks Sketch Challenge #4

[Edited to Add: Not sure if it fits but also submitting to the Papertake Weekly Challenge #24...first time submitting to Papertake.]

It’s been months since I entered any challenges. I’ve mentioned before that we just made a major move from the East Coast to Wyoming and I’m just now starting to surface after a 4 month hiatus.

Anyway, thought I’d try and get back on the proverbial horse and give this sketch challenge a try.

I’m still unpacking, so it’s frustrating trying to craft when things are out of order…but at least I’m crafting!

I find I have a hard time with sketch challenges…not sure why, but I find I get “crafter's block” when trying to interpret a sketch.

But here it is…my attempt at Wednesday’s challenge…


Designer papers are all from a DCWV Safari Kids Stack that I bought back home in Virginia before we moved but never got around to using. The little gems are from Martha Stewart.

I also decorated the inside of the card but can't get my photo to post horizontal, a problem I seem to have quite a bit.

Oh well...

It was night when I made my card, so the colors are off.

Thanks for looking…

Something old---but new to me!

Saw this cute idea in the pages of the newly hatched GreenCraft magazine from Stampington & Company.

I LOVE this magazine! I can’t wait for the next issue, but until then… there are so many wonderful and creative ideas to (hopefully) keep me occupied until then.

And I just loved the “The Magic of Mini” (pgs. 14 &15) creations by Becky Shander, wherein she used inexpensive peat pots to create tiny gift baskets.

I was so intrigued by her little treat baskets that I went right out to Ace Hardware and bought me a stack of these little pots. 50 for $4.99…what a bargain!

(Just for the record, I also enjoyed the miniature eggs baskets by Angela Harris as well, and will also need to give those a try.)

So…while rummaging around in my current mess of a craft room---since I still have yet to unpack many of my craft boxes from our recent move out West---I spied a package of pink and lime green princess crowns that I bought on sale over a year ago.

Hmmm...

This is what I came up with while I was waiting for my boys to return from bb practice last evening.

I know…very simple…but simple is really what I do.

Great for giving little chocolates!

I have since learned that using peat pots for a variety of crafting treats has been around for some time…case in-point: a Martha Stewart video I found last evening where she made peat pot Easter Baskets back in 2001!

Oh well…

They may be old hat to you all---but they’re new to me…and I plan to have some fun with them!

Thanks for stopping by…

Spoiled (& a crude, quick & dirty holiday tag)…

I may have posted earlier how I've been spoiled…craft store wise. I had no less than 6 craft and craft/fabric stores (Michaels, AC Moore, The Paper Source, Pearls, G Street Fabrics and Joann Fabrics) within a 5-10 mile radius from my home in Arlington, VA.

Now…I have 3 stores (Hobby Lobby, Michaels and Joann Fabrics) within a 47 to 55 mile radius from my home in Laramie, Wyoming and all… over the mountains in Cheyenne, Wyoming or Fort Collins, Colorado. Remember, I’m a city girl (even though Virginia does have its rolling hills).

So what’s a gal…who isn’t (yet) comfortable cruising along a two-lane highway or alongside Big Mac trucks flying down the Interstate, all at 75 to 80 mph…to do???

Instead of AC Moore, I’ve been cruising the aisles of Ace Hardware and True Value!! And what have I found? Options, baby. Options!

It’s amazing what a gal can do…when a gal has to do what a gal has to do…to get her crafting fix!



A (very) quick and dirty holiday “tag” I pulled together yesterday using some of my Ace Hardware buys, including a 1/18” thin piece of Balsa plywood from Midwest Products.

I got the idea while thinking about the upcoming craft bazaar I signed up for at the University Wyoming (UWYO) in early December. This will be my very first craft fair and I’m wondering…”What the heck was I thinking!!!!” I’m incredibly nervous, yet excited! I have several ideas floating in my head, some past creations and some new ones.

Backside of card, which I know doesn't really fit with the front.

Close-up of the front. I used a page from one of the many books that we were going to donate but that I decided to keep for my crafting purposes. This page is from an old Spanish dictionary. I accidentally stamped on it upside down!

My holiday tag is messy and crude and needs LOTS of tweaking…but it uses my Ace purchases (the Balsa plywood and garden jute) and some really old beads from another era…like almost 20 years ago! I plan to stamp on the wood itself, which I’m sure has been done before, to create an outdoorsy, natural look that I’m hoping might appeal to buyers at the UWYO craft bazaar.

My piece of Balsa wood is approximately 3”x35” and cost $1.65. I figure I can get anywhere from 6 to 8 tags from one piece of wood…plus it’s smooth, which means no need for a whole lot of sanding. Nice!

Thanks for stopping by…

Working my way back…

It’s been a long three months since my last post from…Arlington, Virginia.

Since then, we’ve packed up and moved cross country to…Laramie, Wyoming.

We arrived in Wyoming mid-August and I’ve been unpacking hundreds of boxes and trying to get 0ur new home in order. It’s coming along…slowly.

We’ve lost square footage and lots of built-ins, but it’s a nice house and…I have my own craft room! My room is in the basement but (a really nice finished basement and) here in Laramie most of the new homes have half the house in what is called…the lower level. And it’s an entire room…whereas in our home back in Arlington, I had only half of our guest bedroom.

I have yet to unpack everything (and I lost storage space…2 dressers that we didn’t move with us) and yesterday afternoon I realized that I’m missing all my x-mas stuff. Yikes! I thought the movers had moved all my stuff into the craft room. So I need to go…box hunting.

There’s so much I’ve missed the past three months---so here’s to working my way back…