Boo Banner

Another Halloween banner and this one was almost embarrassingly quick and easy to make. Once again I used flags and twine from a banner kit I bought on post-Halloween clearance at Target last year. The triangular flags are super cute with their little Halloween pre-printed story and spider web and the top edge decorated with black microbeads. The kit also included a few plastic spiders so I attached one on top of the web on the center banner panel.

To save time and effort, I used black and ivory rosettes that I picked up on post-Christmas clearance at Target. (Did I mention that I love shopping post-holiday clearance sales at Target. Yeah, it's a bit of an addiction, but who can resist when you can use this stuff to make such cute decorations?) The black and ivory color on the rosettes coordinated perfectly with the banner flags, so all I needed were some letters and some die cut circles to make the rosettes pop even more. I used circle framelits to cut circles out of basic black card stock and glitter gold paper. I also used gold glitter paper and the Sizzix Phrase Boo w/ Frame die to cut out just the letters. Because the rosettes already add dimension, I just used regular adhesives to attach the letters to the rosetttes and the various layers to the banner flags and each other.

I love the way this short banner looks hanging on the door of our antique china cabinet. It's the perfect addition to our dining room Halloween decorations.

Halloween Banner

It's been a super busy month that didn't leave me with time for stamping until this week. With Halloween coming up, this themed banner took priority. It also happens to meet this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog "Not A Card" challenge, so I will share it there.

The black banner flags and thick black and white baker's twine came from a kit I picked up last year at a post-Halloween clearance sale at Target. I love the alternating shapes and the glittered edges! (Starting with pre-made tags made the project easier, but event without the kit it wouldn't be too difficult to cut out the flag shapes from black card stock and glitter the edges using black glitter and sticky strip.)

I thought about using some of my Halloween patterned papers to make rosettes, but I wasn't in a mood to score, fold and hot glue, so I decided to go for a telescoping circle look using dimensionals. I cut out circles using the circles and starburst framelits, I used a retired SU designer paper for the largest circle, then silver glitter paper for the starburst on the next layer. The next circle was cut from black card stock and embossed using the Tim Holtz cracked embossing folder from Sizzix. The final circle layer was cut from pumpkin pie card stock and embossed with an SU spider web embossing folder.

I used chipboard letters from a retired Stampin' Up! assortment. I first used a black stampin' spot to dye them and then covered them with mono multi glue and fine black glitter. Once they were dry, I used mini glue dots to attach them to the pumpkin pie circles.

I like how festive and sparkly the banner turned out. It's the perfect window decoration in our living room.

For those curious, the backs of the lighted pumpkin trio in the transom window above the banner are decorated with retired SU Halloween décor elements.

Sparkly Halloween

I love Halloween and I love the pumpkin carving party my hubby and I have thrown every year since 1999. I also love making invitations for the party and I was super excited when I came up with this year's design. It's a fun mix of stamps, patterned paper and sparkly ribbon that is almost elegant but not stodgy, if that makes any sense. Because the ribbon is so shimmery, I'm sharing the card with this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Blog Challenge: Shimmer and Shine and also with QKR Stampede Friday's anything goes challenge.

The springboard for the design was definitely the sparkly orange sequin wired ribbon I found at the Dollar Tree. I decided to pair it up with a piece of fun retired Halloween mosaic patterned paper. I adhered both next to each other to a 4" x 5x1/4" mat of basic black card stock. Even though the mat is covered up, I needed it to wrap and hide the edges of the ribbon and hemp twine. Using SU snail adhesive on the gold wired edges of the ribbon worked perfectly to adhere it to the mat.

I used memento tuxedo black ink to stamp the sentiment from the Halloween Bash set on more mustard card stock. I added a basic black mat, rounding the corners of both layers with the small corner rounder punch. I placed the sentiment where it straddled the ribbon and designer paper and attached it with 3M double sided tape. I find that tape is plenty strong to handle the different textures of the two surfaces.

I stamped the spider image from the Piece of Poison set on Really Rust card stock with versamark ink and heat embossed it with detail black embossing powder. Even though the embossing powder isn't metallic, it still helps the spider catch the light and shimmer a bit along with the ribbon. I punched the spider out with the large oval punch and added a basic black mat punched with the scalloped oval punch. I then punched a hole in near the spider's rear end with the 1/16" hope punch and threaded a piece of black hemp twine through, securing it in the back of the basic black scalloped oval with more 3M double sided tape which also served to attach the spider to the ribbon. I ran the hemp twine up and wrapped it around the mat to look like the spider's thread.  The last step was to attach the mat to the basic black card base with yet more 3M double sided tape.

I hope you and our party guests like this year's sparkly Halloween party invite as much as I enjoyed designing it.

Recipe:

Paper: basic black, more mustard, really rust, Creepy Crawly designer series paper
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, versamark
Stamps: Halloween Bash, Piece of Poison
Accessories: detail black embossing powder, large oval punch, scalloped oval punch, small corner rounder punch, black hemp twine, orange sequin wired ribbon by Greenbrier Inc.

Jolly Christmas Stocking

It's been a busy week; the kind of busy that doesn't leave a lot of time for stamping and even less for blogging. Still, I wasn't completely unproductive. I dug out some long-forgotten stuff out of my craft stash and cranked my big shot to make some cards for this year's Christmas stash. There was very little stamping on these as most of the work was done with die cutting and dry embossing, but I'm happy with how they turned out. I know the image shows only 1 card, but there are 9 more that are identical to this one with the super cute patterned envelopes and seals to go with them. I think they will make a good impact when they arrive in our families' mailboxes this Christmas season.

It all started with me digging out an invitation kit I bought on clearance years and years ago, back when I still had some weird ambitions to throw the kinds of Christmas parties that required mailed invitations. Needless to say, the parties never materialized so it was high time to find an alternate use for these supplies. Looking at the 8.5x 5.5" patterned invitation cards, I instantly thought of the SU Holiday Stocking die which (for reasons I still don't understand) is slightly too large to use on a standard A2 card but is actually the perfect size to use on this background. I trimmed 1/8" off all sides of the invitation and attached it in the center of a 8.5x5.5" white card base. I then got a good workout on the big shot cranking out 10 stockings in real red and 10 of the top, heel and toe stocking trims in whisper white, and them embossing all of them with the Snowburst, Petals-a-Plenty and Northern Flurries embossing folders. I take no credit for my choice of embossing folders - I totally CASEd Nendy Kerr's idea, which you can find in this post on her blog. I attached all the pieces of the stocking using 3m double sided tape, adding hanger loop at the top made from a strip of red card stock, and attached the completed stocking to the card.

I stamped the sentiment from the Tags 4 You set in real red on whisper white card stock and punched it out with the label bracket punch. To add a little interest and color, I attached a green galore card stock snowflake that I die cut with a thinlit from the Snowflake Card assortment to the back of the sentiment. For me, the easiest way to center the snowflake on the sentiment was to lay the sentiment upside down, add 3m double sided tape and then center the snowflake on top of the adhesive so that little bits of the shorter snowflake "arms" extended beyond the four corners between the "brackets" on the punched shape, as shown in the photo. I then added two more strips of double sided tape on top of the snowflake so that there was plenty adhesive to attach the snowflake/sentiment combo to the top of the stocking.

I like these cards because they are impactful without being too difficult or fussy to make, they're pretty flat for mailing, and also because they helped me clear out a little space in my craft stash. When you're a supply collector (or, as my husband would put it, probably more accurately, a hoarder) like me, you have to celebrate even these little victories :).

Recipe:

Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Green Galore, Invitations from Holly and Berries invitation kit by Ampad
Ink: Real Red
Stamps: Tags 4 You
Accessories: Holiday Stockings Die, Snowburst, Petals-a-Plenty and Northern Flurries embossing folders, Label Bracket Punch, Snowflake Card Thinlits

Plumber Thank You

I was in a race to make this card today. Unfortunately, my hubby discovered that one of our toilets was leaking so we needed a visit from the plumber, which was scheduled this morning. Fortunately, the plumber is a neighbor from down the block who is really cool and has a great sense of humor. As he was working, I decided that I wanted to make him a quick thank you card. I finished it, but just barely. He works fast!

I saved time by using Cathy's  really cool sketch from this week's splitcoast sketch challenge. It's a straightforward sketch which makes it perfect to make quick cards - I love it.

I embossed about half of the front of the kraft card base with the Measuring Tape embossing folder by Sizzix and added a piece of retired SU designer paper to the other half. (This scrap of designer paper is so old - it dates back to when SU sold single sided designer paper - wish I could remember what it was called). I found another scrap of retired SU designer paper for the center rectangular panel and mounted it on a mat of dusty Durango card stock before attaching both to the card front. I stamped the tools and saying form the Guy Greetings set on a scrap piece of manila folder in soft suede ink and die cut it with a framelit from the starburst assortment, attaching it to the card front with dimensionals. Finally, I stamped the sentiment form the Plane and Simple set on another scrap of manila folder and punched it out with the word window punch before mounting it on a mat made of a piece of not quite navy card stock punched with the modern label punch.

It's a pretty simple card but I think our neighbor will appreciate it, especially knowing it was made while he was working. I had fun making it and this was the best reason to make a card, even if I had to rush.

Recipe:

Paper: manila folder, dusty durango, not quite navy, SU retired designer papers, kraft card base from Neutral Smooth A2 cards and envelopes assortment by Darice
Ink: Soft Suede
Stamps: Guy Greetings, Plane and Simple
Accessories: Starburst Framelits assortment, word window punch, modern label punch, measuring tape embossing folder by Sizzix