October C.A.T.S. from Gail

WOW, I must share this awesome swap I received from my C.A.T.S. (Card and Tag Swap) partner Gail. When I opened the envelope I was in total awe. First up, she created this Frankenstein slider card. The black CS is embossed with a spider web design....cool.


When I pulled the tab, up went Frankenstein and the Halloween sentiment appeared. Neat!

Gail also made this folded tag. Can you see the embossed webs. They're so deep and crisp.

She cleverly included two tea bags inside. Awesome! Hmm, which one should I drink first??? They both look "deelish."

And Gail topped it off with some stickers and a neat tag.

THANK YOU GAIL. I know you put your heart into your creations and you made my day!!!

Rolling Out the Christmas Cards

I'm so excited to share with you today my very first of several Christmas card designs that will be sent to family and friends this holiday season. In past years, I made a whole bunch of one design. This year, I just couldn't decide on "just one" so I thought I'd create a few of several different designs.

Aren't these penguins cute and cozy in the sparking snow? It's from Penny Black's "Mimi's Christmas" set. The white glitter paper (snow) is by Doodlebug from Island Scrapbooking. The blue background is embossed with the snowflake embossing folder by Darice from Ben Franklin Crafts. Why not add more shimmer....so I added the sparking tree. I topped it off with twine by Jillibean, snowflake buttons (shank removed) by Dress It Up, "Keep Cozy" stamp by TGF in a "Grommet tag" by Spellbinder.

It's been a while since I last entered a challenge. Thought I'd enter this card in the Lollipop Crafts Challenge #54 "Embellish It" that requires 3 embellies. If you'd like to join in the fun, click here for the deets.

Here's a peek at the inside. Sentiment is by Hero Arts.

And here are the 6 cards I made.....of course, one is for my collection. :-)

Thanks for stopping by and HAVE A SCRAP HAPPY DAY!!! :-)

C.A.T.S. Swap for October

WOOOO-HOOOO, TGIF.....sigh. I can relax my brain this weekend. New program at work did a job on my brain cells. LOL.

I want to share this card I made for Gail, my October C.A.T.S. (Card and Tag Swap) partner. I'm not really into Halloween so I don't have a big collection of Halloween stamps. So I tried to make do with some oldies but goodies. First of all, I created a background with spider webs and distressed the edges. Since my stamps were tiny, I thought I'd sorta create a scene inside a circle then cut a piece off the bottom.

How do you like my "broken" fence? The only fence punch I have is the one by Martha Stewart. I wanted it to look old and scary so I cut off parts of it. Looks kinda creepy huh?

Hey, did you notice I zig-zagged the edge of the orange CS? If you read one of my previous posts, I mentioned that my junky old Pfaff was "going" and I couldn't do any zig-zag stitches on that machine because the thread kept cutting. Well, I finally brought in my mom's Viking (thought it was a Singer) only to find that the foot petal and cord for the outlet were missing. OMG, where in the world could it be???? I hunted for them with no luck then called Discount Fabric Warehouse but the cord is no longer available. And the foot petal cost about $95. YIKES!!! But that wouldn't do me any good without the cord. I hope hubby didn't dump it. I'll have to continue my search. :-)

Anyhoo, I decided to try my the zig-zag on my Pfaff again with a different color thread AND IT WORKED. I guess the other thread must've been "junk." Anyway, for now, I'm a happy camper knowing that at least I can use my oldie machine for that stitch. :-) :-) :-)

Other supplies for the card: Large webs, bats, and cat stamps by Hero Arts, grass punch by Martha Stewart, distress ink, Spellbinder dies, small webs and Halloween stamps (no name on stamps).

Here's the tag...

Supplies for the tag: Stamp (no name), word punch by Stampin' Up with a piece cut off, Copics, "To / From" stamp by Magenta, buttons from Walmart, carpet thread, distress ink, sheer ribbon (no name), and orange/yellow ribbon by Offray.

If you'd like to join in the fun swapping and making new friends who share the same interest, click here to see the deets from Joy's blog.

Hope you all have a fun, relaxing, and most of all crafting weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

October Secret Sister Swap

Woo-hoo, tomorrow is Hump Day. Can't wait for the weekend to craft. I've been keeping busy making an assortment of Christmas cards to send to family and friends. Will start posting them in a week or so.

Today, I want to share this Halloween card I made for Brandi. I was her Secret Sister for the September swap.

I got Halloween Birgitta at Island Scrapbooking a couple of weeks ago. Thought I'd make brown grass so it wouldn't look too "alive." After all, it is for Halloween. LOL

If you'd like to join in the fun swap, click here to see the deets on Kris' blog.

Other supplies: Copics, Spellbinder dies, pumpkin stamp by Impressive Stamps, flowers by Prima, Distress Ink, grass punch by Martha Stewart, and rhinestone by Element.

Happy crafting and thank you for stopping by. :-)

Make a Child Smile

Today I'd like to share some Christmas themed cards I made for the children at Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills, CA. Kris is helping her aunty fulfill her need for cards to give to the children with a doll. Isn't that a sweet idea? If you'd like to make a difference and help in this wonderful and heart warming cause, please click here to hop onto Kris' blog, then click on "Make a Child SMILE card drive" at the top to see the deets.

And here's more....

.....and more.....

...and more...

Here's all that I sent to Kris and I hope it'll put a big smile on the children's faces.

Supplies used: DP by DCWV, Smirk, Imaginisce / images and sentiments: Dandelion Designs / The Greet Farms, Pink Cat Studio / Gingerbread man - Sizzix embosslits / Copics

Thanks to stopping by and HAVE A SCRAP HAPPY DAY!!!

Hugs,

Karen :-)

Sweet Card from Danni

Hello, hello Peeps. Hope you're all getting a lot of crafting going on.

Over the weekend I received "happy mail" from Danni. She was my Secret Sister for September and sent me a this super duper cute thank you card. Oh how I totally LOVE the image from the Loli and Poppy Collection. THANK YOU DANNI, you made my day. I have it on my craft desk and keep admiring it.

If you'd like to join in the fun swap, click here to hop onto Kris' blog for the deets.

A Fun Day at Island Scrapbooking

Hey Peeps, hope you're all enjoying the LONG weekend. I hopped over to Island Scrapbooking this morning for their 8 anniversary celebration. Michele had a birthday card contest and here's the tri-fold card I entered featuring Cupcake Birgitta by CC Design. Since Birgitta is in a sitting position, I had to place her on "something." At first, I just had a brown piece of paper. That didn't look quite right so I rummaged thru my embossing folders and found one with a brick wall design by Sizzix. Ohhhh, perfect. Gee, I think I had that for about a year and this is the first time I used it. :-)
Here's what it looks like on the inside.

And here's a close up of the brick wall.

Other supplies used for the tri-fold card: Spellbinder dies, Copics, Happy Birthday stamp by Hero Arts, sentiment by Amy R stamps, DP by Reminisce, and red cardstock (Cherry Splash) from Island Scrapbooking. This cardstock is thick and very nice.

Here's a little gift I made for Michele to congratulate her on celebrating 8 years of her successful business. Of course I filled it with Kit Kats, her favorite.

Supplies used for the box: Sizzix "Carry All Box", Spellbinder dies, "Fairy Princess" by TGF, Copics, and pearls by Kaiser Crafts, and Stickles.

And finally, oohhhh, check this out. Jenny had a make 'n take. Isn't this cute?

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the rest of the long weekend. Happy crafting!!!

Hugs,

Karen

Playful Yoko

Yay, I'm so happy I got to craft this evening. It's been crazy this past week and I think I was getting withdrawals from crafting. LOL

Finally got to ink up Yoko by Sister Stamps. Though I wanted to whip a quickie card just to get "something" posted since it's been a while, I decided to distress the edges of each piece while watching Hawaii Five-O. Ohhh, I just love the effect. I also hauled my sewing machine out from the closet......I find that such a chore....LOL. I really wanted to use zig-zag stitches but the thread kept cutting....ahhhh. So until I can get my mom's spare out from the shed, it'll be just straight stitches for now. :-) Other Supplies: Embossing folder by Cuttlebug, Copics, punch by Martha Stewart, doily, DP by Dilly Dally, leaf punch by EK, fern-like leaf punch by Punch Bunch, flowers by Wild Orchids, distress ink, grass stamp by Viva Las Vegasstamps, and pearls by Kaiser Crafts.