cards

Today is the day after Thanksgiving and I thought since I am up and running early I would publish a few photos of some fall cards and projects I have done... I really miss not writing on my blog like I used to do...maybe I will start again...Always to tired, to sick, too something here lately!  

I participate in two calendar swaps each year with my online friends.  This year the month of July was my choice for the calendar tag swap on Creative Block StampersAnonymous group...the requirement is to use at least one stamp from Stampers Anon on your tags.  This #8 size tag has a background stamp and several die cuts and stencils from the Tim Holtz collection used to give a multilayer textured look.  I love bright colors and this worked for me.  I decorated the backs of all my tags with fun retro looking cut outs, We made twelve tags!

              

calendar tag backs

The second calendar swap was for the All Things Tattered and Timeworn group on IO...used to be yahoo groups but things change...  My month for this swap was the month of November!

A Halloween tag I made for a swap on the CreativeBlock StampersAnon group on Yahoo groups.  I love doing tags and cards with this group so many really talented people!

Cards I made to send to people then didn't get them sent out...  Oh well I am ahead of the game for next year!!

 So still not really tired but think I will go lay down on the sofa and see if I can get the TV to lull me back to sleep.  Enjoy your holiday weekend.

it has been a productive weekend!

I went to the doctor on Wednesday of this past week and was talked into having a steroid injection done in my left knee…the knee I broke this past Christmas morning…  I know how to do things up right is a sure think!!!  Anyway I had the injection and was amazed at how I actually didn't even feel the needle puncture my skin and secondly how fast the darn thing worked!  I walked out of the office a changed woman and I have been happily crafting ever since then.

What have I made?  Well first off I signed up for a tag swap on creativeblock-Stampers Anonymous a Yahoo Group.  I made these using mostly Ranger Ink and Stampers Anonymous products.  Ranger #8 manilla tags, various Ranger/Tim Holtz distress inks, stencils, dies, stamps, Stampin Up! Spooky Fun, Stampin Up! card stock.  I used a Martha Stewart punch for the spider and some sparkly hearts to make the hourglass!  Stampin Up! ribbon!

 Then the second thing I made was some ATC's for and Altered Tattered and Timeworn swap called WICKED.  Each tag could be the same or different but each one had to have a letter on it that spelled out WICKED!  Yes!  So much fun making these.  I used a new stamp set from Stampin'Up! called Jar of Haunts.  I stamped the jars and then used the other stamps to fill them up!  The inks are a combination of Stampin Up! and Ranger Distress Inks.  The colors I used to color in the jars are all Stampin Up! markers, Tim Holtz stencils, Spectrum Noir glitter pens, and the twine and stickers are just some I had in my stash!

 I was only suppose to make one set of 6 but ended up making two additional sets so I could make a couple Halloween Pocket Letters with them.  I had never heard of Pocket Letters until I logged on to WOYWW a few weeks ago and Nikki from Graphix and Designs was talking about PL…huh?  So I looked up Pocket Letters and decided to give it a try!  Woot!  Talk about having a lot of fun!  I think I am going to have to make some more!
Here are all of the ATC's and as you can see the two Pocket Letter pages are in 8 1/2"x11" baseball card pages/sleeves.  According to Jannete Lane Pocket Letters are a fun way to send snail mail to friends and family.  Check out her site and have some fun!

Okay I am off of here and going to go find something else to work on while my knee allows me to sit pain free…It is amazing what a little jab will do!

Halloween tags!

Once again the the creative spook sought me out and I just couldn't help but create a couple more Halloween tags.  I didn't do anything special just had some fun!  The paper is a very vanilla #5 tag sprayed with orange, yellow, purple, and red spray inks.  I stamped some Halloween designs from Inkado on the dry tag.   The raised lettering is coarse texture paste and a Tim Holtz Stencil!  Next I added some Halloween washi tape to the left side of the tag and orange tinsel and spooky lace ribbon to the hole punch.  The embellishment of the tags were a bit different. 

Same tag with a little twist...a snake goblet instead of a sentiment!  I also thought the pumpkin was a bit twitchy so I stuck a witch hat and cauldron on to the pumpkin! 

All the products used on the tags came out of my stash so I don't know who made the tape, the stickers etc...hence fun stuff!
I am trying to make something at least 4-5 times a week and I have found tags and cards to be a lot of fun again!  I think sometimes we get caught up in big projects and sweat bullets over how they should or shouldn't look/be and it takes all the fun out of it.  I am in this for the fun not the profit so I will have a large project working and not sweat the "getting it done" aspect and have fun with the tags and cards! 

Halloween Tag

 I participated in a Halloween tag swap on Creativeblock-StampersAnonymous a Yahoo group that I belong to.  I love Stampers Anonymous stamps and the fun images they have.  I used a stamp set that came out last year from Tim Holtz that has dies and stamps to match called Retro Halloween then bits and pieces from other stamp sets in his line.  I first used a sheet of card stock that was orange with orange shellaced dots and cut it to tag size before I embossed it with the spiderweb folder and distressed around it with various distress inks.  I next cut a tree using the branch tree die to put behind the skeleton and stamped spiders around on the card.  Most all the embellishments came from my stash and are Recollections from Micheal's including the crochet edging at the bottom of the tag.  the black lace is SU and the tinsel is Tim Holtz.  I made the sentiment using the Stampin'Up! punch and Tim Holtz sentiment. 

Some tags I stamped the sentiment in black and purple and others just in black.  I made the dangle fob from stuff in my stash and used an eyelet in the hole punched to support the weight. 

Halloween is beginning to be a lot of fun for me this year.  Check back and see what else I will be making this year.  I made the coaster box here and the last post was about the book box if you want to see more fun stuff I have already made! 

Trick or Treat Tags

I received a couple little goodies in the mail on Wednesday last week...A Tim Holtz strip die, the Halloween Shadows Sizzlits Die, and the Tim Holtz stamp set, Halloween Cutouts!  It was an immediate "oh my what can I do with these" type reaction when I opened the packet.  Well...here is what I did.  

I think it turned out really cute!  I masked and stenciled a big fat harvest moon on the tag in Mustard Seed Distress ink then used the fall inks to create this tag.  I stamped the trick or treaters on the tag in Archival black in then cut out all the I used all the die strip cutouts on this card!  The orange and brown card stock are some from Stampin Up!  Did you know that they now carry kraft core cardstock in 3 colors? 

 Well almost all the die cuts from the strip were used on this card but I had half the tricker treaters portion left so...  I made another tag!

I can see all sorts of possibilities with the tree, owl, and fence for use on ATC after the Halloween season is gone.  Lots of possibilities!

WOYWW #175

I would like to thank everyone for their kind thoughts and good wishes last week.  I am still having the same issues but doing better over all.  This just something I have to learn to live with and put up with flares from time to time but it really gets me down!  Anyway on to the real reason for this post!

Want to see desks in various sorts of disarray?  Click on this link and it will take you to the Land of Awes cause there is all sorts of nifty neat desks to snoop through and drool over.  Ms Julia Dunnit is the magnificent wizard in the wondrous Land of Awes and puts on a hop each Wednesday!  I have been really busy trying to get some of the swaps out that I have been doing for various groups so my desk is suffering to say the least.  I love playing with the inks and stamps but it is a real pain in the patoote to clean it all up again!! 

playing with punches, inks and glues...oh my lots of fun!

I signed up to do several swaps this month cause I wanted to stay busy and thought with a little challenge and prompting I could do anything...right!  I don't know what my problem is but nothing looks right to me and I just want to file 13 everything this week.  I have posted several different ATC on the past posts. 

A little on the spooky cutesy side.  I could not make up my mind what I wanted to do on this tag either.  BUT I persevered and kept on making it...I decided I am not going to let the Mojo go walk about I am just going to keep on playing till it kicks back in! 

Speaking of spooky!  See what I found when I went out to do a little pool work the other day!  See her abdomen is loaded with little bitty baby spiders.  This a common garden variety spider around this part of the states called a Wolf Spider.  Wikipedia  says they can be found just about anywhere in the world in one form or another.

This old girl was floating around in the pool so I rescued her and set her out to dry.  I would guesstimate her to be about 2.5-3 inched long from the tip of her hind leg to the tip of her front leg.  When we lived in Kansas City we had a Wolf Spider that lived in an old wood burner in the woods behind our house that was about the size of a cup saucer.  I exaggerate not, my DH says that I do, but this thing was huge!  It was there for years and years and had loads of babies.  The life span of a Wolf Spider is about 5 years...lots of babies.  Their bite is not particularly poisonous but they do bite and it hurts!!

Okay short and sweet...for me!  I am off to surf the web and visit a few blogs.  Have a great week!