Halloweenie Cards

Just thought I would upload some cards I did recently for my LSS as samples - for Halloween. I really love this holiday. Love seeing the kids dress up and the smiles on their faces when they get cool candy or ... cool cards. LOL

This is such a great skeleton stamp from Hot Potatoes (http://www.hotpotatoes.com/). It's called Skeleton Pieces N580. After you stamp the image, you need to cut out each section and then put him back together again. I actually stamped the image and then enlarged it on my xerox to make him larger. Very cool image!!

This main image is from Outlines Rubber Stamps.

This image is from Stampendous (http://www.stampendous.com/) and it's called Pumpkin Plaque, V142. Would be cool to stamp on sticker paper too and adhere to a jar of candy.

OK folks - 1 week to go until we elect a new President. For all the elections I have voted in, I cannot remember a more important election than this one!! With that said, and, no matter which candidate you favor, please, just VOTE!! Too many people take for granted what their vote means.

In the spirit of our election, I have stamped a few things. The image used is the Statue of Liberty from The Stampsmith (http://www.stampsmith.net/). It is a beautiful rubber stamp made from a photograph. Estelle, the owner of the Stampsmith, recently explained to me that the photo was taken by a dear friend of hers from Holland who she had met on kibbutz 25 years ago. One year her friend came to the USA and took this photo of the statue and it was made into this beautiful rubber stamp. Knowing the history behind an image just makes it more special.

This card started out as a congratulations card for someone that just took his Citizen oath - another new citizen of the USA.

The above card was done for a sketch on http://stampersquest.com/. Check them out to see other cards made with the same sketch.

This started out as a white photo frame from Michael's. I added Glimmer Mist in reds and blues, the added the stars, and matted the stamped image as a photo.

Another Great Blog Candy Contest

Well, another stamp company that I love - Starving Artistamps - is having a blog candy contest. You can win some great new halloween sets they are releasing. Just head over to their blog and leave a comment. Here's a link -

http://starvingartistamps.blogspot.com/2008/09/delicious-candy-just-in-time-for.html

Good luck everyone.

Great Blog - And A Blog Give-A-Way

Blogs continue to amaze me. No matter how hard I try, I cannot get myself from blog searching. I love to click on blogs and links from blogs, to other blogs. The amount of creativity flowing in the world is astonishing.

Today I fell across a pretty neat blog - Paper Imagery Designs. If you love Stampington, Character Construction, Tim Holtz, and altered art, this is the place to stop and stay for a bit. And, Lori is having a one year anniversary blog give-a-way. So if you want a chance to win some great Halloween sheets, as well as Tim Holtz' new Halloween stamps, head over to http://paperimagerydesigns.blogspot.com/ and leave her a comment.

Tomorrow I will try to post some of my favorite foreign blogs for inspiration.

Faux Suede - My First Tutorial

Yesterday I was cruising some blogs and I came across an amazing tutorial (at least to me). The blog, Out To Impress by Julie Koerber (and, trust me, she does impress), had a great tutorial on using Liquid Applique to make faux suede backgrounds or sheets of paper. Her blog, which you must check out for yourself, is http://outtoimpress.blogspot.com/.

Thank you Julie for allowing me to get this technique out to others. This is my first tutorial so I hope it's okay and understandable. Now, on to what you need to do....

Supplies you will need are a heat gun, card stock, liquid applique, and a brayer.

Next, lay your card stock on a piece of scrap paper or craft sheet and squeeze a thick line across the middle or squeeze some all over the card stock as I did.

Then, using your brayer, roll the liquid applique across the whole card stock and cover the entire surface. It will not come out perfect and you will have imperfections. I feel this just gives it more of a suede, vintage, or distressed kinda look.

Your card should end up looking like this.

Now use your heat gun to heat the liquid applique until it is set and dry. This will not take long.

This is the finished product. I hope the photo shows the texture of the card. It will look and feel like suede. It's really cool.

Below are some samples I made. I hope you like this technique, use it, and pass it on to others.

Friendship Card

I call this my "friendship card". Paper used was the Hopsack Black & Fossil Square Card Overlay Kit from The Papercut (www.thepapercut.com). I love their papers, the different sizes they cut, and the colors.

Stamp flower image (G165 - KB's Silphium In A Jar from Endless Creations www.shopec.com). I colored the water and flowers with watercolor pencils, coated with a versamark pen, the heat embossed with clear embossing powder. It really makes the colors pop.

Wrap ribbon (from Michael's) around the black cardstock and adhere to front of card.

Stamp the phrase stamp (Flowers In Bloom, FS1119-D from Verses Rubber Stamps (www.versesrubberstamps.com). Use corner ticket punch (Stampin Up) and adhere to front of card - over ribbon.

Here is a cute and fast card. Used the Cuttlebug Stylized Flowers A2 embossing folder (www.provocraft.com), colored in with chalks, added the phrase and adhered to cardstock.

Easter Bunnies

Okay, I know it's after Easter, but I wanted to share some cards and puzzle cards I made for a coworker. All images are from Sparkle & Sprinkle, www.sparkleandsprinkle.com. They were so much fun to do - but a lot of masking to get them behind the fence.

Well, it's been a long time since I posted anything. Hmmm. As a joke, I sent an underwear ad to my good friend Heidi. Well she told me that my project for the night was to make a card with it. This is what I came up with. LOL. Brasilian penguins in their speedos!!!

Penguin stamp - Art Impressions, M-3154