It's been a slow week....

Sorry no posts this week -- I've been busy with the barn and Halloween coming. My daughter has a show tomorrow in preparation for the SWVJHA (South West Virginia Jumper/Hunter Association) Annual show the following weekend. She's qualified for the Pony Medal equitation final, so getting her ready for that is keeping me busy.

I'm hoping that I can find some inspiration -- and some free time! -- to stamp on Sunday.

It's a Brown Biter!

Okay, I really love this little dog hanging off the skeleton dudes' leg! He reminds me of my Jack Russells, who will hang off a stick all day if they have to.

I layered Black, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and two patterns from the Night and Day ds. The skeleton dude was embossed with black detail ep and colored with a white gel pen. The dog is also heat embossed on Close to Cocoa and pieced on top of the leg. I got the idea for the skeleton from this months' Stampin' Success.

Stamps: Twick or Tweet

Paper: Black, Pumpkin Pie, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, Night and Day ds

Ink: Versamark

Accessories: White gel pen, Bold Brights II eyelets, Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, orange 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, black detail ep, dimensionals

It was a rainy afternoon....

I color embossed the background by rubbing my Close to Cocoa classic pad across the Finial Press Texturz plate and running through a piece of Always Artichoke. I discovered that you get a heavier inking if you run a couple of extra pieces of cardstock through the Big Shot. For this card, I liked the more distressed -- dirty? -- look of having less pressure on the cs.

The oak leaves were watercolored and cut out from Lovely as a tree and layered across a piece of Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon.

Stamps: Gifts of the Earth, Lovely as a Tree, Fancy Flexible Phrases

Paper: Always Artichoke, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Vanilla

Ink: Black, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, Summer Sun, Ruby Red, Not Quite Navy, Pumpkin Pie, Always Artichoke, More Mustard

Accessories: Brads and frame from Aged Copper HPH, Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon, Big Shot, Finial Press Texturz plate, aquapainter, dimensionals

What I did today between orthodontist appointments and flute lessons ...

I'm totally feeling the love for the BS Textured Impressions folders! I applied a light coat of So Saffron on the Finial Press folder and ran a piece of Vanilla through the Big Shot. The result is a really, really cool textured piece of cs that looks like an old piece of aged textured wallpaper. It's fabulous IRL -- the scan does NOT do it justice! I don't know what the name is for this, but I think of it as 'color embossing.'

I layered Soft Suede, Ruby Red, So Saffron and More Mustard cs. The ribbon is layered 1" So Saffron twill, Soft Suede polka-dot grosgrain and Riding Hood Red taffeta. Who knew that the RHR taffeta ribbon is almost a dead-on match for Ruby Red cs?

The leaves are from Lovely as a Tree, watercolored and cut out of Vanilla cs.

Stamps: Gifts of the Earth, Lovely as Tree

Paper: Soft Suede, Ruby Red, So Saffron, More Mustard and Vanilla

Ink: Black, So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, Sahara Sand, Bravo Burgundy, Not Quite Navy, More Mustard, Ruby Red, Pumpkin Pie, Always Artichoke

Accessories: Big Shot, Textured Impressions Finial Press folder, brads and buckle from Aged Copper HPH, dimensionals, aquapainter, 1" So Saffron twill, Soft Suede polka-dot grosgrain and Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon

Techniques: watercolor

It's officially autumn!!

This is my first attempt with this set. I knew that I had to have it the first time that I opened the Holiday Mini!

I layered Always Artichoke, Elegant Eggplant, Vanilla and sheets from the Autumn Traditions ds. I thought that it looked pretty good, letting all the texture from the ds come through, but ended up running the sewing machine around the Crushed Curry ds.

I like how the muted colors of the cardstock and ds let the watercolored image pop.

Stamps: Gifts of the Earth

Paper: Always Artichoke, Elegant Eggplant, Vanilla, Autumn Traditions ds

Ink: Black, Not Quite Navy, Night of Navy, Summer Sun, Elegant Eggplant, Bravo Burgundy, Really Rust, Garden Green, More Mustard, Perfect Plum, Rose Red, Creamy Caramel, Pumpkin Pie, Mellow Moss, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive

Accessories: Aquapainter, vintage brads, Eggplant 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals, white gel pen

Frankie & Friends treat boxes!

I got the tutorial for these darling little treat boxes from the creative genius herself, Gretchen Barron. Go here for the tutorial. These treat boxes are amazingly cute and really fun to make!

I'm going away for the weekend before Halloween with a bunch of old summer camp friends and their kids. It's a rough & ready sort of weekend and a friend of mine always busts out her creative juices and has arts and crafts for the kids to do. This year, I thought that I'd take a project for them to work on, too!

There's always a pinata, so I thought that the kids could use Frankie & Friends to put their loot in.

Paper: White, Vanilla, Black, Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Almost Amethysts, Melon Mambo

Ink: Classic inks: Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Creamy Caramel Markers: Real Red, Basic Black

Accessories: Sponges, photo corner punch, medium and small oval punches, round tab punch, 1 1/4", 1 3/8", 3/4" and 1/2" circle punches, word window punch, crop-a-dile, white gel pen, Big Shot, Top Note die, Bigz XL Fancy Favor Bag die, dimensionals

Winter Post

This is an emergency swap card because I screwed up -- did this in 5 hours. Long story short, I signed up for two groups in a swap, but had a senior moment and did the same card for both groups. Duh!

It's basically a re-working of a card that I did last year, but without all the fun retired stuff like Riding Hood Red cs, the flourish and square frame from Frames with a Flourish and the striped ribbon out of last years' Holiday Mini.

Personally, I liked the original better because of the Riding Hood Red -- one of my favorite SU colors. I'm still in deep mourning.

(Baja Breeze was another favorite, but let's not go there.... Baja Breeze with Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red with Chocolate Chip. It makes me sad just to think that those faboo colors are retired.....)

The message on the Vanilla layer was done with En Francaise in Close to Cocoa by masking the area. The whole layer is overstamped with the spatter pattern from Itty Bitty Backgrounds in both Creamy Caramel and Sahara Sand. The layer is also overstamped with the snowflake from Winter Post in both Sahara Sand and Always Artichoke.

The Merry Christmas sentiment from Holiday Best is stamped in Chocolate Chip craft ink and clear embossed.

Stamps: Winter Post, En Francaise, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Holiday Best

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Vanilla

Ink: Craft ink: Chocolate Chip. Classic inks: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Always Artichoke, Sahara Sand

Accessories: Orchard ribbon originals, Chocolate taffeta ribbon, vintage brads, dimensionals, Dazzling Diamonds glitter

I finally got the extended cutting pads so I could FINALLY use the Matchbox die that I bought earlier this year! I took the birdie image pretty much from this months' Stampin' Success, heat-embossed it with black detail embossing powder, watercolored it put it on the matchbox. These are really cute, IRL.

Stamps: Twick or Tweet

Paper: Old Olive, Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Black, White, Haiku ds, Autumn Traditions ds

Ink: Black, Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango, More Mustard, Versamark

Accessories: Black detail ep, scallop circle punch, metal-edged tags, black 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals, aquapainter

Swap Hell

Yes, I'm still in Swap Hell, but I'm hoping that I will soon be done with all my Santa Swaps! Either that, or I'm going to have to find the correct authority to revoke my visa to Swap Land.....

I do have a box of SU! goodies showing up today. I'm going to get started on putting together some Hallloween treat bags and some cute little matchboxes with the "Twick or Tweet" birdie from Twick or Tweet. I FINALLY ordered the extended cutting pads for my Big Shot, so I can FINALLY use the matchbox die that I got last spring!

Nothing like a little procrastination....