Halloween Banner

Cats and Bats and Ghosts (no Rats or Elephants)

My sister and nephew love to celebrate Halloween.  I made a banner for them to help decorate the house, but I forgot to post it in October.  Better late than never! 

The Lawn Fawn Stitched Party Banners are perfect for a project like this.  I used the smaller banner and the circle included in the set.

Interactive Slider Halloween Card

Sunny Studio Stamps Slider Die

This year I am really drawn to Halloween products and I'm using them like crazy.  For this card, I combined the Sunny Studio Stamps Slider die with the Halloween stamps from Catherine Pooler Designs and Halloween-themed dies from Lawn Fawn.  The front panel is Kraft cardstock stamped with the Going Batty background stamp (CPD) using Versafine Black Onyx ink and then embossed with clear Wow embossing powder.  Then I die cut the panel using the interactive slider die (Sunny Studio).

The bat dies are from the Lawn Fawn Tiny Gift Box Bat add-on set.  I love this little guy!  The black cardstock I used for the card is Gina K Designs Black Onyx.  The grey and white paper pieces are from my scrap bin and the orange sparkle cardstock that I used for the bat's wings and feet is from the Lawn Fawn Autumn Sparkle Cardstock pack.

The sentiment strip (cut by hand), and the sentiments and images used under the slider tab, are from the Everything But the Broom stamp set by Catherine Pooler Designs.  I also stamped a "pull here" sentiment from the Lawn Fawn Push Here stamp set to let the recipient know that this is an interactive card.

I stamped the sentiments and images in Versafine embossing ink and embossed them with clear Wow embossing powder.  It's hard to capture in the pictures, but it shows up well in person.

Above and below show the slider at various stages of movement.

The sentiment and images on the inside of the card adds to the cute Halloween mood of the card.  Boo!  (Everything But the Broom)

Happy Halloween Witchy Lady!

Haunted Halloween Scene

These images were stamped in silhouette, using Midnight ink by Catherine Pooler Designs, on a Distress Oxide ink blended background.  The ink blended background was spritzed with water from a Distress Sprayer and dabbed with a paper towel.  The Halloween images are from the Spooky Hollow stamp set by Catherine Pooler Designs - CPD had a really fun Halloween release this year!

The card base is Nina Kraft cardstock with rectangles of patterned paper added underneath the box for a pop of colour.  The purple argyle paper is from the Sunny Studio Stamps Preppy Prints 6 x 6 paper pack.

The pop-up box and the bat are both from Lawn Fawn.  The box is the new Mini Pop-Up Box and the Bat is the Tiny Gift Box Bat add-on, also from the latest release.   The Bat add-on includes all the dies you need to create the cute little bat as well as the pop up banner.  The sentiment I used on the banner if from Lawn Fawn's Pick of the Patch stamp set.

This little bat is so adorable!  I used Gina K Designs Black Onyx paper for the box and face, with scraps of grey and white to create the detail.  The sparkle cardstock for the wings comes from Lawn Fawn's Autumn Sparkle Cardstock.

A close-up of the great sentiment from the Spooky Hollow set!  "Witchy lady" - it's so fun!

Clean and Simple Bithday Card

Using Christmas Themed Items for Other Purposes

The new Concord & 9th Christmas release is incredible, as their holiday releases always are.  But, I needed a birthday card fairly quickly and this release had just arrived in my mailbox.  So, here’s my take on a birthday card using images and dies from Christmas-themed sets.

I started by taking a short “diamond” border die and placing it in my MISTI.  Each time that I changed colours, I moved the card panel upward half an inch which gave me an even distribution over the panel. 

I decided to use a rainbow colour palate of Catherine Pooler Designs inks to make a bright background the star of the show.

Once the stamped panel was complete, I die cut it using the largest sized die in the Small Rectangle Stackable dies.  I then cut a scrap of Bazzil Bling cardstock, to place behind the stamped panel, in blue for the full sized card front panel.  I used the A2 sized Rectangle Stitched Stackable die from Lawn Fawn’s large set of rectangle stackable dies to match the pattern on both panels.  Next, I die cut the Holly Jolly banner die from a scrap of dark pink Bazzil Bling cardstock and stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment using Versafine Onyx Black ink.  I had to stamp the sentiment more than once because the cardstock was textured.  My MISTI is one of my favourite cardmaking tools, and this is why - it makes cardmaking so much easier.

I adhered the banner using three layers of 3M foam tape, for the popped-up section, and Lawn Fawn glue tube for the base parts that attach to the card.

The sentiments are from the Reverse Confetti Birthday Wishes stamp set.  I used the "So Many Candles.  So Little Cake" on the inside.

Interactive Reveal Wheel Halloween Card

Reveal Wheel Card

The Reveal Wheel die set by Lawn Fawn is simple and well designed.  I love that it is so easy to use.

I die cut two panels with the largest die in the set and used the pumpkin-shaped insert die to create the reveal wheel hole.  On the front panel I used paper from the Lawn Fawn Knit Picky Fall 6 x 6 paper pack, cut to the appropriate shape using the panel die.  The green paper is my "grass" and the orange paper is the "sky". I love everything about Lawn Fawn products, but how great is this paper?  The Pick of the Patch stamp set and matching dies are a great Halloween and fall-themed set that work perfectly with this interactive card die set.

I coloured the spinning wheel, inside the embossed line, with the same Copic markers that I used to colour the pumpkins.  Then I stamped several of the faces on the spinning wheel to show through the pumpkin-shaped image.  I coloured several squirrels and their accessories to include in my scene.  Putting the scene together was so much fun!

How great are the faces in this set!

Check out the great little details that Lawn Fawn puts in their die sets (that cute little arrow) and the stamp sets (that happy little squirrel and the lid for the pumpkin).  How can you not love Lawn Fawn?

Halloween Shadow Box Tunnel Card

Ghosts, Bats and a Black Cat

The Spellbinders Large and Small Die-of-the-Month Kits for September 2018 had a Halloween theme.  Yay!  I used the dies from the Small Die set, along with others in my stash, to create this card.

All of the panels for the card are ink blended using Distress Oxide inks in Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord and Black Soot.  They were then given some texture using water, a Distress Sprayer and a paper towel to blot the sprayed water.  On the front of the card, the bats and the ghosts are from the Spellbinders Small Die set.  The fence is a die from a recent release from Lawn Fawn.  The spider, spider web and the sentiment are stamps from the Everything But the Broom stamp set by Catherine Pooler Designs.

In this close-up of the inside you can see the layers in the box card.  On the layers I added die cut embellishments, including the sentiment, from the Spellbinders Small Die set.  I tucked the spooky cat between the fences and added the cute little ghost to the side of the panel to make it look like he's peeking out.  The tree and headstone images on the back panel were stamped using Midnight ink from Catherine Pooler Designs.  I used two sizes of circle punch by Stampin' Up! to cut the moon out of gold glitter paper from the Lawn Fawn Autumn Glitter Paper collection - after the larger circle was cut, I used the smaller circle to cut the crescent shape.  It took a couple of tries to get the look I wanted.

Isn't he a cute and happy looking ghost?  That's why I like him so much!

Above is a panned out view of the card.  Notice that I added the ornate skull-topped piece to the top of the card.  I wanted it to look like the entrance to the graveyard.

Pocket Scrapbooking Cards

Camping Theme

Have you ever thought of making your own pocket scrapbooking cards?  I have a lot that I've purchased, but sometimes they just aren't exactly what I want for my layout.  I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, but I've started making some of my own cards.  I have a ton of great background stamps, camping stamps and stencils that I can use for this purpose.  And, I have the Lawn Fawn dies for pocket scrapbooking - they create the perfect size of card, both large and small.  All you have to do is die cut, stamp, stencil and embellish.

For this set of cards I used Warm Cocoa ink by Gina K Designs to stamp the MFT In the Wilderness background stamp on Gina K Designs' Fresh Asparagus cardstock.  I added accents on the larger cards with a strip of Kraft cardstock, also by Gina K Designs.  When I'm ready to use the cards, I can add a sentiment or short description to that section.

Same design and cardstocks (in reverse) for this set, but I used dark green ink to stamp the SSS Tree Background stamp on the Kraft cardstock.  It seemed appropriate for trees.

For this set, I used the Holiday Foliage stencil from Newton's Nook as the pattern and applied green and brown distress inks, using a sponge dauber, to the leaves and pine cones.  The cardstock for the base is Kraft by Gina K Designs and the large card is accented with Dark Chocolate cardstock cut with the Forest Border Lawn Fawn die.

The cardstock base in this set is Honey Mustard (GKD) and I used  Tim Holtz Mini Stencil 32 with blending ink to create the tree pattern.  As I have the mini stencil, I had to overlap and repeat my blending several times on the larger cards to fill the entire panel.

In each set I tried to make vertical and horizontal cards in both the 4 X 6 and 2 X 3 sizes.  Some sets I used both sides of the card and made a vertical pattern on one side and a horizontal pattern on the other.  This way, the cards will fit with whatever layout style I choose.

Another tree-based set of cards using the MFT In the Woods stencil, distress ink blending and Honey Mustard (GKD) cardstock.

These background stamps by Impression Obsession, called "Rocks" and "Stones", create very realistic backgrounds.  These will be great for layouts of camping trips where we take the puppies down to the river.  I love the detail in these stamps.

This is a great stamp by So Suzy Stamps ("Hammock") and I thought it would be fun to incorporate into my scrapbook.  My husband and I received hammocks for Christmas one year and we use them for reading and relaxing while we are camping, so this stamp is perfect!  Again, a vertical and a horizontal version.  Simple cards with only the stamp, in Versafine Onyx Black ink, on plain Gina K Designs Kraft cardstock.

Die Cut Balloon Cards

A Great Way to Use Scraps

I have a TON of cardstock scraps.  Scraps that I just can't part with because they are good quality cardstock and I'll eventually find a use for them.  Well, I found a use for them.  I made a set of birthday cards with die cut balloons on the front.

The Lawn Fawn Party Balloons Lawn Cuts dies are great for this card design.  There are a variety of shapes and sizes of balloons, as well as balloon strings and dies that allow you at add a highlight to the balloon (which I did not use here).

I cut a whole bunch of balloons in different sizes using the traditional balloon and traditional round balloon shapes.  This is something you can do while you watch TV.

But, the die cuts looked boring.  So, I pulled out a variety of old embossing folders (Stampin' Up!, Lifestyle Crafts, Taylored Expressions, Sizzix, Richard Garay, Design Objectives and a couple that are unmarked) and added embossed patterns to the balloons. 

Next, I die cut a bunch of balloon strings.  Once my images were all cut out, I arranged them on the front of my card in a pattern that seemed to work. 

Again, I thought the design looked boring.  And again, I decided to pull out my embossing folders to add some texture - this time to the card panel. 

Once I was happy with the card panel, I adhered it to the card base and added the balloons and balloon strings.  I then cut by hand some simple banners and rectangles, appropriately sized to fit on my card, and added a birthday sentiment with some Versafine Black Onyx ink. 

Below is a view of all of the cards together.

Lawn Fawn Birthday Cards

Birthday Cards for my Stash

My birthday card stash was a little low, so I thought I would make some cards that could be used for a variety of ages.  Since I absolutely love my Lawn Fawn stamps and dies, I thought I would use those products and make multiple cards in the same style.  I also used two different background colours, both of which can be used for either male or female recipients.

The side-fold card base is made from Lawn Fawn cardstock in Peacock (above) or Chili Pepper (below).  I cut the Quilted Backdrop die cut cover plate out of Neenah Solar White 80lb cardstock and layered it on the card base using my Lawn Fawn glue pen.  

The coloured images are from the Simply Celebrate stamp set, which I stamped in Momento Tuxedo Black ink (because it is Copic friendly).  Next, I coloured the images in rainbow colours with my Copic markers and die cut the images with the matching dies set.  I then popped the images up onto the card front using dimensional adhesive.

The last step was to stamp a sentiment, using Versafine Onyx Black ink, onto banner strips that I had cut and fish tailed by hand.  To keep the banners from blending into the background, I cut small pieces of cardstock that matched the card base and glued those pieces to the back of the banners.  The sentiment strips were then adhered to the card, also with dimensional adhesive.

I love the images in the Simply Celebrate set and very much look forward to making more cards using the holiday version!

75th Birthday Card

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A die set that I couldn’t wait to use – the Altenew Layered Plaid cover dies.

The sentiment is from the Happy Everything Lawn Fawn stamp set, stamped on a Bannertastic stamped (and die cut) sentiment strip.  I used Louie’s 123 dies to cut the numbers.

Advent calendar

I created advent calendars for my nephew and one of my friends this year. 

I got the idea from the Lawn Fawn blog and used Lawn Fawn products.  The tiny gift box die is perfect for the little boxes and I cut them out of Knit Picky and Armoire papers.  I topped it with Lawn Fawn Puffy Star die cuts that I cut out of scrap paper and coloured gold with Spectrum Noir gold sparkle pen.

Cards for my nephew to give as gifts

My nephew is in grade one this year and two of his friends have moved away.  Both are big changes in his life.  I asked him if he would like me to make some cards to send to his friends and he liked that idea, so I am going to send him a set of cards with his Valentine's Day card.  Pictures and details of the cards are below.

Cute Birdies

I used the Concord & 9th Birdie Banners and Alpha Bits sets for both cards and, on the card on the right side, I added a tree from the Gina K. Designs set Friends 'til the End.  I stamped with a variety of Lawn Fawn inks and used Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Markers to draw the grass and colour the wings and tail on the birds.  The clouds were blended in using Distress Ink and the My Favorite Things mini clouds stencil.  The last step was to score a line around the edge of the front of the card.

Cute critter cards

These one-layer cards were made using the Gina K. Designs stamp set Friends 'til the End.  I stamped the images on the left card with Momento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured the images with Chameleon coloured pencils.  The card on the right was stamped using a combination of Lawn Fawn coloured inks and Momento Tuxedo Black ink.  The owl was coloured with coloured pencils and the grass was drawn in with a Ranger Distress marker.  I masked the owl with a trimmed post-it note and blended the clouds onto the card panel using Ranger Distress ink and the MFT mini cloud stencil.  The last step was, again, to score a line around the edge of the card.

Airplane cards

One of my nephew's interests is things that fly so I used this cute Lawn Fawn set, Plane and Simple, to stamp and die cut the images.  They were coloured with Copic markers and adhered to a card panel that was embossed using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Cloud Backdrop (Landscape) after being cut down to size with the second largest die from the Lawn Fawn 4-bar sized Stitched Rectangle Stackables.

Buzy Bees

The cute little bees from the Honey Bee stamp set Build-a-Bee set make me smile.  I hope they make my nephew smile, too.  I coloured the bees with Copic markers, embossed the coloured card panel with a Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder and used a sentiment on the inside from the Honey Bee Bee-You-Tiful Sentiments set.

Monster Truck cards

And, since he loves them, I had to make a couple of cards with monster trucks that he could send to his friends.  The notecard is a 4-bar sized Lawn Fawn card and the panel was cut with the second largest of the 4-bar sized Stitched Rectangle Stackables and embossed with the Stitched Cloud Backdrop (Portrait).  The grass and the label were also both Lawn Fawn dies. The trucks are from the Your Next Stamp set called "Got Mud?" and were coloured with Chameleon coloured pencils.

Valentine Card for my nephew

I made a Valentine’s Day Card for my nephew using monster trucks, which he loves.  Your Next Stamp has the perfect stamp and die set:  Got Mud?  I stamped all three monster trucks in the set, coloured them with Copic markers and die cut them to layer on my card.

I wanted to make an interactive type of card, so I used the Lawn Fawn Hillside pop-up die.  To decorate the front of the card I started by cutting a white card panel with the largest Lawn Fawn Inside Out Rectangle die.  The Copic airbrush system created the look of a sky in the background.  I then embellished with the cloud and sun dies from the Lawn Fawn Spring Shower set to create a scene for one of the trucks.

On the inside of the card I used blue coloured cardstock for the sky, embellished with the same cloud and sun dies.  The grassy hillsides were cut using the Grassy Hillside borders add-on die that coordinates with the hillside pop-up die.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts and the mud splatter stamps are part of the YNS Got Mud? stamp set.  The last step was to use my Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen to jazz up the clouds a bit.

Let’s hope he likes his card!