As promised... Halloween cards made using the scraps of paper from my projects. I was amazed at the variety of Halloween stamps I've accumulated when I pulled them from my shelves. It was fun to match images with paper. The three pumpkins on the card in the upper left corner were cut out of small scraps of Designer Series Paper using the new Oval Medium punch. I can tell I'm going to use this punch a lot! The ribbon you see on the cards in this first photo was some I picked up at the big box craft store. I was sure it was going to match Handsome Hunter. Well, it did not. So, it's been sitting around a long time. One of the reasons I decided to convert my ribbon stash to strictly stamping up. I got tired of having ribbons that just didn't match. And once I ordered from SU! I realized you get so much more ribbon on their spools than anywhere else. Just a better bang for your buck in so many ways! Don't want a whole spool of ribbon? I'm happy to do ribbon swaps; you get a share of lots of colors that way.

The ghost is made using the Owl Punch (as is the owl, obviously!) and trimming off the feet. Some cards went together really quickly. The idea just seemed to pop but others were a struggle. I'm still not happy with the one with large scallop circles. Suggestions, anyone?

The "starburst" is really using scraps. This was the last card I made and it was just grabbing all those little retangles that usually go into the paper recylcing and trimming them a bit and taping them down around a scallop circle.

The grey "rick rack" strip was made using the

Tasteful Trim die for the Big Shot. I love it!!! It's fun for card making and I can't wait to get back to scrapbooking to use it. (Yes, there are a couple of trips to get recorded!)

The card on the lower left has a strip of the black waffle paper on it to make the ruffle at the bottom. And man, oh man, do you get a lot of the waffle paper on each roll. I'm working on some more ideas for using it. Stay posted.

Now, on to Thanksgiving cards! LOL! Have to keep moving because I've not done Christmas cards yet for this year. I make over 100 so like I said.... gotta' keep moving!

Halloween is Coming!

I'll be traveling a lot in October so have to get started now.
If you need a simple treat for friends on a diet... these are perfect! (Cased from Tinkerin in Ink with Tanya - thanks! Great tutorial on her website.) The box holds four tealight candles that have been embellished with images stamped on tissue paper and then heat embossed to the candle.) So, quick and easy. I can't wait to give them to friends.

I finally used my milk carton die cut! I used some retired DSP to cover the base (the fine print says YUM!). The other three treats are made with the new candy wrapper die cut and decorated with 3 of the four trims you can cut with the Tasteful Trim Bigz XL Die. It's going to be so much fun using these new dies. These little boxes are going to be filled with candy corn and peanuts. YUM!
Here's a trio of pumpkins I made from some retired DSP, retired mellow moss card stock and ribbon. Yes,still using retired stuff in my stash. These are also quick and easy if you have a crop-a-dile. Don't have one? I'd be happy to help you get one ordered! (Cased from Dawn's Stamping Thoughts. You'll find lots of great tutorials on her blog.) I varied the length of the strips to get the different sizes in my trio. The smallest is 5-1/2 x 1 inch strips. The others are 7-1/2 x 1 and 6-1/4 x 1.

More pumpkins... made from coffee filters! (Cased from Sharing Creativity and Company.) I varied mine a bit. I didn't have washers to weigh them down. But I did have some flat faced closet door knobs that were going into the trash. Recycled them. I love it when that happens. (My niece Kelly will be so proud of me!) The stems are pieces of wooden skewers from my kitchen. But certainly could use a twig like Sharon suggests. I didn't have the polyfill to stuff mine with so I used tissue paper. And lastly I was too lazy to get up from the table to get needle and thread as Sharon directs so I just used snail adhesive all along the outside edge and pinched that edge and added more tape as needed to get it to stick. I put a dab of glue on the end of the stick to help it stay in place. And I used the idea from the previous pumpkins to make the curly strands.

Here's a banner I cased from Angela Hilbig on Stampin' Connection. I cut the 'B' freehand and used the new large circle punch for my O's because I don't have a large alphabet set for my Big Shot yet. Pretty quick and easy.



My favorite project is my treat for my adult children. So, hope they aren't following this blog! It's a decor that includes three photos of them from Halloweens past. They never wanted the store costumes and we always enjoy laughing over some of the things they came up with. Since most of my photos are in Chicago I had to settle with the three that I already had scanned and were saved on my computger. I made the first one for myself and then liked it so much I decided they would each get one, too. I used lots of diecuts and retired DSP for this project but it could easily be adapted for all kinds of occasions. And it could easily be a mini scrapbook because it folds accordion style. I toyed with the idea of adding ribbon and cover for the ones for my children but decided I'd spent enough time on them.

Now I have lots of DSP scraps to use for my Halloween cards.

New Storage

I added these storage drawers to my stamping table. I love it. I saw the idea many months ago; can't remember where. I keep sponges and daubers for each ink pad in the little drawers. I have one for each ink pad that I have, including retired colors. I dedicated more space to the retire colors at this time because I will probably add the crayon and pastel to the drawer for them. I have also begun to put little "punched" pieces of colors in each drawer. You know sometimes you just need a little label to add to a generic card.

The three unlabeled drawers are ready for the next set of In Colors from Stampin' Up! In the meantime I'm keeping extra daubers and cut sponge pieces in them. Some drawers do not have anything but a piece of cardstock in them right now because I've never used a dauber in that color and not a sponge since I started dedicated them to each color. I have punched a piece of card stock in each color using the Round Tab punch and labeled it with the color. That is placed in the corresponding drawer and ready for attaching to the sponge with a staple when needed.

I found the drawer unit on the web. It actually came from a restaurant supply website. The challenge is keeping the space in front of it uncluttered. I am hoping to get a little shelf made or purchased and then it can be on the wall and up off the table. Why is it there is never enough table top space!

Extra Large Cogs Double Punch

I have lots of the celery green dotted impression circles left over from making swaps for a regional earlier this year. Just can't throw them away. I turned the bumpy side down for these cards. I think the circles look more masculine that way. (Okay, maybe it's just me!) Then I pulled out the cogs punch. The cogs made me think of a couple expressions; just seemed to go together in my mind... thinking (cogs turning!) and turning (hopefully that ones is obvious).

The cogs punch is a Double punch. It took me awhile to figure out this punch. I have the best luck by placing it on the taple top and pushing it down on the table. You have to be sure to get that second snap.

The last card also uses the cogs punch. Do you see them? They are used to make the petals of the flowers. Punch a set from two different colors of cardstock, then layer them offsetting the teeth so that both colors are showing. The center hole is covered with a piece of scrap Designer Series Paper. I can't remember where I saw this or I would give credit where credit is due.