Some Cards and BLOG CANDY!!!

I have a few cards to share with you, and some blog candy. Don't have a lot of time today, I am busy packing and getting ready for my trip. My flight leaves tomorrow. YAY!! I am so excited!

Anyhow, here are the cards I have for you:

This first one is one I did for last weeks LSC on SCS. The challenge was to use only eyelets, one peice of ribbon, one peice if designer paper, cardstock, ink, & Stamps. And we had to use the color blue. Well, I forgot about that part till it was too late. When I tried to add blue it ruined the car so I had to rip it apart and redo it. I will try it again with blue at a later date. I liked this challenge because it got me to use my eyelets which I haven't used in a long time!

Supplies-
Stamps: Winter Cheer (TAC)
Paper: Christmas DP, Real Red, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Ink: Black, Old Olive
Accessories: Markers, Eyelets, Ribbon

This next card is for the TLC (Technique Challenge). The technique was called Penciled Twinks. We had to use watercolor pencils, twinkling H2O's and an aquapainter. And in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we needed to use pink. This card and the one I did today will be donated to Cards For A Cause which this month is Chemo Angels.

Supplies-
Stamps: Words Of Wisdom, (flower set from TAC, don't remember the name)
Paper: Pretty In Pink, Pixie Pink, Orchid Opulence
Ink: Black Staz-on
Accessories: Twinkling H@O's, Watercolor Pencils,Aquapainter, Cuttlebug, Swirls EF

This one is for the CC (Color Challenge). This week the challenge of course included pink. It was Pink Pirouette (or pretty in pink)Kiwi Kiss (or old olive)Chocolate Chip> I don't have the In Colors so I used the alternates. On this I also used the Stay Put Bow technique found here.

Suuplies-
Stamps: Garden Silhouettes, Hugs & Wishes
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pretty In Pink, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Ink: Stampin Write Markers, Pretty In Pink, Old Olive, Pretty In Pink
Accessories: Ribbon,

And now for the blog candy, in honor of 12,000 veiws to my blog. What can you win?

An assortment of rub-ons, magic mesh, stickers, and of course and assortment of Christmas Cards ready for you to use for you send out this Christmas (will come with envelopes for the cards).

How can you win this? Well, you only need to post a comment telling me what your favorite Holiday is. Do this by midnight November 3rd. I will draw a winner on the 4th using random.org and post here. Then I will mail out this fun package to the winner. Why so long to post comments? Cause that is when I get back from my vacation.

Stamping at Jody's

So yesterday I told you about getting to stamp at Jody's house. Her stamp room is seriously jaw dropping. Put's mine to shame. She was kind enough let me use her Copic markers, (not to mention all her other goodies). My hubby said I could get some Copics as an early birthday present! YAY! Anywho, Jody handed me her cards so that I could find some inspiration to make a card. As if finding inspiration from from her is hard, seriously, her stuff is gorgeous! I found this card A Trio Of Snowmen. I just loved the colors she used, and let's face it, that snowman stamp is just adorable. I used the same patterned paper that she did, and I used Black (as well) to make it pop. Although I did use Ballet Blue instead of Lovely Lilac, I didn't use stitching, and I have a different layout. I'm really pleased with how this turned out. *grin* Not as cute, but still, not bad. So, what do you think of my very first card done with MFT and with Copics?

Supplies: Stamps- A Scarf For Three (MFT); Cardstock and Paper- Ballet Blue (SU), Basic Black (SU), White (PTI), Chillin' Paper (MFT); Ink- Momento; Accessories- Copic Markers, Snowflake, Brads, Glue pop dots

Weigh-In

Well this is like a roller coaster. Last week I gained 2 lbs., this week, I lost 4 lbs. Crazy! I actually worked out less this week (read, not much at all) but I did drink a bunch of water, not to mention that I am watching what I am eating more. So obviously I did something right. I am leaving on Wednesday for a trip home for a week and a half. I can't wait! I am so excited! I don't know how much I will be blogging while I am gone, but I will update when I can.

Several things

So I just noticed that I have passed 12,000 hits to my blog. Crazy! I am going to work the next couple of days on some blog candy and will post that as soon as I am done (probably Monday or Tuesday) and do a contest for it.


I spent the day today stamping with my friend Jody. Jody, a.k.a. texasjodylynn, a.k.a. Confessions Of A Ribbon Addict and I have been chatting for a couple of years now on Splitcoast but we have never met. Until recently she lived in TX, and I lived in KS. I was excited when I found out we were moving to NM cause we would be close to Jody, then I found out Jody didn't live in TX anymore, then I found out she lives 45 minutes from where we just moved to! Even more excited! YAY!! I have been here for about a month now but today is the first time Jody and I have had the chance to get together. She is just the sweetest person! And I for one had a fabulous time. I got to play with some fun new products that I have never used before. I got to play with Papertrey Ink's white cardstock. This stuff rocks! I have to get some. Seriously, I had heard so many good things about it, but never really wanted to get any, until... I used it. It is a must have for any stamper IMO. I also got to play with some stamps from My Favorite Things. I have never used MTF stamps, but now those are a must have too. I made a card with the set A Scarf For Three. Seriously, such a cute set! And it's only $9.00! I will take a picture of the card tomorrow, it was too late when I got home to take a decent picture. One of the other things I got to play with was Copic Markers. Now, I have seen a lot of cards done with Copics, sure, they were pretty, but I couldn't understand the draw to them. I was fine with my SU markers and Aquapainter (which I still love btw). But Jody showed me the art of coloring with Copics. Yeah, I now understand the draw, and I seriously want some now. I love my SU markers and aquapainter for watercoloring, but I think for just straight coloring and blending (the non-watercolor look) I will definately be getting and using Copics. Stamping with Jody is going to be dangerous for the pocket book, I can just tell. But, I love it!



I do have a card to show you today though. For this one I used the Polished Stone technique. I haven't done this technique in a long time. I based this card on one I did a few years ago with the same color scheme, same theme, and same technique, not to mention the same set. That card can be viewed here.

Yeah, 2005 was when I did the inspiration card. I decided to change it up a little, and I have to say I like my new one, much better. I made the focal image and the put the brads in, and attached it to the card. It looked to plain to me so I decided to attach a peice of cardstock under it. The peice I cut was too big so I cut it down just a little. I ended up using the scrap I had just cut off on it as well. This is going to someone who just recently lost their husband. I hope it brings her comfort. I stamped the inside with the sentiment, "May the beautiful memories that fill your heart help to bring your comfort." from the SU set Brighter Tomorrow.

Supplies: Stamps-Lovely As A Tree, Brighter Tomorrow; Cardstock & Paper- Mellow Moss, Basic Black, Glossy; Ink: Staz-On, Accessories- Mellow Moss reinker, Silver Reinker, Brads, Rubbing Alcohol, cotton ball, dimensionals,

Ways To Use It---Plaid

Thursday's on Splitcoast Stampers is the Ways To Use It Challenge. Today's challenge was to use Plaid. My mind immediately went to the frame that I made for my nephew the other day. So I decided to make a matching card.

I decided to make the main card base the green color. The closest I could find was Certainly Celery which actually turned out to be an almost perfect match to the green stripe in the plaid (not to mention the green that I mixed the other day to pain the frame). This just goes to show you that either A- the paint companies need to come out with Stampin Up colors in their paints, or B- Stampin Up needs to come out with paint colors. haha!

Anyhow, I wanted to round all my corners so that it would mimick the rounded corners on the frame. The plaid paper was matted on the CC card base. Then I took some shimmer white CS and I stamped the elephant (this time with the wood thingy) onto it using Black Staz-On. First I colored it using just my markers but it came out way too dark, so I flipped the cardstock over (best thing about CS is that it has two sides, so if you mess up, just flip it over and start over. hehe) and I watercolored a newly stamped elephant using my Stampin Write markers and my aquapainter. Then I highlighted parts of it using just my marker. Colored the rest with markers, punched those corners too, matted it to certainly celery, punched those corners and then paper pierced it using my crafters tool kit. Then I decided to use a strip of certainly celery and punched both sides of that to add a little something else to the card. I then stamped the sentiment (from SU set Hugs & Wishes, or maybe it was Holidays & wishes, I always get those two mixed up) using staz-on black, I attached the elephant to the card using dimensionals. So quick and simple, but I like it.

And here is the card and frame together:

Babies and Bears

Thought I would post the projects I did the other day. It has been cloudy and weird here lately so the pictures aren't the best. But you get the general idea. This first one is the picture frame that I did for my sister-in-law Janele and her new baby (my new nephew) Mathew (yup, just 1 T there, not 2)

I had this wooden picture frame that I got a while back and I just haven't figured out what to do with it. I was trying to come up with something to make for the little guy and I came across the frame. So I popped in a movie (cause that's what I do when I craft, I put in a movie that I have seen many times so that I can just listen to it while I work, this time it was Pearl Harbor. I love that movie), and I got to work. I chose my paper and decided to go with this cute plaid that I got in a paper pack from my mother-in-law a while ago. It is really sweet with various blue shades and a green stripe. I mixed some paint colors till I got the exact green I wanted (to match the stripe) and I painted the hole frame with a couple of coats of the green. Then I put the frame against the paper and traced so I could get an exact (well close to it) match to fit the frame. I attached the paper using my trusty modge podge. The letters were done by stamping the headline alphabet onto a thin chipboard in black ink and cutting each letter. The letters were attached using modge podge as well. When I first did the frame it had only the word baby on it with the ribbon. I just didn't like it so I let it sit for a day and then went back to it and added the word boy. I went throught my images to find one fitting to a baby. The only one I remotely liked that would fit the frame was the cute elephant from Year After Year. So I went with that. I stamped it on White CS and colored using just my markers. (Elephant is ballet blue, the feet are bordering blue) Then I cut it so it was just the elephant and not the board thingy too. I attached that with, what else? Modge Podge. I am really happy with the end result.

Those of you who know me know that I do a lot more then just stamp. I also paint, do ceramics, quilt, and just about every other crafty thing. Well the other day I got in the mood to paint. So I went into my now dwindiling stock of unpainted ceramic pieces (read, I only had this one when I used to have tons!) and I pulled out this set of bears that I had for a while. My dad made this peice seveal years ago at the ceramics shop that they have on the base where he used to work. I just had to paint these little guys in preparation for Christmas. (sorry about the fuzzy picture, they are so much cuter in real life) I did this while watching Surviving Christmas. That show cracks me up!

I did take pictures of my craft room since I reorganized it, but those pictures are seriously fuzzy. So I will try to retake them.

Random

I did craft some this week. I made a cute frame for my sister-in-law's new baby. I finished it, stood back to see what I thought, and I don't like it. Well, I do, but there is just something missing and I can't put my finger on it. So I will try to figure that out today. I did reorganize my craft room as well. I got a dresser for my fabric storage and got some new shelves so I reorganized it all. It works much better now. When I finished I had my husband go in and look at it, he just walked around saying wow! I guess that means it's good. Either that or he is just trying to humor me. haha

So as soon as I can I will post pictures of my craft room and the finished frame. Right now my computer is having issues with pictures and stuff so hopefully I can get that fixed. w

Weekly Weigh-In

Well, this last week didn't fair as well as the week before.
I worked out a lot more, I drank a lot of water (although probably not as much as I should have for how active I was). But the real problem? While I ate a lot of healthy stuff, I did indulge a lot more then what I should have.
But, that's o.k. This is a new week so I will do better.
I have devised a new schedule for myself. It looks something like this:
Monday: Workout
Tuesday: Housework & Walk
Wednesday: Workout
Thursday: Housework & Walk
Friday: Workout
Saturday: Outside work & Walk

This way I am doing something each day, but not over doing it. Sunday's will be my rest day. We'll see how this week goes. Maybe I can lose the 2 lbs. I gained this week. *rolling eyes*

Fall Thank You

A month or so ago my friend Jody (a.k.a. texasjodylynn) of Confessions of a Ribbon Addict posted these adorable boxy bags on her blog. She so generously shared the directions so that other people could make there own. Well, I just had to try one. It turned out way better then this pictures shows, not sure why it turned out so blurry, no matter what time of day I took it, or at what angle, it was still blurry. This was the better picture out of the bunch that I took:

I made a matching card too:

I made these for my neighbor down the street. About a week or so ago she came to our door with a plate of homemade goodies to welcome us to the neighborhood. It was so sweet. So I just has to make her a thank you.

Supplies: Stamps- Country Blessings, Fresh Cut; Cardstock & Paper- Chocolate Chip, Close To Cocoa, More Mustard, Old Olive, Watercolor Paper; Ink- Autumn Spectrum, Black Staz-On, Sepia; Accessories- Ribbon, Thread, needle, crafter's tool kit, brayer, water spritzer.

Thanks so much for the awesome directions Jody!

More cards from World Card Making Day

As I said in my last post Saturday was World Card Making Day and we celebrated over at Splitcoast. I posted the first 3 challenge cards yesterday. So I figured today I would post the rest. I'm a bit tired so I probably won't have as much description as I did on the others so I apologize for that up front.

the 4th challenge (and 1st card I have to share with you today) was the Ways To Use It Challenge. Ways To Use It is where you are given a certain item, whether it be a color, products, item, etc. to use on a card. For this challenge we had to use trees. Whether it be leaves or a tree or whatever we wanted to do. I decided that I had done a lot of fall cards lately and wanted to do a Christmas Tree. My immediate thought when I think of trees is of course the set Lovely As A Tree from SU. But when I picked my paper I opted to go with Loads Of Love.

Supplies: Stamps- Loads Of Love, Loads Of Love Access. ; Cardstock & Paper- Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy, Christmas DP (one of these days I will remember the name of it); Ink- Staz-On Black; Accessories- Ribbon, Crafters Tool Kit, Stampin Write Markers, Aqaupainter, Post It (for masking tech.)

The Technique Lover's Challenge was to make nested flowers. I have seen these before, but never made one. I actually kind of like it. The idea here is to start out with a circle (or whatever shaper you want) and gradually make smaller circles then put them together with a brad to make a flower. I used the Bali Breeze DP from SU (love this stuff!) and used my coluzzle to cut the circles. I did 5 circles in all. I distressed the edges of each of the circles with the edge of my scissors and then added the bling brad in the middle of each circle. Then I pinched the heck out of the circles to give the flower a distressed look.

Supplies: Stamps- None; Cardstock & Paper- Taken With Teal, Rose Red CS & DP, Bali Breeze DP; Ink- None; Accessories- Scissors, Coluzzle, Rubons, Brad, Ribbon

Next was the Limited Supply Challenge. In an LSC we are given items that we can and can't use. For this one it was no P's. We weren't allowed to use Printed Paper, and no Pastels. I wanted to do another Christmas Card. So for this one I wanted to use one of my favorite card combos, Red, Black & White. That is a fun combo so I wanted to use a fun set. My mind immediately went to Christmas Humor from Missy B Designs. I love this set. It's too fun. The white parts of Santas suit are done with glitter and heat & stick powder, the beard and snow are done with liuquid applique and heat set to make it puffier. Sorry for the fuzzy picture. It was too late at night when I did this to take a picture outside and the lighting in my computer room isn't that great. The Sentiment says: "It's magic that gets santa down the chimney". The inside says "It's that same magic that gets me into my jeans." The thin black strip is a peice of scrap cardstock I had, not ribbon.

Supplies: Stamps- Christmas Humor (Missy B) Print Pattern (SU); Cardstock & Paper- Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White; Ink- Black Staz-On; Accessories- Stampin Write Makers, aquapainter, Heat & Stick powder, Glitter, Liquid Applique, heat gun,

This last one is my least favorite of the weekend. That is just because the colors are so completely outside of my comfort zone, it's a cute card, just not me. This one was a color challenge. We were given 5 colors to work with. The colors were Lime Green, Lemon with an Orange Twist (a orange-y yellow), Black, Drak Gray, and a creamy neutral. I don't have most of those colors so I had to work with what I had. Those colors to me are Halloween so this would naturally be a Halloween card. The Finished card is 4x4. Very quick and easy, took about 2 minutes, start to finish.

Supplies: Stamps- Year After Year, Everyday Flexible Phrases; Cardstock & Paper- Basic Black, Going Gray, Green Galore, Only Orange, Very Vanilla; Ink- Staz-On Black; Accessories- Stampin Write Markers, Aquapainter, Ribbon.

World Card Making Day projects

Saturday was World Card Making Day. Splitcoast hostes a bunch of challenges (7 in all) for members to have fun with. It really got the creative juices flowing. Some of my cards I love, some, not so much. But I had a good time making them all. The challenges were fabulous and it was just a fun all around day.

The first challenge was a Sketch Challenge. This is where we are shown a sketch of a layout and we have to make a card following that sketch. The sketch was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it. For this card I used the set Seasonal Scenes by Artful Inkables. I absolutely love this set. I actually started off by doing something that I never do. I always choose the colors and papers first and then go from there. With this one I actually chose the stamp, and colored it and pulled the colors from the scene I colored. But I really like how this turned out. I watercolored using of course Stampin' Write Markers and my aquapainter. Supplies: Stamps- Seasonal Scenes (Artful Inkables); Cardstock & Paper- Bordering Blue, Old Olive, Close To Cocoa, Close To Cocoa Printer Paper; Ink- Black Staz-On, Chocolate Chip; Accessories- Stampin Write Markers, Aquapainter

The second challenge was a Featured Stamper challenge. A Featured Stamper challenge is where we are shown someones gallery and told to CASE a card. (CASE stands for Copy And Share Everything). Now there are a couple of rules, 1- when we post our card we must link the original card to our post so as to give the original artist credit. 2- We need to chang at least two things about the card and list what those two things are in our card description.

So the featured stamper for this challenge was ShellyLC05. I love the featured stamper challenges because it is almost always someone whose gallery I have never seen so it showcases all the awesome talent out there. As I was looking through Shelly's gallery so many of her cards caught my eye. But this card really stood out to me. The image is so cute!

For my version of the card I changed the color combo, the image (cause I don't have the one she does), and I moved the layout just slightly to fit my image (since mine was bigger then the one she used), and I added a row of piercing underneath the background strip. I of course used Stampin' Write markers and an aquapainter. I actually added crystal effects after I took this photo to the water parts so that it actually looks more like she is standing in a puddle. For the sentiment I used my marker to color the Tomorrow's Forecast and put that on the front. Then I cleaned the stamp and highlighted the other part to stamp on the inside. So the whole card actually says: Tomorrow's Forecast, Brighter then today.

Supplies: Stamps- And Everything nice, Brighter Tomorrow; Cardstock & Paper- Bashful Blue, Yo Yo Yellow, Real Red; Ink- Black Staz-On; Accessories- Stampin Write Markers, Aquapainter, Crafter's Tool Kit, Ribbon, Cuttlebug, Swirls EF, Window Word Punch, Brads

Inspiration is everywhere, so that is why I love the Inspiration challenges. The 3rd challenge for World Card Making Day was the inspiration challenge. For our inspiration we were shown a picture of the cover of the current Coldwater Creek catalog. I was really struck by the gorgeous fall colors and leaves. So I went with that. For my main image I wanted the colors to really pop. One way I have found to make colors pop is instead of just stamping your image with ink, emboss it. So I embossed the basket with black Embossing powder and then watercolored it and the leaves with, yup, you guessed it, my watercoloring tools of choice, Stampin Write Markers and an aquapainter. Then once the image was dry of all water, I hightlighted parts of the basket and leaves with the same colors. I find that really makes it pop. I actually liked this one so much I may just send out a few Thanksgiving cards this year. We'll see.

Supplies: Stamps- Give Thanks, Holidays and Wishes, Canvas BG stamp; Cardstock & Paper- Really Rust, More Mustard; Ink- More Mustard, Black, Versamark; Accessories- Black EP, Heat Gun, Rafia, Stampin Write Markers, Aquapainter.

I will share more of my World Card Making Day creations later. For now it's time for bed. I worked out today so I have been sore and in pain most of the day. I actually took my pain meds earlier which knocked me out and I slept for a couple of hours, but I am still really tired. So till later....

Oh, and check out Artful Inkables. From now until October 12th Kristin is doing a special where if you order $25 or more she will include with your order a grab bag of stamps FREE!

Weigh In Week One

So several weeks ago I mentioned my friend Ally who has lost a bunch of weight on WW and has inspired me to get back on track and get healthy again. My DH has been so supportive of me as well. I told you that I wanted to start weighing in weekly (simply because it will help to motivate me more if I have to be accountable to all you out in blogland) and said that I would after I was all settled in. Well, I'm all settled in. I weighed myself last week so that when I weighed myself this week I would actually have a +/- number to report. This week I had 1 day that I did a major workout, another day that I went for a nice walk around the neighborhood with the dog and kept at a good fast pace the whole time, and then of course I did daily housework. I am happy to report that I am down 3 lbs. from last week. So 3 lbs. lost, a lot more to go.
This week my goal is to do a major workout at least twice along with the daily house cleaning and such. My house here is almost twice the size of what we had in Kansas so I definately get a workout with the cleaning.

I do have some stamping projects to share but it's almost 10:30 p.m. so that will have to wait till tomorrow. Yesterday was World Card Making Day and we celebrated over at SCS with a bunch of fun challenges. I did all 7! So I have lots to share... but like I said... tomorrow. Till then, good night.

LSC188

The Limited Supply challenge (LSC) over on SCS was today. I haven't participated in a challenge on SCS in a bit so I figured I would try my hand at today's challenge. For those who don't know, an LSC is where you are given a list of supplies that you can or can't use. In this case we were told no embellishments. No ribbon, no flowers, eyelets, brads, glitter, stickles, etc. We could use, paper, ink, stamps, paper piercing tool, punches, cuttlebug and a few other things. Well, my mind immediately went to the card I did for the So Shelli challenge. Why? Cause I love that card. I decided to try that layout because it would be the perfect one with no embellishments. Here is what I came up with.

For this card I started out by choosing my designer paper, because I thought that it might help to give the feel of the card I wanted to do. I came across a few scraps of some holiday DP that I bought a few years ago from SU. (Can't remember the name of it though.) I actually chose the other side of the DP which had snowflakes all over it but ultimately decided halfway through the card (before assembly) that I wanted to use the stripes instead. Anyhow, I DTPed the edges of the Bashful Blue cardstock with my bashful blue ink. I paper pierced the small blue peice. The white circle has small snowflakes that I stamped from the Winter Cheer set from TAC. The rest of the products are SU. I decided to use the Merry set because I bought it a few years ago and have only used it a few times. I really like this card.

Supplies: Stamps- Merry, Winter Cheer (TAC); Paper- DP from SU, Always Artichoke, Bashful Blue, Whisper White; Ink- Bashful Blue, Black; Acces.- Crafters Tool Kit, Dimensionals, Circle Punch, Scallop Punch

I did stamp another project today but the pictures I took were fuzzy so I will retake them tomorrow and post then.

Oh, and remember when I posted pics of our house here in NM and I posted pics of my craft room here. In one of the pics you can see the TV in my craft room on. I said that I would send a RAK to the first person to guess what show I was watching....

While I did get some great guesses, no one guessed the right movie. So I will do another contest soon (after all, I am about to hit 12,000 views on my blog! *shock*) but in the meantime, I will kill the suspense and just tell you what I was watching. I was watching one of my favorite movies. It is actually the 1st of 3 movies based on a series of books by L.M. Montgomery about a orphan girl living in Canada who is adopted by Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert (middle-aged siblings). She is a girl with wild ideas and an amazing imagination who captures the hearts of all who meet her. Have you guessed it yet? Anne Of Green Gables is one of my favorite series of movies. And in this picture I was watching the 1st of 3 movies. This is the scene where Gilbert Blythe rescues Anne from the dory that has sprunk a leak in the "lake of shining waters". hehehe I seriously love these movies, although #3 is my least favorite because it is very loosely based on the books. Although I understand why they couldn't stick to them though. Anyhow, the suspense is over. There you have it, I was watching Anne Of Green Gables.

More projects to come soon.

Trick Arrr Treat... So Shelli Challenge # 2

I had so much fun doing my card for Shelli Gardner's challenge last month that when I saw the challenge this month I just had to try again. The So Shelli Challenge for this month is to create a Halloween themed project. Well, I don't have any Halloween sets! Can you beleive it? So I decided to see what else I could come up with. I do have some fall themed sets with leaves and pumpkins but I just couldn't get a feel for those stamps. So I opened up my book of stamps (I have all my sets stamped into a book so when I sit down to stamp I can look at the book and pick the set that way. It cuts down on the choosing process.) I came across the Ahoy Matey stamp set. The little hamster wheel in my brain started turning. I thought, well, that could be fun, a little kid dressed up like a pirate for Halloween... So what should my sentiment be? Happy Halloween.... no, not quite right. I'll save the sentiment for later. I decided to choose my papers. Halloween... orange and black, that's a no brainer. So I pulled out my Basic Black and Only Orange. Nope, Only Orange is too bright for what I wanted. So I went with Pumpkin Pie instead. Then it was time to choose my papers. I don't have any halloween themed paper either. (no halloween stamps or paper, what does this tell you? I need to shop! lol) I found this fun retro paper that I got from a craft store a while back. It has pumpkin pie in it. Maybe I can make that work. Time to assemble the card and hope that it will turn out as good as I hope.....

I cut my paper and cardstock, DTP'ed the Pumpkin Pie peices, paper pierced the smaller pumpkin pie peice, Mounted the pumpkin pie peices to basic black, added some double stitched black ribbon that I bought a while back and added my focal image. For the focal image I stamped the pirate from Ahoy Matey, watercolored it using Stampin Write Markers and my favorite aquapainter, used a silver gel pen for the sword and hook and then cut it into an oval using my Coluzzle cutting system. I attached the focal image using dimensional. There, now that the rest of the card was done it was time to figure out my sentiment. I had already decided not to use Happy Halloween. So what is this little guy doing? He is going Trick Or Treating.... Trick or treat.... Seriously, he's a pirate, he can't just say Trick OR Treat. He has to be piratey about it. Trick Arrr Treat. Perfect! I had to hand write it since I don't have a stamp that says that so I did and the card was finished! It actually turned out better then I hoped. So here is my halloween card, using absolutely no halloween stamps or paper!

Thanks Shelli for another great challenge!