July Anything Halloween with the Two Old Bats Halloween blog has quite a yummy inspiration mood board. Of course I focused immediately on the candy corn inspiration block but as I searched through my supplies I came to the conclusion that I should be inspired in a different direction. After seeing our Buddy Gerry’s card I decided to make a ghostly card, too.

My Ghouls are SimonSaysStamps’ Ghouls and Tree die set which are flying on a piece of patterend paper from my stash. I decided to add some extra interest by inking one of the stamps from Taylored Expressions Abstract Accents stamp and stencil set and the sentiment is a Recollections Halloween set.

Thanks for another fun challenge and stopping in for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care and be safe.

Peace on Earth Anything Christmas Challenge #19 had a fun red, white & blue inspiration board with a lot of tree and wreath ornaments. So I opted to use the SimonSaysStamp Santa’s Helpers stamp set for the hanging ornaments and mostly because it was still on my desk!! After coloring the ornaments and holly & berries, I die cut the panel with AI’s Rectangle Double Stitched die and lightly sponged blue ink then mounted it on a shimmer red panel.

Great inspiration board for this challenge. Thanks so much for stopping in for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care and be safe.

Paper Dragonfly Creative Challenges #7 is a Christmas in July theme with the normal optional twist to include a dragonfly. Using Newton’s Nook Designs Retro Sun and Palms stencil, I inked some oranges to yellows using only the sun stencil. The palms were stamped using Newton’s Nook Designs Sun Soaked Christmas stamp set. After coloring my palms, presents and stockings, I decided to add some sand. I think the beach bully must have come around and kicked up my sand so I added the sentiment to “smooth” things out a little more. Dragonflies are from Gina K Designs Follow Your Dreams stamp set illustrated by Theresa Momber. After stamping, I added some glitter silver Wink of Stella. The focal panel was die cut from a Spellbinders Hemstitch Rectangle die.

Thanks so much for stopping in for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Stay cool, take care and be safe.

Red, White and Blue Christmas in July is the challenge for July with the Colorful Options blog. I decided to use the SimonSaysStamp Santa’s Helpers stamp set that was included in my HDSA fundraiser box for this challenge. My elf is decked out in red, white and blue and since it is July the gift is wrapped in pink paper. My sentiment from the same stamp set was stamped on glimmer white cardstock from Michaels and die cut using Spellbinder’s Majestic Circles dies. The background was also die cut from Spellbinder’s Candlewick Rectangles dies. I stamped some snowflakes in versamark ink on some light blue patterned paper from my stash. Since it was out I figured it would work with this challenge.

Lots of inspiration to choose from the inspiration board but I was drawn to the red, white and blue Santa hat to create my card.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care, stay cool and be safe.

Challenge #18 with the Peace on Earth – Anything Christmas features a black and white mood board. I decided to use Gina K Designs’ Soft Stone and Slate inks to create my card instead of the more stark black. After creating my oval stencil with Spellbinder’s Classic Ovals and a cloud stencil in the lighter soft stone ink, I pulled out GKD’s Christmas Wishes stamp set and stamped everyting in Slate ink. Layered on white card base so I guess it’s greys and white on white.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care and be safe.

I almost forgot about the June Halloween Anything Goes Challenge with the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge blog but finally finished my card. Our Buddy Gerry chose Frankenstein for her awesome card and I must admit that Frankenstein is my favorite monster, too. Since I couldn’t decide on which little Frank I wanted to use on my card, I made a balancing act of three Franks that were about the same size. The bottom Frank is a Michael’s red rubber mounted dollar stamp, on top of him is Frank from Recollections stamps (Michael’s) and then trying to catch his balance is Stampin Up’s Googly Ghouls Frank. After stamping, inking and fussy cutting the Franks, I positioned them on a piece of patterned paper from my stash and die cut some black grass from The Cat’s Pajamas grass die. After gluing everyone to the card layers, I was wondering if I could have put wobblers on each of them????? I decided to let well enough alone.

Always a fun mood board and fun challenge. Thanks for stopping in for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care and be safe.

The challenge with Paper Dragonfly Creative Challenges #6 is “In the Garden sponsored by All Dressed Up” For my garden, I decided to create a white on black silhouette with Stampin Up’s Upsy Daisy stamp set heat embossed in white embossing powder. The 3 dragonflies were part of Gina K Designs’s Follow Your Dreams stamps set illustrated by Theresa Momber and the patterned paper is also GKD’s Spring Parade pure luxury paper. After layering the patterned paper on black, I needed something for the silhouette image and thankfully the lightbulb went on and I remembered this striped piece that our Bonnie gifted to me. I think I tend to be a hoarder with some of these gifts. The stamp sets were two oldies but goodies.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care and Be safe.

This month’s challenge with the Can You Handle the Pressure is Anything Goes with a Twist of Birds.

For my bird, I decided on a flamingo from Taylored Expressions’s Tickled Pink stamp, stencil and die set. My embossing folder is a larger Cuttlebug folder with some swirls, flowers, hearts, birds and a sun. I lightly sponged ink over the raised embossed areas, mounted my flamingo on an action wobbler, layered with black cardstock and adhered to a 5×7 card. Hmmmmm…..so the sun ended up on the bottom of the card so I very carefully lifted the layer off the card base and turned it around. Hmmmmm….now my flamingo was upside down. Sigh!!! popped that pink bird off very carefully and decided to add the “You’re Flamazing!” sentiment under the flamingo’s legs. Adhered everything down once more and completed my card for the day.

Lots of thunderstorms early this morning but thankfully no severe weather like other areas in the US are experiencing. Thanks for stopping in for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care and be safe.

Seasonal landscapes is the challenge with The Sisterhood of Crafters. The idea for my card came to me after watching a quick video on my Facebook page a few days ago. As you may know when posts are added to your FB feed things tend to get lost and could not find the post again.

My summery landscape scene portrays the hot weather that’s sure to arrive soon by blending DO Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Abandoned Coral and Ripe Persimmon inks over a masked circle die. Not to take anything away from my background, I chose to use silhouette die cuts in black cardstock. Penny Black’s Pasture Grass and Spellbinders Flutter Tree completes my card. No outside sentiment needed in my opinion. I think this will be part of my batch of cards for “Making Cards for Troops” group.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care and be safe.