Will “pink” replace orange and black as the new Halloween colors? Probably not but at least for the February Anything Challenge mood board, it sure seemed that would happen. This was a fun option for Halloween. My card for this challenge uses Gina K Designs Haunted Harvest stamp set and Tim Holtz Sizzix Garden Greens. Lots of pink in various shades but it looks cute to my eyes.

My first attempt was way more detailed (next card). The frame border is Hero Arts Leaves & Vines die, Stamps from Inkadinkadoo Cats & Bats, SimonSaysStamp Happy Haunting, Spook up Some Fun, Spellbinders Deckled Rectangle and Ink Antics Cloud stencil. My first thought was I wanted to try Buddy Bonnie’s cloisonne technique. I pulled out a Halloween Haven catalog that Bonnie had sent to me and stamped my pumpkin in versamark over a pinkish page of the catalog, heat embossed in bronze embossing powder and fussy cut it. Stamped the image again and heat embossed in bronze, then stenciled pink clouds. At this point I wasn’t sure which direction to go and decided to cut down the image and surround it with the leaf frame. Stamped a few bats and added the sentiment. It’s ok! LOL….Better than horrible.

Love to play Halloween year round with the Two Old Bats and their fun mood boards.

Thanks for stopping in today. It was a beautiful day in Pennsylvania. A taste of spring…take that Punxsutawney Phil! LOL!! Take care and be safe.

My attempt at the Just Add….Minimalist challenge with the Just Add Ink blog. This was the explanation of minimalist principles: Minimalist art is an extreme type of abstract art that usually is depicted through simplistic shapes and hard edges, all while exposing the essence of the forms and materials used. One of the most common is repetition, or creating multiple images of the same shape, especially simple geometric forms like lines or squares. Artists repeat shapes and compose projects composed of vertical colour blocks. Simple, paired down to the fewest possible lines or forms”

Not sure if I completely met the minimalist challenge or not but my image is repetitive, simple and angular edges. My background was my attempt at Gina K Designs’ Stamp & Chat background using GKD reinkers and rubbing alcohol on glossy photo paper, then stamping with clear stamps which SHOULD pick up the ink….NOT! So since that was a fail, what did I have to lose but ink in VersaFine ink and clear ink emboss. I was happy to save the background even though the technique did not work. My stamps are an older Inkadinkadoo Hearts stamp set and sentiment from a cute Recollections Valentine set that I picked up at Michael’s a few years ago. The focal panel was die cut using Spellbinders Hemstitch Rectangles die. This was an interesting, different challenge that was fun to play along.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. Take care and Be Safe!

Totally appropriate color choice for the February Colorful Options challenge: RED!

For my card, I used the Taylored Expressions Stitched With Love cutting plate for my background, SimonSaysStamp’s Halftone Square background stamp stamped in GKD’s Cherry Red ink and die cut using Spellbinder’s Classic Hearts die cut. The second heart was cut from some Michael’s Recollections brand shimmer cardstock so I have I few different shades of red. To ground my hearts, I added a short embossed panel. The heart stems were picked up on Amazon.

Fun challenge and I like just the one color and of course there is always the rainbow option too for this group.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. Our groundhog winter weather predictor, Punxsutawney Phil, saw his shadow on February 2nd and that means 6 more weeks of winter. Take care, stay warm and be safe.

Hard to believe that Valentine’s Day is only one week away and I actually have all of my cards and treats completed. For my project today, I made a treat box that hold 4 Hershey Kisses. Using Spellbinder’s Labels 8 die set, I cut the base using the largest die, then the second largest to cut some patterned paper and scored the base die at 2″ and 3-1/4″. Thanks to Amanda over at Newtons Nook Designs for figuring out the math. I searched their site for the link but couldn’t locate it.

My hearts are from SSS’s recent release which included Doodlebug Design, Inc. Odds&Ends ephemera. Really cute images and I was happy SSS sold them separately. They made adorable kids cards. I made 10 treats for friends and kids.

Fun challenge and timely theme with the Double D Challenges blog.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. Have a great day, stay warm and be safe.

CAS cards are always a challenge for me and AAA Cards Challenge #207 is a NO Layers + BIG Sentiment challenge. Double Whammy!! My card is the second attempt and a disclaimer that in no way am I making fun or making light of people who suffer from the horrible disease of Alzheimer’s. I have lost two family members by marriage to this disease. Please accept this sentiment in the fun that it was intended. The real side story is that my girlfriends and I have all decided that if we need a nursing home or assisted living one day we all want adjoining rooms. LOL….what fun that would be. My girlfriends will know it’s me because of the added butterfly. The big sentiment is Hampton Arts Laugh Out Loud stamps,the stencil is AALL & Create Stencil’s Dote on Diamonds and the butterfly is GKD’s A Beautiful Life stamp set.

Next up was my first card that I thought I would post but am not thrilled with. This card is for another set of friends that I meet for dinner and cocktails once a month. Unfortunately our January date was cancelled with one fully immunized and boosted friend testing positive for Covid.

This was a Fiskars Girls Night Out stamp set and SimonSaysStamp’s Talk Bubbles stencil.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. Take care and be safe.

As I’m working on Valentine cards, the Make The Cards Challenge #47 them to “Create A Valentine” was perfect timing. For my card today, I pulled out an older The Cat’s Pajama stamp set which has some cute and fun images and decided on the popcorn movie stamp. In our case it’s popcorn and another episode of Law & Order but lets not forget about MASH and Hogan’s Heroes. Oh my I really aged myself with those last two but they are Will’s favorites.

The background was stamped and white heat embossed using Taylored Expressions Good Hearted Background which was a free with purchase stamp. My hearts are Spellbinder’s classic hearts dies. A little coloring and sponging added to the image and ombre ink blending for the hearted background. The sentiment was also from the same The Cat’s Pajama stamp set. We were on the receiving end of many eye rolls when our daughter was growing up so I’m hoping Will is going to get a chuckle from this card.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. It’s still very cold here in Pennsylvania. I worry when the weather people forecast that the impending snow will miss us. My snow people have until Monday to enjoy their view out the window then it’s time to make way for Valentine decorations and they will be packed away for a long winter’s nap.

Take care and be safe.

CASE-ing a little of this and a little of that with my card today. SimonSaysStamp released some layering heart stencils and I decided to make my own stencils using my Spellbinders Classic Hearts dies. They aren’t as large as the SSS stencils but they worked. My design was a CASE of Yana Smakula’s card using the SSS stencil with angled layered card stock. Sentiment was from an unkown stamp set in my stash. The hearts looks like they needed more attention so I stamped the Taylored Expressions Good Hearted background stamp over the hearts using versamark ink and then added a splat her and a splat there.

The Double D Challenge is Blue & White Winter to which I’ll be sharing my card. February is a winter month so my blue hearts will meet the challenge theme.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. Take care, stay warm and be safe.

Looks like a fun time for this bunny to be sledding down a hill with his winter animal friends. For my card today, I decided to play along with the following two challenges:

The Paper Players: PP574 Winter Animals

Sunday Stamps: SSC274 Split In Two

My background patterned paper is Craft Smart’s Winter Dream” paper pad from my local Michael’s, Hero Arts’ Snowflake Medallion Fancy die and Stampin Up’s Merry Crittermas stamp set.

Annette’s sketch for Sunday Stamps is featured below:

and

oops….does that really say Clean-And-Simple Winter Animals challenge for the Paper Players??? Well here’s hoping it will fit that challenge too….LOL.

Possibility of another inch or two or three of snow overnight tonight. Second warning for the snow people in my front window. I’m getting their storage box ready for them. Thanks for stopping in for a peek. Take card and be safe.

Another fun mood board from the Peace on Earth Challenges – Anything Christmas challenge #8. I opted to be inspired by the plaid boots with the truck tag hauling a Christmas tree. I worked on my gingham plaid background using a SimonSaysStamp gingham background stamp, layering it on black cardstock and adhering to a card base the same GKD color as the plaid panel. No truck for me this time but my tree is a Hero Arts November 2021 card kit and die cut my tree from white cardstock twice, adding a sentiment banner to complete the card. This Hero Arts card kit is sold on-line at Joann’s and included a stamp set, die, some cardstock, ink cubes, embossing powder and glitter and since it was a good price point decided to give it a try.

A simple little card that was fun to make for this challenge. It’s still very cold in Pennsylvania with two or three more chances of snow this week yet! So far the snow falls haven’t been too large but try telling that to my back! The snow people that are in my front window will be warned to knock off the snow or they will be banished to their box in the basement!

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. Take care and be safe.