Gayle

Ha-llama-ween

| Gayle Chrvala
Halloween Jump Start

Just when I thought it was safe to put away Halloween stamps, our Stamp Buddy, Johanna, finds a new challenge blog from Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge. Halloween year round!! YES!!! The Halloween Jump Start challenge is Anything Goes!

My card to be entered into this challenge is for our granddaughter Brooke. We sing the word llama to each other and both giggle about it so of course when I found this Recollections stamp set it was a no brainer for me. My “spooky” night background was to my eyes a hot mess but when I covered it up with the spooky tree, some tall grasses (Memory Box Pasture Grass), some little ghost and shiny pumpkins I thought it was perfect for Brooke. Lots of elements that she will get a kick out of.

Mood Board

Thanks for looking and a fun new challenge.

Butterfly Wishes

| Gayle Chrvala
AYSI Challenge #236

I’ve been making an anniversary card for my son and daughter in law for the last two weeks and it’s finally finished but a week late. We were hoping to hand deliver to them and out of concern for us warned that his area is spiking again in Covid positive cases made the urgency less of a factor. So this will be going in a priority mail box as well as some costumes and Halloween goodies for our granddaughter.

My motivation returned when I saw the speed challenge at the As You See It challenge with a butterfly theme and under 10 minute speed challenge.

My card was completed in 7 minutes and 5 seconds and only took me five days to decide what to make. Butterflies are normally easy for me since they are a reminder of my late mother. I must admit that I did not make the background but did find this gorgeous Recollections Gilded Ink paper pad today at my Michael’s. The die cut to show case the patterned paper background is a Simon Says Stamp Confetti Circle die, the butterfly is also from a Recollections Valentine’s Day stamp & dies set and the sentiment is from Gina K Design’s The Northwoods. I stamped the butterfly on the background paper with VersaFine Clair black ink which was not the greatest choice of inks. Since I had to spend some of my time using my mono eraser to get some smears off my card. Using clear embossing powder could have solved that issue I believe. I added some shine with the Nuvo Glitter Gloss pen.

challenge236 brisk butterflies 1

Thanks for looking. Hope you are having a great week!!

Zombie Chase

| Gayle Chrvala
DRU Challenge #154 – Anything Goes

Our grandson who will be 10 years old a few days before Halloween so I’m pretty sure he will enjoy the zombies featured on this card which will be entered into the Dies R Us Anything Goes Challenge #154 to use a die company that is sold in the DRU store. The stamp set and coordinating dies are a Sizzix Tim Holtz Framelits w/stamps & Texture fades set. The frames were cut using Spellbinder’s Labels 17 set. The embossing folder is from another Sizzix Tim Holtz set.

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Cards for Troops

| Gayle Chrvala

Another batch of Cards for Troops completed and mailed today. I prepped 16 different cards styles and yesterday my girlfriends gathered at our home to assemble. This time they not only colored some images but actually ink blended some backgrounds. We had a wonderful socially distanced mask wearing day all for a good cause. I also included cards I made for various challenges and were not mailed making our total 102 all occasion cards. I’m going to begin prepping Valentine cards for a November card party.

Will my Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas cards get completed?? Hmmm!!!!

Batty Kitty

| Gayle Chrvala
The Paper Players: PP509

Love when challenges can motivate me to create my holiday cards and try out my new stamps. In this case, I’m in Halloween mode and wanted to use my Newton’s Nook Batty Newton stamp set which seemed perfect (to me) to use in The Paper Players Clean and Simple Challenge and to include pets. My ink blended circle was supposed to me a “spooky” moon however I think it turned more into a far mysterious planet for Batty Kitty to be flying around. After erasing a inky smudge off my focal panel, I found one more and decided to cover that one up with a bat stamps. Then I adhered the same panel to the card base the wrong direction!! Thankfully it pulled off without creasing or tearing. Besides this card being entered into the challenge it’s also in memory of my PennyLane. Boy we still do miss him and our morning wake up call with his paws in my face.

Thanks for looking!

On The Fence

| Gayle Chrvala
Double D Challenges Don’t Fence Me In

Next week Fall begins and the weather today in Pennsylvania again today was glorious. It was a little chilly for our grandson’s 9 am baseball game. I love beginning my Halloween cards with my favorite monster Frankenstein!! My stamps are all from Prickley Pear and the cloudy skies background are using a Simon Says Stamp stencil and some Distress Ink. I will find my favorite Bonnie cloud stencil but was anxious to begin my card. LOL…yes my desk is a mess again 🙂

This card will be entered into the Double D Challenges: Don’t Fence Me In in which we were required to include a fence. One Prickley Pear fence stamped behind Frankie. The cardstock is GKD’s Wild Lilac but the auto adjust deepened the color.

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Birthday Drive

| Gayle Chrvala
DRU Challenge #153

Hello! Stamp Buddy Johanna shared a video of a Radio Flyer car recently and it made me think of my latest find from Spellbinders Sunday Drive die set. There are add ons to this original set which I have yet to find but it was fun to build my own car. This card will be entered into the Dies R Us Challenge #153 – One For the Boys. With a little bit of background ink sponging, patterned paper and a little splatter of Nuvo Shimmer Powder, the hardest part was assembling the car. The trunk “birthday” section lifts up and that’s where I placed a package. Happy with the turnout of this card.

That’s Ms. Grammy!

| Gayle Chrvala
DRU Challenge #152 – Back To School

I thought was finished sending out my Back To School cards when the Dies R Us Challenge # 152 was posted with that theme and to include a metal die. This card is for a girlfriend who has taken on the almost impossible task of learn at home schooling for 3 grandchildren in grades 1 and 2. Of course if that isn’t enough to handle she also babysits for her other grandchildren….an infant and 1 year old. Whew!!

I decided to do rainbow stripes and die cut the letters from Concord & 9th’s Double-Cut Alphabet Dies. The apple (for the teacher) and die is a love Nicole stamp set. Finished the card off with some wink of stella to put a lot of sparkle on this card for Ms. Grammy.

Back To School Take 2

| Gayle Chrvala
The Sisterhood Of Crafters It’s The Thought That Counts

One more back to school card designed with the IT’s the Thought That Counts (Sentiment as the Focal Point) challenge at The Sisterhood of Crafters challenge. Keeping this one simple, I stamped some crayons from the Teachers Clear stamp set from TPC Studio in colored ink and then highlighted each crayon in the same color surrounding the Concord & 9th’s Double Cut Alphabet dies using only the base letter.

Good luck to all our students and teachers. Definitely not starting out as a normal year for any of them.