Pumpkins and Spiders

Hi ya all! Just making a few more Thanksgiving and Halloween cards today with my Hero Arts stamps. I'm really getting in the mood with the cooler days and all the leaves turning beautiful colors here at home in Wisconsin.

Up first here is the Thanksgiving pumpkin card. I followed Jennifer McGuires way of doing this to stamp the pumpkins onto water color paper, emboss the image, then color the pumpkins using distress inks. I didn't really like how the distress inks turned out so trashed the first ones and I just used my (gasp) Bic markers instead. Then I took my homemade bottle of gold Pearl Ex powder and Lumiere paint and completely soaked the pumpkins......had to let them dry for about 10 minutes before cutting them out. It's hard to see but they have the most incredible shine on them now! The sentiment is from Hero Arts set "Season of Giving" and the leaves are Hero Arts as well.

Used some brown Coredinations paper and SU Espresso cardstock for the base here. The embossing folder is called " Finial Press " and it's from Stampin Up as well. Used my Brilliance pearlescent beige for the shimmery leaves and vintage photo for the sentiment. The little twine bows are glued down using Glossy Accents.

For the spider card I finally made myself use the Hero Arts digi kit called "Spooky cute". I just printed the spider in a word document and then colored it using my Copics cool gray C-3 marker on the spider webs. Got out my Spica orange and black marker and did the spiders eyes orange, and went over the web as well for a bit of sparkle and shine with the black.  Last thing was to put some Glossy accents on the spiders eyes. The fun orange polka dotted paper/grid paper is from Doodlebug and purchased at Archivers. The words on the black paper are a bunch of sentiments from the Hero Arts set " Happy Halloween" stamped in white and embossed.

Hope you like these cards- I really had fun making them! Thanks for stopping by and hope you are getting in the mood for fall or Halloween!

Don't forget to sign up for my "Halloween Blog Candy" here!

Inky Hugs, Anne

Halloween Blog Candy!

Since Halloween is my favorite holiday I thought I would spread a little love and give away some Halloween goodies! One lucky person will win these items and probably a few other fun things from my stash! You get 6 sheets of Stampin Up patterned paper, 6 "A2" card bases that match the SU paper, 1 Northwoods cube stamp with 4 images, and the fun clear stamp set from Stampendous- fun sparkley orange gems, and a black ink pad! I'll probably add some bat die cuts and maybe some ribbon or Stickles as well (I've got soooo much Halloween stuff and I LOVE to share!)

                                                          (click on the picture for a larger view)

                                                          (better picture of the stamps)



To be elegible to win all you have to do is follow these simple steps :


Step 1. Sign up to follow my blog, but if you are already a follower simply go on to step 2 or 3.


Step 2. Post about this candy on your blog if you would be so kind ( I would be great if you would help to spread the word but this is optional of course ) .

Step 3. Leave a comment on this post (feel free to tell me about a favorite Halloween memory or what you like about Halloween now as an adult)- and that's it!

I will leave this open until September 30th and will randomly pick a winner on October 1st. I want to get this in the mail quickly to the winner so they have time to use the goodies!

Thanks for stopping bye and good luck to everyone!


Anne

Northwoods and Graphic 45 Halloween cards

Hi ya all! Been super busy and not had time to post my Halloween projects I did at day 2 of Scrapfest.

So I'll try to keep this short and sweet. Here are the 2 cards I created at the Northwoods class! I love all the sparkle and shine on the ghosts in the pumpkin patch (click on the pic for a better view) and just adore fun the image on the other card! The insides of the cards are decorated to match as well. We got another image to color ( a giant Jack o lantern)  but I brought that one home and still haven't started that one.....maybe I'll get to it this weekend. I got a very nice bag of Halloween goodies and stamps from the this class too- and the owner of Northwoods is super nice- she lives just over the river from me as Northwoods is located in Stillwater MN.

Next up was a really fun Halloween treat/gift bag and a matching card that actually tucks into the folded over flap on the front of the bag. I LOVE this Graphic 45 paper- so many fun posiibilites!

The second day of Scrapfest all of us Hero Arts gals got together to have dinner at the Twin City Grill. We had a wonderful time talking- eating- having a few cocktails, and we also did a small card swap. We each made 2 cards- using either fall or Halloween as our themes. I got 2 gorgeous cards- this one from the super talented Jenn, and this awesome card from Liz. Love these 2 cards and will cherish them forever!

Here are a few shots of all of us eating and chatting!!

And here I am with the amazing Jennifer McGuire!
 

I must admit I was completely wiped out come Sunday after being the the Mall for 2 days straight. But it was soooo worth it. I had an amazing time meeting all my new friends and going to fun classes and shopping!

And here is a card I whipped up quick yesterday for my husbands "40th" birthday! I put it off until the very last minute- so it was kind of my own 60 minute challenge- I'm not kidding either - has was on his way home from work as I scrambled to get something made. You can't really tell in the picture but the whole background on the card is a sparkly gold- I  stamped the leaves with distress inks and then sprayed the cardstock using my own homemade cocktail of gold Pearl Ex powder and Lumiere paint.

Thanks everyone for stopping by and I'll be back to post some more things this weekend!

Inky Hugs, Anne

Scrapfest Pictures and all the fun!

Hi ya everyone! I just wanted to share all the fun at my first ever Scrapfest! I met up with my fellow Hero Arts groupies first thing in the morning and proceeded to have a blast!

First up for the day was the Tim Holtz class! Barb (in the pink)  and I stood in line hoping to get right up front and we ran into Sarah (in the white & gray) from Canada right away.

Tim's class was a total blast and we got to sit in the front row (wohoooo!)  I even talked with Tim a bit (nervous as heck) asking him if Ranger was ever going to make distress ink markers. He told me they were in the works but they were working on getting all the technical difficulties figured out and it would still be a while before they hit the stores! He was making jokes and keeping us all motivated throughout the whole class. We got to have our picture taken with him once our class was over and all of us walked away with some very nice goodies (NEW embossing folders not in the stores yet and a big pack of grunge board- plus we got to keep most of our supplies used in making the wonderful memories book!)

Her I am working on my project.

Barb and I were in 7th heaven- it was so fun to sit only 5 feet away from him the whole time (he is so nice and of course incredibly COOL)!

Then Barb and I had to run upstairs to go to our 2 Hero Arts classes! We met up with a few more of our fellow Flickr friends and I must say- this class was soooo fun  and very fast paced.  Shari and Jennifer were so nice and so goofey throughout the whole class-  even though they were barking out orders the whole time.....but in a good-fun way! They kept giving away fun Hero Arts goodies all through the class too which was very unepected :) I ended up winning a wonderful Christmas sentiment stamp, a pack of felt snowflakes and some yummy red poinsetta flowers and Hero Hues gems!

Here is Natasha with Jennifer at the end of the class. Natasha is just a little firecracker (8 months pregnant too!) and she is just the sweetest little thing that can even outtalk and outshop my own mother. We ended up going to Archivers and wow- she just kept adding more and more goodies to her shopping basket! Love you Natasha!

So now I thought I would show you some of the wonderful cards we made in the Hero Arts class and a few from the make n takes as well.

Aren't these just gorgeous creations! Love using all the Perfect Pearls and distress inks here! Plus we got to use a ton of the new stamps from the "Jingle All the way" catalog. Another fun bonus- we got to keep one set of new stamps that we used to make our cards! I got to keep the set "Real Leaves" which was one of the sets I was going to try to find at buy Archivers! OMG can you imagine my excitement getting the set I've been drooling over for free- how very generous of Hero Arts!

These were all made on the first day- wow we were busy!

Then I had a nice relaxing lunch with my neighbors from Minnesota- Linda and Barb! (sorry Barb- this was the only picture I had of both of the 2 of you!) A bit more shopping and walking around and by then I was pooped out and ready to head home for the day. I must tell you all, I came home with a huge bag of free goodies- I was really shocked and amazed at the amount of stuff that Hero Arts and Tim Holtz gave away- plus I had my fair share of things purchased at Archivers too!

I'll be back to post another round of photos later today or tomorrow. My camera died on me half way through the second day and I'm waiting for my friends to email me some of the pictures they took. It was a great first day at Scrapfest and the best part was getting to meet and hang out with my new friends! Barb is the sweetest lady and soooo darn FUN- I knew I was going to like here! We plan on getting together again very soon to chat and make some cards! Linda is a wonderful lady as well and just being able to meet all the other ladies from the Flickr Hero Arts pool was such a joy!

Thanks for stopping by and if you can manage it I suggest you attend next years Scrapfest- it was so fun! Keep your eyes open on here for some upcoming blog candy as well- I got a few duplicate things I already have and some other Halloween goodies to give away too.

Inky Hugs, Anne

Card making weekend for OWH!

Hi ya cardmakers and friends!

This weekend the Hero Arts Flickr pool is having a virual cardmaking party for Operation Write Home. There are many fun and interesting challenges going on and I decided to participate making several cards.

First up here is a sketch card where I used some yummy Basic Grey papers, my new favorite embossing folder by Stampin Up (Square Lattice), and some new clear stamps by Hero Arts called "Joy To All". I pulled out the holly punch to go along with the holly on the Basic Grey paper and added a few silver gems for the berries.
I just love the way this card turned out......and I don't normally say that about my own cards- he he!


I made 4 christmas cards (I had no intention of making so many) and one quick birthday card. And by quick I mean quick- less than 15 minutes to stamp it and photograph it! We were given 1 hour total but I didn't see the post until there was only 15 minutes left. Man- that was very intense and super fun! I've never made a card soooo darn fast in my life :) Ink pads and stamps were flying left and right- panic set in as I had only 15 minutes to get one made! But I made it- yeahhhh :)

I'll post all the other cards here without listing every little detail.....I know this is going to be a long post today. If anyone has any question please just send me an email or Flickr mail. Most all the cards created used Hero Arts stamps and some Basic Grey papers and of course that SU embossing folder.


Here is my 10 minute card. This was a quick one-whew!






Another Christmas card following the above sketch- just rotated it and added only 3 items.




And 2 more silver and blue Christmas Cards!






Here is one last card I made late last night for the 1.5 hour challenge to make a one layer card. I got out my Eclipse masking tape and Hero Arts stamps and got busy with my distress inks. Sorry for the poor quality picture but it was pitch black when I took this photo last night.







It feels really good to have made some fun cards for our dedicated and brave soldiers. If you want to find out any more information please visit the Operation Write Home website for all the details and maybe you can donate some cards as well.

Thanks for stopping bye and hope you all have a great week ahead!

Only 6 more days until Scrapfest- I'm counting them down and can't wait!


Inky Hugs, Anne