A Little Bit Country

A short drive from our house brings you out into the country in the middle of farm fields, barns, and beauty. I made this card for my last stamp group and realized right away that it fit CAS-ology's Challenge #67 Country Theme. 

I love the Hexagon punch, but what I think adds a little country is the patterns within them. The cross-hatch looks like a pair of faded denim jeans and the other like a gingham shirt. A touch of coral chevron for a modern touch and it's a card that's a little bit country. 

Happy weekend!

A Treat for my Boys

I love Halloween. It is the beginning of fall and the air is crisp and cool. Living in Wisconsin means that usually you need to find, make, or create a costume that can fit over a jacket or snowsuit. This year Owen is going to be a silly little monkey. Not far from the truth!

I posted yesterday and shared the cute little treat bags I made for our neighbor kids. I made treat bags for all my nephews as well. I think it is a cute little something that is special to each of the boys. I wanted to make each tag unique, but easy to mass produce. 

These tags fit perfectly with CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #118 Tags and Bags

and again with Pinspired Challenge #20 Halloween

I used some glassine bags I purchased from a store on the internet, but you could use any type. I made my tags from leftover designer paper, corduroy buttons, and my chalkboard marker. I stamped the date on the tags with my rotary stamp.  

Happy Halloween everyone!

Trick-or-Treat Bags

These cute bags are no trick, but all treat. Since Nick works nights during the week, Owen and I are on our own for Halloween. And as much as I would love to sit home and pass out candy (not!), I would much rather be tromping around the neighborhood with my little man. 

We created these cute little bags for some of our neighbor kids. They each get their own personalized bag and a bit of candy. This saves me from sitting at home and spending oodles on candy. 

These cute bags fit the CAS-ual Friday Challenge #118 Tags and Bags

as well as the Pinspired Challenge #20 Halloween

I used some small kraft bags from Michael's and some leftover designer paper from last Halloween. A super easy and super cute little gift for the neighbors. I can't wait to let Owen deliver these. 

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Time

It is no secret that fall is my favorite season. I love the cool nights, baked goods, craft fairs, and leaves turning color. We also love visiting the pumpkin patch. We bought several pumpkins last weekend for cheap and we plan to do all our photo op stuff at the patch. 

This card was inspired by my serious love of pumpkins and fall. I combined a bunch of challenges for a seriously simple Halloween card. 

Color Throwdown #263 provided the perfect fall color assortment. 

Freshly Made Challenge #107 provided a super simple layout. No frills! 

Friday Mash-Up #131 with Spooky and Cas-ology #65 provided the inspiration. 

Last, but certainly not least, CAS-ual Fridays #117 provided a small finishing touch. 

The result is a spooky little card with lots of white space and a few fabulous details. I'm a bit obsessed with the weird white/cream colored pumpkins right now, but for my card I made a gray one. I love Stampin' Up's Jack of All Trades set...too bad it's retired!

Happy Fall y'all!

Color Wash Thanks

Archiver's and I have become pretty good friends lately. I am hooked on Project Life and can't help myself from going there to by more goodies and expansion cards (that I really don't need.) They're so adorable though, so I go anyway. (Currently I am just putting my wedding pictures into the album from almost 10 years ago...maybe I try scrapping each week after the first of the year.)

Anyway, as I was wandering around I found this really cute polymer stamp set by Pink Paislee called Color Wash. It gives three brushstroke options and many sentiment outlines. So I decided to challenge it up again and combine a few to make the perfect card. 

First, Paper Pal Arts Challenge #174 provided the color selection this week with Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pizzazz, and Baked Brown Sugar. I was a little unsure about this color combo until it all came together. Now I think it is gorgeous!

Cas(e) This Sketch Challenge #48 provided the perfect keep it simple layout. 

I love how it looks like I wiped ink across the page. I also love how much open white (vanilla) space I have on this card. 

These are exactly the kind of cards I love to make. 

Falling Gently Thanks

I love autumn. It is by far my favorite season. I'm sad for people that don't really get to experience it in their part of the country or world. The downside is that this means winter is on the way; and if you know Wisconsin winters, you know that they feel like 10 months out of the year. 

I wanted to embrace this beautiful time of year with a fun fall card. I played along with a couple challenges and I was super excited with the results. 

First, I joined Dynamic Duos Challenge #73. Their color palette this week was rich and beautiful with Cajun Craze and Island Indigo as their two choices. 

Next, I mixed those colors into a clean layout from Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #106. I loved the idea of having a circle behind a simple banner. I chose to paper pierce mine. 

Last, I played with the Friday Mash-Up Challenge #130 by cutting out my fussy and time consuming leaves from Stampin' Up's Gently Falling set. I just love the sktechy look of it and they turned out even cuter once I watercolored them. I also used the leaves as a part of CASology's Week 64 Harvest Challenge. 

My finishing touch was a "Thanks" sentiment from the Stampin' Up set Yippee-Skippee! 

Happy Fall everyone!

Merci

I always wished I could have taken French, but they didn't offer it in my high school. I am jealous of my students now who get the opportunity to learn what sounds like a very beautiful language. I knew when I saw Papertrey Ink's Think Big Favorites #3 with the "Merci" sentiment in it that I had to have it. 

The bright colors were an inspiration from Pinspired Challenge #18. The minute I saw the bright mix of colors I knew I needed to use them. I love blues and greens and these look so good together. 

I paired up this sentiment with Papertrey Ink's Sketched Shapes in Bermuda Bay, Gumball Green, and Island Indigo to make a modern and simple card. 

I love the fact that I could just change the sentiment and this would make a perfect man or boy card, which we all know can be difficult to make and think up.