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. 

It's Time for a Wedding

Our cousin, Jason, is getting married today and I needed to throw together a quick wedding card. I took the PPA Challenge #171 colors Baked Brown Sugar, Calypso Coral, and Very Vanilla

as well as Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #103

to put together a simple and rustic card. 

I am a big fan this summer of using Stampin' Up's Sweet Essentials and Embellished Events stamp sets together for weddings and baby cards. They are a perfect match. I love the two champagne glasses and rhinestone bubbles. It is sweet, but not overdone. I also took a play on the sketch and instead of adding brads or buttons (which I was about to do) and I hand stitched twine X's along the two colors of paper. I think it gives the card a shabby chic quality. 

Family is in town, going to eat great wedding food, and can't wait to get my groove on. Looking forward to a great night!

Back to School

Back to School began this week for us. I had lots of mixed feelings at the beginning of this school year. On the one hand, I'm a teacher. I am beginning my 10th year of teaching and I love it. I always look forward and get nervous about meeting new students and having a routine. There is no job I would rather have. On the other hand, I'm now a mom. Owen has been a hoot this summer and is getting more fun by the day. I have enjoyed all the time I've gotten to spend with him and know now that I will have less time with him. 

My nephew, Austin, is beginning his first year of school and couldn't be more excited. He even let Aunt Manda take some pictures of him to capture the moment. 

Back to school reminds me of a quote from the movie Hope Floats. 

"Beginnings are usually scary. Endings are usually sad, but it's what's in the middle that counts."

There's more, but this is the part I really need to keep reminding myself of throughout the tough parts of the year. 

In honor of Back to School I decided to join a couple challenges this week with a Back to School theme. 

Cas-ual Fridays Challenge #114

Cas(E) This Sketch Challenge #44

Casology Cue Card #60

The Friday Mashup #126

I was excited to use the Vintage Picnic set by Papertrey Ink. I love the mixy-matchyness of the set. It reminds my of summer and fall at the same time, which is what going back to school reminds me of as well. I used my Copic markers again to color in the apples and picnic basket. I layed down a piece of washi tape to act as a blanket under my basket. Cute. Clean. Simple. Just my style. 

Everyone, have a great school year!

Hello Sunshine

It is no secret that kraft colored paper or Crumb Cake if you use Stampin' Up's color pallette is by far one of my favorite colors. I was excited when CAS-ual Fridays had the use of kraft colored paper and text in challenge #113. 

I used Crumb Cake cardstock as my card base and build from there. I used Papertrey Ink's Banner die to cut out a piece of polka dot craft paper from the Season of Style Paper Pack from Stampin' Up. I love this design because of its huge white dots. It adds a lot by just using a little. 

Next, I used the Papertrey Ink Hello die to cut out a shimmer sentiment using Champagne Glitter Paper. I love this pop of sparkle. Last, but not least I added a little extra text by stamping in Crumb Cake ink "Sunshine" from the Wonderful Words: Hello stamp set from Papertrey Ink. 

I think this card looks sophisticated, yet spunky and fun. Enjoy a sparkly day and a great Labor Day weekend.