Random Cards - Halloween Hedgehogs

Good Afternoon Everyone! Just another Halloween card again. Halloween is right around the corner so I really need to hustle in making these Halloween cards.

Anyway, this is a card I made last night before I went to bed. I love the SU Hedgehogs and it's too bad SU no longer feature them in their line of stamps. I think SU should have a series of popular characters that are featured yearly. This years catalog is filled with designs very similar to those sold by other brands.

Don't you love SU's Hedgehogs? Well, I love them. This stamp set retired quite some time ago but it is by far one of my favorites.

I colored the image using Prismacolor Pencils with Gamsol. To create the dots, I used the SU Crafters Tool Kit (piercer). I love pierced dots.

Card Details:

Stamp Set: Halloween Hedgehogs
Ink: Prismacolor Pencils with Gamsol
Paper: DCWV Fall Stack
Accessories: 1" and 1 1/4" circl punch, grosgrain ribbon, Crafters Tool Kit (piercer), Corner punch, JoAnn brads

Random Cards - More Halloween Cards

I can't believe it but I actually made two cards in a day! That's a cause to celebrate!! Haha! Yeah, I've been seriously slacking as far as making cards. I try to make at least one card a day and if I manage to make more than one, I feel I've accomplished something.

Just a simple card. . .nothing exciting about it. I don't know if you noticed but I use a lot of retired stamp sets. Why? Because I have a lot retired stamp sets. Yup!!

I don't re-sell my stamp sets once they retire. . .I'm not one of those that no longer find value in them because they no longer are current. Another reason is why I use a lot of retired stamp sets is I only have a limited amount of "current" stamp sets. None of which are Halloween stamps. How many Halloween stamps do I need? I have stamps up to my neck and I no longer have space. I've moved a lot of my stamps into the garage and I don't know what to do with the space issue. I will have to get rid of some of my stamps to make room for newer ones but I don't want to get rid of them. Another way to solve the problem is not to buy too many stamps so, there yah go. . .

Anyway, it's not about the image, it's about the layout and overall design. All you need to do is substitute the image for another similar image that you have.

I just realized that I did not add a sentiment to the card. I will need to fix that. I don't know why but I have this need to add a sentiment to every card I make.

Anyway. . I colored the image, as always, with Prismacolor Pencils and outlined the image with Prismacolor Markers. The cat was mounted with dimensionals to give it a 3D appearance.




Card Details:



Stamp Set: Stitched Witch
Ink: Prismacolor Pencils and Markers
Paper: Only Orange, Glorious Green, DCWV Fall Stack
Accessories: Grosgrain Ribbon, Hemp Cord, JoAnn Brads



Here is a card basically using the same materials and colors that I used with the first card. Again, I colored the image using Prismacolor Pencils and outlined the image using Prismacolor Markers. Nothing much else to the card but layering the layout.

Card Details:

Stamp Set: A Haunting We Will Go

Ink: Prismacolor Pencils with Gamsol

Paper: DCWV Fall Stack, Only Orange, Lovely Lilac

Accessories: JoAnn brads, Metallic Cord, Grosgrain Ribbon, Fibers, 1 1/4 and 1 3/8 circle punch, Crafter's Tool Kit (piercer)

Random Card - Halloween

Hi Everyone! Sorry I haven't posted any cards or projects the last few days. I had to deal with a problem the last few days and did not have time to really work on cards.

I actually made this card the other night but did not have time to post it until now. The stamp set "Stitched Witch" is a very old stamp set and retired quite a while ago but I've kept it because it's a great stamp set.

I colored the image using Prismacolor Pencils with Gamsol, cut out the image, then mounted it on to the designer paper using dimensionals.
The rest of the card is basically layering the layout.

I have this week's challenge on my Card Inspired blog site if you are interested in participating. It's an interesting challenge! Check it out! I'm not going to post any challenge on this blog site this week because I want to keep this blog site open for other projects.


Card Details:

Stamp Set: Stitched Witch
Ink: Prismacolor Pencils with Gamsol
Paper: DCWV Fall Stack, Chocolate Chip, Glorious Green
Accessories: Small Tag Punch, JoAnn Brads, 1 inch punch, hemp cord, grosgrain ribbon

TIC Day #8 - Tuesday's Inspirational Challenge - Tag-A-Long Submissions and Samples

Good Evening Everyone! This is the last submission I received for this week's TIC!

This absolutely lovely creations are from Beth! They are so pretty! I love the background. . .looks like she used the "polished stone" techinque but I'm not positive. I have to ask Beth about it.

Beth created the card and tag for her friend whose birthday is coming up. I love the fall colors that she used.

Beth has a wonderful blog site called "Sunflowers and Dragonflies". Be sure to drop by and check out her lovely creations as well as her weekly tutorials. Thank you Beth for once again participating in my challenge! I really appreciate your lovely work!

Good morning Everyone! It's a nice Sunday! Hope it's a nice day for you too. Here's a card and tag I made for this week TIC challenge.

I really wasn't sure what to do with this stamp set initially. Not that it's not a flexible set but I wasn't sure how I should use all the different stamps on one card. I figured a scenery type of card was workable so this is what I came up with.

I bought this fabric 3D "snow" paint last year because I wanted a medium that I could use to create puffy snow. I typically used Liquid Applique but I wanted to see if there was anything else I could use to create the same 3D snow as the LA. Fabric dimensional paint works pretty well.

I didn't want to cover the whole snowman because the snowman image is quite large and there's only so much puffy paint in a bottle so I decided to just use it to outline the snowman and the background snow. I think it came out okay. Before it dried, I applied clear glitter to give it a bit of a sparkle.

You can't tell by the picture but the background trees and snowflakes are also glittery. I applied Stickles glitter to them.

Here's the matching tag!

Today's the last day for submissions. There's more submissions on Card Inspired. . .be sure to check it out!

I'm thinking of cutting down my challenges to bi-monthly as opposed to weekly so I can have more flexibility to create other things each week. Whenever I do a challenge, I tend to stick to creating things for the challenge. We'll see. In the meantime, you still have time. I'd love to see your work!

Card Detail:

Stamp set: unknown

Ink: Hunter Green, Ballet Blue, markers

Paper: Provocraft designer paper, Old Olive

Accessories: Organdy ribbon, Decoart Snowwriter

Here's a submission for this week's TIC Day #8 - Tag-A-Long Challenge. If you're interested in participating in this week's challenge, click here for the details. Check out my Card Inspired Blog Site for additional submissions for this week's challenge.

Check out Monika's fabulous card and tag. Aren't they simply elegant. I love how she used the CB embossed background. It just goes so well with the image! Monika always comes up with great submissions for my challenges! It's always wonderful to see what she comes up with! Be sure to drop by Monika's fabulous blog site "M.A.D. Stamper" for all the details on this card and tag as well as her other fabulous creations.

Thank you Monika for once again participating in my challenge. I always appreciate your lovely creations!!

Here is a card and tag I made for this week's challenge. I decided to do a Halloween card because Halloween is right around the corner and need to make a bunch of them. I colored the image using Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol. Nothing much to this card and tag but basically layering the layout.

Here is the matching tag!

Card Details:

Stamp set: Sweeter Treaters, Imaginations stamp, Inky Antics H1-0009E

Ink: Prismacolor Pencils with GamsolPaper: Only Orange, Lovely Lilac, Hunter Green, DCWV scrapbook paper

Ink: Prismacolor pencils with Gamsol

Accesories: Provocraft scallop scissors, Corner punch, 1 inch and 1 1/4 inch circle punch, Making Memories eyelets, Grosgrain ribbon

TIC Day #8 - Tuesday's Inspirational Challenge - "Tag-A-Long"

Hi Everyone!! Okay. . .I came up with an EASY challenge! I think my past challenges were a bit too challenging at times and I decided to make this week's one a useful one as well as easy.

Because I've been making Christmas cards with a matching tag for the past few days, it prompted me to turn it into a challenge. Why? Well, my challenges for y'all is also a personal challenge.

I need to make more of these cards with matching tags, especially in preparation for Christmas and the holidays. Many times when we give a card to someone, it's usually accompanied with a gift and if there's a gift, you need a tag. . .right? Well, this is a great opportunity to create a card with a matching tag.

To be honest, I come up with challenges that I want to participate in. I know. . .I can be pretty self-centered. . .:) so with that said, this week's TIC Day #8 is titled "Tag-a-long"

Here are the rules:

1. Make a card of any design or theme. It don't have to be a Christmas card. It can be a birthday card, baby card, whatever. . .

2. Create a tag that matches the card.

3. The tag has to have the same elements as the card. No new elements can be added to the tag that the card don't have. You don't have to use all the elements of the card but you just can't add any additional elements to the tag. Got it? For example, you must use the same colors, papers, materials, ribbons, whatever that the card has. You can't add additional embellishments, color combo, techniques, etc. to the tag. The point is the tag has to match the card.

5. The only added element that can be used on the tag that the card does not have are the words (TO: and From:).

6. Card and tag can be of any size or shape.

7. Card and tag don't need to be rubber stamped. You may paper craft, draw, add embellishments, paper piece whatever you want to do is acceptable.

You may send your submission as one picture with the card and tag together as shown to the right or send 2 pictures - the card and the tag. as shown in my other samples.

Please email your submission to me at lbmcd66@hotmail.com or comment on this post with your blog address. Please include your blog address or gallery so I can add the link to your website.











Last day of submission is on Sunday. Cards made with Stampin Up images will be posted on my Stampin Inspirations blog site and all others will be posted on Card Inspired.














The challenge will be posted on both of my blog sites. I will be giving out a small prize and a winner will be randomly chosen on Monday.

Okay, everyone. . .this challenge is easy so I am expecting you to participate! Most of all, HAVE FUN!!

Daily Special - Christmas In August

Good Evening Everyone! Here is a last minute card I made tonight. Sorry the pictures came out a bit dark but I only realized how they looked until after I loaded them on to my computer. I was too lazy to retake the pictures.

Just another Christmas card I made to add to my collection. Jus' preparing for Christmas. I really need to start now because I'm rather slow in making cards lately. I had planned to sit down and make a bunch of cards but all I managed to make were this card and the matching tag below. Time just seem to fly and I swear I don't know where my day goes.

I stamped the image using Buckaroo Blue ink and inked the whole image with Versamark, applied clear embossing powder and heat embossed it. I thought it still looked a bit bland so I covered the whole image with repositional glue and applied glitter all over. It muted the colors of the image which I didn't want to happen but I liked it with the glitter so I decided to keep it.

Here's the matching tag I made for the card. The same process to create the card was done with the tag using the same materials.

I'm going to lunch with a stampin' buddy tomorrow. We're gonna talk about stamping. . .what else, right. What else could we possibly be interested in talking about besides stamping?

Anyway, what do you think of the color combo? I like them. They're sort of non-traditional but still a little touch of tradition shows through.

Well goodnight everyone. . .it's bed time.






Card Details:


Stamp Set: Holiday Woodcuts
Ink: Blue Buckaroo, Prismacolor Markers
Paper: Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Provocraft Christmas Stack,DCWV scrapbook paper
Accessories: Clear Glitter, Clear Embossing Powder, Grosgrain polka-dot ribbon, CB Tag die, 1 inch circle punch

Daily Special - Christmas In August

Hi Everyone! Just a last minute post before I go to bed. I wanted to post this card and tag in time for tomorrow's update. Blogger is giving me a hard time tonight. It refused to upload my pictures and it took over 5 attempts before the pictures would upload. I could have gone to bed earlier if it wasn't for Blogger acting up.

You can't really tell by the picture but the Christmas stocking is very glittery. I applied glue (repositional type of glue) directly on to the image and before the glue dried, I poured glitter over it. The green part of the image was heat embossed using Garden Green Craft ink and I applied clear embossing powder over it and heat embossed it. I filled in the image using Prismacolor Markers. The background was dry embossed using the CB embossing folder.

Here's the matching tag that I made for the card. Because Christmas is right around the corner, you'll be seeing more postings of Christmas cards throughout the next few months. Have you started on your Christmas cards already? You'd better get crackin'. . .before you know it, it'll be the holidays and you'll be staying up late at night trying to catch up on your Christmas cards!!

Card Details:

Stamp set: Holiday Woodcuts, Flaky Friends (sentiment)

Paper: Real Red, Garden Green, Whisper White

Ink: Garden Green Craft Ink, Prismacolor Markers

Accessories: Santa's Workbench ribbon, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (Snowflakes), Clear Glitter, Clear Embossing Powder, Ticket Corner Punch

Random Card - Busy Card

Hi Everyone! Wow, I finally finished cleaning up my garage. I'm soooooooooo glad that I'm done. The garage is still cluttered with stuff but at least it's organized. I should have taken a before picture because you'll understand by looking at the picture what a major task it was to clean up the crazy mess.

I'll take a picture of how it looks now sometime this week. There's an area I still need to clear off but other than that, the garage is basically cleaned up.

Here's a card I made last night. I was going to post it last night but I was so tired that I decided to put it off until today.

I can't remember the stamp set I used. I had stamped and colored the image a while ago and now I can't find the stamp set I used.

I know the card has a lot of things going on. I wanted to create a busier card than I normally do. What do you think? Is the design cohesive? Sometimes it's hard to make a busy card because the elements don't always mix well together. It's not about cluttering the card with all sorts of stuff. . .it's trying to put the "stuff" together so the card don't end up looking cluttered.

I can't believe how tired I feel today. After working from morning to night on the garage and our yard, I think now that I've stopped, my body decided to take a break. I woke up feeling exhausted and all day, I've been feeling so sleepy.

I think I need a cup of coffee. Once I "wake up". . .I'll make a few more cards later this evening!

Card Details:

Stamp set: Can someone tell me the name of the stamp set.
Ink: Twinkling H20, Really Rust
Paper: Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, DCWV Scrapbook paper
Accessories: Key Tag punch, Cuttlebug tag die, hemp cord, Making Memories ribbons, Making Memories Prima flower, Crafters Tool Kit (paper piecing), Fiskar Scissors

Still Cleaning the Garage. . .Check Out My All Time Favorite Song

I'm still cleaning my garage but I'll work on something today. . .I'll post a card this evening.

Anyhoo, check out the video. . .whenever I hear this song, it makes me happy but at the same time a little sad. It reminds me of my childhood. . .not that it was unhappy but because it was a happy time. I loved this song as a child and still do today. I dedicate this song to all of you. Hope you all have a wonderful day!!

Random Cards

Hi Everyone! Here are 2 cards I made last night before I went to bed. I colored the images on the airplane when we took a trip to Washington DC. I colored a whole bunch of them and only now using them.

I love to color images on my down-time when I'm watching TV. I don't necessarily use them right away but store them for future use. It's a great way to have readily available images when you want to create a card.

I stamped the images on watercolor paper and colored them with the watercolor crayons. With the 2nd card, I outlined the image using markers then applied crystal effects to give it a 3D appearance.

I'm still in the process of cleaning out our garage. I worked on it for 4 hours today. Boy am I tired. I finally settled down for the day and it's nice to relax and be able to blog and perhaps have time to create a card tonight.

Check out my Card Inspired Blog site. . .I currently have a challenge going on there. I decided not to post it on this site because I wanted this blog to be open for other creations. My Tuesday Inspirational Challenge - TIC# 7 is "Altered Art - Anything But A Card" Challenge. If you are up for a challenge, Click Here for the details.

Card #1 Details:

Stamp sets: Sassy Stems, Riveting

Ink: Watercolor Crayons

Paper: Ballet Blue, Autumn Leaves designer paper

Accessories: Making Memories Ribbon, American Craft Element Ribbons, Making Memories Swirl Clips, 1" and 1 1/4" punches, Fiskar "Cloud" Scissors

Card Details:

Stamp Sets: Sassy Stems, Riveting
Paper: Ballet Blue, Autumn Leaves Designer Paper
Ink: Watercolor Crayons, Sakura Soufffle Gel Pen
Accessories: Crystal Effects, Craft Tool Kit (piercing), Dots, Dashes & Checks Ribbon, 1" and 1 1/4" punches

Daily Special - Swaps

Hi Everyone! Last month I participated in an ATC swap. Jen of i{heart}2stamp who, by the way, is one of the Dirty Dozen Alumni at SCS invited me to join her ATC swap. It was an honor to be invited. This is the second invite I've had from her and of course, I agreed. Who wouldn't want to considering the group of stampers that I was trading with. After I received my swaps, I kinda wish I did a better job on my ATCs. The ones I received were all inspirational as you can see by the pictures.

From left to right starting at the top:

Susan Roberts
Angie Zublionis - (Quacking Creations)
Amanda Sewell
Me
Linda Duke
Gina K
Sherry Cheevel - (SCS) BadSherry
Amy Rysavy - (Prairie Paper and Ink)
Vicky Gould


Here's the second set of ATC Swaps I received:

Pam Miller - (SCS) Pammyrn
Jody Morrow (SCS) Texasjodylynn
(SCS) Jen70
Me
Maxene Choi
Tracy Harp - (SCS) Lodichick
Amy Rysavy - (Prairie Paper and Ink)
Vicky Gould
Sherry Cheever - (SCS)BadSherry


This is the last set of swaps I received:

Taylor Vanbruggen (Taylored Expressions)
Broni - (SCS) Waterchild
Rachel Hope - (SCS) Rachelhoper3
Amy Raysavy (Prairie Paper and Ink)
Styler - (SCS) s00zy66
Me
Leigh O'Brien - (SCS) leigh_obrien
Tami McBeain - (SCS)tmarie
Lorrie Simmons

Cleaning Out My Garage!! Check Out Happy Feet!

I'm in the middle of cleaning my craft room and my garage! Wow, this will be a major task. . .I believe it'll be several weeks of hard work but I'm determined to finish it. . .this time. Haha! This is, I believe, my 4th attempt to clean out the garage, as well as my craft room. I think this time, I'll get the job done.

In the meantime. . .this is my favorite video! I get a kick watching it! Makes me want to dance! Check it out! Enjoy!!

Daily Special - Retired Stamp Set - Nice and Easy Notes

Today's Daily Special is "Retired Stamp Set" and the featured set is "Nice and Easy Notes". Are you the type of person who sells their old stamp sets when the new catalogs come along. Not me. Every stamp set even years back are as valuable to me as the new ones. Unfortunately, I've run out room.

Honestly, I wish Stampin Up would start selling clear stamps. I know many stampers don't like clear stamps but I don't think there's much of a difference in the quality. It's just a matter of getting used to it and it's not that much work to mount them on the blocks. I like the fact that you can rearrange clear stamps on one acrylic block and have a different look. I, especially love the fact that I can store my clear stamp sets in binders as well as file them. I actually file a bunch right in front of my desk and pull them out right in front of me when I need a particular stamp.

Anyway. . .to create the scallops. . .I'm sure y'all know by now, I used the "slit" punch. It creates such a cute scallop. The circle scallop shape was created by my Craft Robo. I colored the images with Prismacolor Pencils .

Card Details:

Stamp Set: Nice and Easy Notes

Paper: Orchid Opulence, Green Galore, Eggplant Envy, DCWV Glitter Designer Paper

Ink: Prismacolor Pencils with Gamsol, Sakura Souffle Gel Pen

Accessories: Making Memories ribbon, JoAnn Scrap Essential brads

Monthly Special - Sketch Challenge Compiled

Hi Everyone! I finally did it! I finally compiled my sketches for May, June and July. Everyone clap your hands!! I've been seriously slackin' as far as compiling the sketches monthly. The last one I did was in April and a few people have asked what had happened to my monthly compiled sketch challenges. Call it laziness. .. . . Actually, it was more like burn-out on my part but they're back. Remind me to not sit on it for this long again, okay. It takes forever to put 3 months together all at one sitting.

For those of new to my blog site or for those who don't know what the heck I'm talking about. . .well, each month I compile all the sketches I've done as well as samples that goes with the sketches on one page. . . .similar to page map.Anyway, here they are. . .I'll also list Jan/Feb, March and April.

June/July Sketch Challenges

May Sketch Challenges

April Sketch Challenges

March Sketch Challenges

Jan/February Sketch Challenges

Happy Stampin' Everyone!!

Random Card - Christmas in August

Hi Everyone! Well it's Christmas in August! I really need to get started on making Christmas cards. I was supposed to make 10 Christmas cards a month starting in January and guess what!! I did not make any until today! Don't be surprised if you start to see more postings of Christmas cards on my blog sites.

Card Details:

Stamp Sets: Year After Year (x-mas tree), Sleigh Full of Toys (present background), and Holiday Woodcuts (sentiment)
Ink: Prismacolor markers, Glorious Green, Real Red
Paper: Glorious Green River Rock, Real Red, DCWV scrapbook paper
Accessories: Making Mermories eyelets, 1" and 1 1/4" circle punch, Basic Basic Ribbon, Ticket Corner Punch, Craft Tool Kit

Oops. . .I typed the wrong URL

Hi Everyone. . .yesterday, I had mentioned that my URL address has changed and asked that you update your link and funny, I typed the wrong URL. Thank you to my readers for pointing out that I made an error. It's no wonder my visitors went down. . .I can't even type the correct URL for my own blog site.

Here is the correct URL: www.stampininspirations.blogspot.com

I received emails that my subscribers are still receiving my updates!! Yay! I was a little concerned that y'all weren't receiving them because of the address change. Thank you for responding.

Hope y'all have a great day!

Daily Special - Anything But Cards - Tag/Pocket

Here's a card I created for Jen's Pieces of Me Challenge #9. The challenge is to create a tag/pocket with a diagonal slant to the pocket. I wanted to do something a little different with the slant so I stamped a few swirly images and cut along the edge.

Card Details:

Stamps: SU "In My Thoughts", Heidi Grace

Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Apricot Appeal, Wild Wasabi

Ink: Green Galore, Pink Passion

Accessories: Grosgrain ribbon, Sizzix die

Random Card - Swap Card

Hi Everyone! I haven't posted on this blog site for a while. Sorry about that but I haven't been using my Stampin Up stamps lately.

Visits on this blog site has gone down close to 75% because of the change of my URL a month ago. I really don't know how to get the word out that my blog address has changed. Anyone who had my old URL, I really would appreciate that you change your link to the new URL http://www.stampininspiratons.blogspot.com/. I really feel bad that I had to change it. Stampin Up didn't like my previous URL.

I was really devoted to this blog site and wanted to demonstrate the many things you can do with your Stampin Up stamps.

Message to my subscribers. . . can you let me if you are still receiving my email updates for this blog site. Email me at lbmcd66@hotmail.com or comment on this post if you are receiving your post updates.


I created this card for a swap I participated in.

Card details:

Stamps: Baroque Motif
Ink: Bravo Burgundy
Paper: Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate, River Rock, K&Co designer papers
Accessories: JoAnn brads

Cards I made so far during our Colorado Trip.

Hi Everyone. . .I'm still on my trip. Right now, we're staying over-night in Alamosa. We visited the Great Sand Dunes today, which happen to be located in Alamosa. I'll post pictures of the Great Sand Dune on Card Inspired tomorrow.

During my down time usually at 10:00 at night, I've been making a bunch of cards. I've made more cards on this trip than I've had for a long time. On average, at home I make one or two cards and sometimes skip a day or two at a time without making any card.

I made a total of 4 cards tonight and two cards the other night. The other cards are posted on Card Inspired.

I also post all of the pictures of our trip on Card Inspired because it's easier to post the pictures on just one blog site. Be sure to check out the pictures I've taken of beautiful Colorado and the many great experiences we've had so far. I've posted a lot of pictures starting on July 29. Tell me what you think of Colorado based on the pictures. I think after you see the pictures, you'll want to visit Colorado on your next trip. It is worth it, in my opinion.


This was a fast and easy card to make because the images are all pre-cut and pre-colored. Interestingly, the flower image was colored on the airplane on our trip to Washington DC in April and here I am now using it on our trip to Colorado.



The faux metal tag was created using foil. If you check my sidebar to the left under 'tutorials", there's a link to the tutorial on how to create the tag.



All of the images on this card were all pre-colored and pre-cut before our trip and it sure came in handy. They were sort of just sitting in a drawer waiting to be used. I think if it wasn't for this trip, I probably would not have used them because I would have forgotten about them.

Anyway. . .until tomorrow! Hope you all have a wonderful Friday!

Goodnight. . .