CAS(E) this Sketch: Pick of the Patch

Happy Halloween!!!

It's time for a new sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch!

I made a number of Halloween cards this year, but none of them were quite right for my youngest niece. I found this older A Muse sentiment in my collection and added some of the charming stamps from Lawn Fawn.  I had to fit it into this sketch so I could have a Halloween card on my blog today!!


I hope you bring out your flags and pennants and play along with CAS(E) this Sketch!

• Stamps: Lawn Fawn Into the Woods, So Thankful (pumpkin), A Muse sentiment
• Paper: Stampin' Up Pumpkin, Avery Elle white woodgrain, unknown green
• Ink: Memento black and Copics
• Accessories: Lawn Fawn Into the Woods, So Thankful dies, My Favorite Things Fishtail dies, Divine Twine Black Licorice, clear sequins

Freshly Made with Reverse Confetti

This is my second post today.  In my first post, I used a Reverse Confetti Spooky Sentiment and a whole lot of patterned paper.  Since that was a bit out of my comfort zone, I decided to use a different Spooky Sentiment and go a little bit more my style!!


I am a very literal person - so when the sentiment mentioned pumpkin faces and ghosts - the card had to have both of them.  As it turns out, I don't have a jack-o-lantern die.  So I used the pumpkin from Reverse Confetti's Forever Fall and found an older EK Success punch in my stash that was just the face!
The sequins are my favorite go-to Halloween bling this year.  They are Iridescent Chocolate sequins from Ellen Hutson.  They flash purples and greens and blues - so even though I don't have any chocolate on my card - they still give the perfect Halloween feeling.
The sketch is from Freshly Made Sketches.

• Stamps: Reverse Confetti Spooky Sentiments and Forever Fall (the pumpkin), Clearly Besotted Fright Night (the ghost)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Basic Black, Pumpkin, Glitz Raven 6x6
• Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Black, Tangerine Tango
• Accessories: Hemptique 10 lb black twine, Iridescent Chocolate sequins from Ellen Hutson, Clearly Besotted Fright Night dies

Unscripted Color Throwdown: Batty for You

Last week, when Stacey Schafer visited Denver, she brought me a Halloween goodie bag - Reverse Confetti Halloween sentiments, Glitz paper, orange Doodlebug Sprinkles, and black Hemptique twine. From the airport, we drove straight to Archiver's - big surprise, huh?  In the course of the drive, I had mentioned that I had spent two weeks brutally purging my stash, but that one of the things I hadn't parted with were punches even though I always used dies instead.  We agreed there was no reason to ever buy punches again.  So we walk into Archiver's and there's a make-and-take with this great bat punch.  Guess what?  Here's Stacey's use of the bat punch that we weren't going to buy...and here's mine...


I've also used the Glitz Raven paper, the twine and the sprinkles!!!   Thanks Stacey!!  The bat is a black suede and I'm thinking I should have brushed the cat fur off it before I took the photo - sorry for the linty look!
I had started this card a week ago then I set it aside to work on some other projects.  In the meantime, the unscripted sketch challenge closed - but I still want to credit it!

I also used color throwdown.  I had already used the Smoky Slate background and the papers are full of Tangerine Tango, Black and Slate.  When I was finishing it up this morning, none of it popped - I remembered the Daffodil in this challenge and it worked perfectly!!  Plus it matches the creepy bat eyes!

• Stamps: Reverse Confetti Spooky Sentiments
• Paper: Stampin' Up Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Smoky Slate, Glitz Raven 6x6, black suede paper
• Ink: Stampin' Up Smoky Slate
• Accessories: EK Success Large Vampire Bat Punch, Doodlebug Sprinkles in Tangerine, Yellow and Black, Lil' Inkers Stitched Circles, Hemptique 10 lb black twine, yellow stickles

Curtain Call: A Neat & Tangled Halloween

It's time for a new inspiration photo from Curtain Call and we are getting spooky!

Neat & Tangled is our fabulous sponsor for Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Spooky Scene!  Danielle Walls, owner of Neat & Tangled generously provided the crew with their choice of Graveyard Shift or Halloween Scene to create spooky scenes for today's challenge!

Neat & Tangled is also offering a wonderful prize to the Spooky Scene LEAD...a choice of any stamp set in their store!  

I got to work with Halloween Scene which is perfect for the house in the inspiration photo.  I was also inspired by the decoration in the upper left corner which looked like a sunburst because...guess what?...I also have Neat & Tangled's Sunburst stamp!  A little neon orange ink and check out my not-so-spooky scene!

It's that month where you should have your Halloween stamps out anyway - so play along!!  If you don't do Halloween, how about a black and white card with a smidge of orange?!

• Stamps: Neat & Tangled Halloween Scene, Sunburst
• Paper: white
• Ink: Hero Arts Neon Orange, Memento Black, gray Copics for shading
• Accessories: misc silver and black sequins (BTW - Neat & Tangled has gorgeous sequins, but I started my collection with Christmas colors and with their fall and winter mixes so didn't have the colors that I needed for this card!)

Newton's Nook Inky Paws: A Stylin' Halloween Kitten

This is the sad story of a kitten whose mom did not have plain white sheets...


But isn't he just stylin' in his plaid sheet?!
I've been challenging myself to use new stamps before they are put away.  But in the last few weeks I have extended my personal challenge to use multiple stamps in a set.  Using one stamp from a set is a big step for me - but when you let yourself think about it - that's a very expensive card!  This was a set that worked perfectly for my personal challenge.  I had used the forest animals in the set on these cards so wanted to use the more domestic critters!  Here's the cat; there's still a dog in a tutu that's charming but I haven't quite figured him out yet!!
Beside the personal challenge, I'm also playing along with the Inky Paws challenge at Newton's Nook.

• Stamps: Newton's Nook Designs Boo Crew
• Paper: Doodlebug Haunted Manor 6x6
• Ink: Memento black and Copics
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Winter Wisteria button, Divine Twine Black Licorice Twine, Mark Richards Crystal Stickers Orange

Newton's Nook Designs September Release: Boo Crew

I have the pleasure of being the September guest designer at Newton's Nook.  I love September because I get to work with fall and Halloween stamps.  Newton's Nook has some of the cutest that I have seen. Today, the focus is Boo Crew - a charming Halloween set full of pets and forest creatures in their Halloween costumes! (Be sure to read all the way to the bottom for a chance to win this set.)

My first card puts the sweet little mummy bear in the forest at a Halloween party!!  He looks ready for more treats, doesn't he?


I was still in forest mood when I started playing with the vampire bunny!!

The bunny card uses the sketch from the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.

And then I just had to do one more....another forest scene.  (There actually are non-forest animals in this set - I'll be using some of those in the next few weeks!)

Would you like to win Boo Crew?

This set will be given away to Two lucky winners! 

Here's how to win: 

1. Comment on Newton's Nook Design blog: http://www.newtonsnookblog.com. One Winner will be randomly chosen from the comments on the September release posts.

2. Comment on the Design Team Member and Guest blogs (see list below)! One winner will be chosen at random from the collective blogs in the September release blog hop. Make sure to check out each of their blogs and comment for your chance to win. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning! You have until Thursday, September 12th at 9 pm Central Standard Time to comment  -- winners will be announced on the blog post on Friday, September 13th.

Make sure you check out all the blogs participating in the Launch Party below to enter:

Tessa Wise

Jocelyn Olson

Samantha Mann

Emily Leiphart

Jennifer Ingle

Kim Singdahlsen (Guest Designer)

Wanna Sketch: You're Boo-Tastic!

Just a quick card for this morning - I got the cutest Halloween set from Mama Elephant.  It's called Bootastic and is full of charming little Halloween characters.  I was following Lisa's sketch at dahlhouse designs so I put two of the cute characters together holding the broom.

Speaking of two cute characters - check out my two characters at their first marching band show last night.  This is the first year for the little one - he's actually an 8th grader but is allowed to march in the high school band.  The big one kept looking away from me so no good picture of him - he's a marching fanatic!!

• Stamps: Mama Elephant Bootastic
• Paper: white
• Ink: Memento black, Copics
• Accessories: Lil' Inkers Stitched Rectangles, MME Enamel Dots

My Favorite Things: A very special BOO to you!

This is my second Halloween card this week.  It seems a little early...but they each worked perfectly for their respective challenges.  In this case, I am playing along with the sketch challenge at My Favorite Things.  It has a nice border strip - perfect for the fun trick-or-treat star border from this set. Plus, it gives me the chance to tell you that the coordinating pumpkin dies are on sale at MFT for $2.50 instead of $10 (the stamps are still full price). There are a bunch of other stamps and dies on sale right now for 50-75% off!!

• Stamps: My Favorite Things Primitive Pumpkins
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Smokey Shadow, Orange Zest, Doodlebug Designs Halloween Parade
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Smokey Shadow, Orange Zest, Soft Stone
• Accessories: My Favorite Things Primitive Pumpkins dies and Fishtail dies, white embossing powder, Hemptiques bright twine

CAS(E) this Sketch! BOO!

It's time for another sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch!  I am going very literal this time as I just purchased a set of Halloween speech bubbles from Hero Arts and I got these little eyes from Papertrey AND I got the Peek-a-Boo chevron die from My Favorite Things AND I got the chocolate sequins from Ellen Hutson!  Whew! Let's all do a NBUS happy dance!!!  (Never Before Used Schtuff!)

Just a few more details.  

1. The little ghost is from Papertrey Ink but it's last year's ghost from the Happy Haunting set (not this year's polka dot ghost).  I had the die from last year but didn't have the stamp set.  As I was loading the new ghost into my cart last week, I decided I probably should get last year's set instead to go with my die - so old set...new to me!  
2. The Hero Arts set is older.  It's called Scary and is currently 40% off at Ellen Hutson's store.  
3. The sequins are also from Ellen Hutson and are going to be my favorite for Halloween.  They are actually the Iridescent Chocolate sequins but the iridescence flashes purples, blues and greens!
4. The chevron dies are my favorite thing from the most recent release at My Favorite Things.  The set comes with different lengths and spacing.  

I hope you all play along this week.  Remember...this sketch is for inspiration...it doesn't need to be a speech bubble!!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Happy Haunting, Hero Arts Scary
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Limeade Ice, Orange Zest, Black
• Ink: black
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Happy Haunting, My Favorite Things Peek-a-Boo Chevrons, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter, Ellen Hutson Iridescent Chocolate sequins

My First Ever Scary Card

I just had to do a quick post today to show you my first ever scary card.  For my entire crafting career, I have either made for the church (absolutely NO creepy stuff allowed!) or for my young children.  Now that I have teenagers, I HAD to buy the new Tim Holtz Halloween Blueprint set!


I didn't do much decorating on the card because teenagers really don't care.
I did ruin the scary effect by using this stamp on the inside...

This is from an Inkadinkado set that is all humorous tombstomes - perfect for my sarcastic teen!!

Gotta run - I'm actually being social (that's unusual).  I have a dozen ladies showing up in an hour for a luncheon.  And...if my husband - who has been sent on an emergency trip to the grocery store for onions - gets home while I am typing - this would be MY tombstone!!

Background Check with TAWS

It's a sneak peek day for The Alley Way Stamps and I get to show you a fun new set called Background Check.  It's a variety of wonderful borders that can easily be extended to an entire background!  Given it's Halloween week - I had to go with one more little ghostie...


The strip of dots is actually only four dots across - a full strip is on the four left of the card.  Then I just kept adding strips, moving down a little bit each time.
I hope you are watching the sneaks at The Alley Way Stamps blog.  It's a fun release month - the three new sets are completely and totally different.  The first peek was last Friday and then one more tomorrow - followed by a fun and inspirational hop on Wednesday!  (I just realized Wednesday is Halloween and I should have saved this card for the Hop - ooops!!)
My colors come from the color throwdown.

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Background Check (released Nov. 1), Ghoul-Friend (words) and Fa-La-La (face from an ornament)
• Paper: black and white
• Ink: ColorBox Frost White, Stampin' Up Celery, Amethyst, copics to match Pumpkin, Amethyst and Celery for the gems (see my side bar for a downloadable match list)
• Accessories: Papertrey Orange Zest button and Ghost die, My Favorite Things Fishtails LAYERS die.

Flying by to Say Hi!!

This is my second post today.

Click here for Dynamic Duos.

I thought I was done with Halloween, but as I sorted them out to mail - oops - I'm missing one (and I'm missing for one of my kids but I have a few more days to worry about that!)  This card had to be sweet and cute so I found this Pink Cat Studios stamp in my digital collection and realized it would fit nicely in this week's Freshly Made Sketch.

I'm also going to link up at Stampin' Royalty and The Pink Elephant for their Halloween challenges.

• Stamps: Pink Cat Studios digital: Itty Bitty Betty Broom Ride, Hero Arts Happy Halloween clear set (this is an entire set of Halloween sentiments)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Eggplant Envy and Peach Parfait (both retired), Pumpkin (just the little scallop under the sentiment), Echo Park Happy Halloween Spooky Dots
• Ink: Memento Black, Copics
• Accessories: Glitter Tulle (Hobby Lobby had an end cap with lots of different colored rolls of glittery tulle!), Queen & Co. gems

CAS(E) this Sketch #2: Tiny Trick or Treat

I'm back for the second week of CAS(E) this Sketch!  It was a great week last week - I am so thrilled that so many of you played along.  This week will be just as fun.  Check out this wonderful CAS sketch that has so many unique possibilities (just check out all of the design team cards on their blog to see how different each of our cards is!)

I keep thinking that I am over Halloween - but I stumbled on a display at a local store of these teeny tiny stamps by Rosie's Road Show.  They were using them for miniature calendars which I really never do, but the stamps were too cute to pass up.  When I got them home, I could not figure out how to showcase something so tiny.  This sketch is the perfect opportunity....

I used various die cuts to layer up a frame that highlighted my "Moonlight Cat" - problem solved!!
I hope to see you all playing along - my great joy is to spend the time over my first morning cup of coffee browsing all of the challenge entries - I LOVE CAS cards and I love everybody's unique ideas on these sketches!

• Stamps: Rosie's Roadshow Moonlight Cat, Papertrey Ink Tiny Tags II
• Paper: Stampin' Up Basic Black, Basic Gray and Summer Sun, Doodlebug Haunted Manor (chevron)
• Ink: Memento Black Copics
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Linen and Canvas Impression Plate (one side on the white, one side on the gray), Stampin' Up Apothecary Accents dies and Jewelry Tag punch, Doodlebug twine, Papertrey Ink Smokey Shadows button, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter (covering the Summer Sun circle), Yellow Stickles (on the moon)

The Candy Avenger!!

This week's challenge at Catered Crop is Halloween.  Their sponsor is Tiddly Inks.  I have had some images in my wishlist from Tiddly Inks so I thought I would check it out.

Look what I found...The Candy Avenger!!!!


Isn't she darling??  Perfect for one of my little nieces!!

I gave her a little glitter on that mask and on the pumpkin...

The sketch is from Freshly Made Sketches:

And the theme is from Catered Crop:

• Stamps: Tiddly Ink Candy Avenger digital stamp
• Paper: Stampin' Up Eggplant Envy (retired), Doodlebug Designs Haunted Manor
• Ink: Copics
• Accessories: The Twinery Lilac twine, Spellbinders label die

As You Wish: Boo to You

It's just a short scroll down for Dynamic Duos!

I was thinking that I was done with Halloween cards, but as I was spending an exciting Friday night sorting through my digital images, these eyes from As You Wish Designs kept following me...


I also knew that I had this fun Authentique paper in my Halloween stack and knew they would be a good fit.
I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch:

• Stamps: As You Wish Designs Card Quotes Word Art 3 (in the Hybrid section)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Tangerine Tango, Papertrey Ink Fine Linen, Authentique Enchanted Collection "Glowing"
• Ink: none
• Accessories: Memory Box spider, Papertrey Ink Fine Linen ribbon and Linen/Canvas Impression Plate, Spellbinders squares and circles

The Spider and the Web

I have had so much fun with Ghoul-Friend by The Alley Way Stamps this month, that I am almost sad that this is my last post before myself and the rest of the design team move on to using the October release.  (I'm not that sad...I've seen the October release...my favorite small TAWS image has been "bigged"...yeah!!!...check back next week!)



This was supposed to look like a spiderweb wreath.  I'm not sure the wreath part comes through?!  But I still love the little eyes peeking from the inside.  The bow is a 10 cent bandana from Hobby Lobby.  I just ripped strips to tie into bows.
The sketch came from Tuesday Morning Sketches.

I am also entering at Simon Says Stamps: Emboss It as the background is dry embossed and the web and the spider are heat embossed.

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Ghoul-Friend
• Paper: Stampin' Up Black, Crumb Cake, Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: Stamp'n Stuff Starry Night Embossing Powder, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Spellbinders circle and scalloped circle dies, Halloween bandana

A Dynamic Duo Halloween

This week's challenge at Dynamic Duos is Lucky Limeade and Black with the option of Halloween!!  It's cold, gloomy and rainy today while I am making this card - so Halloween was a MUST!

You HAVE to check out the rest of the cards from the design team.  The cards are not all Halloween and there are some stunning uses of these colors.  Then create your own and link it up - we LOVE seeing your creations.

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Bootiful Occasions
• Paper: Stampin' Up Lucky Limeade, black and white
• Ink: Versafine black
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Apothecary Accents dies*, Michaels brand Glitter Tape, Stampin' Up Limeade ribbon, Martha Stewart web punch, Papertrey Ink Chartruese button, misc twine

*I had envisioned the use of the die on this card and was sad when I realized the actual die was too narrow for the image.  So I cut a strip of paper to the correct width and then used the Apothecary Accents die to cut the top.  You have to roll it into your machine, with the top first, until you just feel resistance or else the die will start cutting the narrower vertical lines also.

Sweet 'n Sassy Fall Frenzy

I LOVE fall!  I love the cooler temperatures.  I love the colors.  I love the crispness in the air - everything seems clearer.  So I was absolutely thrilled when Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps came up with the following idea...

Hello stamping friends!!  We are so excited about Fall arriving

soon that we've decided to celebrate the season with a 

Fall Frenzy Blog Hop & Virtual Stamp Day!

The Design Divas have created some fabulous eye candy for you featuring our wonderful selection of Fall stamps so we hope you'll hop along with us today!

Be sure not to miss a single stop along the way because we'll be drawing one lucky commenter from a random DT blog to win a $25 credit to the store!!

Here's the list of blog participating in today's hop: 

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog

Monika Davis

Jessica Fick

Cathy McCauley

Mary Faus

Kim Singdahlsen <===You are here

Bridget Finlay

Dina Kowal

Jennifer Ingle

Kim Schofield

Ceal Pritchett

Giovana Smith

Jennie Harper

Korin Sutherland

When you're done hopping be sure to join us for a fun day of challenges over in our Splitcoaststampers forum.  We're giving away some fun prizes, too, so don't miss it! We look forward to seeing your fabulous Fall creations!

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When we do blog hops or new stamp releases, we get to pick the stamp sets that we want to share.  I saw the list of fall stamps that we were showcasing and the one that I picked instantly was Sweet Pumpkin because I knew I would make cards for a very special young lady - my youngest niece.  Check out this smile and then you'll see how totally perfect these grinning pumpkins are!

I'm not sure which is cuter?!!  Oh...who am I kidding?  I am the luckiest auntie on earth to be the recipient of this little girl's smiles and hugs!  (But these pumpkins are also pretty darn cute!)

Then I have another very sweet set to show you - Autumn Lovin' Cocoa.  This a very cute set with Cocoa Mouse - but I used very rich colors and papers to create a surprisingly elegant card!Isn't Cocoa a nice surprise peeping over all of those rich autumn colors?!I hope you enjoyed my peek at autumn.  Next on our hop is Bridget Finlay.  Enjoy the hop, then join us for a Virtual Stamp Day in the Sweet 'n Sassy Forum over at splitcoaststampers.  There are new challenges every two hours starting at 10 a.m. EST.  (I have created the first challenge so I hope to see you there!!)Sweet Pumpkin:

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Sweet Pumpkin
• Paper: Stampin' Up Lucky Limeade CS, Pumpkin Pie dsp
• Ink: Memento black and copics
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Scallop border punch, Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder, misc twine
• Challenges: Freshly Made Sketches One Year Anniversary to use any past sketch

Autumn Lovin' Cocoa:

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Autumn Lovin' Cocoa
• Paper: Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler, Reminisce Autumn Plaid
• Ink: Memento Black and copics
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler ribbon, Brushed Bronze Buttons, Linen Thread

Sophisticated Spooks

I have officially decided that I am going to use Stampin' Up's My Digital Studio (MDS2) for scrapbooking.  My decision is so final that last week, I loaded the entire back end of my Suburban with all of my scrapbook papers, etc. and donated it all to Kasey's Krafts - a wonderful organization that creates craft kits for use by parents and kids during lengthy chemo sessions.  (Kasey is a charming little girl who has been through four rounds of chemo in her eight short years of life.  Her mom, sister, grandma and great-grandma create all of the kits.  I can connect you with any of them if you would like more info.)

I absolutely love what I have seen done with My Digital Studio (check out Heather's blog) and I know that is the only way I will ever get my scrapbooks done.  I figure I get enough hands-on crafting with cards, so can go digital with scrapbooks. But I loved this week's MDS downloads and I thought they were perfect for a "vintage Halloween"-loving friend, so tried a card!

It does look very dimensional, but in reality everything is printed except for the ribbon, button and three little gems in the lower left!My layout comes from Try Stampin' On Tuesday.

• Digital Product: MDS2 Sophisticated Spooks, Decorate Overlay Flourish Collage
• Accessories: Stampin' Up ribbon (from current mini), Kraft Corduroy button (retired), misc gems, crochet thread