I Love Halloween!

Art Impressions has a new challenge on their blog. They want to see Holiday stuff: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas or Hannukah or some combination of all of these. Naturally I went with Halloween. It's closest holiday (just decorated yesterday) and one of my favorites anyway. 

I'm using the AI sets: Old Bat and Fright Night. I made adult cards but hey, adults can enjoy the fun of Halloween too (or at least that's what I tell myself as I consume more than my fair share of the chocolate that we buy for the Trick or Treaters) Sooo worth the extra shots of juice that I have to take for them ... dog gone Diabetes.

I made my second card a shaker. It has been so long since I've made one that I actually had to relearn the ins-and-outs of how to do it. Ugh. I should probably make the effort more often.

Holy Heck Batman

It's September.

My friend's birthday is in the first part of August ... do you see the reason to drop f-bombs? Yep. Major Oops here. In my defense, I ordered her gift from Amazon but I DID forget to check the box where it says mail here or to HER house. So, here I am with her present on my doorstep nearly a month and a half from her special day. Sigh.

So out came my stamps that had irritated expressions; this guy won by far! He is from Rabbit Hole Designs and is called Caffeinated Turkey. Super cute, isn't he? I've been trying to make my cards more simple but this time I just let myself go wild with layers.

 

Just Chicken In

I'm still trying to use all the stamps that have never seen ink. This one is from Gerda Steiner Designs and I can't believe that I've never inked it!! It's too cute to sit in a drawer by itself. This set is called Chicken Scratch.  I wasn't sure how I wanted to make the card so I stamped about six of the chickens and ended up having enough to make two cards.

I used a sentiment from Stamping Bella Farm Phrases for the second card. I loved the accusatory expression on the fence chicken so this phrase really worked. It's a tad crooked but

... eh, it's a homemade card, these things happen!

Sweater Weather

 

Sadly ... it will be sweater weather in just 5 short days. Local weathermen are predicting snow on Tuesday. Yep, we are going from 86 degrees on Monday to 37 and 2 inches of snow on Tuesday.  Really Colorado?!! We can't have even ONE month of Fall?

I decided it was the perfect time to break out my new MFT stamp Safari Sweater Weather to make myself feel better (and to make myself feel even better, I decided to buy the Sweater Weather in the Woods set as well ... I felt that I really need that silly moose in a sweater!)

I'm using the Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 sketch for this first card. I plan to submitting it to the Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog as well so I added the required sentiment at the top. Soo, I'm kinda playing a bit loose and free with the sketch since it looked a bit busy with the sentiment. I didn't want to clutter it up with dots. I probably should have made the card a tad bigger.

My second card also uses the Safari Sweater Weather set. I made this card for a buddy whose birthday is tomorrow! Sooo, not getting to you on time, Susie! Sorry.

Tropical, Baby!!

 

Sadly this is about as "tropical" as I've gotten lately. Sigh. Covid is seriously cramping my style. Art Impressions wanted to see a new creation to satisfy their new challenge "Tropical Treat" but if we didn't have the tropical part, they would be satisfied with something that had: "sun, sand, sea or summer" on it. Soooo since I can't do the real thing anytime soon, I created this card

I used Blanche and then cut off her legs so she could be in the water. Of course I gave her a buddy, drinking a margarita on the shore (because really ... is there a point to going to the ocean without a sister or bestie?!!)

ABC: Re-useable Color Shirts

Every time I have an ABC post assigned my heart sinks a little bit because let's face it, cards are kind of my thing. But when my friend told me about this new thing to give as a gift ... I was kind of jazzed.  As my friend put it ... who doesn't like to color (especially cute little girls), and I was sold on this as a possible Christmas gift idea.

Another selling point for this shirt was a new vinyl for my cutting machine (I can see that you are thinking, "Wow, Joanna, it takes so little to get you excited about crafts doesn't it?" Yes, it is kinda pathetic isn't it?) But we digress. As I was saying, there was also a new kind of vinyl to try (called infusible ink) to use on shirts. So off we went to Michaels to get a shirt, the infusible ink and a box of watercolor Crayola markers.

I'm using the Bugaboo image Fall Autumn Fox from the Bugaboo shop.  There are so many images in the Bugaboo shop that finding the perfect image is super easy. Be sure to click on the Freebie & Sales tab. There are always some good deals there too.

The new vinyl actually colors the fabric fibers rather than laying on top like other kinds. Because of this, you must use a cotton/poly blend shirt rather than the 100% cotton that have always been used. Also, the Cricut instructions had us use a deeper setting to cut.  When we ran it through the machine, it also cut the plastic mat as well as the vinyl so weeding, the process of pulling the unneeded vinyl, was a bit of an issue.

The vinyl looks brown in its raw form but irons on black.

After you iron it, the shirt is soooo soft.  I really like the new vinyl. The point of the shirts are that kiddos can color the shirts and wear them but the washable marker comes out in the washing machine. They will have fun coloring them over and over again.

My little model sure had fun coloring.

SS with Bugaboo Stamps

It's time for another challenge over on the Sketch Saturday blog.  This time we are sponsored by the fabulous Bugaboo Stamps.  Jodie is offering our winner 4 digis.  Woot woot, what a great prize.

I used one of my favorite images in the shop: Christmas Hedgie to make a Christmas card. I've been making so few cards lately that nearly every card I make is Christmas .... I still have the dream that I might be able to send out homemade cards this year. I've got that Man of La Mancha song in my head, "To dream, the impossible dream ...."

Anyway, I hope you can join in our fun this week.

FF: Relaxing Guy

The end of Summer is here (insert REALLY sad face here).  Not because I will miss the warm days ... I hate hot ... but because I will miss having the boys around and our lazy schedule.

But in better news, it's Friday so that means there is a freebie over in the Bugaboo Digital Stamp shop.  It is a cute one too!  It's called Relaxing Guy. It's super easy to get this image, just click the Freebies and Sales tab from the Bugaboo homepage.

Check out what my teamies did with this image by going over to the Catch The Bug blog.

SS: More Babies!!

Happy Saturday everyone.

I was beginning to doubt that I would make it, honestly.  What a long and stressful week!!  But near the end of it we got some good news (GREAT news, honestly) that pulled us through.  Yep, you probably guessed it from the card ... I will have another grand-niece or nephew to cuddle in March.  Babies are the BEST!! My card goes out to my niece.

I used the sketch from the Sketch Saturday blog.  This week we have Scribbles Design as our sponsor.  She is offering our winner a $10 Gift Card to her shop.  Cool.  We hope you have time to join in the fun.

BTW: I Love Coffee

Art Impressions is challenging us to create cards with a Coffee theme.  It was pretty easy for me to join in.  I made this first one today with AI stamps but I have soo many other stamps with just that same theme. I'm trying to dig out the mess that is my desk so I'm finishing up some  of my half done projects.

This next card has been sitting on my desk for about a year ... half done. There is a tiny bit of schmutz up on top; it's probably finger oil. Sigh, but it's too cute not to finish it anyway.  I'll send it to someone who won't care!

Now I am down to just 13 cards to finish.

I don't even want to think about how many sewing projects that I haven't finished.

FF: Stella - Push My Luck

It's Fri-YAY!!

And that means it's time for a freebie over on the Bugaboo site.  Yippee! This week Jodie has another Stella image available. I love Stella and Gus images! This one is called Stella: Press My Luck and can be found under the Freebies & Sales tab.

Hurry over to the site and snap up this one and shop some of the other darling images that are available for sale on the site.

If you need more inspiration about how to use this image, head over to the Catch The Bug site.

New Release Tuesday

It's Tuesday and that means it is New Release day over in the Bugaboo store. This little cutie is Ice Cream Butterfly Bear. I wanted to use an insect sentiment but most of the ones I have are for bees sooo, I went with that. Sorry.

It made for a cute card anyway. If you want to see what the rest of the gang did with the image, head on over to the Catch The Bug blog.

Sketch Saturday:

It's time for another challenge over on the Sketch Saturday blog.  This week we are sponsored by We Are 3 Digital Shop.  They are offering our winner a $15 gift card for their shop.

I've been making Christmas cards all week long, so I continued the theme. Today I'm using a Bugaboo image: Christmas Blocks. It comes with three darling images in a bloc. I just separated the snowman from the Santa and Reindeer images and enlarged it. I love the versatility of digital stamps!

Don't forget that Jodie is having her Christmas in July sale.  This means that ALL of the digital stamps in her shop are 50% off through July 31st.

I hope you can join in the fun.

OBG: White Christmas!!

It's Oldie But Goodie day over on the Catch The Bug Challenge blog and our featured movie is White Christmas. I can hear it now ... where is the "white" in this White Christmas card?  Patience little Grasshopper, I will explain. But first, for those who haven't read my other posts, let me explain what's going on this week.

It's that time of the year, the annual Christmas in July event over on in the Bugaboo store.  In addition to being a weeklong event filled with inspiration and great challenges on the Catch The Bug Challenge Blog, there are prizes to be won and even new designs in the Bugaboo Stamp store.

Today's challenge features is my VERY favorite Christmas movie ... White Christmas.  I have seen this movie so many times.  It's just not the holiday season without it!

Jodie wanted us to use either photo as inspiration

Both photos are so beautiful and really capture the mood of the movie and Christmas .... so of course, I had to deviate a bit.

MY inspiration comes from the best part of the movie: the songs. Of course we all love the title song but many of the others are funny or sweet. I really do love ALL the songs: White Christmas, Snow, Gee I Wish I Was Back In The Army, and many more. One of my other favorites found in the movie is the song: "Sisters." (probably 'cause I have some)  But I especially love it when Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby sing it while Vera-Ellen and Rosemary Clooney escape on the train. It is so silly!

The song that inspired my card comes nearly at the end of the movie, when things look bleakest for the General.  He is going to lose his beloved Inn. Bing Crosby sings it to Rosemary Clooney. It's called "Count Your Blessings".  He sings, "When I'm worried, And I can't sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep and I fall asleep ..."

So there you have it ... my inspiration.  It's longwinded and complicated but that kinda describes my personality in a nutshell!!

If you haven't heard the song, here is a link to it in YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXKxazgio2s

I hope you find time to join in the challenge this week!

More CIJ fun - Bingo!

Yep, it's one of my very favorite crafting challenges ... Bingo

Today on the Catch The Bug Challenge blog we continue our annual "Christmas in July" event over on in the Bugaboo store.  In addition to being a weeklong event filled with inspiration and great challenges on the Catch The Bug Challenge Blog, there are prizes to be won and even new designs in the Bugaboo Stamp store.

Today the theme (in addition to Bingo) is Elf

This is one of the few Christmas movies that I dislike. Although Bob Newhart was delightful as Papa Elf, I am not a huge fan of Will Ferrell.  So I based my card on the color scheme of his outfit on the movie poster.

To complete the Bingo challenge, I used the center of the Bingo board: I added Sparkle, a Bugaboo Image and a Sentiment to my card.

The image I am using is one of my favorite Bugaboo images: Elf 004

Making a card for the challenge is easy, fun AND gets you a jump on finishing off all those Christmas cards before the rush of December (super secret here: I didn't even SEND cards last year ... too stressed out!) But I plan to finish all my cards and send them off this year!  Come join in the fun!

I'm Baaaack

And not in a scary poltergeist-y way either ...

It's that time of the year, the annual Christmas in July event over on in the Bugaboo store.  In addition to being a weeklong event filled with inspiration and great challenges on the Catch The Bug Challenge Blog, there are prizes to be won and even new designs in the Bugaboo Stamp store.

Today's challenge was to pick your favorite from the following movies and create a card to represent your choice.  It was hard to pick a favorite from the three since they are all really good, but in the end I chose Miracle on 34th Street.

How can you not love Edmund Gwenn as the fantastic Kris Kringle who convinces the entire justice system (and indeed the US government) that there IS a Santa Claus! Natalie Wood is so good as Susan Walker too, "I believe, I believe."

Ironically, my card uses the Bugaboo image: Santa Clause. I probably should have chosen The Santa ClausE based on my image choice.

So hurry over to the blog, join in the fun and win some fabulous prizes.

Bugaboo: Birthday Bash

You are probably saying ... where have you been, Joanna?

I have been a terrible blogger lately. Truth. Here is the reason: I just got a new job -- Yay!! But the stress of starting in the middle of the school year has been huge!  I've done very little but go to work, sleep and try (and I do mean TRY) to be a wife and mom.  The house is a total mess!

So, I am taking a two month leave from Bugaboo (how great is Jodie and everyone at Bugaboo that they are letting me get my life together?!! I love Bugaboo art and this team!!) I know that this creative break will really help me.

So goodbye for a bit.  I will see you in March.

Please, head on over to the Catch The Bug blog to see all the fantastic creations by the team.  We're celebrating Bugaboo's 9th Birthday.  Many stamp companies and blogs are closing shop but Bugaboo is still here.  Come celebrate Jodie's enormous achievement and get the chance to win some fabulous prizes.

Bugaboo: Oldie But Goodie

Happy Thursday!

Or, as we over on the Catch The Bug blog like to say Oldie But Goodie Day.  Today is the day that we share fantastic and NOT forgotten Bugaboo treasures.  I'm still caught up in the making Christmas card rush (I know, I know ... hard to believe since I've been making them ALL year long) but I'm still short a few.  I'm using Elf 001 ... yep, the elf that started all the craze over on the Bugaboo site.

I'm also joining in the fun over on the Try Stampin' On Tuesday site.  I liked their sketch and it fit my image perfectly ... when I rotated it.  It made for a super cute card.

Head over to the Catch The Bug blog to see other fantastic cards by the Bugaboo DT.

SSS: We Wish You a Sketchy Christmas

Ho Ho Ho!!

It's time for the 2nd challenge in the Season For Awkward Holiday Chaos!  Today we want you to follow Stella's sketch challenge to make a project.  Easy-Peasy!

I'm using one of my favorite Bugaboo images: the Christmas Trio Block.  I loved it so much that I segmented the blocks into individual images so I can resize them and use them together or apart.  It was like getting 4 images for the price of just one.

The Awkward Holiday Chaos runs from Saturday, December 1 - Friday, December 7.  If you make a project or card for each challenge, and post it on the Catch The Bug blog, you have the chance to be a winner.

Yes, you read correctly,  a weeks worth of challenges and LOTS of prizes to be won!!  Why don't you join in the fun?

SS: Little Penguins

Good heavens!

Can you believe that it is already DECEMBER?!!  Now I get that I am old and time passes faster but geez louise ... this year FLEW by!!

The time to make Christmas cards is HERE!! Yikes I have 38 more cards to make. Bugaboo is trying to help alleviate our Christmas stress by offering incentives to help us to catch up on holiday gifts.

Yes, it's the Holiday Chaos (I love this time of year!!)

It's so easy to join in the fun, and win prizes!

Today's challenge is to make a project that has some type of snow.  I'm using Little Penguin Decorate Tree on my card. I think with that big ol' glittery snowflake on the card, it fits the theme.

So come on by the Catch The Bug blog and join in the fun!

By the way, I'm using the sketch over on the Sketch Saturday blog.  They ALSO have prizes to be won.