Inspiration Ink

Halloween Charm

Our Simply Adorned Charms really are fun and easy to decorate for any holiday or occasion.  Here's one I created for Halloween with a close-up of the insert and then in the complete necklace.

    Uses Grateful Greetings Set and Batty for You Set plus Rich Razzleberry Card Stock, Basic Black Card Stock, Basic Black Classic Stampin' Pad, Frost White Shimmer Paint, Sponge Daubers, Basic Rhinestones Jewels, Raven 1/2" Lace Trim, Sticky Strip, Simply Adorned 1-1/2" x 2" Charm, and Simply Adorned 24" Chain.

October Club Contest Winners

Each month, I challenge the members of my Stampin' 6 and Stampin' 12 Clubs to create a project for a contest and submit it to me.  I assign a theme for them each month.  Everyone in the Clubs then votes on their favorite 2 entries and the top 2 entries win their creators a $5 coupon to use on their next order.

For October, I challenged them to create a card using a fun fold of some sort.  There were only 4 entries this month, 2 by the same person, but the competition was difficult.  My Club Members actually tied on the 2nd place card, so I had to ask my downline and sideline to vote between those two cards to break the tie!

Here is the first card by Kathy Little, it is a Tri-Shutter Card.  You can find a great tutorial on making this type of card by clicking here.

   Uses Party Hearty Set and It's Your Birthday Set plus Apricot Appeal Card Stock, Chocolate Chip Card Stock, Tempting Turquoise Card Stock, Pumpkin Pie Card Stock, Whisper White Card Stock, Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper Stack, Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad, Apricot Appeal Classic Stampin' Pad, Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad, Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad, Tempting Turquoise Stampin' Write Marker, Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Marker, Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Write Marker, So Saffron 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Natural Hemp Twine, Extra-Large Tag Punch, Large Tag Punch, Crop-A-Dile, 1-3/4" Scallop Circle Extra-Large Punch, 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Extra-Large Punch, Heart to Heart Extra-Large Punch, 1/2" Circle Small Punch, 3/4" Circle Medium Punch, 1" Circle Medium Punch, Circle Scissor Plus, Glass Mat, Dotto, Stamping Sponges, 2-Way Glue Pen, and Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter.

Kathy's second card is a Wiper Card.  You can find a tutorial for this kind of card by clicking here.

Uses Best Fiends Set and Spooky Spells Set plus Old Olive Card Stock, So Saffron Card Stock, Pumpkin Pie Card Stock, Basic Black Card Stock, Whisper White Card Stock, Halloween Night Designer Series Paper, Basic Black Classic Stampin' Pad, Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker, Stampin' Pastels, Stamping Sponges, and Sticky Strip.

After polling my fellow Demonstrators as well, the second place card was submitted by Maria Flashman.  Maria made a version of a Joy Fold Card.  Click here for a tutorial on making this type of card.

Uses Sincere Salutations Set plus Pale Plum Card Stock, Mellow Moss Card Stock, Very Vanilla Card Stock, Enchante Designer Series Paper, Pale Plum Classic Stampin' Pad, Stamping Sponges, 5-Petal Flower Extra-Large Punch, Subtles Glimmer Brads, Paper-Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Multipurpose Platform, Standard Cutting Pads, Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, and Stampin' Dimensionals.

Both Kathy and Maria will receive a $5 Coupon from me to use on their next Club Order.

Congratulations, ladies.  Fun and fabulous cards!  Thanks to all my Club Members who submitted a card and voted.

Janet and Connie's Workshop Projects

Two of my customers, Janet and Connie, got together to co-host a Stampin' Up! Workshop this afternoon.  One wanted to make a Thanksgiving card and the other wanted to use our new fabrics.  So, I designed these cards.

I decided to use the versatile Day of Gratitude Set from the Holiday Mini for the Thanksgiving card.  This card shows how you can create a collage type background quickly and easily using Clear-Mount Stamps on a large block and how to use Pastels to color an image.

Uses Day of Gratitude Clear-Mount Set plus Clear-Mount Block C, Clear-Mount Block E, Clear-Mount Block F, Always Artichoke Card Stock, Cherry Cobbler Card Stock, Crumb Cake Card Stock, Confetti Cream Card Stock, Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad, VersaMark Pad, Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write Marker, Always Artichoke Stampin' Write Marker, Crumb Cake Stampin' Write Marker, Color Spritzer Tool, Stampin' Pastels (Always Artichoke and Soft Suede), Sponge Daubers, Deck the Halls Big Designer Buttons, Linen Thread, Always Artichoke 1/2" Seam Binding, Decorative Label Extra-Large Punch, Cutter Kit, Stampin' Dimensionals, Sticky Strip, and Mini Glue Dots.

For the fabric card, I decided to make another "puffy" card, but this time I made a puffy butterfly!  The butterfly shape is punched out of the card stock and the fabric adhered to the back side.  This is then layered over a bit of cotton ball stuck to the lower layer card stock so that the fabric poofs out through the punched area.

Uses Flight of the Butterfly Set and Teeny Tiny Wishes Set plus Baja Breeze Card Stock, Blushing Bride Card Stock, Whisper White Card Stock, Candy Cane Christmas Designer Fabric, Baja Breeze Classic Stampin' Pad, Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad, Butterfly Extra-Large Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Pretty in Pink 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Subtles Brads, Paper-Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Sticky Strip, and cotton ball.

I gave both Janet and Connie a selection of gift tags made with the Tags til Christmas Set as a Hostess Gift.

Uses Tags til Christmas Set plus Old Olive Card Stock, Riding Hood Red Card Stock, Real Red Card Stock, Baja Breeze Card Stock, Always Artichoke Card Stock, River Rock Card Stock, Cherry Cobbler Card Stock, Confetti White Card Stock, Whisper White Card Stock, Medium Flat Cellophane Bags, Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad, Riding Hood Red Classic Stampin' Pad, Baja Breeze Classic Stampin' Pad, Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker, Real Red Stampin' Write Marker, Garden Green Stampin' Write Marker, Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Marker, River Rock Stampin' Write Marker, Always Artichoke Stampin' Write Marker, Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write Marker, Early Espresso Stampin' Write Marker, Ornament Extra-Large Punch, Extra-Large Tag Punch, Large Tag Punch, 1-1/4" Square Large Punch, 1-3/8" Square Extra-Large Punch, 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Extra-Large Punch, 1-3/4" Circle Extra-Large Punch, Decorative Label Extra-Large Punch, 1-3/4" Scallop Circle Extra-Large Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Large Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Large Punch, Scallop Square Extra-Large Punch, Crop-A-Dile, Linen Thread, Cherry Cobbler 1/2" Seam Binding, Circle Fire Rhinestone Brads, Paper-Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Standard Cutting Pads, Top Note Bigz Die, and Stampin' Dimensionals.

I like to give everyone who attends my Workshops a little extra treat.  In honor of Halloween, I made these fun little candy holders.  You can find a great tutorial on making these holders by clicking here.

  Uses Grateful Greetings Set plus Rich Razzleberry Card Stock, Cajun Craze Card Stock, Basic Black Card Stock, Whisper White Card Stock, Wicked Fun Specialty Designer Series Paper, Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Write Marker, Cajun Craze Stampin' Write Marker, Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker, 1-3/4" Scallop Circle Extra-Large Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Large Large Punch, Round Tab Extra-Large Punch, 1-3/4" x 7/8" Oval Large Punch, Neutrals Brads, Paper-Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Raven 1/2" Lace Trim, Sticky Strip, Mini Glue Dots, and Bliss candies.

Snowflake Bag

Hmm, I hope that doesn't mean something in the drug culture?  It sounds like it could. It's not though!  It's a little extra treat I made for all my Club Members this month to give them along with their orders.  I just decorated a topper and put some retired Felt Flurries snowflakes and Pretties Kit pearls in it for them to use on their projects.  You can still buy the Felt Flurries and the Pretties Kit from the Clearance Rack at great prices.  Just click on the "Shop Now" button to the right and start shopping!

Uses Serene Snowflakes Set and Jolly Jingles Jumbo Wheel plus Baja Breeze Card Stock, Whisper White Card Stock, Medium Flat Cellophane Bags, Baja Breeze Classic Stampin' Pad, Not Quite Navy Classic Stampin' Pad, Not Quite Navy Stampin' Write Marker, 3/4" x 15/16" Oval Medium Punch, Clear Tinsel Trim, Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Standard Cutting Pads, Top Note Bigz Die, and Stampin' Dimensionals.

The sentiment is off the Wheel.  I just inked up only the portion I wanted with the Marker and then rolled it onto a scrap of card stock with my fingers before punching it out.  This is a trick I learned at the Baltimore Regionals - if you just want a small portion of a wheel, it can be easier to roll it with your fingers instead of using the Handle.

Weekly Inspiration

The idea for this card was born when I created one of the cards for my recent Christmas Card Camp.  On the one card for the camp, we used a small piece of Clear Tinsel Trim as a hanger for one of the ornaments.  To keep the hanger from being too fuzzy, we trimmed some of the clear tinsel off.  As I was trimming, I thought I should be able to use the tinsel trimmings as snow in a shaker card.  So, I designed this card.  Enjoy!

Supplies

- Tags til Christmas, page 24 of Holiday Mini, Clear - $22.95, Wood - $30.95

- Teeny Tiny Wishes, page 157, $36.95

- Baja Breeze 8-1/2" x 11" Card Stock, page 167, $6.95

- Whisper White 8-1/2" x 11" Card Stock, page 169, $8.50

- Baja Breeze Classic Stampin' Pad, page 167, $5.95

- Not Quite Navy Classic Stampin' Pad, page 168, $5.95

- Not Quite Navy Stampin' Write Marker, page 168, $3.50

- 1-3/4" Circle Extra-Large Punch, pages 202-203, $16.95

- Sweet Treat Cups, page 170, $2.95

- Clear Tinsel Trim, page 21 of Holiday Mini, $7.95

- Brayer, page 195, $12.50

- Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine (includes Multipurpose Platform and Standard Cutting Pads), page 204, $99.95

- Northern Flurry Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, page 26 of Holiday Mini, $7.95

- Sticky Strip, page 197, $6.95

- adhesive

- scissors

Directions

1)  Cut a piece of Baja Breeze Card Stock to 5 1/2 x 8 1/2".  Score and fold in half to make card.

2)  Cut a piece of Whisper White Card Stock to 4 x 5 1/4".

3)  Ink up Brayer by rolling it across the open Baja Breeze Ink Pad several times in one direction only.

4)  Roll the inked up Brayer across the inside of the top piece of the Northern Flurry Embossing Folder.  The top piece is the piece that has the Stampin' Up! and Sizziz logos printed on it.

5)  Insert the white card stock rectangle into the folder.

6)  Build a sandwich of Multipurpose Platform with Tab 2 open, one of the Standard Cutting Pads, the inked folder with the card stock inside, and the other Standard Cutting Pad.  Run through the Big Shot.  The background should now be dyed Baja Breeze and the embossed snowflakes should have stayed white!

7)  Slide the embossed, colored rectangle into the Circle Punch so a hole will be punched out about 1" from the bottom and 1/2" from the right side.  Punch.

8)  Ink up the sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Wishes Set with Not Quite Navy Ink and stamp it below the punched out circle.

9)  Cut a piece of Whisper White Card Stock to 2 1/2" square.

10)  Ink up the snowman tag image from the Tags til Christmas Set with the Not Quite Navy Marker brush tip.  Be careful not to ink up the words "to:" and "from:" or the bottom circle outline.

11)  Stamp the snowman image in the center of the white square.

12)  Cut some of the clear tinsel fuzzies from a piece of Clear Tinsel Trim and put them inside a Sweet Treat Cup.

13)  Peel the protective backing off the bottom of the Sweet Treat Cup and place the stamped white square on top of it, being careful to center the square on the cup.

14)  Place strips of Sticky Strip on either side of the hole on the back side of the embossed and colored white rectangle.

15)  Peel off the protective strips and insert the Sweet Treat Cup into the hole.  Trim off excess white card stock that sticks out the right side if necessary.

16)  Adhere the card front to the Baja Breeze card.

Tips

Make sure you roll the Brayer across the ink pad in one direction only.  If you roll it back and forth, you will only ink up a small portion of the roller.

I rinse the color off my embossing folder and Brayer by running them under a stream of water in the sink and then allowing them to air dry.

You can hand-deliver a card that uses a Sweet Treat Cup or include it in a larger package.  If you want to mail the card by itself, use one our Sweet Treat Padded Envelopes (page 170, $2.95).

More Halloween Treats

I made a bunch more Halloween treats to send to my nieces and nephews and my sons off at college.  These are all fast and easy to create thanks to Stampin' Up! products!

Uses Batty for You Set plus Old Olive Card Stock, Pumpkin Pie Card Stock, Rich Razzleberry Card Stock, Whispeer White Card Stock, Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker, Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Write Marker, 1-1/4" Circle Large Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Large Punch, 1-3/4" Scallop Circle Extra-Large Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, and paddle ball games.

Uses Batty for You Set plus Old Olive Card Stock, Rich Razzleberry Card Stock, Whisper White Card Stock, Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker, Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Write Marker, Old Olive 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, 1-1/4" Circle Large Punch, 2-1/2" Circle Extra-Large Punch, Circle Scissor Plus, Glass Mat, Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Multipurpose Platform, Standard Cutting Pads, Spider Web Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Dotto, Stampin' Dimensionals, and plastic candy jars.

Uses Batty for You Set plus Pumpkin Pie Card Stock, Old Olive Card Stock, Basic Gray Card Stock, Whisper White Card Stock, Wicked Fun Specialty Designer Series Paper, Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker, Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Write Marker, Rich Razzleberry Classic Stampin' Pad, Raven 1/2" Lace Trim, Rich Razzleberry 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, 1-3/4" Scallop Circle Extra-Large Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Large Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Large Punch, Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Standard Cutting Pads, Standard Premium Crease Pad, Candy Wrapper Bigz L Die, and Sticky Strip.

Uses Grateful Greetings Set plus Rich Razzleberry Card Stock, Basic Black Card Stock, Whisper White Card Stock, Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker, Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Write Marker, Mini Library Clips, Raven 1/2" Lace Trim, 1-3/8" Square Extra-Large Punch, 1-1/4" Square Large Punch, Bitty Bat Large Punch, Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Standard Cutting Pads, Standard Premium Crease Pad, Mini Milk Carton Bigz L Die, Sticky Strip, and Stampin' Dimensionals.

October Christmas Card Camp Follow-Up

We had fun at my October Christmas Card Camp yesterday.  If you weren't able to join us, I hope you'll be able to come to the camp in November.  Be watching for me to announce the date and time for that camp in the next few days.  We will make different cards at that camp.

Here are the projects everyone got to choose from yesterday.  They could pick which ones they wanted to make and could make up to 4 of each if they wanted.  Enjoy!

Uses Angelic Joy Clear-Mount Set plus Clear-Mount Block E, Clear-Mount Block G, Bashful Blue Card Stock, Marina Mist Card Stock, Whisper White Card Stock, Waffle Paper Assortment 1, Marina Mist Classic Stampin' Pad, Bashful Blue Classic Stampin' Pad, So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad, Blender Pens, 3/16" Corner Small Punch, Silver Glass Glitter, 2-Way Glue Pen, Stampin' Dimensionals, and Sticky Strip.

Uses Bells & Boughs Clear-Mount Set plus Clear-Mount Block C, Clear-Mount Block D, Real Red Card Stock, Whisper White Card Stock, Basic Black Classic Stampin' Pad, Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad, Real Red Stampin' Write Marker, So Saffron Stampin' Write Marker, Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker, Garden Green Stampin' Write Marker, Old Olive 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Multipurpose Platform, Standard Cutting Pads, Scallop Squares Duo Bigz Die, Scallop Rectangle Clearlits Die, Petals-a-Plenty Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals, and Mini Glue Dots.

Uses Lovely as a Tree Set and Many Merry Messages Set plus Chocolate Chip Card Stock, Always Artichoke Card Stock, Very Vanilla Card Stock, Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad, Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Marker, Always Artichoke Stampin' Write Marker, 1" Circle Medium Punch, Gold Brads, Paper-Piercing Tool, and Mat Pack.

Uses Perfect Punches Set and En Francais background stamp plus Night of Navy Card Stock, Confetti White Card Stock, Night of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad, Stamping Sponges, 1-3/8" Circle Large Punch, 1/16" Circle Handheld Punch, Night of Navy 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, white thread, Basic Pearls Jewels, Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Decorative Strip Spacer Platform, Decorative Strip Cutting Pads, Northern Frost Decorative Strip Die, 2-Way Glue Pen, Stampin' Dimensionals, and Sticky Strip.

Uses Heard from the Heart Set and Tags til Christmas Set plus Cherry Cobbler Card Stock, Pear Pizzazz Card Stock, Whisper White Card Stock, Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad, Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write Marker, Baja Breeze Stampin' Write Marker, In Color Stampin' Write Markers (Pear Pizzazz), Mat Pack (paper-piercing template used as straight edge for drawing hanger lines), Clear Tinsel Trim, Basic Rhinestones Jewels, Ornament Extra-Large Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Large Punch, 1-3/4" x 7/8" Oval Large Punch, Heart to Heart Extra-Large Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, and Sticky Strip.

The sixth card I had available was the owl punch penquin card shown in my blog post on September 25 titled "RemARKable Holiday Madness Blog Tour - Holiday Owls."

 

Bonus Tote Project

I let everyone who attended my October Club Classes make a bonus project of one of these little totes if they wanted to.  They could choose to make the bear tote or the monogram tote and got to choose the fabric and initial they wanted to use.

  Uses Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Standard Cutting Pads, Bear Bigz Die, Beary Essentials Bigz Die, Big Shot Fabric Adhesive Roll, Pretty in Pink 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon, felt, fabric, mini canvas tote bag, iron, and ironing board.

Uses Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Multipurpose Platform, Standard Cutting Pads, Extended Cutting Pads, Tasteful Trim Bigz XL Die, Scallop Squares Duo Bigz Die, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet Medium Sizzlits Dies, Big Shot Fabric Adhesive Roll, Basic Rhinestones Jewels, fabric, mini canvas tote bag, iron, and ironing board.

Love Fabric Hearts

Here is the last of the cards we made at my October Club Classes featuring no-sew fabric projects.  Enjoy!

Uses Real Red Card Stock, Blushing Bride Card Stock, Whisper White Card Stock, Candy Cane Christmas Designer Fabric, Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets, Brights Assortments Craft Stampin' Spots (Real Red), Real Red Stampin' Write Marker, Color Spritzer Tool, Clear Tinsel Trim, In Color Glimmer Brads, Paper-Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Multipurpose Platform, Standard Cutting Pads, Lots of Love Letterpress Plate, Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslits Die, Heat Tool (to speed drying of Craft Ink), and Sticky Strip.

Halloween Treats

My older son is an RA (Resident Assistant) at his college.  One of things the RAs are supposed to do is give their residents little treats and encouragement throughout the school year.  For the past couple of years, I've created little Halloween treats for him to hand out.  This year, it was super easy to create the treats he needed (44 of them) using the Candy Wrapper Bigz L Die in the Holiday Mini.  Since I had to create so many though, I didn't want to use ribbon to tie them closed.  I noticed the Halloween garlands in the grocery store and decided to give it a try.  It worked perfectly and added a little glitz to each treat!

Uses Grateful Greetings Set plus Basic Black Card Stock, Old Olive Card Stock, Rich Razzleberry Card Stock, Cajun Craze Card Stock, Tangeringe Tango Card Stock, Pumpkin Pie Card Stock, Whisper White Card Stock, Wicked Fun Specialty Designer Series Paper, Brights Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack, Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker, Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker, Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Write Marker, Cajun Craze Stampin' Write Marker, Tangerine Tango Stampin' Write Marker, Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Write Marker, Scallop Oval Extra-Large Punch, 1-3/4" x 7/8" Oval Large Punch, 1-3/8" x 5/8" Oval Small Punch, Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Standard Cutting Pads, Candy Wrapper Bigz L Die, Sticky Strip, and Halloween garlands.