Halloween fun

The new CTMH treat projects are a blast to make! They are attractive and easy-peasy! I took the project pre-cuts and designed my own just a little bigger to hold the home-made dog cookies I made for the doggies in our family.  I believe these will be a hit, whole wheat, oatmeal, peanut butter, YUMM. They are pictured below.

 

And this last photo is a close up. The back of the tag says "To Miley From Bilbo". *giggle*

Steve said we can expect 100 trick-or-treaters tomorrow! I hope so!!

Hope your holiday is fun and fabulous! Hugs!

Red, white, blue, and Kraft!

Having fun with my favorite colors! I love red, white, blue and Kraft!! 

I've been working on some Halloween treats - guess I forgot to photograph them but it's not too late! Tomorrow when the sun is up! 

The second photo is just a little fun - we were tricked and treated by the family to visit AMaze'in Pumpkins in Nisswa, MN. They had two corn mazes, one easy and the other harder, and scarier! There was a petting zoo, pumpkin patch, corn kernel "sandbox", horseshoe game, loads of photo opportuniti and hay-rides! They had daylight fun for families, and after dark fun for adults complete with a live band and "over 40 volunteers" that might dress up and jump out to scare you half to death. You can see which category we were in ( the only one I want to be in, frankly)!!!

Water coloring with color pencil highlights

I have been so impressed by the gorgeous watercoloring people have been creating recently that I've been trying over and over and over!  Can you tell that this is my current obsession?  LOL. EDITED TO ADD: I found the inspiration for this card and was surprised at how closely I copied it! Please give creative credit to A Blog Called Wanda on this post here. In keeping with Wanda's copyright, I can attest that this was used for my own personal use. No contests, sales, etc. 

These butterflies were done with the waterbrush, picking up color directly from the ink pad and layering it on.  At the end, I decided there were a few edges that needed emphasis so I pulled out the color pencils to add a little highlighting.  These two things work so beautifully together!

But the really new, and fun, thing I tried on this card was to get my water brush full of ink and then flick it at the paper!  Yes, I did clear my work table of other projects before trying this - why do you ask?!  I love the result and in fact, I still have a small scrap that was trimmed off that I just haven't been able to toss - yet.  It looks so pretty with the color freckles!  

Below is the inside of the card:

This butterfly was stamped in the lighter color and rolled in the darker one.  Then the body of the butterfly was detailed with the pencil after it was good and dry.  I hope my dear friend who receives this for her birthday knows that she is in my thoughts.  

Just for fun, I thought I'd share a photo of the STAR of the baptism yesterday.  Introducing (again) Thomas James Grover (the baby, not the photo bomber)!  

ShinHan markers

Recently Close to My Heart added some alcohol markers to their product line. Their first try was a dismal failure, but the newest ones, ShinHan markers, seem much better. Time will tell if they can keep from drying up, and the nibs from falling apart.  So far, so good.  This card used the four markers I have so far. They are very reasonable, but they add up, don't ya know! 

Today is the baptism of Thomas James Grover. He is the child of Melissa and Jim Grover - Melissa is my beloved's daughter. Steve will perform the baptism. It is a very special day, indeed!

CTMH Snowhaven papers

I found a Waltzingmouse Stamps set called Teeny Trees that I hadn't realized I'd brought up North with me.  So, I said "let's get some ink on this baa-bee"!  I love the look of the "glacier" tree with the Snowhaven papers. The card base was Whisper cardstock so I added a piece of White Daisy to the "writing side" of the inside and trimmed it with a piece of red washi tape that has white polka dots.  

I've been creating all sorts of fun things!  Stay tuned for more soon!

Hugs!

who, whoo

Who, who likes these little owls?! I do! I found this stamp in a discontinued special from CTMH that had all sorts of holiday images. It was a double D size set! 😉 I used the current Halloween papers, a zip-strip and the sentiment from an earlier Stamp of The Month (SOTM). 

I colored the Owls with pencils and odorless mineral spirits (OMS). Have I mentioned that I am having so much fun playing with my toys?!?

More fun with Sunflowers!

More fun!  This one uses three techniques combined.  I stamped the initial image with Flaxen ink, used the water coloring brush-pen to pick up ink from the ink pads and color (layering as I went along) and then, once it was all dry, I went back over some sections with Prismacolor pencils. Once the dye inks are dry, you can actually use OMS (odorless mineral spirits) over the pencils to blend them in without smudging the inks.  All of this was on a good quality watercolor paper. You might notice that the top sunflower is  much bolder than the other two.  Well, life is like that sometimes!  *wink*

Oh!  I had a comment come in on an older post where the person asked me questions about my name.  I would have replied directly to her, but there isn't any e-mail connected with her blog post.  So, I will answer the question here - feel free to skip over this part!  LOL My given name, on my birth certificate, is Sharli.  I was named for my Grandfather Charles and in those days it wasn't as fashionable to name girls with boy names.  I adored and respected my Grandfather, so I am proud to be his namesake. Mystery solved!

Belated Birthday

Recently I "missed" a very special little girl's birthday.  I know, I'm very ashamed and im sure it won't happen again! To catch up, I made this cute owl card. My "a-ha" moment was when I took a conversation bubble and turned it backwards on the acrylic block so I could make a nice yellow bubble where I could stamp the sentiment.  I love how that turned out - so much better than free-handing it!

At the last minute I decided the owl needed legs, so they are sturdy ones that color coordinate like all girly owls.  It was actually pretty quick to make and I enjoyed it!

Thank you notes

I've been stocking up on my thank you notes.  It seems like I go through these very quickly!  Such a problem to have!  LOL  

This was an old stamp (one of the stamp of the month specials I believe, from CTMH).  I still LOVE playing with it!  Can I ever have too many flower stamps?  I didn't think so either!

It's cool here today but when the sun broke through the clouds I jumped up and announced that I was going for a bike ride.  My dear husband, knee deep in his own project, said, do you want me to come?  I answered, only if this is a good place to stop, and he simply dropped everything to go with me!  Isn't that awesome!?!  He still amazing me with his warmth and caring.  I love when he goes with me - I enjoy the ride more, and we see delightful things on the trail together.  I also feel safer and more relaxed when he's along.  I push myself more, too, because I want him to be impressed with my strength (giggle).  Yup.  He loves me!  

Masculine card

I made this card for a 30-something guy I know that is going on 13. He's really a hoot - and I love him dearly!  It was super quick to make and I used the new CTMH papers called Wanderful.  I had purchased a pack to scrapbook our trip this summer, but haven't started that project yet (shame on me!!) so I cut into it for this "emergency" card!  *giggle*

Hope things are wonderful in your part of the world.  It's cooling off here - I even saw some snowflakes a couple of days ago!  They were exciting (for a girl from Arizona)!