"Haunted Boo-levard" with the Creative Crew

Lorraine is the October hostess for the Creative Crew and she send us images from the "Haunted Boo-levard" stamp set by Taylored Expressions.  

Even though I'm late to post my card, I was really excited to receive her kit because I think this set is so dang cute!

The image and sentiment are colored with Olo markers.  The candy corn, windows, pumpkin die cuts, ghost and bats are all highlighted with a Wink of Stella pen to give them sparkle.

I used the square gems to make a path or sidewalk in front of the house.

Lorraine included such cute designer papers by Doodlebug and Imaginesce.  Each are layered on a purple panel (Concord Grape by Taylored Expressions).

This set has been advertised in my social media feeds and it's so fun.  It was great to have a chance to play with it.  Thanks Lorraine!

Here are the links to the Creative Crew blogs and Lorraine's gallery on SplitCoast:

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Carol - Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Lorraine - SCS Gallery

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Tracie - Crafty Creations by Tracie 

Double Duty Featuring Taylored Expressions

On the 22nd of each month some friends challenge ourselves to create 2 different cards repeating the same image, sentiment, etc on each card.  We have a predetermined list of the stamp company or specific challenge for each month and then...away we go! 

Our pre-selected company for this month's challenge is Taylored Expressions.  This is one of our favorite companies, so I'm sure that we all had a good time creating a set of cards.

Here are my cards.  I selected the stamp, die, embossing folder and stencil set called "Icing on the Cake".

The background panels on both cards have various colors of Simon Hurley's Lunar Paste applied through Taylored Expression's Confettie stencil.

Each cake was blended and stamped with inks by Taylored Expressions.

The final touch was the layer of decorative icing applied with the stencil, using Simon Hurley's Frostbite Astro Paste.  It gives a nice texture and sparkle in real life.

This was a very fun and easy way to create two cards. I think I'll go back to this set soon and make a few more, trying different techniques the next time.

Please drop by the blogs of the other Double Duty members and comment on their work:

Barb

Jeanette

Carol 

Terry

Creative Crew is Picture Purr-fect!

OK! It's the 15th of the month.  Which means that the Creative Crew posts their challenge cards.  Terry is our host this month and the theme is  "Picture Perfect".  Here's what she sent:

Images/Sentiments:  My Favorite Things "Picture Perfect"

Polaroid Die Cuts: My Favorite Things "Instagram"

Papers - Stampin' Up and American Crafts

And here is my card 👉  

I colored the furry friends with Castle colored pencils. I like that the end result is not as uniform as markers.  To me, it seems more like fur. 

The picture frame was ink blended with Candy Corn ink by Taylored Expressions.  The card base is also Candy Corn by TE.  I used almost each of the fun patterned papers that Terry included in our kit.

The little puffy hearts are from a prior kit from one of the Creative Crew, but I'm not sure who (maybe Tracie?)

I really like this kit and the sentiment.  I think it accurately describes our Creative Crew friendship!

Here are the links to the Creative Crew blogs and Lorraine's gallery on SplitCoast:

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Carol - Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Lorraine - SCS Gallery

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Tracie - Crafty Creations by Tracie 

 

Creative Crew "Add Your Favorite Color" Challenge

It's here - the 15th of the month.  Which means that the Creative Crew posts their challenge cards.  Jeanette is our host this month and here's what she said:

"This month's kit is going to be a bit different than our normal.  You've likely noticed the lack of color in the kit...for a good reason.  This month's theme is Add Your Own Color..."

We must include our favorite color on the card.  Well, my favorite color has always been brown. 

Jeanette included a wide array of white background panels, including Crystal Diamond Glitter card stock by the Paper Cut, which is my background panel.

Popped up on that is a die cut panel from Jeanette which is Elongated Lattice by Pinkfresh Studio.  I ink blended Chocolate Truffle (Taylored Expressions) and then sprayed it with a glimmer spray by A Muse Studio.  Which I've had for many years.

Here's a closer look to show the glimmer on the lattice panel.

The flowers and sentiment are Gina K's Smiling Blooms.  They are ink blended with several different yellows, tans and oranges by Gina K and Taylored Expressions.  Then I outlined the images with a dark brown Olo marker.

The florals overhang the edge of the card on one side.  I didn't trim them off because I liked the look.  A slightly larger envelop will accommodate them.

I must say that this challenge was very fun.  Jeanette made it so easy by picking a beautiful floral image and providing us with so many creative backgrounds to choose from.

 

Many, many thanks, Jeanette for this great kit and fun idea!  

Here are the links to the Creative Crew blogs and galleries on SplitCoast:

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Carol - Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Lorraine - SCS Gallery

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Tracie - Crafty Creations by Tracie 

Hot Mess = Success Challenge

On the 12th of each month a group of my friends hold a Hot Mess = Success Challenge.  Our goal is to create a card using any messy technique we want.  And we determine what is our personal definition of messy!

This month I decided to give my Astro Pastes by Simon Hurley a whirl.  Using a stencil by Gina K Designs from a Lets Stamp Together kit a few years ago, I applied Prom Queen on one panel and Bee Sting on another panel. 

Then using the same stencil Oyster ink (by Taylored Expressions) was lightly blended onto the base panels.  

Once dry, the two panels were trimmed with a thin edge of black card stock and mounted onto the base panel.  All was then mounted onto a white, top folding card.

The sentiments are from Altenew's Timeless Sentiments die set. 

If you haven't tried these Astro Pastes, I encourage you to give them a try. The glitter and shine is amazing and no glitter rubs off!

Thanks for dropping by my blog!  Be sure to visit my Hot Mess friends using the links below.

Jeanette

Barb

Terry

Carol

July's Encore Challenge

We all have so many wonderful things for this hobby. Friends and I noticed that some items only get used once. We love them and promise ourselves that we will use it again, but somehow we never get around to it.  So we created the Encore Challenge! 

We go into our stash and select any item, a stamp set, dies, stencils, etc. and show it the love it deserves. We post our creations on or around the 25th of each month. We would love to have anyone interested play along, as often as you like!

I pulled out a great set of stamps, dies and stencils by Pinkfresh Studio called "Simplest Gestures".  What I like about this set is that the stencils include sentiments and the set of dies includes these sentiments.

The floral images were stamped first with a very light ink, leaving the stamp inside my MISTI.  Then they were ink blended using the stencils.  When the blending was done, the images were stamped again using VersaFine Clair Nocturn ink.

The floral images and "hello" sentiments were die cut with the die set and everything was mounted onto a yellow panel.  The yellow panels were embossed with a Coverplate Die called "Stitched Octagons" which is also by Pinkfresh Studio. 

Silver Sparkle Spots by Trinity Stamps were added to the centers of three flowers to give it a little bling.

This is a fun set and is quick to use.  I'm glad that I reminded myself how great it is.

Please visit the blogs of the other Encore Challenge participants.  The list and links are provided below:

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Carol - Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Terry - It's Totally Terry 

Creative Crew "Gets Crafty"!

On the 15th of the month a group of cardmaking friends host a challenge and post our cards.  This month Barb hosted the challenge and she selected Gus & Gertie Get Crafty by Taylored Expressions.  Woohoo! We all love TE!

I tried to incorporate each side of the fun designer papers that Barb included with the kit. They're from Stampin' Up's Follow Your Art DSP pack.

The card front is ink blended with a polka dot stencil and "Cookie Monster" ink, both by TE.  

The sentiment is hand cut into a banner and lightly blended with the same ink.  The crafty tools on Gus' desk are colored with Olo markers.

I chose to bling, hahahaha.  Some turquoise gems from my stash are added.

Thanks Barb for a fantastic kit this round!  I had fun with it. 

Here are the links to the Creative Crew blogs and galleries on SplitCoast:

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Carol - Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Lorraine - SCS Gallery

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Tracie - Crafty Creations by Tracie