A Kept Life: 10/01/2016

Monday, October 31, 2016

SSCB#61 - Country Welcome

A new challenge begins today at Serendipity Stamps Challenge Blog! This time we're looking for projects with some Texture! It's easy to add texture to your designs! How about some dry embossing using an embossing folder, or spreading some embossing paste through a stencil? A ribbon is always an easy go to for me! I'm always thinking about burlap embellishments in the fall! Whatever your choice just be sure to include a Serendipity Stamps image on your design! One lucky winner will receive a $20 Gift Certificate from the store!

Since I knew I wanted to go with some burlap I had to think of a stamp that would be appropriate! I was thinking fall, but somehow got distracted by my pattern paper.. that got me spun in a different direction - country! I saw the Sunflowers on the stamped image and knew this would be the one. Sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers. Mine are all gone - just the heads loaded with seeds hanging heavy. I'm enjoying watching the birds hanging upside down to feast on them!

I took a short length of 1/2" burlap and frayed the ends before attaching it to my card. I topped it with a double cut "Welcome" word die. The yellow really pops against the navy and burlap background.

The wood grain sequins coordinate perfectly with the frayed burlap trim! The hexagon die is from Pretty Pink Posh - you can find a nice assortment of their dies in the Serendipity Stamps store!

Want to go shopping? The 50% off stamp of the month for November is the Snowperson with Wreath.

Want to see more designs that include a little texture? Just click on the names below to jump to the rest of the team.

You can link up your designs and get more information about our challenge here... at the Serendipity Stamps Challenge Blog.

Serendipity Stamps Welcome Word Die 079DD

Serendipity Stamps Rooster On Fence 1369G

Serendipity Stamps PPP Stitched Hexagon Dies

Serendipity Stamps Bamboo Sequins

Serendipity Stamps Mahogany Sequins

InLinkz.com

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I hope you've got something fun planned today! Maybe you're helping out at a school party, or you're the one left behind to answer the door for all the trick or treats! Our neighborhood is all abuzz on Halloween! Weather permitting the adults will be sitting around fire pits in their driveways - having drinks and socializing while the kids run from door to door looking for the house with the best treats. We started giving away lunch size bags of chips years ago and most of the kids know what we have before they even get here. My kids are grown now, and I still get reminiscent - thinking of costumes from years gone by.. my son dressed as a jedi or vampire and my daughter in countless princess costumes.

Pretty Little Studio has lots of vintage images for your Halloween delight! I love the papers from the Trick or Treat Collection. There's the orange and blacks you might expect for Halloween papers, but these have accents of yellow and mint. The papers have traditional stripes, stars and houndstooth, but you'll also find peacock feathers and brocade.

I topped the background papers with a journaling card - Casper Bookmark Tag and layered it with lots of vintage die cuts including the Orange Pumpkin Mini (thats the one with the green leaves), Pumpkin Mini, Casper Ghost, and Abracadabra (witch). The "October 31" sentiment is a Cut Outs called Candy Corn Word Flags. There's 24 printed on a sheet that you cut apart.

I have to have some sparkle and shine. Thank goodness there's new sequins in the store! I used large clear Harvest Pumpkin, and mini solid yellow Buttered Corn to compliment the colors in my card. The mixed sizes are fun, and the colors remind me of candy corn!

Best Witches and Happy Haunting!

Black Button Twine | May Arts

Sunday, October 30, 2016

12 Kits of Occasions - Let's Be Thankful!

Welcome to the 12 Kits of Occasions! We're a group of 12 friends who like to papercraft. Every month we take turns putting together a kit for the rest of the group. On the last day of the month we reveal what we made with the kit. It's fun to see how our designs will look similar or oh so very different! We're posting early today because tomorrow is Halloween and we'll all be playing tricks!

Our hostess this month is Michele Ferguson from I Card Everyone! Michele is a CAS girl, but with a twist! She's got a fabulous sense of humor and it always comes through in her creations. You can't help but smile when you visit her blog!

Here's a peek at the wonderful kit she provided for us this month! It was filled with pretty papers - some had gold foil accents!!! The kit included floral print doilies (swoon!) pretty ribbons, sparkly sequins and a detailed wood veneer butterfly. Stamped images were from Concord & 9th, Neat 'n Tangeld and more!

I'm always looking for that one tricky ingredient that I didn't use on my cards. This time that would be a big sparkly gem. I could have used it to dot my "i" but used an enamel dot instead. SO keep your eyes out for that! Really though.. everything in the kit was easy to work with !

So here's my offering for this month's kit.. ...

Want to see more? Just click on the design team member name to jump to their blog.. Not sure where you want to go first? You can check out the 12 Kits of Occasions Blog where you'll find a sample from each team member as well as a complete ingredient list!

Michele Ferguson - I Card Everyone (our hostess this month!)

Marybeth - It's Time For Paper

Joyce - Cards By The Sea

Kim - Cupcakes Cards & Kim

Jessica - The Paper Parade

Sharron - On Papillon Wings

Tracey McNeely - In My Creative Opinion

Lindsey Larsen - Occasional Crafting

Lisa Elton - My Paper Tales

Michelle Leone - Pretty Periwinkles

Nancy Penir - Artful Notions

Friday, October 28, 2016

Bandit Boo!

You know I love Halloween! It's my favorite time of year! Today I'm playing along with Happy Little Stampers - this time it's anything goes with dies! I love using dies to make a scene and all the borders from Pretty Pink Posh make that so easy!

This set has lots of cute images like this little bandit, a vampire and a cute little honey bear!

I used a stitched border die to layer different shades of green to make hills. Little flower sequins in purple coordinate with the night sky!

I've been looking for the perfect white splatter. I found Dr. Ph. Martins Bleed Proof White and I love it for watercolor or even card stock splatters. The white is clean and as the name implies, solid enough so no background colors come through.

I put the little "Boo" sentiment in a speech bubble die! Even that has a nice stitched edge to it!

I hope you find some time to play today!

Finished Size: 4.25 x 5.5"

Stamps | Pretty Pink Posh Halloween Friends

Dies | Pretty Pink Posh Halloween Friends, Stitched Borders, Speech Bubbles

Sequins | Pretty Pink Posh Lilac Garden Flower Sequins

Pretty Pink Posh Halloween Friends Coordinating Dies

Pretty Pink Posh Halloween Friends

Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Speech Bubbles

Serendipity Stamps Shop Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Borders 1

Pretty Pink Posh Lilac Garden Flower Sequins

InLinkz.com

Tupelo Designs LLC - Concord & 9th Happy Day!

Happy Friday! It's going to be a fun weekend! Are you ready for Halloween? Our neighborhood is loaded with kids so it's going to be crazy! So many houses are decorated! I love checking them out when I'm walking the dog. She doesn't appreciate it so much because many of them move in the wind - my girl is a bit skittish!

I just wanted to remind you to treat yourself while you're at it! I love shopping at Tupelo Designs LLC! They've got all my favorite products in one place and shipping is always free. That's all the motivation I need to go shopping! I love that I receive my supplies quickly - all stock items ship within 48 hours.. and they come practically gift wrapped. I've ordered lots of times and never anything broken or missing! I think you'll be really happy you gave them a try.

Are you loving all the new Concord and 9th? Tupelo Designs LLC has them! I just discovered the Happy Day set! It's really gorgeous and would make wonderful wedding and birthday cards. That cake is just yummy! The coordinating dies make it easy to work with - no fussy cutting here!

To make this even more elegant I adhered the die cut to a white embossed panel. The embossing folder is by We R Memory Keepers (woven) - its really dimensional and adds lots of texture and richness to this design.

I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored the florals with Copic Markers. Yes - Tupelo Designs LLC has Copic markers too! I used only a handful of colors - 2 yellow, 2 orange, 2 pink, and 3 green. I left the cake unfinished.