Hall-NO-ween

The challenge this week for me is using up some fall & Halloween papers by making hall-NO-ween cards. What is a hall-NO-ween card you ask? For OWH, it means a card that isn't a scary card for one. No skulls, cross bones, or head stone type images. Don't want there to be the potential for the last communication from a Hero to home, having a gruesome, death meaning image on it, even if it does scream "it's a Halloween card!!" 2. Halloween isn't a holiday that is big on sending cards, so not many are really needed. 3. If it has a more general feel to it, for example, pumpkins that say miss you as apposed to Happy Halloween, it has a much longer shelf life. Frank from earlier this week was a first attempt. Frank feels a little too much like Halloween to be a hall-NO-ween card, so I tried again.

This guy is closer. The spider web embossing may make to much like Halloween, but it's not SCREAMING HALLOWEEN at least. If nothing else, it will help fill in the fall boxes.
(I started with a card I saw on Pintrest. The stamp is from CTMH and embossed with black embossing powder. Patterned paper stripes are from DCWV fall stack. Embossing folder is a Sizzix Tim Holtz folder. Sentiment stamp is from the Hero Arts set for OWH).

This was my next try.... Still not quite there. The background paper is obviously Halloween... {...sigh...} This is way harder than it looks. ;) The other pp in the stack overpowered the little QuicKutz embellishments, this one works, just not for a hall-NO-ween card. May just have to break down and make Halloween cards to use up this stack and just send some to Sandy this year and store the rest for next year & keep them out of her guest bathtub.

(Started with owh sketch #130. Leaves & scarecrow are QuicKutz with edges chalked with dark brown chalk. Patterned papers are from DCWV fall stack with all edges inked with blackbird chalk ink.)

OWH sketch challenge #131

Thomas & I spent a good part of yesterday in the scrap room playing with paper while watching/listening to the Olympics stream on the laptop. It seems so very weird to be working with fall papers and Seattle hasn't even had summer yet!

I started with this weeks sketch #131 from the Stars & Stamps blog. I changed it up a bit by using ribbon matted with dark brown cardstock & tucked the 3 pieces behind it. The letter stickers needed some definition so I outlined them with a very fine black pen.

I didn't really like the red center piece so I changed it out to yellow and used black letter stickers for this card. I like it a lot better. :)

I made several of each for my next OWH box for Sandy. Then Thomas & I were off to see Rock of Ages at the local $2 theater. Took me back to my high school days and the $0.99 theater downtown..... Broken seats, stale popcorn, smuggled in candy, 80's music...... Ahhhh. The teen could hardly stand to be seen with me (especially when I would sing along with the movie...). The only thing missing was my Letterman's Jacket & hanging out at the frozen yogurt place after the movie. :)

Both of these cards were made for my friend Cindy who was missing her Mom yesterday.... Wish  we could have done something together to make you & your Mom smile....

Both cards used OWH sketch #131. Patterned paper is from a fall stack by DCWV. Stickers are from the fall alphabet stack by DCWV. Ribbon is most likely May Arts. Buttons are from stash....

a mojo kickstart---

I saw a very cute card of the day on the OWH facebook page while I was in Georgia shooting my softball boys last week. A Hero commented on that card & requested more of them for him & his friends in their next box. The mojo was sparked-- except I was on the other side of the country from my stamps & paper & craft stuff...

this is what happened when I finally made it home... It is a complete CASE of the original posted. I never thought to use this stamp except for Valentine's Day cards. ;)

Then I started looking around for the fall seasonal stuff, since it's time to start shifting gears for OWH and start making fall & winter cards.

A cute fall card!

I have WAY to much Halloween stuff. WAY TO MUCH! What was I thinking? Even for scrapping, really. 1 two-page layout at the most per year for Halloween. Yikes, I have a whole folder full of it! Halloween is not a big card writing holiday, so I'm trying to find ways to turn some of it into Hall-NO-ween cards that can be used after the holiday.

I think Frank pretty much says Halloween, but at least with a different sentiment it can help fill out those fall boxes...

(1st card--patterned paper is My Minds Eye. Bird stamp is from Inkadinkadoo.)
(2nd card-- patterned paper is from the Sharon Ann collection by Deja Views. Bird stamp is Inkadinkadoo.)
(3rd card--patterned paper is from a DCWV fall stack. Frank stamp is CTMH. Ribbon is Martha Stewart. Letter stickers are from a DCWV fall alphabet stack.)

finding a little mojo

After seeing the post about Kelly Paper & their paper selection on Facebook, I decided to stop by the Seattle store today after work. Turns out they are just a few blocks from work & are open at 7:30!!! Perfect! since I am usually done around then. :) (the Seattle store is also open from 9-1 on saturdays even though it isn't listed on their website...)

I found a ream of AWESOME white cardstock. Not the one I originally went in for, but it might just be even better. (Jeremy, the assistant manager, pointed it out when they were out of the one I originally went in for...)When I got home I had to test it out with my markers. If they bled all over, no sense in getting any more. Here's the results---

I gave it Sandy's fold test- no collapsing. It's sturdy enough to hold up to lots of embellies. It passed my copic test. No bleeding or feathering. Even with the red-violet which I usually have trouble with. It gets a 2 thumbs up from me & I will be purchasing more once I use up the white that I have.

Oh! This is the paper that I got-

It works out to about $0.06 per sheet or $0.03 per card base. Not much more than I was paying for the GP110 at Walmart. Definitely worth it for the added heft and yummy-ness! 

Now off to discharge a few boxes of card hospital patients at Sandy's house and then to pick up the Super Stamper at tennis practice. Will hopefully be back to play some more later this afternoon....

stamp is house mouse. copic markers. echo park striped paper. bazzill cardstock for the pink. glossy accents on raindrops and eyes.

been a little distracted.... again

My poor little blog has been neglected. Again. :( So sorry to my followers. I have been making cards though...

These are a few of what I have made... All of the papers were scraps from the scrap pile. Stamps are Hero Arts & Technique Tuesday for the dog, (I think...). Idea sketches are all OWH if I remember correctly. (If you would like more details, leave me a note & I'll get back to you after the 4th, when I get home from vacation.... ;)  )

I spent some of my distracted time helping Sandy with some triage of a couple of huge boxes. Most just needed stamping, the Super Stamper did that part  & tucking. But there was also some lining needed. Luckily, only a few had to go to the morgue. They were pretty much DOA. The diagnosis? Glitter overdose. There was no saving them....

The scrap room is getting more organized. I hope to have it in order before school starts the end of September.... I'm hoping that with an organized space, I'll still be able to play with paper as I get some down time & not have to spend a ton of time looking for stuff. :)

back to making cards

The adrenaline rush is over. Pictures edited and ready for the Bride to see. Finally get reclaim my sanity by playing with a little paper. :)

I started with this sheet of cut-outs from Beary Patch-

then headed to my scrap files to see what scraps I had that would work with these cuties. Then came the sketches... And this is what I ended up with.

I dressed the cut-outs up with a little crystal laquer and popped them with dimensional adhesive. The letter stickers are from making memories. The sentiment stamp is from TPC Studios.

Now it's time to re-pack the camera bags for a softball tournament. Back into my comfort zone!

I survived!!

My poor blog has been a little neglected this month. I got a post up the first and then one for the OWH Memorial Day hop, (which I had forgotten that I signed up for until the reminder email landed in my inbox. oppps!). To say I was a little distracted the past few weeks would be an understatement.

Many, many, months ago a very good friend asked if I would take her wedding pictures for her. I was very reluctant to take on this very important task. See, I'm a sports photog. Action shots. Candids, mostly. No telling people where to stand. How to hold their hands, in their pockets? Down at their sides? Tilt the head a little or straight? Oh, just thinking about those things gave me hives! There is no, "I'll try again to get that shot at the next tournament if I don't get it this week." There are no do-overs in wedding photography. But Cindy wore me down. She knows I'm a softy. :)

So in preparing for this hive inducing adventure I pestered & annoyed all of my photog friends. They all told me I would be fine. I have the skills and the gear (some of which gear I borrowed), I could do it. For months they told me this. Just put on your bossy hat & go for it. Bossy? Me? Could I be bossy? (Apparently I am. I don't see myself that way at all. May have to rethink that perception of myself....). I spent hours pouring over my photography how-to books. Surfed the internet for posing ideas. Made lists and notes like crazy. Emergency chocolate was packed in the camera bags weeks in advance. Photog friend was on speed dial. When the big day came, I was ready.

mostly.

I was not prepared for the BRIDE to be late. Gown malfunctions.  Flowers needing to be picked up and pinned on. Pastors to be located. Wedding coordinator? What wedding coordinator? Wait, that was me too. Only having 30-40 minutes to take ALL of the formal pictures....

There was NO time to be scared or stressed once everyone was dressed, flowered, and finally rolling. No time for a speed dialed friend & a talk back from the ledge. I am soooo glad I had my lists & Thomas to walk by and say, "Breathe, Mom, breathe".

 Thomas was my second shooter for the day. My rock. My "here is a piece of chocolate". My calm with his shy little smirk. My "I must keep it together in front of my Monster. He can't see his Mom fall apart and turn into a puddle of goo..."

BUT, I learned A LOT about myself one week ago Saturday.

 I am pressure player.

I can be assertive, OK, bossy, when it's called for.

I can still do what I'm most comfortable with, (candid, non-posed stuff) within a wedding setting.

 I don't have to really understand Photoshop to be a REAL photographer.

Weddings are not something that I want to do a lot of. But the next time one is brought up, my reaction won't be, HELL NO, it will be lets negotiate. ;)

Happy One Week-aversary Mr & Mrs Bailey! I hope you had a GREAT time at the Happiest Place on Earth!

now back to the final selecting of pictures for the Bride... 1200+ pictures take awhile to sort through.... ;)