Get Your "Spook" On!

Can you believe it's already October 9??!! I have SO much to do this month, and I'm not quite sure where to fit it all in! Let's talk Halloween costumes. My daughter Ainsleigh has decided to be Mario...quick and simple! (thanks hun...you've saved me a ton of work here!) We found some old jean overalls and I bought a red long-sleeved shirt to go with them. I've picked up some fleece to make the hat and all that's left are the white gloves and a moustache. My son Nathan is another story altogether. He's in grade 12 this year, and has decided that he and his three friends should "go out with a bang". Let me first tell you that Nathan is a big goof...which he totally gets from me. :) He has decided that they should go as the Teletubbies this year. SERIOUSLY?? Yup, as if I didn't get enough of that dumb show when the kids were little, lol. So, out to the fabric store I went with my mom in tow (who has kindly offered to help make the costumes) to buy metres of fleece in purple, red, green and yellow. Sigh...I guess it's probably a good thing to use my sewing machine for something other than cards once in a while, lol. I will be sure to post pics of the kids this year, because I'm sure you're all anxious to see a group of 17 year old boys struttin' their stuff as the Teletubbies!

We have a new challenge up at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog today. The fantabulous Andrea has challenged us all to make a "SPOOOOKY" project...just perfect Halloween! (if I already had the costumes done I'd be tempted to scrapbook a page of my 17 year old boy as Tinky Winky...not much is scarier than that! :s ) I decided to ink up a couple of Kimmie's Halloween stamps that I haven't had the chance to play with yet. This ghoulish duo is Hattie and Horace...I love the spider webs that artist Annie Rodrigue included on these stamps! That fabulous paper is from the My Mind's Eye "Haunted" collection. I LOVE this paper...what you can't tell from the picture is that the black chandeliers are flocked! I thought the chandeliers suited Hattie and Horace's formal attire quite nicely...can't you see them haunting an old Victorian mansion?? I'm thinking of Sirius Black's house in the Harry Potter series...and old dusty mansion that belonged to a well-to-do old family. A house full of rich history, creepy old paintings, ornate decor, antiques, thick velvety draperies...can you imagine it? Perhaps Hattie and Horace were former residents of this house who just don't want to leave, destined to haunt the halls in their gown and top hat for eternity. (Umm...for the record, I do not believe in ghosts. But creating a story behind your cards is always fun!)

Hattie and Horace were stamped on Neenah Smooth cardstock with Memento Ink and coloured with a rather large assortment of Copic markers. After I was done colouring with the markers, I used a paper blending stump and a black Conte crayon to deepen the shading...and it also adds a "smokier" effect to the shading. The background was created with Distress Inks in Black Soot and Antique Linen applied with an Inkssentials Blending Tool and a make-up sponge. The black ribbon was tied with my Bow Easy.

Copics: Skin: C1, C3, BV00, BV23, BV31, BV17, colourless blender Hair: C7, C5, C3, C1, B60 Hattie's Dress and Horace's Pants( er, tail???): B99, B97, B95, B93, B91, C5, E50, E47, E43, E42, E41 Horace's Vest and Hattie's Flower: R59, R46, R22, C5 Horace's shirt: E50, E47, E42 Horace's Tie and Hattie's Leaf: G20, G82, G99 (Black Conte Crayon was applied with a paper blending stump throughout the entire image)

Now, if you're not a big scaredy-cat (which I totally am, lol...no scary movies for me!), then head on over to the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps blog to check out the spooky creations by the Krafty Girls and our fabulous Krafty Guests! If you play along with the challenge this week, you could be the lucky winner of the the stamp featured on Andrea's freakishly fantastic card...but you must make sure to use a Kraftin' Kimmie stamp on your project to be eligible. In need of a new stamp?? Go shopping at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Online Store!

Anybody planning on going to Scrapfest next weekend in Oshawa? A few of us Krafty Girls are heading down with Kimmie to help out...if you're going, make sure to stop by the Kraftin' Kimmie booth and say hi!

Thanks so much for stopping by friends, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Blessings,

Melanie



Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Hattie" and "Horace"
Ink: Memento, Copics, Distress Ink
Paper: MME, Neenah, Bazzill
Embellishments: Ribbon
Tools: Bow Easy

A Wags 'n Whiskers Fairy Blog Hop!

Good morning friends! It's release day at Wags 'n Whiskers, and we've got a great Blog Hop planned for you today. Not only are we celebrating the release of four brand new Fairy stamps, but it's also Wags 'n Whiskers Birthday!!! What a great first year it has been, and I know Nikki and Lacey are excited to see what their next year has in store! Many of the projects you will see on the hop today are birthday themed in honour of this big day.

The hop begins over at the Wags 'n Whiskers Blog, where you will find a complete list of links to the hop participants. Make sure to leave a comment at each and every stop on the way, and you just may find yourself the lucky winner of some new stamps! The hop closes on Monday October 11, 2010 at 12:01 EST/5:01 GMT.

You should have arrived here after visiting the lovely Debs. If not, just start over at the WnW blog and follow the links along the way.

This lovely new fairy is "Iris". I paired her up with some pretty K&Company papers. The edges were all sponged with Stormy Sky Distress Ink. The layered flowers are all from Prima. The pearls and crocheted trim are dollar store treasures, and I finished off the edges with some machine stitching. The sentiment is from a clear set I picked up in a dollar bin at Michaels.


Iris' wings needed a bit of sparkle, so they were coated with Stardust Stickles...these are my all-time favourite Stickles, and they somehow seem to find their way onto most of my cards, lol.


I have to apologize, as I do not have a list of colours for you today. :( I've been trying so hard to record my markers, but I coloured this image up quite some time ago and I completely forgot to jot down the colours.


The new Wags 'n Whiskers Fairies are being released in rubber only, and they will be available for purchase today at 7:00 am EST/12:00 pm GMT...you can find them HERE!

Next on the hop is the super-sweet and oh-so-talented Sharon , and I know she has an absolutely gorgeous project to show you! Don't forget to be leaving those comments as you hop along...you just may be the lucky winner of some brand new Wags 'n Whiskers stamps!!

Happy hopping stampers, and thanks so much for stopping by!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Wags 'n Whiskers "Iris", clear stamp for sentiment
Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, K&Company
Ink: Memento, Distress Ink, Copics
Embellishments: Pearls, crocheted trim, machine stitching, Prima flowers
Tools: Spellbinders

Another Fairy Sneak Peek!

Good morning friends! We have another round of sneak peeks over at the Wags 'n Whiskers Blog today...and another round of gorgeous projects created by the lovely ladies on the WnW DT! These brand new fairies will be available for purchase tomorrow. We also have a Blog Hop planned for the official release tomorrow, so make sure to stop by!

I'd like to introduce you to "Rhiannon". I decided to use my Spellbinders to make a shaped card. The pretty brown and teal paper is from TPC. I used Scor-Tape to create a ruffled border with crocheted trim and tied the green ribbon with my Bow-Easy. For a little extra"bling", I added some flat-backed rhinestones.

Rhiannon was stamped on Neenah cardstock and coloured with my Copic markers. Her wings were given a generous coat of Stardust Stickles.

Copics: Hair: E50, E33, E37, E59, Y21, Y23, Y17 Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20 Dress: E 25, E29, E59, E41, E42, EE43, E47, BG000, BG11, BG72, BG75, B99 Wings: E50, E41, E42, BG72, BG000 Leaves: G20, G82, G85, G99

For more sneak peeks of these beautiful new fairies, please visit the Wags 'n Whiskers blog for links to the rest of the DT's blogs...the ladies have been very busy creating some stunning previews!

See you back tomorrow for the Release Day Blog Hop!

Thanks so much for stopping by today friends, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Wags 'n Whiskers "Rhiannon", clear stamp sentiment

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, TPC

Ink: Memento, Copics

Embellishments: Rhinestones, crocheted trim, ribbon

Let the Wags 'n Whiskers Previews Begin!

Wags 'n Whiskers is gearing up for another fantastic release this Friday, and the sneak peeks start today! You can check out all the previews each day by visiting the Wags 'n Whiskers Blog where you will find a list of all the DT members participating that day. Mark your calendars because we will be celebrating the official release of these gorgeous new stamps on Friday October 8, 2010...and of course, there will be prizes!

For my first preview, I have use "Laila". I know you all loved the first set of fairies, so you are bound to love these beautiful new stamps as well! The pink ribbon is May Arts silk ribbon...it makes the most gorgeous bows! (with the help of my Bow-Easy, of course) I absolutely love working with this ribbon. You can find it HERE at Lacey's store Stamp and Create.



I stamped Laila on Neenah with Memento Ink and coloured her with Copic markers. The paper is K&Company. The pink part of her dress was paper-pieced, but I added shading to the patterned paper with some Copic markers. The butterfly, her shoes and wings were all coated with Stardust Stickles. After using Spellbinders to cut her out, I sponged around the the image with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink. Bundled Sage Distress Ink was used around the distressed paper edges. The little "Soar" ticket is from Tim Holtz.



Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20 Hair: E50, E31, E33, E37, E59, Y21 Dress: G20, G82, G85, G99 Shading on dress: R59, R85, R82

Make sure to check out all the other sneak peeks for today by visiting the Wags 'n Whiskers Blog...the ladies have made some stunning cards with this new release!!

The new Fairies will be available for purchase on Friday October 8, 2010...don't miss our blog hop that day for your chance to win some great prizes!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Wags 'n Whiskers "Laila"
Ink: Memento, Copics, Distress Inks
Paper: Neenah, K&Company, Bazzill
Embellishments: Pearls, Tim Holtz ticket, Stickles, May Arts silk ribbon
Tools: Spellbinders, dull scissors for distressing

Whimsy Stamps Holiday Release Blog Hop!

Good morning friends! I've got some exciting news to share with you...I was contacted by Denise, the very sweet owner of Whimsy Stamps, who invited me to be a guest for the Whimsy Stamps Holiday Release Blog Hop! May I just say how blessed and honoured I am to have the opportunity to join in with the fantastic Whimsy Stamps design team, as well as all the other lovely guests on the hop today. Thank you so much Denise!

Whimsy Stamps is releasing a lovely collection of rubber stamps to suit all your crafty needs this upcoming holiday season...and they are available for purchase today! To celebrate this release, Denise has put together a blog hop jam packed with gorgeous projects by some amazingly talented designers! So grab a cup of coffee or tea, put on some Christmas tunes and let's get this holiday hop started!

Did you arrive here after visiting the lovely Ann Vento? If not, then you will want to start the hop right from the beginning with Bev Rochester...then just follow the links along the way to visit the next participant in the hop! Oh, and you will want to make sure to leave comments along the way, as there will be some hidden prizes! (You can find a complete list of the blog hop participants at the Whimsy Inspirations Blog HERE.)

I had the opportunity to work with "Jingle Bell Ride" illustrated by the very talented artist Crissy Armstrong. I absolutely love the line of Carousel horses that Crissy has designed for Whimsy Stamps...they are gorgeous! I have a sweet spot for stamps featuring horses, as they have always been my favourite animal. (yes...I was your typical horse-crazy little girl!) I rode a lot as a teenager, worked at a barn and spent countless hours drawing horses...used to drive my art teacher nuts, as most of my projects featured them! lol The pretty vintage papers are from My Mind's Eye. The "frame" was cut out of metallic gold cardstock using Spellbinders Labels 10 . All papers were sponged with Black Soot Distress Ink. The Jingle Bell Ride stamp set comes with some fantastic accessory stamps and a few sentiments..."Merry Christmas" is one of them. What a gorgeous font! I used Spellbinders Fancy Tags and Petite Ovals Small for the sentiment. The gold scrolls behind the sentiment were cut using Spellbinders Doodle Parts.

"Jingle Bell Ride" was stamped on Neenah with Memento Ink and coloured with Copic markers. I also added additional shading with a black Conte crayon and paper blending stump. This helped to soften the look of the ink, as well as accentuate the "dappled" look that I first layed down with the markers. The furry collar, booties and poinsettias were given a coat of Stardust Stickles. The candy canes and bells were coated with Glossy Accents.

Copics: Horse: W1, W3, W5, W7 Mane, Tail and Hooves: C100, C7, C5, C3, B60 Pole and Bells: Y11, Y21, Y17, YR31, E33 Reds: R37, R46, R59, C5 Greens: G20, G82, G85, G99, C5 (YG00 and YG11 were also used on the leaves) Furry cuff: C1, C3, B60, colourless blender

You can see the glimmer from both the Stickles and metallic cardstock, as well as the shine from the Glossy Accents in this angled shot:

Remember that all the brand new stamps you will see on the hop today are now available for purchase at Whimsy Stamps! The hop will remain open until Thursday October 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm EST. All prize winners will be announced on October 7, 2010 after the hop closes.

Your next stop on the holiday hop is Debbie Eastman, who I know will have something stunning to share with you! Don't forget to leave those comments!

Have wonderful time on the hop today Whimsy fans, and thanks so much for stopping by!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Whimsy Stamps "Jingle Bell Ride"

Ink: Memento, Copic markers, Black Soot Distress Ink (also black Conte crayon)

Paper: My Mind's Eye (Holly Jolly), Bazzill, Neenah

Embellishments: Stardust Stickles, dollar store pearls, machine stitching

Tools: Spellbinders Labels 10, Fancy Tags, Petite Ovals Small, Doodle Parts

Happy Birthday to Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!!!

That's right friends...Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps is celebrating their One Year Anniversary!!! Now, you cannot have a birthday without a celebration right? (you know we LOVE a good party!)

We are celebrating in several ways….first of all, our challenge this week is to create a Celebration Card! What do you feel like celebrating?? A birthday? An anniversary? Friendship? New home? New job? Join us this in this week's challenge by making a project to celebrate anything your heart desires, and ONE lucky stamper will win stamps from our OCTOBER release!! Yep!! That’s right….these images haven’t even been released yet and YOU could win some, so be sure to join in!! You have a week to play along! (Trust me, you are going to love them!) As always, you can link up your project on the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog.

Also, the Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps Shop is having a SALE!! Assorted images from all of our four lines of stamps are on sale from now until Monday, October 4th, so scoop up some for yourself or for gifts!!

Lastly, we're having an ANNIVERSARY BLOG HOP in conjunction with our weekly challenge! Be sure to leave a comment on each and every stop along the hop because some lucky stampers will win some stamps!!

Let's get this party started!! Well, actually the hop officially begins over at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog, so please make sure to start there...that way, you won't miss any of the blogs along the way. You should have arrived here after visiting with the lovely Diana...didn't she have a gorgeous project to show you??

I decided to make a card that celebrates friendship. Friends are such a blessing...they see us through victories and struggles. They encourage us, support us and help keep us balanced. Friendship truly is a gift that should be treasured. I chose to use "Bird Fairy" on my card. I adore this stamp, and I love how she is cradling this little bird in her hands.

I stamped Bird Fairy on Neenah with Memento Ink and coloured her with Copic markers. Her wings were coated with Stardust Stickles. I attempted to create a background with my Inkssentials Blending Tool and Distress Inks. I used Milled Lavender, Victorian Velvet and Stormy Sky...and a touch of Black Soot to deepen the shadow underneath her. I got a little heavy handed in a few spots...I will need to practise this technique a bit more. The metal corner embellishments are from the dollar store and the sentiment was done on my computer. Oh, and that pretty piece of green paper was from my daughter and Junior Krafty Girl Ainsleigh...she pulled it out of her own stash of papers and offered it to me since it went so nicely with the blue KaiserCraft paper. Thanks hun...great eye for picking out the perfect accent paper!

Copics: Skin: E0000, E000, E00, R20 Wings: V01, RV000, B91, G20, G28 (and the blender) Hair: E31, E33, E37, E50, E59 Dress: B91, B93, B95, B97, B99, C5, R59, R83, R85, V01, V12, V15 Bird: B32, B23, B97, B99

It is now my pleasure to send you off to visit one of our very talented October Krafty Guests...Angie!!! (I've had the opportunity to hang out with Angie a few times, and she is so sweet!) Angie has recently made the jump from Typepad to Blogger...make sure to sign up as a follower so you can be sure to keep up with all her craftiness!

Have fun hopping friends, and don't forget to leave those comments for your chance to win!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Bird Fairy"

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, KaiserCraft, green paper was donated by Ainsleigh (not sure of the company)

Ink: Copics, Memento, Distress Inks

Embellishments: Dollar store metal photo corners

Fairy Wishes

Good morning, and happy Friday to everybody! It's time for another new challenge over at Wags 'n Whiskers. Our hostess for this week's Vintage/Shabby Chic challenge is the lovely Michele!

I love vintage style cards...I have so many papers in my collection that fit this style. I pulled out some pretty turquoise and brown papers from both KaiserCraft and TPC to go along with "Lacey", one of Wags 'n Whiskers gorgeous fairies. All paper edges were "aged" with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink (applied with an Inkssentials Blending Tool...a must have!). The crocheted trim and brown pearls are dollar store treasures and the flowers are Prima Hydrangeas. Have you ever finished a card and realized you completely forgot to add something you had planned out? Well, I had intended to add some machine stitching, as I feel it really adds to the vintage style. I also meant to distress the paper edges. However, I was distracted by something on TV (I'm thinking it may have been Dancing With The Stars) and happily went about assembling my card. It wasn't until after everything was adhered that I realized I had not pulled out my machine, nor roughed up the paper edges. This is what you call a major "DUH" moment. Oh well...next time, lol. So unfortunately, this didn't end up looking quite as "vintage" as I had planned.

Lacey was stamped with Memento Ink and coloured with Copic markers. Her wings were adorned with some Stardust Stickles, and she was adhered to the layered ovals cut with Spellbinders. (For the brown matting oval, I cut around the outside edge of the die with a craft knife....this gives a "tighter" mat than just cutting out the next size in the Spellbinders set. If you try this out, make sure to sand your paper edges down when you are done as it is near impossible to achieve the perfectly clean cut you get when putting the die through your machine.)

Copics: Here's where I dropped the ball this week! I have been trying to record my colours to include them in my blog posts, but I forgot to do that..."DUH" moment number two for this week. :) I will give you a list of the colours I remember using, but I know that it is not a complete list. Sorry folks.

Skin: E0000, E000, E00, E11, R20 Dress: E41, E42, E43, E47, E50, BG75, BG72, BG10, BG11, BG000, B99 Wings: E50, BG000 Hair: E50, E33, E31, Y21, Y23, Y17

We'd love to have you join in our challenge this week...if you make sure to use a Wags 'n Whiskers stamp on your project, then you will be eligible to win our weekly prize! You can link up your project at the WnW Blog. If you are in need of some Wags 'n Whiskers stamps, you can find them HERE.

We've also got some new guests joining us for the next term, so please make sure to extend Barbara, Mariska and Carolina a warm welcome!

Thanks for stopping by today friends!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Wags 'n Whiskers "Lacey"

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, KaiserCraft, TPC

Ink: Memento, Distress Inks, Copic markers

Embellishments: Crocheted trim, pearls, Prima Hydrangeas