Stay Strong and Pasta On

This Spellbinders pasta stamp and die collection, starting with the Ciao dies a while ago and now the variety of carb loaded pasta of all shapes and sizes, just makes me smile! There are so many possibilities with all of the dies and stamps. This is my first card, using them straight from the mailbox to my desk in one fell swoop. 

For the current Inkspirational Challenge: Seasonal, I am looking at "Seasonal" based on some pasta products that are only available in the fall. My daughter introduced me to the Trader Joe's Autumn Harvest Creamy Pasta Sauce and their round pumpkin-shaped Zucchette pasta. She makes it with spaghetti squash baked and scraped out of the shell with a fork. Here is my card.

Trader Joe's Autumn Harvest Sauce and Pumpkin-shaped Pasta

Here's What I used:

• Spellbinders Pasta Friends and Ingredient Buddies dies sets, Stay Saucy stamp set
• Stampin' Up! patterned paper
• Altenew Obsidian black ink pad
• Sugar Pea Designs Card Front Element Builder die 

I decided to have a top-folding card with the pasta characters on the curved front edge. The detail dies like the arms, legs, hat, basil and bow tie add fun to these die cut cuties. I can't wait to use this collection more in different ways.

Happy Fall Y'all!

Carol

Here for the Candy

As Halloween and trick-or-treating get closer, these Tim Holtz images keep calling out to me to get some more use. This card utilizes the fabulous My Paper Insider cardstock. I used the UltraSmooth white cardstock to do my ink blending on the die cut stamps. The smooth green cardstock has a shimmer to it that seems very Halloween-esque. It is their Lime Satin Shine cardstock. The super sparkly, non-shedding (Yay!) glitter numbers were die cut using their Luster Diamond Glitter cardstock. It reflects all of the colors on my card. Last, I embossed their pretty Steam Purple cardstock for a festive touch. These are from Box 2 papers that were sent to me by MPI. Check out all the boxes on their website.

Here's what I used to make my card:

• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Tiny Frights stamp set
• Waffle Flower Postage Collage die and stencil
• Sizzix Number dies
• Your Paper Insider Box 2 cardstock
• Stampin' Up! Dots embossing folder
• Altenew Obsidian black ink pad
• Ranger Distress ink pad
• Trinity Stamps Bubble Blow Out Embellishment Mix
• Foam tape

Are you caught up on your Halloween cards? I want to make a self-framed (Like this card here) Halloween panel to display every year. If I get around to making it, I will post it.

Happy Halloween and fall!

Carol

Keep It Cozy - It's Cold Outside

This week at Just Us Girls #797 our sweet teammate Carol has selected a fabulous fall Moodboard for us all! The colors and elements will no doubt get everyone into the autumn spirit. I took the hats and colors and made an easel card for our challenge.

Products I used:

Concord & 9th - Sweater Season stamp and die sets

Hero Arts - Hero Hues Core Ink Espresso ink pad

Simon Says Stamp - Circle dies

For those of you with cooler fall weather, these hats are for you! I got out some fall-colored cardstock, then cut a whole lot of hats, pom poms and details. My Versamark ink pad was used with some of the patterns in the die set to add a knit look on some of the hats, while others got die cuts to add the details.

We hope you join us with some fall elements cards this week! It's fun to see what you make of our moodboard. Be sure to visit all the team blogs as well as that of our talented guest this month, Greta!

I appreciate you taking time to visit here,

Carol

Sending a Dash of Magic

It's time again for the CASE It Instagram Hop! We are a group of online crafty friends who once a month Copy and Share a card we admired on Instagram. 

This month I CASEd Kim Pitre, @kpkards, who used the accessories to the Santa Mug set by Spellbinders called Cocoa Wonderland. I really like the way she framed the elements and gave a sparkly, snowy feel in her background. I changed it up by using my postage die to compartmentalize the elements of that same set. I obviously used different colors as well as white glitter cardstock here and there like she did. We both asked for permission from each other to do the CASEing which is something our group has discussed. Here are our cards.

My card

Kim's card

Products I used:

Waffle Flower - Postage Collage die

Spellbinders - Cocoa Wonderland die set, Stay Snuggly stamp and die sets

Concord & 9th -  Mini ink pad in Poppy

White glitter cardstock

The Cocoa Wonderland die set comes with an adorable Santa mug and these little elements are shown sticking out of it. It seems like every holiday I use the postage collage die for something. It is fun filling the different "stamps" with die cuts or stamped images.

We hope you will hop along with us to see how our group CASEd other cardmakers. You can go to my Instagram to start if you wish: https://www.instagram.com/sawithadtomakeit/.

Thanks for visiting!

Carol

Let's Brew Up Some Fun

I so pleased to say that I was asked to be a guest at Coffee Loving Papercrafters, especially as we head into fall and the fun holidays it brings! Since it is October I decided to make a Halloween card, cute not scary. Actually, I couldn't stop at one, so you get two today!

My card uses mostly Lawn Fawn products, plus various paper scraps and a Pink and Main sentiment. I wanted to make something a little different, so I grabbed my Lawn Fawn Embroidery Hoop Dies, some DMC embroidery floss and a needle to get started. The cross stitch patterns are also from Lawn Fawn...they have so many adorable patterns for seasonal fun. 

Products I used:

Lawn Fawn - Coffee Cup Gift Card Holder dies, Cross Stitch patterns

Sugar Pea Designs - Card Front Element Builder dies

Pink and Main - Halloween Brew stamp set

Altenew - Obsidian black ink pad

DMC embroidery floss

Patterned papers and cardstock scraps

Recollections - Glitter paper 

I loved making these quick cross stitched designs. It is relaxing to me to sit and follow a chart. Some of the best hints I learned years ago about cross stitch:

Separate the individual strands you cut from the skein before you start stitching. Then put them back together. It makes them lie down more neatly.

Use only as many strands as will cover the surface (linen, Aida cloth, or paper). I used all six threads for this big paper grid and the paper still kind of showed through. 

Drop your needle every few stitches to let the remaining floss attached to it unwind.

Cross your stitches in the same direction for the whole design. It is a smooth look for the overall design.

I can't wait to use this coffee cup more in the gift tag format and for tags at Christmas! We enjoy handmade tags year round at my house.

Hope you stop by the https://coffeelovingpapercrafters.com/ blog! I will be guesting again in a couple of weeks!

Have a great day!

Carol

Oct. 31 - Boo!

I like fun cats in cardmaking but unfortunately not in real life due to bad allergies to them. These cuties are really fun to die cut and to mix n' match the chosen colors. For our Just Us Girls Word Week #796: Halloween, I made not-scary, non-allergenic cats in non-traditional colors.

I also decided to play over at Inspired By Challenge IB357 because my cats are pastel orange-pink (along with bits of grey and black) and non-traditional colors like the pumpkins in the graphic.

Products I used:

Spellbinders - Halloween Add-ons stamps and dies

Pink Fresh Studio - Diagonal Stitched Rectangle dies

Altenew - Obsidian black ink pad

Black rhinestones

Googly eyes

It was fun to pick colors that say Halloween, but with a twist. I added the stripes on two of their heads and googly eyes to a couple of them. After piecing them together, I popped up the cats on foam tape on a grey die cut panel and added the completed panel to an A2 card base. I think these curious felines look like they are either looking in a window or down into a Jack o'lantern full of candy.

We hope you will share your Halloween cards with us this week...so many cute products and ideas around for the making!

Happy Halloween!

Carol

Collect Beautiful Moments

I love frames of all kinds so this photo inspiration for our Time Out Challenges #299 appealed to me right away. I took the idea of a woodgrain background from the photo as well. I know I combined wood, glitter, and a shiny bow, but mixing textures is fun, right? I kept it CAS.

Photo Credit: Jenny Martin. Butler’s Vintage Depot, Olinda, Victoria May 2024

Our wonderful sponsor, Lawn Fawn, is generously offering $25.00 Store Credit as a prize for our Challenge Winner, who will also get an invitation to join us as Guest Designer for a future challenge. I used Lawn Fawn woodgraine white cardstock on my card. I love the texture and weight of it so much and will be ordering more soon.

We are joined by Verena Shapiro of Simple Stamper on Instagram, and winner of Time Out #294 as Guest Designer. Be sure to see her blog for all the details on her wonderful card.

What I used:

Avery Elle  - Scalloped frame die

Spellbinders - Christmas Cocktails dies, Gold glitter cardstock

Tim Holtz Ideology - Small Talk sentiments strips

Lawn Fawn - Woodgrain cardstock

Shiny black cardstock

Sugar Pea Designs - Card Front Builder stitched die

After die cutting all of the elements, I popped up the gold frame on foam tape to look like a floating frame (no back to it, just two pieces of glass with a place for art/picture in between) which is a longtime favorite of mine. I added the shiny black bow to look like it was tied around the frame edge, then added the simple sentiment. I chose this sentiment because we keep memorable moments in picture frames.

We hope you will play along after seeing what the team and our guest Verena created, as well as paying a visit to everyone's blog for all the details and stories about their cards. Take something from the photo and make your card with that concept.

Thanks for visiting!

Carol

Here for the Candy

It is time for the October Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop and I couldn't wait to make this month's tag! Halloween is such a fun holiday from the trick or treating perspective and I have been ready to use my Tiny Frights stamps from Stampers Anonymous and Tim Holtz.

In addition to the Tiny Frights stamps, I used a Hero Arts Tag die (to die cut pink card stock and ink blended with Ranger Distress ink Dried Marigold) as well as an Altenew Obsidian black ink pad. I also used Altenew Artist Markers and Copics to color the candy. I fussy cut the images and added Glossy Accents to the wrapped candy. (See close up for glossy wrapped candy and sparkly candy corn.) The candy corn has Wink of Stella for sparkle and I added some orange rhinestones to the tag. I tied some twine and fun ribbons at the top to hold the black patterned paper tag to the main one.

You can get to the hop by clicking here: @sawithadtomakeit to get to my Instagram account. It's a fun hop and a lot of us enjoy adding the optional theme each month.

Hope you follow along...have a great day!

Carol

World Cardmaking Day 2025

Here's a card I made today on World Cardmaking Day for a friend's birthday. It's always a bit of a struggle to make a masculine card, but we know he really likes golf and good drinks, so here is his drink-inspired card. I CASEd myself but added ice cubes to the old fashioneds.

What I used:

My Favorite Things - Let's Toast dies, Ice cubes

Pink and Main - Inked Oasis paper pad

Stampin' Up! - Sentiment

Catherine Pooler - Queen for a Day ink pad

Hoping you get time today or this weekend to make some cards in honor of this special day for cardmakers!

See you back here tomorrow for a HOP,

Carol

Be Original

I saw a pretty foiled card with vines running up a pumpkin, and since I don't have foiling supplies, I made this decorative pumpkin with dies and gold cardstock. I wish you could see the sparkling, tiny, champagne-colored gems in person. Our Just Us Girls Challenge Word Week #795 is Leaves. There are so many ways you can use leaves on a card and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with this week! The team and our guest Greta have made inspiration easy for you with their unique designs!

What I used:

Waffle Flower - A2 Nested Dome dies

Sizzix - Tim Holtz Edison die set

Spellbinders - Delicious Decorations dies, Gems

Tim Holtz - Ideaology Small Talk sentiments

Gold textured cardstock

I went for a different shaped card this time and die cut three domes, including my card base. It was fun decorating the pumpkin with the gold leaves and gems, like making a life-sized one for decor at home. After adding the sentiment, the card was complete!

We hope to see you in the gallery!

Carol