JUST LIKE I PROMISED....

Here is another Halloween cutie. Sometimes there are images that no matter how much I dont need it, or no matter how much I try to talk myself out of buying it, it somehow finds its way into my mailbox. This was one such stamp.
As soon as I saw how adorable she was, I wanted her to fly that little broom towards my shopping cart. Although it was sent from overseas, as she is a Belles and Whistles image, she was here so quickly. And just as quick, I inked her up! I of course used my Copic markers, Memento black ink, and Martha Stewart Drippy Goo punch. Last year I wanted that punch so bad, but was not going to pay the crazy inflated prices they were getting on ebay for it. So I patiently waited, and purchased it this year at Michaels.
The paper is all last years, or maybe even the year before. LOL...
Tomorrows card is her again but colored in pinks and purples. You'll see~

I need to go now and watch the World Series. As a native New Yorker, I must go and cheer on the Yankees!!!

Many thanks for stopping by...

SUNDAY AFTERNOON ICE CREAM

To deviate from Halloween just for a bit, I wanted to share a recent Sunday afternoon with my daughter. We love going to our little waterfront town on a sunny afternoon to see the river, swing under a big tree, and lounge around. Today we went to see our towns' cannon, "Thor". It is an authentic old cannon and is frequently fired during special occasions such as weddings, town events, and Fourth of July. Many times the men even dress up in period costume to do it. We then meandered across the street to one of our favorite ice cream shops. It is housed in an old victorian house circa 1879, give or take a few years. It is called the Christmas House and all year its a holiday wonderland.
After we look at all the decorations, we head over to the parlor section for a sweet treat before heading home on our golf cart. I love to see TT enjoy her ice cream. Its probably her very favorite treat.
She is so precious to me and I thank God each day for having the faith in me to entrust me with raising such a special child. Although I felt so overwhelmed at first, she has brought nothing but joy to our lives. I would'nt change a thing. We have a wonderful life.

Chocolate is the flavor of the day ( as it is always for TT).

The shop is so pretty in all its red glory. So cheerful.
She took my picture having a coke and ice crean float.

These are some of the cute things you see when walking around the shop. We like to look at the ornaments in the kitchen section. Some of them look so real and are displayed in a real oven, antique cake stands, and even have a life size chef to oversee things.

Many thanks for stopping by. I will be back tomorrow with a few more Halloween cards before the big day.

AS PROMISED~

Here is my second little witch. This is the same stamp, the same easel card, but different colors for a different look. This card has more of the traditional Halloween color theme. Witch (haha) one do you prefer?? Card opened in easel style, front view.

Easel style~ side view.

No, you are not seeing things, but you are seeing double. This photo appeared twice and I cant seem to get rid of it without getting rid of the whole post. Sorry...

This is the front of the card, closed and ready for mailing!

Many thanks for stopping by...

Sweet Little Witch Times 2

I had alot of fun today making this card style. It is called an easel card, as when its opened up and folded~ it makes its own easel. Sometimes the cards that look complicated are the easiest to make. This one falls into that category. Alota bang for your buck!
The adorable little witch stamp is from a British company ~ Pink Gem. I was surprised how fast she got here from "across the pond". I paper pierced her dress from an orange plaid sheet from my never ending stash, then used my nesties "labels one" to cut her out. While still in the nestie, I sponged some Concord Distress Ink by Ranger onto her background. She is colored with Copics, and her boot fur and the yellow stars are glittered, although its hard to see that in the photo. The spider web punch is Martha Stewart and the Spider is from the Stampin Up set- "From The Crypt". He is done in Versamark and embossed in black.

The green glittery paper is from a K and Co. Halloween paper pack I got last year and never used till now. The 3-d embellishments are from a company called Colorbok.

This photo shows you how she looks when stood open like an easel. See how the inside is also decorated and part of the whole design? And very easy to display at home or on a work desk, etc.

One of the things I like best about these is that they fold up flat for mailing or to put away till next year.

This is a side view of the card. Tomorrow I will show you the other card made with this same little witch and same card style- but totally different colors.

Many thanks for stopping by...

OKTOBERFEST

I hope all of you are enjoying our fall weather. We certainly are! This weekend was our local Oktoberfest, and we had a wonderful time.
Their was all your fun German stuff, plenty of beer, delicious food, a playplace for the kids, a huge german orchestra that played all day and lots of laughs.
This is TT and my sister, who by the way- is wearing a fake blond moustache to match her hair. They actually came with the beer. It was very funny to see all the people with their different colored moustaches! What I think was the best part of the day was the "Weinerdog Races" There were about 83 contestants. Who knew that many Doxies lived right near me? They raced 4 at a time down a little runway to their human friend waiting on the other end. The winners even got a trophy bigger than they were.

Here is the Master of Ceremonies calling out the names. TT and I liked hearing all of their names. Some were so funny.

This is a set of racers ready to go once the whistle blows.

And here is another.

These guys were raring to go! At least all were going in the right direction. That didnt happen every race. Some poor little guys got mixed up and went the wrong way- or just stopped mid race, much to the dismay of their owners.

Here is one of the winners getting a treat for all his hard work.

And another who has made it across the finish line. Hooray!!!!!

These dogs were there for the costume contest. I loved the one in the ninja suit. If only our Pomeranian would like wearing all the clothes I bought for him.... I'll have to show him these photos and let him know all the fun he's missing.

A picture of me and Anton~ the official mascot of the festival. TT is terrified of mascots- she calls them puppets, so would not come near me during this picture.

My neice and nephew and their friends enjoying the goings on...

TT, Matthew, and Marybeth in the kids section.

Many thanks for stopping by, hope you all had a great weekend too!!!!!

FROM THE CRYPT... PART 2

As promised, I am back today with my other 3 cards form my fun new "From The Crypt" set, made by Stampin Up. I am really having a good time with this one, which makes me glad, cause so many of my beautiful stamps never see ink for such a long time after I've gotten them. Then today on Oprah, they were talking about horders. Do you think I may be a stamp horder?? I just love them, and want them all...
But to appease myself from thinking I have some weird sickness, I do read on many other blogs out there that there are hoarders~ I mean collectors~ just like me. Yea!!! I'll go with the " there's safety in numbers" theory for that one.
Well, here are my other 3 cards made on WCMD. Hope you enjoy them. I've noticed that my green cards are not photographing too well. They are quite striking in real life. The green is so vibrant. Not sure what is going on.

Many thanks for stopping by...

FROM THE CRYPT

Well, this weekend on World Cardmaking Day, I played with one of my newest Stampin Up sets called "From The Crypt". It has 4 stamps in it, and obviously the skull is my favorite. The bat, the spider, and the other design stamp is pretty cool also. They work so well together and were a joy to emboss.
I made 6 cards in total this weekend, and today I am showing you 3 of them.
The first is my personal favorite. I did a poll on my husband and son, asking them to rate the 6 in order of preference, and the choices were very different, which I liked. They all came out wonderful~ After embossing with Versamark and black embossing powder, I masked the skull and color dusted around it with Distress inks in Orange Marmalade. I also got a chance to use my new Martha Stewart Spider Web punch.

All of these cards are a 5 by 7 inch format, so that gives me lots of room to play. The designer paper is from my never ending stash of paper, from several different companies.

I'll be back tomorrow to show you the other 3.

Many thanks for stopping by...

BAD BLOGGER!!

I have been a slacker lately as far as the blog goes. But although I could have snuck in a post here and there (maybe?) I didnt. I am sorry. But for your veiwing pleasure~ here is one of the reasons ~ actually 41 of the reasons~ that I havent been around lately.
I was hired by a local family to make birth announcements for their brand new baby boy. He is sooo cute and his name is Derik John. They wanted traditional boy colors, and since we live by the sea, the sailboat was a perfect choice. It is all done in Stampin Up cardstock- Night Of Navy, Soft Sky (retired), Old Olive and little snippets of Bashful Blue. The verse is a Verve Stamp, Edge punch by Martha Stewart, and Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Here they are lined up on my work table before the sailboat was made. They were a pleasure to make, but quite time consuming. The stamping was minimal, but there was so much measuring, cutting and glueing.
The little squares behind the sailboat ended up to be me cutting 164 shapes!

The boat is made with the circle punch cut in half for the boat, a 1" square punch for the right sail, and a 3/4" square for the left sail. These were punched and then cut on the diagonal. The little flag on the top was hand cut by me.

The inside of the card has his computer generated stats on the right side in 2 different fonts, and a photo of him on the left. I did not photograph this as to not invade the privacy of my customers, but it was as cute as the outside.

Many thanks for stopping by, and I promise to be back real soon~