Spooky Halloween

The current Inspired by... Halloween challenge looks quite spooky as does my Halloween card...

First the inspiration

then my card

Stamps: Recollection (sentiments), Stampin' Up (distressed background), Inkadinkado (little spider)
Dies: Sizzix (skull)

Stamped the sentiment set as it was as a background, added the distressed background, and sponged around the edges. Cut out the skull from watercolor paper for the texture. Mounted it on black, sponged a little around the edges, and added green sequins in the eye sockets.


Also sending this to

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Halloween/Spooky"




Hope I didn't scare you too much, hehe...

Be well and keep in touch!

Baby Girl

It's been a long, long time since I needed a baby card, so I had a lot of fun creating and personalizing this one for a little girl. I got the elephant theme from a quilt the mother and her cousin made that featured an elephant. What a great excuse to finally use this cute one that was a gift from a friend and has been patiently waiting  in my NBUS box for it's moment to shine. Same goes for the welcome die.

I used products from lots of different companies to make this card. It makes me happy when they play nicely together. *wink* The background is watercolored.

Stamps: Inkadinkado (letters)
Dies: Impression Obsession (welcome), Memory Box (tags), SSS (balloon), Cottage Cutz (baby elephant), My Favorite Things (hill)


Challenges:

Inkspirational #153 "Word Prompt: Attachment"
The balloon is attached to the trunk, plus a baby is very attached to it's mother in the first months...







CAS Watercolor February Challenge "Hearts"
Dear Design Team, I am not sure if my card is CAS enough... If it isn't, please delete it.

Be well and keep in touch!

Sympathy Cards

Today's cards were inspired by three people: Michele and Cornelia who both played with the colors from the current Color Throwdown , and Maria who reminded me that I needed a sympathy card. And because it's always good to have one on hand I made two. Thank you, ladies, for the inspiration!

Stamps: Inkadinkado (branch), Alexandra Renke (sentiment) - thanks to Elisabeth from aufspapiergebracht for this stamp!
Die: Memory Box (bird)

Stamps: Inkadinkado (branch), Penny Black (background script), PTI (sentiment)
Die: Memory Box (bird)


Entering this at the

Color Throwdown #474

Are you getting excited about the Twofer Challenge? Come back on the 10th to find out what the first prompt is going to be...

Be well and keep in touch!

Sympathy and Halloween

Hi there,

Thanks so much for stopping by! Today I have two cards for you for very different occasions.

First a sympathy card because my stash has dwindled down. I like to keep them simple.

Stamps: Stampin' Up (leaf), Uniko (sentiment)

I smooshed a background with Distress Inks. Stamped the leaf and the sentiment, tied a piece of raffia around it, mounted the panel on a piece of dark brown card stock, and attached it to a card that has pieces of dried flowers in it (from Marco's paper).

The second card is for a more fun occasion that's coming up: Halloween.

Stamps: Hero Arts (tree trunks background), Inkadinkado (sentiment, spider)
Die: Impression Obsession (ghost)

I stamped the moon surface (unmounted, unknown stamp) in white on yellow copy paper, punched it out and glued it on the blue card stock. Then I stamped the tree background on top of it. I cut a slit in the blue card stock and slid the ghost in there. The glittery bats with the fun googly eyes are stickers I found at Michaels. The rest is pretty self explanatory. Let me know if you have any questions.


Entering the first card in the

Time Out Challenge #95 "Sympathy with and optional twist of distressing"





Fusion Challenge 
I was inspired by the leaves





The Card Concept #80 "Autumn Love"

Be well,

Mother's Day with Faux Mother of Pearl Technique

A couple of weeks ago, with my Thursday night stamping friends, we played around with the Faux Mother of Pearl technique. We used Pearl Acrylic paint. It's really easy and the effect so pretty! I made four different colored backgrounds and this weekend finally got around to turning two of them into cards.

Stamp: Inkadinkado (sentiment)
Dies: Memory Box (flower), SSS (stitched rectangle)
Other: Shimmery cardstock (Recollections)

Everything the same, except the sentiment is by Morningstar Stamps.


I am going to enter these at the

Happy Little Stampers March CAS Challenge "Faux Mother of Pearl"







That's all from me for today. Time to go to bed! Let me know if you have any questions. And thank you for your visit!

Hugs,

Two Valentine's Cards

Happy Valentine's Day!

So delighted that you stopped by for a visit! I baked some cookies - would you like one?

I know, I know, you are really here to see some cards and I have two for you today. Now that they have been received, I can show them to you.

Stamps: Hero Arts (stems), Technique Tuesday (tiny dragonfly), Michaels $1 bin (sentiment)
Other: Grosgrain ribbon, Brilliance ink (for the dragonfly), Markers


Challenge:

Time Out #49  'Love is the flower you've got to let grow' 

And this is the second card:

Stamps: Inkadinkado (sentiment)

Die: Impression Obsession

Other: Precut panels, glitter card stock, gems

Challenges:

Simply Create Too #102 "Love or Valentine's"

Stamping Smiles TicTacToe Challenge #3 

(I picked the first row: Love/Add Shimmer/Hearts)

With the fabulous Darnell as Guest Designer!

Stamps/Ink/Paper Challenge #34 "Love"

And in case you didn't see this in my last post:

A new feature on my blog!

I am so excited because I figured out how to add social media buttons. If you get this post via email or a reader you have to go directly on my blog to see them (on the right).
I have decided to put all my cards on my Pinterest account to make it easier to look for a specific card. Also I am planning to use my Instagram account to post cards. And Keep In Touch has a facebook page (also not very active so far). Check it out and follow me!

Thank you for your patience! I will let you get back to eating some more chocolate...

Hugs,
Susanne

Wish-granting fairy and a less transparent snowman

What would you wish for if you would meet this sweet fairy? 

This cute stamp as well as the label die belong to my friend Dora.  She brought them a long time ago for us to play with. I stamped, colored,  and cut out the panel but didn't finish it that Thursday night. So it sat on my desk. Then I discovered that a panel that was left over from a play with Gelatos had the same colors as her wings. Eventually this card came together. Too bad that you can't see well all the sparkle from the Stickles on the wings, stars, and flowers in her hair!

Stamps: Penny Black (fairy), Hero Arts (starry background), Inkadinkado? (sentiment)
Die: Spellbinders Label twenty-two
Other: Fancy corner scissors (Fiskars)


Challenges (please click on the links for rules and inspiration):


Butterlfly Challenge #44 "Fairies"
(because the butterflies are sleeping)






Virginia's View #21 "All About Glitter"








Simon Says Wednesday "Die Crazy"






Freshly Made Sketches #217








Remember that transparent looking snowman from my last post? I couldn't rest until I dabbed him with some pearlescent white chalk. I find he looks better now. What do you think?

I will take a couple of weeks off from blogging and commenting to enjoy the holidays with my family.

Have a wonderful the holiday season!

Hugs,
Susanne

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am here to wish all who celebrate a very happy Thanksgiving with delicious food, family and friends that get along, and lots of reasons to be thankful!

This year I only was able to make a few cards for the Cardologists. We have been exchanging cards for every holiday for years!

I CASEd a card that Debby Hughes made a couple of years ago. The cardbase is Petal Paper from Marco's. Embossed the wheat in gold, the sentiment in a glittery, fall colored ep that I've had forever. The acorn is covered with Glossy Accents.

Stamps: Hero Arts (wheat), Inkadinkado (sentiment), acorn unknown

On another note: I just finished reading the latest book by Cristina from My Paper Secret and I absolutely loved it! I always admired Cristina's cards. Unfortunately she doesn't blog them anymore to focus more on the writing. Now I am also a fan of her author side!  If you are looking for a good read I can highly recommend it! It's called
"The Book of Unknown Americans".

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by!

Hugs,
Susanne

Holiday Greetings in Pink and Silver

Popping in today to show you a starry Holiday card I made! And look at all the challenges it wants to play in! I don't know about you but I love silver/grey with pink!

For the background I used the falling stars stencil from SSS (love it) with silver embossing paste. The big star is cut out from gorgeous glitter paper from Michaels. The sentiment is white embossed on matte silver card stock from Marco's.

Stamps: Inkadinkado (sentiment), Penny Black (script background)
Die: PTI (star)
Other: Star stencil (SSS), silver embossing paste (Viva), star punch (Fiskars), glitter paper (Recollections)


Challenges (please click on the links to get inspired by the Design Teams and galleries and find out about the rules):

Time Out #43 "Christmas with optional twist of pink or purple"






Inkspirational #95 "Anything goes with silver"








Virginia's View #20 "All about textures"







CAS(E) This Sketch #148







CAS-ual Fridays #145 "Precious Metals"
Hope it is CAS enough... If not, please let me know!






So glad you stopped by and hope you will come back!

Hugs,
Susanne

Happy Halloween!

These cute ghost and Jack 'o' Lantern stamps from Hero Arts have been in my stash for a long time and they are extremely happy that I finally used them. Just look at their grins if you don't believe me!

Stamps: Hero Arts (ghost and Jack 'o' Lantern), Martha Stewart (sentiment banner), Inkadinkao (spider, flourish), unknown (spider web)


Challenges (please click on the links to see what the fabulous DTs made, look at the galleries, and find out about rules):

Inkspirational #94 "Cute Halloween"







Shopping Our Stash #225 "Go Paperless"
I had fun stamping, sponging, and splattering the background myself!








Simon Says Monday Challenge "Throwback" 
I picked "Spooky" from October 2013







Btw, the friend who received my unsigned card (see my last post) was very gracious about it! Phew!

If you celebrate Halloween or not I wish you a fabulous day and thank you for stopping by!

BOO,
Susanne

Male Birthday with Newsprint

I really love cards featuring newsprint and just had to make one for The Male Room "Newsprint" Challenge!

 

Time to bring out the Hero Arts Newsprint Skyline that I haven't used in a while. Background is made with watercolor crayons and a baby wipe. The plane is colored with a silver marker.

Stamps: Hero Arts (sentiment, skyline, newsprint background), Inkadinkado (airplane from "Life in the city")
Other: Watercolor crayons (Caran d'Ache)

*ETA: This card received "Honourable Mention" at the Male Room!

The colors, the skyline, and the newsprint all make me very happy! And I can think of several family members/friends that I could send this to!

Let me know if you have any questions. I so appreciate your visit and your comments!

Hugs,
Susanne