This card was made as a thank you for a friend who helped a lot in our new garden and it fits the bill perfectly for the Just add Ink challenge. I used several colours of CS for each panel for additional interest. Dies are Grand Cabinet 3D and the stamp set is from MFT called You Gnome Me. Used Inktense pencils to colour images. Other elements are scraps that I wanted to use. These types of cards take a long time to make and require a lot of patience too. I made one mistake with this card as I forgot to put the background gnome on a piece of plastic so he would stand a bit taller and be more visible. Other than this I’m happy with the way it turned out and even happier it can be used in a challenge. I also think that in future I will fold back the tabs at the side and glue them flat so that they aren’t visible when it is standing. Thanks for spending time with me today.

The other day I was playing with some striped paper that I had made ages ago using up some scraps. As I had a negative die cut heart sitting on my desk from another project I decided to cut the same size heart from the striped piece and then put the two together. I added a small strip across the card base to match the heart and stamped the sentiment from and MFT set to go across the heart. The little flowers were also left from another project and I thought they would look nice at the top of the heart and liked the look so they were added as you can see here. I did the flower centers with Pops of Color. For the challenge I’ve left it as is, but I shall probably add a few embellishments here and there before using it. I have a couple of other ideas floating in my head so I may add another card to this challenge if I have time. Its Thanksgiving here so tomorrow we have some friends coming for dinner. No time for card making if I’m in the kitchen unless I’m lucky enough to get things done early. Have a good weekend everyone.

Considering that I wasn’t overwhelmed by my previous stenciling attempt I decided to try again and this one I quite like. Although it isn’t in Halloween colours it still works for the challenge and it also works for the Peace on Earth one as well. The background was stenciled in Pine Needles ink and used a stencil called pine leaves by Vicki Boutin. It is a larger size stencil so I have another small piece that can be used on a different card later. While it was drying I stamped the snow couple using a new Stampendous Cling rubber stamp and then I coloured them using Inktense pencils and a Sakura pen. The word was cut using a die set by MFT also new although purchased earlier in the year. It leaves a slightly puffy look to the letters which I quite like. The stenciled layer was offset very slightly on the card front and then I fussy cut the top of the stamped image before layering it on top with words added to the side. I’m much happier with this attempt and having it work for 2 challenges is a bonus. Hope you like it too.

I decided to play in the new stencil challenge and used a metal stencil I got recently in a mystery box. It is made by Lasting Impressions and is called Tall Cake. Using the Halloween colours I stenciled each section and then let it dry. It was a bit bland so I added a few embellishments here and there to jazz it up a bit. The layer was added to a scrap of orange card stock and then added to the card front. Using some rose gold embossing powder and a new stamp set that was also in the mystery box I added the sentiment at the bottom and heat set it. Can’t find the label for the stamp set so I don’t know who it is by. Could be Doodlebug Designs but I’m not sure. Sometimes I find stenciled images are a bit blah and this card seems that way to me, but it fits the challenge so I’m going with it. I do have another one for the same challenge but it has different colours altogether. I think the next time I use this stencil I will use texture paste as I think it may give a much more vibrant look. Thanks for sharing some time with me.

This background was made for a different Halloween card and I ended up not liking it and did something with stars instead. I thought I would use it elsewhere and here is the result. I inked over the stamped words, but due to the fact that I hadn’t heat embossed them they didn’t stand out very much so I went over each word with a black Nuvo glitter pen. My hand wasn’t too shaky so it worked better than I expected. I added the spider and he has some glitter too. Then I stamped the toadstools twice, coloured them and fussy cut. Did the same thing with the bats and owl. Stamps used were from GKD and a new one by SSS. I added a belly band and then these elements as well as a few gem embellishments. Layered it onto some Orange CS and then onto the card base. This is intended for the sister of the little girl I made the other card for and uploaded a week or so ago. I shall be mailing them soon. This works for two challenges – Make the Cards Halloween and Crafting Happiness challenge 135. Thanks for looking and hope you are enjoying the fall colours.