Halloween Party invitations by special request

 I colored all the pumpkins using Copic markers.  The stamp I used is from Gina K Designs.  I stamped them on plain kraft paper.  Then I distressed them with ink and crumpled up the paper and curled up the corners.  I printed the words with the "Black Adder" font and tore around them and distressed the edges.  The black background was cut to size then run through the cuttlebug using an embossing folder.  I used the black magic paper and sanded it with an emery board.  Finally I added the little orange dots in the bottom left corner.  I think they turned out nice!

Apples and pumkins and beignets, OH MY!

Ahhh, fall!  I LOVE it!  All the colors of nature really make me stop and reflect on the One who created it all.  The official start to Autumn for me is the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival.  It is held on the first Saturday in October in downtown North Wilkesboro.  It's literally a block from my house.  I HAD to go.  There were stacks and stacks of apple crates with every variety imaginable.  (My fav is Honeycrisp....yum!)  Craft vendors and food vendors lined the streets.  I found a new vendor this year selling New Orleans beignets that were to die for!  I spent the day with my hubby and our dog, Sam perusing the vendor stalls and visiting with old friends and making some new friends.  Yes, I love Autumn and everything it brings!

Happy Fall, Ya'll!

It's here!  It's here!  My favorite season of the year.  Autumn brings us colorful leaves, pumkins, indian corn, crisp apples and new ideas to craft!  I love the stamps for autumn.  There are so many available.  So, get out your stamps and get to work!

Autumn is (almost) in the air!

My favorite season is almost upon us.  I love Autumn.  I love everything about it!  The warm sunshine, the changing colors of the leaves, the windy days, the cool mornings, apples, pumpkins....you name it!  In my town we have an apple festival on the first Saturday in October.  Since I live only a block from all the action, my friends and family like to park at my house and walk down to the festival.  I've already started making cards that reflect my love of the season.  The leaf stamps are from Gina K. Designs.  I colored them using Copic markers.  So fun!

Gift card holders

Towel Cake for Annie's Shower

Bargains

I'm always on the lookout for a bargain.  I absolutely love the GlueGlider Pro adhesive but the refills can be anywhere from $6.99 to $10.  I found a source online that has four packs for $20.  With shipping it came to a total of $23.26.  That's only $5.82 per unit!  I hope the customer service is as good as the price!  The site is memorymakingcrafts.com.  Fingers crossed!

Matchbox

I got my mom one of those purse hangers for Mother's Day and needed some way to wrap it.  Here's what I came up with.  It's a simple matchbox complete with 3-d flower on top and a drawer pull. 

Towel Cake

My best friend's grandson is getting married.  She and I made this towel cake for her bridal shower.  I think it turned out great!

My Fair Ladybug

Circles are my friends!  lol...this little ladybug is made entirely of circles.  I think she looks so cute against that designer paper.

Receipt Folder and Shopper

My purse used to be awash with receipts and lists.  To tidy it up I created a folder for my receipts and a list pad.  Organization can be a beautiful thing!

New Nestabilities

I bought the new limited edition nestabilities cross.  I love the simplicity of the design.  This is a great tool for anything from Easter and sympathy cards to ordination and first communion or confirmation cards.  Lots of possibilities.

Happy Day

Happy Day!  Yesterday when I got home after a particularly challenging day at the office, I logged on to my favorite website, stamptv.com, and found out that my card submission won me a free stamp set from ginakdesigns.com!  I got to choose a stamp set worth up to $24.95.  Pretty sweet, huh?  I love the challenges they have on stamptv.  You don't have to be a great stamper.  Anyone can enter and everyone who uploads a photo to the site for that particular challenge gets their name entered in the pot for the drawing.  Gina K, you rock!

So, it took me a while to choose, but I decided to go with Gina K's "Signs of Autumn" stamp set.  I've had my eye on that one for a while.  Check it out!

 

Masculine birthday cards can be a challenge to create.  I think this one's a keeper!

Lucky Charms indeed!

Mail Caddy
How green is this!?  I cut a Lucky Charms box in half and upholstered it with brown cardstock, trimmed it with ribbon, added a random button and voila!

Thoughts & Prayers Card

I love the look of yellow & white together.  So clean and bright.  I used my Cuttlebug swiss dot embossing folder on white paper to make the background.  I used a flower punch and my nestabilities circle dies to make the embellishments.

Purple Card Set

Available at micheleaustin.etsy.com

Stationary Set

It's time for my other favorite hobby!  Every March my mom & I go to the NC Basketmakers Convention.  They always have a spectacular raffle with hundreds of prizes.  This year I decided to do a stationary set to donate.

TEA WHIMSY Bright Paisley

Here's another in the Tea Whimsy line.  This one has a bright paisley background with yellow grosgrain ribbon and a pomegranate vanilla tea bag.  Perfect for a spring birthday!

Assorted Card Set

Six cards (birthday, blank, get well, happy birthday, sympathy, welcome baby) and case. 

Available on etsy.com.

TEA WHIMSY Valentine's Day

Here's another in the Tea Whimsy line.  This set is for Valentine's Day.  So fun to make!

TEA WHIMSY

Here is the first in my line of "Tea Whimsy" cards.  It is so fun to make!  For this version I call Submarine, I used a paper from the K & Company Daydreams collection.  I printed the verse on my label printer and attached it to a piece of cardstock and used dimensional adhesive to attach it to the card.  The tea bag is tucked into a pocket made with black cardstock and transparency cut with Nestabilities.  The string is taped to the back of the tea bag and I've attached an anchor cut from the Daydreams paper to the other end of the string.  I really like this design.  The possibilities are endless!

SNOW STORM

There's nothing like a snowstorm to get the creative juices flowing!  We got around 8" of snow.  I spent two whole days crafting and looking in on our 3 new puppies.  I had just been to the scrapbook store the day before the storm so I had plenty of supplies.  I bought a Scor-Pal and I'm so glad I did!  It is a wonderfully simple tool.  I made bunches of these little photo boxes.  More to come!

I love to color!

Ever since I was a little girl I have loved to color.  Recently I discovered Copic markers.  They are AMAZING!  They can be blended and they come in so many colors.  There's even a pen that removes color in case you make a mistake!  I cheated a little in the card below because I just colored it like the stamp label showed.  It was really easy to do. 

The cheapest place I've found to buy the Copics is www.carpediemstore.com.  Don't make the mistake I did in buying a set.  Instead buy two or three different shades in a color.

Celebrating a special little boy

I've been a grammy for one year now!  Joseph is turning one.  What an amazing gift he is.

We're having a little party on Saturday and I made up some cute little invitations to send out.

I used my Cricut New Arrival cartridge to make the little monkey.  The number was cut with the Cricut George & Basic Shapes cartridge.  The plaid background and the small tag are both cut with the Spellbinders' Nestabilities Deckle Edge Rectangle.  A little hemp cord is wrapped around the number.  Hope you like it!

Iris Fold Leaf Card

 

This is one of my favorite iris fold patterns.  I used foil in three different colors for a dramatic effect.  The pattern is cut out of black paper and then attached to a 6" square card.

No cards today, just heartfelt prayers.

My heart goes out to the people in Haiti.  I cannot even imagine the nightmare they are caught in.  My prayers are with the citizens of that impoverished nation as well as the missionaries who serve there.  May God bless and protect the victims as well as the rescuers. 

Be Mine, Valentine!

Here are two more samples of the dimensional hearts made with my Spellbinders' Nestabilities heart dies. 

The possibilities are endless!

Encouraging Word

Bible Verse Pocket Card

Tuck one of these into a friend's pocket or purse with a personal message on the back.  They're super simple to make.  Just print your favorite Bible verse on white cardstock and cut them out with Spellbinders' Nestabilities deckle edge rectangle die.  Cut a colored cardstock one size larger for the backing.  Stamp randomly with distress ink and stipple.

Love is in the air

Here's my first Valentine for the year.  I finally got to play with my Spellbinders' Nestabilities hearts die set.  I also used a small heart charm and Bo Bunny paper.  And I used my JustRite Stamper to stamp "be mine" in the corner.  Cute!

Gift tags and toppers for the Holidays

 

  This elegant gift topper is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1.  Stack red and white diecut cardstock.

2.  Add a cardstock embellishment along with a jewel sticker. 

3.  Finally top it off with a handmade bow attached with a glue dot.

Iris Fold Seahorse Thank You Card

Here is an example of iris folding.

Fun to do and the results are dramatic.

Fun & Funky Fish Card

I found this uber cool paper and folded my way to a fun and funky greeting card! 

I added a Dazzles sticker and a couple of jewel stickers in the lower left corner and voila!

The inside is a blank tag so it can be used for any occasion...

Bird tag or gift topper

I borrowed this cute bird image stamp from my friend Donna.  I colored it lightly with my Copic markers then stippled Ranger Distress Ink over the image.  The card is cut using Spellbinders' Nestabilities Deckle Edge rectangle.  I like it!

Butterfly birthday card

I love this card! It's a generous 6" square size. I used a Michael Strong cloissone butterfly stamp and embossed the image. I stamped and embossed the image twice using two different papers. I cut one of the butterfly wings out one of the embossed images and glued it over the main image. It’s a cool effect I learned from a Michael Strong tutorial.

inside of card