Happy Halloween

Holiday Spirit

It's almost Halloween...ghost and goblins and things that go bump in the night, candy over load, trick or treaters and the really scary part there are 54 days between Halloween and Christmas...and they threw Thanksgiving in the middle! Yes, it is the most wonderful time of the year!

And speaking of Christmas...I designed this Christmas album using Kaiser Craft's Beyond the pages Georgina wooden album...

Great patterned paper and yards of festive ribbon...

Lace and distress ink...

Rhinestones...

and Stickles.

 Kinda gets you in to the holiday spirit doesn't it?

Yes this fun album is for sale at my Etsy store.

Decorating for the Holiday

I just checked the date of the last time I blogged...it's been way too long! I wonder what I have been doing? Oh RIGHT...prepping for classes. I have found a whole new respect for teachers.

 Have you gotten your Halloween decorations up yet?  "THEY"  ( yes, that THEY) say that  Halloween is the second most decorated holiday in the country. Decorating creates the mood for the holiday...lets face it, we will come up with any excuse to break out the glue and  scissors and create something festive.

In honor of the holiday I've designed some "spooky"  Halloween tags:

Gotta love all the  different colors of Tim Holtz distress ink...they are so much fun to create with.

Birthday Tags

Instead of sending a card for a Birthday Greeting how about a Birthday TAG! Or if you choose to stick with tradition, you can tie a Birthday TAG onto the gift. Yes I've been playing with TAGS again...this time for Birthdays

I found the black and white photograph at an antique store of a 1950's Birthday party with kids holding balloons. With a bit of photo editing I added an "old photo" frame. The manila shipping tag was covered with colorful birthday balloon tissue paper...I embellished it with a big glitter balloon and a few gold stars.

 This "Birthday Fairy" image is one that Suzee Que shared on a Flickr group I belong to...thanks Suzee Que! The blue Fairy Wings are for sale at my Etsy store. 

 A designer from Switzerland (I think it was Switzerland...I can't remember how I found it!) had a tag on her blog using this great technique of applying  a bit of glue to one side of the tag and laying a page from an old book on top of the glue, when the glue dries you mist it with water and remove the old page. I embellished the tag with die cut flowers, a reduced image of a vintage birthday post cart and a lot of distress ink.

I've been creating!

I have been hiding out in my "wizard's room" playing with distress ink, vintage images and glue. 

It's the time of year that I have family and friends birthdays, one after another for the next 3 1/2 months. Once I get the creativity going I don't dare stop for fear of loosing the "mojo".

When it comes to cards for "guys" I get a total design block...for some reason it's just harder to come up with ideas for the men in my life. 

I was pretty happy with the San Francisco card for my DS, could I get that lucky again for my DB?

YUP...I pulled together some "ice cream" ephemera to go along with this old photo of my uncle,as a young boy, licking  ice cream off a dasher that had just come out of a hand crank ice cream freezer. The wording in red reads "RESERVED for personal use only".

San Francisco, Birthday Cards and incense...

"I've been high...I've been low...I've been yes and I've been oh hell no...I've been rock 'n' roll and disco...Won't you save me San Francisco?"

Yes I'm singing it out loud...you might want to put your hands over your ears. 

I love this song by Train...beside being such a fun song, it' reminds me of what a fantastic place San Francisco is to visit. 

I have been trying to come up with an idea for a birthday card for my DS...who lives in SF, and here is where all these rambling thoughts come together...

 A vintage San Francisco image birthday card.

The image was printed on a transparency and burned around  the edges with incense. I layered patterned paper, printed transparency, tissue tape, distress ink, some cool braid.

So San Francisco did save me...because as we all know it's tough to come up with  guy cards. 

Baby Tags

I've been playing with TAGS again...this time it's all about the BABY.

 This cute baby boy image is from a vintage woman's magazine cover. Bits of lace, blue checked patterned paper, some Stickles (blinging up the bath water), distress ink and a blue butterfly charm

For a baby girl it's all about the PINK ... vintage baby girl card image, ribbon, Stickles, pink patterned paper, a doilie, distress ink and a pink ribbon flower.

I put the cap on the Stickles for this antique looking tag... vintage baby photo and buggy ad, ecru lace, distress ink, tissue tape, and 3 three old buttons from a button box.