Happy Halloween Stamp of the Week

Happy Halloween! The stamp of the week this week at Repeat Impressions is this Halloween Tombstone, and it is available this week only for 50% off with the discount code found at Repeat Impressions blog. What a deal! Please visit the blog for all the details and to see the other Rock Star's cards using this stamp.

For my card, I stamped the tombstone, cut out, embossed and sponged while still in the circle nestie. I started with a green card and added some fun spider web dp and then attached the tombstone circle. I embossed an orange piece of cardstock with my spider web from Cuttlebug, cut a larger semi-circle with my nesties and added the fun Halloween sentiment (from Repeat Impressions, of course) to the bottom of that orange piece. That piece was attached with mounting tape to raise it.

I am entering this card in the Halloween challenge at Crafty Catz.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Crop Stop, Scrapbook Sisters and Simon Says Stamp Challenges

The challenge this week at Crop Stop is Unique Folds and at Scrapbook Sisters and Simon Say Stamp, Anything Goes. I love trying different folds and Anything Goes is my favorite type of challenge! This card is a sideways easel card. So it is made like a regular easel card, but turned on its side and the top attached to open from the side. I used a beautiful stamp from TPC Studio on the front, some great two sided dp from CTMH, the inside sentiment from Inkadinkadoand an embossing folder from Sizzix to make this fun and unique card.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Charisma Cardz and Meljen's Designs Challenges

The challenge this week at Charisma Cardz is Anything Goes and at Meljen's Designs it is Christmas. I have been having fun designing holiday cards and so you will be seeing alot of them here on my blog. This card started with a green scalloped card base- sorry the lighting when I took the picture wasn't too good... I embossed a thin metal sheet using a brass stencil and my No More Shims pad (thick pad for embossing just about anything.) I stamped on a subtle dp and cut out the reindeer from Tim Holtz and attached with mounting tape to raise. And of course, I cut, embossed and sponged the sentiment piece with my nesties.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Karen's Doodles and Partytime Tuesday Challenges

The challenge at Karen's Doodles this week is Emboss It and at Partytime Tuesday it is Anything Goes. I am in the mood for Holiday cards and made this one with a new embossing folder I got from Sizzix. The tree is made with half of a large circle cut out from two sided dp. The instructions and pattern for the tree can be found here. CAS but I love it:)

Stamping smiles, Karen

Wee Memories, Cards for Men and Forever Friends Challenges

Animals is the theme of the challenges at Cards for Men (or boys) and Forever Friends and anything goes at Wee Memories this week. I made this CAS card using a new embossing folder from Cuttlebug and Core'dinations paper. I thought this juggling beaver was too cute. I embossed and sanded him, then added punched balls for him to juggle. I rounded the edges and layered on patterned paper to complete the card.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Designer's Choice Challenge at Repeat Impressions

Today is the start of a new Designer's Choice Challenge at Repeat Impression's blog and it is a really fun one! Lynette is challenging us to follow a recipe when making our cards. We are to include 1 image, 1 sentiment, 2 diecuts and 3 embellishments on our card. I knew I wanted to start with our Stamp of the Week - Tall Pumpkin (which is 50% off this week with the code found on the blog) and so I made a Halloween card. Repeat Impressions has several sized pumpkins and many fun face stamps to make great jack-o-lanterns on your cards. I also used a sentiment from RI. The ghost and fence were diecut and the orange and black buttons were my 3 embellishments. It is really fun to see the different ways this challenge can be interpreted, so I suggest you hop over to the blog to see the rest of the Rock Star's cards for this challenge.

I am entering this card in the Halloween challenges at Gingerloft and Kaboodle Doodles.

Stamping smiles, Karen

OSAAT & One Stop Craft Challenges

The challenge at One Stitch at a Time this week is to Emboss It and at One Stop Craft Challenges it is to not use designer paper. I created this CAS fall card using embossing and no DP, and that is very typical of my cards. I started with a scalloped shaped card and embossed it with a fall/Thanksgiving embossing folder from Cuttlebug. Then I simply added a laser cut leaf sticker from Mrs. Grossman's.

Stampings smiles, Karen

Halloween Challenges

I think this is my last Halloween card that I made and sent over for my SAS4Kids, and I am entering it in the Halloween challenges at Just Some Lines, Di's Digi Designs , and Sweet Stampin' (Trick or Treat.) I used an some older stamps from TAC that I still love for a sweet Halloween card for a younger child. The pumpkins were paper pieced with orange paper and stamped with green ink, then layer on a circle cut out with nesties and attach to a card with fun dp on the front. Quick and easy but still fun for a child to receive.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Crop Stop and D2D Challenges

It's Halloween challenge time at Crop Stop and Designed 2 Delight and so I am sharing one of the Halloween cards I made for our kids at SAS4Kids. I started with a pumpkin shaped card cut with a file from The Cutting Cafe'. I simply printed it on dp and cut out. Also cut out the top piece and black triangles for the nose and eyes and added the ribbon for the mouth. Easy and fun for a child at Halloween.

Stamping Smiles, Karen

CAS-ual Fridays and Delightful Challenges

The challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is "Just Add Color" and Halloween is the theme at Delightful Challenges. I started with a Laser Cut sticker from Mrs. Grossman's and colored behind it with my copics. I attached it to white cardstock and cut out. The top is a goo border punch from Martha Stewart and the dp I bought at Jo-Ann's. CAS and fun for Halloween.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Can you help a fellow stamper and her family?

Perhaps you have heard of Katie Renz and her family and their need for our continued support and prayers as she fights Stage 4 gastic cancer. Please go here and read the latest heart breaking update and request for our help. There are links there to Katie's blog and her husband's updates. Katie has three beautiful young boys and this digital stamp by Lori Designs was designed for Katie and her boys. All proceeds when you purchase it go to help Katie and her family. I bought the stamp and made a card to send to Katie and her family. I printed it on white cardstock and cut a heart mask out with my nestabilities heart die. I sponged with aqua blue ink inside the heart mask. I diecut another small scalloped heart for the boys to hold with Katie's initial on it. The sentiment is from TAC.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenge at Shelley's Images and the challenge at My Time to Craft to use diecuts.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Cards for Men and Sweet Stamps Challenges

The challenge this week at Cards for Men is to make a card for a man or boy and "Make Us Laugh"; and at Sweet Stamps, we are to use Lots of Layers. I love to use humor in my cards and to make cards for men or boys (especially my sweet grandson and my boys at SAS4Kids). I used several layers on the front of this fun shaped card and also in the paper piecing of the banana, clothes and shoes. The fun Banana Kid and sentiment are from Hambo Digitals, and the little banana is also from Hambo. Isn't he sweet? I printed the sentiment twice and cut out and raised the "bananas" in yellow with mounting tape.

Stamping smiles, Karen

What If? Wed. Sketch Challenge

It's a sketch challenge at What If? Wednesday at The House that Stamps Built. The sketch for this challenge is below. I turned the sketch for my card. We love cats here at my house and have a very sassy fat cat named Lucky who is spoiled mostly by my dh. I love these stamps from Repeat Impressions as they are perfect for cat lovers like us. Cat Nap Wreath was stamped on green, red and grey and the cat and bow were paper pieced. The white background was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. Meowy Christmas was stamped in green and cut out with a die cut and the card was finished with some gems and a sticky green border.

So come join us and make a card using this sketch for a chance at a great Repeat Impressions prize. For all the details and to see the other cards done with this sketch by the Rock Stars, please visit the RI blog.

I am entering this card in the Christmas challenge at Crafting When We Can.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Paper Creations Ink Halloween Challenge

It's a Halloween challenge at Paper Creations Ink and we are challenging you to make anything with paper and Halloween related for a chance at a great prize from our sponsor, Delicious Doodles. Please visit the PCI blog for all the details and to see the other great Halloween creations by the PCI design team.

I started with a great Halloween silhouette stamp from Delicious Doodles and printed it twice- once on yellow paper and once on Halloween patterned paper. I cut out the house and moon and attached it to the dp. A little layering and a seasonal ribbon piece and this CAS Halloween card is done.

I am entering this card in the Halloween challenge at One Stop Craft Challenges.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Stamp of the Week at The House that Stamps Built

The stamp of the week this week at Repeat Impressions is this fun Frankenstein Face, and it is available this week only for 50% off with the discount code found at Repeat Impressions blog. What a deal! Please visit the blog for all the details and to see the other Rock Star's cards using this stamp.

For my card, I started with a green card and Halloween dp cut in triangles to create the 4 x 5 ¼” layer on the front. I stamped the Frankenstein Face on green cardstock, cut out and layered on a black scalloped circle raised with mounting tape. The fun Happy Halloween sentiment with spider webs is also from Repeat Impressions.

I am entering this card in the Halloween challenge at Challenge Up Your Life .

Stamping smiles, Karen

Aud Sentiments and ABC Christmas Challenges

The challenge this week at Aud Sentiments is a Winter Theme with a sentiment, and at ABC Christmas Challenge it is to use your unused stash. I have not used the sentiment mini embossing folder or the background embossing folder or the digital stamp from Bugaboo Stamps before. His name is Deacon Candy Cane and I couldn't resist him when I saw him a little earlier in the year. I paper pieced his costume and hat and colored the rest with my copics. I created a bench for him to sit on and used the ek success leaves border punch which my daughter pointed out when I bought it, looks kinda like Christmas lights.

Stamping smiles, Karen

"For the Girls" Challenge at SAS4Kids

It's time for a new challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids and this time we are challenging you to make and link a card for a girl. We have three generous sponsors you can win prizes from: Cardmadfairy, whose prize is 5 digital stamps of the winner's choice, Cuddly Buddly, whose prize is a 5 pound gift certificate (British money good for about 5 digis too or other choices), and Shelley's Images, whose prize is a $9 gift certificate. You have until November 4th at noon CST to enter this challenge.

We have chosen this theme to draw attention to the type of card we do not receive enough of here at SAS4Kids- cards for our older or teenage girls. Any card for a girl is OK for the challenge, but when designing cards for SAS4Kids, please keep our teenage kids in mind. We were also thrilled to announce this week that SAS4Kids has three new children's hospitals and another address for you to send your cards to. You can read all about it here.



As always, I had so much fun using our sponsor's images and designing my cards. Above is a lovely girl from Cardmadfairy. I made a smaller easel card that will fit into an A2 envelope, so 5 1/2" tall and the base is 4 1/4" square. I paperpieced her coat, hat and boots and colored the rest with my copics. The punched and diecut borders are made using my new Borderabilities from Nestabilities.The light purple border was raised to hold up the easel front.

My next two cards were made with fun digital images from Cuddly Buddly. If you know me or follow my blog, you know I don't really like to color. When I found these awesome images (and many many more) on the Cuddly Buddly site and they were already colored, I wasn't able to resist. I printed a bunch, and designed some CAS holiday and fall cards for my kids using them. If you prefer to color your own, these stamps are available uncolored too. If you are on a crafting budget like me, be sure to check out all the free images available at Cuddly Buddly and also all the very reasonably priced ones too.

Both of the cards above use a gatefold design, but turned in two different ways. I used dp or embossed paper and some punches and baker's twine to complete the cards.

I am entering these cards in the challenges at Fab n Funky for Fall Colors, I Brake for Challenges for Girl Power, and Ruby's Rainbow for Cute and Cuddly.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Penny's Paper-Crafty and Sweet Stamps Challenges

The challenge this week at Penny's Paper-Crafty is Apples and at Sweet Stamps it is Clean and Simple. I found some wonderful fall colored burlap at JoAnn's recently and think it adds great dimension on a card. I also used it to add dimension in a different way: I bought the No More Shims pad at my local Stamp Shoppe which is a thick rubber mat sold to be used with your Big Shot or Cuttlebug (marketed by Scor-Pal.) You can emboss with just about anything when you have this pad and in this case, I put a layer of burlap below the white cardstock and embossed, then rubbed some distress ink lightly to get the background you see. The apple image is a photograph on acetate tht I cut out with my nesties and layered on a scalloped circle and raised with mounting tape to attach.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Craft Your Passion and Polleycraft Challenges

The challenge this week at Craft Your Passion is to make a Card for All Occasions and at Polleycraft, the theme is Boys. I am always looking for ideas and stamps appropriate for teenage boys, because that is the one group who receive the fewest cards for my Send a Smile 4 Kids charitable blog. This set from TAC is perfect for those kinds of anyday all occasion cards for boys, but is unfortunately not available for sale anymore since TAC closed, unless maybe on Ebay(?) I started with kraft paper and folded the front of the card in half. I picked some dp from CTMH that worked well together and simply stamped the skateboard boy on one piece in black, layered on black and attached.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Designer's Choice Challenge Halloween or Fall Card

It is Joy's turn to host our Designers Choice Challenge at Repeat Impression's blog, and she has chosen Halloween or Fall Cards as our theme. I used this week's Stamp of the Week - Foliage Positive - to make my fall card. This beautiful stamp is available for 50% off this week with a discount code found on the blog. Please visit the blog to see all the great fall or Halloween cards created by the design team as well as to get all the details on what you can win!

I started with a piece of orange designer paper and stamped and embossed the Foliage Positive image twice- once in black and once in white. I cut them out and layered on the opposite color of cardstock. I punched a few leaves from an ek success border punch on the top and bottom of a piece of the same dp, letting the black from the card show through. I like how this CAS card turned out and hope you do too.

I am entering this card in the challenge at Kaboodle Doodles to use leaves in our cards.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Moving Along with the Times and Woodware USA Challenges

The challenge this week at Moving Along with the Times is Autumn Leaves and at Woodware USA it is Anything Goes. I created this card using the sketch and theme from my stamping club this month. We were to use buttons on my cards and I found some fun fall buttons to use. I started with a wreath cut out with a new Memory Box die. I added punched leaves to the wreath and a sentiment from TPC Studios. All the papers were in a kit I got from a friend's rummage sale.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Thinking Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness

It is a Link up for Pink linking party at Justyolie and Breast Cancer Awareness is also the theme of the challenges at Digi Stamps for Joy , Dude Time Doodles and Inky Impressions. I love this set from Skipping Stones Design and used it in this mainly pink card.

Short blog post today- in between games and traveling. Yeah Brewers! Go Pack!

Stamping smiles, Karen

StampsRUs, Lollipop Crafts and I Did It Creations Challenges

Halloween and Autumn are the themes at StampsRUs, Lollipop Crafts and I Did It Creations Challenges this week. I made this CAS Halloween card for a child using a Too Cute digital stamp from Pink Gem Designs. I simply printed it, cut it out with my nesties and weaved some black and orange bakers twine in the holes. The orange card was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.

Stamping smiles, Karen