Simply Betty's 11th Day of Halloween

On the 11th day of Halloween my ghoul love gave to me...11 bats a flying! Only one more challenge after this one, but I am having so much fun with this challenge from Simply Betty. I know I have never participated in a challenge this long, but what fun it has been. I went with some brighter colors here because when I thought of bats for some reason all I could think of was the phrase " bat out of..." well you know and in the interest of keeping my blog PG, I won't fill it in. But that is the reason I chose this image and why I chose the colors I did. My image is from Simply Betty Stamps and was colored with Copics and the Atyou Spica markers. All the bats are from K&Co and the papers are DCCWV. Thanks for stopping by!

Simply Betty's 10th Day of halloween

On the 10th Day of Halloween my ghoul love gave to me 10 creepy spiders spinning their webs just for me. I am having so much fun with these Simply Betty challenges. I thought that I wouldn't get this one done, because I have been so busy making Halloween treats that have to go to school tomorrow. But I did finish all that needed to be done and had time to make a card too. I have made more Halloween cards this month that I think I have ever made before, but I have had a really good time playing with all these fun images though. My image here is from Simply Betty Stamps and was colored with Copic markers. I used a spider web border than I think is from K&Co. I also used some spider confetti and a Sizzix alphabet for my letters. Thanks for dropping by!

S2G Trick or Treat Challenge

Hello and welcome to our Twisted Thursday challenge! The twist this week is trick of treat. My image is colored with Copic markers and a green glaze pen on the bubbles in the caldron. My bubble look very dark in the picture for some reason, but they are  really green. I used paper from DCWV, trick or treat image and candy are from K&Co. We would love for you to join our challenge this week. DOn't forget the rest of the DT, they have great samples to show too!

Tonight is Digi Day on SNR!! We will have some games to play, a challenge or two and lots of fun chatting. The fun starts at 7:00 pm (CST) right HERE. 

Christmas Card

I normally start my Christmas cards by the beginning of August, but I am a little behind this year. Simply Betty Stamps recently released these images from the Phunky Teen Christmas line. I love them because they are perfect for kids and teens that are a little older and past the "cute" stage. Normally I have a hard time finding images for my teenage nephew, but these are perfect! This image is Margo and isn't she cute hiding that present behind her back? In addition to the Simply Betty image, my card uses Offray ribbon, snowflake rhinestones that I picked up at Jo-Ann's last year, and paper from Hobby Lobby.

This is my new paper pack. I am trying to build my collection of Christmas papers again. The only thing I lost in the flood from my craft room was the crate of Christmas papers, so I am pretty much starting over in that area! The rest of the papers were stored on a shelf, but I had the Christmas papers in a crate and it was stored on the floor. The paper really absorbed the water! I am not complaining, since I know it could have been so much worse. So now I have a reason to shop! I loved this paper pack since it is full of red, black and cream colored designs. You will be seeing lots more of it I am sure!

Love Potion #9 Challenge for Simply Betty Stamps

Good evening! It has been very stormy here in Tennessee today, lots of wind and we were under tornado watches most of the afternoon. Perfect day for crafting though and even better since my craft room is on the lower level of the house! The challenge for the 9th Day of Halloween was to create a bottle or trinket box to house our very own Love Potion #9. I found this bottle that Kip had saved for some reason and turned it into my love potion bottle. I made my label with papers from DCWV and the Witch Betty image from Simply Betty Stamps. I added another strip of the dotted paper at the top and made my tag using a Sizzix die and tied it on with some spider ribbon from Michael's.

Day 8 of Simply Betty's Halloween

The challenge on Simply Betty's challenge today was Waltzing Zombies and we were to use zombies or a witch's cauldron. I had this cool dancing monster paper that I used as a background. Images are from Simply Betty Stamps!

15 Minute Challenge

Last night I participated in Michelle Perkett's Digi Day on SNR. What a fun evening. In addition to playing a Halloween Trivia game for a chance to win free images, she also issued a 15 minute challenge. That's right, 15 minutes to see the image, print it out, color it and then fashion it into some type of card or project, take a picture, download it from the camera and then upload it to the discussion area. Yikes! I didn't think it could be done. It helps that I am not the neatest crafter in the world, I still had a stack of paper on the desk from my last several projects. Everything on here was left on my desk from another project, except the BOO and I had just bought it yesterday. I did get it finished though and it was kind of fun to do a challenge that way. So here is my 15 minute challenge card. Just don't zoom in too close or you will see the mistakes in my coloring!

Another fun thing I did today was go shopping with my friend Angela. We've been friends for over five years now and while we do craft together on occasion and we see each other at work every day we have never gone on a marathon shopping spree before! I think that was long over due, I mean how long can you be best friends and crafting buddies and not go on shopping sprees every once in a while? I am not much of a shopper, there are really only three types of stores I like to spend tons of time in: craft stores, book stores or stores that sell kitchen gadgets. We hit a LSS, Michael's and Hobby Lobby. Angela is a bad influence, and I blame her for all my expensive hobbies. She won at both stores, she spent more than me in both of them! We had a great time though and both of us managed to find a few things that we will be turning into Christmas gifts. I even bought them early enough that they have a chance of getting finished! I am off work today and am going to start the first one today. Have a great day!

(and I know that Angela will still zoom in on that photo!)

S2G Spots and Dots Challenge

Welcome to another S2G Twisted Thursday!! Our twist this week is to use SPOTS or DOTS on your project. I think this cat popping out of the pumpkin is just too cute. He's got one of those mischievous looks on his face, just daring you to get on to him for being inside the pumpkin in the first place. As the owner of three cats, I know that look very well. I used the Shirley's 2 Girls Hallow Scream digi and colored everything with Copics. My papers are from The Paper Studio and the pumpkin border is from K & Co.

One thing I really like about the S2G images is that they come with a couple of different sentiments you can add. Having two or three to choose from make them more versatile to me. I usually put my sentiments on the inside or add them when I am going to send the card. What I do is when I print out the digi to color, I also print out the sentiments and then will paper clip them to the inside of the card and when it is ready to go, I add the sentiment that is most appropriate to the recipient.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the DT's samples! Links are in my side bar. Also you might want to play along with us. Simply create your own Halloween project and then link it to the challenge blog. You can even see a sample there of the digi that is being awarded this week. Have a great day!

Simply Betty's 7th Day of Halloween

"Now on to the 7th day of Halloween...My ghoul love gave to me 7 Skellington heads. " Our challenge on the Simply Betty challenge blog was to make our projects using Jack Skellington or any other skeleton. I did an online search for free images of Jack and really liked this one. It gave me the idea of sort of making a scene of Sally in her room or at home and of course she would have a picture of smiling Jack there. After printing my image of Jack, I used several layers of UTEE over the entire image and then after it was thick enough, I cracked the "glass" covering Jack's picture, just because I thought it fit the feel of Jack and Sally a little better than leaving it smooth and perfect. I used the Skeleton head embossing folder on some Core'dinations card stock and then lightly sanded over that so that you can see the green core. Sally is an image from Simply Betty Stamps and was colored with Copic markers and I used some green brads from my stash and some silver dots from Michael's. the finishing touch was the "beware" sign and that is from Martha Stewart.

I really like the movie Nightmare Before Christmas but haven't watched it in a while. The only copy I had was VHS and we no longer have a VCR. We were out shopping this weekend and I mentioned to Kip that I would love to have it on Blu-Ray. We met for lunch on Monday and he surprised me with a copy! Yippee, I can't want to have a movie night!

Candy Corn Witch

I really like images and halloween embellishments of candy corn, so when I saw this Candy Corn Witch, I had to have it! Isn't she just adorable? It is funny that I like the images,  embellishments and papers so much because I am not a big fan of the actual candy. Well except the new caramel ones, those are okay. I think the main reason I like them is because of the colors! I went shopping the other day in Michelle Perkett's store and picked up this and a few other images. This is the only one that I have had the chance to color though. I am sure the others will be colored soon enough though. My image was colored with Copic markers and I used paper from My Mind's Eye and some ribbon from my stash. This also fits this week's challenge on Michelle Perkett's challenge blog. Thanks for dropping by today!

Simply Betty's 6th Day of Halloween

I am having so much fun with these challenges from Simply Betty Stamps! On the 6th day of Halloween my ghoul gave to me six smiling jack-o-lanterns with smiles just for me. I used the London Pumpkin image from the Simply Betty Halloween Emo line for my project today. After coloring her with my Copic markers, I cut her out and then added her to the paper using some foam dots. I have three different papers from The Paper Studio and some eyelets and ribbon from my stash. I think I have more more Halloween cards this year than I have in the past several combined. I love all the Halloween images out there and these are definitely some of my favorites, they are just so fun to color. 

I have had a very busy weekend. I taught a Copic class yesterday at my LSS and then Kip and I went and hung out at Books A Million for a while, then to Best Buy and then out for a nice dinner. Today was church where we had some friends visiting that we haven't seen in five years. Actually the last time they were in town was the day that Kip asked me to marry him and that was almost exactly five years ago. Then I went back to church for a funeral for a man that we went to church with for several years. I did have some time to make a few things this afternoon and now I need to go and finish my laundry! Have a great day.

Phunky Teens Christmas Blog Hop

You should have arrived here from Erika's Blog, if not, you don't want to miss anything, so you can start at the beginning here.

Punky Teens Christmas Release Bog Hop!

Hello all you Simply Betty Stamps fans! Welcome to our Punky Teens Christmas blog hop release! We have a super fun, long hop for you all! I thought I would get some of you involved by posting on my FaceBook page about joining in on the fun. I didn't think I would get a response... well I was wrong! I got many responses and I am so thankful and happy that many of you were willing to participate even when you didn't even know what the images were! I hope you all liked them, and I can't wait for everyone including myself to see them! Now onto the release hop!

These fun, super quirky, and daring characters are part of the Punky teens, Christmas style!  Just hop along and see all the fun, cute, and quirky projects everyone has prepared for you! 

Now there is a special prize to be won on this hop... Guest DT for the Month of November! All you have to do is create a project using one of the Punky Teen Christmas images, upload it to inlinkz you see below and VIOLA! you are in for the race to become A Simply Betty Challenges Guest DT! 

You will have until 10/26 to complete and upload your project! The winner will be announced November 1st! Good luck and I hope to see many of you join in on the fun! 

Now onto the hop!

Start here @ Simply Betty Challenges

Angela

Betty Boo Owner

Allison

Amanda

Barb

Carisa

Catherine

Eulanda

Cheri

Christy

Debbie

Debbie W.

Donna

Erica

Gina  (ME)

Gloria

Iva

Jennifer

Jessica

Juelmarie

Katt

Lady B

Linda

Michelle

Nicole

Patricia

Samantha

Shelley

Suzi

Tracey

Tracy

I used the new Phunky Teen image Jimmy on my project. I love this image and thought it would make a great card for my teenage nephew for Christmas. He's at that age that cute definitely does not do it for him anymore. Just to be even more different, I decided to use non-traditional Christmas colors. Isn't he just too funny standing there holding the sock off his foot! 

Your next stop on the hop is Gloria.

Day 5 of Simply Betty's 12 Days of Halloween

And on the 5th Day of Halloween my Ghoul love gave to me...five flying ghosts whispering in the wind. Here's the inspiration for my card today: the last challenge referenced The Raven which made me pull out my book with the Edgar Allan Poe poetry in it. After I read The Raven, I turned to my all time favorite poem, Annabelle Lee. After seeing the theme for this day's challenge there was my inspiration! The cold wind that killed Annabelle Lee "came out of a cloud by night, chilling and killing my Annabelle Lee......For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams of the beautiful Annabelle Lee." I decided to do a night scene with the ghosts of the poet and Annabelle Lee. Both of my images were printed on vellum and then colored on the reverse side with Copic markers. Vellum is not the best surface for coloring and shading with Copics, but I really wanted the transparency so they would look like ghosts. Since the poet joins her in her tomb by the sea at the end of the poem, both of my images were done to look like ghosts.

Supplies: images are from Simply Betty Stamps, paper is DCWV, ribbon is Making Memories, bat and tombstone are Martha Stewart and the ghost border punch is from EK Success. The vellum is from Papertrey Ink and I love it!

S2G's Black and White Challenge

Welcome to another S2G Twisted Thursday!! No, the color has not left your monitor, our challenge this week was to use the provided sketch and to make a black and white card. My friend Angela has made several black and white cards that I have admired but this is my first attempt to use only those two colors. I do black and white a lot but I usually add one other color or at least my image has different colors in it. I really like the way this one turned out too. My image is from Shirley's 2 Girls and was colored with Copic markers. I pained over the moon with some Twinkling H20 paints for some shimmer and added some Liquid Applique to the bubbles in the cauldron for some dimension. Papers are DCWV. 

The rest of the DT has some awesome projects to show you featuring even more of the great Halloween images, don't forget to check them out too!

Here is the sketch. Want to join us this week for a chance to win a S2G image? Use the sketch below and create your own black and white project and then link it to the challenge blog.

S2G's Friends

Hello! I love this image from Shirley's 2 Girls called friends. One of the reasons I like it so much is that I think it is just so versatile. It makes a great birthday, congratulations, an invitation, or a friendship card. Really the possibilities are almost endless. This particular card will be one that I am featuring in my next Copic class. The class is on coloring skin and hair and I really like that there were three different people to color in this image. Image was colored with Copic and I used Basic Grey Paper and DCWV card stock.

I have spent the last two days making Halloween treats and will post the pics as soon as I get them finished. Samantha is helping me make hers and she wants to finish stuffing them so I can take a picture of all of them. She has 24 kids in her class and so she picked out as many different patterns of paper that she could so there are no more than two of each pattern. Since it used up most of my scraps of Halloween paper that worked for me too!

Simply Betty Challenge-Ravens

It's Day four for Simply Betty's 12 Days of Halloween challenge. Our challenge for this project was to incorporate ravens and to also use this quote on our projects:

His voice was very soft and slow as he quoted The Raven from Edgar Allen Poe: "and my soul from out that shadow lies floating on the floor shall be lifted? Nevermore.

I pulled all my inspiration from Tim Burton's short entitled Vincent since that is a line from that movie. Vincent Malloy wants to be like Vincent Price and when I think of Vincent Price I think of vampires and other horror creatures. I chose Vampire Christian from Simply Betty's Emo Halloween digi line for my image and then tried to recreate the feel of Vincent's room with my paper and the window. The paper in the short film is kind of a distorted checkerboard pattern. I couldn't find what I was looking for, so I made my own version in Omni Graffle. Kip taught me how to do some things with that program a few weeks ago so when I couldn't find paper I wanted to use, I thought I would give it a try on my own. I had to get a could of more tips to get started, but I was very happy with the result that I got. I varied the size and shape a little and then colored them with various shades of gray. My glittery ravens and brads came from Joann's and I used some corner accents that were cut out using a Sizzix die.

Copic Demo Today

For all my local friends: I will be doing a Copic Demo and make and take at The Scrap Room's new location in Mt. Juliet. I will be there from 12:30-2:00 or so so drop by and say HI if you can. This is the card we will be making, it is a simple 3 x 3 gift card using a Hero Arts butterfly. Hope to see you there!

Simply Betty Third Day of Halloween

On Simply Betty's Third Day of Halloween my ghoul love gave to me three creepy rag dolls to love and cherish each day of Halloween! I am having so much fun playing along with these Simply Betty Halloween Challenges. My project uses Sally and she is a Simply Betty image. I also used some DP from The Paper Studio, embossing folder from Cuttlebug, ribbon from Making Memories, thread from DMC and brads from the bottom of my embellishment stash!

BOO! It's another Twisted Thursday

It is another Shirley's 2 Girls Twisted Thursday! Our twist this week is BOO! Not too hard this time of year is it? I just absolutely love playing with Halloween images, and the ones from S2G are just so cute. I had to give my witch an orange cat in honor of my own cat Dewey. I have several BOOs on my project, the background paper from The Paper Studio has the word printed several times and then I have the big BOO!  that is from that awesome pack of Halloween die cuts from K & Co.  We would love for you to join our challenge, simply create your own BOOtiful project and then link it to the challenge blog so we can see it. The rest of the DT have some more wonderful images and projects to share too. 

Other supplies: ribbon from Michael's, I used a Nestability frame and colored everything with Copic Markers.

Simply Betty Two Trick or Treaters

So for the second day of Halloween on the Simply Betty challenge blog we were to make a project featuring 2 Trick or  Treaters dancing sown the street. I decided to make an easel card to set up my scene. The two images are from Simply Betty's Emo Halloween digi line. I found this great paper at Jo-Ann's that had the great house on it so I trimmed it down to fit my 6 x 6 card. Images were colored with Copic markers and then cut out so that I could use foam tape to add them to my scene. I love the way the witch's hand is posed here, she really looks like she is ready to ring the doorbell! I added a vellum quote that has been in my stash for quite some time and then some K & Co Halloween candy accents. The fence was punched out using a Martha Stewart border punch, You can't really see it in the picture, but I added some Glimmer Mist on the moon for a spooky shimmer. Oh my goodness, this is the first bottle I have ever bought of Glimmer Mist and now I am wondering why it took me so long. Notice I said it was my first bottle?? You know that means I will be adding to that collection! 

500th Post

Hello!! I hope everyone enjoyed their Wold Cardmaking Day! I know I spent lots of time in the craft room. Even got my hubby to take a trip into JoAnn's with me. I was trying to be good and not get too much, but they had new stuff that I was eyeballing and he tossed a few extras in the cart for me. How sweet!

Toot Toot!!! This is my 500th post on this blog. I used this image from Sweet Pea Stamps. It is called Relief for Haiti and was a fund raiser to help people devastated by the earthquakes there. My image is colored with Copic markers and then I used Basic Gray papers. This is one of the cards I will be using in my next Copic class to demonstrate coloring Hair and Skin.

Also I am excited because my card from yesterday was chosen to move on to the next round in the Simply Betty 12 Days of halloween challenge!!

First Day of Halloween

Simply Betty Stamps is doing a challenge called "The 12 Days of Halloween. And on the first day of Halloween my ghoul gave to me... one smiling Skellington head. The challenge was to incorporate one or more skeleton in your project. I used papers from DCWV, ribbon from Michael's, image from Simply Betty Stamps, acrylic drops that were colored dark purple, embossing folder from Cuttlebug and a skeleton head die cut from K&CO.