O' Halloween Tree, O' Halloween Tree

When I was a child, my mom had a book of Halloween carols, basically it was a book of Christmas carols that someone added Halloween lyrics to. It was decorated with pictures of Peanuts characters. I loved that book. One of my favorite carols was O' Halloween Tree, O' Halloween Tree (Do I have you singing yet?). So when I saw all of the wonderful Stampendous Halloween stamps that were just released, I knew I had to make my own Halloween tree.

I started by gathering my supplies: a sheet of Taskboard, shrink plastic, Copic markers, VersaMark and StazOn ink, a pair of sharp scissors and a craft knife, 120 grit sandpaper, a heat tool and of course Halloween stamps. If you want to make one too, you need one more supply, Stampendous Embossing Enamel. This is an amazing product that comes in several very cool colors. For my tree I used Aged Black.

I started by drawing a tree on the Taskboard. I cut it out and traced it on more Taskboard to create a second tree. I then cut slits in both trees (one from the top and one from the bottom) so that I could slide them together to make one free-standing tree.

Next, working in sections, I inked each tree with VersaMark and generously poured Aged Black Embossing Enamel over the inked areas. After tapping off the excess enamel, I used my heat tool to melt the enamel.

The very cool thing about Stampendous Embossing Enamel is that it isn't just one pure color. It's a chunky mixture so when you heat the Aged Black, you see flecks of gold and silver as well. Once the tree was completely covered with melted enamel, I simply slid the two pieces together. Next came the ornaments.

I stamped each of the new Stampendous Halloween images onto shrink plastic using StazOn ink. After letting it dry a few minutes, I turned the sheet over and sanded to rough up the surface. Before I colored with my Copics, I swiped a babywipe over the surface to get the sanding dust off the sheet. After coloring, I cut each image out, making sure to leave a border around each one. I punched a hole in the top of each one and used my heat tool to shrink them.

To attach my ornaments to my tree, I punched holes in my tree and hung the ornaments using a jillian vance designs Pear Pins. These are the best pins for attaching baubles or trinkets to your cards and scrapbook pages. I then tied bows around each one with this fabulous May Arts ribbon. In this close-up you can really see the flecks of gold and silver in the embossing enamel...LOVE it! I finished by creating a few tombstones with some left over shrink plastic that I diecut before shrinking.

I created this tree for this month's Stampendous Challenge. The theme is embossing. But it really is also a great way to kick off next week. The Stampendous Design Team is collaborating all next week with May Arts so please stop back and check out my projects as well as those on the Stampendous blog.

Thanks for visiting today! Have a great weekend.

Noteworthy Supplies:

Lots of Lawn Fawn

Looking for this week's SNSDC Challenge Post? Please scroll down or click here.

Three cards, ten different Lawn Fawn stamp sets...I love Lawn Fawn! Always have, Always will! Lately, I haven't had much time to play with them so when I scheduled a Beginner's Copic Coloring Class at my local scrapbook store, I knew exactly what I would use.

The new mini seasonal stamp sets are so cute and so much fun paired with some of my old favorites. I have linked all of the supplies I've used to make these cards below.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you have the opportunity to pull out some of your favorite stamps and play today!

Noteworthy Supplies:

A Sweet 'n Sassy New Release Blog Hop

It's Friday so it's time for a new Sweet 'n Sassy Digi Challenge. Today, the design team is also celebrating a new digi release with a blog hop. You'll definitely want to hop along for a chance to win the entire release.

Today's challenge is all about scoring. You will need to add some sort of scoring on your card.

As you play along, remember to only use digital images. You don't have to use Sweet 'n Sassy digital stamps but it would be terrific if you did. Please share a link to your creation using the Linky feature at the end of today's Sweet 'n Sassy Digi Challenge post. If the link feature is down, please add a link with your comment. When uploading to online galleries, please use keyword SNSDC72.

For every card you link to the Challenge Blog throughout the month of September, you will receive one entry in the monthly drawing. One lucky winner will receive 3 digital images of his/her choice from the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Store. Please note, if you use Sweet 'n Sassy digital images to create your project, you will receive two entries! Be sure to play along every week... The more you play and/or use SNS digis, the more chances you have to win!

I used the new Sweet 'n Sassy Happy Flowers image for today's card. It's hard to tell but I scored along all sides of the image panel as well as around the edge of the beige panel. This is one of my favorite things to do as it adds a little definition to the panels. Don't you just love this new image? It has the perfect name, Happy Flowers! They make me happy and were fun to color.

While you're hopping, be sure to leave some love on each of the blog hop posts. One of the ladies below is a mystery blogger and will be picking a random winner from the comments on her blog. The prize will be the entire September Digi Release and the winner will be announced next Friday, September 28th on the Sweet 'n Sassy Digi Challenge Blog.

Cynthia Olheiser

Sarah Miller

Ceal Pritchett

Cyndi Bundy

Makiko Jones

Melinda Gleissner (That's me)

Crafty Math Chick

Patricia Hays

Stephanie Wright

Wendy Jordan

Thanks for visiting. Have a fantastic weekend!

Halloween Sprite

Here's a card I made using the new Stampendous Halloween Sprite image. It is such a great stamp that I kept the card simple. It's colored with Copic Markers and then 'blinged' up a little by adding some Stampendous Trick or Treat Color Fragments. It's easy to add Color Fragments to your cards. Just use your favorite liquid glue. I also used a little Stampendous Stardust Embossing Powder.

Don't forget to play along with the design team. This month's Stampendous Saturday Challenge is all about heat embossing. Check out the details here.

Thanks for visiting!

Noteworthy Supplies:

A Stampendous Hop from the Heart

Wow, what a week it's been. Hopefully you were inspired by some of the handmade gifts that we've been sharing at Stampendous. If you missed the project I posted earlier in the week, you can find it here.

I made two projects for today's hop. The first gift is a coaster set.

We are lucky in Columbus to have a very cool interactive art studio called Creation Nation where you can paint ceramics, fuse glass or make jewelry. I purchased this unglazed ceramic coaster set there. Normally, you would stay at Creation Nation and paint it, then they would fire it for you...but I had other ideas.

Have you seen the new Cling Jumbo Christmas stamps? Every single one of them is a must-have. They are perfect for both cards and gifts. So I stamped each coaster with one of these stamps, using Tsukineko StazOn Jet Black ink. I then colored them with Prismacolor Premier colored pencils. To give them that 'glazed' look, I coated each one with a layer of Fast Finish Decoupage from Beacon Adhesives. This is a fantastic, acid-free, non-toxic product that you can find at Michaels. The Stampendous stamps I used are Cling Jumbo Amaryllis, Cling Jumbo Cardinals, Cling Jumbo Poinsettia* and Cling Jumbo Magnolia. There are direct links at the bottom of my post.

My second gift is a necklace made from a domino. I sanded the face of the domino with 120 grit sandpaper, stamped the Stampendous Cling Blossom Spray image (once again using StazOn Jet Black ink) and colored using Prismacolor Premier colored pencils. I used the Beacon Fast Finish Decoupage again to seal my domino and then drilled a hole in it using a Fiskars Handheld Craft Drill. Before I strung the domino on the chains, I added a little more bling by generously painting the sides of the domino with Beacon Gem-Tac Embellishing Glue and then sprinkling it with Stampendous Silver Crushed Glass Glitter.

I love the chunkiness of this glitter which comes in so many great colors and is perfect for a project like this. The best part is when teamed with Gem-Tac, the glitter is there to stay. I even tried to rub it off but it stayed put. These very cool chains I found in the jewelry department at Michaels.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my gift ideas. Please remember to comment when you visit the following blogs. The more comments you leave, the better chance you have of winning.

Cyndi Bundy

Janelle Stollfus

Krissy Fossmeyer

Kristine Reynolds

Melinda Gleissner (That's me)

Pam Hornschu

Tenia Nelson

Wendy Jordan

Wendy Price

Jennifer Ingle (Jingle)

Lea Kimmel

Don't forget to play along with this month's Saturday Challenge. The theme is embossing techniques.

Thanks for visiting!

Noteworthy Supplies:



*Please note the Cling Jumbo Poinsettia is currently available at Michaels and your local craft stores. It should be back in stock soon at the Stampendous Online Store.

SNSDC71 It's a Pop Up!

The theme for this week's challenge over at the Sweet 'n Sassy Digi Challenge Blog is pop up cards. How fun it that! I hope you will play along with us.

As you play along, remember to only use digital images. You don't have to use Sweet 'n Sassy digital stamps but it would be terrific if you did. Please share a link to your creation using the Linky feature at the end of today's Sweet 'n Sassy Digi Challenge post. If the link feature is down, please add a link with your comment. When uploading to online galleries, please use keyword SNSDC71.

For every card you link to the Challenge Blog throughout the month of September, you will receive one entry in the monthly drawing. One lucky winner will receive 3 digital images of his/her choice from the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Store. Please note, if you use Sweet 'n Sassy digital images to create your project, you will receive two entries! Be sure to play along every week... The more you play and/or use SNS digis, the more chances you have to win!

My card uses the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Pumpkin Patch Digital Stamp. The sentiment is from the Sweet 'n Sassy Many Thanks Digital Set. The patterned paper is from the Bo Bunny Forever Fall Collection. The design of my pop up card was inspired by Beate Johns' wonderful Surprise Pop Up Card tutorial on SplitcoastStampers.com

Thanks for visiting today!

Noteworthy Supplies:

Stampendous Handmade Holiday Gifts

It's hard to believe but the holidays are right around the corner. So all this week, Stampendous is showcasing homemade holiday gifts. Please stop by my fellow design team members' blogs to see what they have created. Taylor Usry and Kristine Reynolds have made stunning gifts. You will also want to join us this Saturday for our huge homemade holiday gift blog hop.

The theme of this month's Stampendous Challenge is heat embossing so my desk is covered with my favorite bottles of Stampendous embossing powders, enamels and glitters. These bottles inspired me to create my gift, this blue enameled vase.

This is a fun and easy project which isn't complicated at all. You will need an unglazed ceramic vase. I purchased mine at a paint-your-own ceramics shop. You'll also need your favorite color of Stampendous embossing enamel and a liquid adhesive. For easy clean-up, keep some baby wipes and a Swiffer duster handy. Sorry my pictures show two different vases. I forgot to take a picture before I started embossing but I wanted you to see what the unfinished vase looked like.

Working in small sections, brush adhesive on your vase, sprinkle generously with the embossing enamel and melt it using a heat tool. Repeat these steps until your vase is completely covered. I told you, simple! There are so many wonderful colors of embossing enamel you could make lots of vases, each one completely different. I used Aged Marine Embossing Enamel. Here's a close-up of my vase.

On Saturday, our design team will be back with even more gift giving inspiration. Hope to see you then.

Thanks for visiting.

Noteworthy Supplies:

Way Down Yonder in the Pumpkin Patch

Please click here for today's SNSDC Challenge post.

This is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the colors and smells and textures of fall so I thought I'd share a card using another new Stampendous image. It's called Picket Pumpkins. It cracks me up how that cat is tormenting that poor pumpkin.

Picket Pumpkins is such a great image that I kept it simple. It's stamped on X-Press It Blending Card and colored with Copics. Before I adhered it to the card base I gave it a little extra sparkle by adding Stampendous Stardust Embossing Powder. I also added some texture to the card by gluing some Sage and Leaf Green Color Fragments to the grass line. Color Fragments are flakes of color that you can glue to any surface. No special adhesive is necessary. I used Scotch Quick-Dry. Why? Because it was sitting there. You can sprinkle Color Fragments into embossing powders while it is still hot for an amazing Encrusted Jewel look. You can also crush the fragments into smaller particles. It's easy, just roll some between your fingers. Color Fragments are available in so many great colors. You can see them all here.

Have you checked out this month's challenge over at Stampendous? It's all about the cool effects you can create with heat embossing. I'll be sharing cards throughtout the month that are made with a bunch of different embossing techniques so please stop back.

Thanks for visiting today. Have a fantastic weekend!

Noteworthy Supplies:

SNSDC70 Birthday Boy

This week's challenge over at the Sweet 'n Sassy Digi Challenge Blog is called Take Me Away. Use any image(s)/element(s) that take you somewhere such as a train, airplane, car, truck...

As you play along, remember to only use digital images. You don't have to use Sweet 'n Sassy digital stamps but it would be terrific if you did. Please share a link to your creation using the Linky feature at the end of today's Sweet 'n Sassy Digi Challenge post. If the link feature is down, please add a link with your comment. When uploading to online galleries, please use keyword SNSDC70.

For every card you link to the Challenge Blog throughout the month of September, you will receive one entry in the monthly drawing. One lucky winner will receive 3 digital images of his/her choice from the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Store. Please note, if you use Sweet 'n Sassy digital images to create your project, you will receive two entries! Be sure to play along every week... The more you play and/or use SNS digis, the more chances you have to win!

My card uses the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Soar Above the Rest Digital Stamp.

Thanks for visiting today!

Eeek!

Thought I'd share a card today that I made using some really fun Stampendous stamps and an Action Wobble.

I just love this cute Kitty Candy Kiddo stamp! It's a brand new image released just in time for Halloween. Stamped on Copic X-Press It Blending Card, she's colored with Copic markers and then fussy-cut. I added a little Stardust embossing powder on her hat...love that stuff! It has all the sparkle of glitter but because it is embossing powder, it stays put.

The very cool branch background is called Crowscape. I stamped it in the new Memento color, Gray Flannel. I then used my new 'go-to' stamp on the orange cardstock. It's called Crumpled Edge Border. This stamp is so versatile. You can use it to create the look of crumpled paper and yet when stamped tone-on-tone like I did here with Memento Morocco ink, it looks like leather.

The sentiment was created using the Small Typewriter Alphabet. The patterned paper is from the Authentique "Enchanted" collection. I attached this kiddo to an Action Wobble. For more wobbling inspiration, please check out the recent Stampendous/Action Wobble Collaboration.

By the way, there is a new challenge over at the Stampendous Impressions Blog. All this month we are showcasing cool techniques using heat embossing. Play along and you could win a fantastic prize package.

Thanks for visiting today. Hope it's a crafty one!

Noteworthy Supplies: