Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!

Whether you're in the US or not, it's always nice to pause and think about all the good things to be thankful for. And if you ARE in the US, well...why not stuff yourself silly too? That's right, tomorrow is Thanksgiving here, and besides the thankfulness and all the great chow in store for me tomorrow, Thanksgiving is also prime crafting time.

For most big holidays, I make tags for my family. This year, I got all Tim Holtz-happy and broke out my underutilized TH embossing folders, along with about 5 different colors of Glimmer Mist, three styles of 7gypsies tape, and some Prima leaves to make these:

Ooh, pretty. :)

After the mist dried, I hit each tag with some Distress Ink (using one of the foam applicator thingies) to catch the highlights of the embossed designs.

All the ribbons were pulled sort of randomly from my stash -- I just picked fall-appropriate colors.

Those flowers look like the ubiquitous rolled-ribbon flowers, but I actually made them with strips of vintage pattern tissue - it works the same as ribbon, I just had to be a little more delicate as I twisted to keep the paper from tearing.  The stamps are from Waltzingmouse, and they're conveniently placed to disguise the seam in the embossing (my tags were bigger than my folders, so I flipped them around and embossed the bottom inch or so separately).

The back features my favorite tiny gnome (and an appropriate sentiment) from this Unity stamp set (their big sale ends today, in case you were looking to spend some dough). The papers on the back are all from We R Memory Keepers' Autumn Splendor collection.

Everything you see here (except the Waltzingmouse stamps) came from Scrappy Chic -- some recently, some from days past. Their big sale starts Friday, in case you were looking to spend some MORE dough (and at a locally-owned small business, natch).

I had fun getting all misty and inky and stuff making these, and I hope the fam digs them, too!

Time to get back to the oven -- one more dessert to go, and my contributions to the feast will be complete. Yum. I'll get photos, don't you worry.

Have a lovely day, and have a great Thanksgiving, wherever you may roam.

Happy Halloween!

Hiya! Just thought I'd pop in really quickly to wish y'all a spooktacular Halloween!

We get plenty of trick or treaters in our neighborhood, so I'm all stocked up on the sugar. While I wait for the early birds to show up, I thought I'd share my sole contributions in the Halloween-card department this year:

(anyone notice anything odd about this photo?)

Sponge-tastic! I first masked and sponged the moon, and then the sky for each one -- a purple dusk on the left, a reddish dawn on the right (red in the morning's a sailor's warning, right? Or maybe it's "some reddish work done at night." Or maybe I've read The Crucible too many times.). I mixed ink brands on the left (SU, Distress, old PTI) -- it's moodier and (I think) eerily foggy-looking. The inks on the right are all SU, and they seem more serene and even-tempered. Yes, I assign character traits to my inks. Even when it isn't Halloween ;)

{An aside: I don't normally trumpet Tim Holtz's products...he's talented but perchance a tad overrated. However, the whole Distress line of inks makes me very happy (including the stickles and stains), and his ink applicator thingamabob really does make inking a breeze. Dang it. I get all of my TH goodies at Scrappy Chic, where the man has quite the following among customers. I guess they're on to something.}

Back to the cards: After inking like mad, I then stamped my little scenes using my very first stamp set from Waltzingmouse, Hocus Pocus. Those stamps inked like champs right out of the packaging, and they definitely pass the squish test. If there's one thing I hate, it's really well-designed stamps that are cheaply made -- they squish when you stamp 'em. Not these, though! I think I may need more....

Anywho, some paper from Echo Park and a bit of narrow velvet ribbon finish 'em off. Now, if only I'd remembered to send them to someone! Oh well, it'll be a belated Halloween this year!

Don't forget, you have until midnight tonight to enter my little giveaway in the post below this one. As of right now, there are a whopping four entrants, so I think your chances are mighty fine!!

Now, I'm off to scare the little munchkins with my spooooooky semicolon costume...but that's another post.

Have a lovely creepy day!