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October 2026

Happy Haunting

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This card is a CASE of one Tina Smith created using the Halloween City Holiday Decorations. I loved her card, and knew I was sure I could find some dies to re-create the mirror and frame. Tina used the Spellbinders Color Block Accent Rectangles Dies. I have the Color Block Arched Dies which worked perfectly for a shaped card.

The background was created with a lime green cardstock that was heavily ink blended with Concord & 9th’s Artichoke ink as well as some Distress Black Soot ink. After ink blending, Tina crumbled her cardstock and then flattened it out. I love the look, but my mirror covers most of the shabby look. 

Silver Mirror cardstock was used for the center of the mirror, and the purple frame was also ink blended with Black Soot. All the rest of the elements came from the Halloween City dies. One tip I got from Tina’s video was to used black dimensional dots which takes care of the eyes as well as the dimension. The spider webs were also attached with black dimensional dots and deep purple jewels from Pinkfresh Studio were added to the centers of the webs. 

Silver Mirror cardstock was used for the center of the mirror and the purple frame was also ink blended with Black Soot. All the rest of the elements came from the Halloween City dies. One tip I got from Tina’s video was to used black dimensional dots which takes care of the eyes as well as the dimension. The spider webs were also attached with black dimensional dots and deep purple jewels from Pinkfresh Studio were added to the centers of the webs. 

I’ve missed some Halloween challenges, but I’ll send this off to Addicted to Stamps and More: Any Occasion.

Traditional Christmas Card

This is my second post of the day which is unusual. My Woodblock Wednesday post is here. I’m also up on the Memory Box blog with another Christmas card. Red, green, and poinsettias definitely qualify as traditional. The card design is a CASE of one I saw on Pinterest some time ago.

All the details for the card are on the Memory Box Blog.

I used the Fresh Poinsettia Bundle, the Joyful Christmas 6X6 paper pad, and one of the larger gold foiled Black Tabs for this card.

I’m sending this off to a brand new challenge: AAA Christmas Card Challenge. Their first challenge is (appropriately) Traditional Christmas!

Woodblock Wednesday-October 2026

It’s the last Wednesday in October, so it’s Woodblock Wednesday. I missed last month so I wanted to be sure to play along. Halloween seems like a good bet, but I have all my Halloween cards made. As I was looking through my woodblock stamps I came upon several “block” design stamps made by Stamp It! I immediately had an idea for this one of three horizontal blocks dated 2000.

The pencil and the sentiment both have a whimsical design, and I thought they were probably by the same company. But not: the pencil is from Judith and the thank you is from Embossing Arts 1989. After stamping the design, I colored the pencils with Copic markers. I die cut the stamped panel with the smaller die from Gina K Designs Master Layout #1 and then a black panel with the larger die which creates a very narrow border. They were added to a bright yellow card base. 

Thanks as always to Amy for this monthly inspiration to get out my old woodblock stamps. 

I’m sending this off to the Neglected Stuff Challenge. It’s been so long I don’t remember ever using the “block” design stamp, and it’s been a few years for the other two stamps.

Autumn Birthday Card

There hasn’t been a single Shortbread Shape embossing folder from The Greetery that I haven’t loved. Shortbread Shapes: Autumn was perfect for making this fall birthday card. I die cut a Kraft cardstock panel with the Shortbread Shapes Rectangle Die and embossed it with the embossing folder. Then I die cut two more panels with Cocoa Bean cardstock and created a shaped card base by scoring one panel about 14” from the top and gluing them together. The Kraft panel was glued to the front.

The Shortbread Shapes Rectangle was die cut with Cocoa Bean cardstock, and I gold embossed the sentiment from The Greetery’s Simple Everyday Mini Sentiments at the bottom of the label. The Bigger Autumn Botanical: Pumpkin 2 was die cut with Bristol paper and ink blended. I layered the pumpkin on the label, and added the label to the card front with dimensional tape.

I have another card planned with this embossing folder for my sister-in-law so you’ll see it again soon. I’m sending this over to the AAA Colorful Challenge: Autumn Hues and to Darnell’s NBUS. 

Color Hues #143


Tracey has chosen Orange and Black for the mid-October Color Hues Challenge. 

It’s perfect for Halloween, but I did try to move in a different direction. But since I need five Halloween cards, that’s where I ended up.

I purchased two die sets for Halloween this year. Both sets were designed to use with larger, earlier related dies. For Spellbinders the Halloween City Holiday Decorations was intended to use with a house design. The same is true for The Greetery’s Market Place Eerie Avenue dies. I’ve been working on these in between other projects. I posted the first one here.

For this one, I started with the Spellbinder’s Color Block Accent Arches along with the SB Essential Arches to create a shaped card. Most of the dies I used for the focal image are from The Greetery. I added a couple of ghosts from the Spellbinder’s set. There’s no stamping at all here, thanks to the Happy Halloween banner which fit perfectly across the arch. Although I die cut the three bats from black shimmer paper, they still don’t show up clearly in the photos. Even in the close-up you need to search for them. Because I layered three together for some dimension, in real life, they are pretty obvious.

I’ll be back before long with the rest of the Halloween cards. Until then, check out the creative cards created by our Guest Designer, Annette Elias, and the Design Team at the Color Hues Blog. 

I’m sending this off to the Festive Friday Challenge: Halloween. You need to include at least three elements from their list. I have five: orange, black, die cuts, bats, and a Halloween sentiment. It’s also going to Darnell’s I.D.E.A.S. This is week two for Dies.

Merry and Bright

I was on the Memory Box blog this week with a CAS Christmas card featuring the very cut Wyatt Bird from the recent Holiday Harmony release.

I created a frame for Watt using the Round Eyelet Frame and one of the Circle Basic dies. I doubled it for a little dimension. Wyatt was die cut from Bristol cardstock and ink blended. I also did a bit of ink blending to the inside circle.

I hand cut a snow bank and added some glitter for a little sparkle so Wyatt had a place to settle. Wyatt was added with some thin dimensional tape to the framed circle. I trimmed down an A2 panel and silver embossed the sentiment from the Christmas Wonder stamp set. I added that to a turquoise card base and then add the main image.

I’m sending this off to the Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge: Christmas, Inkspirational: CAS and NBUS since this is Wyatt’s debut.

Celebrate!!!

I must admit I’m pretty addicted to The Greetery’s product suites that revolve around their Capsule Basic products. I love the Party Scene dies and the Capsule Star Studded Borders that were released in May, and I think they are a great for any kind of celebration. I made this card awhile ago, but waited to post it until my friend received it.

The balloon and star panel were die cut from white cardstock and colored with finger daubers. I added a pinked frame die cut with silver matte cardstock and attached them to a pale blue panel with dimensional tape. That was added to a yellow card base. The sentiment was stamped and die cut with the Laid Back Basics Sentiments, also by The Greetery. Lastly, I added a few Iridescent Dew Drops by Pinkfresh Studio for a little sparkle.

This is off to A Cut Above (another challenge I often forget to link to considering how many of my cards rely on dies), Seize the Birthday (Anything Goes), and NBUS.

Happy Halloween

I have a good start on the five Halloween cards for my grandchildren. Usually I make duplicate for all the girls, but this time everyone will get a different design. Just Us Girls is looking for Halloween dies, and this card has quite a few.

I started with Gina K Designs Master Layout 5 which die cuts the window. All the rest of the dies are from The Greetery’s Market Place Eerie Avenue designed to enhance their Market Place houses (which I don’t own.) I knew they’d work on their own, and I’m happy with this rendition.

With the exception of the moon and the pumpkins, these dies didn’t need any ink blending, so the card came together pretty quickly. The sentiment was white embossed with one of the sentiments from The Greetery’s new Simple Autumn Sentiments. I did put teeny, tiny pieces of black dimensional tape behind two of the bats and a piece of dimensional tape behind one of the ghosts.

This is off to Just Us Girls, NBUS (this is the first outing for the Halloween dies), and Shopping Our Stash where the challenge is Black Cats, but any black Halloween die or stamp will do. The Gina K die has been in my stash for years.

Gilded Glass

I’ve long been a fan of Art Deco, so when I saw Concord and 9ths Gilded Glass dies I didn’t hesitate to purchase them. After I made my first card, I decided to die cut multiple colors out all at once so I’d have different possibilities available when I wanted one. 

I’ve made two cards. For the first card I chose navy, a dark red, and an olive green inlaid with a gold metallic frame. The sentiment is from the accompanying stamp set embossed in gold. It makes a lovely and elegant card.

For the second card I chose a black frame, two hose of turquoise (or teal,) the olive green and dark red. This card feels more dramatic and more masculine to me. Once again, the sentiment is from the Gilded Glass stamp set.

The process of inlaying dies is quite relaxing for me, and I still have a stack of the die cuts to pull out when the mood hits. 

I’ve waited to post these until both cards arrived at their destinations. Both went off to very good friends–the first a woman and the second to a man.

For a long time, I neglected to link my birthday cards up with the Seize the Birthday Challenge, but I’ve been a lot more consistent recently. Their challenges always include an Anything Goes choice. The current challenge is Fall Colors, and although I think these use some fall colors, I’m linking up with the Anything Goes option. I’m also linking up to NBUS--another unused product put to good use–and not for the last time, I’m sure.

Happy Birthday!!!

Today is my sister-in-law’s birthday. We had breakfast with her and Tracy’s brother yesterday so I was able to hand deliver the card. The beautiful die cut is from Concord and 9th. I needed (wanted) a die for a Christmas stamp and some cardstock from Concord & 9th. Somehow the Layered Lotus stencils and die landed in my cart as well. I’ve yet to use the stencil, but the Layered Lotus flower is so pretty on its own. The pretty frame also came with the set. 

The inner piece of the frame was cut from C & 9th’s Powder cardstock and the larger “frame” from metallic gold. The flower was die cut from Almond cardstock and ink blended with Watermelon ink—a combination Carissa Wiley used in her introductory video. The leaves and stem were cut with Avocado cardstock and I added some ink blending with the same color ink. The center band was cut from Vintage Cream cardstock (Papertrey Ink) and backed with a narrow gold border. The sentiment is from The Greetery’s Oblong Octagon Labels. I’ve been struggling with light recently, so sadly the gold doesn’t shine in the photo.

The simple elegance of this card design makes it appropriate for so many occasions and it’s likely to be reproduced again. 

This is off to Seize the Birthday and Simply Clean & Simple where both challenges ca be Anything Goes, and to NBUS-it’s a new month over there.

Color Hues #142

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Stef had given us a color combination perfect for fall–and as you’ll see on the Color Hues Blog–any number of other ocassions.

This card is definitely not the card I intended to make. I knew I wanted to use the Magnolia Wreath from The Greetery, but the intent was to make a CAS card. This is not CAS! I also wanted to use one or more of the new Greetery products laying on my desk. That didn’t happen either, but it morphed into getting the Capsule Basics out and this where it ended up.

Most of my cards are A2 or square so a %X& shaped card is unusual for me. The first wreath was die cut using a piece of watercolor paper that was laying on my desk. I colored the leaves with Fossilized Amber and Lumberjack Red Distress Oxide Inks (which looks quite a bit brighter in the photograph than it does in person) and went back with a tiny brush to color the stems with Gathered Twigs. Using the Capsule Basics Large Borders I created the border with woodgrain paper and the Pretty Picado embossing folder.I chose Dark Chocolate cardstock for the center panel. When I laid the wreath on I realized I needed a second wreath as well as a Capsule Basics Filagree Border. I cut both from Kraft cardstock, and used some Gathered Twigs ink at the bottom of the leaves. 

I arranged the wreaths and then spent more than a little time trying to decide on a sentiment. I tried a variety of banners, but ended up adding a small sentiment on a circle die cut that nestled in among the leaves. Both the amber and red wreath and the sentiment were added with dimensional adhesive dots. I could have stopped there, but ended up using the largest of the Capsule Basic dies to create the card base.

So there you have it, a much more layered and detailed card that I usually create, but I’m quite happy with it. Be sure to visit the Color Hues Blog to see where our Guest Designer, Crystal, and the Design Team have created. And then, please join us in the gallery! 

This is off to two challenges: Seize the Birthday: Use Fall Colors and the TicTacToe Challenge: down the middle: Die Cuts, Free, Embossing.