Happy Halloween!

by Sue

Welcome! Thanks for spending a part of your holiday with us - I'll be quick so you can get busy with all your ghosts and goblins!

My card today is (of course) a Halloween card, probably my last for the year, so I went all out! This is one card I won't say is quick. It is relatively easy, but definitely not quick! If you've been a follower of our blog for the past 3 weeks or more (at least on Saturdays) you may remember my patriotic ribbon card and how I did a tiny bit of complaining about too much coloring :) Well it must not have been too bad since I decided to do it again! What was I thinking???



I've been itching to get my hands on this Haunted House Stamp(P058) and I had my colors for the sky already picked out. I started by stamping the house on white card stock using black pigment ink. After embossing with clear embossing powder I masked the moon and house. I decided not to get out my brayer, but instead to do a little "dry-rubbing" to get my color. I started with lavender at the bottom, which fades into violet, which fades into cornflower blue and finally into ultramarine at the top (all Vivid brand dye inks). I stamped the Happy Halloween Arc (E043) above the house using more ultramarine ink. The next step was to layer it with blue card stock, then purple, then lime green.

At this point I was stuck - I just wasn't finding the right background. I tried several Halloween and everyday background stamps with no luck, then I picked up my little Ghost (C191) and well, that was all she wrote! It didn't take me long to randomly stamp the background (black ink and white card stock), but coloring on the outside of all them ghosts took forever - well, maybe it just seemed that way :)

The rest of it was back to my normal easy. I attached my ribbon (holding it together with a brad) and attached all to a folded purple card.

That's it! Easy Peasy as the saying goes!!

I'd like to take a second here to say a huge THANK YOU! to all who participated in our card drive. It's thanks to you that it was such a success! Click here for all the details on our final count and how you can help with Valentine's Day!!

Thanks again for stopping by!

Happy Halloween

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Fancy Pumpkin & the Witch is Always In!

Posted By Jennifer E.

TGIF and Happy Halloween!

I've been busy this week finishing up my Halloween cards. I can't believe Halloween is here already, can you? Time sure flies when you're having fun!

A little out of the norm for me, but I have 2 cards to share with you today. This first one uses DRS Designs new Fancy Pumpkin image. Such a Jolly Little Fella, isn't he?

Stamps: DRS Designs-G077 Fancy Pumpkin, E043 Halloween Arc, H819 Interlocking Star Background
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink in Charcoal
Paper: Smooth white cardstock by Office Depot, Colored Cardstock by American Crafts
Accessories: Bic & Copic Markers, Nesties, Ribbon By Bobbie M. Designs, SU! Photo Corner Punch, Brands By Making Memories, Black Fine Point Prismacolor Premier Marker, Yellow Stickles, EK Success Decorative Corner Punch
Finished Card Size: 4.25" x 5.5"

The Fancy Pumpkin image was colored with Bic and Copic Markers & was cut out & layered with Nesties. I used the Interlocking Star Background stamp to create by own pattern paper. As a finishing touch, I added Yellow Stickles to the Jack-O-Lantern face--it just made the whole card light up!

The second card I have for today uses one of my favorite Halloween stamps that was released last year--Death of a Witch. It captures the scene from "The Wizard of Oz" where the house fell on the Wicked Witch of the East. I've also used the new "The Witch is always in!" sentiment on this card. Unfortunately though, this image depicts the witch as "under" not "in!" LOL!

Stamps: DRS Designs- L1045 Death of a Witch, D089 "The Witch is always in!" Sentiment
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Paper: Smooth white cardstock by Office Depot, Colored Cardstock by American Crafts
Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol, Cuttlebug and Cuttlebug Houndstooth Embossing Folder, Xmas Red Stickles, Ribbon by The Paper Studio
Finished Card Size: 4.25" x 5.5"

Unlike today's other card, I colored this one with Prismacolor Pencils, and blended the colors with Gamsol. This layout is pretty simple, so I dressed up this card by embossing the background with the Cuttlebug Houndstooth Embossing Folder and added some red & white ribbon. Of course I had to add red Stickles to those Ruby Slippers!

Thanks for visiting here today.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend & a safe & fun Halloween!
Smiles,
Jennifer

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SheetLoads and DRS Make Great Treats!

Posted by Jessica G.



Stamps by DRS Designs: Poppin' In Holiday Greeting P032, Popcorn Bowl G1131, Popcorn Background G1124. Cardstock: Real Red, Black, CM yellow, Papertrey white. Accessories: gingham ribbon, Nestabilities.


Have you downloaded your free October e-issue of SheetLoads yet? DRS Designs is the sponsor for this month and the issue not only contains a fun sketch with the full recipe of supply lists and cutting diagrams, but is also chock full of great sample cards made with DRS Designs images! Remember, all SheetLoads readers will receive free shipping on orders from DRS Designs through the end of the month!!


It's never too early to start planning Christmas gifts, especially if your list includes handmade items. This popcorn treat set comes together quickly when you already have the sketch plus a coordinated image, background, and sentiment. These would make perfect gifts to have on hand for neighbors, teachers, or any last minute gift idea.


Stay tuned because more DRS Designs new releases with the a Christmas theme are on their way soon!

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Operation Write Home Update

Thanks so much to all who participated in our Operation Write Home Holiday Card Drive. Please click here to see all the details and how you can help too!

Please scroll down to see Julie's awesome post for today!!

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The Witch is In so Go Batty!

by Julie Warner - The Write Stuff

Halloween is almost here! Time for (at least) one more spooky card. I had a lot of fun with this Haunted House image (P058). I knew I wanted a brayered sky background, but I also wanted the moon white. So I cut a mask of the moon and house and positioned it on the white card stock. Then I used a brayer and three colors of ink. I started with the yellow, then added the orange at the top and finally the green at the bottom. I took the mask off, and using a stamp positioner, stamped the image with the black ink.

I stamped the terrific sentiment (D089) onto a strip I cut off of the original. The punched dots at the bottom were done using only the very top part of the fence border punch. I made faux brads by using a 1/4 inch hole punch on black c/s and some card board, glued them together and used a stylus to round them like real brads.

While I was putting the pieces together, I punched some fence borders out of black, but thought they needed something. So I threaded thin strips I trimmed off the brayered back ground thru the fence. I added some thin strips of yellow behind the punched dot part of the fence then attached my borders. I think this made all the difference.

Since Halloween is just a few days away, here's another spooky card. This one is pretty quick but the high contrast black and white gives it some punch. The Spooky Tree (L070) was white embossed on black card stock and the moon only was black embossed on white card stock. I cut the moon out and attached over the base image. After I cut it out with a rectangle die, I edged it with a white marker and attached it to a larger piece of black.

The Go Batty (D090) greeting was stamped and die cut and fancy die cuts added to the ends. The white background was edged with a black marker and some score lines added before attaching to a white card.


Thanks so much for stopping by and have a Spooky Halloween!!

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Happy Thanksgiving

by Ryann Salamon / RyannMarin Designs:

Hello! I can't believe that November is almost upon us! Not only is Thanksgiving just around the corner, but my time as a Guest Designer for DRS is almost up! The last two months have *flown* by! But as sad as I am that this is my last blog post, I'm super excited about what I get to show you today!

One of my favorite things about fall are pumpkins. I love the smell of pumpkin-scented things. I love pumpkin flavored foods. I love pumpkin flavored coffee (helllllooo Starbucks!) :) This pumpkin image is no exception - I love it!

For my card I used Simply Pumpkin (G304) and Thanksgiving Arc (E050) - which is NEW!! I've colored in the pumpkin using Prismacolor Pencils. The patterned paper is Stampin' Up and the chocolate pearls are from Kaisercraft. This was a fairly simple card to put together - perfect for mass-producing! I thought it might even be cool to do this on a smaller scale and make place cards for your Thanksgiving dinner table.

Have a fabulous Tuesday!!

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Tricks and Treats...

Sorry, no tricks here today but I do have a quick and inexpensive treat project for you! All you need is a container (I found mine at the Target dollar spot), some candy, some cool stamp images and some filler. And, voila...

Images by DRS Designs, from the most recent image release...






I simply stamped my images onto a scallop punch, colored and then layered onto the same size scallop punch. The images were then attached to a lollipop. You can see some plain ones scattered along with the fancy ones! I wanted the flat orange lollis but my grocery store didn't have any :(. The box was decorated on one side with a plain border layered with ribbon and a trio of candy corns. A ribbon bow and some cuttlebug die cutouts (from the Xmas dies) and jewels finished things off.
Quick and easy, just the way I like it!!!

This would be great as a teacher gift, hostess gift or even to put on your desk at work.

Thanks for checking in...
See you soon...

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Color Combo's are Everywhere!

by Sue

Welcome!

Well, I held off making a Halloween card as long as I could, but I finally gave in last night! I've been making as many Christmas and general cards for our card drive as I could, but since that's coming to a close I decided to see what I could come up with using a color combo I found in the strangest place - on my dog! Yep, I have a almost 10 year old black lab mix who's appropriately black. Last week through a strange set of circumstances he ended up wearing 2 new collars, one was orange and one was purple. They both not only looked good on him, they looked very Halloweeny too. I've been itching ever since to see what I could do with those colors for Halloween - how did I do??


As you can see it's another fairly easy card. After ripping my purple and orange background papers I used double sided tape to hold them together and then stamped them with our Empty Spider Web (G329) using black dye ink.

I stamped the Witches Accessories (K154) on white card stock, colored it using my Bic markers and cut it out. I stamped it again, this time, I only colored the hat and shoes. Once I attached the full version to my card I layered on the hat and shoes for dimension.

Last but not least I stamped the Accessories saying (D155) on white card stock and after trimming I used the the 2 purple and 1 orange markers I'd colored the hat and shoes with and I randomly added lots of dots.

I think I'll do a load of laundry (colored clothes of course) tomorrow and see what color combinations my dryer can throw together!

Thanks for stopping by!

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I Only Have Eyes

by Julie Warner -The Write Stuff

Happy Friday! The weekend is almost here! Here's a fun little card I was tempted to name "Cousin It and the Eyeballs". That funny little goblin looks like Cousin It to me. I combined a few images to create my little scene and to complete the background, I drew in the floor, walls and little portrait on the wall.

For the bowl of eyes, I stamped the bowl only of G1131 Popcorn Bowl onto acetate, colored the back with Sharpies and cut it out. I used markers on the eyes C062 Eyeball and stamped them on white c/s then used a 1 inch circle punch to punch them out.

The table only from K1150 Cutie Pie Merry Elf was stamped on white c/s and colored with Prismacolor pencils. I used a ruler to create the floor and walls and used the Prisma pencils on them, as well. I stamped the hat only from G077 Fancy Pumpkin , masked it and stamped the D268 goblin below it.

The sentiment D092 was added, a yellow layer, then I drew a tile border using a ruler and Prisma pencils. Just for fun, I added some googlie eyes to the goblin. Couldn't you just see this little guy with his bowl of eyeballs, answering the door on Halloween. Won't the kiddies be surprised when he only has eyes, lol. Trick or Treat!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

p.s. Vicki convinced me. I'm adding it to her Saturday Spotlight challenge # SSHP03

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It's Time for Fall Colors!

by Debbie Seyer - A Peek Into My Stamping Room

This week, DRS Designs is sponsoring the Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combo Challenge #20. The challenge colors are Crushed Curry, Always Artichoke & Really Rust. These colors just screamed fall to me and since I got some really cute new release images this week, I was off to make my cards.


For this card, I used the new releases - Split Scarecrow(K054) , Happy Thanksgiving Arc (E050) and 3 Leaf Background.


For my second card, I used Changing Leaves Thanksgiving Greeting (G1122) and Small Silhouette Leaf (C691)

I hope you are inspired by these cards and the color combo to participate in the challenge. Be sure to check out the challenge because some sweet gifts are being given away! Have fun and good luck!!

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I love the versatility of the jumbo candle! Thanks Cathy!

I love this candle! On the first card, I used both thin and thick dimensionals to create lots of dimension. The Stickles are on the flame, the top of the "melted" wax, and on the berries. I wish I had thought to add it to the center of the leaves. There's always next time!



Elegant Candle
DRS stamps: Jumbo Candle (F006), Silhouette Holly (F002), Silent Night greeting (D484)
Paper: white
Ink: black, Copic markers (R27 cadmium red, Y35 maize, Y38 honey)
Accessories: organza ribbon, Diamond Stickles, dimensionals



Can you believe this is the same candle?!? I love it! I got the idea to decorate the candle from DRS Designs DT Coordinator, Cathy. You can see her card on her blog here.

Birthday Candle
DRS stamps: Jumbo Candle (F006), Jenny Giraffe (G859), Gift BG (H1140), birthday greeting (F935) - DRS Designs
Paper: more mustard, real red, white, bashful blue dsp
Ink: black, more mustard, Copic markers, SU bashful blue marker
Accessories: circle & star punches

Jenny Charboneau/Designs by Boo

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Holly Jolly Snowman

by Julie - The Write Stuff
The recent chilly temperatures had me feeling like a snowman, lol. Yes, we do get snow here in N. Georgia, but not often and it's usually in the Jan-Mar period. Although, we have had it here as early as Thanksgiving. But the temps did drop into the 40's so we were a little chilled.

For my snowman (L001 Large Snowman Head), I stamped him twice on white cardstock and colored his hat, scarf, nose and shaded him a little using markers and a water brush. I cut out the base image using a die. I cut out the hat and scarf only of the second image and popped them up on top of the base using foam tape. I sponged a little green ink around the edge of the die cut.

I did the sentiment (B364 One Line Merry Christmas) tag the same way. I used red and green ink on the P631Open Plaid and stamped it on the diagonal to make my candy striped paper ribbon. On the white background panel, I stamped the P481 Holly/Pine Tree Card Edger with dk green ink as a frame and used markers to add some color. I cut it out using the scallop edge as the guide. It's attached to red then to a white card.

Before you head out today, please check out the Creative Crew Card Challenge that starts today. It's being sponsored by DRS Designs and I'll have a card for this challenge on my blog as well. We'd love to have you join in on the challenge, so check it out!

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Operation Holiday Wishes!

Please join DRS Designs in our Holiday Card Drive for Operation Write Home!
If you are not familiar with this organization, please click here to see how wonderful this program is for our brave soldiers (and the lucky devils who eventually receive the cards.)

We Need Your Help!!

During the months of September and October DRS Designs will be collecting as many holiday and winter themed cards as you can make!! Every other Monday, beginning on September 7th, our creative design team will be showing off their card donations on our blog. We hope you are inspired by their creations and will consider sending us your cards for this great cause.

To inspire you further DRS Designs will be offering a Total of 4 prizes!! Two prizes will be awarded at the end of each month (September & October):

Prize 1:
The stamper who has sent us the most cards during that month will win a $50 DRS Designs Gift Certificate!!

Prize 2:
We will pick our favorite card of the month that uses only DRS Designs Rubber Stamps and that stamper will win a $25 DRS Designs Gift Certificate!
Please be sure to get your card donations to us by October 26th so they can be distributed in time for the holiday rush! Also, please be sure to include an envelope for each card donated.

Send to:
DRS Designs
217 Greenwood Avenue
Bethel, CT 06801

Thank you for making our card drive a success! We love our Heroes - let's show 'em how much
*************Remember - NO GLITTER for soldier safety reasons!!!*********************
******************************************************************************

Here are some of our DT cards that are being donated to our troops...we hope you will be inspired to send yours in to us as well. Help us fill our big box...and you might just win a prize!!!!

Special note: Starting today until next Sunday 10/25/09, DRS will be sponsoring
Scrapmasters Paradise Color Combos! You know what that means...more cards and more chances to win a DRS prize!!! Head on over and check the awesome color combo for the week and participate for your chance to win some DRS shopping money!!!

Jenny Charboneau / Designs by Boo



Cathy Indelicato/Crafty Thoughts...



Vicki/Stamped Smiles:

Debbie Seyer - A Peek Into My Stamping Room

Jennifer E./Ink N Scrap Habits

Sue W. - DRS Designs

Ryann Salamon / RyannMarin Designs

Jessica G./Jess' Obsession:

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Fun with embellishments!

posted by: Cathy/Crafty Thoughts

Hi There! Have you checked out all the new Halloween images that DRS released this week? You are in for a treat, no tricks!!! (Get it?! LOL) Here is a card using one of the new images spooky tree with moon...



Can you find the hidden face in the tree trunk? don't you just love that sentiment? How cool to have an "arc" sentiment...try it with your giga punches, you won't be disappointed!!!

How do you like my embellishments? I had fun with some "non card" embellishments, hence the title of my post!!! Just take a look around your craft area or holiday decorations and you will find a ton of inexpensive card "candy"! The pumpkin is a fall button that I cut the shank off of and then attached to the card with a glue dot. The button is from one of those big button bags and the bats are Halloween confetti! I can't even begin to imagine how many bats are in that bag! I will never, ever have to buy another bat embellishment!!!

Thanks for checking in...be sure to shop soon so you can have your new Halloween images in your hands in time to make some awesome Halloween cards/treats!

The DT will be back tomorrow with some holiday inspiration for you. We are still collecting cards for our Operation Write Home card drive. We'll hope you'll join us!
See you soon...

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Just enjoying fall...

by Sue W.

Welcome!

I'm getting used to the stores decorating and playing Christmas carols in Sept. and Oct., but mother nature surprised us all this past Thurs. (here in the northeast anyway) by getting into the act! We normally start getting snow around Thanksgiving, and it about blew my doors off that it not only snowed on Thurs, but it snowed on and off all day (and a little bit on Friday too!). I'm just hoping now that it doesn't rush the trees into dropping their leaves early. Fall is my favorite time and I hate to see it rushed!

I've also been seeing alot of Christmas cards in the last month or so. This was not a surprise at all, what with the card drive and that our last new releases were Christmas. And while I've been tempted to get started on some Christmas cards (and did a couple for the drive), so far I've resisted temptation to really get into it.

My card for today is really good for almost any season - especially if you happen to be a "Buckeye"! I consider myself an honorary Buckeye since I used to live there and I've had close ties to Ohio for the past 28 years (it's scary just to type that out :)

I started with my background by stamping an ivory piece of card stock with our "Vicki's Versitile Background" (H369) stamp and using a dry piece of paper towel and some stamp pads I rubbed on some brown, taupe and plum inks by tapping my wadded up paper towel on the ink pad, rubbing the excess off on scrap paper and then rubbing in circles on my card, layering all 3 colors until I was happy. I layered it on a 2 1/2" strip of kraft card stock and cut off the 4 sides approx. 1/8" from edge. I attached it all to a folded green card.

My sentiment (F300) was stamped on ivory and I rubbed some brown on the left side only, then tapped all 4 sides gently on my brown stamp pad to add a little definition. I layered it on green card stock and then on some kraft card stock and attached it to the center of my background.

Next I worked on my buckeyes (F225), by stamping them in black ink, coloring them with a combination of Bic and Tombo markers, and cutting them out. I used a square hole punch I happened to have handy on the Ohio Buckeye wording, and then rubbed on a little color to that too. I used dimensional foam tape to attach my buckeyes and regular 2 sided tape for the Ohio Buckeyes square. I now have a wonderful card to send to one of my Ohio friends - male or female!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Dressing Up the Tree!

Posted By Jennifer E.

The theme over at the Saturday Spotlight with Hidden Potential this week is to dress up a tree! From plain Jane to glamorous is what this theme is all about, so that's what I did!

Stamps: DRS Designs- H010 Simple Decorated Tree, D049 Irish you a Merry Christmas Sentiment
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink French Blue
Paper: Smooth white cardstock by Office Depot, Colored Cardstock by American Crafts
Accessories: Copic & Bic Markers, Cuttlebug and Cuttlebug Snowflakes Embossing Folder, Sitckles, Ribbon by Fx, EK Success Snowflake Border Punch, EK Success Decorative Corner Punch, Stipple Brush
Finished Card Size: 5 7/8" x 5 5/8"

I used the new Christmas tree image from DRS Designs for my challenge card AND the October sketch from the Sheetloads of Cards Blog. I stamped the tree image 3 times, colored it with marker & dressed it up with snowflakes to complete the winter scene.

Make sure to check out the Hidden Potential Blog & Sheetloads Blog to see how you can win some great prizes from DRS Designs!

On another note...I'm extremely delighted to let you know that DRS Designs has just released a fun bunch of Halloween and Fall images that are now available for purchase!

Some of the new images include a spooky tree, some yummy Halloween treats, a scarecrow, a Halloween cat and even a scary blood shot eye!! Of course there are several sentiments to perfectly match these images as well. The DRS Designs DT will be showing them off very soon.

Click here to see all the new releases!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Smiles,
Jennifer

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Frosted Windowpanes

Posted by Jessica G.

Stamps: DRS Designs (Silhouette Icicles G035, Triple Tree L004, Snowflake Background H187, One line Merry Christmas B365); Ink: Stampin' Up (Read Red, Always Artichoke), Tsukineko (Versamark); Cardstock: Stampin' Up (Night of Navy, Basful Blue, Real Red), Papertrey (vellum), Marcella K (Perlescent Silver), Georgia Pacific (110 white), Doodlebug (Sugar-coated Lily white); Die Cut: Spellbinders (Rectangle Nestabilitiee); Paper Punch: Martha Stewart (snowflakes), Stampin' Up (Word Window); Embossing: Stampendous (Winter Wonderland, clear); Ribbon: Papertrey (Poppy grosgrain); Others: Hero Arts (gems); Unknown: star gem.

DRS teamed up with SheetLoads this month to sponsor the October e-issue featuring a sketch by Ann Seleshanko. This card is one of my takes on sketch; I thought the image panel was the perfect shape for a window with frosted vellum panes!

When the card is closed, there is a hint of another image:



Open the card to see three pines decorated for Christmas with gems and a star!



Ready to try your hand at trimming a tree for any season? DRS Designs is also sponsoring this week's Saturday Spotlight with Hidden Potential Challenge to 'Dress Up Those Trees'. Play along for your chance to win a DRS gift certificate!

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Star on the Tree

by Julie - The Write Stuff

Happy Wednesday!
Are y'all getting into a Holiday mood yet? I'm having a great time working with all these terrific Christmas images. For this card, I used (M1141)Cutie Pie Christmas Helpers, (B022) Santa Hat and (B364) One Line Merry Christmas.

The main image was stamped and water colored. I used a rectangle die to cut it out, left the die in place and sponged on a little yellow ink around the edges. The Santa hat was water colored and cut out. I added some liquid applique to the furry parts and heat set it to puff it up.

On the red background, I stamped the Merry Christmas image repeatedly on a diagonal across the panel with a darker red ink. I used a word window punch at the lower edge and attached a white piece with the greeting showing through the window. A white layer and a bright green textured layer finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you feel inspired to start on your own Christmas cards.

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Bee is for Birthday

by Ryann Salamon / RyannMarin Designs:

Hello again! I've got a fun bee-day card to show you using one of my favorite techniques - distressing. A lot of people use ink when distressing. I typically just use my handy edge distresser to rough of the edges of cardstock. You don't have to have a fancy tool to distress. I know people who use their scissors and even one friend that uses her fingernails! Distressing can take your card to a whole new level! Ever tried to make a shabby chic/vintage card? Add some distressing and you will be well on your way! :)


For my card today I've used Bitsy Bee (A1020) and Another Year Flies By... (F489) sentiment. I wanted the bee and sentiment to take center stage so I've kept the my card simple. I distressed the edges of black and yellow cardstocks then layered them together. Then I added a bit of black/white gingham ribbon and it's done! A nice and easy gender-neutral card; always good to have on hand!

If you didn’t already download the free issue of Sheetload of Cards – what are you waiting for? There is a fun challenge going on all month long over at Sheetload and the prizes are sponsored by DRS Designs! You can check out the challenge HERE!

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Quick & Sweet...

posted by: Cathy/Crafty Thoughts...

That's the name of the game these days, right? Well, today, I have a guick and sweet project for you. All you need is a recycled embellishment container (the clear plastic kind works best), your favorite stamps (DRS Designs images work best), some paper, ink and embellishments and.......some candy!!!

When you combine all of those goodies, this is the outcome...

Images by DRS Designs...



I simply emptied the box (a while ago!) and then cut my shimmer paper slightly longer than the box. I then scored a line using my scor-pal so that the paper formed a bottom base in the box. I stamped this new triple tree with snow (L004) image in dark green ink. I then stamped it in versamark ink and heat embossed with clear powder mixed with dazzling diamonds. I thought the sentiment (F229)was appropriate!! I only used a portion of it though! I made the icicles with the new icicle image (G035) - very cool!!! I stamped it in versamark and then heat embossed with the same mixture. A snowflake punch and a jewel jazzed things up. I then filled the box with snowcaps and added some ribbon. Voila! A guick and sweet gift for just about anyone!!! Great for teacher gifts, bus driver, baby sitters...you name it!

Thanks for checking in...
See you soon...

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There's still time!

by Sue

Welcome! I can't believe how many cards we've collected in our card drive - You ladies ROCK!!! We can't thank you enough for participating and making it a success! You still have time to send in your cards and possibly win one of our prizes!

I went with more of a patriotic theme this week, and I must say this is one card I kinda hope I'll never make again! I like coloring as much as the next person, but this might be ridiculous!

Here's my card so you can see what I mean ~



Should I mention that the background started as a white piece of paper??

I started my card this week by cutting apart my stamp! Since the very beginning I regretted making the wording inside our ribbon stamp (G952) so large, making it difficult to ink only the ribbon. Well I finally solved that dilemma! Even though my stamp is already mounted, I spent a few minutes with my exacto knife cutting very carefully just inside the ribbon, removing the wording in one piece so that I can slip it back in when I want to. It's kinda like getting a new stamp!

My next step was making a mask of said ribbon stamp, then stamping a background with it. Then I colored the ribbons yellow and after deciding it's was lacking something, I also colored in the blue background. It wasn't even fun coloring! I then put the wording back in my ribbon and I stamped the whole thing on a separate piece of white cardstock. I colored that as well and cut it out. I stamped the "Soldiers of America" (L918) using blue ink and after trimming I dry-brushed the edges with red. After attaching the wording I used several pop dots add dimension to my ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Get Well Bear

by Ryann Salamon / RyannMarin Designs

Good morning. Today I'm going to share with you one of my very favorite ways to color an image. Now before you go to grab your markers and pencils - keep reading! I don't know about you, but coloring those larger images can be really tough for me, so I like to cheat a little... I like to paper piece them instead!

Paper piecing is easy and really fun to do! After stamping your image on your cardstock, stamp it on a piece of patterned paper too. Then all you do is cut it out and adhere it on top of your cardstock stamped image. You can even take it a step further and pop it up on some dimensionals for some added depth.

My card today uses Boo Boo Bear (G431) and One Line Get Well Soon (B254x). I used Crate Paper's Mia collection to paper piece the bear to coordinate with the rest of my card. In addition to paper piecing your main image, you can also paper piece parts of it, like clothes or furniture. Try mixing and matching your patterned papers! Have fun with it! :)

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A Cornucopia of Thanksgiving!

By Debbie Seyer - A Peek Into My Stamping Room

When I found out that DRS Designs was sponsoring the monthly Sheetload of Cards e-zine for October, I was so excited! There is nothing I like better than a good sketch. Of course, Sheetload of Cards, goes beyond the sketch helping to make sure you get the most of your supplies with paper cutting guides plus samples of Anything But a Card using the sketch, too. Be sure to check out this month's issue AND Sheetload of Cards challenges. You could win a DRS Designs gift certificate!

For my sample in Sheetload this month, I used a wonderful image from DRS called Cornucopia. Its the perfect image to make some Happy Thanksgiving cards.

Supplies Used: Stamps: DRS Designs - Cornucopia L566, One Line Happy Thanksgiving D841
Dies: Spellbinders-Scalloped & Classic Paisleys, Fancy Tag Trio, Brads, Ribbon and 3d Foam Squares, Copic Markers Patterned Paper: Stampin’ Up! Cardstock: Dark Chocolate, Really Rust, Whisper White

DRS has so many great Thanksgiving images and sentiments to choose from. If you are looking for an image to make some Thanksgiving Decorations be sure to check out DRS Designs! Have a great day!

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Feelin' Kind of Flaky!

I'm not fond of winter in real life, but I love decorating my house with snowmen and crafting with all kinds of winter images. The first card uses the color challenge posted on Splitcoast, yesterday: mellow moss, kraft, & white.



Stamps: Snowflake Scroll (F875), Medium Filigree Snowflake (H1123), sentiment (D484)
Paper: mellow moss, kraft, white
Ink: mellow moss, craft white, close to cocoa
Accessories: ribbons, sponge, embossing powder
Techniques: The edges of the kraft panel were sponged with craft white.



This is Snowflake Snowman. I like to call him Mr. Flaky :) This isn't my normal color combination for snowmen, but I thought go bold and give it a try!

Does anyone else have difficulties stamping your sentiments the way you want them? It can be so frustrating! This time I stamped it straight, but it was off-center. I almost brought more cardstock out, but at the last second, I thought of adding this cute little snowflake in the corner. What do you think?

Stamps: Snowflake Snowman (M260), 4 in 1 Snowflakes (D096), sentiment (F229) - All DRS Designs
Paper: white, melon mambo, so saffron
Ink: black, melon mambo, Copic markers
Accessories: SU slit punch, eyelet, ribbon, dimensionals


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Simply Thanksgiving!

DRS Designs is sponsoring this month's Sheetloads sketch. Wondering what that means for you? Well, it's another great opportunity for you to win stamps from DRS Designs for "Free!" It's easy too! Just participate by utilizing this month's card sketch challenge on the Sheetloads of Cards site and post your card on your blog or online gallery and then link it on the Sheetloads October Sketch Challenge post.

The Grand Prize winner will be selected to win $25.00 off your next order from DRS Designs and the Runner up will receive $15.00 off!

I used the Simply Pumpkin image, colored with marker, and the Simple delicious Thanksgiving sentiment for my October Sheetloads design.

Stamps: DRS Designs- Simply Delicious Thanksgiving Sentiment (G855), Simply Pumpkin (G304)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Paper: Smooth white cardstock by Office Depot, Colored Cardstock by The Paper Company, American Crafts
Accessories: Bic & Copic Markers, Nesties, Cuttlebug and Cuttlebug Argyle & Diamonds In The Rough Embossing Folders, Prang Metallic Gold Marker, SU! Photo Corner Punch, Brads by Joann's Scrap Essentials
Finished Card Size: 5.5" x 5.5"

My favorite part of the Sheetloads Ezine is not only the sketch (of course!), but I also enjoy the cutting diagrams. The sheetload sketches are formatted for either making a single card, or for using the sketch to mass produce the card design. For example, the yield for the October sketch is 8- 5.5" square cards. What that means is that in order to create all 8 cards, you will need:

8 - 8.5” x 11” Solid Cardstock sheets (or 4- 12" x 12" cardstock sheets),

3 - 12” x 12” Patterned Paper sheets, and

1 - 5.5” x 8” sheet of Patterned Paper.

(I used all solid cardstock for each of the layers on my card.) All of this information can be found in each Sheetloads Ezine issue & is specific to each month's sketch!

So, when you get ready to mass create your holiday cards this year, participate in a card swap, or for the next time you need to make invitations, make sure to check out the latest Sheetloads Ezine (or check out their archives for previous issues) and quickly whip up the cards you need to make!

Now run over to the Sheetloads Blog & check it all out!

Have a wonderful day!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Operation Write Home with us...

Please join DRS Designs in our Holiday Card Drive for Operation Write Home!
If you are not familiar with this organization, please click here to see how wonderful this program is for our brave soldiers (and the lucky devils who eventually receive the cards.)

We Need Your Help!!

During the months of September and October DRS Designs will be collecting as many holiday and winter themed cards as you can make!! Every other Monday, beginning on September 7th, our creative design team will be showing off their card donations on our blog. We hope you are inspired by their creations and will consider sending us your cards for this great cause.

To inspire you further DRS Designs will be offering a Total of 4 prizes!! Two prizes will be awarded at the end of each month (September & October):

Prize 1:
The stamper who has sent us the most cards during that month will win a $50 DRS Designs Gift Certificate!!

Prize 2:
We will pick our favorite card of the month that uses only DRS Designs Rubber Stamps and that stamper will win a $25 DRS Designs Gift Certificate!
Please be sure to get your card donations to us by October 26th so they can be distributed in time for the holiday rush! Also, please be sure to include an envelope for each card donated.

Send to:
DRS Designs
217 Greenwood Avenue
Bethel, CT 06801

Thank you for making our card drive a success! We love our Heroes - let's show 'em how much
*************Remember - NO GLITTER for soldier safety reasons!!!*********************
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Operation Write Home
September Prize Update!!
Congratulations to our September winners!!
For the most cards sent in during the month of September we thank
Verlene VanAmber from California and
our favorite card using DRS Designs was created by Carol Beal from Maine!
Your prizes are the way ladies and we thank you so much for contributing to our card drive! You are great Americans!!

Here are some of our DT cards that are being donated to our troops...we hope you will be inspired to send yours in to us as well. Help us fill our big box...and you might just win a prize!!!!

Jennifer E./ Ink N Scrap Habits

Sue ~ DRS Designs


Jessica G./Jess' Obsession:

Vicki/Stamped Smiles:



Cathy Indelicato/Crafty Thoughts...

Ryann Salamon / RyannMarin Designs


Julie Warner/ The Write Stuff

Jenny Charboneau/Designs by Boo



Debbie Seyer - A Peek Into My Stamping Room

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