OCTOBER CARDS

Apologies for the extra lateness of this week's post!  Would you believe that this week was even crazier than last week? Anyway, let's get to it.

I have been really enjoying playing with my stamps and cards and paper and stencils and spray bottle lately.  In fact, having all my card and craft stuff set up in the lounge room has made it so easy to just sit down at the table and play around in between everything else I have to do.  It's also easy to sit down and get inky INSTEAD of all the other things I have to do!  LOL.

Check out these cards!

 The Party Time card was created with some gold foil transfers I bought at the local dollar store.  This was a fun technique to try and I will use the rest of the transfers, but I'm not going to go crazy buying foil and other tools for foiling.

The Chevron 'Happy Birthday' card is one of my favourites!  I made this using a stencil that my aunty sent me.  I love it!!! I used two shades of blue ink and an ink blending tool to colour over the stencil and then I cut it to size and did some offset layering.  The "Happy Birthday" die was cut out on using Denim cardstock from Kaiser.  

The Frog Birthday Card was made using: Chit Chat stamp set from Lawn Fawn.  Hexagon dies, Frog stamp and green polka dot DSP all from Kaiser craft.  The rest of the card stock on this card was generic from a $2 store. 
There's Always a Reason to Smile was one of my attempts at making a batch of KISS cards (Keep It Simple Stamper), using a variation on one of Catherine Pooler's KISS cards.  It did not go nearly as well as things do in her videos.  I make a lot more mistakes than she does! Click here to check out her blog post and video.  You could say I CASE'd this card.  More on CASE'ing another day.  The DSP is another of my favourites from Kaiser craft.  See below for the other two cards that I made in that batch.  I love how versatile this layout is and how easy it is to adapt.  























Pink Balloon 80th card: This next card is extra special. It was a request from a co-worker.  Her Mum turned 80 and she asked me to make the card.  She also paid me! This is the first time that someone (other than Nanny) has paid me for one of my cards. Excited Much! This was a variation on some of the other balloon cards I have made before.  I decided to make two clusters of balloons this time and I really like how it turned out.

The card above right, Celebrate, is a card I made for an extra birthday card to have on hand.  I used two different sized circle punches, some designer series paper with birds.  I just lined up the circles with the birds on the paper - well almost.  I'm happy for a first attempt! 

 Can you tell I love butterflies? The hello die was a gift from my aunty and it looks great in any colour!  The Baby Girl card was made for a colleague at work who gave birth to a beautiful baby girl more than a month ago.  The Butterfly Hello card was my first attempt at inlaid die cutting.  It isn't exactly how it might look in all the tutorials, but it is my spin on it.  I like how clean and simple this card is and how cheerful it looks.  I made it for a different aunty.  She loves gardening and is such a gentle soul.  I had to use this patterned paper to make something for her.

Now for some THANK YOU cards.  I think I have made more thank you cards than birthday cards!! I love to show my appreciation for people and I love making cards for this purpose.

The first card below, Black Cat Thank You Tag card, was made for a friend of mine who kitty sat Shelly over a weekend or two.  I went away two weekends in a row and one of my former students, now a 23 year old, came over to feed and play with Shelly everyday I was away.  She also scooped a bit of poop, so she definitely deserved a card! Shelly left a note inside as well.

Now for the most important card this month.  One of my aunties shares my love of paper crafting and stamping.  She has hundreds of stamps, dies, stencils and all manner of craft supplies.  Over the past few months she has been clearing out her stash and trying to pare back a bit.  So, she has been sending me all sorts of goodies... like stencils, stamps, dies, stickers and stamped images.  She has also taught me so much simply by giving me feedback on my card photos that I send her, sharing links and project guides with me and telling me about YouTube channels to watch.  I have really grown as a crafter and stamper in the past four or five months and all because of her.  So, I decided it was time that I use some of the lovely stamps and dies she has sent me to make her a card.  I used some techniques she showed me too.  The best part was that she wasn't expecting it and she was really impressed with it.  (Insert Giant Grin here!)  If you are wondering, the flower and leaves matching stamps and dies, were a Free Gift in the September Simply Cards magazine.  My aunty bought a copy of it and her daughter bought it too, so they sent one to me! I'm so lucky!

I have made a few other cards this month, but I think you have probably had enough?  I know I have.  You might get to see them another time. By the way, I do my best to acknowledge the designers of stamps, dies and other products that I use when making my cards.  However, much of my stash has been acquired over time, from others giving away things they no longer use, or purchasing from discount stores.  I don't have a lot of money and I try to stretch my crafting dollars as far as possible.  No apologies for that!  My point is, that if I don't know where it came from, I can't tell you.  

We are heading towards Christmas.  Yes, I have started shopping and making cards!  Work is super busy with no sign of letting up.  I have no idea what next week will bring. So, we will all be surprised together! Hopefully, I will finally get to post on time.  

Stay Cool!