Nature's Gift

I wish the pictures showed the shine that this card has in person. I used a silver metalic paper that I found at the office supply store. White Daisy pigment ink was applied to the bottom using a sponge in a wavy swipe from right to left. I then used Indian Corn blue the same way to do the sky. The silver shows thru in places giving a special shine. I also stippled on some White Daisy lightly and when completely dry, just barely added some petal for a touch of color. Stamped the tree, sentiment and bear in black. Outlined lightly the tree and the ground swirl with a puffy paint, let dry then heat set to puff up. Glitter glue was also added for extra dimension. The glitter glue even though it is clear, picks up the green color in the black ink and appears green in places.

Mounted on black and then on paper from Wonderland paper pack.

Believe Paper Pack and AP Poinsettias

I just love the red plaid in the Believe paper pack and wanted to try a different card fold for this card. Cut a white 4 1/4"x 11 1/2 " piece of paper. Score at 2" from one end and 3 1/2" from other end. To make the poinsettia, I cut 2@ 3" Star Flowers from the AP cricut cardridge found on page 39 of the AP booklet, 1@ 1 1/2 "  in cranbery cardstock and 1@ 3/4" in olive.Turn the flowers over and score each petal  like a leaf. Turn back over the top and lightly sand exposing the veins in the petals. Highlight with cranberry ink. Stack the flowers on top of each other to form the flower, cut 2 leaves out of olive. I went around the edges with glitter glue to add some sparkle. The borders were cut with a Martha Stewart border punch using New England Ivy cardstock. I used 2  Shape2  on page 36 of the cricut booklet cut at 1 1/2 " for the sentiment on the outside and the inside lower flap. The inside center was cut in white using the Oval 5 cut @ 3 1/2. The words for the inside of the card come from one of the stamp sets that come in the Art Philosophy Cartridge bundle. If you haven't gotten yours yet, you can order one here.  I hope you enjoy this card, it was fun to make. Inspiration for this card design comes from Joanie http://craftingwithjoanie.blogspot.com/ make sure you visit her blog, you will not be disappointed.

Halloween mask- batman to fox

Working on the Halloween masks for my daughter Sara and her husband Rob. I still need to figure out how I'm going to do the nose, not sure whether it will end up being molding foam or Styrofoam. Also need to add whiskers probably with broom straws painted black. I love making costumes and have just as much fun with the adults as I do with the kids.

(no animals were harmed in the creation of these masks)

I've got the first one almost done as you can see, I think my little fox turned out cute, so glad I found "Batman" to be the base, then it was just buying fake fur in white and a red brown and a really good glue that hubby had (Quick Grip) to secure the fur to the plastic.Started with the white fur mouth area then cut a piece of reddish brown to start at the nose and go up the face between the ears, Trimmed the fur fabric ( always cut just the fabric from the back so you get natural lay to the fur) around the eyes, With the black plastic it worked out beautifully to give a black rim to the eyes and still keep the fur from around the eye for safety and comfort. Next made a rough paper pattern for the face sides, letting the fabric extend past the mask on the sides for about an inch., Then I cut out of a cardboard cereal box some larger shaped fox ears and glued them to the bat ears. A small section of white was then added and layers of reddish brown covering the front edges and back of ears, so they look real from the back too. A black broad tip Sharpie was used to darken the fur around the ears and for eyebrows.

So I decided on using a modeling foam and painted them with shiny black paint and broom straws painted black as well. Now my next challenge is to get them packed up and safely sent to Sara. I'm hoping that the whiskers will not get destroyed.

  I can't wait to see the pictures from their Halloween party when they dress up as Mr and Mrs. Fox.

 What do you think? Do you do costumes or decorations for Halloween?