TOB - Dec Mid Month Challenge Reminder

 

Happy Holidays crafty friends,
Welcome to this month's challenge reminder post.  Have you started working on a card/project?  If yes, GREAT!  If no, WHAT are you waiting for?  We want to see your Halloween creations.   Remember  the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge, runs from the 2nd to the 28th of the month and the theme is always Halloween... ANYTHING related to Halloween!

I can't believe 2022 is coming to an end, WOW!  

Taking inspiration from the mood board, I created a ghostly banner.  This time instead of telling you how I made the card, I'm going to tell you how I would remake it, because I like the design, just not the execution.

I wouldn't have used dimensional adhesive foam on the purple frame (the banner die cut). If you want dimension (for a shaker card, etc.) die cut several extra banners to back the purple one (the top layer).  This will provided more support to the whole banner and look much better.  The outside frame on this die is just too thin and even the thin adhesive foam I used was not thin enough and ended up looking terrible.  I tried to hide it by coloring it black with a marker and made more of a mess.      

Add double side adhesive to the vellum paper before die cutting the ghosts, so that the adhesive won't show.  If your banner was dimensional, all you would need to do was not attach the banner to the card front prior to adding your ghosts on it, so that you could coat the sticky backs of some of the ghost with powder to remove unwanted stickiness.  If you're using acetate, then the ghost would just stick to the acetate.  The vellum adhesive I used was very visible. 

   Sometimes looking at a card I made (but I'm not happy with) with a critical eye helps me make better cards.  Not all cards are stars, but every card I make can teach me something.  I hope this helps.  

Here's this month's mood board for additional inspiration... Hope to see your card/project soon. 

Challenge ends on the 28th, winner will be announced on the 1st on the month before the start on the new challenge.  For a full list of all the rules please visit Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge home page.  unit next time... take care.

               

Craft Roulette #141 Card

 

Hello crafty friends, 
     here's my 66th submission to Craft Roulette, Episode #141:

Once you have the parameters, how do you decide what products to use?  Do you have an inventory of your stamps and die?  I have some stuff in AirTable, but it's not up-to-date, so I'll usually search the "inventory" directory I created and keep updated on my computer.

  This time, I started by searching for "tree" and one of the first items displayed was the Tree Ring Embossing Folder by TH. I didn't even bother looking at anything else the search found, because I was locked on the embossing folder. And It was in the "new stuff" bin that sits on my desk next to the "seasonal" bin. 

So now I had a background for my "A2" "from a tree" card. Next I set to work on some "in the corner" elements. I grab the Foliage 2 by Paper Smooches set and die cut some pine leaves from variated green pattern paper.  I also die cut the Birch Tree Circle from IO from beige card stock.  The red (my plus 1 color) ticket is from Unity's Ticket to Christmas set.  At this point, I though I was set and arranged all my corner elements.  I took my photos, selected the best photo, added the CR logo and my watermark in PhotoShopElements and saved my file.  It was only when I upload the photo here that I realized I didn't have any blue in my card.  WAIT, no need to panic, digital stamps to the recue!  I reopened my card in PSE and added three blue snowflakes, varying their sizes for interest.

Thanks for stopping bye.  Until next time, take 

TOB - Dec Challenge

 

Hello crafty friends,

Welcome to a new month at the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge, which runs from the 2nd to the 28th of the month and the theme is always Halloween... ANYTHING related to Halloween!  

When I saw the Halloween decorated cake on the mood board I knew I had the perfect stamp for a card.  This stamp by IO is a favorite (as most IO in my collection are).  I love that it's not an overly creepy design and can be used on Halloween as well as Falls cards.  I paired it with a frame and a sentiment stamp by Penny Black and used a fun pattern paper to make the stamped image pop. 

Here's this month's mood board for additional inspiration... Hope to see your card soon. 

Challenge ends on the 28th, winner will be announced on the 1st on the month before the start on the new challenge.  For a full list of all the rules please visit Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge home page.  unit next time... take care.

 

TOB - Nov Mid Month Challenge Reminder

 

Hello crafty friends,
Welcome to this month's challenge reminder post.  Have you started working on a card/project?  If yes, GREAT!  If no, WHAT are you waiting for?  We want to see your Halloween creations.   Remember  the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge, runs from the 2nd to the 28th of the month and the theme is always Halloween... ANYTHING related to Halloween!

I kept it quick and easy this time.  My cards took less than 30 minutes to make. Both are 4" square cards, which I made with a little masking, a small clear pumpkin stamp (Honey Bee Pumpkin Patch), a set of small cactus wood mounted stamps (pictured above), a sentiment (Paper Smooches Halloween Sampler) and two Wonky Stitched Square dies from MFT.  

  Here's a little video showing how I did the masking. 

Here's this month's mood board for additional inspiration... Hope to see your card/project soon. 

Challenge ends on the 28th, winner will be announced on the 1st on the month before the start on the new challenge.  For a full list of all the rules please visit Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge home page.  unit next time... take care.

               

Craft Roulette #138 Card

 

Hello crafty friends, 
     here's my 65th submission to Craft Roulette, Episode #138:

Another FUNN set of parameters this week.  The project called for Window card and initially I thought of die cutting a window into my card, but dismissed that idea quickly.  Instead I searched my dies for a window (Poppystamps Cottage Window) and die cut three of them to create Fall shaker windows for a slimline (4.75x8) card.  I inked the insides of my shaker windows with yellow and red.  Starting with the yellow at the bottom and the red at the top and them blending them in the middle.  I filled the shaker windows with a mix if gold and copper leaves.  I finished the shaker windows with small twig wreath die (3 circles).  The last step before adhering the shaker windows was coloring my card base, which I did with a light shade of purple (+1). 

 

Thanks for stopping bye.  Until next time, take 

Craft Roulette #137 Card

 

Hello crafty friends, 

     here's my 64th submission to Craft Roulette, Episode #137:

The parameters are always interesting and that's why I love this challenge.  

I took the "Peek-a-Boo" refer to heart and used the Stitched Triple Peek-a-Boo Window and Edge die from MFT to create three circle windows and a diagonal cut across my top card panel.  I torn both side of the panel following the die cut diagonal edges.  The bottom right section, I stamped and colored my High Hopes Drive Thru stamp scene using Distress Oxides inks (red = Barn Door, green = Lucky Clover, Black Soot) black)and alcohols  markers (green, purple, blue).  The top left card base was Distress Oxide inked in green (Lucky Clover) and the top left panel with the openings was Distress Oxide inked in blue (Speckled Egg).  

The top left half of the panel is lifted on what I'm thinking are super thick circle foam.  I don't remember where I got them, but I wanted to finished them off, so I reached for them.  I should have stamped the sentiment (MFT Hug In A Mug) before adhering the top panel, but I didn't so, I used one of the circles from the die cut, which I inked like the background. 

Here's a link the process video for this card. 

Thanks for stopping bye.  Until next time, take care.

TOB - Nov Challenge

 

Hello crafty friends,

Welcome to a new month at the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge, which runs from the 2nd to the 28th of the month and the theme is always Halloween... ANYTHING related to Halloween!  

This month's mood board makes me think of what Fall/Halloween must be like in Arizona, Nevada and other warm dry places were cactus live.  I wanted to go with that idea and created a cactus pumpkin version of my own using a stamp set by Picket Fence with some cute cactus kids.

I created a background panel with two of the cactus kids stamped in gray ink and inked the edges with orange Distress Oxide Ink (Craved Pumpkin).  Initially, It was going to be a portrait card (top loading) and I stamped the background kids based on the initial placement on the big pumpkin, but I ended up not like how it looked and changed the orientation to a landscape side folding card. This left a weird gap on the right side of the background panel, but other than masking some I could stamp over some of the images, I couldn't think of a way to work around it, so I moved forward.  The sentiment covers some of the gap and I made add a strip of die cut grass to the bottom of the card to "ground" the pumpkin.

I used a combination of markers and Distress inks to color the pumpkin and added the cactus kids on top on foam tape.  The sentiment is also raised on foam tape.  

Here's this month's mood board for additional inspiration... Hope to see your card soon. 

Challenge ends on the 28th, winner will be announced on the 1st on the month before the start on the new challenge.  For a full list of all the rules please visit Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge home page.  unit next time... take care.

 

Craft Roulette #136 Card

Hello crafty friends, 
     here's my 63rd submission to Craft Roulette, Episode #136:

I went out to dinner with my Pete (my hubby) and Peter (my son) for my bday, so I didn't watch the show live, but I was happy to find out later that Mr Wheel selected my favorite colors (purple and red).  I think this may be the first time it's happen.  So many ideas where spinning in my head on Saturday when I sat down that I ended up starting three different cards, before taking a step back and simplifying the whole thing. 

I used two very old leaf punches and some scrap pieces of tone-on-tone pattern paper and punched out nine leaves for my "tic tac toe" panel, which I created with thin washi tape.  Of course I made purple the winner of game board.  My supporting colors are green and orange.  The only regret I have is the color of my background panel... it should have been red, but I actually didn't have a sheet big enough, because I don't buy/use that much color card stock.   The fringe parameter is a sheer black ribbon, which to be honest I would say it more of a ruffle than a fringe, but it's the closest I have.  

Thanks for stopping bye.  Until next time, take care.

Craft Roulette #135 Card

 

Hello crafty friends, 
     here's my 62nd submission to Craft Roulette, Episode #135:

"Sheet(s)" was the parameters that required a little thinking this week.  But since I'm focused on Halloween currently, ghosts came to mind right away... it was just a matter of finding this one ghost stamp with coordinating legs/feet from Judith stamps.  

I kept the background simple, by just smooshing some Distress Oxide blue and green inks directly onto by card front.  I didn't over work (water) it, since it was just regular 110lb cardstock.  On the tags I ink blended blue, green and my plus 1 color orange (temporary on #TeamOrange) and stamped the legs/feet of my ghost.  I left the legs/feet uncolored, because I wanted focus to be on the "kids" ghost "sheets", which are mounted on foam tape for added dimension.  I also stamped, fussy cut and colored each ghost's patch to match the sheet, creating a two-tone affect on two of the three ghosts.  

Thanks for stopping bye.  Until next time, take care.

Craft Roulette #134 Card

 

Hello crafty friends, 
     here's my 61st submission to Craft Roulette, Episode #134:

This weeks parameters were very fitting for us here in the Midwest with it being sweater weather.  I love Fall and have several sweater theme products I would have used, but this turnabout stamp came to mind right away.  

I stamped two panels... one on white card stock using Antique Linen Distress ink and one on black card stock using white ink (see photo).  I used a heat gun to make sure the inks on both panels were dried and using my three color glitter makers (blue, lime green, gold golden yellow)  I colored into the sweaters, scarfs and a few other elements.   Next I die cute my squares.  The smallest middle square is actual glued directly to the card base. The second square (white) and it's narrow black frame are popped up on foam tape.  The last white square is also glued directly to the card base.  The die cut gold Happy Fall is glue in just the parts that touch the white square.

Take-a-way notes... stamping this with white embossing power on black card stock would look really nice and would allow for better coloring.  I used Antique Linen Distress ink on the white card stock stamping, because it was my lightest ink, but if I had a No-Line ink, that would have been a better choice.

Thanks for stopping bye.  Until next time, take care.

TOB - Oct Mid Month Challenge Reminder

 

Hello crafty friends,
Welcome to this month's challenge reminder post.  Have you started working on a card/project?  If yes, GREAT!  If no, WHAT are you waiting for?  We want to see your Halloween creations.   Remember  the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge, runs from the 2nd to the 28th of the month and the theme is always Halloween... ANYTHING related to Halloween!

I fell in love with Simon Say's new "Oh, Frank" stamp set, so when they ran a deal recently I jumped on the fact that his cutie was available.  

Since it's October, It's the perfect time to use this text pattern paper with "October" in the text. I used it in the corners and by applying some partial die cutting techniques I was able to use my stitched rectangle die to die cut a stitched border around the usual shaped pieces.  

I stamped and colored Frank with Distress Ink (face and hands) and gray markers (fingernails and bolts).  I fussy cut him and crumpled him up to give him cracks and distressed him . I glued him directly to the card panel, but popped up his hands and the pumpkin his holding on form tape.  The sentiment is also  popped up on on form tape.

  
Here's this month's mood board for additional inspiration... Hope to see your card/project soon. 

Challenge ends on the 28th, winner will be announced on the 1st on the month before the start on the new challenge.  For a full list of all the rules please visit Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge home page.  unit next time... take care.

               

Craft Roulette #133 Card

 

Hello crafty friends, 
     here's my 60th submission to Craft Roulette, Episode #133:

The parameters were easy this week, but I don't like this card size, because I can't use my stitched dies.  I like my cards to have stitched panels and I don't have any for these sizes (If  even available), so I used a stitching tool on the base panel for added interest.

My plus two colors are orange and green.  The  squiggles are part of a tiny confetti stamp, which I used on the orange Distress inked panel.  

Thanks for stopping bye.  Until next time, take care.

Craft Roulette #132 Card

 

Hello crafty friends, 
     here's my 59th submission to Craft Roulette, Episode #132:

I took somewhat of a break from card making for a couple of months.  Basically, I was sad and dealing with family stuff.  We lost my Father in July and in August, we had a medical scared with my Mom, who at the time was a very young and independent 86 year old. 

I lost my mojo, whenever I sat down to stamp or color, I just didn't have it in me.  Thankfully I was ahead on Design Team projects, so that was something I didn't have to worry about.  But enough of that... here for something FUNN!

This card and the stamp I used on it.  The cat with a "sack" over his head is an older Penny Black wood mounted stamp called "Brown Bag Monster 2537J" and he worked out perfectly.  My slimline card measures 8"x3.75", it's a vertical sideways folding card.  The main card panel and stamped windows were die cut with dies from MFT.  

The card base panel was inked green and then inked again with the same green using a spider web (Tim Holtz) stencil for a soft tone on tone background pattern.  The spiders were inked in gray, because I didn't want them to stand out.  Pale green sequins were glued to the card at the end.  

the two stamped windows were die cut twice.  The orange sections were originally from the base panel, but I wanted to incorporate the purple in-between the orange and the green, the second die cut windows were fussy cut at the stitches marks and adhered over the opening in the base card panel, then the orange piece was adhered over the purple piece on foam tape for added dimension. 

Thanks for stopping bye.  Until next time, take care.

TOB - Oct Challenge

 

Hello crafty friends,

Welcome to a new month at the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge, which runs from the 2nd to the 28th of the month and the theme is always Halloween... ANYTHING related to Halloween!  

I love this big 31st die, so when I saw it on a crafty card video last month I knew I had to find it and order it.  It turned out to be part of a set of big word dies by Diamond Press containing four Halloween dies and four Fall dies.  This month's mood board gave me the perfect opportunity to use it on a card. 

I kept the card simple, by using a HAPPY stencil and purple ink on my background.  I love this stencil and reach for all-the-time.  I like to angle the stencil text, that way if you don't get it straight, it's not noticeable.  I die cut the 31st from black card stock, but as I'm typing this, I'm wondering why I didn't use black glitter card stock.  The October die (also in the die set, so that's five Halloween dies, instead of four) I die cut from white card stock and colored it with orange Distress Oxide ink.

Here's this month's mood board for additional inspiration... Hope to see your card soon. 

Challenge ends on the 28th, winner will be announced on the 1st on the month before the start on the new challenge.  For a full list of all the rules please visit Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge home page.  unit next time... take care.

 

TOB - Sept Mid Month Challenge Reminder

 

Hello crafty friends,
Welcome to this month's challenge reminder post.  Have you started working on a card/project?  If yes, GREAT!  If no, WHAT are you waiting for?  We want to see your Halloween creations.   Remember  the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge, runs from the 2nd to the 28th of the month and the theme is always Halloween... ANYTHING related to Halloween!

I have a super cute (I hope you agree) card for you today.  I created a fun text background using some of the sentiments from the Hand Lettered Halloween stamp set by Simon Says Stamps pictured above.  A digital ghost from Polka Doodles, which I printed large enough to take up a good portion of my A2 card.  I thought about putting him on an action wobble, but ended up just popping him up on form tape.

This type of background is one of my go to tricks when I'm feeling uninspired or overwhelmed.  I don't always use text stamps, sometimes it's small image or a mix of small and medium images.  Basically, you are making your own pattern paper background, so you are customizing it to your exact needs.  And don't be afraid to make it bold, because you can always add a layer of vellum over it to defuse the boldness a bit without losing the impact. 

  
Here's this month's mood board for additional inspiration... Hope to see your card/project soon. 

Challenge ends on the 28th, winner will be announced on the 1st on the month before the start on the new challenge.  For a full list of all the rules please visit Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge home page.  unit next time... take care.

               

TOB - Sept Challenge

 

Hello crafty friends,

Welcome to a new month at the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge, which runs from the 2nd to the 28th of the month and the theme is always Halloween... ANYTHING related to Halloween!  

Can you believe it's September?  This year is flying bye!  We are only one month away from the best month of the year... October (my bday and Halloween).  I know some of you may disagree with me on this, but I'll still be your friend. 

Obviously, I took inspiration from the BOO décor piece pictured below.  I used The BOO stamp and die set by Petty Pink Posh and the Ghost Trio dies by Impression Obsession to create my card.  I stamped the BOO onto three color pattern papers by The Paper Studio and colored the small images using my Triblend markers. The white images were colored with white marker pens.  The B and the bottom O are popped up, everything else is adhered directly to the black panel.   Looking at the card as I type this, it looks to clean, so I may splash so white paint on it.

Here's this month's mood board for additional inspiration... Hope to see your card soon. 

Challenge ends on the 28th, winner will be announced on the 1st on the month before the start on the new challenge.  For a full list of all the rules please visit Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge home page.  unit next time... take care.

 

TOB - Aug Mid Month Challenge Reminder

 

Hello crafty friends,
Welcome to this month's challenge reminder post.  Have you started working on a card/project?  If yes, GREAT!  If no, WHAT are you waiting for?  We want to see your Halloween creations.   Remember  the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge, runs from the 2nd to the 28th of the month and the theme is always Halloween... ANYTHING related to Halloween!

Keeping with the skeleton theme for my mid month card, I used the same set of skeleton dies I used earlier in the month and a double decker bus die by Memory Box to create a very quick and fun card.  The sentiment, I just typed up on my computer.  The green background pattern paper and the black card stock are both by The Paper Studio.   

  
Here's this month's mood board for additional inspiration... Hope to see your card/project soon. 

Challenge ends on the 28th, winner will be announced on the 1st on the month before the start on the new challenge.  For a full list of all the rules please visit Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge home page.  unit next time... take care.

               

TOB - Aug Challenge

 

Hello crafty friends,

Welcome to a new month at the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge, which runs from the 2nd to the 28th of the month and the theme is always Halloween... ANYTHING related to Halloween!  

The skeletons I used on my card aren't as scary as those on the mood board.  They are fun and like to party, so I put them into a shaker card with lots (probably a little too much) sequin.  I used a purple watercolor pattern paper for the background, the largest of the woodgrain rectangle frame dies by Hero Arts and some skeleton dies.  

Here's this month's mood board for additional inspiration... Hope to see your card soon. 

Challenge ends on the 28th, winner will be announced on the 1st on the month before the start on the new challenge.  For a full list of all the rules please visit Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge home page.  unit next time... take care.

 

Craft Roulette #122 Card & Video

 

Hello crafty friends, 
     here's my 58th submission to Craft Roulette, Episode #122:

The parameters were kind of wide open this time, but the colors got me thinking about the sea, so I went with a cool blue/green ocean scene spilling from a "miniature" envelope, which I used as my "pocket" element.  A small pool of fish, a cute seahorse and octopus are all part of my completed 4x6 scene card panel.

Here's a link to the process video for this card.  

Thanks for stopping bye.  Until next time, take care.

Craft Roulette #121 Card & Video

 

Hello crafty friends, 
     here's my 57th submission to Craft Roulette, Episode #121:

This was a quick card made with just a few products.  First, I created a top opening 4"x4" book binding card base.  I used pattern paper for my color scheme and matched my stamped element to one of the colors.  A sideways oval stitched die cut in the center of the pattern paper create a place for my stamped little church ornament/bell/cloche scene by @IOStamps, Stickles and gold assorted size dots accents finished the card. 

Here's a link to the process video for this card.  

Thanks for stopping bye.  Until next time, take care.

Craft Roulette #120 Card & Video

 

Hello crafty friends, 
     here's my 56th consecutive submission to Craft Roulette, Episode #120:

  

Thanks for stopping bye.  Until next time, take care.

TOB - July Mid Month Challenge Reminder

Hello crafty friends,
Welcome to this month's challenge reminder post.  Have you started working on a card/project?  If yes, GREAT!  If no, WHAT are you waiting for?  We want to see your Halloween creations.   Remember  the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge, runs from the 2nd to the 28th of the month and the theme is always Halloween... ANYTHING related to Halloween!

I stayed with the ghost theme for my mid-month card.  I used a ghost embossing folder by Simon Says Stamps and a ghost digital stamp by Vera Lane Studio to create my card. 

I dry embossed the ghosts on black card stock and using a white ink pad I lightly swiped it over the raised embossed ghosted and around the edges. I printed the digital ghost and using metallic watercolors, I painted him with white and purple on the banner.  I handwrote the BOO in the banner. I also placed the ghost on an action wobbler for an added touch of fun.  

  
Here's this month's mood board for additional inspiration... Hope to see your card/project soon. 

Challenge ends on the 28th, winner will be announced on the 1st on the month before the start on the new challenge.  For a full list of all the rules please visit Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge home page.  unit next time... take care.

               

TOB - July Challenge

Hello crafty friends,

Welcome to a new month at the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge, which runs from the 2nd to the 28th of the month and the theme is always Halloween... ANYTHING related to Halloween!  

When I saw the photo with the ghosts on the mood board I went looking for this stamp by Picket Fence.  Talk about a perfect fit and one I can't help but laugh at every time I see it.  Is it just me who thinks that their little feet are stinking CUTE?  

This is 4x4 inch photopolymer stamp, which has a repeating pattern, so you can created a larger stamp panel, but I wanted a finished 4x4 inch card.   I used a set of wonky stitched died to die cut my 4x4 inch square card base and stamped card panel.   A very quick and simply card that can be easily massed produced for Halloween. 

Here's this month's mood board for additional inspiration... Hope to see your card soon. 

Challenge ends on the 28th, winner will be announced on the 1st on the month before the start on the new challenge.  For a full list of all the rules please visit Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge home page.  unit next time... take care.