Jack of All Trades kicks off Week 11 of The Great Pumpkin Blog Hop

 

Boo!!! Welcome to Week 11 of The Great Pumpkin Blog Hop! I'm so excited at how close we're getting to Halloween. I adore the costumes and candy and fun! This week's card uses a few Scrabble tiles. I found a quaint little shop that sells the tiles for pennies. I'd much rather buy only the letters I need than buying Scrabble games at thrift stores and having a bunch of letters I'll never use taking up premium space in my craft area!

 

This is the first time I've inked up Jack of All Trades this season. I love pumpkins - and cute ones at that. I used Jenn's sketch at Try Stampin' On Tuesday, and am also adding this Halloween card to Pink Paper Bakery's challenge.

 



That happy face just makes me smile! I used Pumpkin Pie and Lucky Limeade ink and card stocks, as well as the Argyle embossing folder, Flourish Designer Frame (in the Holiday Catalog) and Brights Brads.

 

 

Oh, and last but not least, I'm adding this card to Hand Stamped Sentiment's Pumpkin Challenge. Ink up your favorite pumpkin - or make one - and add it!

 

I cordially invite you to join The Great Pumpkin Blog Hop in Week 11, along with any other challenge you like. Just add your Halloween creation to the blog hop, along with the code near the bottom of each post. When you add the code to your blog while you are in the edit HTML mode, your readers can play along, leave comments, and view the samples right from YOUR blog!

At the end of 13 weeks, I will give one person a $50 Stampin' Up! gift certificate! The more times you enter the blog hop, the better your chances of taking home the Grand Prize. You also get a ticket just for displaying The Great Pumpkin Blog Hop badge on your blog. Whoo hoo!

It's time to walk with the animals in zoo theme challenge

I picked penguins for a zoo theme challenge at A La Card Monkey. They're fun to watch. And what makes the movie Madagascar are the crazy penguins. I love them! So here we go - a penguin pyramid on a Top Note with Play Date dsp and 1/8" Old Olive taffeta with a big red designer button on top. This close-up shows that I stamped and cut out the top penguin and stuck him on with dimensionals for added interest.

The penguin is from a retired Stampin' Up! set called Wild About You. I stamped the birds in Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive and Real Red. I also distressed the Whisper White Top Note with a Cutter Kit. Oh, and the "Happy Together" is from Family Phrases.

Lucky Shamrock for green challenge...

This week for a St. Patrick's/green challenge, I'm going green - as in, St. Patrick's Day! I used the Spiral Punch on Pear Pizzazz, and added a distressed layer from the In Color dsp pad. A 1-3/4" circle punch made the hole for the Lucky Shamrock stamp. I stamped that image in Garden Green to make it stand out a bit again a polka-dotted Pear Pizzazz dsp pattern. The ribbon loops through the hole with a shorter piece knotted onto it. There's a close-up of the Lucky Shamrock stamp below.

Forget counting candles - it's about how many cupcakes you get...

The inspiration for this card was a photo of chocolate cupcakes with pastel-colored flowers made of sugar. I used cupcakes with vanilla, Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette, and Early Espresso colors.

My card uses the Framed Tulips embossing folder on the Early Espresso card front (I used a sponge dauber to add some Very Vanilla craft ink on the design so it would stand out a bit more), and a Top Note cut from Nursery Suite dsp with a crochet trim knot on it. I used Create a Cupcake stamps for the words and the sprinkles, and Build-a-Cupcake Punch on textured Pink Pirouette card stock for the cupcake bottoms and flowers, as well as for the vanilla frosting. Those are all stuck on with dimensionals. The pearls and flowers are adhered with mini glue dots. It never fails that once I see the photo I took, I notice something like how the third flower isn't laying flat. I fixed it on the card, but was too lazy to go back upstairs, set up my photo box to take another photo, and upload it!

Be My Valentine & Love Letters dsp...

I had the basic idea for this card in my head before I made it, so it came together quickly. My card uses Riding Hood Red and Chocolate Chip card stocks and inks with the Be My Valentine stamp. There's a layer of Love Letters dsp in there (I love this pattern). The front of the card was cut about 1-1/4" from the right so the inside is exposed. I used the Cutter Kit to distress the edges of everything and added pearls and an antique brad for a more vintage look. The 5/8" Very Vanilla satin ribbon is held on with sticky strip.

It's birds, birds, and more birds...

I admit I took the easy way to make a bird card for a theme challenge this week - by using a design already on a sheet of Botanicals Gazette dsp. I added some watercolor crayon with an aquapainter on the bird, then a few neutral buttons and some natural hemp. That's it! And one more reason I love Stampin' Up! products - you don't need to take an hour to make a nice card.

I almost got a cavity from this theme challenge card...

This card is so sweet, I almost got a cavity making it! I started with Pretty in Pink card stock and added hearts from the 3 Hearts Punch to the left side. To the right, I used a piece of Patterned Love dsp (part of the Filled With Love Bundle thru January 24) with a strip of Whisper White that's been punched with the Pinking Hearts Border Punch and adhered with dimensionals. But wait! There's the Full Heart that's been punched out of white card stock that's been run through the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, and there's the word "heart" in the sentiment, which is from Blowing Kisses.

Halloween/spider web card for this week's challenge...

 

This week's challenge is a Halloween card with a spider web. I had a hard time getting everything together. I had the Old Olive layer on my card, ripped it off (and wrecked the Whisper White card) and ran it through the Square Lattice embossing folder for the Big Shot. The spider web is an embossing folder that I sponged a couple of weeks ago, and the tombstone and spider are From the Crypt stamps with a stamp from Grateful Greetings layered on top with dimensionals and sponged. I added a glimmer brad and some gorgeous Pumpkin Pie satin ribbon for "bling." They're yummy!

Stamps: From the Crypt, Grateful Greetings;
Ink: Old Olive, Soft Suede, Pumpkin Pie;
Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive
Accessories: Spider Web embossing folder, Square Lattice embossing folder, 5/8" Pumpkin Pie satin ribbon, glimmer brads, sponge daubers, dimensionals.