Welcome to Zombie land!

Here is the card I made for my October CCC partner, Linda aka Scrappin-Bari. Whenever there's the choice of a Halloween theme, I'm in! Not sure she has received it yet though but I would like to enter a few Halloween challenges.

I used 2 Kraftin' Kimmie stamps on this card: Haunted House and Mitzi the Mummy, both colored with Promarkers, cut out and glued on the background. I've had much fun cutting out Mitzi's curly hair as you can guess...... LOL.

I've added 3 more pumpkins from the Haunted House stamp in front of the house. The tree is from a Basic Grey clear stamp set and the bats are Cuttlebug die cuts.I made the background using the sponging technique. This is my first try... not too bad but I still have to improve it.

Then, for the inside of the card I used a Stampers Anonymous sign post stamp.

  Thanks for looking!

I enter this card in the following challenges:
Aly's Sunday Sketch
Crafts and Me Challenges
The Creative Cottage Challenges
Stamping Vacation: Occasion Oasis Challenge
Haunted Design House - Simply Sinister
Paper Playtime - Pumpkins or spiderweb
A Spoon Full of Sugar - Boo
Fab'n'Funky Challenges
Double Dutch Challenges - Boo to you
Stampin' for the Weekend - Halloween/Fall
Polka Doodles - Something spooky
Creative Inspirations Challenge blog - Halloween/Fall
My Time To Craft challenge - Ghosties & Ghoulies and Long Legged Beasties

Stamps + Bind-it-all = Calendar!

When I bought my Bind-it-all last year, making a calendar was one of my multiple projects. But as usual, time flies and there was still no calendar... until last week!

Sometimes I have obsessions and one week ago, during the weekend, my obsession was  making absolutely this calendar right now whereas I had tons of other more urgent things to do. Don't try to understand, sometimes I just can't help! And believe it or not, I made it within 2 days!! I still can't believe it... I suppose it is what happens when I really have the whole project in my head before starting everything.

My other excuse :-) was that one of the  girls of my cross-stitch club (yes I do attend monthly a cross-stitch club where we do not cross-stitch at all but where we chat a lot, laugh and have dinner!!), so one of the girls offered each of us a tiny 2011 calendar and challenged us to make something with it for our next meeting. I think most of the girls will do something cross-stitch related as we are only 2 or 3 (out of 10-12) who scrapbook.

Right away I "saw" my calendar made with these coasters I had. I would use the coasters for the covers and embellished them of course. Then I just had to find some stamps in my stash matching the 12 months. I loved looking for these perfect stamps! Finally I ended up mixing my favorite rubber and digital stamps companies.

Here is the result of my stamping, coloring, collaging and binding...

 

The coasters are 3,5" x 3,5". I used them to make the covers and cut scrapbook papers to size for the inside sheets.

I used a digi stamp from Dustin Pike for January and ran some white paper through my Cuttlebug to make the snow.

On February the snowboarding penguin is an Inkadinkado stamp. The snowy background has also been made with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.

 

This bouncing frog celebrates Spring and is a Penny Black stamp. The clouds are cut from the "Clouds background" from Hero Arts.

This shy rabbit and the eggs are also Hero Arts clear stamps.

Here is Betsy Bluebell, another character from Penny Black and a Cuttlebug embossed tree.

 

For June I ised Miles the Mouse, from Kraftin' Kimmie and designed by Steven Leary. The clouds background is from Hero Arts.

Here comes July! These two stamps are from two different Stampin' Up sets I found on Ebay. I had dreamed of palm trees during the whole summer, I had to make a palm tree scene!

In August Miles the mouse is back with his surfing board! The sand is made with sandpaper.

 

For most of us September is usually a "back to school" theme... At this time of the year summer is still here and I still go and have a walk around a lake near where I live. And I like watching ducks dabbling... ok it's not a duck here! Not a problem I love this High Hopes stamp! (designed by Dustin Pike too)

October sees the Halloween spirit coming! This owl is a Hero Arts stamps that I love! The ground is made with orange scrapbook paper run through a pumpkin Cuttlebug embossing folder and the bat is also a Cuttlebug die.

This calendar wouldn't have been complete without Fluffles! I love this little cat from Stampendous!

December finishes the year with another owl from Hero Arts. Hoo hoo hoo!

I've added a piece of wire to hang the calendar on the wall but I will have to improve it. This doesn't really work! Otherwise it stands on the desk.

Here is a overall picture of the 12 months. I colored all the stamps with Promarkers and really enjoyed it.

I so enjoyed making this calendar that I've started another one... I just hope I will finish it!

My card for September Card Chain Challenge

Jan, from California, has received it so I can now show yo the card I sent her for the September Card Chain Challenge organized by Deborah.

Between "Fruits & vegetables", "Friendship" and "Pirate" I chose.... Pirate! I had the perfect stamps to match the theme and I had never inked them up yet!

 May I introduce you Lizzie Cutthroat, a character from Kraftin' Kimmie's crew :-)

 

I had to give her some useful accessories...

The barrel and the cannonballs are freebies from Dustin Pike and are perfect for this theme.

And you're not a real pirate without a skull and crossbones!

I made the sign (also a freebie from Dustin Pike) with a piece of kraft cardstock that I ran through my Cuttlebug after I had printed the word "Ahoy" on.
I found this free image of an island on the Internet, printed it on cream paper and distressed it creasing it and adding Distress Ink.

Thanks for popping in!

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(Version française de cet article : très prochainement !)

August and July Card Chain Challenges (CCC)

I'm trying to catch up about what happened during this summer in my little card making and stamping world...

Deborah organizes a monthly challenge called "Card Chain Challenge", well know under the code name "CCC". Everyone wins, you send a card to a partner and you receive one from another partner. Deborah chooses new themes, sketches and color palette every month. I really enjoy participating to this game and it's now the 2nd time I play.

In August, one of the themes were "Dogs" and that's the one I chose, as I'm a pet lover (you know that!). Here is the card I came up with and I sent to Dustypenny (Joy) in the USA:

I don't know if you can guess how much fun I had making this card! As usual, I "saw" it in my mind before making it.
I made the doghouse shape myself and ran the front of the card through the Cuttlebug. Then I put a little bit of Distress Ink to make it darker.
I've found the sign on the internet (a clipart I think, don't remember where), printed it and stamped it with the Designer Wooggrain stamp from Hero Arts. The word "friend" is an Inkadinkado clear stamp set and the dog is an Artemio clear stamp that I colored with Promarkers. I put a little touch of Glossy Accents on his nose and on his heart.

J'essaye de reprendre petit à petit le fil de ce qui s'est passé dans ma petite vie durant l'été concernant les cartes réalisées. 

Deborah organise tous les mois depuis un an un challenge - ou plutôt un échange - connu sous le nom de code "CCC" ("Card Chain Challenge"). A ce jeu, tout le monde gagne : on envoie une carte à une personne inscrite au challenge du mois, on en reçoit une d'une autre participante.

Tous les mois, Deborah choisit de nouveaux thèmes, propose un sketch sur lequel se baser, ou une palette de couleurs. C'est vraiment sympa et c'est la 2e fois que je participe.

En août, un des thèmes proposés était les chiens, thème que j'ai choisi (quand ce ne sont pas les chats ou les chouettes, les chiens me vont bien aussi !). Voici (ci-dessus) la carte envoyée à Dustypenny (Joy) aux USA. 

J'ai fait la forme de la niche moi-même et j'ai passé le devant de la carte à la Cuttlebug. Ensuite, j'ai appliqué un peu de Distress pour foncer la couleur du carton. 

J'ai trouvé la pancarte sur le web (je ne sais plus où), je l'ai retravaillée sous Publisher, imprimée et j'ai appliqué le tampon Designer Woodgrain de Hero Arts. Le mot "friend" (ami) est un tampon transparent de Inkadinkado et le chien est un tampon transparent également d'Artémio, coloré ici avec des Promarkers. J'ai ajouté une touche de Glossy Accents sur la truffe du toutou et sur le petit coeur.

Et voici la carte que j'ai reçue de Vianna, de Floride, qui a choisi le thème de l'amitié :

And here is the card I received from Vianna, from Florida and who chose the friendship theme:

Thank you,Vianna! And thank you Deborah for organizing this challenge! Much appreciated!

Please, come back here by Thursday 2nd. I will post the link to Deborah's article where she will reveal all the cards made by the August participants! Suspens!....

And make sure to sign up to the September challenge. The deadline is Sept. 2nd too. Deborah will also offer a prize to win to celebrate her 1st year blog anniversary!

Merci Vianna !  et merci Deborah pour organiser ce challenge tous les mois ! 

Revenez par ici jeudi 2 septembre, je posterai un lien vers l'article de Deborah qui révèlera toutes les cartes reçues/envoyées pour le challenge d'Août. Suspense...

Et inscrivez-vous au challenge de Septembre. Vous avez jusqu'à jeudi 2 minuit. Et par la même occasion, Deborah fête les 1 an de son blog en offrant un cadeau qui sera tiré au sort parmi les participants !

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In July, the theme I chose was "Beach/Aquatic". Here is the card I sent to Agniezska in England:

The little mouse in his rubber ring is called "Tubing Miles". It's a stamp from Kraftin' Kimmie designed by Steven Leary that I looove ! (I mean the mouse, not Steven, but then!...).
The sun and sentiment is from Stampendous. I used sandpaper to make the beach.

Lucky me, I received two cards from Cassi for this July challenge! Here they are:

She made a beach themed card and a friendship card. So nice of you, Cassi, thank you so much!

En juillet, j'ai choisi le thème "Plage/Aquatique" et voici la carte que j'ai envoyée à Agniezska en Angleterre.

La petite souris avec son masque, ses palmes et sa bouée est un tampon de Kraftin' Kimmie appelée "Tubing Miles", personnage créé par Steven Leary que j'adore  (la souris, pas Steven Leary, quoique !).

Le soleil et le sentiment est de Stampendous. Et j'ai utilisé du papier de verre pour faire la plage.

En retour, quelle chance ! J'ai reçu non pas une mais 2 cartes de Cassi : une sur le thème de la plage et une sur celui de l'amitié. Merci Cassi !