Today on this beautiful Monday morning, my whole family finds themselves in the mists of a full weekend hangover’ of sorts.  We all dragged ourselves out of bed and struggled to find the speed we needed to get ready for the day.  The kids struggled to stumble out the door, and one of them was so tired, she never did manage to speak.  Don’t worry they will be fine, cause kids can come back from almost anything.  I on the other hand am on my second cup of coffee and grateful for the warm brew.

However, I will always take the Monday morning struggle when I know it is the cause of a full and event filled weekend.  This was one of those great weekends where we have all kinds of fun without being over crazy.  Friends coming to play, movie-a-thons and popcorn, and a family potluck with all kinds of fun, running, and friendship.  Weekends like that are always worth the Monday morning slumps.

Somewhere in all the fun filled activities this weekend I did manage to find some time to play at my desk.  I am working on some watercolor(ish) florals to see if I can up my skill level.  Not sure it is working but I am having fun non-the-less.  Yesterday I played with water-soluble oil pastels, and almost got it, but yet still fell short.

It is also Inktober, a fun social media challenge that encourages artists to ink for the sack of inking.  It is a long full story about an artist who started it, and the movement of other artists join in over the years.  Now it is a biggish deal in the sketching, drawing world.  I play when I can, giving myself a bit of time to draw in the theme of the day.  I really should do this more since I am not so confident in my drawing skills, and this forces me to work hard and reinforced the few skills I might have.  The stallions are a sketch I’ve worked out as a start of a larger project.  Stay tuned for that one over the coming months.

I’ve knocked out a few cards too, (well more than a few) to share today.  It is an interesting time of year where holiday cards seem to move to the forefront of everyones’ crafting desks.  But being October, there are also a bunch of awareness themes floating around.  I find as I round my first year of actively paper crafting coming to an end, I am excited to be back in this festive fall season where the magic of the seasons come forward.

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First up in today’s challenge listing is a fun CAS sketch challenge from the gals over at Freshly Made Sketches.  I love the layout of this sketch, and found this sketch one of the easier ones for which to design.

I am still knocking out a few halloween cards, and felt this sketch opened a perfect opportunity.  I pulled out a CC Designs stamp that I use frequently, except, I always turn it into a mermaid.  Today I used it for exactly what it was designed for, a banshee.  Then I pulled out a Stampendous stamp pack and used the vase, giving the banshee something to escape from.  I colored in both of the images using my copics.  Then pulled out some fun wood grained printed paper and adhered the focal image onto the whole A2 card.  I added a little sentiment from somewhere and called it a day.

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If you craft cards, and you don’t know this next group, Jingle Belles, take a few minutes over the next few days and craft a card with them.  Till the 19th of October, the normally holiday festive challenge group is crafting for a cause.  They are sporting a (gah) pink christmas challenge, in memory of, Leslie Hanna, who was lost her battle with breast cancer last December.  The amazing thing that is happening over at Jingle Belles is that the directors of the challenge are donating a monetary donation to Breast Cancer Research Foundation for each card submitted.  So run over there and submit for a cause.

I wanted to make a card that had just a but of fun and laughter behind it, knowing that my friends who have fought hard to win this awful battle always enjoy a bit of a laugh when getting thinking of you cards.  I pulled out this Art Impression stamp and stamped her out onto some card stock and colored her in with my copics, using several different combinations of pink.  Then I backed the card with some stiff textured cards stock.  Finally I pulled out some pinkish christmas paper and laid it down as a base for the card.  I hope people find this card a little sweet, and a little humorous.

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This month the snarky and sweet team over at Naughty or Nice have a spooky sistahs/wild wild women challenge.  I don’t think anyone is surprised that I leaned toward the naughty side for my witchy card.

I pulled out a Art Impressions Witch stamp and colored her in with my copics.  Then I pulled a bunch of Distress inks in shades of green and gray and blended ink into the center of the card.  I used bundled Sage, Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, and Hickory Smoke.  I wanted it to look like a creepy night sky.  I then pulled out a Riley & Company Funny Bones stamp that always makes me laugh, and stamped it out.  Then, using a My Favorite Things pierced square die and die cut out the image.  I adhered the negative space to the A2 card and then using some dimensional tape added back on the die cut out section of the card.  I added the black jewel to help ground out the some of the image and give a bit of a distant moon.

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The crew over at Fusion Card Challenge this week tossed out a great sketch and inspiration photo intended to be fussed together.

I pulled out a digi stamp from A Day for Daisies and colored in the chairs with my copics, using the chairs from the photo as inspiration.  I pulled out a bit more card stock and using a Darice embossing folder, created a textured brick for the background.  Then using a bunch of textured card stock, I die cut out different sized circles using a Little B die set.  I assembled everything trying to play off the sketch.  I added a bit of pale green satin ribbon to break up the weird line that I made.  Finally, pulling out an Avery Elle sentiment stamp pack I pulled out the tiny sentiment stamp and added it with a bit of black ink.  I missed the mark on the sketch a little, but I do like how the chairs turned out.

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I ventured out to a new challenge group over the weekend, CAS on Sunday, wanting to add a bit more can and simple practice to my repitore.  I still struggle with that notion of CAS but love the look of it.  This week the design team over at CAS on Sunday was looking for designs with Heat Embossing that also was CAS.

I pulled out a Graphic 45 stamp pack and some black card stock and proceeded to stamp out and heat emboss in white the images.  I stamped out the sentiment in only white ink since I know that particular sentiment does not heat emboss well.  After the embossing powdered cooled, I pulled out my Yasutomo Pearlescent Watercolor and highlighted the pumpkins to give them a touch of color and a bit of sparkle.  I trimmed the bottom of the black card stock off, and added some orange card stock to help ground the entire card.  I know this CAS doesn’t have a lot of white, but it sure does have a lot of black space left.

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Finally today, we have a color challenge from the little elves of design over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.  This week they were looking for christmas card designs featuring the colors grey, soft blue, and soft green.

I pulled out a Art Impression holiday stamp and some watercolor paper.  Using a couple of Distress markers, I colored directly onto the stamp and pressed it onto the watercolor paper.  Then I gently pulled the color from the stamped lines into the image, coloring the stamped image.  I love how soft the whole image came out in the end.  Then i stamped out the sentiment onto some more watercolor paper and trimmed it out.  I back both pieces with some grey printed paper and backed everything with some coordinating green, grey,
and blue printed paper.  The card isn’t an obvious christmas card, but I know many people who would love to receive it.

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That’s it for today.  I will be back later this week with more, but for today, i am off.  Till next time do something that inspires you to do more.