12 Kits of Occasions - September with Kim

(Make sure to check out our Pinterest board here)

I'm back.  After an 8 month break, I am so excited to be back in the 12 Kits of Occasions club where every month a group of 12 crafters take turns hosting a themed card kit.  Although I am glad to be back, I'm so sorry it took a sweet friend (Jeanne Jachna) leaving in order for me to do so, but I plan to make the most of this opportunity.  

When I opened my package of goodies from Kim Heggins, this month's hostess...I knew the kit was going to be something great...something cute and scary...something that was going to cause tons of card making ideas to swirl around in my head.  It did!  Want to see why?

Before I show you my cards...here's a little peek of the kit we had to work with this month:

Photo courtesy of Kara

Look at all this!  Didn't Kara take the best picture capturing all the great ingredients in our kit from Kim?

Here's the cards that I made with our September kit:

I think everyone must have had a Trick of Treat bucket at some point...I know every one of my kids had one and it was so much fun re-creating those buckets with all the cute embellishments that Kim sent us.  I used Lil' Inker Stitched squares for mats and some black jute twine to suspend the buckets across my card.  I pinked the edges of the chevron patterned paper from our kit and added my own die cut sentiment.  First card done...about 1/2 hour total.

Kim sent us lots of die cut silhouettes in black and I used two of them to create quite the mess with glitter.  I ran both die cuts through my Xyron, then dipped them both into black glitter.  Wow, a mess, but totally worth it as they are so shiny and really dress up the cute bingo card Kim sent us.  I also used a Cheery Lynn Polynesian Sails Oval cut from black...the bingo card fit perfectly over it along with more great patterned paper and ribbon from Kim.  If you include the the clean-up of glitter everywhere...this one took about 45 minutes or so to finish.  

For card #3 I tried to use up a whole bunch of the kit ingredients on this card...it is definitely a hand it to you kind of card because it has lots of pieces to it.  This one is going to my little niece who loves to paste stickers everywhere.  Her mother is going to love me for this one.  I used a Lil' Inker Folded tag and one of the embellishments Kim had attached to our packages.  It was too cute to not use it.  I added a rhinestone and some of the twine that Kim sent us in our kits.  That chevron ribbon also was in the kit and this one took about an hour to finish. 

After a little lunch break I got started on card #4.  I decided to use up some more of that great patterned paper.  I used the spider web border and a punched tag decked out in rhinestones backed with another Lil' Inker stitched circle.

My final card is my favorite. 

The trick or treat sentiment and the crow are Silhouette cut files from Kim and pairing them with the Impression Obsession Halloween Hill die cut made the creation of this card the fastest of them all.  I love when a card just practically makes itself (as Joyce of Cards by the Sea) always says.  

Thank you Kim for helping me to have a fun and creative Saturday!  Ready to see some more Halloween magic?  Here's a link to the other members of our 12 Kits of Occasions card club.

Renee 

Kelly 

Jessica

 Amy

 Kim

 Joyce

 Tracey

 Marybeth

 Sharron

 Christina

 Kara

We also have a guest designer this month!  Darnell Knaus

Don't forget to check our our 12 Kits of Occasions Blog too!

Happy Birthday Sharron

Credit

Surprise!  I hope we have surprised you today...Sharron, you are such a sweet friend who has made countless cards for your blog friends, but today...we are honoring you!  Joyce of Cards by the Sea has organized a blog hop to celebrate your birthday and we all have gotten busy making you cards to celebrate your special day.  There is a long list of participants, so I will get right to my card for you.

I used some patterned papers by Simple Stories...Snap in greys and yellows.  The sentiment stamped on  Lil' Inker stitched square is from Stylish Sentiments Birthday by PTI.  That great banner die...from Verve and I also used my silhouette to cut out the hot air balloon with all the layers popped up with dimensional foam.  Thank you Joyce for organizing this hop for Sharron...you have become our go-to gal for birthday hops!  Sharron, here's hoping you have a fabulous day celebrating with family and friends on your birthday!

Who else has made a card for Sharron?  Just follow the links and enjoy looking at all the birthday love Sharron's friends have come up with.

Joyce 

Cathy (That's me)

Christina

Darnell

Jeanne

Jill

Kara

Kelly S.

Kim

Marybeth

Renee

Suzanne

Tracey 

If the broom fits...

Is that not the funniest sentiment?  My kids are all grown now and I am still waiting for some grandchildren so I can make lots of cute or scary Halloween cards.  The only Halloween cards I send now are to my adult friends where Boo or Trick or Treat don't really fit, so I was very excited when Lil' Inker came out with Bats and Broomsticks.  This set is cute enough for young ones, but has some really great adult sentiments as well.  Here is the card I made for one of my co-workers.

Isn't this witch scaled perfectly for the Poppy Stamps Grand Madison Window die? I think I have made a card using this window die for just about every holiday there is.  There is not much that doesn't look good outside that detailed window.   I used Authentique patterned papers (Thrilling Collection)...thanks Jeanne for sending it to me along with some black and orange ribbon, and that cat?   It's from Poppy Stamps (Sitting Cat).  Nothing like a black cat sitting in the window sill on Halloween watching the witches flying by.  The friend I am giving this card to has a black cat just like it, so I'm pretty sure she will enjoy this card.

Bats & Broomstick Frame

(Carly's birthday post is always a long one, I apologize in advance!)

As my daughter Carly's birthday is on Halloween, October 31st is pretty important at the Weber house.  Not only did my kids love decorating the house with all things scary, we also added in some birthday decor to go along with it.

I didn't become "crafty" until my kids were grown, so I was a little late to the game when it comes to making my own decorations, but the last several years I have made some type of Halloween project with Carly and her past birthdays in mind.  Two years ago I made this:

Witches Wardrobe

This was actually a card, but we saved it and will set it out every year.

Last year I made a birthday frame:

Halloween Birthday

This was Carly's first Halloween

This year, Carly turns 22 years old.  I know!  How old does that make me?  Way too old, but at least I have a lot more time to play with all of my crafty goodies than I did when Carly was 8 years old as she was in the picture below.  As I looked back at Halloween pictures, I realized Carly was a witch for Halloween at least 4 times...so this year I focused on one of her "wicked" birthdays for my project. 

 Here is my 2013 tribute to Carly's Halloween Birthday:

I just received my new Lil' Inker September release stamps and dies and used them to make a dimensional frame.  I took out the hologram image that came with the 10 x 12" frame and created a scene of my own.  First I cut a frame border on my silhouette.  I scaled it so that the three boxes were the right sized to match a Lil' Inker Stitched Mat Square die (detailed picture of Lil' Inker's trademark stitching below).
For the largest square, I used Lil' Inkers new Bats and Broomsticks stamp set as well as the matching die.  Isn't the lined pattern on the stamp a great touch for the witch silhouette?

The bats also have that great lined pattern too.  

I also used a great sentiment from Bat's and Broomsticks.  All of the sentiments from this set a so different from the typical "kiddy" type Halloween sentiments and are perfect for us "older" witches.  I also added a scary looking tree using the Memory Box Grand Willow Tree die which I embossed with a woodgrain texture and used black ink to shade it up a bit.  The moon is die cut from cream glittered cardstock using Lil' Inker Stitched Mat Circles and the tombstones are also from Memory Box (Graveyard Landscape).  Several of these dies are popped up with dimensional foam and adhered to cardstock from MME (Wicked collection).

For the decorated squares along the side, in addition to Carly's picture, I used Lil' Inker's Rainbows and Clouds die to make a Halloween type rainbow cut from glittery cardstock.  

You can see the great stitched detail on the Stitched Mat Squares and cloud in this one.  I also added a few more bats.

For the last square, I had to add a spiderweb and black widow spider.  That story is much too long to tell, but Carly was bitten by one when she was 9 months old and it was a very scary time for us.  I always add something spider-related to her birthday projects.  

I even cut out Carly's picture with the Stitched Mat Square die...adds a little extra something to such an old photo.

That's it for this year...the frame is all ready to display when I drag out all of my Halloween decorations for the month of October.  Yes, even at 22, the entire month of October is still birthday month for Carly.  One of these days that will change and she will dread adding that extra year, but for now, her Halloween birthday is something we all look forward to.  Thanks for sticking with this very long birthday post.

Happy Birthday Kara

Kara of KandRdesigns is having a birthday today.  Happy Birthday Kara!  This probably isn't a big surprise, but hopefully you will be surprised by the large number of friends (organized by Joyce of Cards by the Sea) who have gotten together to wish you a happy birthday.  I am sure you have lots going on for your special day, so I will get right to my card.

I used lots of Lil' Inker dies for this card...Stitched Mats Rectangle, Instant Camera Die, Rainbows and Clouds Dies, Sun Die, Sunshine Sentiments and a cute Pennant Trim Die from Verve.  I love those rainbows and who says a rainbow can't be made from all kinds of patterned papers?  I made sure to save all the scraps, you never know when you might need a gingham rainbow, right?

Joyce:  Thank you for being the best blog hop organizier around!

Kara...hope you are having a great birthday...enjoy your day!

Joyce 

Cathy (That's me)

Christina

Jeanne

Jill

Kelly G.

Kelly S.

Kim

Leigh

Lisa

Lynn

Marybeth

Michelle

Nancy

Renee

Sharron

Tracey

You're a Lifesaver

I have a quick card with a long story to share.  I made this card for my good friend Kelley who truly was a lifesaver.  First, the card:

I used WM Oceanbound for the frame and sentiment and WPlus9 for the Life Preserver.  Very quick and easy card.

Now, for the story to explain it.  My friend Kelley was on her way to work when she saw a little kitten that had been hit by a car with a broken leg trying to get across a busy road.  She got out of her car, tried to pick up the kitten and in the process got pretty scratched up.  She drove this stray feral kitten to her veterinarians office because she could not stand the thought of the poor kitten laying by the road all day in the 100 degree weather.  When she got to the vet's, she went inside and got a cat carrier to prevent being scratched again.  When the kitten saw her, he dragged himself up into the dashboard of her car and would not come out.  Kelley had to take her car to the Toyota dealership, have the people there take apart her entire dashboard to remove the kitten.  They were fabulous and actually did it for free and took video of it too.  She then took the kitten to the vet and found out the kitten's front leg was paralyzed, not broken as she had originally thought.  The vet said the leg would have to be amputated and quoted her a price of $650 for this stray kitten who would do nothing but hide from her.  She called her husband and he has a huge heart.  He told her to go ahead and get the kitten fixed up and they would figure out what to do with him later.  They named the kitten Lt. Dan for the character in the movie Forrest Gump.  The kitten went home and refused to come out or eat for two solid days.  Finally, they were able to feed it some baby formula with a syringe and he finally started eating.  He has turned out to be the best kitten...loves to be held and cuddled, purrs all the time, gets around just fine on 3 legs and has made everyone in the house happy they have him.  Our local newspaper even did a story on this and I am so proud of my friend and her husband.  This is the card I made for her and it is so appropriate for my generous friend.