Friends...noteworthy of thankfulness

As Thanksgiving Time nears, I got to thinking about things that make me grateful, and one of those things are true friends. I have made many friends over the years, and looking back at those incredible connections always makes me grateful. That is why I chose to share this card and envelope set called Noteworthy Thanks — a great set to send to a friend. It uses Stampin’ Up!’s chocolate chip and Baja Breeze color combination with Illuminated Wheel, Pocket Silhouettes Stamp Set, scallop square punch, brown grosgrain and white satin ribbons and a large turqouise button. I hope that it springboards your creativity in creating a matching notecard or thank you to send to one of your friends.

A Talented Friend

I have a wonderfully talented friend who credits me for introducing her to stamping and scrapbooking through my Stampin’ Up! demonstratorship. She has gone on to become a demonstrator also and is not only filling my shoes, but overspilling them with talent. I am finally getting caught up on posting these wonderful projects she designed for us to create at a workshop at her Stamping Oasis. One of the cards, I call Flourishing Elegance. You will know which one...it is so chic and beautiful! The second card, I called Take A Spin. It is a spinner card created using the fast and easy to use Simply Scrappin’ Stickers along with some punches and stamps. The third project, I call Twick O' Peek. It is a gorgeous Halloween box with a peek-a-boo diecut window in front. Hope these inspire you to create wonder creations based on Ree’s ideas. Click here to check out her blog.

Gingerbread Recipe Album

Well, it has been a little while since I posted some creative inspiration, but I have been busy crafting and plan to share some of my favorite projects with you! Here is a fun one I designed for Glue Arts' design team involving a Gingerbread chipboard diecut, some diecut squares using Stampin’ Ups die with my Sizzix Big Kick and some other fun embellishments. It is a recipe album ready for filling with your own recipes and/or photos...a heart-felt gift. I have pdfs of the paper pieces and tag art available upon your request. For project instructions, click here to go to the Glue Arts website. Here are a few more pictures of the project...

A Perfect Family Harvest

Looking for a clever Fall layout to include some fun photos and facts about your family members? Then check out this Harvest theme layout I did for Glue Arts using their adhesives, my computer for the title and journaling along with K & Company cardstock.

Here is a closeup on the title and paper piecing...

I have a template for the paper piecing and a file for the title available as pdfs. Email me if you are interested in those. You can check out the step by step instructions on Glue Arts’ website.

Fall is in the Air

Pearls of Kindness Card

Grateful Imprints Card

Want to create some Fall cards? Then just pull out some Fall colored patterned papers, inks and solid colored cardstock, some dies or punches, some stamp sets from Stampin’ Up!® and get ready to create. I used the Circle Circus set on the bottom card to create my only pattern with real rust ink and the Grateful stamp from the Falling Leaves set. The top card uses the verse from Heard from the Heart set. The patterned paper used on both of these is the Autumn Meadows Designer Papers from Stampin' Up!

A “Boo” Can Sometimes be a Good Thing!

O.K., so life has been super busy, hectic, full of tricks and not enough treats lately (except if you count the couple hours stolen at the beach yesterday with just the right amount of sun, a cool breeze and surfers to watch, wooo, much needed)! I know I am posting this project too late to make in time for this Halloween, but now you can feel less pressure by working on it for next year. Here is a link to the instructions on Glue Arts’ website. I am totally in love with Cosmo Cricket’s Halloween collection and had to create something fun with it. I got inspired by some paper mache letters I spotted on sale at JoAnn's before Halloween and the creativity grew from there in working with the Cosmo papers and stickers. I hope this is a boo that you will say “Yay” to!

Here are some close up shots, below, of the individual letters.

The RIP tombstone was also a purchase from JoAnns to add to the spooky setting. It has brought a smile to my face every time I have passed by it going in and out of the door.

Scaring up Smiles

I have to say that I am totally loving texture plates and working them into my crafting projects. My studio looks like a true Halloween horror house. Ree can attest to this, as she got a peek inside the doors to the mad crafter's la-bor-a-tory! Bwahahahah! Yes, I have been busy creating lots of holiday crafts to sell and more project ideas to inspire great gift and holiday ideas for craft enthusiasts. It has meant a lot of hours working into the wee hours and juggling my design projects during the day, but it will mean lots of blog posts to share ideas with you. ;D

Above is a technique I happened upon when trying to rub some black chalk over top of the textured cardstock. This created added spookiness to this halloween Smeary Smiles card. I also did some ink dragging for darker highlights. The pumpkin stamp and verse are from the new Twick or Tweet stamp set from the Holiday Mini catalog, one of my current faves! I also used markers and my color spritzer to add some spattering to the background of the pumpkin stamping. Try some of these simple techniques to add a little spookiness to your Halloween cards and creations.

Twick o' Tweet, oh so sweet!

Twick o' Tweet, smell my feet, give me somethin' good to eat! Ahhh, remember those childhood days of chanting that merrily as you raced from house to house trying to score a pillowcase full of candy bars? I have to say that I love the merriment of Stampin’ Up!’s Twick or Tweet Stamp Set. Here is a Twick o' Tweet Treat Holder made using the stamp set, sanded background stamp, black ink, sponge, orange grosgrain ribbon, black, white, only orange and going grey CS and the ever-so-cool Night and Day Designer Series Paper. I also used some Stampin' Write markers for coloring the chick along with layering a scallop circle punch and the 1-3/8" and 1-1/4" punches. You can fill a cello bag with treats and staple to the inside or use some Glue Arts Adhesive squares to attach sealed bag to the cardstock inside. The countdown to Halloween continues!

Spooky Blast From the Past

Here are some oldie but goodie card creations for Halloween using some old Stampin’ Up!® and Inque Boutique stamps. Hope it helps boost your cardmaking ideas! More ideas to come for Halloween and Fall crafts so be sure to check back soon!

Pumpkin Swirl Card

Giggle Boo Card

Pumpkin Head Trick or Treater Card

Template For Previously Posted Blog Project

I had a request this weekend for the template and instructions for my Frankie Treat Sack and cauldron projects so I thought I would post a note that if you are also interested in these, email me at cheri@cheriwengerdesign.com to have them emailed to you. Here is what the Frank n' Treat Sack and witch’s cauldron projects look like. They were last year's projects for Glue Arts Design team. The instructions are in a word document. Check back soon for more project ideas that I will be posting and tell your friends about my blog. Sign up as a follower if you haven't already.

Some More Sassiness!

This is a continuation of some of the cards created with the Sassy Collection from Me & My Big Ideas that I posted a couple weeks ago. I love the bright colors. I combined some Stampin' Up stamps to create these fast and fun card creations.

50 Years, but whose counting?

It seems like just yesterday that we were busy planing my parent’s 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration, but it has been almost a year, and now Dan’s parents are celebrating their 50th. The party is sure to be a fun reunion of family and friends, and I am sure we will here many stories of old memories shared with my inlaws. This is a digital scrapbook page that I have done to put on display at the party. You have already seen the invitations, coordinating favors and thank you notes in my earlier post. All the digital elements are from Scrapgirls.com. Congratulations, mom & dad! Here is to many more years filled with health and happiness.