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.

A Busy Little Beaver

Yes, I have been a busy little beaver trying to quickly make party invitations, coordinating thank you’s and favors for my inlaw’s 50th Anniversary party. It is much harder planning these events when none of the children live near where the party is going to be hosted. Although we were down to the wire with scouting a location and ironing out the details, it seems that everything will pull together nicely and then maybe catch up on some missed hours of sleep on the plane. 

These projects use supplies from Stampin' Up!, Inque Boutique, Recollections, Offray, Marvy and all of the adhesives can be found at GlueArts.com! The 50 embossed on the Marvy punched hearts is from the Sharie Numbers set, retired from Inque Boutique, but still one of my faves!     

The heart embossed on the inside is from the Happy Heart set and the thank you verse is from one of my favorite retired verse sets, Wonderful Words. 

The party bagettes are made by Cousin and can be found at Michaels stores, where you can also locate the mini pearls used on the wrapped chocolates. In the photo you see some silver wrapped Herhey's nuggets, but I plan to use the almond variety with the gold wrappers for the real deal. This was just my planning sample. The wheeled pattern is the Baroque wheel from SU.

And I also included a photo of the matching card and envelope I made for the occasion. 

I have to say that I love, love, love my Textured Plates and the Sizzix machine. Not only on this projects, but I find myself using them on cards and all sorts of things. I am toning up my flabby arms rolling that baby and cranking out the embossed panels and wrappers used on these projects. Who says crafting can't be good for your health? And that is the kinda workout I enjoy! So put your creativity in motion and use some of these ideas for your next project.

Pick Your Pumpkin Early!

Get in the Halloween spirit and get ready to pick your perfect pumpkin. Go to Glue Arts' website to view my project instructions to create this flower pot pumpkin candy dish. Just pick the patterned papers that you like best to create your perfect pumpkin!

Who Says Dogs Aren't Manipulative?

I beg to differ with those dog trainers who say that dogs don't know spite and don't feel emotions like we do. And our Wheaton Terrier proves my point daily. Bella is as high strung and emotional as any of my teen girls. She whines when I am taking too long to get ready for a walk, pitches a fit when we are getting ready to leave, smiles when she knows a treat is coming her way and plays the funniest game of I love mommy best with my daughter Ashley, who loves Bella dearly.

It starts like this...Ashley wants Bella to come snuggle with her on the couch or wants to snatch her up to bring her in her bedroom. Only Bella has always been a dog to give affection on her terms, and watching the game is quite amusing. Ashley will call her over and Bella will leap over three people and sit practically on top of me, as if to say "protect me mommy — don't make her take me!" This often becomes a cat and mouse game with the two of them and Bella being held against her will with a look on her face of resentment. All in all, when Ashley isn't around she sometimes goes in her room and lies on her bed or looks for her. She is always ready with kisses, but no matter how hard Ashley tries, Bella wants control of the relationship and her affection. Ashley gets frustrated at times, but I have to find it humorous that they act more like siblings than a dog and a girl.

Layout notes: I cut up parts of a predesigned layout by Bisou Bzoo to create my own layout. For adhesive I used Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro with High Tac adhesive, Stampin' Up dimensionals and 2-way glue. The tiny flower and star punches were from Michaels dollar bins, purchased a while ago. The dog chipboard tags are Marcella K found at Target and I also used K& Company Carolyn Gavin Grand Adhesions stickers for the adorable You & Me heart. To personalize the journaling I added some hand doodling that I colored in with markers. Also included were some assorted ribbons in coordinating colors. Thanks for viewing!

An honor to be interviewed

What a treat during my birthday month to be the featured interview and have an article in the Sept. 2009 issue of Scrap & Stamp Arts magazine. If you still can't find it on the stands, you can click this link to order a back issue! It features my Dive into Birthday Party Planning article featuring the Snorkel collection from Cosmo Cricket as well as the interview with Warren Gruenig  of Posh Impressions. Accompanying the interview are some Fall card ideas and a Fall themed layout of our dog, Bella which I will post in my gallery and on the blog soon. Here is a layout that was also done with the Snorkel collection which I love so much!

Gettin' Sassy!

O.K., so now that I am 45, I guess that gives me a right to be a little bit SASSY! Well, maybe I am stretching it a bit, but I did have some great fun creating with some of the SASSY collection products from Me & My Big Ideas! I received a wonderful birthday gift from my friend, Ree, who has a passion for creative projects like I do. She surprised me with a gift card to JoAnns in which I bought things from this Sassy Collection to make all kinds of fun stuff. I started off making cards since my card stash is waning big time! I got through photographing half of the cards I made, and will try to post more later this week. Then I will move on to layouts and more. So far, I really have enjoyed working with the colored chipboard and papers. I haven't tried the cool alphabet chipboard out yet, but I can guarantee you will see some posts with that soon. Hope it inspires you to work with the colors that you like best, as were many of these!

Thanks, Ree for the wonderful source of inspiration. Glad to pass it on...

Double Bold Flower

Hip Floral Thank You

To Brighten Your Day

Friendly Elegance Thank You

Swirling Garden Brights

(You may not be able to tell from the last 2 pictures, but these black floral papers are flocked.)

You need to Check out Diana's New Website!

While living in Kansas, I had the pleasure of meeting a very talented lady by the name of Diana Foster. Diana’s work had been featured in Stamper’s Sampler and I admired her great stamping talents, but never knew her other hidden talents until recently. Diana recently launched her new website featuring her cards and photography. Be sure to check out her site and spread the word to your family and friends. Click on this link the photo in the sidebar to link to her site. From one fellow crafter to another, it is always wonderful to support one another’s creative efforts and applaud each other’s accomplishments. Kudos, Diana! And much success with your new online store.