Inaugural creations

Finally! It didn't go exactly as planned, and I'm not completely organized yet, but I was finally able to get enough of my craft room put together that I could actually sit down and do some stamping today. My aunt also came over to help me christen the room, and truthfully that's probably the only reason it got done. I had a not-so-great week topped off by a pretty downright horrible Friday, so if I hadn't been planning on having company, I probably would have said forget it and drowned my sorrows in brownies and ice cream.

But the room is useable, and so far I'm pleased with everything, especially the craft tables (see Dreaming of my craft room). I absolutely love having two drawers in each table. Originally I didn't think the drawers would be terribly useful because they're not very tall. But this morning I picked up a few cutlery-type drawer organizers at IKEA, and now I have all my most-used tools, adhesives and embellishments exactly where I need them. And I don't have to keep everything in my workspace on top the table. Hooray!

So without further ado, here are the three cards I made today:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^® unless otherwise noted):
Card stock: Midnight Muse, Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit, River Rock
Accessories: Halloween felt pieces (Creative Impressions), Spooky Fence die (Amuse), Chevron embossing folder, Lots of Tags Sizzlits dies, 1" circle punch, Gumball Green stitched satin ribbon, Dimensionals

I decided to start off with a few not-too-complicated cards to get back in the swing of things. This one doesn't even have any stamping! I started with two felt shapes -- the bat and the pumpkin -- and then built the scene from there. Here are a few tips: I cut off one section from the right side of the pumpkin as well as the holes on the top of the bat and the pumpkin (the holes were meant for using brads to attach the pieces to the card). The clouds were made with a die from the Lots of Tags Sizzlits pack; I misted them with water and crumpled them to add some texture. To make the grass I embossed a piece of card stock with the Chevron embossing folder and then cut along one of the zig-zag lines to create two pieces. I used Dimensionals to layer the shorter top piece on the taller one.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Frightening Feline
Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie
Ink: Jet Black StazOn
Accessories: Basic rhinestones, Pumpkin Pie taffeta ribbon, Labels Collection Framelits dies, Festive paper-piercing pack, Chevron embossing folder, white baker's twine, Dimensionals

I love the Chevron embossing folder, especially for Halloween cards; it's just the perfect texture and pattern. For this card I cut out the Frightening Feline stamped image with one of the Labels Collection Framelits dies and then spruced him up with rhinestone eyes and a festive Pumpkin Pie bow. I matted the image with another label shape and used the Festive paper-piercing pack to add a pierced border around the mat.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!, unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Thankful Thoughts
Paper: Midnight Muse, Chocolate Chip card stock; ginger Rustic Wrinkles paper (Snickerdoodle Scraps)
Ink: Midnight Muse
Accessories: Bunches of Leaves felt pieces (Creative Impressions), glitter brads (unknown), linen thread, Dimensionals

For the focal layer on this card I used a piece of Rustic Wrinkles paper. This was the first time I've used that paper, and I really like it. It has a subtle wrinkled texture to it, but it's not too textured to stamp on. I added a few simple embellishments -- felt leaves and linen thread -- to complete this clean and simple Thanksgiving card.

I hope I'll be able to stamp a few more cards tomorrow. I have to get back into a routine so I have a good supply of cards and other creations to share with you. Thanks for stopping by!