After putting together my son’s Halloween costume, I had a bunch of green scraps left over. Rather than putting them back into my scraps bin, I started punching out leaves with an old EK Success leaf punch.

I think I need to do that with more of my scraps. Might be something good to do to keep my hands busy while watching TV.

After making a little pile, I started gluing them down into a ring– instant wreath! I probably should have sketched a circle out in pencil before starting, because my wreath ended up a bit lopsided.

A few tiny flowers punched out helped finish the wreath.

The background was stamped with versamark ink, and a sentiment from the same Close to My Heart set helped finish up the card. Well, that, and some liquid pearls.

Hardest part about this card? Not getting glue on my fingers, and when I did get glue on my fingers, not getting the glue in the wrong place on the card. Yeah, I really should have used tweezers, but where’s the fun in that?

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(May not be the exact same items– my stuff is OLD!)

Bonus for you!

My youngest in his Halloween costume:

For those of you not versed in Minecraft, he is an Enderman, holding a grass block. We glued scrap pieces of green paper to a moving box we had lying around to approximate the pixilated appearance of Minecraft grass.

Those colored pencils just wouldn’t leave me alone. This time I decided to try something rainbow-ish. I think the result is actually more flower-like. What do you think?

Two things to note about this card.

First, the original yellow ink used to stamp the yellow pencil matched the colored pencil TOO closely, resulting in a washed out, difficult to see image. Since these are rubber stamps, I needed to use a stamp positioner to be able to stamp almost exactly on top of the original image.

You can see the over stamp pretty clearly here, but in real life it is much LESS noticeable.

Secondly, if you don’t have letter stamps in small, medium and large sizes, you’re missing out. This sentiment was stamped with an adjustable letter stamp similar to rotating date stamps, but single letter stamps would also work. If you have wonderful handwriting, you can create your own word art sentiments, but if you don’t, letter stamps are a must.

The idea of turning one thing (say a pencil) into another thing (like a flower) is still appealing to me. I wonder what other stamps I have that would work for something like that. You may be seeing some other take on this idea later this month. Maybe.

Do you have any stamps you could turn into other things? It’s always fun to take a moment to look at your supplies with fresh eyes.

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Tim Holtz distress ink pads

While digging through my stamp stash, I came upon this cute little stamp from The Angel Company. They had some lovely stamps. I wish they were still around.

Since I had just been playing with my colored pencils, this design seemed like a given.

Who doesn’t love a brand new box of colored pencils? It’s inspiration just waiting to escape, isn’t it?

A side note– the birthday banner was a chipboard piece (from Studio Calico maybe?) colored with distress ink. The white sentiment is a Making Memories rub-on. When using rub ons, make sure you are applying them on a clean, dry surface. They will not adhere to inked surfaces. Luckily, they resist ink well, so you can apply your color after you’ve added your sentiment.

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Tim Holtz Ink Pads

Let’s start the month off with something simple, shall we?

I love Tim Holtz stamps, and the blueprint style series is great to use for simple cards like this.

Stamp your image twice, once on kraft colored cardstock, and once on a good quality white cardstock. Let your ink dry (or use a heat gun to set your ink if you’re impatient) and then color the white version with your favorite medium. I used water color pencils and a water brush, but markers, paints or crayons would also work. Cut the white image out, and layer it with foam dots on top of the kraft image, and you’re done.

Quick, easy, and lovely results, what’s not to love?

What’s your favorite simple card technique?

Don’t forget, if you’d like to receive a card from me, make sure you’ve signed up on my email list. The sign up box is at the top right hand side of the page! I’d love to send a thank you your way!

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