Thinking of Friends 30

Hello Girls! It is going to be a BUSY weekend around here! We will be celebrating Halloween on Saturday with some neighborhood Trick-Or-Treaters & on Sunday, my Hubby & I will be shuffling off to the Phoenix Cajun Festival for some YUMMY food :) My DH was raised in Louisiana, so I am sure the food will not stand a chance in comparison to his Momma's Southern Cookin'! His mouth is still a bit sore from having a Wisdom tooth pulled on Monday but I think he can enjoy soft food like Gumbo or Etouffee! :)

In my crafty world, I will be sharing an all NEW Just Us Girls challenge with you. My team mate Kristin will be this week's hostess & she has something special to share with all the players :) I hope you stop by the JUGS site for all the details as well as here, to see what I have made for this week's JUGS Wildcard Challenge. Maybe you will become inspired to play along :) Recently, I have had some dear friends experiencing some difficult times in their lives, so with them in mind, I made these 2 cards to let them each know that they are in my thoughts. For sketch inspiration I used Kazan's AWESOME Sketch #38, 2S4Y38 & Anja's FUN BONUS sketch (from 2S4Y) & for color inspiration, I used this week's BEAUTIFUL colors from Color Throwdown, CTD66 selected by the ever so talented LeAnne:) Also, this week over at Moxie Fab World, Cath has gone Plum Crazy! :) She is challenging us papercrafters to "Capture its depth. Sample its nature. Command its presence. Ensnare its mystery. Quench our desire for plum". If you haven't already, I encourage you all to visit each & every one of these sites for AMAZING inspiration & maybe you will see something that just sparks your creativity & you too will play along! I hope these cards cheer up my friends :) Thanks for looking! Be Sweet!

I think I may have discovered a couple of new fave background stamps! I really love the PTI Polka Dot Basics set :) How can you go wrong with Polka Dots? AND I think this size dot won't make you dizzy! I gave the card an overall vintagey look by inking a sponge dauber with Ranger/Tim Holtz Vintage photo ink then gently rubbing the edges of all the SU Naturals Ivory cs.

This is the 1st time I spritzed the cs with water before crinkling it up & that sure made it a bit easier to crumple! I let it dry overnight though because it was too damp to use. NOTE to self: go easy on the water!

It was like Christmas when the other day when the UPS man delivered a box containing my loooooong awaited for PTI order! I tore into that box 'cause I couldn't wait to get my hands on the new Giga Guide Lines set :) I think that is on the top of my favorite stamp list as well :)

I used the Spellbinders Blossom die for this card as well, but it has a TOTALLY different look when you don't distress it! I wanted it more flat so I could place the sentiment in the center so I just bent up the edges a tad to give the bloom some dimension :) I REALLY need to practice paper stitching with my electric sewing machine-hand stitching is not only time consuming but I find it difficult to pierce all those layers! LOL I sure do like the final result though :)

Ingredients Used: Stamps: SU All Holidays , PTI Giga Guide Lines, Polka Dot Basics, Hero Arts Message Circles Paper: SU Rich Razzleberry, Bordering Blue, Elegant Eggplant, Naturals Ivory Ink: SU Rich Razzleberry, Bordering Blue, Elegant Eggplant & Chocolate Chip Sprinkles: Spellbinders Labels 1 & Blossom dies, Martha Stewart Butterfly punch, Making Memories Hardware, EK Success punch, Cuttlebug EF