Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone! Hope you're having a nice Thanksgiving! I have two more cards to share with you today that I made for relatives to celebrate Thanksgiving Day.

I stamped the images on a cream tri-fold card, so there would be several layers to the card.

For the second layer of the card, I hung the fall charm with twine so it is floating in the window. 

You can't tell from the photo, but I colored the metal charm with an orange copic marker. It added a beautiful copper sheen to the pewter charm. If you didn't know it already, you can dye so many things with your copic markers, including metal, acrylic, pearls, gemstones, etc. It can add a nice subtle touch to do this!

For the final layer of the card, I stamped the large wheat image from PTI First Fruits. You can see hints of the wheat through the other layers. The sentiment, from Gobble, Gobble, fits perfectly inside.

And this is a second version of the same card with a few more accents and details and the final of the three fall charms.

I'm thankful for my family, but I'm also thankful for all of you who take the time to stop by here. I appreciate it so much and am grateful to have you all as readers and followers.

Have a wonderful and sunny Thanksgiving Day. May you have a special day with your family and find many blessed reasons to be grateful today!

Supplies (All PTI unless otherwise listed.)

Stamps: First Fruits; Gobble, Gobble, Frame-It (Waltzingmouse)

Ink: Potters Clay, Rich Cocoa (Memento), Tea Dye Duo, Toffee (Versafine)

Paper: K & Company Tri-fold cream cards

Other: Rustic Jute twine, Fall charms (Karen Foster), Fine Linen buttons, Dark Chocolate satin ribbon, Terracotta Tile satin ribbon

Thankful for Family...

Today's card is a Thanksgiving card that I made for my grandparents. I want them to know how thankful we are for them and how much we love and appreciate them.

I love the sentiments in the PTI First Fruits set. They are so unique and heartfelt for Thanksgiving cards. The frame image is a WMS stamp and the acorn charm is part of a set of 3 (you'll see the other two charms in tomorrow's post.)

And here's the inside sentiment, which is from Gobble, Gobble. I actually bought that set for it's little images and sentiments, not for the turkey, although he is super cute. It's got a lot of versatile Thanksgiving stamps.

That's all for today! Have a wonderful and sunny Thanksgiving day with your family and friends. :)

Supplies (All PTI unless otherwise listed.)
Stamps: First Fruits; Gobble, Gobble, Frame-It (Waltzingmouse)
Ink: Potters Clay, Rich Cocoa (Memento), Tea Dye Duo
Paper: Rustic Cream, Autumn Abundance
Other: Rustic Jute twine, acorn charm (Karen Foster)

Spooky Haunted House Treat Box

Today's post features some spooky treat boxes that I made to go with the small cards I posted yesterday. It was a lot of fun to do! I diecut a box using the Favor it Box 2 die, and then embossed the top part of it with a Haunted Halloween Cuttlebug folder (available here).

Then using a Q-tip and the tip of my paper piercer I added highlights to the embossed areas using orange and yellow acrylic paint. The highlights really helped to emphasize the embossing and give it more dimension. I then swiped Fresh Snow PTI ink along the edges of the front and back of the box to give it a foggy night feel.

Here's a detail.

To finish the box I swirled bits of pillow stuffing that I got from Michaels around the handle of the box to look like spooky clouds. I smooshed in a little bit of orange acrylic paint to give it more nighttime glow. Then I added some bats from a Martha Stewart punch, to give a 3D sense that the bats are flying out of the painting.

I made a lot of these and each of them was handpainted! It took a little while to finish, but I love how it turned out. Can't wait to hand them out!

I am entering these treat boxes into the Cuttlebug Spot's Challenge, Simon Says Stamps Challenge to make something spooky, and the Cupcake Craft Challenge 114 to make a Sweet Treat for Halloween. If you get a chance, play along with these fun challenges!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I wish you a very happy and safe Halloween! Have fun! :)

Supplies
Paper: True Black
Ink: Fresh Snow
Paint: Tangerine, Yellow acrylic paint (Folk Art)
Other: Favor It Box 2 Die (PTI), Haunted Halloween embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Bat punch (Martha Stewart), pillow stuffing (Michaels)

Small Thank You Notes for Fall

Hi everyone, hope you're having a nice weekend! Just wanted to post a few fall thank you notes I made recently. I made these for some PTI forum members who I split a stamp set with. :)

I stamped the mat with a Halloween treats set. It can be fun to think outside the box and find new ways to use your holiday supplies. I was inspired by Melissa's post to make a diecut card. These type of cards are the perfect size to slip into a package you're sending out to someone to let them know they are appreciated. Since it is one layer, it is also super flat and easy to mail. I made a few extras too in different colors (not pictured) to have on hand just in case.

Here's a closeup pic (click on the picture to see more detail.)

I stamped the fall leaves with Brilliance inks, which have a beautiful glittery sheen to them. I prefer the mat stack stamped in lighter shades. It's such a bold frame, that a lighter color softens it a bit I think!

Tomorrow I'm posting a completely different take on Thank You notes using this same die. And I've got a few more posts coming within the next few days.

That's all for today. Thanks for taking a look! I have a date with my hubby tonite so need to go get ready! Have a sunny weekend! :)

ETA: Thanks so much to the Create (CARDS) blog for featuring these notecards! Details and directions on how to make a small shaped card are here.

Supplies (all PTI unless listed otherwise).
Stamps: Through the Trees, Tiny Treats: Halloween
Paper: Rustic Cream
Ink: Aqua Mist, Brilliance inks (Coffee Bean, Sunflower Yellow, Pearlescent Rust)
Other: Mat Stack 4 die

P.S. Just a reminder, my url has changed to www.craftinginsunshine.com. I redirected it through blogger so all links to the previous url (www.monicacrafts.blogspot.com) still work. Just wanted to let you know in case you wanted to update!

It's beginning to look a lot like...Fall!

So in Florida, we don't have autumn (or winter either for that matter), so if we want to experience the missing seasons, we have to get a little creative! I love fall leaves, but the closest I can get to them is by stamping them. So that's exactly what I did for this card project! :)

I got a beautiful CHF Oak Leaves backgrounder stamp in the mail recently and I immediately thought it would look lovely stamped in gold on white paper. Then I saw Susan's One Layer Wednesday challenge this week, which challenged us to add something metal to our cards (you can find the details: HERE) and this project came together!

Here's my entry. It is a set of metallic leaf notecards to give as a gift.

I stamped the leaves with Versamark ink onto Papertrey Ink's white shimmer cardstock. (And I'm going to totally enable you and say that if you haven't yet tried it--you must! So beautiful.) Then I sprinkled embossing powder onto each and heat set it.

Another interesting thing, I used a different EP brand for each card. Here are some closeups so you can see the shimmer of the cardstock and compare the embossing powders for yourself. (Click on the images to see them enlarged.)

Here's the gold (using PTI Filigree gold EP). See the CS shimmer? :) And check out the amazing detail. You can see all the veins of the leaf! The PTI Filigree powder gave the most detailed and clear lines.

And the copper (using Zing! EP). The lines were much "puffier" and thicker and not as detailed.

And the silver (using Stampendous detail EP). The lines were very precise, but there were a lot more excess stray bits that stuck to the paper and in between the veins of the leaf.

Isn't the detail in these leaves amazing? I had a lot of fun stamping them. Now they are sitting on a shelf in my living room, shimmering in the afternoon sunlight. Nevermind that it's 89 degrees outside--if I turn down the A/C just enough, it's beginning to feel like fall around here! :)

That's all for today! Enjoy your beautiful, sunny autumn day wherever you might be! :)

Supplies
Stamps: Oak Leaf Backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Paper: White Shimmer Paper (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Versamark
Other: Embossing Powers- Gold (Filigree-available at PTI), Silver (Stampendous, detail), Copper (Zing, American Crafts)