LDRS Creative Halloween Party Blog Hop

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the first edition of the HALLOWEEN PARTY BLOG HOP by LDRS Creative!

The design team has prepared some WICKED inspiration using the latest seasonal products in store, including them in super-duper fun tutorials at each stop. 

We are so EXCITED to celebrate this special day with you all, that we have decided to offer a 31% DISCOUNT on all Halloween and Fall products in store (*excluding bundles, using code Wicked31, valid until October 31st, MIDNIGHT EST).

 

And because there is no party without PRIZES....Who would like to win surprise grab bag of LDRS Creative products worth at least $30? We will draw 3 winners throughout the day (Oct. 31st, EST) on our Facebook group, so make sure to join it HERE.

I started my project by grabbing some of the wonderful goodies from the Halloween section - Winnie Dracula stamp and Build-a-card Spooky Hat die. I knew I wanted to color sweet Winnie in all her vampire glory, and Spooky Hat happens to have a "spooky" word die that would make the perfect sentiment for my card.

But then, I also added a bit of a surprise die - Tree Line Border Die from the new winter release. This die is a great coordinating die that goes with a tree line stamp set. With a little bit of stretching and creativity, the tree line border die made a perfectly SPOOKY and ghoulish dripping blood panel.

Isn't this card so much fun?! I accented the dripping panel with some enamel dots and added a batty patterned paper from Wicked 6x6 paper pad. Don't you just love when things fit together so perfectly?

Make sure to hop around, leave a comment at each stop, and answer the mysterious questions (haha!) on the first stop. 

Here's the list and keep hoping:

LDRS Creative

Melanie

Raluca

Kirsten

Elle * You are Here*

Martha

Melissa

Ilina

And remember to use that discount code before it turns into a pumpkin at MIDNIGHT! ;-)

Sticker Trio Challenge - Thanks

Simon Says Stamp - Sketched Flowers

The third and final card features one of the main reasons why I love and still keep stickers in my stash - a chance to try out a completely different style or theme without having to buy a ton of new supplies and learn a ton of new techniques.

For example, I have a few pinned "style" images that I adore the look of. It's got a vintage warmth to it and it combines cream, white, craft and natural things like twigs, leaves and butterflies. I'm not sure exactly how to classify it, but I know I wouldn't be able to pull off that look with my current collection of super cute stamps and dies.

Grabbing a sticker set that features that style would allow me to experiment with the look and the ideas without investing into a permanent supply (like a stamp). If I grow out of a style or find it too frustrating to work with, I can just pass the stickers on to someone who will enjoy them.

~Elle~

Sticker Trio Challenge: Sloth Dreams

Lawn Fawn - Hang in there

For the second card in this challenge, I used a sticker the same way as I normally use stickers -- to add a quick sentiment. As much as I adore sentiment stamps, sometimes it's just not practical to buy an entire stamp set for a sentiment I might need for just one specific card. This is where a sticker pack really comes in handy -- I get the sentiment I need in the style I like, but at a fraction of the cost.

This use of stickers might not be very impressive, but I'm always happy when I discover I have a sticker for that. Not to mention, I can always use the stickers in mixed media, my planner, my journal or even tucked in the envelope as a fun gift.

I paired today's sticker with the cute sloth from Lawn Fawn. I think the sticker fits the image perfectly.

~Elle~

Sticker Trio Challenge: Doodle-Halloween

I have a lot of stickers in my crafty stash. Some came in card kits, others I bought because I just could not resist - and a small smattering of them came as free gifts with crafty orders. I think stickers are super fun and I often go through them for inspiration (much as I do with my patterned paper). But using stickers on cards is a little more challenging.

So, as I'm still pushing out of this comfort zone, I decided to make a sticker challenge where I try out a few different things and make use of my sticker stash. I would like to use them all on stunning creations, of course, but I'd like to see what kind of use I enjoy the most.

For the first card, I went all out and used the stickers in the same ways I would use stamps -- to create a little scene. I added the witchy girl sticker onto a piece of white cardstock and then fussy-cut around it. This gave me the same look I get when I stamp, color and fussy-cut an image.

It was a bit labor-intensive to create, but I'm very pleased with the card. I added some die-cut stars and enamel dots as embellishment, then pulled out a sticker sentiment to finish everything off.

~Elle~

Bigfoot Hello!

Lawn Fawn - Lovable Legends

After so many flower cards in a row, I just had to do something a little more boy-like. I decided on a fun hello card, featuring the Bigfoot stamp from Lawn Fawn's Lovable Legends.

I paired my little scene with a fun chevron paper from a camping paper pad collection. I think it worked out great and I like how all the different elements play together.

Thank you for reading!
~Elle~

Stamp Trio Challenge: Lotus Birthday

Waffle Flower - Lotus stamp

For the final card in my Stamp Trio challenge, I decided to make something a bit clean-and-simple. I combined the elements from the first two cards, using a grab and aqua palette, along with some dotted vellum to tie the background to the images.

I really enjoyed this challenge and by limiting my coloring to an unusual palette, I ended up with 3 very lovely creations. I may push myself to do something like this with all of my floral stamps (and I've got a bunch of them...).

Thank you for taking a look.
~Elle~

Stamp Trio Challenge: Lotus Thoughts

Waffle Flower - Lotus stamp

For the second card in the challenge, I decided to use some patterned paper I've had in my stash for ages. I liked the small splatters in the pattern - they reminded me of a night sky. But the soft desaturated blue palette worked very well for the soft coloring I had on the lotus.

I embossed a sentiment in vanilla embossing powder. As it's softer than white and a warmer tone, I think  it worked much better than plain white (which would have had too much contrast).

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Stamp Trio Challenge: Lotus Thanks

Waffle Flower - Lotus stamp

I've been enjoying my trio series so much that I decided to give it another try- this time, using one stamp on 3 different cards. The stamp I chose to use has been in my stash since 2015. I absolutely fell in love with the design, but - as it goes with flower stamps - I felt kind of intimidated to use it.

As I've been working to step outside my comfort zone, I jumped straight in and stamped several of the lotus images to color with my Copics. I chose softer, less saturated palettes and took some time to add extra depth and shading.

For the first card, I blended a water background using some blue dye ink. I thought it contrasted great with the soft flowers, but still gave me a chance to stamp a greeting in soft gray. I kept the embellishments to a minimum, adding just a few clear droplets. I think it turned out wonderful.

Thanks for reading.
~Elle~

Pinky Birthday

I'm working on my card stash again, and noticed that I was still in dire need of some birthday card. I thought I would start with a girl card - and that, of course, had to feature bright balloons, pink, stars and unicorns. I used the unicorn from The Greeting Farm and I think she turned out super sweet.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Bits & Pieces: Happy Fall!

It's time for another bits-n-pieces card!

I couldn't bear to cover up this lovely sunflower paper from Doodlebug too much, so I opted for a simple strip of cardstock to use for my sentiment and imagery. I used a couple of Lawn Fawn stamps, as well as doodlebug stickers and some stray ephemera from my ephemera box. I think it turned out pretty fun.

Thanks for reading.
~Elle~

Dolphin Yay

Ever have one of those crafty days when it feels like nothing goes right? Yep, me too. I messed up stamping, coloring, adhering things crooked, finding mysterious stains on the white cardstock and even poking my finger with the super-sharp tip of scissors. At one point, I got so frustrated that I was just about ready to throw in the towel.

But I thought I'd give it just one more try and make something extremely quick and simple. And this is the card I came up with. It's not perfect, it's not the most amazing thing I ever made. But it is complete and error-free. So, I'll take it.

Thanks for taking a look.
~Elle~

Palette Trio Challenge: Grey, Mint, Yellow, Pink, White

The last card for the palette challenge is decidedly the most complicated - with white, grey, mint, yellow and pink, it has the biggest number of colors. However, it's still very CAS thanks to my not-so-secret weapon: patterned paper.

The patterned paper I used is from Pinkfresh Studio, and it is a veritable piece of art. All the layered colors and the splatters are already on the paper, so all I have to do is trim the paper to fit my card base and layer over sentiments and ephemera.

This is one of the quickest cards I made, as I simply added an ephemera butterfly from my stash and a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp. A couple enamel dots, and voila! Stunning card is done.

Thanks for reading.
~Elle~

Palette Trio Challenge: White, Blue and Aqua

For day two of the palette challenge, I'm going with a slightly more limited palette -- only 3 colors: white, blue and aqua.

This particular palette is often seen on boy cards or underwater cards, but I think it can be very feminine when paired with the right image. I chose to keep this card really simple and added some interest with Nuvo Jewel drops and die-cut stars. I think it turned out lovely.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Palette Trio Challenge: White, Gold, Tan and Grey

As promised, here I am with another challenge trio - a palette challenge! As one of those people who loves color palettes (I've got a massive palette Pinterest board), I could make palette-inspired cards for days! So the first challenge was to try and narrow down my palettes to just 3 choices.

For my first card, I opted for what I think of a "wedding" palette: white, gold, tan and dark grey. I might use this palette on a wedding card or an anniversary card. Of course, I needed to push myself a little further and make this into a decidedly not-a-wedding-at-all card.

I used a couple products that are new to me that have been sitting in my craft room for ages - a gold foil washi tape and a shimmery gold pigment ink. I think they both worked really well and I'll have to include them on more cards in the future.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Appreciated

I've been going through my stamp stash and pulling out different stamps I want to use. There's a lot of stamps I want to use and a lot of them that I absolutely adore. I'm thinking of starting a little series where I go over some of my favorites and why they're my favorites, but I don't know how entertaining that would be to read.

For today's card, I whipped up something really simple and autumnal. It think it turned out sweet.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Bits & Pieces: Thinking of You

Lawn Fawn - Into the Woods

Today, I'm sharing another bits-n-pieces card where I use different treasures from my stash and make something fun with them. While looking for a sticker, I came across some puffy stickers from Pink Paisley that were in a card kit a few years ago. I thought it would be fun to use the speech bubble sticker and pair it with an old Lawn Fawn stamp set.

I kept the rest of the card super simple, adding a touch of color with a sponge dauber and three little enamel dots.

Thanks for reading.
~Elle~

Concept Trio Challenge: Seasons - Winter

My Favorite Things - Ski-sons Greetings

The last of my concept trio challenge cards is a winter card featuring the adorable skiing bear from My Favorite Things.

I decided to go in a more detailed direction with this card, and added a few layers. I made good use of my Blueprint dies from MFT, as well as added some pretty paper and ribbon. I really like the palette of warm gray, purple, blue and pink for winter cards. I think it's perfectly suitable, but a little unexpected.

This card has inspired me to go with my next trio challenge -- a palette challenge. Expect to see some new cards for that challenge in the next couple of days!

Thanks for reading,
~Elle~

Concept Trio Challenge: Seasons - Autumn

Mama Elephant - Pix's Favorites

Continuing on with the seasonal concept challenge, today I'm tackling autumn. As autumn is my absolute favorite season, I felt a lot of pressure to come up with just the perfect card. Of course, trying to come up with a perfect card is pretty much impossible - so I decided to just take a couple of simple ideas and run with it.

One of those ideas was to stamp my sentiment in color. I usually just stick to black or brown for sentiments, but I think a bit of color in a sentiment can really make a difference. I opted for a teal and a yellow - both colors that I pulled from the Doodlebug paper I chose for the card.

I think I'm going to have to use color for my sentiments more, as I absolutely love how it turned out.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Concept Trio Challenge: Seasons - Summer

Lawn Fawn - Here's The Scoop , Simon Says Stamp - Ice Cream Dream, Mama Elephant - Friend die

A while ago, I ran a mini-challenge for myself where I would create 3 cards using the same concept or idea. I really enjoyed this challenge, so I thought I would bring it back periodically and share some card creations that fit into a mini theme.

For the first challenge, I'm going with a seasonal theme. Today's card is a simple summer card, with adorable ice-cream and light color palette. I added some ink blending to the bottom of the friend die cut to help it stand out and used a tiny heart enamel shape for the dot over the i.

Thanks for taking a look!
~Elle~

Peachy Smile

Avery Elle - Woodland Wonders

Of course, I couldn't stop at just one card - I had to create another fun encouragement card using warm tones. I opted for my favorite yellow/peach/pink palette that ruled over my summer creations.

I think it turned out fun, and the loopy die-cut sentiment fit just perfectly.

Thank you for reading!
~Elle~ 

Minty Smile

Avery Elle - Woodland Wonders

I love creating encouragement cards. Not only are they full of fun and brightness, but they really do bring an unexpected smile to the recipient's face. 

For today's card, I used a little cut-apart from Pinkfresh Studio and a couple of sweet critters from Avery Elle's Woodland Wonders (hint: you will see many cards with this stamp in the near future). I went for cool, minty tones for a fantasy bunny and owl, and set them against a fun patterned paper.

Thanks for taking a look!
~Elle~ 

Under Your Spell

Reverse Confetti - Best Witches stamp

I've hit a little bit of a busy spell lately (pun not intended, but made me giggle nonetheless) and I took a brief break from card-making. We've also had quite a few gloomy rainy days. I love gloomy, rainy days, but they make taking pictures in natural light really difficult. My posting might still be a little sporadic over the next couple of weeks, but I'll try to squeeze in some card shares.

Today's card is a cute little Witchy Halloween creation featuring a witch and her cauldron from Reverse Confetti. I kept the card very simple, pairing the stamped an colored images with a sparkly background featuring bokeh lights and swirly snowflakes (yes, we do get snow on Halloween in my corner of the world sometime).

Thanks for taking a look!
~Elle~