I Got Halloween-y

Considering I don't "do" Halloween, I sure spent a lot of time today making Halloween cards. In all fairness, it was largely to justify my crafty purchases. Yep. I went to my LSS to pick up some stuff they had on hold for me, and I spied some new Halloween papers. I touched it. I fondled it. I put it back. I was determined to leave the store without buying ANY paper. (Those three Basic Grey 6x6 pads I'd pre-ordered totally don't count.)

But then ... it happened. I bought three sheets of 12x12 Halloween papers. Then I left the store.

To justify this purchase (notice I'm not mentioning anything else in that bag), I told myself I needed to use the last batch of Halloween-y papers, then use the new stuff. So here we go.

My previous Halloween paper adventure had me grabbing a bunch of Graphic 45 Alice In Wonderland paper. Why? It started with this piece:

I remembered back to some other Graphic 45 paper I got with stylish ladies on it, and I cut it up into separate images. I thought I'd do the same thing here. At the time, I wasn't paying much attention to the Goth aspect of the whole thing.

Then, the back of that paper is Jabberwocky:

I never had to learn that poem in school, but I sure love the Donovan song by the same name.

I cut up one of the pieces of the images (what, you think I only bought one sheet? HA!) using my cheapo Deckle-edged scissors. Then I looked at them. I realized they are perfect for ATCs, but I wasn't making ATCs. They are big. Too big for an A2 card, even. I had to make 5x7s.

I stressed. I whined. I tweeted. I stressed some more. And finally, this came out:

I could only get two images on the card, thus breaking the sacred Rule of Three, but three images totally covered that awesome SU black lace, so two it was. The patterned paper at the bottom is another piece from the same series.

Here's another version:

This one is for my Tweep @MariamMKobras who, though not a stamper, provided much input in exchange for my promise to send her the card with the Cheshire Cat. :)

I opted for no sentiment. If I leave off the Halloween reference, these might live past Oct 31st and not have to live in a box for 11 months.

I ended up making 7 of those cards, then it was time to move on to the new papers. These are very different than that first batch. Check out my first effort:

Spooky spideys, and I love that it's blue and not all orange, purple and black. The strip of striped paper is the second piece of the three. I decided it needed to be an accent strip under the Mike's ribbon I bought forever ago and just opened tonight. Did you notice how bold I got by putting a polka-dotted ribbon over striped paper. Yep, living on the wild side, that's me.

Here is the third piece of paper I got:

I thought it was very cheerful and not Halloween-y at all! I used a strip of the blue paper under yet another Mike's ribbon that has just now seen light.

I made three each of these last two cards. If you add in the Three Amighosts cards I made the other night, that is one heck of a lot of Halloween cards for someone who doesn't "do" Halloween. I think I may be done for a few years, which is how long these should last me based on the fact that I still have some cards left from 4 years ago. Yeppers, I'm all set in this category.

In other news, the Noah-worthy rains have ceased, and today was GOR-JUS. Cool, breezy, clear - just perfection. Too bad I had to take Kitty to the Vet for a follow-up, and they had to draw blood again. She howled so loud(ly), additional handlers came in to assist. Three handlers holding an 8-lb cat for the Vet to draw blood out of her back leg. She was not happy. Not one bit. The good news is her sugar is fine, and she also gained a bit of weight, so the Vet sent us on our way until next year. It took a long time after we got home before she would let me anywhere near her, but she's forgiven me. I think.

Tomorrow should be a fantastic day for the market. I may even break out my blue jeans and pack away these capris. It is time.

Don't forget to play in my G-I-V-E-A-W-A-Y - you have until Saturday night to enter!

Thanks for stopping by!