My Old Stamping Grounds

Halloween is the perfect season to watch scary movies and read creepy tales. Edgar Allen Poe is known for his spooky poems, one of which is The Raven. He writes: Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door! Quoth the Raven "Nevermore." Whether you're a fan of Edgar Allen Poe or not, I think we can agree that the MRaven1 stamp from Lost Coast Designs makes a great subject for a Halloween card. Follow along with these photos to see the steps on how it was created. It's not too late to join in the Halloween fun! Stamp something spooky and submit it to the Lost Coast Designs Portal to Creativity for your chance to win a prize. You have until midnight on October 31 to get your entry in place. 

If I had to take a guess at the most popular Halloween costume over the years, I'd put my money on a Witch. One year I spent Halloween in Salem, Massachusets--the epicenter of all things Witches for the United States. What a spectacle! If you want one of the best people watching experiences ever, head to Salem on October 31. This cute witch is one of Lost Coast Designs new gnome stamps. She's a little one, so I wanted to show her off by putting her behind a windowpane in the center of the card. To help her stand out I colored her clothes bright orange to contrast the green and black of the card base. Follow along with these photos to see how I put the card together.  What are you dressing up as this year for Halloween? Will you be a cute witch or a scary witch? Or, if costumes aren't your thing, how about celebrating the holiday by participating in this month's Lost Coast Designs Challenge ? Submit your creation by October 31 to the Lost Coast Portal To Creativity for

Boo! Aimee here. After five years of living in Belgium, I'm excited to be back in the United States for the Halloween season. So many Americans go ALL OUT decorating for this holiday. A recent trend is to put these gigantic 12 foot tall skeletons on display in your front yard. They're awesome to look at, but I can't help but wonder how people store them for the other 11 months of the year?  Today's card features skeletons, and I promise these are MUCH easier to store.  To make this card you'll need the Dancing Skeletons stamp, some letter stickers, decorative string, and of course, ink and paper. Follow along with these photos to see how this card was created. Please join in the Halloween fun by creating something spooky as part of this month's Challenge and maybe win a prize. Choose stamps from the Lost Coast Designs or Carmen's Veranda catalogue, or use any other brand of stamp you like. Happy Stamping!

Hello! Aimee here. Ever since I was a little kid, I LOVED making Halloween artwork. I have a memory of being in First Grade (age 7) and drawing a haunted house in white crayon on white paper, then using black watercolor to wash over the paper to reveal the creepy house. How fun is it that as adults we can still color spooky scenes?! This card uses the Lost Coast Designs Dancing Skeletons , Brush Strokes and Mother Goose People stamps. Follow along with these photos to learn how I made this card: You'll have to check out the amazing selection of Halloween stamps in the  Lost Coast Designs Catalogue . It wouldn't be October without a  Halloween challenge ! Submit your creation to the  Lost Coast Portal to Creativity  for your chance to win a prize. 

This card was so fun to make as part of Lost Coast Designs ' September challenge theme. This month it's all about animals!  I'm using one of the new bird stamps--don't you just love his (her?) expression!? For this card I used the new bird and Brush Strokes stamps. The sentiment was inspired by a bird pun I found and typed out on my computer using the Modern Love font.  Stamp out the bird with black pigment ink. Use a  Brush Strokes stamp to create a background with contrasting ink or a shiny spray ink. Be sure to test the pattern on a piece of scratch paper so you don't get too heavy of an imprint.  I used alcohol markers first, followed by Prismacolor pencils to get the coloring effect I liked best. I used a blending brush to add a little extra yellow highlight around the bird. And there you have it! This bird's expression lends itself to lots of fun sentiments. For a birthday: "You're How Old?!" For someone entering retirement: "Now what a

Lost Coast Designs is hosting an Animal Theme Challenge for September. This fun pop-up card features the new stamp Winged Bird. Scroll to end of post to see video of this card in action! Making a pop-up card is much easier than you might think. The trick is a small, folded piece of cardstock with two cuts. This becomes the base of the cut out stamped image which allows it to fold down then pop up when opened.  I recommend using cardstock with a fun print on both sides as your card base, then cutting a smaller piece of white cardstock to fit inside that you'll decorate as the backdrop for your pop-up image. I love the Brush Strokes stamp sheet for creating backgrounds. Choose a larger size stamp when making a pop-up card. It will make the biggest impact when opened! The Winged Bird stamp is a great choice. Those spread wings just scream "Look at me!"  Add a sentiment from the Party Words  stamp sheet and your card is ready to go! Kids and adults alike will love the pop-