My Old Stamping Grounds

There's something about October and the upcoming Halloween celebrations that make me feel like a kid again! Cooler air, spooky night skies and houses decorated in clever ways. Creating Halloween scenes for greeting cards are among my favorite to make! This card was created with the Yoga Cat 9 , Shrubbery , Brush Strokes and Witches Go Riding stamps. The silver planter is a sticker from a set I purchased at a Dollar Tree store. Follow along to see how I made this card: Get creative and use any color combination for the night sky--reds and oranges would look equally spooky! I hope you'll join in on the fun and participate in the Lost Coast Designs 31 Days of Halloween Challenge. Upload your creation to the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity by October 31 for your chance to win a prize.   

My favorite season is FINALLY here! Hands down, Autumn is the best time of year. Cooler temperatures, colorful leaves, and pumpkin everything. Pumpkin decor, pumpkin-spiced foods--I can't get enough of it! I based the card design around this sentiment sticker that reads "Oh My Gourd, Happy Fall." I created a background using the Large Flourish stamp which I then cut into 1x2-inch and 2-inch squares as part of the September Challenge hosted by Lost Coast Designs . Follow along to see how I made this card: You'll need to work quickly if you're hoping to make today's September 30 deadline for this month's Challenge on the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity . Get crackin' and maybe you'll win the prize. You got this!

When the September Challenge topic was introduced to me as "Inchies/Twinchies," I'll admit I had no idea what that meant. It was explained to me that the stamped design should include 1-inch, 2-inch or 1x2-inch squares. Gotcha. I found it trickier than I imagined-- a 1-inch square is REALLY tiny, especially if you have big hands like me haha.  Another challenge is finding a stamp small enough to fit into a 1-inch square. I decided to take one dragonfly from the end of the Dragonflies Border stamp for my background image. The Joy stamp fit within a 1x2-inch square. Barely. Follow along to see how I created this card: I hope you'll give this type of card design a try. Sometimes what seems really simple is actually more challenging to put together than you think. And when you do, post your creation to the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity for your chance to win a prize.   

 Who loves a good summer party?! This kitty sure does. This Party Cat stamp is the star of the show for this card. Paired with the More Fun sentiment stamp, it's the perfect thing to send to that friend who is the Life of the Party! Follow along with the photo tutorial to see how I made it: Whether you're a cat person or a dog person, there are loads of great stamps available on the Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda websites. We invite you to submit your Dog or Cat creation to the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity by the end of the month for your chance to win a prize for August's Challenge. Happy Stamping!

 Here's a card I made for the Lost Coast Designs March Challenge: Kids/Funny! The bright colors, fun glitter and funny sentiment would be great for the pre-teen in your life. And since many of us consider ourselves young at heart, then it's basically a great card for anyone! I used the Yoga Cat 9 , Silly Gnome , Brush Stokes and Right Kind of Weird stamps to put this together. Follow along with these photos to learn how it was made: This is a great challenge for building up a card stash to send to the young people in your life. Who doesn't love some fun Snail Mail?!? Upload your stamped creation to the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity for your chance to win a prize. Entries due by the end of the month. 

 It's Christmas in July! Here's a gift tag idea for the upcoming holiday season. I had fun experimenting with a color combination I've not tried before. Who says Christmas colors are only red and green?!  I used the Mini Snowflake set and Pieces of Calligraphy stamps to complete this project. Follow along with this photo tutorial to see how I created it! There's still about a week left to participate in Lost Coast Design's July Challenge . Upload your Christmas in July project to the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity for your chance to win a prize.