Stamped Smiles

Oak Tree Boy Hanging Onto Fall

Hello friends! I hope that you’ve enjoyed the weekend and having a great start to your week so far! Right now the weather guy is saying that we could reach freezing temps on Halloween night! About 3 weeks ago we were still in hot temps and then ran right into this cold weather! I wish I could’ve had a couple of days to open windows and it doesn’t look like I’m going to get that! I’m trying to hang onto the Fall Season for as long as I possibly can!

Speaking of Fall, I have this really sweet image from Whimsy Stamps to share with you today! He’s literally hanging on a tree limb for Fall!

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This adorable image is one from Syliva Zet for Whimsy Stamps called Oak Tree Boy and I have him and his little bird friend all colored up in Autumn colors!

I knew I wanted to grab the papers from the Whimsy Stamps Rustic Wood and Brick digital paper collection, so I grabbed some more plaid papers from my stash and layered it with some gold mirror cardstock that I’ve also used for the scalloped circle layer behind the image. I attached some seam binding ribbon around these layers and added them to a 5″ square kraft card base.

I took some sparkly Prima leaves from my stash and glued them on before adding the circle image panel with some craft foam behind it. I glued on the seam binding bow and then I took the sentiment from the Whimsy Stamps Everyday Mini Sentiments and white heat embossed it over a piece of grey cardstock. I then cut it out with the Whimsy Stamps Quick Strips die set and attached it over top of the image panel.

Lastly, I added a few sequins and filled the centers with some Nuvo Glitter Drops.

Here’s a closer view of the image and how I’ve colored him in! For the “bells” on his hat and the little bird’s hat, I colored them, but then they were covered with a glue pen and some clear loose glitter. I took my Copic colors and did little “dots” (pointillism technique) around the image. I did this with a gold gel pen as well.

You can view/purchase Copic markers at Whimsy Stamps by CLICKING HERE or you can click on the individual numbers that I’ve used on my creation below:

Boy’s Outfit – YG97, YG95, W5, W3, W1, E43, E40, / Shoes & buttons: E87, E84
Boy’s Hair – E47, E44, E42 / Skin: E21, E11, E02, E00, E000, R20, R00
Bird – E77, E74, E70, R20 / hat: YG97, YG95, W3, W1
Ladybugs – R29 and black pen
Bells on hats – Y28, Y26
Leaves – YR27, YR24, YR21, Y38, Y35
Acorns – E35, E33, E31
Tree Limb – E27, E25, E23
Pointillism and shading – E43, E41 and gold gel pen

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my my little Autumn card today and were inspired or at least brought a smile your way!

Please be sure to continue to stop over at the Whimsy Stamps blog as they are still doing the “31 Nights of Halloween” and will continue until Halloween night for the fun inspiration and prizes! So check it out!

Thanks so much for dropping in today! I enjoy hearing from you, so please say hello and I’ll be seeing you again soon!

Here are the Whimsy Stamps products used on my creation today with affiliate links:

Challenges:

The House That Stamps Built – Fall Colors Inspiiration Palette 01619
Stamping Sensations – October Trees/Leaves/Autumn
{Cupcake Inspirations} – CIC481 Fall
Crafty Catz – Anything Goes #479
QKR Stampede – Anything Goes #368
Creative Fingers – Anything Goes #173
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP1942 Anything Goes

Ghostly Haunts with Digi Doodle Studios + a Bag-a-lope Video Tutorial!

Hello friends and happy weekend to you! Hope that you have some fun included in your weekend. I’m off to a local craft show with my mom. I have had my own craft booth at the place we’re going in the past, but I honestly haven’t the time or strength to do one this year…so I’m just going as a shopper this time! LOL

Today I’m sharing this really adorable digital stamp set from Digi Doodle Studios called “Ghotstly Haunts” and I had SO much fun with it that I made several projects using it including a fun video tutorial that may give you ideas for not only your favorite goblin, but for other fun ideas that I’ll reference:

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Now how cute are the ghosts in this set?! As you can see, I had tons of fun creating several projects using the Ghostly Haunts Pairables digital stamp set!

The two projects on the ends are actually what I’ve created for the “bag-a-lope” video tutorial. If you’ve been crafting for as long as I have, then I’m sure you’ve heard of this idea somewhere along the way. People buy up those dies, but this way seems so much easier and cheaper to deal with to me. Here’s the project idea that I share in the video:

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This is such a fun and easy bag to create and fill with treats for your favorite goblin! You can fill with yummy treats or a small gift. It would be great to put a gift card inside with some tissue or bag fill too! Not only for Halloween, but for Christmas too!

In the video below, I share how I created this bag along with another fun project using the same idea with just a plain old envelope! That’s all you need to make these along with your own ideas! I’ve used the Ghostly Haunts Pairables set to create the fun spider web paper in the background as well as the spider and sentiment.

If you’d like to see how to create this treat bag along with some other fun ideas with tips and tricks, then be sure to watch my video tutorial below or CLICK HERE to view it on You Tube. – If you haven’t yet, please be sure to hit “like”, comment and subscribe to my channel!

As seen in the video, I have also used this adorable set using the same “bag-a-lope” idea to create a fun lumiere using a vellum envelope. I have printed out an additional ghost and attached him to the clip on the top of the bag. LOL!

For the spider web strips at the top and bottom, they were the same left over papers that I’ve used on the treat bag above, but for these strips I’ve heat embossed over them with some clear sparkle EP. It’s hard to see in the photos, but I’ve taken a sparkle glitter brush pen and covered every single ghost on my projects. I’ve used my Copic markers to color in all of the images after printing out my scenes from the computer. The sentiment for this project was actually made by myself using a font from my computer.

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Here you can see how the battery tea light candles are glowing through the vellum lumiere bag. I also thought this would be a fun idea for Christmas time as well!

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Lastly, I HAD to create a card using this adorable digital set too!

For this card, I created the scene on my computer and prined it out. I printed it out again over some masking paper. I cut the images out of masking paper and put them over the printed out scene so I could do the ink blended background. I actually fussy cut the ghost and popped him up over the tombstone. I covered him with a glitter brush pen too! (I’ve also added a touch of “moon glow” on the top of his head.

I die cut the scene and attached it over a piece of purple glitterstock and then die cut the black frame to go over top of the card. Before adding the frame, I attached the die cut fence and a couple more pieces of “grass” from the digital stamp set. That sentiment cracks me up! I sponged over it, added to a black strip and attached it over the card front panel. This was all attached to an A2 sized top folding card base.

Hope you’ve had as much looking at my projects as I had making them! Please be sure to check out this adorable Ghostly Haunts Pairables digital stamp set and be sure to check out the full line of Pairables in the store as there are some really great ones!

Also, if you are looking to get into the Christmas spirit, Then hop on over to the Digi Doodle Studios Facebook Group and join us for a Christmas card swap:

Please CLICK HERE for complete details about the swap and please remember that you are to use Digi Doodle Studios images only. I have joined and look forward to swapping with a fellow crafty friend!

I will be sure to have this badge on the side of my blog so you can find it later if you need it.

And if you haven’t joined us over the Digi Doodle Studios Facebook Group, please CLICK HERE and join us for some inspiration, fun challenges and updates about Digi Doodle Studios!

There are lots of fun ways to join in any challenge with us! Please CLICK HERE to see all of the options available and for chances to win a prize!

Thank you so much for dropping by today and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

Try it On Tuesday – Witches/Wizards/Halloween
The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes
Creatalicious – October Anything Goes with optional Autumn/Halloween
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Halloween
The Male Room – Halloween
Krafty Chicks – #477 Ghost Card
CRAFT – Box or Bag
Creative Knockouts – Halloween
TGIF Challenges! – #tgifc234 – Happy Halloween

Spots and Dots for Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends! Hope you’re having a great week so far. The month of October is flying right through and I know once Halloween gets here, it will be the end of the year before we know it!

Today starts a new challenge over at Cute Card Thursday this week! We are looking for “Spots and Dots” on your creations this time! We look forward to seeing your take on this one!

For my card, I decided to keep it rather simple as I needed a card for my brother’s birthday this past weekend, so I didn’t want to add too much to it:

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This card is using items from the Simon Says Stamp Sweet Birthday Limited Edition card kit which has since been sold out, but I know that you can still purchase a few of the items that were included in the kit.

I started out by taking the SSS Celebrate stencil from the kit and spread on some Deco Foil Transfer Gel over a white piece of cardstock from the kit and let it completely dry before moving on. After it was dry, I took the Rainbow Shattered Glass transfer foil sheet and put it through my laminator. It looks so pretty and shinny with a wow factor to it! I cut this piece down and layered it over a black scallop square die cut panel. I then layered these pieces over the green colored Tim Holtz Metallic paper from the kit.

For the square card, I used a black top folding 4.25″ black card base and then layered another piece of that green metallic paper over it. I took a ‘dotted’ piece of paper from the Honey Bee Over the Rainbow papers (included in the kit) and layered it over top of the metallic green. Then I added my foiled balloons panel over this.

Lastly, I took the sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Sweet Birthday stamp set and white heat embossed it over a piece of black cardstock that I trimmed down to a banner and popped up over the card with some foam tape.

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I really didn’t want to add too much more to it as it was for a male and I think with all of that foil and shine, it really didn’t need much else! I think it’s fun, simple and really cheery looking especially with that foiling done.

I was able to pop this in his door before we left for the weekend and he let me know that it brightened up his day, so that was great to hear!

I know that I’m getting this fun kit out again very soon as I am in need of another birthday card to send to someone that needs a good birthday cheer and I’m happy to do it! Besides, this kit looks to be so much to play with for sure! 🙂

Be sure to join us over the Cute Card Thursday Challenge this week! Thanks so much for stopping in and I’ll see you soon!

**Please scroll down if you care to see some personal photos of our recent trips!**

Challenges:

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP1941 Anything Goes
Crafty Cardmakers – Sparkle
Through the Craft Room Door – Anything Goes
A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesday – WWC243 Masculine Anything Goes

**Below are some photos and details of our recent trips if you’re interested!**

Now I wanted to be sure to share some photos with you as promised from hubby and my last two weekends out and about with our shenanigans! LOL

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The first weekend in October we visited Hannibal, MO and visited the Mark Twain museum and even went for a tour in the Mark Twain Cave! It was very interesting! You couldn’t be claustraphobic as there were a few tight areas in there! I didn’t get any photos of the cave, but it’s so amazing in person!

This photo above shows us after we came back down from seeing the Mark Twain Memorial Lighthouse. As you can see there are several steps to get up there, but what you don’t see is how many steps we took just to get to the point of where we are in the photo too! Whew!

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My husband finally decided to take me on that cruise…along the Mississippi River that is! LOL! They had a Mark Twain Riverboat tour that we took and it was a fun boat to check out along the river while listening to the stories from the captain.

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So while listening to the stories from the Captain on the riverboat cruise, we heard about the story of “Lover’s Leap” and so we decided to investigate it before we left. In the background you can see a view of the Mississippi River. It was pretty up there and a long way down!

So we came back home for some “downtime” and to unwind before going out this last weekend for another trip near the Starved Rock Park area:

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We decided to get going in the morning but it had really cooled down over night and we knew starting out we would need our heavy coats.

And all I can say is that the photos do not do justice to what it was actually like over here. It is absolutely gorgeous! The photo above is our “lowest level starting point” during our ‘hike’ and that is the Illinois River behind us.

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We came through the Visitor’s Center and briefly went through the small museum and started going through some of the trails. They seemed to wind all over the place with many different areas to go to!

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The main trail going straight was a slow incline and then several stairs to go upwards to where the top of Starved Rock was. Here we are at the top along with tons of other people. That is the Illinois River behind us again. This was later in the day as you see the sun shining on us and getting warmer.

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And here we are with this gorgeous feature behind us among the trees where shelves of rock walls lay and water running down. It had warmed up enough for me to take my heavy coat off while walking around. I think we look more serious as we were trying to capture the pretty view behind us. LOL! Nothing like seeing it in person of course! (I just wish I was able to do more than what we did, but was still excited about what we did accomplish!)

We wanted to get up the next day and try to walk around a small town festival going on along with catching a tour to the Reddick Mansion later that day before we left, but we weren’t able to get there and had to get back home. (I will try again another day.)

This was fun to just get out and enjoy nature especially this time of the year. I look forward to many more fun little trips in the future…especially with the love of my life!

Thanks so much for stopping in and sharing a bit of myself with you! Wishing you a beautiful day friends!

Merry and Bright for Whimsy Stamps

Hello friends! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I had another great weekend out with hubby, but this time we visited Starved Rock National Park. Really amazing nature hike we took and I’m wore out! I sure wish I was able to do more hiking than what we did, but what we did do was amazing. I will share some photos soon of our last two weekends out.

For today I have a sweet image from Whimsy Stamps to share with you and another Christmas card that I was able to add to my pile which is always nice to have!

Vicki-WSPolarBearXmasTree

This little guy is so sweet trying to decorate his poor “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree here! LOL!! This is another adorable Crissy Armstrong image called Polar Bear’s Christmas Tree. He was previously released as a rubber stamp and now available in digital format this month too!

I’ve cut out the image the whole length of the card front panel and layerd it over a piece of black cardstock and then some red cardstock. I was placed over a piece of digital paper that I printed out from the Whimsy Stamps Rustic Wood and Brick Digital Paper Collection. I ran the edge of some scissors along the edges of it and then added some of the plaid ribbon along the left side. I then mounted this over a 5.25″ square top folding black card base.

I die cut some pine boughs from green cardstock and arranged and glued it down over the strip of plaid ribbon. I then added a plaid ribbon bow over top and then attached a black button with a twine bow in the center of that.

I’ve put alot of detail into this image which is why I wanted this to be the main focus of the card. I actually didn’t use too many different colors of Copic markers, but it took a while to get the “fur” looking the way I wanted. (See list below.)

I started the scene by ink blending around the top edges and a bit around the sides with Weathered Wood distress ink. After the ink blending, I took the sentiment from the Whimsy Stamps Holiday Mini Sentiments clear stamp set and white heat embossed it over the top right edge of the image panel.

For finishing details, I took some yellow chalk for around the star at the top of the tree for a glow look and then covered the star with some gold Stickles. I brushed the red ornament with a glitter brush pen and then the “hook” was colored with a gel pen.

I covered the entire bottom of the image panel with a glue pen and then sprinkled on some clear glitter for the snow. Lastly I’ve added some red “berries” to the garland that the polar bear is holding with some Red Nuvo Drops.

Here’s the list of Copic markers that I’ve used to color in the image with. You can view/purchase Copic Markers by CLICKING HERE at Whimsy Stamps or click on the numbered links below for a particular color that I’ve used:

Polar Bear – W9, W7, W5, W3, W1, W0, blender 0, R00 and white gel pen
Tree and Garland – E25, E23, YG67, YG63, YG61, R39, R37, R35
Snow Ground and Shadows – BG000

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I love the “woodsy” look to this image and I was trying to capture it in my design too. I hope that you’ve enjoyed my Christmas card today and were inspired or helped bring you a smile!

Thank you so much for stopping in with me today and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Here’s the Whimsy Stamps products used on my creation today with affiliate links:

Challenges:

Merry Little Christmas – Anything Christmas Goes
Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal
Christmas at Sweet Stampin’ – Anything Goes with optional: stars
Crafty Creations – Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Christmas
CRAFT – Christmas
Crafty Catz – Anything Goes

It’s Halloween at Cute Card Thurday!

Hello friends! Has the weather been cooling down for you yet? We are supposed to get much cooler than normal over my way this weekend! Night time low around 36 degrees is a bit too chilly this time of year! I need Fall to last! 🙂

Today starts up a new challenge this week for Cute Card Thursday! The theme for this one is “Halloween“!! So if you still have some more Halloween cards or treat projects, etc that you need to make, please share it with us! We look forward to seeing what you make!

For my card, I thought it would be fun to use another Whimsy Stamps October digital stamp with a Halloween theme:

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This cute little witch is called Witch Cinnamon and I’ve used her in a little different way from the original version for my card.

First thing I did was take some black cardstock and used an embossing folder for the trees in the background. I took a white ink pad over it so the embossing stands out a bit better over it. I layered this onto a piece of purple cardstock and then added it over an A2 sized top folding black card base.

I took a circle die and cut it out with some yellow glitter cardstock which I then popped up with some black craft foam that I also cut out with a circle die. I took the bat die and also die cut some bats from black glitter card stock and attached them over the design along with the witch image that is “flying” in front of the moon. I black heat embossed (sparkly black EP) the sentiment from a Simon Says Stamp Frightful Fun set over purple card stock that I cut into a banner over the design. I then added a thin strip of green glitter card stock at the bottom of the card.

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For this photo, I tried shutting the lights off so that you can see the “green dots” in the sky that glow in the dark! These are Nuvo Glow Drops Neon – Apple Sour that I added for the dots in the sky area. I’ve also taken a Stampin’ Up! punch from my stash and added some purple colored stars around the area too. If you compare this photo to the one above, you can see that with the light on, the drops are a bit more translucsent. When the lights are dimmed, you can see the glow-in-the-dark effect!

I’ve zoomed in on how I’ve colored up this cutie for my card. She’s colored with Copic markers and colored pencils. If you take a look at the original image, you can see that I have decided to fussy cut out just the witch as I wanted her flying in front of a full bright glittery moon! She still looks pretty cool if you were to cut her out entirely with a circle die too! 🙂

I’ve used a colored pencil to create a nice little “moon glow” on one side of her and in some areas along the top of her where I thought the moon would be glowing some light on her.

I’ve also used a white gel pen for her checks and for highlighting on her stockings. I also used a silver gel pen to color in the buckle on her hat. Hard to see in the photo, but behind her broom, I took a glitter pen to add a bit of shimmer where she was flying.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and been inspired to create some Halloween projects soon! Please be sure to share it with us over on the Cute Card Thursday blog for your chance to win a prize from our sponsor (All Dressed Up)! Best of luck!

Don’t forget to continue to check out the Whimsy Stamps blog this entire month for the annual “31 Nights of Halloween“! Click on the badge below for details!!

Here’s the Whimsy Stamps products used on my card today with affiliate links:

Challenges this card was entered for:

Aud Sentiments – Halloween/Fall + sentiment
Brown Sugar – October Anything Goes
QKR Stampede – #366 Anything Goes
Daisy Chain – Pink or Halloween
Simply create Too – Anything Goes with optional: Spooky/Scary
Fab ‘n’ Funky – Halloween
Little Red Wagon – Cut it Out!

Cheerful Sketches Guest Designer

Hello friends! Hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend! I just got back from a lovely weekend trip with hubby and we had such a great time visiting over in Hannibal, MO. This was something we both really needed to just get away for a bit and it was wonderful to be able to go and do something fun!

Today I’m sharing my creation I made as a guest designer for the Cheerful Sketches challenge blog. (I had won a spot with one of my creations I had entered.) I was also shared the sketch and an image to work with:

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The was a company that I have heard of before, but this is the first time that I have actually colored one up. This is from the My Bestie Shop in their Harvest Collection called Harvest Besties Doll 25.

Here’s the sketch below that was provided for me to follow:

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I took the image and colored it up and cut it out the size I needed for my card and layered it with some dark brown cardstock. I took some sunflower style papers from my stash and placed a piece over a 5.5″ square dark brown top folding card base.

I cut out a couple of squares for each corner of the card and layered a scallop die cut square to each one with some orange colored cardstock. I also took a strip of this same orange cardstock and attached it diagonally across it.

Lastly, I took the image panel and wrapped some seam binding ribbon around it with a bow, twine and button. For the seam binding ribbon, I spritzed it with water and crinkled it up a bit and let it dry before adding to my card. I then added some Fall Prima flowers around the design.

Here’s a closer view of the image and how I’ve colored her up with Copic markers. For the gold glittery details in the Fall sentiment and around her (including the buttons on her shoes), I’ve taken a Quickie Glue Pen to color it in with and then added some pretty Fall gold glitter over it.

The edges of this image panel were sponged with some Tea Dye Distress Ink and then sprayed with water for the water dropplet marks.

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She has put me in the mood to go to the pumpkin patch and bring one home!

**Be sure to pop on over the Cheerful Sketches blog and check out the October challenge post HERE to enter along with inspiration from the team.

Thanks so much for stopping in today! Hope you’ve been inspired in some way and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

Love to Craft – LTCCB39 Oct Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon – Pumpkin Party
Fab ‘N’ Funky – Autumn Colors
Watercooler Wednesday – WWC241 Anything Goes Feiminine
Crafting with an Attitude – Anything Goes
Crafty Catz – Anything Goes with option of Ribbon, Bow or Flower
Creative Knockouts – Lots of Layers

World Card Making Day with Whimsy Stamps-Halloween Style!

Hello friends! Happy World Card Making Day! Woo hoo!! What a perfect day to celebrate for us card makers, right?! I’m so excited to celebrate apart of this special day with you using Whimsy Stamps products… especially in a Halloween style fashion!

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World Cardmaking Day is a day dedicated to celebrating the art of handmade cards – whether made with construction paper and crayons or with more sophisticated supplies. As we crafters can all agree, a store-bought card, while nice, just can’t replace the personal and thoughtful nature of one made by hand.

Today, the Whimsy Design Teams are honoring this craft with two hops – one on our blogs and another on ****Instagram. (Check out my creation over on Instagram along the hop at noon EST!) For each hop Whimsy Stamps is giving away a $25 gift certificate to the store! AWESOME! To increase your chances of winning, be sure to leave a comment on each stop of the hop. All comments must be left by midnight EST on Saturday, October 12th.

Start on the Whimsy Stamps Blog to begin!

One winner will be randomly-chosen from each hop (a winner from the blogs & another winner from Instagram!), and both winners will be announced on the Whimsy blog by Sunday, October 13th

****I’m participating over on Instagram for this hop! So check out my creation over there and be sure to like, follow and comment along the way!! I know not all of you are on Instagram, so I wanted to be sure to tell you about the blog hop too for your chance to win! Have fun and good luck! 🙂

For more Halloween fun and prizes, be sure to check out the Whimsy Blog every night this month for the 3rd Annual 31 Nights of Halloween blog celebration!

CLICK HERE for the original Whimsy Stamps blog post on how to participate!

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Here’s a fun little treat in case you forgot about my Halloween creation post back in August with this fun Whimsy Stamps Penguin Trick or Treaters digital image! (Please click on the “Halloween creation post” for further details!)

****I’ll be seeing you at 12:00 PM EST over on Instagram!!

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Hello friends! Happy World Card Making Day! Woo hoo!! What a perfect day to celebrate for us card makers, right?! I’m so excited to celebrate apart of this special day with you using Whimsy Stamps products… especially in a Halloween style fashion!

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