Halloween Bookmarks

        Strong fall winds are blowing hard today! Wish it would blow more leaves off our tree and blow them down the street! The sun is shining and if it wasn’t for the wind, it would be a very pleasant day.

        Today I’m posting five Halloween bookmarks. All my daughters, their spouses and all five grandchildren love to read so they really like it when I make bookmarks for them. This year I just made them for the grandkids….. ran out of time.

 

The backgrounds were all made the same way – Distress Inks sponged on and blended and then water droplets splashed on to give those eerie white blotches. Then it was just a matter of stamping the various images and spider web. These are quick and easy bookmarks to make. One grandson has always liked Day of the Dead images; one loves cats and the others like anything Halloween so they are all pretty easy to please.

        That’s all for a windy but sunny Wednesday, October 23, 2019.

Cheers

Violet

PS: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply hover over the image until the ‘Pin It” symbol appears and then click…it sometimes take a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

Bookmarks

Tomorrow is Halloween! ....and of course they are calling for more rain! We only get about 50 kids anymore (except for the high school kids that come late) so I just bought a bag of 50 and when they are gone, lights out!

My girls and all my grandkids love dressing up for Halloween. I think a lot of the candy collected gets tossed before its eaten….I know that was the case with my girls…but it’s the dressing up and going out trick or treating that they love.

So, today I’m posting the fall/Halloween bookmarks I made for family and friends. They all loved them so that’s good. We are a family of readers so I knew they would enjoy the one-of-a-kind bookmarks.

All the backgrounds were made the same but they all turned out a little different. The moon is Mustard Seed Distress sponged into the negative space of a die cut circle; then it was covered by the positive die cut to keep it yellow as I did the background. Many colours of Distress Inks were sponged on and then droplets of water were splashed on to create those lovely white bits and dots…..love this technique.

They are all a little different even though the same stamps and some die cuts were used. The cat; owl and raven are from one Inkadinkado stamp set; the witch from another one as is the tree; some stamps are from various other companies; the small green creature is from Paper Wishes; the deer is from a Penny Black set…likely meant for Christmas but I like to use my stamps for as many seasons and reasons as possible.

If you want to try out a new technique but not sure you will get good results; try it on a tag first. If it doesn’t work out just toss the tag and try again. If it does work out; add a ribbon to the top and you have a bookmark.

I have scads of new cards to show you....I've been busy.... so be sure to check back on a regular basis. I try to post every Monday; Wednesday and Friday…..unless ‘life’ gets in the way!

  Cheers

Violet

Don’t forget you are more than welcome to save any cards or other items I post to your Pinterest account for future reference. Simply place the curser over the picture until the Pinterest save sign shows up in the top left corner and enter. This will take you to your Pinterest account. If it doesn’t work, please leave a comment and let me know so I fix it. Thanks.

Bookmarks

It feels like fall in the morning but luckily it warms up in the afternoon. We just may be in for another lovely weekend as well so that’s a bonus!

When I want to try a new technique or colour combination, I have a tendency to try it out on a bookmark first. Here are two examples.

I made these ones using a variety of Distress Inks – Broken China, Mustard Seed, and Spiced Marmalade. I did not let the Broken China blend too much into the other two which kept it blue. Then water was sprinkled on then a soft cloth was placed on top. This gives a lovely textured look of rain or snow or just a nice look – depending on how big the water droplets are and how long you leave it on. Once it was dry I stamped the images using Archival Black ink .

I was actually making bookmarks for the friend who took us out on his boat while the grandsons were here. He mentioned that after his heart surgery (about a month ago) he could not read for several days and had to watch TV nature programs instead…. so I knew he was reader but I decided these were a little bit too feminine for him so I made two more – using the same colours but blended the blue into the yellow and orange.

By blending them more, I got a nicer green colour but I more layers on these two. Droplets were added as well but then I re-sponged it the same colours; did more droplets and then went over it with Mustard Seed. The edges were darkened with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and Faded Jeans. Then the same images were stamped using Archival Black ink again. I made two in case his wife is a reader; if not, he has two. Hope he likes them.

You can buy pre-made tags at places like Staples or simply cut a long rectangle from heavy cardstock; make a pointed end; then cut off the point; punch a hole and add a reinforcement. We are a family of readers so I'm always making bookmarks for them...except for Joe who prefers to read on the Internet and one grandson who has a bit of dyslexia and only reads if he has too. Everyone else are veracious readers. 

  

That’s all for a lovely Friday, August 25, 2017.  Have a wonderful, safe and creative weekend everyone.

Cheers

Violet

Don’t forget you are more than welcome to save any cards or other items I post to your Pinterest account for future reference. Simply place the curser over the picture until the Pinterest save sign shows up in the top left corner and enter. This will take you to your Pinterest account. If it doesn’t work, please leave a comment and let me know so I fix it. Thanks.

Bookmarks

What a crazy busy day this has been. I’m not sure why but the day has just flown by. Aqua Fit in the morning, watched X Factor with Joe when I got home (we tape shows so we can skip commercials – bad I know), cleaned the bathrooms after lunch, finished a card for this week’s challenge at Stamping Bella (won another $20 gift certificate from last week’s challenge – whoot, whoot!), photographed and uploaded photos of the finished card and a scrapbook page I just love, worked on my quilt for awhile, and then I had to quit to go over to my friend’s house at 3:45 to watch her daycare kids while she went to the doctor’s so that took up the rest of the afternoon. Okay, now I can see why the day flew by so fast!

One funny story from today. One of the little daycare girls, about 2 ½ or so, wanted hugs and kisses before she left, from me and the one little boy still there. She hugged and kissed me and then turned to him, stopped, put her hand out and said, “He has a booger!” I turned to her mother and said, “And she’s not kissing him if he has a booger. A girl with high standards already.” We had a good laugh over that one. The kids are just so darn cute but I'm not about to open a daycare. Helping out once in awhile is enough for me.

Are you a reader? I love to read and I always have a book on the go. So glad we have a library that is well stocked with both actual books and e-books. Every once in awhile I get the urge to make bookmarks. Here are some that I just completed. There are more but done the same way with a variety of images.

 

These are so easy to make. Sponge and blend on various inks – Distress inks work really well for this, and then stamp some images. I think these are all Inkadinkado stamps. Add a ribbon at the top and they are done. My girls will likely get these in their Christmas stocking this year.

And that’s it for a Thursday!

Cheers

Violet

 

A Card and Bookmark together - a Bellariffic Friday Card

What a night I had. Didn't feel too bad when I went to bed so I set the alarm hoping to go to Aqua Fit for the first time this week. It was not to be. The pressure set in and I was still awake at 1:30 so I turned the alarm off. Read, moved to the TV room and watched last part of It's a Wonderful Life and another show I had taped, and then watched the weather network hoping it would put me to sleep but it wasn't happening. So I finally went back to bed and about 3:30 I was able to sleep. So, knowing I would not have enough active brain cells to create anything today I told hubby I was going to go Christmas shopping and he decided to come too - he drives and its an excuse to get out of the house for him.  I just knew if I stayed home I would likely fall asleep this afternoon and then would be up all night again. Besides, I haven't done much shopping so it needed to get done. He knows the drill - do not question ANYTHING that I am even thinking about buying, do not stand behind me fidgeting and do not even try to rush me. We get in the store or mall and off he goes and off I go! Excellent planning.

So, now I'm back home and hoping this cup of coffee is going to keep me moving and groovin' - no, I'll be happy if I can just keep moving around today.

I did get a couple of cards made this week, including one for the Bellariffic Friday challenge. This week's challenge at Stamping Bella was to make a tag, using one of her stamps of course. I decided to make both a tag and a card, with the tag becoming a bookmark later on.

I took a piece of double sided paper and cut one 2-1/2" and the other 1-1/2" by 5.5 which was the size of my card base. Then I taped them together at the back and placed a gold peel-and-stick line down the seam. Then I took a piece of cream cardstock, trimmed the top edge and sponged some Distress Ink around it and stamped the sentiment and then glued it on the sides only to the joined paper.I added gold squiggle lines around the edges. Then I glued it all to the card base.
For the tag I first stamped the flowers and embossed them white. Then I sponged several different Distress inks all around both sides of the card, ending with Mustard Seed which really brings out the colour of the others nicely. Once the ribbon was added I just slipped the tag into the pocket. Now the recipient will have a one-of-a-kind bookmark to use.

Bookmarks

Last winter I made some corner bookmarks for my daughters and their families - we are all big time readers! Apparently my then 6 year old grandson also grabbed a couple for his books - yes, his mom or dad will read to them every night. Well, after a year in Grade 1 he can now read on his own and does so every night. He asked his mom if grandma could make him some "kids" bookmarks - so of course, I did. Here they are.

Hard to tell from this scanned image but the corner of the book's page, slips in under where the picture is. I didn't want his 4 year old brother left out so I made one for him too.

Then I was on a bookmark making roll so I made some for adults.

Fun to make, easy to make. Just do a Google search on corner bookmarks and you will find lots of different ideas and sizes. I made and gave a lot of these for the "lunch bunch" group last winter too (a few of us ladies have lunch out every Wednesday) and they seemed to like them. Good way to use up those small scraps too. The stamp is from a Stampin' Up set.