They have me doing it too

So the stores are already showing Christmas products for crying out loud!  School has just started and it's still almost 100 degrees here in Texas.  But, they've got me started... on Halloween.  It's still a ways off, but I felt inspired to make a few Halloween cards.  I know, I know, it's too early.  I will go back to summer layouts and "back to school" themes tomorrow... but for today, this is what I created.

It looks nothing like my original idea.  That, so far, is a fail.  But I did make these two cute cards - even if they had a few bumps along the way.  I stamped Tim Holtz mini blueprint images on watercolor paper and colored them in with Distress Markers.  These markers are awesome and give a watercolor effect with no effort at all.  After coloring the images, I pulled two bright orange tags that I had previously used to "wipe up" extra black ink from another project.  They have been on my desk waiting for a use.  (This is a great tip from both Tim Holtz and Paperclipping - it's probably obvious, but I always wipe up extra inks with tags or scraps of paper to use as future backgrounds or to use with diecuts).  I then embossed the Happy Halloween (another Tim Holtz stamp) and added those to the tags.  I pulled some orange patterned paper and backed the tags. It looked sort of plain so I "pulled a May" (in honor of May Flaum) and pulled out my sewing machine.  (Side note:  I only sew on paper!  I would be a terrible seamstress - did you see how narrow one of the tags is - yeah, messed up the sewing... but I went back and added zig zags and rub ons and it's all good now).  I thought the stitching tied it all together.

It's a little early in my book for Halloween stuff, but it felt good to get a little crafting in this morning.

I often feel like I have lots of bits and pieces on my desk of half finished projects, techniques and inspiration, but have a hard time pulling it all together for a finished piece.  I am happy to get this project done start to finish!  

Happy crafting.

Leslie