DOUBLE FRAMED BIRTHDAY CARD

Today's card is a birthday greeting, inspired by Seize the Birthday's "Double Frame" challenge. I'm running short on birthday cards and have several birthdays coming up this next week, so this was a good opportunity to catch up a bit.

I'm really fond of this rubber stamp sun image from Hero Arts, and have used it several times over the past couple of years. I decided I wanted to make a CAS card with the double frame from the same watercolor stock as the card base. I die cut a base frame and a frame from the same stitched rectangular die and then a 3rd stitch edged rectangle from a stripe cardstock scrap, and attached all but the top layer to the face of the card base. I stamped the sun twice with black ink - each time in different tones of gold card stock to coordinate with the stripe background. The sun rays were fussy cut as was the face. I touched up the face with white gel pen, pink Prismacolor, and red felt pen and glued the face over the sunray image. Finally I glued on the sun and top frame. I looked at it for a while to decide whether I needed to add anything else, but decided to keep it more plain.

Here's a photo of the image and frames up a little closer, plus the inside of the card with an old PTI sentiment that I've used before with this sun image.

Seize the Birthday: Seize the Birthday #336-Double Frame

Added October 22, 2026:

AUTUMNAL GHOSTLY GREETINGS

I'm still cranking out the Halloween cards, to make sure I have enough for everyone on my list. This one is a blended Halloween/Fall card inspired by Just Us Girls Callenge #845. I loved the textural tone of this JUG mood board!

As a part of the packet of Halloween papers gifted to me (Crafter's Companion 

"Vintage Halloween") this past week was this cable-knit printed paper, arriving with perfect timing! I started with my often-used Trinity Stamps "Boo Brew" #TMD-088 die set. I used pale blue cardstock and white watercolor paper to die cut the cup and ghost. A couple of Spellbinders "Winter Borders" dies provided an additional decorative accent at the opening side of the 5" x 5" square card base. The cable-knit background was matted with ochre card stock and attached to the front and the cup and ghost were clued on with some dimensional foam. I slipped in some fall leaves and tied on the sentiment.  

The above close-up shot shows the various textures of my card.

"Just Us Girls" Challenge: Just Us Girls Challenge #845 - Moodboard

Added October 22, 2026:

IN HIS CUPS!

It's mid-October and we're in the final countdown to Halloween 2026! Our Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge closes on the 28th. 

I started this card with the idea of a skull in a large drink glass (inspired by the image in the left bottom quadrant of our inspiration board) and segued to a zombie (Whimsy Stamps "Monster Parade" die set) trying to drown his sorrows in a large glass of some horrible concoction, with a smaller skull floating in it. I had fun with this! The row of imbibing skeletons in the background is from a stamp set from Whimsy Stamps - #CWSD346a "Pick Your Poison". I cut a white cardstock panel slightly smaller than the black A2 card base and stamped the row of skeletons across the center, coloring their drinks with Copic markers. The sentiment from the same set was added with red-orange ink and a strip of printed paper added after gluing the panel to the card base. The large wine glass is from Tim Holtz, the zombie from Whimsy Stamps, and the small scull from Spellbinders.

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: October 2026 Mid Month Reminder

Also, if you came here from the TOB blog, you know that the ladies have some supplies to give away! Your project makes you automatically qualified for the drawing:

  

PRIZE #1

PRIZE #2

I'm also sharing this card with the Whimsy Stamps October 2026 Challenge, for a chance at the drawing!

Whimsy Stamps ~ October Halloween Challenge - Whimsy Inspirations Blog

SPOOKY!

I have another Halloween card today - this time my inspiration is the current Freshly Made Sketches #758. I turned the layout 180 degrees.

I was gifted some Halloween papers that gave me an opportunity to expand my usual color palette from the usual red-orange/black/white. This somber ochre tone worked well with some mustard colored cardstock that I had on-hand. I trimmed the paper to fit an A2 card base, matted it with a deep purple stock, and attached it to the face of the card. I stamped the sentiment with deep purple ink on mustard cardstock, attached it to an orange drip-punched band, and strung orange raffia and purple twine through a punched opening. This was attached to the card with dimensional foam before adding the dark purple stalking wolf from Whimsy Stamp "Monster Parade" die set.

Freshly Made Sketches: Freshly Made Sketches #758 - A Sketch by Jen T

PLAID BAT AND BLACK CAT!

I have been gone from the scene since mid-September (hubby and I went on a 3-week road trip to the southwest), and today is my first foray back into card-making. I'm filling in the last couple of Halloween cards before I need to get them into the mail.

Here's my CAS card, combining two challenges - Inkspirational Challenge #378 - "CAS" with an optional word prompt "Plaid" and Shopping Our Stash #584 - "Black Cats".

This card was very simple to make. I die cut a panel of printed Halloween paper with a deckle-edged die and double-matted it with a narrow edge of black cardstock and plaid paper. I white heat-embossed the sentiment onto a black card base, attached the matted image and glued on a bat die cut from the plaid paper. The final addition was little dots in the eyes of all of the creatures with a white gel pen.

Inkspirational: Inkspirational Challenge #378 - Word Prompt - CAS - Optional Twist: Plaid

Shopping Our Stash Weekly Challenge Blog: SOS 584 - Black Cats

OCTOBER TWO OLD BATS HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE

Here we are in October, and if you've been following us all year, you probably have between 12 and 24 Halloween cards (or projects). Our new inspiration board has some great ideas to play with. I decided on the lower right quadrant.

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge

I've been really wanting to use this mummy paper from my stash, and this month's board offers me the perfect opportunity! These are all coordinating papers from a 12x12 pad I purchased several years ago. I trimmed several of the papers, plus a red-orange solid square and layered all of them on a black square card base.

I had fun using a gift card envelope die that I cut from double-printed paper, and I tucked into it a die cut 3-piece word die from Whimsy Stamps. I attached it to the other layers of the card face, and the final step was to fussy-cut a couple of the mummies. The custom envelope features both sides of the mummy paper.

Go to the blog and take a look at the great inspiration provided by all of the Design Team, and let them know how much you appreciate them!

ONE OF MY PEEPS!

It's the first Friday of October, and you know what that means - a new challenge announced at Simply CAS Challenge! Diane has selected "Something TINY (Keep it Little)" as this month's theme.

Simply Clean & Simple

I dug through some of my stamp sets and came up with Simon Hurley's "Spring Chicken" to work with. I'm not sure why I didn't follow Diane's lead and make a Halloween card, except that I've been wanting to do a card with these cute little chicks.

I started with a 5-1/2" square watercolor paper card base and a slightly smaller square matching panel. I die cut a circle for a stencil and blended sky with clouds and over-stamped the three chicks with brown ink. I stamped them a second time on matching paper, colored them with Copic markers, and fussy cut their bodies. I stamped the sentiment and additional egg with a tan-toned ink. The little guy near the sentiment was pasted on first and the die-cut fence added. The final two chicks were glued over the fence and the panel attached to the card base with dimensional foam. I added a bit of fence under the panel to continue it to the edge.

Let's see what you come up with! Just remember to keep it clean and simple.