Cards and Cosmo in Costume

It ended up being a rainy Halloween evening here, so we didn't have many trick or treaters visit. It didn't stop Cosmo the costumed crazy dog from enthusiastically greeting the trick or treaters that rang our doorbell. I have a photo of him at the end of the post, after the cards, if you're interested.

I haven't done one of Mercy's sketch challenges in a while, so I used my new Verve stamps to try out this week's sketch. I used some non-traditional colors along with the snowflake wreath image from the new Christmas in the Air set. The snowflakes are stamped on a gray circle and embossed in white for some dimension. I added a soft blue button with a silver cord bow as an embellishment.

I used some patterned paper from Papertrey Ink for the top part of the panel behind the image. A strip of coordinating soft blue cardstock with a scalloped edge is attached to the patterned paper. A piece of dotted red satin ribbon divides the two panels. I added the "snow wonderful" sentiment to the blue strip in bold red ink, then added a white dot to each of the scallops to continue the dots from the patterned paper and the ribbon.

Materials Used:
Christmas in the Air and Snow Wonderful stamp sets (Verve Stamps); Pure Poppy and Fresh Snow inks, Aqua Mist cardstock, Rustic Snowflakes patterned paper, Pure Poppy dotted satin ribbon, Aqua Mist button (Papertrey Ink); Basic Gray cardstock, white embossing powder, scallop edge punch, silver cord, white gel pen, dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

And, while I had my new stamps out, I did a card for this week's Viva la Verve sketch challenge. This week's challenge twist was 1 (embellishment), 2 (colors of cardstock, plus a neutral), 3 (stamps).

I used a combination of images from Frosty Flakes and Snow Wonderful for my three stamp images. Two of the snowflakes are stamped in pink and blue on a white panel. I added just a bit of glitter to the snowflake centers.

The single embellishment I used is a snowflake brad that was originally white. I used a Copic marker to color it pink to match the card's color scheme. The brad is attached to the circle panel along with the "winter wishes" sentiment. I used a coordinating pink card base and a scrap panel of designer paper to complete the card.

Materials Used:

Frosty Flakes and Snow Wonderful stamp sets (Verve Stamps); Sweet Blush and Spring Rain inks, Sweet Blush and Spring Rain cardstock (Papertrey Ink); Whisper White cardstock, Summer Picnic designer series paper, Dazzling Diamonds, dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); snowflake brad (Recollections); marker (Copic); circle and scalloped circle dies (Nestabilities)

Now, here's Cosmo the costumed dog. The original plan was for Cosmo to wear a karate costume, but when I put it on him, it didn't fit. I guess he needs an XXL . . .

So, I was forced to turn to Plan B. I pulled out a past costume for him to wear and he became Robin, Batman's sidekick. He got lots of affection and admiring comments from children and adults alike. He was willing to pose for a few photos and I actually got a few decent ones. Here's one of the cute shots I took in between answering the door.