Fun and Mental Changes

WHOO HOO!!! Today is the big day! So my project today doesn't really seem to reflect the scariness of Halloween, nor does it reflect the craziness of the Crazy Halloween Challenge that ends here at Fun And Mental Changes tonight (click HERE for deets), but let me assure you that this project is PERFECT for today. I picked the pink palette in honor of the last day of Breast Cancer Awareness month, the GORGEOUS witch in honor of Halloween and I PROMISE.... I went CRAZY trying to master the use of the Martha Stewart Punch Around The Page and that was pretty scary!!! Yes, oh yes, this project is PERFECT for today!!! It's so hard to believe that this Halloween season is almost over... it feels like it just started!!! That's it! I propose that we have "Second Halloween" in April!!! :) Who's with me? Copics I used for this project: E35, E42, E49, E50, E51, E53, R81, RV34 and RV91 (RV91 is lighter than RV34).

Ok... so after yesterday's attempt to use the Martha Stewart Punch Around The Page border punches, I found myself trying and trying to perfect it pretty much the entire day..... THEN.... I watched the company's video tutorial and lo and behold, LOOKIE WHAT I DID (click on pic to enlarge)!!! Just a little note, for the punches to work, the measurements have to be right on ! But after practicing, I made a spooky journaling mat and a web-bordered card! YAY ME!!! So here's the link to the video for all of you who ran out and bought the punch set the minute you saw yesterday's post.... well, I'm imagining you did cuz that's what I would've done! LOL! Ok, now, really, here is the link: HERE . Have a great one gang! Tomorrow's the big day!!!! :)

Wow! I'm surprised there haven't been more entries for the "Crazy Halloween" challenge that ends Halloween night, especially considering that there are THREE Tickled Pink stamps up for grabs.... but I guess that just means the odds of winning are SUPER HIGH!!! hahahahahhahaha! So if anyone out there is still interested in entering the challenge, click HERE for the details to enter. Good luck to everyONE? HAHAHAHAHAHA! So today I wanna talk about Martha Stewart again. Now some of you might be getting a little worried that I'm starting to obsess about this woman... well, with what she did to me...., but I'm NOT! It is not in my imagination that this woman just happens to rock the Halloween season, bares a striking resemblance to a witch and creates death traps and torture devices. You all remember what happened to me a couple of weeks ago! But Martha Stewart attack aside, she really did create an awesome product with the spider web punch around the page punche...

Wow... I gotta be honest, this seems a little soon for me to be doing ANYTHING Christmas. I'm not even through all the uber-fun Halloween stuff yet!!! But I designed a scrapbook layout for today's button challenge over at The Town Scrapper (Ontario, Canada) featuring Victoria Case's Made With Love Lola. Click HERE to view what all the designers made for this challenge and to upload your own button-featuring creation!!! You have until Thursday at 9 p.m. to upload your project. Now for a little shout out! Yesterday I had the pleasure of hanging out with the Betties (plural for Betty)! These women ROCK!!! They are a hoot to be around and are BEYOND HELPFUL!!! Betty Barb was kind enough to help with the finishing touches on my project donating her valuable Zots. "Thank you Betties! Any time you want to help with my projects, I promise, you won't have to twist my arm!!!" And it was a load of fun enjoying the pizza muffins with them. We decided that the best part o...

Ok. So here's a quick mani featuring my ALL-TIME-FAVORITE black polish. Color Club's Black goes on SO smooth and dries perfectly. This is by far the best black nail polish to own. I mean, let's face it, black is hard to get on, but to have one that glides off the brush makes application a breeze. Honestly, I could go on and on about this polish.... but I won't! I'll get on to the fun Konad stuff!!! So I stamped the spider from Konad's image disc M28 using China Glaze's OMG holo nail polish. I love the holographic polishes, but this line is my favorite among them all. Unfortunately folks, I think this line is discontinued which really is unfortunate, because all of these holos work AMAZINGLY with the Konad system... and I'm not sure why! :) Anyway, I applied a mini red stone that photographed orange (weird), but it's red and makes this mani rock. I only stamped my ring finger on both hands, so with my Martha Stewart wound and the fact that ...

Hi Hoppers! Danielle, a.k.a. FitterTwit here.... so glad you made it!!! If you're mid-hop, you should be arriving here from Chelsea's blog . Was that a great project or what!?! If you're just joining us and need to start the hop from the beginning, you're gonna want to head over to our lovely Hop Hostess Patricia's blog to start the fun here on our VERY IMPORTANT Inking Pink Blog Hop! Here's to Breast Cancer Awareness!!! My project for this hop is a reminder card..."Remember your checkups!" What a wonderful way to say "I love you" to a dear friend or family member. Now you may not be able to see it in the pic above, but I altered The Greeting Farm's Ebony so that her tee shirt reads, "Say YES to Mammograms!" So, today I wanted to share HOW I added the words to her tee. First I printed the words as small as I could and still be able to read the message using my laser printer onto the paper that I would be using to color in my im...

So, today is overcast and dreery (SO WONDERFUL) and I pulled out Young Frankenstein, a Halloween classic, to pop it into the dvd player and couldn't help but be struck by the urge to do another Halloween mani! You know you love them!!! hahahahahaha. So with the movie put on hold, I went in search of the PERFECT image plates! Here's what I did. Base Coat: Nail Aid's Rapid Growth 2 Coats: OPI's Gargantuan Green Grape Image Plates: M7 and M19 (for french tip) Images Stamped: in black Konad special nail polish Top Coat: Seche Vite for quick dry I'd say these babies are perfect for the Young Frankenstein viewing.... don't you agree? Gotta run folks! Time to pop popcorn and press "play"! :) Don't forget... visit O.C. Nail Art and use code FITTERTWIT at checkout to receive free images along with your free shipping on orders over $30!

ONLY 10 MORE DAYS!?! I can't believe Halloween's almost here!!! I'm so excited! So I'm going to try to fit in as many Halloween Konadicures as I can between now and then. Today's is a simple orange and black "quickie" using Nail Aid's Pink Growth as a base coat, then two coats of OPI's Tangerine Scene, nail stamp from image plate M15 using Konad special nail polish in black and then a top coat of the beloved Seche Vite! THIS IS SO GOTH!!! I love it! I'm going to do this again in red and black... stay tuned for that!!! I went ahead and covered the ghastly-gash-al-a-Martha Stewart so that I could show you the entire mani. Please forgive the nasty cuticles... ever since the Martha Stewart attack , I just haven't really cared for them while waiting to heal. But at least you all get to see this awesome mani!!! Get yourselves ready.... Halloween's almost here!!! For a GREAT deal on Konad Nail Stamping, check out OC Nail Art ! Code "FITT...

Ok... this little guy ROCKS MY SOCKS!!! I discovered him while hopping in the Little Hop of Horrors put on by Canadian Nickel Scrap'n when Gloria of Creepy Glowbugg showcased this little guy for her project. OF COURSE I had to have him and OF COURSE I had to scrap-jack her idea. When coloring with Copic markers.... don't be afraid to copy someone else's coloring. It is a great way to discover how highlights and lowlights get created on a project. And THIS particular image was expertly drawn by the artist to include all the shadows.... so the hard work was done! All I had to do was color the dark areas dark and the light areas light. I LOVE IT WHEN IT'S EASY!!! :) To get your hands on this little gem, Marvin The Bat, CLICK HERE . He arrived to me in a digi file (three different images).... and you all know how much I'm diggin the digis!!! Have a great one gang..... 11 days till Halloween!!! YEEEE!

Just a quick one today folks! I finally got around to coloring the new Simply Betty Spooky Hallow digis and all I can say is.... "MEGA HIGH FIVE"!!! I'm tellin you... you GOTTA check these out!!! Click on the link above! :) Colors I used: Dress - R14, R27, R29, R59 and C9 Hair - C2, C4 and C9 Skin - E50, C2 and R29 Gravestone and Misc. - C2, C4, C5 and C9 Have a great one gang... HALLOWEEN IS ALMOST HERE.... CAN YOU FEEL IT?

Today is Showcase Monday over at The Town Scrapper and here's my featured project! I just LOVE this Kraftin Kimmie Charlotte stamp and have used it on MANY occasions, but this one is just cuter than the rest.... and I can't put my finger on it! HA! (that's my little pun for this morning's post! ;) Anyway, head over and check out what the rest of The Town Scrapper's design team has to offer... you won't be sorry.... the showcase today is great! :) Oh... and the title for this post is referring to the lovely ladies who were with me last night while I was coloring this oh-so-adorable Charlotte. You ladies ROCK and I'm so lucky to get to hang out with you! :)

Ok, so here's another Halloween mani.... well, sort of. I wish I could show you all my nails like I usually do, but Martha Stewart ruined it!!! You all know I'm a scrapper and said "scrapping" needs tools.... sometimes manly tools I might add. From pliers to drills, this crafting hobby COULD look like a mechanics garage in some circles. Well... there are RULES in those circles! First Rule: blades ALWAYS have safety caps that PULL off!!! Freakin Martha Stewart and her special craft knives with the lids that slide to the side to remove!!! Who would know you had to read instructions TO REMOVE A FREAKIN SAFETY CAP!?! Whatever! You can kind of guess where this is going.... I sliced my finger open trying to remove a safety cap from a Martha Stewart cutter thingy (that's the technical term BTW)! And of course I sliced the very middle finger on my left hand which is the hand I ALWAYS photograph for these blog pics of my nail art.... well, cuz I'm right handed. This mo...

Ok, so I received a request yesterday for instructions for my Halloween envelopes. And the good news is, you can use these for ANY envelopes... hahahahahaha! I'm a bit partial to the Halloween ones though... just so you know! LOL! So I'm going to go through the Martha Stewart way and then I'll post a link to a video using Scor Pal to create envelopes! Now, I have some recent issues with Martha Stewart... but I'll go into that tomorrow. For the purposes of scoring or creating envelopes.... well, NOTHING beats Martha Stewart's Score Board. Aside from the fact that it only cost me $10 with a 50% coupon at Michaels, it also includes an ON-BOARD envelope template (LOVE) and a scoring/folding tool that ALSO stores ON-BOARD!!! Now the little trick with the Martha Stewart Score Board envelope template is that it also includes a little "cheat" that tells you how to make envelops from the #1 size envelope to the A2 envelope that I love so much, all the way to a #10 ...

I really hope you all will join us for a VERY important cause and see some things, learn some things and have a chance to win some really cool stuff! This blog hop is going to be PACKED with incredible projects....you won't want to miss this!

Congratulations DEBRA!!! You are the winner of the October 31st Cricut cartridge! Please email me at fittertwit@yahoo.com with your mailing address. Thank you to everyone who participated in this drawing.... I hope to see everyone's projects in the Crazy Halloween Challenge . I'll be giving away a set of THREE Tickled Pink Stamps to one lucky winner! :)

ANNOUNCEMENT! I will be at Paper Vineyard in Chandler, AZ on Sunday, October 17th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. We will be creating this super cute card and everyone will leave with their card creation AND this INCREDIBLE Kraftin Kimmie Charlotte stamp for future masterpieces!!! The class is VERY limited so reserve your spot quickly! Class price is $30. Phone: 480-656-2058! Everything you need to create this card will be provided during the class except for copic markers, adhesive, scissors, and paper trimmer, so please be sure to bring those items with you. Project kits are also available for purchase if you cannot attend the class. "Girlz Rule" will be previewed at the event for pre-booking in November. And this one ROCKS MY SOCKS!!! Hope to see you there!!! :)

Wow.... so HOW many times can I use this image??? HAHAHAHAHAHA! I can't help it! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this Victoria Case Magical Sophie stamp !!! But, I promise, this is the last time you'll see her this season. I've got WAY too many new and oh-so-cute stamps and goodies coming and I'll have to use ALL of them this Halloween.... you know how it is. So I did this card for The Town Scrapper (which, BTW, is where I got this cute little gem). Today starts the sketch challenge for the week over there. If you'd like to participate, click on the link above. Of all types of challenges, sketch challenges are my favorite. And this particular sketch is super fun just because of all the design elements that are so perfectly placed. Check back in tomorrow... I will be announcing the winner of the October 31st Cricut Cartridge. There's still time to enter, here's THE LINK for the details. Good luck everyone! :)

So for today's post, I am featuring this place card over at The Bug Bytes . Be sure to click on the link to check out the deets for this project. The Bug Bytes is THE PLACE to go for ANYTHING Cricut!!! Also, I wanted to remind everyone that I will be announcing the winner of the blog candy on October 15th... there's still time to enter. Click HERE if you'd like to win the October 31st Cricut cartridge. AND, I've also got the Halloween challenge going until Halloween night for a chance to win THREE Tickled Pink Stamps... and my faves at that! Click HERE for details to enter your "Crazy Halloween" project for the challenge. Have a great one folks... hope you enjoyed this super simple project!

Just a quick post today! I just wanted to share with everyone a little site that I found that let's you personalize those vintage "Poison" labels that are so popular now a-days for both Halloween projects as well as the "Tim Holtz-esque" (I totally just made that up! HA!) projects and, of course, STEAMPUNK!!! LOVE IT!!! So instead of stamping or printing out the same ol' same ol', personalize your poison! Here's the site: http://www.shadowmanor.com/attic/howto/labels/ They save easily as a JPEG pic and print just as easily. This tool is THE BEST, I give it 100 high fives! I'm working on a project NOW using these..... stay tuned! :)

Today's Halloween project is my Witch's Walk drink menu. Since the party starts at midnight, well, the pricing was just for effect! Anyway, I thought I'd share some party drink recipes for you guys to use at YOUR Halloween party!!! Vamp's Blood (NON-alcoholic): 6 oz. package of any red Jell-0 gelatin mix added to 2 cups of boiling water in a mixing bowl. Stir until gelatin is completely dissolved. Add 4 cups of ice cold water, stir and place in fridge until almost completely set up. Break gelatin up into pieces with a wire whisk and add to drink mix below before serving. Vamp's Blood part two: In a LARGE punch bowl combine 48 oz. cranberry cocktail, 1 liter of ginger ale, 1/2 cup lime juice. Chill and serve 3/1 with gelatin mix above. Serves MANY! Bat Juice: In a large punch bowl combine your favorite clear citrus soda (7up, Sprite, Fresca, etc.) with lime sherbet. Be sure to stir mixture until the sherbet is blended with the soda and drink is slightly "slimy...

Well, today I just had a BLAST with my new friend Dana! She showed me how to make this AMAZING mini-album using a simple 5"x 5" CD cover/sleeve. Let me walk you through it! So here's the front cover! SUPER CUTE cover! The simple cat with the blinged-out eyes is perfect. Well, and of course I love those skulls! :) Here is the inside flap of the CD cover along with one of the paper inserts. I punched the side... a nice little addition! :) All the paper inserts (3 in all) were simply bound by tying a thin metallic string... THAT'S IT! :) The last couple of pages here were done the same as the first with the edge punched. And finally the last page is the actual back side of the CD sleeve that is meant to hold a CD. I'm going to be using it to hold a couple of tags. This really is THE GREATEST Halloween mini-album I've ever seen!!! I'm so glad I got the opportunity to make it and even more glad to have spent the time with Dana. Thank you Dana Edwards!!! :)

Ok, so I FINALLY found the site where I first discovered THE COOLEST Halloween Konadicures! I want to send out a special "Thanx" to Konaddict with my apologies for not remembering what an AMAZING resource for nail designs your site is!!!! There were SO MANY image plates used for this mani. Please excuse the smeared bats and cuticle oil...hahahahahahaha! SEE GANG, you don't have to be a professional to use this nail stamping system!!! I'm SO not a professional, LOL! I will post my OC Nail Art code below so that everyone can get some free goodies. For the "Boo" on my thumb, I used image plates M17 and M18 stamped in white. I then did both white and black for the remainder of the images (image plates M3, C1, C4 and C5). I think this turned out super cute and will be better the second time around. Note to self... the lighter color should ALWAYS be stamped first! The black bat bled through the white bat that I put on top making one of my nails look a little...

I just have a quick reminder today... There is only a week left to enter to win the October 31st Cricut cartridge. If you'd like a chance to win, click HERE . Also, we are having a "mental Halloween" challenge here at Fun And Mental Changes for a pretty big prize haul. If you'd like to upload your creation, click HERE . Finally, The Town Scrapper is having a distress challenge this week. To see the deets and check out what the design team had to contribute, click HERE . Well that's about it for this week. So far, the odds of winning the prize goodies from all of these are VERY good.... so be sure to head over and check them out! :)

Sorry gang! I wish I had a finished project for you today, but I'm off to work today and couldn't finish this one in time. BUT at least you all get a list of the Copics I used on this BEYOND ADORABLE C.C. Designs Pumpkin Pixie. She is SOOOOOOO great! I'm trying to decide what to do with her, and I'm thinking about putting her on the top of a treat box. As soon as I finish this project, I will post it. This one is going to take a little thought, but I know that as soon as the project is done, it's going to be great! I also wanted to post a little reminder of the Challenge that is running until Halloween. Create an original project with the theme of "Crazy Halloween" and post it to the InLinkz at the bottom of the challenge post.... CLICK HERE ... and receive these AWESOME Tickled Pink Lil Lolita stamps! Good luck to everyone who enters. And don't forget that I'm also giving away the October 31st Seasonal Cricut cartridge.... check out the deets HERE...

Is it really any wonder why I LOVE Halloween so much!?! The Halloween color palette is one of the most vibrant and energetic color palettes there is! Everything from purple to green, orange and red, the visual sense comes to life with the Halloween splendor! Wow, that was almost "Christmas Poetic"... hahahahahaha! But you know what I mean. Unlike some holidays where the color palette is muted and sombre, Halloween is SO the opposite! And OH-HOW-GREAT that color palette is to color with the Copics I love so much!!! Copics I used for this project (and there were A LOT) were: Skin and face: E50, E51, E53, R14 and R29 Hair: E09, E33, E44 and E49 Outfit: B69, N1, N9, R14, R24, R29, R59, Y13, Y18, YR12, YR15, Misc: E11 The image is a Simply Betty Emo Halloween digi called Rio Devil. To check out all the awesome Halloween goodness over at Simply Betty, click HERE . I hope you all like this project. I think it turned out super cute and I can't wait to find this card a home! :)

Ok, so last Halloween I found the GREATEST Konadicure I have ever seen but did not have the image plates to do it, so I saved the image and FORGOT to include the name of the person who did this nail design. So for the record, I am NOT taking credit for this design, however I am taking credit for how good it turned out!!! I made only a couple of mistakes, but they are livable! This is STILL an amazing mani!!!! I have been growing out my nails specifically for this Konadicure. This mani is the reason I quit gnawing on my nails!!! What's a Konadicure? Konad is a REUSABLE nail STAMPING system and if you read this blog, then you have an "in". Head over to O.C. Nail Art (click HERE ), spend $30 or more and receive free images when you use the code FITTERTWIT (choose free image plate of your choice). Add to that free shipping to the US and I'd say that's a pretty screamin deal!!! And not only is this nail art system reusable, you can use any color you want to create gorg...

This may be the announcement for the winner of The Little Hop of Horror's blog candy, but I'm no where NEAR done with the give-aways this month!!! I already posted the challenge that I'm running from now until Halloween night, but if you haven't seen it, you can check it out HERE ..... GREAT PRIZE for this challenge gang!!! But there's more! This morning, Nicole over at Canadian Nickel Scrap'n announced the winners of her Little Hop of Horrors prizes. Congrats to all the winners!!! If you didn't win, you have another chance at the Grand Prize. I'M GIVING AWAY THE OCTOBER 31ST CARTRIDGE!!!! Here's how to win: from now until October 15th , post a link back to this blog post ANYWHERE (facebook, twitter, etc.) letting others know about this give-away, then leave a comment here letting me know where I can find the link. Or devote a blog post with a link to this giveaway and you get DOUBLE the chance of winning. Or do both! Leave a comment here for every ...

Today is our Monday Showcase at The Town Scrapper and I decided to use up the paper that I worked with yesterday for my project today. Is it me, or does Martha Stewart ROCK Halloween??? This paper is from this year's Halloween paper pack... love it! Anyway, Phebe at The Town Scrapper (Ontario, Canada) carries The Greeting Farm stamps, among others, and that's what I chose to feature in today's showcase. This is TGF's Ebony. Isn't she perfect? How she can be all smiles in the middle of a graveyard is beyond me.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Anyway, if you'd like to get your hands on her, you can reach Phebe at 519-882-0623 or by email at info@townscrapper.com. So while I was making this I discovered that I used up all of my red flowers last Christmas. Funny enough, I didn't have my Copics yet, so normally that would cause a problem. NOT this time! I'm SO diggin those red veiny flowers!!! Copics are the best! Don't forget about the challenge that started yesterda...

Now I don't claim to know it all (pretty close though... JK!), but there are some things I just KNOW!!! 1. I know there are 365 days in a calendar year. 2. I know I'll never dance naked for a full moon. AND 3. Anything having to do with "crazy", "mental" or "manic" draws me like a moth to a flame. I credit #3 to my ex-husband and have decided that "crazy" is a pretty fun way to be. I won't make this a "preachy" post, but suffice it to say that in reality I am full of Love, Power and a Sound Mind. But because that is true, I take "crazy" to a really fun level and appreciate anyone else who does the same! We're all a bit crazy in one way or another and quite frankly, I think that is what separates US from the BORING!!! In the spirit of Halloween and all that is crazy and manic, here is today's fun Halloween project. I hope no one is sick of that MS Drippy Goo punch yet, because I'm no where near b...

MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! So I tried to make the title sound really spooky and ran out of room to include my evil laugh... hahaha! WELCOME HOPPERS! Are you thoroughly spooked and amazed? I know I am! You already know that today is the start of our Halloween celebration with a blog hop organized by my good friend Nicole of Canadian Nickel Scrap'n . If you're currently hopping, you should be arriving here from the Fabulous Eulanda's blog ... wasn't that Caramel Corn Box AWESOME?!? If you haven't arrived from Eulanda's blog and are just now joining us, hop to the bottom of this post for details on how the blog hop works. And now for my scary good fun before you head over to Gloria's blog on the next stop of this hop. Today I've got the "Welcome" sign that I will be hanging in my foyer this Halloween. I used my Simple Frame Gypsy cut file as well as the pumpkins and faces from the Pumpkin Carvings Seasonal Cricut Cartridge (just like the one I will be g...

Ok everyone, the countdown begins! 30 days until Halloween and only hours until our Halloween Blog hop! I cannot wait to show everyone the project I made, but I'm even more excited for the goodies I have for you!!! Be sure to join us tomorrow for The Little Hop Of Horrors and a ton of fun with a chance to win some really great prizes. Today I used my TSG Halloween Additions stamp set and my MS Drippy Goo punch to make this super cute and super easy card. The perfect card if you have a lot of invitations to make! ;) Have a great one gang.... I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!