Fiesta Skeletons notch-swing card

What is it about Halloween cards that make them so much darn fun‽ I've been cranking them out all week...maybe this is my way of keeping warm with this cooler weather! Much cheaper than turning on the heat. Mom sent me this adorable Halloween/Day of Dead paper from BoBunny's Fright Delight Collection, so I just had to make her something with it!

I designed this notch swing card in SCAL and cut it with my Silhouette electronic die-cutting machine, which made it easier to cut the frames as well. I'm working on a really good template that I can share with ya'll. All of my Notch Swing Cards are archived here.

Here's the other side of the swing part:

And the inside:

Card Recipe:

Stamps:
• Dancing Skeletons clear stamp from Studio G
• Corner spider web rubber stamp from All Night Media 

Embellishments:
• Cuttlebug spider web embossing folder
• Stampendous detail black embossing powder & Versamark Ink
• Sakura & Elmer's gel pens
• Black Copic marker & black PITT artist pens
• I designed the "Fiesta" banner myself in SCAL

Papers:
• BoBunny's Fright Delight Collection
• Recollections black cardstock
• Neenah white cardstock 
• Vellum from my stash

Tools:
• BigShot die cutting machine (for embossing)
• Silhouette electronic die cutting machine 
• Sure Cuts A Lot design software (SCAL)
• Fiskars papercutter & deckle scissors
• Tim Holtz & Martha Stewart scissors
• Zip-Dry glue & ZIG glue stick 
• Marvy heat tool & corner notch punch

Challenges/Inspiration:
Cards und More #92: Halloween
Crafty Creations #245: Halloween Characters
Cut it Up #30: Halloween or Day of the Dead + Die Cuts
Make My Monday: Halloween

Thank you for visiting,

Naturally Spooky

This week at Pile It On! we're celebrating Halloween & Day of the Dead & all things Cute & Creepy. Our sponsor is Dilly Beans, and she has some of the best digis out there for this theme. I used Witch Hat Skulls Stack (Dilly Beans digi #465):

I printed the skull image on shiny white paper (Recollections) and heat-embossed it with black power. (There's a simple tutorial on how I heat-emboss digi stamps on the bottom of this post.) The corner spider webs were heat-embossed as well, using a rubber stamp from All Night Media. I fussy-cut the skulls and hats separately, and ran the pieces face-down through my sticker machine. I covered the skulls with different glitters from a sample pack in my stash (I wish I had super ultra-fine glitter!). The hats were colored with Copics before adding the adhesive, and then covered with glow-in-the-dark glitter for a late-night surprise!

The little skullie guy is from a pre-colored Dilly Beans set that I've had for a few years. I colored his outfit with Copics.

Card Recipe:

Stamps:
• Dilly Beans digi #465, Witch Hat Skulls Stack
• Dilly Beans digital collage sheet #C02, Girlie Skellies
• Corner spider web rubber stamp from All Night Media
• Sentiment rubber stamp from stash

Embellishments:
• Adhesive Pearl Swirl & tiny pearl, colored black with Copics
• Brads from Recollections
• Prima flowers
• Fine glitter from my stash
• Cuttlebug spider web embossing folder
• Stampendous detail black & white embossing powders
• Clear Shapes adhesive corners from Making Memories 
• Doodlebug Designs button
• Baker's twine by the Twinery
• Copic markers

Papers:
• Shiny black & white papers from Recollections' Metallics collection
• Recollections vellum
• Graphic 45 spider web-patterned DP
• Spider strip from a DP I bought at Michael's (sorry, cut the info strip off!)

Tools:
• BigShot die cutting machine
• Provocraft zig-zag scissors 
• Fiskars papercutter
• Tim Holtz & Martha Stewart scissors
• Zip-Dry glue & Glossy Accents
• 3M foam tape

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. 2 Creative Chicks Challenge #7: Halloween
2. A & T Emerald Faeries: Sparkle
3. Country View Crafts' Challenge: Something Spooky
4. Crafty Creations #244: Sparkle and shine
5. Crafty Sentiments: Halloween
6. Dream Valley Challenge: Halloween
7. Everybody Art Challenge: Ribbon (behind the spiders)
8. Oldie But A Goodie Challenge: Spooky + Stash (I've had the spider web stamp is almost 2 years, and this is my first time inking it up!)
9. Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge #280: Lots of embellishment
10. Ribbon Carousel Challenge: Halloween (ribbon & baker's twine)
11. Sketch N Stash: Sketch + Pearls & Swirls + Stash (the embossing folder and spider web stamp are new-to-me; the glitter & spider-web paper have been untouched for almost a year!)
12. Sparkle N Sprinkle: Anything Goes with Glitter, Embossing Powder and/or Flocking
13. Stamp and Create: Halloween

Thank you for visiting,

Más vale tarde que nunca

I had so much fun making my framed Sugar Skull and Halloween/Birthday Card that I just had to make some cards using the same mix of paper-piecing and glow-in-the-dark glitter.  
I used orange and yellow flocking for the flowers, and colored the pieces with my Copics, using a lot of shading. 

I used the lovely Framed Sugar Skull & Flowers by Dilly Beans, and made the backing by printing it on shiny blue Recollections cardstock and then heat-embossing it in Glitter (Stampendous Kaleidoscope powder). The eye socket, nose hole, and teeth are actually a shiny white paper.

click to enlarge

As I'm sending this to my husband's Aunt in Mexico, whose birthday was earlier this month(!), I used the "Más vale tarde que nunca" ("Better late than never") & one of the birthday sentiments from the Queremos Pastel set by Dilo en Español Stamps. I think she'll appreciate the humor!

I used Spellbinders dies and another sentiment from the Dilo en Español set for the inside:

Here it is, glowing in the dark:

Our aunt owns & runs Arcos Del Atascadero Bed & Breakfast in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico, and she taught me a lot about Día de Muertos traditions, as she's an expert in Mexican history and I like to ask a lot of questions! I'm really hoping that we can visit them during the All Saints holidays one of these years. Actually, the glowing skull sorta reminds my of this photo I snapped during our last visit to San Miguel de Allende, of the light show on la Parroquia in their main square:

Inspiration/Challenges:
Alota Rubber Stamps: Birthday celebrations
Cupcake Craft: Paper Piecing
MarkerPop Coloring Challenge #9: Paper Piecing + Shading
Natalie and Amy's Challenge: Birthday bling
Poisoned Peas Please Challenge #8: Sugar Skulls and Day of the Dead (This is my 2nd entry; my 1st is here)


You can see all of my Día de Muertos projects here in my archives.

Thank you for visiting,

Free Digi Fun

Oh my heavens I've had too much fun making "Sugar Skull" cards this year (see all my Día de Muertos projects here)! I thought I had it out of my system but ...

I goofed and entered a card into Digi Haven's Halloween Challenge forgetting that the focus of their fun challenges is to use a Free Digi! I really like the concept, but I completely spaced and entered a card using a Stitchy Bear/Ike's Art image. The Digi Haven team has left me some wonderful comments, but I did want to take up the suggestion to try again!

This time, I decided to use one of the funky freebies available at Wonderstrange, and when I saw their Valentine Sugar Skull I just had to make a shaped card:

I used kraft-core, patterned paper (Recollections for the skull & the paper-pieced bits. My husband says the "orange" looks leathery, and we both approve! I added detail to the image with Sakura gel pens and brads.

I decided to use my Dilo en Español sentiment stamps again; I hadn't used the "Dia de las Brujas" ("Witches' Day") sentiment yet, so I decided to make a Halloween/Día de Muertos card. Nothing like a little cross-cultural design!

The sentiment is heat-embossed in shiny blue, and the jaw is attached with one of the star brads.

I cut out the eyes on the skull to reveal a cute witch from a scrap of Graphic 45's Happy Haunting / Jolly Jack-O-Lantern DP (does anyone recognize this brand?! - found it, thanks to Papersniffer!)

Inspiration/Challenges:

• Art With No Boundaries October Challenge: October/Halloween
• A & T Emerald Faeries Challenge #34: Anything Goes
• Digi Haven "Free Digi" Challenge: Halloween (I used the Valentine Sugar Skull that is FREE and available at Wonderstrange)
• Going Grey With Scrap-Creations: Halloween
• Make it Monday with Kraft Outlet: Inside & Out (I've decorated the inside & outside of the card, plus the sentiment is hidden "inside")
• Papercraft Star Challenge #118: Witch

Update: This was chosen as a Top 3 for Digi Haven's Halloween Challenge. Plus, I sent it to my dad he and loved it. So double-thanks, Digi Haven!

Many thanks to Digi Haven for the inspiration ... twice! Thank you for visiting,