Spooky Times

I do love making Halloween cards! I also really like making Box Cards because you can incorporate so many different details.

The Mummy Pumpkin stamp is from Stampendous; I'm not sure where the sentiment stamp is from, I inherited them both. I've had the Trick-or-Treaters paper forever, and every Halloween I use a bit of it and carefully hoard the rest! Both Eyeball papers are from a Recollections stack.

Inspiration/Challenges:
DL ART Thankful Thursday Challenge: (2nd & 4th Thurs) #270 Pumpkin
Mod Squad: (Wed 2W) Spooky Halloween
Simon Says Stamp: (Wed) Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting!

If the Broom Fits -- Halloween at International Art & Soul

This fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge our theme is Halloween. 

I love making Halloween cards, so I couldn't wait to pull out these stamps & papers that I was gifted last year and never got to use. I heat-embossed the Legs with a sparkly white powder; the sentiment (from a different stamp set)was stamped in black, also directly onto a textured orange paper. The hat & broom are stickers; everything is matted with silver foil cardstock.

For the base card, I used a foiled paper from the paper collection as most of the patterned papers on the front. I added a message section and more of those cute Halloween kitties!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Aud Sentiments Challenge #261: (Thurs 2W) Fall/Halloween Sentiment
Show Us Your Pussies Challenge #59: (Monthly Tue) Furrything Goes (mainly cats) 

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at International Art & Soul,

Fruity & Fun Trick or Treating

Couldn't resist making one more Halloween card this year!

I made the pumpkin pail using Newton's Nook snowglobe die set. Did you have one of those when you were  kid? I did, and used it for years! I used a piece of orange paper from my stash which was, coincidentally, a scrap from my fishbowl Valentine using the same die. I filled it with Queen & Co. fruit sprinkles. The curved edge was cut with the "Nature Edges" die set from Karen Burniston/Riley & Company.

I used off-cuts from the front to decorate the inside:

Inspiration/Challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Halloween/Spooky
Tuesday Morning Sketches: Sketch #476



Be sure to check out the fabulous projects by my teammates the UnstampaBelles this month!

Thank you for visiting,

Shaky & Batty -- Orange & Black at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Orange & Black.

I made a shaker card using a kit from Clear Scraps. I inked the edges of each wooden piece with black ink. I heat-embossed the top section with a black glittered powder. For the inside, I heat-embossed the Halloween sentiment in neon orange on shiny black paper and then traced & fussy-cut the shape. I filled the shaker with clear glass beads, orange & black microbeads, and glow-in-the-dark glitter. I recently won this cute ghostie Washi tape. The die-cut bat is from a Lawn Fawn set. All the patterned papers are from Graphic 45.I even decorated the inside:

Inspiration/Challenges:
Aud Sentiments Challenge #213: Halloween/Fall Sentiment
Simply Create Too #143: Shaker Card

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at International Art & Soul,

Tricks & Treats

Halloween cards are so fun to make, I had to make another one with some ideas I've been playing with.

I made the spider with black ribbon & black adhesive gemstones. The "web" is made from pieces of lacy ribbon. The pumpkin pail was created from glittery orange cardstock with an oval tag die & and circle die with a stitched border. I used foam to create the shaker; I hand-cut the inner circle. The handle is die-cut with two circle dies. I filled it with black, white & orange microbeads, and candy corns that I stamped with two stamp sets & colored with Copics. For the sentiment, I used a rubber stamp that I've had for at least 6 years and an ombre ink pad. The background is a shiny off-white cardstock, the pumpkin border is a Graphic designer paper, and the card base is purple paper.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Fairy Tale Challenge #178: Pumpkin
Paper Creator's Crafts: Simply Spooky
Pile It On: Fantasy and/or Spiders/Cobwebs
Really Reasonable Ribbon: Anything Goes with Ribbon
STAMPlorations Sketch & Theme Challenge: Sketch

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Spooky Shaker -- Tic-Tac-Toe with the UnstampaBelles

The UnstampaBelles October challenge is Tic-Tac-Toe with the optional twist of journaling/writing about your decision making process. You can make whatever you like without using any stamps. You need to follow the twist to be considered as the DT Favorite, but you only have to follow main theme to win our prize. This challenge has so many possibilities!

I used the middle column: Lace, Bling, Die-cuts.

The panels are from a sheet of Graphic 45 paper. I cut out part of the the first two panels & popped them with black foam tape to created shaker portions. I filled the shakers with a mix of microbeads and glitters. I added round gold glitter stickers (bling) to the corners. I colored white lace with a purple Copic marker and added it to the tag that I cut from a different sheet of Graphic 45 paper. If you look closely, you'll see die-cut bats (Lawn Fawn) and several sizes of butterflies (SU!) that I cut from coordinating DPs. The skeleton is fussy-cut from the last panel, but backed with black paper. The card base is a shiny black paper.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cut It Up Challenge #133: Shaker Cards + Die cut (bats & butterflies)
Deep Ocean Challenge #166: Halloween

Be sure to check out the fabulous projects by my teammates the UnstampaBelles this month!

Thank you for visiting,

Witchy Pun -- Pilin' on the Fantasy and/or Spiders/Cobwebs

The theme this month at Pile It On is Fantasy and/or Spiders/Cobwebs. The only real rule is to be inspired by more than one papercrafting challenge. We're sponsored by Sasayaki Glitter Digital Stamps.
This sentiment popped into my head the other day. Brujah is "witch" in Spanish, and with the "Ha" it kinda sounds like Brouhaha. I know, terrible joke, but it was so silly I just had to use it! It's also a nod to the classic song, "Season of the Witch." 

I created the sentiment with the fonts Wretched Remains and KR Trick Or Treat. I fussy cut the ghost letters and colored them with Copic markers. The banner part is printed on a manila paper, to contrast with the white ghosties & to match the background of the witch image. The witch & pumpkin papers are from Graphic 45. The cobweb background was created by embossing a shiny black paper and sanding down the raised portion. This was a fairly quick & quite fun card to make, even though it makes little sense. Hey, Halloween is the time for a little craziness!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Alphabet Challenge: P is for Pumpkin
Fab 'n' Funky #366: Word Art
The Fairy and The Unicorn Challenge #8: Anything Mythical/Mystical + Option: Witching Halloween
Scrap From Your Heart #14: Halloween

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Dancing Skeleton -- Tic-Tac-Toe with the UnstampaBelles

The UnstampaBelles October challenge is Tic-Tac-Toe with the optional twist of journaling/writing about your decision making process. You can make whatever you like without using any stamps. This challenge has so many possibilities!

I used the last column: String, Brads, Stickers.

The skeleton-patterned paper is from Recollections, and I coated it with a layer of clear embossing powder to make the black background "pop" a bit more. I die-cut the banner pieces & strung them with gold string. The skull stickers are one of my favorite items from my Halloween stash. For the front closure, I heat-embossed a bone-shaped brad with a glittery white powder & wrapped more string around the whole piece. The string on the back is covered by the message section.

I had originally planned to make a Jumping-Jack/Pantin doll, but I can never get those to work & settled on just using brads to make the sketelon movable. I acquired this Skeleton cut file in 2010 as a freebie; I can't find the link now, and honestly it is a little tricky, but the Silhouette Store has several Posable Skeleton cut files. I cut this skeleton from shiny white & black cardstocks on my Silhouette Cameo, and glued/sealed the layers with Glossy Accents. I added my much-loved sugar skull washi to the inside panels, and also used it for some of the little die-cut banners. The sentiment is a gold sticker. The skeleton hangs from a brad, so that it is easily removable. I had so much fun making this!

Inspiration/Challenges:
DL ART Thankful Thursday Challenge #213: Halloween (or Thank You)
Naughty or Nice Challenge #44: Something Spooky
UnstampaBelles: Tic-Tac-Toe + optional twist: journaling/writing about your process


Be sure to check out the fabulous projects by my teammates the UnstampaBelles this month!

Thank you for visiting,

Pilin' On the Cute & Spooky

The theme this week at Pile It On is Cute &/or Spooky. We're sponsored by Sami Stamps, and I used their Scaredy Cat digi stamp.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Allsorts: Orange, black, purple
Artistic Inspirations: Anything Goes with Twist of Halloween
Cards in Envy: Trick or Treat + Flat A2 card
Craft Rocket Challenges: Spooky
Deep Ocean Challenge: Halloween
Get Creative Challenges: Halloween Colors
Moving along with the Times: Halloween
Pattie's Creations: Fall or Halloween Image
Sami Stamps: Anything Goes with a Sami Stamps image (Scaredy Cat)

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Black, Orange, Purple & Ghosties at Crafter's Cafe

The Crafter's Cafe Challenge this fortnight is Black, Orange, Purple & Ghosties. We're sponsored by Lacy Sunshine, Décosse's Dynamite Doodles, and Deedee's Digis. I used Fangletta from Lacy Sunshine to create this cute & spooky card:

The ghosts are from Cricut's Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge. The backing paper is by Graphic 45, and I embossed the spider web design onto a die-cut Vellum shape. The sentiment is heat-embossed with neon purple. I added a strip of black tulle and some glittery fabric ribbon.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Aud Sentiments Challenge #142: Halloween + a sentiment
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper: Anything goes with Patterned Paper
Creative Corner: Halloween
Eclectic Ellapu (Purple Team): Halloween/Dark/Horror
Inkspirational: Glow (glow-in-the-dark glitter on the skull)
Shabby Tea Room #261: BOO-rific Photo Inspiration
Sketch Saturday: Sketch #382

Thank you for visiting & hope you'll join us at The Crafter's Cafe,

Rare Oddities

My mom gifted me with some sheets of Graphic45's funky & lovely "Rare Oddities" collection, and I've been planning on making a gatefold card with it. I was finally inspired to do so by this week's free Cricut Craftroom cartridge, Chemistry Icons, and ended up adding a shaker to the card.

If you're familiar with this paper collection, you'll notice the little elements I paper-pieced and the color I added to the front text with gel pens. I also added some Candi to the corners.

Here's the card closed:

...right side opened:

...and fully open. I used gold & teal microbeads to fill the shaker portion behind the chemistry set.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Artistic Inspirations: Anything Goes with Twist of Magic
Come and Get It: More than 1 Fold
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper September Challenge: Anything Goes with Patterned Paper (2nd entry)


Thank you for visiting & for inspiring my crafting,

Spooky Memories - Piano Hinge Book featuring Stitchy Stamps papers

Papers from Stitchy Stamps

StitchyBear's Digi Outlet (SBDO) has hundreds of digital products from many wonderful artists, and I was excited to get to use the brand-new Dark Halloween papers from Stitchy Stamps. There are 10 wonderful scenic papers, so my Design Teamie Nikki and I split them up and used 5 each. She gave me first choice, so I went with the house/blue theme!

I decide to make a piano-hinge book showcasing the lovely digi papers and some fun family Halloween photos.

The first two spreads feature photos from years ago, when I first bought these costumes for our dogs. This is the best photo I've ever been able to get of Super Allen and Bat Walt!

The little candy is made from tissue paper and a round foam piece (I made it way back in 2012 and kept it for the perfect occasion). The Comic Word image was a freebie from TLC Creations. Here's my husband trying to get Allen to fly:

This is our iguana Percy, and I PhotoShopped the witch's hat onto his little head. The "spooky" sentiment is heat-embossed in black onto a shiny blue paper. I cut a banner with with deckle scissors and attached it with a funky owl brad.

The photo below is the only one from this year; I'm actually showing off Wonder Women pajamas that I got for my birthday! I added some gem-topped plastic spiders.

These Dark Halloween papers from Stitchy Stamps really inspired the whole book, but I used a spiderweb-patterned paper behind the photos and on the back. I colored the paper with blue inks.

I'm entering this card into the following fun Challenges:
The Crafting Cafe: Not a card
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes (4th entry)
Through the Purple Haze: Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll check out the great products at SBDO,