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,

UnstampBelles - Box-o-Boxes + Tutorial

The UnstampaBelles November challenge is Box + Tutorial. We're sponsored by The Stamp Spot, and you can link up your projects until the end of the month. Remember, you can't use ANY STAMPS (digi or otherwise)!

I made what I'll call a Box-o-boxes, which I first saw at Bastel-Oase-Orsingen (you can see all my box-o-boxes here).

It's relatively easy, if you're good at making boxes. But you probably know it's more difficult than you'd hope! Here's my attempt at a tutorial:

When I make boxes, I usually start with one size and then size the lid and wrap around them. I've found that regular cardstock adds about 1/16th (.0625) of an inch.

In this case, I started by making the four inside boxes, which are 3x3 inches square by 1.25 inches high. Score a 5x5 piece at 1.25 inches on each side, and cut the small corner squares to make tabs. Then glue the boxes together. The strips on the boxes are 12 inches x 1.0625, and the papers on the inside are about 3x3 inches.

To make the wrapper, I cut a 12-inch cardstock to 5 inches high. I wrapped it around the box and marked where it lined up. I then hand-folded it (the wrapper side ended up being being 3.0625 wide. Because the final wrapper was larger than a regular 12 inch paper, I used a extra piece of 5 inch-high cardstock to complete the wrapper. The patterned papers on the side were cut at 2.875 x 4.875.

The lid ended up being about 3.1875 inches wide. I embossed it with spiderweb-patterned embossing folder before putting together the box. The rosette was made with a patterned paper and a Tim Holtz die. I topped it with a gem-topped spider sticker. The leaf is a wood embellishment that I heat-embossed with shiny black powder.

Challenges:
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards #77: Halloween
Creative Moments #54: Anything goes/ Halloween / Spellbound / Fairytale
MilkCoffee Challenge: Halloween
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Update: I was the random winner for this week's SSSWC!

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at UnstampaBelles,

Feeling Cool - Pilin' on the Penguins

This week at Pile It On, our challenge is Feeling Cool (Winter theme and/or Cool colors). We're sponsored by Dilly Beans Stamps, so I used Digi #524 - Three Penguin Blocks to to make this doubly-cool card (theme & colors!):

The front of the card is a piece of embossed vellum. The base card is a pretty DP that I scored at about a half inch and attached to the vellum. I covered the overlap with a grosgrain ribbon that I fringed at one end is make a little scarf! The piece of blue DP on the bottom of the card helps to stabilize the vellum.

The tag was made with a Cuttlebug die and stamped with one of my favorite holiday sentiments. I used a little glittered brad to attach it. The Penguin Blocks are colored with Copics and gel pens, plus I added some Sparkly Fluff to the hat on the bottom buddy.

Instead of having the message on the inside of the card, I put it on the back. I used a different shade of the same DP from the the front of the card (this was part of a paper pack; I can't remember who by); I actually cut a scalloped circle out of the DP and made a frame the blue DP so that I could just use the white base of the card instead of using another piece of paper. Then I can keep the extra cut-outs for another project.

Challenges/Inspiration:

1. Christmas at Sweet Stampin' October Challenge: Snowflakes
2. Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge #200: Tags & Tickets
3. Crafty Ribbons: Tags n Ribbon
4. Delicious Doodles #108: Baby, It's Cold Outside
5. Graph'It Colour Challenge: Water/Ice or Blue/Purple Tones (images colored with Copics)
6. Jingle Belles: Christmas Card with a Creature
7. Moving along with the Times: Winter or Game of Thrones
8. Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #105: Anything with Ribbon/Trim
9. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes (2nd entry)
10. Stempelsonnen Challenge #127: It's Winter

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

Birthday Bot - Distressing challenge at OSAAT

OSAAT November Prize Pack

This fortnight at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT), our theme is Anything Goes with Distressing. I always love the sound of that theme, ha! Ink or paper distressing is welcome. StitchyBear's Digi Outlet has hundreds of digital products from many wonderful artists. Even if you don't use a store image, you'll still be in the drawing to win the super-duper November prize pack.

I used Lovebot by Alipeeps Art to make this gear-filled card. I printed the image on a shiny white paper and colored it with Copics and gel pens. I cut it out with a circle die and distressed the edges with a gold ink. 

The large gears were cut with a Sizzix die, in white and in copper. I colored the white piece with a gold leaf pen. Both gears are painted with Distress Crackle Paint. Both gears turn, the gold with a hidden brad, and the copper with a decorative brad.

The copper gear on the robot piece is a metal embellishment, and the silver gears were cut with a Memory Box die.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Aud Sentiments Challenge #118: 2 to 3 Word Sentiment
Cardz 4 Guyz #42: Use Some Metal (metal gears & brad)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes (1st entry)

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at One Stitch at a Time,

Retro Radio

I had lots of fun with the Poppy Sketches Challenge last week, so I just had to participate again. I used a Sizzix die cut set and three different papers to make the groovy stereo.

I wanted to keep a retro sort of feel, so I used this wood-chevron-patterned paper from Recollections for the background. I cut the vellum piece with a PageMakers die and trimmed it to keep only the top & bottom pattern.

The chevron/music-themed Washi tape is from a sheet; if you look carefully, you can see the lyrics to "Happy Birthday". The music-themed tape on the bottom corner is from my stash. cut a small strip of orange burlap ribbon and pulled out some of the strands. I used one of the loose strands for the bottom portion.

I popped the radio up with foam tape, and backed the front piece onto a textured brown paper.

Poppy Sketch #16

Challenges/Inspiration: 
Lunagirl Challenge: Music and Dance
The Male Room #22: Wood
Poppy Sketches: Sketch #16 + Chevron pattern
Seize The Birthday: Washi Tape + Birthday Card (see text on large Washi tape)
Top Tip Tuesday: Chevrons

Thank you for visiting,