BOO! Halloween Decor

Here's another Halloween item I made this year. I found the BOO glitter letters kits at Michael's. They were somewhat pricey but I had big plans for them.

I have an Accucut Craft shape that looks somewhat like a headstone and that's what I wanted to use for this project. I cut them from heavy chipboard, painted them black, decorated them, attached them with hinges at the top and put black tulle in the middle. Then I attached the bottoms with "W" shaped hinges to give it some stability for standing.

I LOVE how this turned out! I made it a double-sided design. It's identical on both sides. At any time, you can click the pictures for a bigger view.

On the "B", the tree is an older Lifestyles Craft die which I covered in black stickles. The skull is a sticker from Michaels Craft Store and the word is a smaller Accucut Craft alphabet die that I have which I cut from red felt.

On the purple "O", I used a Lifestyle Crafts spider die and an Old Island Stamp Company haunted house that I coloured with Copic markers. I also put some green sequins on it that I got at the Dollar Store (either Dollarama or Dollar Tree).

On the orange "O", I used a Recollections witch stamp, coloured googly eyes I got at Michaels Craft Store and a broom from a snowman album die set by Accucut Craft. The bats are my own die cut design which I cut with my Brother Scan'N'Cut out of black cardstock which I covered in purple stickles.

One feature I'm really glad I worked in to this design: after Halloween, it folds up for storage!

If only I had the room to store an Accucut Craft large alphabet, then I would have letters big enough that I could have cut them from the glitter fun foam myself. I could make a JOY or SNOW version for Christmas and a LOVE version for all year round. What home decor pieces have you made with your craft?

No Stick Halloween Treat Boxes

I found this "no stick" box design online by Linda Parker, a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. Cute box, but I wanted to get the biggest dimensions possible from an 8.5 x 11 sheet of cardstock. So, following the pattern she shows, I re-worked the measurements to make my box. I used my Scor Pal eighths to make it. Man, am I glad they brought that version out because this box has LOTS of eighths measurements!

My finished box size measures 2.25 inches by 2 and 5/8th inches by 1 and 1/8th inches high. While the box itself doesn't need any glue or tape, the glittered doily on it did! I picked those up pretty cheap last year at the end-of-season-sales from Michaels Craft Stores. I put them on the top and then had to snip them to continue on the sides and front of the box.

My box can easily hold 3 Giradelli chocolates. (MAN those things are TASTY!)

I really liked Linda's style of box because the little lip at the front helps to keep the lid closed. I'm a big fan of UK Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, Sam Donald ("Pootles") too. She has a number of "no stick" boxes and a whole bunch of "fold flat" boxes too.

I'm entering this project into the Scor Pal "more than one score" October Challenge which is Treat Holder themed. These ones are going to my nephews this year. I might think about some Christmas themed ones to put in stockings though. I think those would be cute!

Snowman Pile! HH October 2015 Challenge

Hi Everyone!
There has been a flurry of challenges to kick start my creativity lately. Both my sister and I picked up some snow themed stamps by High Hopes Rubber Stamps at Scrapfest Richmond Hill from One Crazy Stamper's booth.

My version is Snowman Pile! I really wanted to colour it with pastel shades, but I don't have that many. So, to get this look, I combined Copic Markers, Bic Mark It Markers AND Letraset Tria Markers! Just like what's depicted in the image, it was really a group effort!

(Click photo for larger view.)

Also at Scrapfest, we did some water-colouring at a Make'n'Take. Water colours are not my strong suit, but I always wanted to try the random watercolour background effect, so that's what I did on this card. I smashed 3 different blues on to my Ranger non-stick craft mat, one at a time, spritzed with water and then smooshed my water colour paper into it, drying with my heat tool in between smooshes.

It was actually quite fun! This is a big card - 5x7 inches. The glitter paper is POW! glitter paper. I found it at Dollar Tree of all places! I'm rather impressed with it. It has a very soft finish - the same effect as burnished velvet. NO other glitter paper on the market that I've tried feels like this one. (Yes, I went back for more!)

Here's a closer look at the colouring (and some of that glitter shine!):

This artist has really cute images. I love how well it captures movement with the big smiles and flapping jackets. What a cute image!

I'm entering this into High Hopes Rubber Stamps October 2015 Challenge for Christmas/Halloween/Fall as well as Virginia's View Colouring Challenge. Virginia's View always has mega amounts of participation and I always find great designers and blogs through that site.

My sister has entered the High Hopes Challenge too. Her snow people version is from the High Hopes newest release. The stamp image is called Snowy Couple.

She water coloured her image and also embossed her card (the white part). She partly fussy cut the embossed portion to tuck the snowman couple in it.

I'm keeping my card for my personal holiday stash - yes it's time we got started on that! Have you started prepping your Handmade Christmas things?

Happy World Cardmaking Day 2015!

Today I'd like to show you a recent workshop project of mine: cards in a box! I really like this style of card. The added dimension creates lots of ways to work with it. The vertical versions are fun too but provide only a tall, skinny spot for your message on the back. So, I found a horizontal one but wasn't thrilled with the dimensions. So I calculated measurements that I found easier to work with. With one sheet of 12 x 12 cardstock, plus some scraps for the inside benches that no one sees, you can make three of these cards!

This is my original sample: Balloon Birthday card in a box.

I design mine with a pocket for the sentiment on the back. That way, if I mess it up, I can just toss it and do another without having ruined my card.

After making this one, everyone could make another with their own materials and my instruction sheet. Here's what they came up with!

First up - Norma made a birthday card for a family member by cutting out party hats from a scrap piece of patterned paper.

And Debbie made her card for a wedding by using a few different sizes of heart punches.

They both turned out amazing! Don't you think?