Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Once a month, my friends and I get together for lunch and some creative play time. We also recently started a fun swap, making pages that we store in books we made with Eileen Hull's Journal die.

This month the theme was Halloween, of course! I am still obsessed with Ranger's Distress Oxide inks and decided to use them to create a background for my panel. I used dies from Karen Burniston to create a graveyard scene for my witch to pose in. To make the fence taller, I folded a piece of black cardstock and placed the die on top with the bottom edge just over the fold. When it's cut, the bottom stays intact so that when it's unfolded, you have a double-high fence! I thought the sentiment fit the expression on my witch's face perfectly.

It was my turn to host lunch and I thought it would be fun to have a gothic-themed Halloween party. I blame it on my obsession with Penny Dreadful. I just discovered that show and am in love with it!

One thing that was fun about creating this tablescape is that I had almost everything on hand - it was just a matter of pulling it all together. The flowers are a combination of grocery store bouquets and ferns and weeds from my yard. Note the little framed picture of the witches. I joked that it was the four of us and I was the one on the far right - that's who I used for my card! :)

A little black spray paint gives this terra cotta thrift store find a somber look. The little tealight holder is from Pottery Barn.

I have a bit of an obsession with old, tarnished silver, and I think I used about every piece I owned! For the place settings, I used silver trays as chargers, then layered on plates from the dollar store and Home Goods. I found the little glass and metal cups at Salvation Army and fell in love with them! The milk glass tumblers came from Tuesday Morning, and the napkins are from Michaels.

For some reason, I thought a red velvet cake with red rosette icing was a good idea. What was I thinking?! I have never tried to make a deep red colored icing and may never attempt it again. That's a lot of food coloring! I wanted it to have black edges - kind of a singed look - so I first tried spraying on black coloring mist, which didn't really work at all. I ended up spraying it in a bowl and brushing it on. Kinda worked?

More silver serving pieces piles with treats. I love the weirdness of the Moon Drop grapes - they're perfect for a witchy party!

You can find the supplies I used at Amazon and Simon Says Stamp via the links below. Click the icon for the store you prefer to shop at.





Thanks so much for stopping by today - have a hauntingly happy Halloween and a great week!

Halloween Luminary Easel Card

Hi everyone! Today I'm sharing a card that I've wanted to do for years, but never got around to. It's a luminary easel card. The cutout is covered with vellum and, when you place a battery-operated votive behind it, you get a fantastic, eerie glow through the window!

I just got the new set of Distress Oxide colors and couldn't wait to create some backgrounds with them. This one uses Seedless Preserves, Wild Honey, and Spiced Marmalade.

A flameless votive candle fits perfectly in the opening created by the circle die cut.

My favorite part is the 'stop' I created to hold the card in place. I really wanted to do something clever, like Karen did with her zombie hands in this card. I was thinking how cool it would look if there were rows of tombstones and hit upon the idea of scoring one so that it would lay flat when the card was closed, but could be raised up to hold the card in the open position. And it worked brilliantly! I covered the edge with a piece of ribbon that was dyed with the same colors of Distress Oxides that I used on the card front.

Here is the card in the closed position. The stamps I used are all from Tim Holtz. The dies are all from Karen Burniston.

How cool is that double row of tombstones?! I love the idea of having the easel stop being part of the card design. And how gorgeous are those Distress Oxides? And that glowing moon?! I love it all. I'm going to be so sad when Halloween is over!

You can purchase the products I used at Simon Say Stamp and Amazon via the links below.


Thanks so much for stopping by today. Have a great weekend!

Something Wicked Halloween Shadow Box

Hi all! After I discovered that Eileen Hull's Journal die could be used to make cool shadow boxes, I knew I had to make one for Halloween. With Sizzix' huge sale on Tim Holtz dies going on this weekend, I thought it was the perfect time to create a spooky assemblage featuring some of my favorite dies of Tim's. The best part is they are all on sale right now!

I used one of my all-time favorite dies on the front of my book/box. This Boo die is so awesome! I've used it on so many projects and I never get tired of it. Underneath it I've used the Mini Baroque Movers and Shapers die - another fave.

I cut the Boo out of chipboard, then painted it black and covered it with black glitter. So pretty! Along the bottom I added a strip of bats cut from black kraft core'dinations using Tim's Bats and Crossbones Garland die.

Ack! So much spooky goodness! And I'm really excited about how this Mini Clipboard die cut turned out. Yes, that's a die! I made it look realistic by first covering the front and back of a piece of chipboard with foil tape. I die cut it using the Mini Clipboard Movers and Shapers die, then aged it with black and silver alcohol inks. So cool! I used the Mini Spider and 31 die set for the perfect embellishments. Beware was cut from black kraft core'dinations using a die from the Halloween Words set.

Here's a shot of the Mini Clipboard die before I assembled it. The piece with the brads was cut freehand from a leftover piece of the chipboard. It's attached to the book cover, then the clip piece is adhered on top using foam dots to give it dimension. I also added grooves with a stylus and rounded the bottom to make it look more real.

Just like in my Christmas book shadow box, I used dollar store jewelry boxes to create my niches. They're covered with papers from Tim's Halloween collection, and edged with design tape.

I found these cute witches via Pinterest on this site. I cut them apart and sized them to make them fit the space. (I didn't realize until today that this image is also included in one of Tim's Found Relatives collections. Depending on the size, those may not fit the space the same.) They were colored with Distress markers and adhered with foam dots. Tim's Gothic Gate die adds a bit of texture behind them. To cover the seam between the two boxes, I cut a strip of skulls using the Bats and Crossbones die and adhered it. A few witchy embellishments to fill the bottom niche and I was done!

You can find all the dies I used at Sizzix (ON SALE!!) via the image below. To give you an idea of how good the prices are, the Boo die is marked down to $7 - it's normally $19.99!! Some of these dies will most likely be discontinued, so grab them while you still can. Shipping is free when you order $99 or more. Eileen's Journal die is finally back in stock and it's a great time to pick up one of those as well!

My favorite chipboard to use with Eileen's ScoreBoard dies is the medium weight chipboard from Amazon:

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed the Halloween version of the Eileen Hull Journal shadow box. I really had a blast making it! :) I'm entering this into Frilly and Funkie's 'Tis Near Halloween challenge. Be sure and check out all the wonderful inspiration from some of the best designers I know!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - G-G-G-Ghost!

Hi all! It's time again for Karen Burniston's Designer Challenge. The theme this month is G-G-G-Ghost! And this card has some very spooky ghosts in store for you...but they're very shy.

I was inspired by my fellow teammate, Fran Sabad's, Phantom of the Opera card from a few weeks ago. I love how she combined the Katherine Label and the circle from the Snowman Twist Circle set to make a rising moon card. I thought a spooky graveyard scene with the moon rising at the card was opened would be perfect for the ghostly theme.

And here are my spooky little apparitions! I thought it would be cool if they weren't just stationary, but rose with the moon as the card was opened, floating out from behind the tombstones. I figured out an easy way to make it happen and it really takes the card to a whole new level!

One thing I've really been wanting to try is the new Distress Oxides on black cardstock. I thought it might make a really eerie night sky for my witch to fly across and I was right! I took a few pics while I was making my card to show you how I created it.

I started by pressing Faded Jeans, Wilted Violet, and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide inks onto a non-stick craft sheet as shown, then spritzing them with water.

I dragged black cardstock through the ink and dried it. Then pressed it into the droplets to pick up more ink and dried it again. How lucky was it that the Fossilized Amber ended up right where my moon would be? Cool! I wanted to add a bit more depth so a wiped my sheet clean and pressed just the Faded Jeans and Wilted Violet into the sheet - this time I spritzed with Perfect Pearls mist to see what kind of effect I would get.

 Ooooooh. Pretty good effect, right?? I love how this turned out!

So the mechanism would match the card, I inked up a scrap of cardstock and then die cut the mechanism and assembled it. To get my ghosts to dangle, I cut a small slit in the bottom of the mechanism and threaded a thin piece of clear acetate through, securing with tape. After fiddling with the placement, I adhered a ghost to the strip, adding another ghost to his arm with glue.

The moon was created by cutting watercolor paper with the large circle from the Snowman Twist Circle set, then pressing it into a nonstick craft sheet that's been inked with Antique Linen and Pumice Stone Distress inks. The witch is a Tim Holtz stamp that was stamped in black and fussy cut. The tombstone strip is popped out in the center with foam dots, then adhered to the card on the edges with double-sided tape.

How gorgeous is that spooky night sky?! And how adorable are those little ghosts peeking out from behind the tombstones? I wish you could see it in motion - it's so fun to see those ghosts popping up! I will probably post a video on my Instagram, so be sure and follow if you'd like to see it.

You can find all the supplies I used at Simon Says Stamp via the links below.

Karen Burniston KATHERINE LABEL POP UP Die Set 1011 Karen Burniston SNOWMAN TWIST CIRCLE Die Set 1012 Karen Burniston HALLOWEEN SCENE Die Set 1014 Karen Burniston HALLOWEEN ELEMENTS Dies 1013 Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad FADED JEANS Ranger TDO55945 Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad WILTED VIOLET Ranger TDO56355 Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad FOSSILIZED AMBER Ranger TDO55983 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad PUMICE STONE Ranger TIM27140 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad ANTIQUE LINEN Ranger TIM19497 Neenah ECLIPSE BLACK Astrobrights 8.5 x 11 Cardstock 99370 Heidi Swapp VELLUM MINC Surfaces 313004 Tim Holtz Cling Rubber Stamps MINI HALLOWEEN 3 CMS140 Tim Holtz Cling Rubber Stamps HALLOWEEN SILHOUETTES CMS115

LinkDeli.com

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed my take on the challenge and my Distress Oxides tutorial. I had a blast making this card! Be sure and check out Karen's blog tomorrow for an amazing card tutorial and lots of G-G-G-Ghostly inspiration from the team.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:
Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge - A Walk on the Dark Side
Frilly and Funky Challenge - Show Us Your Stamps