Tricks and Treats

I made this banner to hang above my front door tonight. I cut each section from patterned paper, cut the letters with my Cricut, and then embellished with just a few basic things. It turned out pretty cute. I'm sure the trick-or-treaters won't notice, but it will be up there anyway!

Here are a few other Halloween items that I wanted to share, and time ran out! My scrappy friend Kristin made these fabulous treat bags - I love the look of the Poison label on the canvas. I had to snap a photo before I tore into it to eat the treats!

Some friends wanted to see photos of my Halloween decorations, so here are a few. Here is the hutch in my entry - it has some new and vintage items, some items that I made, and some that I purchased. I usually have the "everyday" items completely removed and make it look even spookier, but I just never got around to it this year.


I usually have the books swapped out or wrapped in black paper.




I bought this witchy bottle from some really cool junk divas in Canton.

Every year, I put up a Halloween tree. This year's tree got a makeover with a new copper and black tinsel tree. I put purple lights on it and all sorts of ornaments. I made the SPELLS book you see in the background by painting an old scrapbook that I bought at an estate sale and adding the label. It sits on an old bonnet box draped in a vintage quilt in my kitchen.

One of my favorite items is my haunted house. I bought a beat up wooden doll house at a flea market for $5 to turn into my house of haunts. I painted it grey and black, added the splintered shutters, and then draped cobwebs over it. I have one of those color changing Halloween lights (that you're supposed to use for pumpkins) inside to cast an eerie glow. Over the years, I added the graveyard and the skeleton visitors.

Joli Paquet Vintage Halloween Swap

This month, I participated in Jolie Paquet's Vintage Halloween Swap. We were paired up with another crafter to create a Halloween goodie bag for each other, and then fill it with treats. Here is what I created for Angelina.

Around the top of the bag, I stitched ruffly black trim and vintage pom-pom trim. I decorated one side with a black and white fabric square and made a pocket from a piece of a vintage table scarf. I stitched on black and white buttons and black rhinestones. I added a little pumpkin man ornament in the pocket.

On the other side, I used printable iron-on transfer paper to add a vintage Halloween postcard image. I outlined it in black glitter and stitched on black lace and a grunge board flourish that I painted with crackle paint.

I filled the bag with some candy treat bags, pumpkin dip mix, and some other goodies.

I made a little trinket box that I filled with embellishments for Angela to use on her projects.

I also included this adorable necklace made with a vintage Halloween image strung on a simple silver ball chain.

I enjoyed creating this project for her. I don't sew, but I did my best - I think it turned out pretty cute!

Boo Girl

I bought this Boo Girl Kit from Junque Art's etsy shop. The kit included everything to put her together, and wonderfully detailed instructions.

I was able to put her together in just a couple of hours - most of that time was spent waiting for glue to dry between steps.

I think she's adorable and I can't wait to see what Cindy comes up with for Christmas!

More Halloween Mini Book

I didn't get to finish sharing the pages from my Enter if You Dare mini book. Here are a few more.

For the Poe page, I printed text from The Raven onto transparency and layered it over a Halloween patterned paper. Then I layered on more papers, a velvet flourish from Queen & Co, Making Memories glittered raven sticker and letter stickers, and some trims.

This page uses one of the new Jolee's Jewels blingy stick-ons and more of the velvet flourish.

The Sinister Sisters uses a spider web patterned paper, a great vintage image, and a sparkly spider sticker and Thickers "13." I used the Dymo label maker again, and tied on a piece of black tulle.

I had so much fun putting this little book together. I have it displayed in a hutch in my entryway with other vintage-style Halloween decor.

Midnight Oil Halloween Hanging

I created this Halloween wall hanging using the largest and the smallest pages from Midnight Oil's Clearly Designed Steps acrylic book. I secured the two pages together with ribbon scraps, which I tied through the existing holes.

For the top section, the smallest acrylic page was altered with crackle paint and brown Staz On ink. I stamped the spider web using black Staz On ink, adhered vintage paper to the back, and added the spooky house cut out and sparkly bat.


On the bottom section, I layered patterned paper to the underside of the acrylic page and added glittered stickers on the front.

The focus of the hanging is the Trick or Treat spinner. I created this using a spinner template from MOSD, which I covered in patterned paper and added embellishments and a Tim Holtz game spinner to the center.


Dangling from the bottom of the entire hanging is a rosette that I made with a vintage-style cat ornament (purchased from ebay), a couple of black and orange buttons, and a black flower. I just couldn't stop embellishing! Overall, the entire hanging is about 2 feet in length.

Please check out my post on the Midnight Oil blog today and leave me some love!

You Dared to Enter

Before I went on vacation, I shared the cover of my Halloween house mini book. Here are a few of the inside pages. I covered each chipboard page with a spooky patterned paper, and then embellished.

For this first page, the patterned paper just screamed for google eyes, so I added a few dismembered oglers.

I had this really cool vintage image of kids dressed up for Halloween, so I made it the focus of another page. I created the deadly title using my Dymo label maker. I added a scrap of vintage lace and a sparkly bat.

This page uses another creepy image and Dymo title. I stamped the spiderweb, and then outlined it with black Stickles. I added a couple of flowers, a sparkly black brad, and a scrap cut from Making Memories packaging.

I'll share more of the pages later this week. I had a great time in California last week, but I'm exhausted! We got to see several TV shows and spent a couple of days in Disneyland and San Diego. Now it's back to work...

Enter If You Dare

I'm enjoying some much-needed time off, so I'll be back to my normal sharing next week. In the meantime, here is a sneak peek at my Halloween Haunted House mini book. I'll share the rest when I return.

Halloween tags

I enjoy making tags. There isn't much real estate, so you don't need to do a lot to make them look "complete." Using my scraps from making the cards, I made several Halloween tags. Here are a couple of them.


For this first tag, I used Making Memories patterned paper for the background, then added some vintage book paper, ribbons, flowers, a sparkly spider, black tulle, and a vintage witchy image. Doesn't she look completely miserable?



This next tag is probably the easiest that I've ever made. This fabulous patterned paper from K&Co didn't need much embellishment to make it creepy. I added a couple of layered Prima flowers (with a googly eye center), a black and white grosgrain ribbon, Making Memories alphas, and tied on a black tulle bow. The simplicity makes it spooky.

More Halloween Goodies

I'm sharing a couple more in a series of Halloween cards that I made this year. I found these fabulous Victorian Halloween "ladies of the night" postcards and thought they would look fabulous on cards with my layers and distressing.

Even though I used a similar layout for each and the same materials, no two are exactly alike.

I loved using my glitter, ribbons, Halloween stamps that I bought throughout the year. These cards are for my scrappy friends, as I thought they were a bit too "scary" to give to the kids. I used more child-friendly postcard images for their cards.

SPOOKY

I created this Halloween layout using The Scrappy Shack's Halloween die cuts. I used Creative Expressions and Daisy D's paper to frame the Halloween Lace die cut paper. I added googly eyes to some of the characters.


I used one of the Halloween Die Cut Frames to frame a little tag with my photo from last year's Trick or Treat. I wanted to dress up to scare the kids, but then they were too afraid to come close enough to take the candy!


You can check out my design team post on the Scrappy Shack's blog today for more details on altering, embellising, and dissecting die cuts.

Scrappy Swap Part 2

On Friday I shared what KellyAnne made for me in our swap. Here are the items that I made for her.

First is the tag - "The Paradise of Children." I used a vintage image and assorted vintage papers and images, lace and ribbons, and some sparkle.

For the altered item, I created this altered horseshoe. Painted white, it looks more like home decor than something from the barn. I stuffed and stitched a paper heart, painted and distressed a chipboard shape, and added a vintage millinery flower, lace, and the printed title - "With a little love and luck you will get by" (thank you Jimmy Buffet).

My hanging project was based on a quote that I read a few months ago in Somerset magazine: "We are born, we grow, and if we are really lucky, we fly." I just love the imagery that it conjures in my head. I found this adorable image of fairies and thought it would be perfect with the quote. I digitally added the quote to the image and printed it out. Then I started adding sparkle to it. I mounted it on distressed paper and matt board. Then I added flowers, bling, and some lace, ribbon, and fibers.

For me, the hardest part in creating for KellyAnne is that she doesn't like pink. I wanted to make my projects feminine, but without pink. This was a challenge for me! I tried to make turquoise and "old paper" my dominant color schemes. I know I snuck a little pink in there - I hope she doesn't mind!

Scrappy Swap with KellyAnne

I recently completed a swap with my scrappy friend KellyAnne. We admire each other's work and wanted to share some projects. We each made 3 items: one tag, one altered item, and one "other" project. Here is what darling KellyAnne made for me:

This gorgeous tag with a vintage dancing lady and lots of bling is on display in my new craft room.

This altered canvas is stunning! She channeled my inner pink diva to create this beauty!

And then the Halloween hanging! The layers on this are amazing. I am in the process of getting out my Halloween decor, so this lovely work of art can take center stage in my entryway. She really inspired me to make more Halloween decorations.


I'll share what I made for KellyAnne later. I had a lot of fun creating for her, and she really put a lot of work into these pieces - I just love her for it!

October 1st

October is one of my favorite times of year. The weather usually starts to get cooler here in TX, I change the decor in my home, and the holidays start!

I have a lot of Halloween projects to share with you this month, so I hope you'll keep coming back to see them.

Here are a couple more cards that I made. I used vintage images, book pages, ribbons, stamps, flowers - whatever looked good! I added glitter and sparkle wherever possible.

I've been working on tags, banners, and wall hangings so I'll have more ideas coming soon.