Happy Halloween

wishing you a frightfully spooky, fun, and safe halloween

Halloween Basket Swap

Back on this post, I shared the Halloween basket I made for Trisha. Here is the fabulous basket and goodies she sent to me.

This swap was a lot of fun, and now I have more supplies for next year's projects! Thanks Trisha!

Vintage Halloween Noise Maker

I finished my cat shaker that I started at the Wicked Tea. Here he is, in all his scrumptious ruffledness.

I painted the cat and stick black, then added white polka dots to the stick. His head is made from paper clay. This was the first time I had even heard of paper clay. It was so soft and easy to maniplate. We put the paper clay onto a ping pong ball filled with dried beans, so he makes noise when you shake him.

After painting in all the details of his face, I sprayed the entire shaker with pearl Glimmer Mist and then a clear spray sealer.

Once dry, I dressed him in ruffled crepe paper and shiny tinsel trim. I added black wire whiskers and a bright bow tie.



He's ready for some Halloween fun!

Halloween Cards for Kids

I sent a little goodie package to a friend's kids and wanted to include Halloween cards appropriate for them. I didn't want anything too spooky, so I used the Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland images for the cards.

I started with Halloween patterned paper, layered and stitched, and then added the images and further embellished with ribbon and labels from my Dymo.

This card uses an image from a sheet of Halloween die cuts, and a little tag from the Halloween in Wonderland collection.

A little ruffled crepe paper and vintage velvet ribbon finish off this card.



Halloween Inchies, Twinchies, and Tweenchies

This month's inchie theme was Halloween. Here are the inchies I received. (Mine is the inchie on the top left.) I love all the different styles, and of course the sparkle!

I also made Halloween twinchies to send to everyone.

I'm going to a crafty birthday party on Friday, and the two ladies requested that everyone make them two tweenchies ("between" an inchie and a twinchie). Here are the tweenchies I made - one with a Halloween theme and one with a birthday theme.

Halloween Decor

I never got a chance to put up my Halloween decor. What is out is what I made this year and the few crafts I had downstairs from last year. Hopefully I can get some fall stuff out in time for Thanksgiving. Here are some pics from around the house.

This is a little candy box on a stick made by the fabulous Ann-Denise. It was one of my party favors from the Wicked Tea.

A little vignette in the living room. I bought the lighted haunted house at Tuesday Morning this past summer. I put a large velvet spider climbing on the roof. The tombstones and glittered skull are dollar store finds.

The paper hat is also from Ann-Denise. It adorns a scary skull in the entry way.

Some tags and other paper crafts I made last year.

Halloween Cuff Bracelet

I wanted to make a Halloween cuff bracelet to wear to the Wicked Tea, but that didn't happen. So, I made one to wear for Halloween. We're taking our niece and nephew trick or treating, so this will substitute as my costume.

I used vintage and antique trims from my stash. I started with a pleated velvet trim and stitched a fancy Victorian trim on top. This trim was perfect for the bracelet because the last open loop became part of the bracelet's closure. I simply stitched an antique black glass button to the other end and put it through the loop to close.

Here's a closeup of the masked Marie Antoinette image.

I cut out the image, drew a black mask on her face, and then added Glossy Accents to protect it. The Glossy Accesnts caused the ink from the mask to bleed a little, but I didn't mind. I then glued her in the center of a vintage rhinestone brooch and adhered it to the center of the cuff.

Number 31

I bought a little Halloween kit from One Ripe Peach's etsy shop. It was so easy to put together and now sits among a little Halloween display in my living room.

Sadly, I haven't done much decorating this year. I just haven't had the time. Work has been super busy and I've been traveling here and there. Hopefully I'll slow down enough to get the Christmas decorations up!

State Fair

OK, I know this isn't a Halloween project, but we spent a (warm) fall day out at the State Fair of Texas. I made a layout for a multi-pic layout challenge. I ended up doing a double page layout to showcase the activities of the day.

I started with two pieces of plain white cardstock and stitched a black border around each.

Then I misted the paper with Black Magic Glimmer Mist - one spray where each of the fabric squares would go.

I went through my fabric stash and found 12 pieces of fabric that didn't match, but fit the theme. The more colorful, the better. I adhered the fabric pieces and then started making a mini collage on each - one or two for each of the activities at the fair.

Using the fabric added a lot of color, but wasn't overwhelming. It also helped ground each of the photos to the layout, which can be a challenge when trying to put 3 or more photos on a page.

The last square gives the who, what, where, and when of the event.

Sparkling Witch Potion

The other swap I did for the Wicked Tea was a potion bottle. Of course, I have a stash of old bottles. I chose two (one for me and one for thee) to make my potion bottles.

I wanted to age the bottles even more. I poured dark alcohol ink inside and out.

I purchased images from Lisa's Altered Art and printed the text on my computer. Then I started blinging up the ladies. I added Stickles, German glass glitter, and used my sparkle pen for details. 

Once the ladies were ready, I adhered them using matte medium and started decorating the bottle. I added some rhinestones and drizzled melted wax here and there.

On the bottle top, I attached an owl button and dangled some charms on the side - an old vial of watch parts and a cool charm with a Witch Hazel label.

The back of the bottle has the "instructions" label. I didn't want to put any liquid in my bottle, so I filled it with mica flakes, silver sequins, glitter, and shiny silver bag filler.

The Voodoo Queen

I participated in two swaps for the Wicked Tea event. One was to make a voodoo book inspired by Marie Laveau. I made two books, one to keep and one for my swap partner Jan. I made them as old voodoo books that have been lovingly used for many, many years. Getting a little worn and distressed, but still magical. Here are some pics of the books.

Every voodoo queen needs a bit of widow's veil and purity candles.

I found some inspiring images and then made up spells, instructions, and ancient myths to go with them. I typed everything on my old typewriter to give it more of a worn feel.

For the pages, I used tracing paper, watercolor paper, and drawing paper. I liked the different textures of each. I sprayed, inked, distressed, even burned the pages to give them a well-used feel.

Here is the GORGEOUS book that Jan made for me. Her theme is of Marie Lavaeu writing a book to her daughter, passing along the recipes and needs of her customers. She wrote a beautiful story and included images of the "customers." It is so creative and beautiful. The book itself looks professionally made.

Each page is more beautiful than the next. Every time I go through the book, I see something new. What a talented woman! Thanks, Jan. I will treasure it forever.

Trick or Treat Tags

This week's challenge at Tag Tuesday is to use orange and black on your tag. I made these Halloween tags to attach to gifts. They were super easy and turned out pretty cute.

Here is a closeup of a couple of them. I started with a black cardstock tag. I stitched an orange crepe paper ruffle and added it to the tag base, then stitched on some black satin ribbon.

I added a sentiment made with my Dymo label maker and attached a glittery spider or ghost. A matching ribbon finishing each one.

13 Days of Halloween

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I think I like it because it's so different than all the others and it ushers in the festive season to follow. I'm hoping to share projects on each of these 13 days of Halloween. I'll start with pics from my Saturday at A Wicked Tea, hosted by Cindy Mayfield. We had four classes, a delicious lunch, and lots of fun. Let's start with the decor.

 And the food...

Of course, we had more to eat than just candy and sweets. But, who wants to look at photos of soup and sandwiches? 

Here is the one class that I did manage to finish. This class was taught by the uber talented Lisa McIlvain. Here are pics of her project.

Here I am with Lisa and my finished project.

The last class of the day was taught by the fabulous Ann-Denise Anderson, who also made all the food and did most of the decorating. This woman is so talented. She must live on 2 hours of sleep a night because I don't know how she pulled it all off.

Here is Ann-Denise's project. We made a smaller version of the cat. Mine is no where near finished. Hopefully this week...

And here I am having a blast with the three ladies I shared a table with: Phyllis, Linda, and Susan.

We had a wonderful day and I can't wait for the next Paper Cowgirl to see some new and familiar faces.

One last pic. Here is the name badge I made for the event. I wish I had gotten a picture of the winning badge - it was over the top sparkly and spooky, just perfect!