CCC#047: October Cards Challenge - Halloween Color Challenge

Welcome to another Cards Challenge from Catherine and Cathy Create! This month, in celebration of October and Halloween, we've got a color challenge. (I love these!)

This photo is great because it's got a few different shades of orange, plus purple and green too. Fun! Here's my card - using my new favorite stamp set Fall Fest. :)

I brought in the purple from the photo by sponging the stars in Perfect Plum ink on the background. This is super easy with the new Decorative Masks from Stampin' Up! Love them! All the stamps are from Fall Fest - and don't forget that it comes in a bundle with the matching Framelits for 15% off! - except the sentiment, which is from Holiday Home.

Well, that's it for me today. Now head on over to Catherine and Cathy Create to see all the other great cards. If you're inspired to make your own card inspired by the color combo, make sure to link it up and you might win a prize!

Happy Stampin'! :)

Candy Corn Inspired Dip-Dye Banner

I was really inspired by an amazing dip-dye banner that one of the Stampin' Up! concept artists shared on the SU! blog a while back. I decided to make a similar one for Halloween inspired by candy corn.

Came out pretty cute, huh? :) And it was super easy! I used the Build a Banner Kit. I had to cut the triangle shapes because I wanted them to look like candy corn and the banners in the kit are shaped differently. But it was really easy to change the shapes - just two straight cuts. Then I used Crushed Curry and Pumpkin Pie ink refills mixed with water to dye the banners. A tip if you want to try this at home: Contrary to what I would have thought, keeping the canvas in the colored water longer didn't really deepen the color. So add enough reinker to get the color you're looking for on the first dip.

Then when the ink was dry, I used the letter stencils in the kit with Basic Black ink and a sponge dauber to spell out the word BOO. Easy peasy! The kit does come with some awesome twine to string your banner, but I have another project I'm using that for. So I just used some wide black satin ribbon that I had kicking around (I think it came from the Hallmark Store).

Happy Halloween! :)

Halloween Lollipop Treat

Good Sunday morning, my friends! Unfortunately I don't have a Start-to-Finish Sunday for you today. BUT I do have a little Halloween project video that I put together for you! :)

This cute little lollipop wrapper was inspired by the one on page 108 of the 2013-2014 Stampin' Up! Catalog. You've heard me say before that "cheap and cheerful" is kinda my crafting MO, right? Well this project totally fits the bill! :)

This would be a great for a classroom Halloween party, or if you're expecting a few special Trick-or-Treaters. Or just change out the DSP and you can make this same project for pretty much any party, celebration, or holiday! I chose to use the Oh, Goodie stamp set from the Holiday Catalog for the sentiment. This is a great set for this project because you could use any one of the four sentiments, depending on the theme of the occasion. And they're all perfectly sized to fit this project too!

You can watch the video below, or over on my YouTube channel. Note that I made this project sized to fit a Tootsie Pop or Blow Pop. You can certainly change the measurements to fit a different type of lollipop.If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Happy Stampin'! :)

Think Outside the Jar #2 - Spooky-Cute Spider Halloween Card

Did you think I forgot that I said Think Outside the Jar would be a series? :) I can't believe I posted the first video in August - it feels like just a couple weeks ago! My second project featuring the Perfectly Preserved stamp set in unique and creative ways is this cute and cheerful Halloween card.

This is one of the cards I made for swaps back when my upline and I went to Stampin' Up's regional event in Providence, RI. I've been sitting on this video for weeks, I just haven't had the chance to edit and post it! So go ahead and check it out! I gotta say I'm kinda in love with this card! :)

So just a little heads up for you, my friend. I know I haven't been holding up my end of the bargain as far as posting regular videos lately. No Start-to-Finish Sunday in like 3 weeks, and then I post 3 videos in one week? What's up with that? :) So I want to tell you in advance this week that I'll be on vacation next week so I won't be posting any new cards or videos until after October 24th. I still have a few Halloween ideas I want to share, so if I have the time, awesome, but please don't be mad at me if you don't hear from me for a while, OK?

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Stampin'! :)


Spider Jar Halloween Card Supplies

InLinkz.com

Start-to-Finish Sunday #6 - Halloween Cat Pocket Card

Here we are again, later than I would have liked, on Sunday night. I actually made this card fairly early in the day, but I'm just now getting around to finishing up the video.

Friday 8/17 was Black Cat Appreciation Day! I happen to have two of the most amazing black cats on the planet! :) So I was inspired to use the Frightening Feline stamp from the Holiday Catalog on today's Start-to-Finish Sunday card. And, just for something a little different, I decided to make it a pocket card.

You can watch the video below, or over on my YouTube channel.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful week.

Happy Stampin'!

(I owe you supply lists on like 7 projects now - sorry! I barely have enough time to make, edit, upload, and post these videos. But it's important to me to have complete supply lists so I'll put them together as soon as I possibly can, I promise!)

10-Minute Halloween Luminarias

Looking for a super-fast last-minute Halloween decoration? These little luminarias take no time at all and are totally adorable!

I used the white paper bags and Bat Trio die set from A Muse Studio. The three bat dies come attached to each other, but you can twist them apart to make them more versatile for techniques like this. Just run the bag through your die cut machine a few times (be careful not to cut through the bottom!) and you're done! Easy as pumpkin pie! :)

I put some glass marbles (the ones used in flower vases) in the bottom of my bags, and plopped a battery operated tealight on top of the marbles. You can certainly use a real votive candle, but you'll want to use sand in the bottom of the bag, and make sure the candle is stuck down into the sand securely. Be careful lighting the candle and don't leave them unattended while lit!

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time :)

Little Miss Muffett

Can you believe it's the middle of October already? I've been focusing on Christmas projects to share with you here, and to sell at an upcoming craft fair, so I've barely even thought about Halloween. Not having kids makes it a fairly minor holiday in our house, but it's still an opportunity to have a little fun! So I thought I'd stop in today to share a cute project I made recently.

I got a bunch of clear glass balls from A.C. Moore to make glitter ornaments for my upcoming 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments (look for it shortly after Thanksgiving!). I decided to use A Muse Studio's Onyx glitter to make one ornament sparkly black.

I used Papertrey Ink's Halloween Treats & Sweets stamp and die sets to heat emboss the face, and cut out the legs. The bow in her "hair" is PTI's Orange Zest ribbon.

Throw in a little fake spider webbing from the dollar store and it's as easy as that! A cute Halloween decoration! :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Inky Fingers Team First Blog Hop

This is so exciting - it's my A Muse Studio team's first ever blog hop! You should be hopping over from Carla's blog... I hope you're having fun! If not, head over to our upline Liz's blog to start at the beginning.

The theme of our blog hop is Autumnal Splendor. I've been really into non-card projects recently, so I thought I'd show you how you can use the awesome new items from the A Muse Holiday Catalog for some great home decor items! :)

I used the Classic Tags die set to cut tags from Sleepy Hollow cardstock (I love this stuff!). I used fall color Distress Inks to do some acrylic block stamping for the background, and then stamped images from the Too Cute to Spook stamp set in Staz-On black ink.

Then I just tied all the tags on baker's twine, used pushpins to attach it to my mantel, and added some faux leaf garlands from my local discount store! Super simple, super cute!

So now you're off to Tobey's blog! Get on over there and check out what she's got! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

tricks and treats!

ETA: It finally stopped raining here, so I was actually able to get some half-way decent photos of these cards. They're still not stellar... Man, I need a new camera! :)

I'm pretty sure Stampendous's Costume Kids stamp set is THE cutest thing I've ever seen! And I just happened to get Cosmo Cricket's Matilda mini-deck in the same envelope as the stamps! :) They're both cute and kid-like and whimsical so they go perfectly together.

This little vampire was just begging me to paper piece his cape :)

And how adorable is this paper?

Here's the whole card...

The set also includes precious little girl in her kitty costume. I wanted to color her orange, but I only have a small selection of oranges and yellows and I knew I'd have to use them on her pumpkin pail. So I chose to use two Warm Grey markers and smudge them around with my blender pen. And, I'm so psyched I *finally* got Spellbinders large and small classic oval Nestabilities! Have to say, actually, I'm a little disappointed that they don't go a little larger... I've already run into two Christmas stamps I was planning to use with them that don't fit :( But I'm still pretty darn psyched to have them!

 
Oh, and check out those cute little mice in the background paper! :)

The mini-deck includes a really fun paper with black and charcoal clouds with a little moon in the corner. I stink at "scene" cards, but I couldn't resist trying to combine that paper with the vampire. I definitely feel like this card is missing something, but I don't hate it.

I stopped in at the store where I'm selling my cards a couple days ago. It looks like I sold 9 cards in 9 days! So I have to try really hard to set aside Halloween and Christmas for a little while and get some fall-ish-looking "everyday" cards made to get me through September. My goal is to get 20-25 Halloween cards out on October 1st, 20-25 Thanksgiving cards out November 1st, and 20-25 Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice cards out December 1st and have that be it for the store. Add to that another 20+ Christmas cards as well as all my other paper and fabric items for the craft fair I'm doing on November 20 ... which is now officially less than 3 months away!! ... Needless to say, it's a little daunting. I think I need to figure out a way to get myself a little better organized and set some more specific goals!

So, I hope you're having a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!