Happy Halloween, You Ghouls!

Happy Halloween, Y'All! Here's a couple more crafty and holiday-celebrating photos to help commemorate the day. Enjoy the day with the little ghouls in your life!

Stamps: Piece of Poison, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black , First Edition Specialty DSP, Pick Your Poison DSP; Ink: Basic Black, Basic Black marker; Accessories: White baker's twine, Antique Brad, Mini Jingle Bells, Mini Vintage Tags, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz, Sanding block, Decor Block, Chipboard, Simply Scored, Scallop Square die, Tasteful Trim die, Petal Cone die, Big Shot, Sewing machine, Thread.

Little Missy found the costume box in the basement and discovered some costumes Grandma sewed back in the day for Mama and her sisters. In true girl fashion, she was able to utilize these for frequent costume changes during some pre-Halloween events. We are saving the best for the big evening tonight.

ETA: One more chance to play along with Shirley's Monday Monster Mash.

Got one last Halloween project to show? Come share it on the blog hop!



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FM30 Recycle, Renew, Reuse!

Admit it, once you start crafting, you tend to hold on to things... you know, packaging, string, ribbon, paper, fabric, cardboard... just in case you can use them in a project in the future. While recently on vacation, my daughter has started doing this as well. If there was an extra piece of paper or box left over from a gift or souvenir, or if she found a nice shell, and she would say, "We should save this. We could use it to make a card." And she has several "collections", as she calls them.

So let's use some of those bits and pieces we saved from other products or packages! Today's Friday Mashup challenge is to use the attached sketch, use some recycled material on your project, or do both!

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a project using the "Sketch".
2. Or Make a project using "Recycled / Repurposed Materials or Supplies".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project "Using The Sketch and Recycled /Repurposed Materials or Supplies".

This is a stamp club card we made this month. Here I used some baker's twine that came with a pastry package. It is actually green, but it matches with Pool Party blue pretty well. Also I had some Early Espresso circles left over from another project. Score!

There is lots of texture on this card, with the curled pennant strip and the large button, and the vertical strip is actually from Spice Cake designer fabric. I hit all the items in the Spice Cake suite. Talk about an easy way to put together a card!

Stamps: Gently Falling, Curly Cute; Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Spice Cake DSP; Ink: More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Soft Suede marker; Accessories: Spice Cake designer fabric, Spice Cake button, recycled baker's twine, Color Spritzer tool, Circle Scissors Plus, Circle #2 die, Petal Cone die, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

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3-D Thursday: Halloween Haunts

Here's some projects we recently made at the Halloween Haunts class. Missed it? Aww, "boo" hoo for you! :)

This class was actually by request. We have some die hard Halloween fans around, in addition to me. Always lots of fun! First up is a card featuring Out on a Limb, inspired by Mary Brown.

It is quick and easy to get moon gradiation by sponging the bottom third with More Mustard, middle with Peach Parfait, and upper third with Pumpkin Pie. The ladies could choose whatever animals they wanted hanging out on the limb.

But the best part of Halloween is the 3-D items. This is actually a witch's hat we created at the Utica shoebox swap using the Petal Cone die, and it was a special request for the class.

The Dark & Dreary stamp set is used here, but you can use any spooky image.

And my good friend and sideline Christine brought a cute 1 x 8" cello bag project, featuring the set Howl-o-ween Creeps.

She mentioned it would be cute to make a bunch of these and string them up. My daughter helped me make this project by coloring the monsters for me. Didn't she do a good job?

I had great plans to make individually decorated sugared shortbread cookies for the attendees, stamped with the Sweet Pressed stamps, of course. I took great care to measure the cookies before baking and after baking. They were ~3-1/2 inches wide. Who knew that they still wouldn't fit into the 4 x 6" cello bags? Here is the only one I got into a bag to decorate.

I wondered if they would mind if I nibbled the edges off so they would fit. :/ It's hard to see, but notice the Striped embossing folder on the Pumpkin Pie cardstock. We just ate the rest while crafting. That's good too, right?

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Beware Pirates!

Dead men tell no tales.... hahahahaha! That's what the skull pirate Halloween decoration keeps saying in our house.

A friend asked me to make a birthday card for a girl pirate party. Think Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Well, my retired SU stamps are a little scary, so I did my best to "junior" them up, focusing on less scary things like a treasure chest and treasure map. And pirates are always by the sea, right?

This one was really fun to make!

Stamps: Pirate Time, Beware Pirates, Tropical Party, Up, Up & Away, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Woodgrain BG; Paper: Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Brushed Gold; Ink: Regal Rose, Going Gray, Marina Mist, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Real Red marker, Soft Suede marker; Accessories: Sponges, Circle punches, Gold brad, Simply Scored, Brayer, Texture Plates Kit #4, Dienamics cloud die, Big Shot.

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Stampin' for Fun!

Today I'll share a card I put together, just for fun. I followed the layout challenge on Craft Project Central called Creating Pretty Cards.

This is a good reason to dig into some stamps I haven't used enough yet.

I love this Domestic Goddess Suite. I really need to use it more!

Stamps: Now You're Cookin', House & Home; Paper: Sahara Sand, Basic Gray, Very Vanilla, Domestic Goddess DSP; Ink; Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Basic Gray marker; Accessories: Calypso Coral ribbon, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, Ovals die, Big Shot, Sewing machine, Thread, Dimensionals.

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Halloween Inspiration

I played around with a couple other projects this Halloween season, just for fun. Here's one... I've wanted to make a coffin box for a couple years now. The Piece of Poison stamp set pushed me over the edge... you'll see why.

The outside is fun to decorate, but the surprise is on the inside.

Of course, you could fill the box with your favorite treats, but I thought the skeleton was begging for a home. I used a template from Stampin' Up's pattern library, and his shape fits perfectly! I'm sure more ideas for this little boney guy would bubble to the surface, but alas, the witching hour is almost over. :(

Stamps: Piece of Poison; Paper: Basic Gray, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Pick Your Poison DSP; Ink: Basic Gray, Black Stazon, Whisper White Craft; Accessories: Aquapainter, Sponge dauber, Black striped grosgrain ribbon, Basic Black taffeta ribbon, Boho Blossom punch, Crimper, Simple Scored tool, Spider Web embossing folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Melanie over at Pockets of Inspiration has created a free Wacky Manor template.

How cute is that little house? Head on over to her ning site, sign up, and download that template for yourself (it's in the Freebie Templates folder). Make sure you share your own creation; can't wait to see it!!

ETA: I'm gonna submit this coffin project to Shirley's Monday Monster Mash.

Make sure you check out the other Halloween projects. What a great way to share ideas!



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FM29 That's A Wrap

Time for another edition of the Friday Mashup. I tell ya, I've got fences on the mind. There was a flower and picket fence card a few weeks back, and now, today's challenge with a belly band. Luckily, I've been wanting to combine the Out on the Limb stamp with a fence, so that worked perfectly.

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a project featuring "A Belly Band".
2. Or Make a project using "Twine".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project "Using Twine with a Belly Band".

*Belly Band: A strip of card stock (or you can use ribbon) wrapped around the middle of a card like a belt. It is made slightly loose around the card so it can be slid off to read the text beneath or inside.

I've been using every opportunity to test drive the new Simply Scored tool. Love it!! Here I scored the backside of the fence, between every scallop. From there I lightly folded at the score line so I could sponge it for more definition.

Here's the card sans belly band.

Super fun challenge! Thanks Kim!

Stamps: Out on a Limb, Piece of Poison, Woodgrain BG; Paper: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Whisper White; Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Soft Suede, Vintage Violet, Cajun Craze, Black Stazon, Pumpkin Pie marker, Blush Blossom marker, So Saffron marker; Accessories: Early Espresso baker's twine, Brayer, Sponge, Aquapainter, Scallop Trim border punch, 1-1/4" Circle punch, Simply Scored, Dimensionals.

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3-D Thursday: Lip Balm Cards

While in Aruba, we visited the Aruba Aloe factory. We got to tour the factory, watch how they hand sow the aloe vera gel from the aloe plant, which happens to be growing in their backyard - literally. Talk about low transportation costs to the factory! This is the only crop that Aruba produces, and they are quite proud of it. They call it the "World's Finest Aloe".

They sell all sorts of shampoos, conditioners, moisturizers, and healing lotions in the store. I picked up some lip balms for some recent online order thank you cards.

Here's a close-up of the creepy Halloween scene.

I used Sarah Wills's tutorial to make these.

Stamps: Dark & Dreary, House of Haunts; Paper: Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Cast-A-Spell DSP; Ink: Sahara Sand, Black Stazon; Accessories: Sponges, 1/2" Circle punch, Slit punch, Basic Black dotted scallop ribbon.

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Quickie Christmas Card

This is the first Christmas card I have made this fall. I'm just not ready for it. But, with only a couple of sessions of stamp club before the Holidays, it is necessary.

When I first saw the stitched stocking set and matching punch, I thought, "How easy will that be to put together a card?!" What a great matching set!

Here I used baker's twine and the mini jingle bells - sooo cute! And only part of the Whisper White layer is embossed in the Stripes embossing folder, which also simplifies cutting and layering.

I CASED the card from LeeAnn Greff. She created it for a stamp-a-stack, so super easy. Can you see my mistake? I left it there, so my club members will know that I screw up too! :)

Stamps: Stitched Stockings, Four the Holidays; Paper: Old Olive, Whisper White; Ink: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler; Accessories: Cherry Cobbler dotted scallop ribbon, Silver glimmer paper, Cherry Cobbler baker's twine, Mini jingle bell, Stripes embossing folder, Tasteful Trim die, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by!

SUOC30 Witch's Dresser

Today on Stampin' Up Only Challenges we are celebrating Halloween with the challenge "Treats for Everyone". I wanted to make something fun with the set Wicked Cool, so I created a witch's dresser.

Of course you can stuff this dresser full of candy. Unfortunately it seems the dresser has fallen upon her. What bad luck! :D

Stamps: Wicked Cool; Paper: Brushed Silver, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Pick Your Poison DSP; Ink: Black Stazon, Versamark, Pumpkin Pie marker; Accessories: White embossing powder, Rhinestone brads, Window sheets, Decorative Label punch, Wide Oval punch, Matchbox die, Big Shot, Sticky Strip.

Thanks for stopping by!

Piece of Poison

I thought that I would play along with Shirley Pumpkin's Monster Mash Halloween Countdown this week. Post your Halloween Stampin' Up projects on her blog using the linky.

I really loved the Piece of Poison stamp set when I saw it. I know, everyone wants a rat and brain image, right? Well, it spoke to the medical doctor in me (I was going to be a medical doctor once upon a time, long story, I won't go into it). I don't have an issue creating a creepy, medical kind of project with it, but a straight Halloween project has been more of an issue for me.

This was our club project this month. I'm sure not everyone sends Halloween cards, but this was a good opportunity to pull out the Simply Scored scoring tool and hands on experience with accordion flowers.

A project with scoring is also the monthly challenge on Shelli's blog, so I'll be entering it there as well.

Stamps: Piece of Poison; Paper: Peach Parfait, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Pick Your Poison DSP; Ink: Peach Parfait, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Basic Black marker; Accessories: Decorative Label punch, 3/4" Circle punch, Basic Black taffeta ribbon, Color Spritzer Tool, Aquapainter, Simply Scored scoring tool, Oval Scallop Frame die, Big Shot, Glue gun.


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Stampin' Addicts Big Shot Blog Hop

Welcome to the Stampin' Addicts Big Shot Blog Hop! If you haven't heard, there is a fabulous recruiting event going on this month! If you join the Stampin' Up family in October, you will receive a FREE Big Shot, in addition to the great values in the Starter Kit!! Already have one? Then you can choose $100 in other product of your choice. WOW!

So, isn't it a great time for my fellow Stampin' Addicts to give you an idea of what you can do with this machine? I'm so sad I didn't have time to participate in this hop, but you are invited to jump right in to see everyone else's creativity! Click on any of the links to get started.

1) Rhonda G: Designer Frames
2) Holly (catrules): Leaves #2
3) Sarah (Willsygirl): Fancy Favor Die
4) Yapha: Matchbox Die
5) Lisa (genesis): Box #2
6) Holly P. (HollyLogic): Petite Pocket Die
7) Sharon (createdbyu): Bitty Box and Envelope die
8) Paula (scrapshappen): Perfect Pennants
9) Betty (kittystamp): Blossom Box
10) Carmen: Candy Wrapper Die
11) Sara (lilyinkpad): Milk Carton Die
12) Debra (webdeb): Petal Cone Die
13) Shelley (Packer Fan): Beautiful Butterflies
14) Twila (tjdstampsalot): Two Tags Die
15) Tanya (tanya27): Buttons #5 die
16) Cindy E: Holiday Stocking Die
17) Adriana (escape2stamp): Stocking Accents Die
18) Kim (s1itcher46): Peek A Boo Frames

Ready to sign up as a demonstrator? Click here to get started! I'd love to welcome you to my team!!

Thanks for stopping by!

FM28 A Snowflake is Winter's Butterfly

Snow already? Say it isn't so! I usually reserve my snowflake card making for post holiday, mid-January blues. But at the Friday Mashup, Lesley is challenging us to think ahead.

Photo by Glory Albin

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a project featuring "Snowflakes".
2. Or Make an "Easel Card".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create an "Easel Card featuring Snowflakes".

*For Directions on how to make an Easel Card Click Here *

Well, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't make a snowflake card yet. But, I did play with my new Sweet Pressed cookie stamps! These things are fun (and great for the kiddo too)!! Here's a snowflake cookie in some cute packaging. I used blue food coloring and the tip of a wooden spoon handle to color the snowflake.

Stamps: Homemade; Paper: Whisper White textured, Ski Slope DSP; Ink: Marina Mist, So Saffron marker; Accessories: Sweet Pressed cookie stamps, Pool Party ruffled ribbon, White Baker's twine, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, 2-3/8" Scallop Circle punch, 1-3/4" Circle punch, Slot punch, 3" Circle die, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Tombo multipurpose glue.

Here's a couple more pics of the cookies we made. We stamped the pumpkin stamp into green food coloring before pressing the cookie. They didn't turn out bad.

And we tried stamping with and without food coloring for the snowflake.

I didn't get any shots of the valentine cookies. We were having too much fun by that point. We look forward to experimenting with more cookie decorating!

Edit to add: We tried the sugared shortbread recipe that comes with the stamps. It is really yummy!

Thanks for stopping by!

3-D Thursday: Halloween Pop-Up Boxes

Recently, there were the cutest halloween pop-up boxes that won the monthly Stampin' Up contest in Stampin' Success. They were created by Brenda Quintana.

From the photo, you couldn't tell how the mechanism worked, but luckily, Brenda provided the tutorial here. I tried one for myself, and well, next thing you know, it is also my shoebox project for the New Jersey gathering.

There was a bit of complaining from the shoebox participants. They had to read directions and all. But it was fun, wasn't it?? :D

Stamps: Sweet Centers, Out on a Limb, From the Crypt, Graveyard Gala; Paper: Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Wicked Fun DSP; Ink: Versamark; Accessories: Black embossing powder, White embossing powder, Basic Black grosgrain ribbon, Window sheet, Petal Card punch, 1" Circle punch, 1" Square punch, 1-1/8" Square punch, Brad, Dimensionals, Sticky Strip.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mailing Options: A Follow Up

This is a follow up post on my card from 1-1/2 weeks ago. I created this nice, dimensional card for the Friday Mashup Fan Favorite, which is also a birthday card for a friend.

Well, now what? I could hand deliver it, or I could make a box that will preserve the paper flower petals. Fellow Stampin' Addicts member and Stampin' Up demonstrator Adriana Benitez to the rescue. She created a tutorial for creating a small box for mailing five greeting cards, or in my case, one very bulky card.

This cool thing is this tutorial uses supplies I guarantee you have on hand. You're a crafter; you don't throw things away, right? :) Since my card only has to make it across town, I thought I would give this a try and see how it fares... after the recipient lets me know! :)

P.S. I'm happy to report the card and the box arrived in great shape!

Thanks for stopping by!