Halloween Masquerade

I used the gorgeous masquerade stamp from the Halloween stamp set from The Stampsmith.

The beautiful flowers around the image are flowers from a wedding that I attended this past summer that I dried.  They used them in the bride's bouquet, but these were ones that the little flower girl threw to the ground as she walked up the aisle.  I thought they were absolutely stunning so I pocketed a few!  lol  :)

I used some scraps for the woven background to create the basket weave pattern.  Not traditional Halloween colours, but hey, who says I have to be traditional?

Now for my Halloween Ghouls...on their way to their elementary school dance this past Thursday.  I was so sorry that I couldn't go with them, but unfortunately, I had another migraine so I was home sick in bed.  Jim assured me they had lots of fun, though.

My 11 year old, Alexandria as Katy Perry/a Dead Mermaid...yes, a tad odd, I know!

My nearly 9 year old, Natalia as Abby Bominable from the Monster High doll craze.

Just a note that there's still a couple of days left to enter the 'With Gratitude' card challenge over at The Stampsmith Challenge.  You have a chance at winning an entire sheet of stamps from The Stampsmith just for entering!   I hope you decide to play along in the fun! 

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)
 

Halloween Moon Dancers

It's almost that spooky time of year again and that being said I have another Halloween card to share with you.   I used these fun little moon dancers from the Halloween plate by The Stampsmith.  

I'm almost done another Halloween card, using another  fun image from the same stamp set.   I'll post it soon, so stay tuned...

Thanks for stoppin by! :)
 

Four holidays in one weekend!

It's been a weekend of 4 holidays...yes, birthday, anniversary, Thanksgiving and Halloween all in one!  Saturday was my oldest daughter's 11th birthday, yesterday was my 17th wedding anniversary and today my family came to my house and I served up a big feast of turkey with all the trimmings for Thanksgiving Day.  Now, onto the 4th holiday...

I have a bit of Halloween fun to share with you tonight.  I used the kitty perched on a tree branch from the Halloween plate by The Stampsmith.   I'll have a few more Halloween cards to share with you throughout the month, so stay tuned.   :)

Here's a close up of the spooky kitty image and my spider web made out of hemp twine that I pulled all part to make it look fibrous.  

I also made the spider using my Martha Stewart Double Loops punch.   I punched it out once to make the body and four legs, then, I punched it out two more times and cut off a leg from each side and glued them to the back to create my little spider.   Some tiny green gems for eyes and he was complete.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)
 

TSC23: Halloween - Using at least one Stampsmith stamp

OK, I have a funny take on my Halloween card for our latest challenge over on The Stampsmith Challenge. I'm not big into making scary Halloween cards, but you can always use other stamps for the theme and turn them in a Halloween card, by pretending they're in costume and by adding a funny saying.

In my card, I chose to work with a photstamp of Marilyn, dressed up as a 'Naughty Baker'. Isn't this fun? :) Now, why don't you come and play along with us? Show us your creations, using at least one image from The Stampsmith and upload it to the challenge linky.

*Just an update, we've made a change to The Stampsmith Challenge and it'll be now be only a monthly challenge announced on the first of each month. This way it gives you the entire month to create something and get a pic of it to us. It needs to include at least one stamp from The Stampsmith. One lucky winner each month will receive a gift certificate from the The Stampsmith Store!

If you don't have any Stampsmith stamps of your own, but would like to play along, you can always contact Estelle to order a single or two. Single stamps are only $6 and Estelle has exceptionally fast service and very reasonable shipping rates. That way, you can play along for a chance to win more!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Halloween Sari by Kelly

My friend Kelly made this gorgeous sari for my oldest daughter, Alexandria, last year for Halloween. She got all dressed up to go to a costume party the other night, I even did her make up all fancy for her. She had a blast and said she felt like a real Indian Princess. So cute. :)

Here's a close up of her make up.
Both my girls went to their Halloween party for Brownies tonight. Alexandria was a Vampire and Natalia was a Vampiress. Oh, the Twilight, vampire craze, eh? I'll share more pics of their costumes soon.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Cards from My Crafty Group

I finally had a chance to take some pictures of the cards that were from the card swaps that our local group of friends did while I was away during our trips to New Brunswick to be with my mother-in-law before she passed. I didn't participate in the swaps, but the girls were still kind enough to share their gorgeous cards with me to make my day!

This is a close up of the flower in the card above made by Val Wilson. What a stunning flower! I love it!

I believe this one was the card that group made by Val Wilson, as well. Love the butterfly on this one! So pretty!
A stunning card by Louise Allen. A beautifully chalked image in a stunning frame.

A gorgeous card by Kelly Eelhart. Beautiful papers and flower and I like the embossing that she added to the strip down the side.
Lastly is a fantastic Halloween card by Louise Allen. It's awesome! I really like the velcro closure on the gate fold. She actually used a life-like plastic spider and tucked it under the webbing. So cool! :)

This is the view of the inside of Louise's awesome card!

Hope you enjoyed the eye candy...stay tuned for more coming right up!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Halloween Treat Coffin

Well, with Halloween fast approaching, here's a fun project suiting for the occasion. This was our 2nd project of the evening. Thanks to Kim for showing us this one! She supplied the template and we all had fun stamping and making these cute little 3D Halloween Treat Coffins and she even supplied the treats to go with them! I'll try my best not to eat them!

The inside of the coffin is lined with Halloween Bat paper and I stamped the outside kraft cardstock with a great web image and little spiders on the top. For the bottom, I stamped it with a faux wood grain stamp. You can see the wood grain better in the image above.

Here's a top view to show you the shape of the coffin.

Well, my girls haven't spied this project yet, but I know when they do they're gonna lay claim right away! lol :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Halloween Treats

The girls had so much fun last night out trick or treating. We went around our Circle and down another one close by, and they came home with quite a candy haul. Much more than they need, but they have fun going door to door. It's funny, we have a large Tupperware bowl that we keep Halloween candy in and last year's candy actually lasted us until just two weeks ago. Pretty good if the candy lasts them a whole year, eh? lol :)

Anyway, I had to share these sweet little bookmarks that the girls got last night. It looks like someone handmade these, but unfortunately I don't know who gave them to them or I'd thank them. They're really nice and we'll use them for sure. The girls love to read and often we read chapter stories so these will come in handy. I thought these were a great treat to give out instead of candy, something that they can keep and use.

Can anyone tell me, do these things look like something that you can just buy pre-done? I'd love to know, I think they'd make super gifts to add to birthday presents for the girls' friends.

Here's a close up of the turtle

Here's a close up of the whale

Well, I have a few things to do before I head off to work. I'm sure it'll be busy tonight, so the time should go by quickly. :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Butterfly Earrings and a Halloween RAK

I got called into work last night, so I didn't get a chance to post this last night. These are the cards from Tuesday night when I had a few of the girls in for a crafty night. First, I wanted to share the beautiful card that Deborah March made me as a thank you for hosting. Not that I needed a card for hosting, but hey, who doesn't love to get cards. You can see a description of the supplies that she used for the card here. I was thrilled though by what Deborah had put inside the card...she makes gorgeous beaded jewelry and she made me this beautiful set of butterfly earrings. Wasn't that sweet of her! :) I got such a kick out of the inside of her card, I've been to her place several times, but it seems that every time I've organized a get together with the group, she's either been out of town or not able to make it. In case you can't ready the picture below, the inside of the card reads ' I finally made it to Julie's house! Thanks for hosting. Too funny! :)

Yvonne Balmer also showed up with these sweet little Halloween treats for me and my girls. I'll give them to them in the morning, I know they'll be thrilled. They always love 'Yvonne treats!' There's a little chocolate patty sandwiched inside each of the scalloped circles. Too cute! Thanks again, so much, Yvonne! You're too sweet...no pun intended! lol :)

This is a beautiful card made by Catherine Levy, whose name I drew for our Xmas Card Challenge this time around. I thought at first that she had stamped the large snowflakes on either corner, but later found out that they're part of the patterned paper. Very pretty! I might just have to go out and get some of that paper! lol :)

Here are links to the other Xmas challenge cards from the Tuesday night:

Deborah
Kim
Yvonne
Louise
Me

I'll share the card that I made while the girls were over in my post. Stay tuned...

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Halloween Treat Boxes

My youngest daughter has her little Halloween party tomorrow morning at pre-school, so I thought I'd make up a little treat for each of her teachers. I decided to have some more fun with the origami boxes from the other night that I was playing with. I changed the size this time to be a bit smaller box. The other one called for an 11 1/2" x 11 1/2" sheet of patterned paper for the top of the box and an 11" x 11" sheet of patterned paper for the bottom of the box. For mine, I used cardstock this time, with the top piece measuring 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" and the bottom 8" x 8". A cute size for little goodies. The finished box ends up being 3" x 3" x 1.5" high. Her box measured 4" x 4" x 2" high.

Oh, I can only imagine the state that my daughter is going to be in come noon time tomorrow after all that candy...she only just went to sleep a half hour ago and it's 10:45 pm here! She fell asleep on the way home this afternoon from picking my hubby up at work and I carried her inside and she continued to sleep on the couch for another hour and a half. That's very unlike her, as she doesn't nap anymore. I tried to wake her up for supper and she said she wanted to keep sleeping and eat later, so we all ate and shortly after we finished eating she woke up. Well, it's like she was a new person. I think she even grew, you know when they wake up sometimes and they just look different. Apparently, the sleep did her a world of good cause she acted like a child on Speed! Holy Cow the energy! lol :) I feel kinda bad, Jim and I were trying to contain our laughter, but I'm glad she's feeling better. This seems to be the routine, if she ever does nap in the afternoon, she doesn't want to go to bed at a decent hour...10 pm is way too late for a soon-to-be 4 year to go to bed! But, she's never woke up with this 'Speed-like' behavior before. It was really quite funny, she just kept bringing me out things to show me and doing all these crazy things and putting on little acts to entertain me. Anyway, I just hope she sleeps the night now and isn't too cranky come morning. Then, she's gonna get filled full of sugar, that should be a good show, indeed! lol :)

Well, I think I will indulge in a good night's sleep myself! Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Origami Box (direct link above to a great tutorial)
Cardstock: White (The Paper Company), Black and Orange (Bazzill)
Tools: Bone Folder, Double-Sided Tape
Stamps: Self-Inking Halloween Mini Stamps (Dollarama)
Treats to fill inside of box. :)

An Idea for Halloween Treat Bags

I thought these were just too cute for anything! Perhaps a lot of you have seen these before, but this is the first time I've seen this done, so I thought that I'd share the idea, in case anyone is looking for ideas for a school function or a child's playgroup party, etc. These were sold at Alex's Halloween party at school last night for $1 per baggie. A good little fundraiser for them since as soon as one was sold...Every kid there wanted one! lol :) Neat idea to use the candy corn at the end of the finger for the fingernail.

The girls had so much fun and it was fun for Jim and I to see all the little ones dressed up so cute. There were a lot of babies and toddlers there as it was a family dance and they were by far the cutest! There was one little girl, I would say about 18 months old and she was dressed up in a little black dress for a kinda witch , I guess, and she was dancing up a storm, it was just too darn cute for words! :)

I made up this little origami box and stamped the labels for the Hershey Nugget chocolates to give away as one of the prizes at the dance...after all, what kid doesn't like chocolate and then they have a cute little box afterwards to keep little things in. :) You can find a great tutorial for these cute origami boxes here. Just scroll down to the tutorial on Oct. 6th. I haven't had a chance to check out all her work yet, but it looks like I might possibly need to get an extra large cup of coffee and it'll be a good place to spend some time, for sure! lol :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)