Happy Halloween👻

Happy Halloween! As you can see my two lads had fun carving pumpkins today.



It feels like forever since I posted but as I got a little inky for Halloween I thought I'd put my bits and pieces here.

First up is a card I made for my good friend Linda - thanks again Linda!



A couple of years ago she sent me some gorgeous Halloween papers that I hoarded until now. I used a Sizzix flip it die set which made it so quick and easy to make this type of card.



I used the sentiment from Lawn Fawn's Trick or Treat mini set. On the flip side of the sentiment piece I used the witch image from Hero Arts Ghostly Greetings set.



I again used Hero Arts Ghostly Greetings set for the little tag on this Halloween treat that I put together for my sister.



The trick or treaters here have finished for the night and we had a lots less callers compared to any other year. So we've got a mountain of treats left - I might just have to put the kettle on for a cuppa and have some chocolate treats with it.

Halloween Treasure Hunt

I remember when I was a kid it seemed to take forever for darkness to fall on Halloween. Here at that time kids called from house to house asking people to "help the Halloween party". The phrase "trick or treat" hadn't made its way across the Atlantic at that stage - yikes I feel old! We'd usually get fruit and nuts for treats and my goodness if we received sweets or coins we'd be absolutely delighted with ourselves!

When our kids were younger we used to have some of their friends over a few hours before it was due to get dark and would have a party with spooky food and, of course, play lots of Halloween games. A favourite with the kids was running around the house finding clues on creepy treasure hunts.

When I ordered Hero Arts 3-D House Die and co-ordinating stamp set, I had in mind ideas for Christmas. When they arrived I couldn't help but think what a fun set it also is for making Halloween decorations and even concealing clues for a treasure hunt.

Die(Hero Arts) - 3-D House Fancy Die
Stamp set (Hero Arts) - 3-D House Essentials

After die cutting the houses I stamped them and then stamped doors, windows and pumpkins in Halloween colours. After cutting these out I adhered them to the houses. The die cuts and scores a house in one pass so it makes it really easy to quickly put together a set of houses.

Die(Hero Arts) - 3-D House Fancy Die
Stamp set (Hero Arts) - 3-D House Essentials

In a treasure hunt it's nice to get a little treat along with a clue (just to keep energy levels up;), so I used the little houses containing the clues as decorations on these cupcakes.

Die - 3-D House Fancy Die (Hero Arts) & Lace Hearts Cupcake Wrapper (Die'sire)
Stamp set (Hero Arts) - 3-D House Essentials

I'm submitting this project into A Blog Named Hero's Die Cutting Challenge and Simon Says Stamp's No Designer Paper Challenge.

Trick or Treat Shaker

I finally had a little time to stamp earlier today and I thought it would be fun to join in on Lawnscaping's Critters Galore Challenge.

For my critter I decided to use the bat from Lawn Fawn's cute Trick or Treat set and made a Halloween shaker card. Sorry my photo isn't great - I always find it hard to avoid getting reflections on the acetate layer on shaker cards!

I embossed the sentiment on a piece of green card and die cut the label shape. To make the shaker I added some lovely green sequins my friend Trinh (thanks again, Trinh) sent me and an embossed Waltzingmouse Stamps image (Very Vintage labels No. 10) which I cut out and used as my frame. The Lawn Fawn bat was cut out and coloured with ProMarkers and I couldn't resist adding a couple of googly eyes before perching him on top of the shaker. To finish I just added a strip of lace to the side of the card.



Stamps - Trick or Treat (Lawn Fawn) & Very Vintage labels No. 10 (Waltzingmouse Stamps)

The last time I made a shaker I had a problem with the little bits inside the shaker sticking to the sides of the foam pads but I saw a tip somewhere which suggested rubbing talc or flour on the sticky parts before assembling the shaker. It really seems to have worked well but I'd love to hear if any of you have any other suggestions as it took a while to get rid of all the traces of flour!

Trick or Treat

I know it might be a bit early to be making Halloween bits and pieces but when I was out shopping earlier I noticed that some Christmas items are already creeping onto the shelves, so maybe I'm not too early for Halloween after all!

Anyway there are a couple of challenges I wanted to play along with - Teri's Fabulous Friday Challenge over at Moxie Fab World and Simon Says Stamp's Stamp It Challenge

The photo above is the one to be used for inspiration for the Moxie Fab World Challenge. It inspired me to make a garland, use yellow, orange and black, and also to use chevrons and triangles. For the Simon Says Stamp Challenge you have to stamp - lol I love nothing better:)

So first up is the little garland. I die cut circles from plain paper and patterned paper. On the orange ones I stamped Hero Arts' Tiny Flags using spiced marmalade distress ink and on the black circle I embossed the Lawn Fawn sentiment from the Trick or Treat set.



Stamps - Trick or Treat (Lawn Fawn) & Tiny Flags (Hero Arts)

The cute candy corns which are from the same set were stamped, coloured with ProMarkers and covered with glossy accents.



Next up are a couple of cupcake toppers, again using the same dies and stamps. At Halloween they will be stuck in cupcakes that are spookier than the mini chocolate chip ones I have here:)



Stamp set - Trick or Treat (Lawn Fawn)

Well since Halloween wouldn't be Halloween without treats, I had to make up a little bag of treats and a tag.




Stamps - A Little (Hero Arts) & Trick or Treat (Lawn Fawn)

The tag was embossed and pieced and I again added candy corns that had been coloured and glossed. I used baker's twine from a Halloween assortment pack from Doodlebug Design. Only a little over eight weeks to Halloween now but I think these treats might be eaten a little before then;)

Happy Halloween

The day our younger son has been eagerly awaiting with much anticipation has finally arrived, and now he's wishing away the hours until it gets dark enough to go out spooking! Meanwhile I need to run into the town to get some more cobwebs. With all the windy weather we've had recently there was no point in decorating outside until today, otherwise we would have had cobwebs, gravestones and creepy creatures blowing around the neighbourhood!

As usual I was up early so I thought I'd make a quick little Halloween picture.



Stamp (Hero Arts) - Ghostly Greetings

The background is another piece of Core'dinations card that my friend Linda had sent me. I love embossing and sanding these to see what will be revealed. The sentiment was embossed and I just added a baker's twine frame. The little owl ghosts/witches represent our two boys who, each year, over the years have gone back and forth deciding what to wear for Halloween. So I thought I'd have the little owls trying to make up their minds about what they wanted to dress up as for Halloween. It's hard to see in the photo but I added gold pen and some stickles to the little buckles on the hats.

I also have to share another Halloween project, made by Linda. She sent me these super cute treat bags for the lads - I just love them and so do the lads! Thanks again, Linda:):) Here you can find details of all the supplies Linda used to make these fun bags.



Hope you have a fun Halloween!