Halloween Banner Card

This is by far the fussiest Halloween card from my Pennywise Arts design month.  

I die cut each jewelry tag and added a rub-on letter, then I folded the top of each tag over my twine 'rope' and glued the tab to the back.  To keep them from all sliding together, I ended up putting each on a pop dot.  I found (okay, I raided the humongous stash of bat things that I have) a few little bat buttons for the knots on either end of my rope. 

The background was a little to plain for me, so I ran the patterned paper through a polka dot embossing folder.  I still wasn't happy, so I decided to stamp a swirl with Versamark and use the O'So Sticky Powder to cover it with Ultrafine Microbeads.

The beads looks like they're colored, but they're clear! They just add a little bit of sparkle.  The word "Happy" is from a Papertrey Ink die - I also used O'So Sticky Powder to adhere it to the card. 

On a side note, remember my Panic! at the Disco cards?  Well, I gave one to a friend who is also in their fan club and we met them at one of their concerts.  She  had the band members sign hers!  I freaked out a tiny little bit (A LOT!) and just had them sign their cd.  EEEEEEE!!!!!

Thanks for looking!

Halloween Skulls

It's time for another Pennywise Arts sponsored card.  Today, I'm all about the skulls and not about bats.

I clear embossed the Boo on crumpled patterned paper and dp'd some red ink over it.  I love the effect! 

The skulls are grungeboard that I covered with white acrylic paint.  After they dried (okay, okay - after they were dryish), I covered them in Versamark and did two layers of clear embossing powder - UTEE would be perfect here, I just can't remember where I put mine - and while the ep was still hot and sticky, dipped them in Ultra Fine Clear Beads.  I added an additional three layers of ep and beads, heating between each layer and ending with a final layer of ep.   Ta-dah!

After they cooled, I cracked them a bit - I tried to rub them with a dye ink pad but it wouldn't stick - duh!  Black Stazon would have been a better choice, but it's apparently run off with my UTEE  and they're living in sin.  :)  

I think I'm going to try this little trick with some colored microbeads and maybe some other shapes - I want to see this technique on a heart or flower shape.   I would be tickled pink if anyone decided to try it and left a link for me! 

Only 46 more days til Halloween!!!

Schulentute Challenge

It's Halloween over at Bella Creations'  Celebrer la Fete group.  One of the challenges this month was to create a BOOtuten (a schulentute with a Halloween twist), so of course, I jumped right in.

Here's my first attempt.  Color me surprised with the bat theme!




I decided to branch out and choose non-traditional Halloween colors for my next BOOtuten. I have a hate/hate relationship with pink, so I found some pale pink scrapbook paper that I will never use.  I stamped it with a chandelier from a Martha Stewart set and created my own 'new' background paper.  I added some ribbon and created a exhibition ribbon (also at Celebrer la Fete) inspired embellishment. 

I did, of course, still manage to get a bat in.  :) 

Thanks for looking!

Gingersnap Creations Art Exchange - Magnets

Gingersnap Creations is having another art exchange - Encouraging Words Refrigerator Magnets.  I decided to try for a heart theme and set about making my magnets. 

I did a shaker magnet.

I tried a new technique (the 'puddle' of white embossing power with the sentiment 'embossed' in it).

I used my new Papertrey Ink set for the first time.  I love this house!

And then I stalled.  I had the quote: "A friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart."  The sentiment was too large, I didn't like the color on the vellum, I couldn't think of anything else to do, blah blah.  I dithered and I dallied and I finally came up with a magnet that was... done.  I didn't love it, I didn't hate it.  I hung them all on the fridge to test the magnet adhesive overnight.  

This afternoon, I started taking pictures.  I did the first three and went I went for the fourth...it wasn't there.  The magnet was still on the fridge but the actual piece was missing.  I asked hubby if he'd seen it - nope.  I searched high and low - it's not under the fridge (yes, I made hubby move it), it didn't fall down the side, it's not on the counter. It's gone.  There are two suspects who have a long criminal history when it comes to crafting mishaps but this is impressive, even for them.

They're not talking, of course.  I suspect the mystery may never be solved.  So, I'm off to make another magnet!  I think I'll have to give the heart theme a pass this time and skip the fridge test. 

Wish me luck!!

Halloween Blues

I love bats! If every card I made could have bats on it, I would be a happy girl.  Seriously, this is how much I love bats:

That's me, on vacation in Australia, volunteering at a bat hospital!  That's Mystique, she's reaching for a bit of banana.  So beautiful!

So, in honor of bats, here's another Halloween card, graciously sponsored by Pennywise Arts!

The adorable sentiment is from Stampotique and the bat is an embroidery sticker that I've had in my stash.  The stars are plain chipboard which I covered in Versamark and dipped into O'So Sticky Powder from Pennywise.  You heat it up just like embossing powder and it gets - wait for it - sticky!  :)  I then covered the stars with ultra fine glitter and set the powder with another blast from my heat gun then added them to my card base and voila - a happy little Halloween card!

As always, thanks so much for looking!

Halloween at Pennywise Arts!

September is my design team month over at Pennywise Arts Blog.  Definitely check it out; they're currently giving away 10 sheets of double-sided O'So Sticky Tape and only two people have entered - great odds if you ask me!  I'm not eligible to play, so go, get your friends to sign up!

On to my first Halloween card of the season! (Mad props to my crazy staging skills! LOL!)

I took some double-sided paper and made the base card, then I flipped the paper over and made a paper 'ribbon' from the print on the back side (yay! bats!); I couldn't get the tail right, so I ended up using the corner of a medallion shaped die.

Papertrey Ink stamps and die helped make the tickets out of more patterned paper and I added a some hand-dyed seam binding.  To finish it all off, I took a small square of O'So Sticky tape, removed the rubber liner and adhered it to some black paper, which I then punched with a bat. 

I removed the paper liner and dipped it into Clear Mini Beads.  You could use the Black Opaque beads too, if you wanted a little less sparkle but I like a little bit of bling.  Stick it on with some foam tape and you're done!

Thanks for looking and stay tuned for more Halloween goodies!!