Halloween In Miniature.....

Hi All! It's been way too long since my last post, but theater season has begun in earnest. October has been full of costuming and makeup for the Middle School production of A Midsummers Night Dream and the Upper School production of Rock of Ages. I've also been reorganizing my craft space and creating a guest room in my basement. Yikes!

But in between the theater gigs, I wanted to share a mini album that I created for Halloween using the 3x3 envelopes from September's Creating Kindness kit.

Let's take a look:

For this album, covered heavy duty chipboard with papers from Close To my Heart's Jeepers Creepers collection, and decorated the front with elements from the Jeepers Creepers Complements and Assortment packs.

Here's a look at the cover:

The inside pages were made using 3x3 envelopes (2 per page), which I covered with the same papers. One of the papers in the collection is made up of a series of 4x6 and 3x4 images that you can cut apart to make inserts for pocket scrapbooking. I cut down some of those images to make tags to fit in the pockets of each page.

I used black cardstock to make a photo folder that tucks in the top of each page, and matted the folders using Pansy, Raspberry, Lemon, and Willow cardstocks. I used some decorative corner punches on the edges of the photo folders to add interest.

 Using my mini stapler, I also stapled a bit of ribbon from my stash onto each of the tags to use as a pull tab.

 Here's a quick look at some of the other pages as well:

And here's the front of the album once again:

Hope you enjoyed this quick peek at my Halloween mini. Stay tuned for the Rose Blossom blog hop coming up on November 1st!

Until then, have a wonderfully creative week!

CTMH Jeepers Creepers Paper Pack	CTMH Jeepers Creepers Complements	CTMH Jeepers Creepers Assortment	CTMH Jeepers Creepers Workshop Your Way
CTMH Pansy Cardstock	CTMH Raspberry Cardstock	CTMH Willow Cardstock	CTMH Lemon Cardstock
CTMH Adventure Cardstock Combo	CTMH Black Cardstock	Paper Accents Chipboard (Extra Heavy)	Neenah Solar White Cardstock (110LB)
Sookwang Double-sided Tape

InLinkz.com

Tricks and Treats

Hi all! Welcome to our very first video tutorial here on Violets & Sunshine! This is something that I've been wanting to do for awhile, but found the whole thing a bit intimidating. Nevertheless, a few days ago I threw caution to the wind and now here we are.

Today we'll be making these cute little Halloween Treat holders:

(Here's how it opens) 

Here are the creative ingredients:

Paper:

6 x 6-inch piece of patterned paper
(I'm using Close To My Heart's Scaredy Cat)

1 x 3-inch piece of coordinating patterned paper
(I just used the back of the Scaredy Cat paper)

1 2-inch scalloped circle cut from Black Cardstock

1 1 1/2-inch circle cut from Purple Glitter Paper

1 1 1/4-inch circle cut from White Daisy Cardstock

Adhesive:

Tape runner

3D foam tape (thin)
Hook & Loop Dots

Tools:

Corner rounder

Score Board

Paper trimmer

Ink:

Black
(I use Memento Tuxedo Black, 
but Stāz-On or Black Archival Ink would work, too.)

Sunset Exclusive ink

Stamp Set:
FRIGHTFULLY FUN

Now on with the tutorial:

So as I mentioned in the tutorial, I have kits available for making these cute little boxes. Each kit includes (6) 6x6-inch sheets of patterned paper, (6) 1x3-inch pieces of patterned paper, (6) scalloped circle embellishments, and (6) hook & loop closures.

All cutting, scoring, and stamping have been done for you. I have also added adhesive to the back of the closures and embellishments. So, all you will need to do is fold, stick, and add your own candy. Each kit will make 6 treat boxes. If you need more than one kit, please click on the drop down menu when purchasing below:

Number of Kits

1 Kit - 6 boxes $8.00 USD 2 Kits - 12 boxes $15.00 USD 3 Kits - 18 boxes $22.00 USD 4 Kits - 24 boxes $28.00 USD

If you are local and would like to pick up your kits in person, the prices will be adjusted to reflect the savings on shipping.

So I really hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Please leave comments and let me know what you think. I'd also be interested in hearing what techniques or project you would like to see tutorials on in the future.

A Little [not so] Spooky Halloween Decor

Hi Folks! I hope you're having a wonderful week. It's been way too long since my last post, but in the past month my family has moved, I went to Handmade U in Omaha, my husband has been out of the country twice, and our lives in general have been a little more insane than usual. Nevertheless, I finally finished unpacking and downsizing my craft studio just in time to design a little Halloween Decor for this month's Rose Blossom Garden Challenge.

Here's what I came up with:

It all started with Close To My Heart's Bracket Frame, which I painted black and covered with Spellbound papers. (Sadly, this paper pack is no longer available.) The images (with the exception of the embellishment on the bottom left) are cut at 9 inches using the Artbooking cartridge. Let's take a look at some close ups:

This scary kitty was cut at 2 1/4 inches from Slate cardstock. The stamp is from the Eek & Shreek stamp set, as is the background of her hat, which I cut free hand. Both are stamped in Black Exclusive Ink, and accented with purple, lime green, and diamond stickles. The bats are cut from Black and Sunset cardstocks and edged with purple and diamond stickles. The Sunset bat and the cat's hat (how's that for some rhyming) are popped up with dimensional adhesive.

The moon is cut from Sunset cardstock and then mounted on Black Glitter Paper for some extra zing. I wanted to give the haunted house a little spooky glow, so I mounted the house (cut from Black cardstock) onto Green Glitter Paper and then fussy cut around it with my craft knife.

I cut "Spooky" and "Halloween" from both Sunset and Black cardstocks and then offset the Sunset on the Black for a shadowed effect. (When you do this with words, make sure that both layers are the same size.) The fence is cut from Slate cardstock. I inked around the edges and grunged it up a bit with Black Exclusive Ink.

To create this final embellishment, I punched out a scalloped circle from the Green Glitter Paper using CTMH's retired 2-inch punch. (You could easily do this with the Cricut, but I'm not a big fan of glitter on my mat.) I then attached strips of black tulle and organge ribbon from my stash to make it a little larger. I cut an additional scalloped circle from some scrap cardstock and attached it over the ends of the ribbon in the back to secure them. The headstone is cut at 2 inches using Black and Slate cardstocks and the Artiste cartridge. I inked them up with Black Exclusive Ink and added some purple stickles to tie it all together. The sentiment is from the Eek & Shreek stamp set, and is stamped in Black Exclusive Ink on Slate cardstock. 

Here's another look at the entire project:

I hope you enjoyed this (not so) Spooky Halloween. I look forward to seeing your creations over in the Rose Blossom Garden. 

By the way, stay tuned for the Kraft-y Hearts Blog share later this week. We'll be switching gears and having a little Christmas in October.

Playin' Along with The Paper Players

So life is finally getting into a little more of a routine, which allows me to participate in some of my favorite challenges. One of those is a blog by The Paper Players.

Here is this week's sketch:

Here's my take on it:

This sketch is great for washi tape fans (of which I am one), but I wanted to use my CTMH supplies. No washi. So what to do?? Get out the "It's Your Day" stamp set, of course! (Remember kids: this DOUBLE stamp set is only available for 3 MORE DAYS!!!) So I used It's Your Day and stamped my washi-like banners in Goldrush, Smokey Plum and Olive Exclusive Inks on Colonial white cardstock. I think they came out fantastic!

The owl, greeting and spiderweb are all from the Spellbound Workshop On The Go stamp set. This workshop is SO much fun! I'll post the goodie I make from it soon. The owl was stamped in Smokey Plum and the greeting is in Autumn Terracotta. The spiderwebs are in Whisper pigment ink. Awesome on black!

Here are some close-ups of the outside:

I almost never do much to the interior of my cards (mainly because I like space to write), but I couldn't help myself on this one!

The spider and webs are stamped in Black Exclusive Ink. I drew a little thread for my spider with an art pen. The sentiment (except for "BOO") is from the Card Word Puzzle stamp set (Yep, it's a go-to set for me), and is stamped in Smokey Plum. "BOO"is stamped in black over a scrap of the Goldrush washi-like banner using the Vintage Type stamp set and popped up with some foam tape.

Here is a close-up of the interior:

This was such a fun card to make! Hope you enjoyed it!