Spooky Halloween House

 

Hello! It has been quite a while since I shared anything here on the blog but today I do have a Halloween card I'm super excited about. I used many of the Open House dies from Spellbinders to create a spooky Halloween house front. To start, the Open House Door Base and Open House Door Side Panel were both die cut from True Black card stock. The windows at the top were die cut with the Open House Halloween dies, to give the look of spiderwebs. 

The solid panels behind each window were cut from white card stock and then I used finger daubers to ink Squeezed Lemonade and Wild Honey Distress Oxide inks to create the look of glowing lit windows. 

The mail slot, door knob, and 31 were all cut from silver card stock. The pumpkin dies are from Open House Boo! I used the same distress oxide ink colors to create the glow inside the jack-o-lanterns. All of the die cut elements were adhered to a Smokey Shadow panel that had some bricks cut from it using the Brick Layer die by The Greetery. I also used a blending brush to add some Black Soot distress oxide ink to the edges of my brick panel to darken and give it dimension. The brick panel was adhered to a Smokey Shadow card base, and I blended a little Hickory Smoke distress oxide ink behind the brick openings for some variation. 

Thanks for looking!

SUPPLIES:

Paper: True Black, Smokey Shadow, Luxe Silver (PTI), Pumpkin Pie (SU!), Accent Opaque White 

Ink: Squeezed Lemonade, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Gathered Twigs, Hickory Smoke, Black Soot (Distress Oxide)

Dies: Open House Door Base, Open House Door Side Panel, Open House Halloween, Open House Boo! (Spellbinders), Brick Layer die (The Greetery)

Boo Box Bats

 

Hello! I'm just popping in with a quick Halloween project I made for my kids. I recently purchased the Boo Box die namic from My Favorite Things when it was on sale, and I have to say this thing is so fun! It was super simple to quickly die cut and assemble these little treat boxes. I used traditional colors for the bat, and just added google eyes. I cut the base from True Black card stock, and it is very sturdy and actually holds quite a bit of candy. I'll have these at the boys' places at the table when they wake up on Halloween morning as a fun surprise. 

Happy Halloween!

SUPPLIES

Dies: Boo Box die namics (MFT)

Card Stock: True Black, Stamper's Select White, (PTI), red, pink (generic)

Other: google eyes

You've Been Boo'ed!

 

It's that time of year again, when little ghosts go around our neighborhood under the cover of darkness and leave anonymous treats for all the children. Does your neighborhood participate in the You've Been Boo'ed tradition? Ours does, and last night our house was Boo'ed! I'd seen the ghosts popping up on neighbors' doors, so I was ready with goodie bags when the time came. Of course I wanted to dress them up with some homemade tags, though, because that's what stampers do! :) 

I used the Booed stamp set (retired) from Neat & Tangled, which of course is just perfect. It was embossed in white and layered nicely on a Tag'd die from The Stamp Market. The spider web, embossed in silver, is from Papertrey Ink's Corner Adorner: August stamp set.  Some black and white baker's twine finished it off. I think it turned out super cute and loved how it looked on the treat bags. 

Thanks for reading!

SUPPLIES:

Stamps: Booed (Neat & Tangled), Corner Adorner: August (PTI)

Paper: True Black (PTI), Pumpkin Pie (SU!)

Ink: Versa Mark

Dies: Tag'd (The Stamp Market)

Other: white embossing powder, silver embossing powder, baker's twine

Halloween Spider Cards

Here are the two Halloween cards I made this year, both featuring spider webs but in different ways. This first card was a harder to pull off than I bargained for, but I do like how it turned out.  I started by trimming down a piece of white card stock to 4" x 5 1/4". I positioned my spider web die in the top portion of my card for placement and stamped the sentiment underneath. After stamping the sentiment I did the actually die cutting of the web. However, after running it through my die cutting machine I left all of the little pieces in place without punching any of them out. While they were still hanging together, I very carefully put a small piece of foam tape on the back of each negative space between the threads of the web.  I then added more foam tape around all of the edges of my white panel for support and adhered it to my black card base. Then I very carefully lifted out the web that I had die cut, leaving all of the negative pieces behind. It's hard to tell in the photo but this means that the whole white panel is popped up leaving the black web as a negative space underneath. It looks pretty cool! The spider is actually one of those cheap plastic kids rings that are so popular this time of year. I snipped off the ring portion and used a glue dot to adhere him in the upper right corner. Fun!

My second card is much more straight forward. I again began with a piece of 4" x 5 1/4" white card stock, this time stamping a spider web image in the top left corner. I used Versa Fine Onyx Black ink and then embossed it with clear embossing powder for some shine. I stamped the spider and the sentiment the same way, also embossing them. To create the thread the spider is hanging from I used a ruler and a fine tip black Sharpie. The panel was then adhered to a black card base and that is that!

Happy Halloween!


Supplies:
Stamps: Keep it Simple: Halloween (PTI), Creepy Crawly (Inkadinkado)
Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black
Paper: Stamper's Select White (PTI), Basic Black (SU!)
Dies: Spider Web Trio
Other: clear embossing powder, plastic spider ring, 3M foam tape

We've Been Boo'ed!

A few nights ago as we were getting the boys ready for bed our doorbell rang. We'd been boo'ed! A bucket of fun Halloween treats had been left on our door step! Here are the bags I put together to bless two other families in our neighborhood to carry on the Halloween fun. The bags are filled with small Halloween trinkets like pencils, stickers, glow sticks, pumpkin carving kit, etc.

I started with a regular brown lunch bag that I stamped all over with spiders using an old favorite set, Inkadinkado's Creepy Crawly.

For the topper I layered on the die cuts! The bottom black layer is the largest of the Nestabilities Labels 1 dies, folded over and tied with orange ribbon to secure the bag. Next I cut the largest of the Spider Web Trio dies from silver card stock. The white tag is Papertrey Ink's Tag Sale #3 die. The web and spider are both from Creepy Crawly. I simply used a ruler and thin black Sharpie to draw the thread from the web to the spider. The small sentiment at the bottom is an old Stampin' Up! set called Teeny Tiny Wishes. The orange tag is cut with My Favorite Things Traditional Tags STAX Die-namics. I used Papertrey Ink's Penned Elegance Alphabet set to stamp the word "Boo". I notched the end of the tag with scissors. The web and two tag dies were attached to the ribbon with orange and white baker's twine. I hope the families that received these bags stuffed with goodies will enjoy them!

Neither of our direct neighbors on either side have kids but I didn't want them to be left out of the fun. My youngest son and I made a double batch of pumpkin bread, then dressed up the loaves with pretty ribbon and tags for a more adult treat.

I used the same orange "Boo" tags and also included a kraft tag letting the recipients know what kind of treat they had received. The loaves were wrapped in cling wrap and then wax paper to keep them fresh, then tied with black satin ribbon and the tags.

Our family had fun going out on our "Boo Missions" under the cover of darkness to deliver these treats to our neighbors!

Happy Halloween!


Supplies:
Stamps: Creepy Crawly (Inkadinkado), Penned Elegance Alphabet (Papertrey Ink), Typewriter Alphabet (My Favorite Things), Teeny Tiny Wishes (Stampin' Up!)
Paper: Only Orange (Stampin' Up!), Kraft, Stamper's Select White (Papertrey Ink), silver
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Only Orange (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Spider Web Trio, Tag Sale #3 (Papertrey Ink), Labels 1 (Nestabilities), Traditional Tags STAX die-namics (My Favorite Things)
Other: orange and white baker's twine, 1/2" black satin ribbon, 1/4" orange satin ribbon

Halloween Spider Tags

I'm sneaking in one more Halloween project for you. Gift tags are one of my favorite things to make so I couldn't help but make a few for Halloween. These would be cute on treat bags for little ghouls and goblins. :)

I die cut the tag shape with Papertrey Ink's Tag Sale #3 die and then stamped the spider and web images. I used a fine point sharpie and a ruler to draw the thread the spider is dangling from. A simple sentiment and some orange and white baker's twine finished them off!


 

SUPPLIES
Stamps: Creepy Crawly (Inkadinkado), Teeny Tiny Wishes (SU!)
Paper: Stamper's Select White (PTI)
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine), Tangerine Tango (SU!)
Tools: Tag Sale#3 die (PTI), black fine point Sharpie
Embellishments: Clementine Baker's Twine (Maya Road)

Halloween Banner Cards

Hello! Today I have some Halloween card inspiration to share with you. These are a variation of some birthday cards I have available in my Etsy shop. To make these I picked out a variety of Halloween themed pattern papers and die cut banner shapes from them. I then shuffled the die cuts around into coordinating groupings.
 

I arranged three banners across the tops of 4 bar sized cards and then machine stitched them in place, leaving the thread tails long to mimic the ends of the string that would hold up a real banner. It is finished with one of my favorite Halloween sentiments from Inkadinado's Creepy Crawly set. They turned out very cute, if I do say so myself. :)

Have a fun and safe Halloween this week!

SUPPLIES
Stamps: Creepy Crawly (Inkadinkado)
Paper: Vintage Cream (PTI), assorted pattern papers
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine)
Tools: Banner Builder dies (PTI), sewing machine

Spider Web Cupcakes

Happy Halloween! I did a bunch of baking yesterday and this is one of the confections that came out of the kitchen, spider web cupcakes! The chocolate cupcakes are just a box mix (don't judge, it was a busy day) but I did make the cream cheese frosting.  To create the web effect I used Wilton's black decorating gel and drew three concentric circles on each iced cupcake. Then with a toothpick I pulled from the center outward through the frosting. Easy!

Have fun tonight!

Boo!

At long last I am back with a card to share. With Halloween next week I finally got my act together and made some cards. How is October almost over?

The pumpkin was stamped in Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive ink and then fussy cut out. The hills I also cut free hand. The hills are stamped with Text Style and I tied a small "Boo!" tag onto the stem of the pumpkin.

It's a bit hard to see in the photo, but the Very Vanilla background layer has been impressed with my Linen & Canvas impression plate. I antiqued the edges of all of the layers with Tea Dye.

The inside has a matching spider web in the corner and the sentiment is from Holiday Best.  I have some other projects to share with you soon and I'm hoping to get some baking in as well. See you soon!

xoxo

SUPPLIES
Stamps: Carved & Candlelit, Tiny Tags, Holiday Best (SU!), Text Style (PTI), Creepy Crawly (Inkadinkadoo)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake (SU!), Smokey Shadow (PTI)
Ink: Basic Black, Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Crumb Cake (SU!), Tea Dye (PTI)
Tools:Jewelry Tag punch (SU!), Linen & Canvas impression plate (PTI)
Embellishments: embroidery thread, buttons

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Happy Halloween! No tricks just treats for you today. I found this recipe for Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins on allrecipes.com a few years ago and I've made them every fall since then. They smell heavenly while baking and taste just as good. The recipe is pretty much perfect as is.  All I changed was to use fresh pumpkin puree I made the night before and subbed walnuts for the pecans because that is what I had on hand. Also, while the recipe says it makes 18 muffins, I easily got 24.  They are wonderful with your morning cup of coffee or for an afternoon treat.

Enjoy and have fun tonight!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins from allrecipes.com 
makes 18 muffins

INGREDIENTS

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 Tbsp. brown sugar

4 1/2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
5 Tbsp. white sugar
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. chopped pecans

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. white sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 c. pumpkin puree
1/3 c. olive oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour 18 muffin cups, or use paper liners.

To make the filling: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat until smooth, then set aside.

For the streusel topping: In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Add butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.

For the muffin batter: In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add eggs, pumpkin, olive oil and vanilla. Beat together until smooth.

Place pumpkin mixture in muffin cups about 1/2 full.  Then add one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture right in the middle of the batter.  Sprinkle on streusel topping.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes.

Eat and enjoy!!

Halloween Trees

I have one last Halloween card to share with you today. This one was inspired by a card I saw on Splitcoast Stamper's by Lionsmane.  I changed up the pattern papers and simplified it a bit. 

The focal image was created using the emboss resist technique. The tree image was first inked up with Versa Mark and Basic Black, then embossed with black embossing powder.   I then sponged over top with Summer Sun ink at the center and Pumpkin Pie around the edges. I like the eerie sunset feel this created with the silhouetted trees.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend!


SUPPLIES
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree
Paper: Basic Black, Very Vanilla, dp by Graphic 45
Ink: Versa Mark, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun
Embellishments: orange satin ribbon, black embossing powder
Tools: large oval and scalloped oval nestabilities dies, sponge, foam tape

Halloween Trio

Halloween is almost here and I have a few more cards to make and send out.  This one was inspired by a card Dawn McVey shared on her blog a while back.  I used a new toy for the background, SU's spider web embossing folder.  So fun!  The cute little Halloween images are from Spooky Bingo Bits.

The sentiment was stamped onto a piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock that had been punched out with the Designer Label punch.  I then trimmed off the bottom portion and sewed it onto the embossed layer.  

Similarly, I punched out a scallop border from Eggplant Envy card stock and sewed it along the bottom with a zig zag stitch.  The embossed panel, and each of the three circle pieces, were adhered with foam tape.

Enjoy your weekend!

SUPPLIES
Stamps: Spooky Bingo Bits, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Eggplant Envy, Basic Black
Ink: Eggplant Envy, VersaFine Onyx Black, Pumpkin Pie
Tools: Spider Web embossing folder, scallop border punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, Designer Label punch, sewing machine, foam tape

Spooky Halloween

Perusing some other people's card blogs recently I came across an old sketch challenge.  I don't usually have much luck with card sketch challenges, maybe I'm trying to force things too much, but this particular one really inspired me.  I had been wanting to create a Halloween card now that it is October so that is the direction I went with. I really like how this one turned out!

 

Here is what the original sketch looked like, you can read more about it here.

I used Carved and Candlelit for the focal image, along with a punched out bat.  I don't own this particular SU! bat punch, but my mom does and she gave me a stack of punched out bats last time I visited. Thanks, Mom! :)  The background paper is a page from an old book I picked up at a used book store.  I used the spider and web images from Creepy Crawly to help it recede into the background.  All of the edges were antiqued with my PTI Tea Dye cubes.

And here is the inside, stamped with the sentiment from Creepy Crawly.  This card is now up in my shop so be sure to take a look!


SUPPLIES
Stamps: Carved and Candlelit (SU!), Creepy Crawly (Inkadinkado)
Paper: Vintage Cream (PTI), Basic Black (SU!), Bella Rose dp (SU!), Orange Small Dots dp (Recollections), vintage book print
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive (SU!), Versa Fine Onyx Black, Tea Dye Duo (PTI)
Embellishments: black satin ribbon, black embroidery thread, button
Tools: stamp-a-ma-jig, corner rounder punch, bat punch (SU!)

Spider Web Brownies

Happy Halloween everyone! I just wanted to stop by and share a tradition from our house, Spider Web Brownies. My mom used to make these with my sister and me when we were little and now I make them for my house. The original recipe is from the Pillsbury website, but this time I only used that as a jumping off point. I made the brownies from scratch with Ghiradelli chocolate and, since I had some left over cream cheese in the fridge, I opted for a cream cheese frosting. Really, anything works for these - boxed brownies with a can of frosting, or making it all from scratch. It's just a fun, festive and easy dessert. Be safe and have fun tonight!
*Hugs*

Two Minute Halloween Cards

Haven't made your Halloween cards yet? Don't worry, there's still time! Recently while browsing through a local paper store I spied some very simple letterpress Halloween cards nestled in their Halloween display. I decided to try recreating them at home using stamps from my collection. Each uses just one stamp! These are quick, no fuss last minute cards. Hopefully these will jump start your creativity and inspire you with their simple designs.





This first one is made from a single sheet of Old Olive card stock. The "Boo!" sentiment was a $1 Michael's stamp I picked up last year.

This second one is even simpler, as I used pre-made note cards. I stamped the bat image from Inkadinkado's Creepy Crawly onto a small blank note card with deckled edges from Papyrus.

Happy stamping!

Creepy Crawly Halloween

I'm back in Halloween mode today with a card featuring something I avoid at all costs in real life but can handle as decoration this time of year: spiders. I really, really don't like the real ones so when I showed this card to my husband he asked if I was ok with the spiders. *insert eye roll* I know my arachnophobia is silly, but I think I can handle stamped spiders!

The words "trick or treat" were stamped in red then clear embossed over top. Is it too gross to say it sort of looks like blood? C'mon, this is a Halloween card, after all!

The edges were sponged to give the paper a little bit of an aged look and I used a fine tip sharpie and ruler to create the thread the single spider is dangling from.



I don't always finish the inside of my cards, beside maybe adding a white panel, but it is something I think really adds a lot and I want to do more often. So the inside of this card has the same look as the front, with a coordinating sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!










SUPPLIES
Stamps: Creepy Crawly by Inkadinkado
Paper: Basic Black, Crumb Cake
Ink: Basic Black, Real Red, Versa Mark, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: ticket corner punch, clear embossing powder, fine tip sharpie

Trick or Treat!

Happy Labor Day! I hope you have today off and are enjoying the last hurrah of summer. Maybe you're having a a bbq with friends or hanging out at the park. I know, I know. So why am I posting a Halloween card? Well, I sat down in my stamp room (a.k.a. guest room, back room, cat's room. . .) and this is what came out! I had a bunch of different tree sets lying out with the intention of making a fall themed card, but then I saw the dotted spiral of one of Trendy Tree's tops, and somehow Halloween came out of that! Lol!

Once the mojo informed me we were doing Halloween I flipped through the Splitcoast Stamper's sketch challenge gallery for some layout inspiration, settling on SC272. I cut the purple circle out with my Cutter Bee circle cutting system, setting it to 2 1/4", then stamped it with the spider web image from Inkadinkado's Creepy Crawly. I put a rhinestone sticker at the center of the web.

The green panel is stamped with the dotted spiral circle that started this whole mess, which is actually a treetop from Trendy Trees. I made a little embellishment with some circle punches and a button for the top right corner. The sentiment ties my color scheme together, though it was a bit of work. The markers I have unfortunately dry too quickly to color them all at once, so I did it one color at a time with the help of a stamp-a-ma-jig. I had a little scrap of green ribbon left over from my Rustic Apple Card that went perfectly so it got added to the edge of the sentiment panel.

Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend!


SUPPLIES
Stamps: Holiday Best, Trendy Trees by SU!, Creepy Crawly by Inkadinkado
Paper: Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Eggplant Envy, Very Vanilla by SU!, Orange Small Dots dp by Recollections
Ink: Basic Black, Certainly Celery
Accessories: 1" circle punch, 3/4" circle punch, Cutter Bee circle cutter, black satin ribbon, green satin ribbon, black button, green embroidery thread, rhinestone sticker, markers, stamp-a-ma-jig