Halloween Blog Hop

Welcome to the Halloween Blog Hop from Blog Hops with Heart! You might be arriving here from STEPHANIE'S BLOG. You'll find a list of all the participating artists at the bottom of this post. Let's Hop!

For today's hop I'm using the new Cats and Bats Workshops Your Way kit. I love that these affordably priced kits include everything you need to make three double page layouts. I find it hard to just follow the directions for the kits though, as I like more stuff on my pages. I'm a lumpy-bumpy kinda embellishment crafter! Luckily there's plenty of stuff in the kit to satisfy even me! This is the first of the three pages in the kit. I did not change any of the cutting in the guides, but I did add some of the items that weren't used in the original instructions which you can view here. I also flipped some of the papers (LOVE that double sided print business), and changed the photo layout a bit to accommodate my bigger photo choices.

I added more to the title area of the kit instructions. I used one of the printed 3x4 cards included in the packet, which was a chevron print, to create the oversized teal arrow element. I stole the Halloween title stickers from another page (because I usually only need one or two Halloween pages each year, not three, so I used the last one for something special). In the bottom corner of this page you can kind of see some of the paper tearing elements I added, as well as seriously upping the amount of shimmer trim on this layout.

I did a shimmer trim "stitch" all around the layout as well. I just trimmed 1/8" strips from my shimmer trim and lined them up! I might have wondered if it would have been quicker to actually stitch the page at one point, but I love the chunky stitch effect. I also added some googly eyes to the black glitter chipboard bats. They are so sparkly and a really nice weight, too.

Next up on the hop is AMIE'S BLOG. Happy Halloween hopping!

Boo to You Blog Hoppers:

Kelly

Jayma

Stephanie

Wendy (You are here)

Amie

Katy

Tricks and Treats Blog Hop

Welcome to this month's Blog Hops with Heart Tricks and Treats Blog Hop! This hop has lots of creatively awesome Halloween treats for your craft loving heart. You may be arriving here from BECCA'S BLOG. A complete list of hoppers can be found at the bottom of this post.

I made some super sparkly pumpkin decor using cream colored craft pumpkins and Cricut cut paper flowers. I used washi tape to create a dip line, then painted the pumpkins with mod podge and coated them with chunky gold glitter. I added a second coat of mod podge and sprinkled on some tiny gold sequins. A third coat of mod podge sealed in the sparkly goodness!

On top of each pumpkin I used Liquid Glass to secure a variety of rolled paper flowers cut from Sweet Leaf, Glacier, and Thistle cardstock. I inked the edges of each flower before rolling and securing with Liquid Glass. After the flowers dried then I attached them to the pumpkins, tucking in sprigs of leaves cut from Whisper cardstock as I felt the need. 

Next up on the hop is KATY'S BLOG. Happy hopping!

Complete October Hop List:

Amie

Becca

Wendy (You are here!)

Katy

Stephanie

Monthly Memories Club: Jeepers Creepers

I'm so excited for our next Monthly Memories Club! We are going to move away from the Halloween theme for all but one of the projects, but we are keeping all of the fun.

The next Monthly Memories Club meeting is going to be Friday, October 7th. The kits come with everything you need to complete three double page layouts and nine card fronts. You can complete these kits at home, at a crop, or if you are local you can come to our Monthly Club meeting where we we have fun creating our kits together.

I kept the intended Halloween theme for the first pages, using up those adorable monsters!

For the second set of pages I went in a ent-owl-ly different direction. The kit does not come with owls, but we will use kit items to make some super cute owls.

For the third set of pages we will get into this bold eyeball print. My amazing friend Amanda was the one who pointed out this paper would be awesome for eye doctor appointments, glasses, anything that makes your kid's eyes bug out, etc... 

You can download the CTMH version on this kit HERE for free! Or you can place your kit order here and I will email you my full color instructions for these projects complete with cutting guides, lots of pictures, and step by step instructions. If you are local to me, your kit purchase scores you that invite to our monthly crop night, where we create our kits together. Dinner is included, just bring your kit and favorite adhesive to join in the fun!

I want to be sure to have enough space and dinner for all...

So PLEASE RSVP to reserve your spot!

October 9th Monthly Memories Bring List:

JEEPERS CREEPERS I WANT IT ALL KIT (everything you'll need to complete as shown):

G1110 Jeepers Creepers Workshops Your Way Kit

Includes Jeepers Creepers Papers and Complements, 

5 sheets of cardstock (1 Pansy, 2 Whisper, and 2 White Daisy), 

Jeepers Creepers Washi Tape and Assortment

JEEPERS CREEPERS BASIC KIT (about $15, but you'll have to add cardstock, and these are very basic pages to add your own embellishments):  

X7211B Jeepers Creepers Paper Packet

X7211C Jeepers Creepers Complements

You'll need to add 2 sheets of White Daisy, 2 Sheets of Whisper, and 1 Sheet of Pansy Cardstock to complete the pages as shown. 

If you are attending in person, you can buy CS by the sheet from my Cash & Carry.

Day 257: Second Nevermore Layout

Hello from Utah! Here are the pages 3-4 of my Nevermore Monthly Memories Kit that will be released next week. I wanted to get my pics on it before I blogged this, but I ran out of time before I headed to Utah. How cute is that Artistry cricut cut?

Day 252: Nevermore Gone Batty Layout

So last year Max was totally nutty for Batman. Not just any Batman, mind you, but only the original Adam West batman would do. He knew exactly what he wanted to be, and I ended up making alterations to his standard Bat-suit to meet his exacting standards.

I had to add eyebrows to his bat mask. the utility belt had to be modified, and Bat tools were created from felt and puffy paint. He wanted a Bat-a-rang, of course, but he also needed some Bat Spray Shark Repellent and a special gadget that the Dynamic Duo used to blow up some underwater torpedoes. He literally paused his movie to show my the very gadget he needed, since his four year old explanations were not getting through to Mom. When I saw the Nevermore Complements, I knew they were perfect for these pictures!

I'm linking this layout up to the Paper Issues FAN-atics party, because fanatic is the perfect word to describe Max's devotion to the Adam West Batman. He may have moved on to Harry Potter this year in costume, but every night when he lists his favorite things, Man-Batman (as he calls Adam, to distinguish him from all other cartoony batmans) is at the top of his list.  

Day 251: Halloween Party Crafts

I meant to make a Halloween card to share tonight, but last night's craft time was commandeered by my sweet husband, who decided he needed a Halloween costume...for Friday...at nine o'clock at night. So instead of getting crafty, I had time to finish Max's class snack project and put together a costume.  

I cut these jack-o-lantern faces on my Cricut, using the new Artistry cartridge. Then I popped them onto these peach cups using Liquid Glass. I used Liquid Glass to attach the wiggly eyes to the cheese sticks too. Then on my way to school to deliver the snack and run the bingo station I came to my senses and stopped for paper plates and paper towels to mop up all the peach juice we inevitably ended up spilling while opening up the peach cups. Lesson learned! 

You may have seen this picture already if you follow on Instagram or Facebook. This is the end result of John's last minute lazy Halloween costume request. He's had this hoodie for a few years. I printed a picture of E.T. and backed it with cardstock. I taped on some baker's twine, then tied and taped it to a medium sized cat stuffy that was then swaddled in a towel. Then John found this (Amazon) shipping box in the recycle and stuck one of the boys' foam toys through the box for a bike handle. His costume was a hit, and won Most Original Costume at his work costume contest. Now the boys are clamoring to see this classic movie.

While neither card, nor layout, nor mini album, that was my crafting last night. Tomorrow I'll have Nevermore pages for you - thanks for stopping by!

Day 250: Gluten Free Halloween Treat Bags

If you have spent any time hanging around my blog, or Facebook, or Instagram, you may have noticed that we are a hard-core gluten free family. It's not hard at all to say no to the gluten goodies when they make you feel terrible...but it is hard to say no to the kiddos for so many things that their friends just get to do without the worry of will-that-make-me-sick, even if they do accept it with grace and good will. We do our best to find fun but safe gluten free options for the boys on holidays.  

At Convention this summer we got to make these adorable Halloween tags using Tasty Terrors during one of our crafting sessions. I tucked them into my bowl of extra goodies I'm not sure what to do with but too cute to toss out and there they sat all summer long. Today I dug them out and added them to these cute chevron gift bags that I have filled with gluten free candies from gluten free facilities so the boys can have a special treat after not digging into all the not gluten safe goodies surrounding them on Halloween. I added some black bows, because that's Max's favorite embellishment. I know they will be super excited to get a "present" for Halloween!

Scaredy Cat Scrapbook Pages

I'm not sure what happened to October, but I never got around to getting these pics posted.

These are the Pages from my Monthly Memories 6 page scrapbooking kit club.

I love the Sticker Complements from this paper line.

If you are a club member, titles are in the mail, and Snowhaven pages for November will go up tomorrow! 

Practical Scrappers Scrapping Our Stash Halloween Hop

Welcome to the Practical Scrappers monthly hop. This month our theme is Fall/Halloween, using up materials found in our stash. If you've arrived here from MONICA'S BLOG, you're on the right path!

My stash is about 99% CTMH. I have a few inks, and a snip of paper here and there that's not, but in general, most of my projects are made with CTMH products. Last month I was super excited to win an Instagram giveaway from Simple Stories and Big Picture Classes, and they sent me a huge kaboodle of Frankie and Friends goodies. Since I was elbows deep into Scardey Cat, Frankie and his friends sat neglected and lonely, just waiting for a chance to come out and play. I also had this pumpkin frame that I had painted in like August. I painted it, applied copious amounts of glitter....and then it sat. And sat. And collected dust. And sat some more. One day I moved my pile of Frankie stuff and laid it on top of my Pumpkin frame and suddenly I figured out what needed to happen. 

The frame was originally painted with orange acrylic paint and coated with orange glitter. The stem is multiple coats of brown sparkly nail polish. I pulled some old Chipboard letters from the closet, and coated them with some glow-in-the-dark fabric paint left over from making bat gadgets for my 4 year old's Halloween costume. They glow green in the dark! 

These chipboard pieces in this line are too adorable! I added some sparkly glitter and glow in the dark accents, plus wiggly eyes of course. 

At the bottom my collage was looking a little thin, so I cut some very skinny (slightly larger than 1/8") strips of Scaredy Cat Paper and curled it using my paper quilling tool to create some color burst filler for the cluster. You can see the glow in the dark paint on the windows, plus a generous sprinkling of black acrylic star embellies. I don't think I caught a close up, but I had a few gold sequins sitting in my scrap bin, so I added those and topped them with more wiggly eyes.

Attaching the chipboard to this chicken wire frame took a bit of finagling. I finally settled on putting tiny dots of liquid glass on the twisted parts of the frame and propping the chipboard in place until it dried. Once everything was tacked on and dried in place, I flipped the whole frame over and went to town drizzling on Liquid Glass with abandon and now it's a pretty sturdy little piece! And yes...since I decided I needed a pic of the back I added a bead of gold glitter paint along the rope binding where I didn't bother to paint the orange color. 

Next up on the hop is WENDI'S BLOG.  A list of all the scrappers participating this month can be found over at Practical Scrappers. Happy Halloween, Stampin' Friends!

Happy Hauntings Card

I'm finally back, with a fun little trio of happy haunters just in time for Halloween! Even though I haven't been a good blogger these past couple of weeks, I have been busy with a field trip to Portland to hang with my CTMH team, designing a few new classes to teach at the local Joann's (blog post coming soon!), and crafting bat gadgets out of felt and glitter glue for my own little Bruce Wayne wannabe. I know some of you have been following the adventures of Max and his beloved tuxedo on Instagram...the daily cleaning of a tuxedo really cuts into a gal's crafty time!

Luckily I've got the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge to pull me back to the stamping side! This week's sketch had me scrambling to find this adorable Halloween stamp set called Frightfully Fun. The papers I chose are from the new Scaredy Cat collection, which is strewn across my desk as I design the next six pages for my monthly scrapping group. I knew the colors would go perfectly with this week's ColourQ Challenge!

I stamped each little cutie with Memento Black ink, then colored them in with a handful of Shin Han alcohol markers. For the ghost and the mummy I just shaded a bit with Warm Grey 4 and then blended it out a lot with the blender pen. Then I went a little hog wild with the wiggly eyes. I should take out stock in wiggly eyes, but they are just too adorable!  A few black stars from the Scaredy Cat assortment and some purple stickles added some shine and sparkle to my motley crew of tick-or-treaters. 

Here's the sketch for this week - I hope you'll get inky and come play along!

Practical Scrappers Halloween Pinspiration

Today over at Practical Scrappers the scrappers are exploring the loads of Halloween Pinspiration to be found at one of my favorite hangouts, Pinterest! I chose this adorable project pin by Holly over at Ribbons and Glue. I already shared this Christmas version of a clothespin wreath this week, but it was so much fun to make I couldn't resist whipping out a Halloween version. 

I used some bold retired CTMH Halloween papers to cover each clothespin, which I painted with multiple coats of Folk Art Pure Orange Outdoor and Pumpkin Orange Extreme Glitter acrylic paints. Some of the pins I covered with some American Crafts washi I scored at Target. I swirled up some Black striped grosgrain flowers and built a bow,mixing in some orange polka dot craft ribbon. I covered some inexpensive black plastic spiders with glow in the dark glitter (!) and topped them off with wiggly eyes. 

I finished with something I never could've imagined. I despise how when you use hot glue gun there's little strands of glue stuff all over. I usually pick off every single bit. then I pick at it more. Hot glue is not always my friend...but for this project I went to town stringing bits of hot glue all over my pretty bow and sparkly Artbooking wreath sentiment. Ah, spiderwebs!

I'm linking this project up at the fabulous Paper Issues Halloween Hootenanny and the Dynamic Duos Color Challenge! I hope you'll pop over to Practical Scrappers and check out the all the spooky fun!

Mojo Monday 206

I don't usually like to do 2 posts in one night, but I unexpectedly finished my Mojo Sketch card tonight, and I wanted to get it posted before I got too busy with Gabe's back to school stuff and the Blog Hop for Thursday. The sketch this week is Circle or Square, and since I had a pack of the new Kraft 6x6 square cards, I went with Square!

The Kraft cards come with a pretty scalloped edge, but since I wanted to make something fun to mail off a couple of the Monster bookmarks from my Open House this weekend, pretty scallops would not do! I trimmed off the scalloped edge and pinked it to match the monster bookmark teeth. The papers I chose are from that spooky cute new Mischief packet, and plus a bit of Wings on my bookmarks. I finished it off with the last bit of fence from my awesome new Felt shapes, and a sentiment from the August SOTM Wicked, which is only available until Wednesday!

To make the bookmarks I cut a 5x5 square of B&T paper. I scored it at 2 1/2 each way. Then I turned it diagonally/diamond shaped  to trim off 1/2 of the two side squares crating 2 triangle flaps. Also cut off one of the remaining whole scored squares. You brad on the adorable googly eyes on the only remaining complete scored square, then fold up the other half of that square towards the back of the bookmark to cover up the brads so your bookmark won't snag on your pages. fold over the two triangle wings you made with the original side cuts and adhere those two triangles together to make a little pocket that will slide over the edge of your book pages. Makes it look like the little guy is chomping your pages! On the card I hung them off some squares of B&T so they would be easily removable with no adhesive stickiness for the little recipients.

BOO-YA! Have a wicked night y'all, and check back here Thursday for the September SOTM Blog Hop!

September Workshop: Spooks & Sweets!

Mischief is coming to my Stamp Pad on September 24th...a Mischief workshop that is! No, it's not the boys up to their tricks, it's a Spooks and Sweets day of fun!

We'll be making 6 pages using the NEW Mischief paper packet. We'll be using some neat techniques to jazz up the pages, including heat embossing, Embossing Resist, and tie dye stitching - can you see the colors changing in the title close up? So much fun! And we'll have a yummy dessert bar to boot - can't let the kiddos have all the sweets!

The Basic Kit will be $20, including paper and the awesome new Felt Shapes!

The I Want It All Kit will include the C sized stamp set we'll be using for the workshop for just $30!

Please RSVP by September 15th to reserve your spot. Limit of 10 for this workshop - reserve your spot for a scary good time!

Love the pages but can't attend? Ask me about To-Go kits, completely stamped and ready for at home or on the go crop assembly!