Halloween Sparkle - Tuesday 29th October

Good Morning Friends,

I know there are really  mixed views about Halloween; I love it and love making cards and crafts for it. Sadly this year there has been very little time to create really spooky cards, but I have managed some quick ones which I have already posted, I have one more today and another that I am saving for Halloween itself.

I have enjoyed looking around the blogs of some of you who are also very  much into the creepiness and the fun  of the Holiday and also some others I have come across this last month or so, but this year definitely seems to the the year of the 'fun' Halloween card. I have seen some fabulous creations using the adorable House Mouse stamps and at the weekend, I was commenting on my section of entries to the Emergency Crafters challenge (yes it's now back up and working) and there were some superb fun entries there - there have been  a lot of entries this time, which seems to prove how popular Halloween is - there is still time to enter your Halloween project (closes Thursday) just hop over to Emergency Crafters.

I spent most of Saturday making my project for the next challenge - it's a theme I love, but don't get much chance to use in my designs as I don't get time to just craft for 'me' much any more; so I really had so much fun creating it..all will be revealed on 1st November!

So for today another Halloween Design...

I used a base layer of black card and matted and layered with this gorgeous spidery paper I downloaded last year from Chocolate Baroque. I traced the spiders web with Crystal Stickles, which gives a super iridescent effect.

The remainder of the papers I used for this card were from the fabulous Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells pad (and whisper whisper I've used this paper to make my entire DT project for Friday..sssh!).

The circle was cut with Spellbinders Classic Circles and the witches hat using my Cricut (actually I cut it last year and never used it as it was in my Halloween stash box). The little button was from a pack bought in Michaels on holiday and the sentiment is a stamp from Chocolate Baroque.

Before I go today, I thought you might like to see some photos of grapes we've harvested from our own vine this year...we've been going so many away and have frozen loads (frozen grapes after a special meal are lush!).

These are just a few..I took quite a few bunches into the library yesterday to give away and Tom to his office as well. They are pinot noir and quite sweet. The hens had a field day when we were picking the last of them at the weekend...I didn't have so  much fun washing them as there were so many spiders!

Thanks for stopping by!

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Trick or Cheese - Monday14th October

Hello Friends,

I hope you all had a good weekend, without the nasty rain we had all day yesterday - oh well, once we had returned from our Sunday family visits in the afternoon, it was good for a little crafting.

 I made a card to go with the House Mouse wreath I posted yesterday...this was actually inspired by  design suggestion on the stamp packet -just my 'take' on it (I'm afraid Mr Mojo is still being a bit shy!) 

The backing papers I used were from Graphic 45's Steampunk Halloween. I used the trick or cheese stamp, coloured with Promarkers and cut out some holes at the side where he's nibbled the cheese (this was the design idea that I saw and liked).

I matted and layered on black card and the little pumpkin is a Spellbinders die on which I drew the Jack O' Lantern face.

Thanks for stopping by!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

Emergency Crafters DT Card - Monday 29th October

Hi Blog Friends,

Thanks for your comments yesterday, I did finally get a post written, albeit rather late in the afternoon!

Well it's back to Hallowe'en for the new Emergency Crafters challenge..something Spooky! For those of you who aren't Hallowe'en fans 'fear' not (!) it will all be over after Wednesday! I still maintain that this 'festival' is  just the best for creating - I could go on and on with spooky designs, but promise, just one more after today!

This is my spooky design team project..the card is made using the Dreamweaver Bare Trees stencil (be warned, more of this stencil to come!) on Clarity Card, inked through with a mix of Milled Lavender and Victorian Velvet distress inks. I then stamped the crow on black (Chocolate Baroque Halloween) with Versamark and heat embossed in black. I stamped the sentiment,(same stamp set) again on black card with Versamark and heat embossed in silver. The fence is cut on my Cricut.

The little crooked witches hat is from a pattern I've had for a few years. It's from a US Company called Country Friends, from which I get quite a few 'primitive' design patterns..they are lush! I made this one in a hurry; it's simply made using black glittery felt. When I took the photo, I noticed the shadows and decided to go with it...keeps it spooky!

Promise you a break from spooky-ness tomorrow,

Thanks for stopping by! 

Carole X

Halloween All Sewn Up! - Fantastic Ribbons DT - 23rd October

Good Morning Blog Friends,

The theme given to the design team at Fantastic Ribbons this month is sewing with ribbon...October to me means Halloween! I love it and any excuse to make a project for this Spookylicious holiday and I'm there!

 The card itself is a black 6x6 blank, the front of which I embossed using a lattice mask and then coated with starlite black pigment ink for some sparkle and shine. The pumpkin and boxes are made using  Spellbinders dies and cut with Coredinations card, which I sanded back and added a little sparkle. But the important part of this card and box project is of course,the ribbon!

I used three different ribbons: Grosgrain Torrid Orange,(how fab is that name for a Halloween project??),  black satin and Kendra black/gold  ....

The sewing part was simple - for the rosette, I cut  a length of orange and a length of black. How much you use depends on how large a rosette you want and half as much black as orange is needed. I simply sewed a running stitch along the centre of each length and pulled it together, sewed the ends together and then pushed the small black rosette into the centre, before sticking to the card. For the ruched band, I just gathered the ribbon together and sewed along the centre. It really doesn't matter if you can't sew as the contrasting ribbon will cover it. I sewed this by hand, but you could use a machine.

The little 'bow' on the box is the same technique as the rosette, except it's not gathered into a circle. To finish off I stamped the words on to the ribbons.

This was a really fun project to make - hope you like it!









Materials used:

Card:
Black 6x6 blank
Orange Coredinations card
Ribbons for Fantastic Ribbons - see links above
That Special Touch of...mask
Purple netting from stash
Spellbinders Pumpkins Nestability dies
Frog die cut using Cricut
'Spookylicious' stamp from Chocolate Baroque
Starlite Silver and Starlite black ink
Cosmic Shimmer dries clear glue
Orange thread

Boxes
Spellbinders Box die
Coredinations Orange card
Black card
Spellbinders Pumpin Accents
Torrid Orange ribbon as above
Stamps from Chocolate Baroque


Thanks for stopping by! Please leave a comment, I love to read them!

Carole X