Happy Halloween! - Friday 31st October 2014

A Spookylicious good morning to you all!

I made quite a few Halloween inspired decor makes this year, but not so many cards so today a card!

For the side web background on this card I used the Tim Holz 'Shatter' mask, which was gifted to me last year by my lovely blog friend Anne (Redanne)..what a lovely surprise it was too! I actually had quite a few cards 'lined' up using this mask, but in the end only managed to make this one.

I inked it with embossing ink and ran it through my GC, then I coated it with  WOW gold embossing glitter. I added the digi stamp and the little dangling spider is a rubber stamp. I coloured the girl's hair quite 'messy'  and it doesn't show in the photo but I  streaked some gold  'wink of steel' through the hair.

Inside the card I die cut this Sizzizx  'Boo' '31' die on to purple glitter card and placed it inside so that it pops when the card is opened.

I didn't get time to use my new prize die, so it will have to wait until next year and I'm in work this morning so this post is scheduled. When I get home this afternoon, it will be time to decorate the front porch! I'll post some photos tomorrow x

Happy Halloween all!

Love and Bugs...oops I mean HUGS!

Carole X

Autumn Lantern - Thursday 30th October 2014

Good morning friends,


Today I would like to share another lantern with you...similar to the Halloween one, but this time with far brighter colours!

The basic lantern is from Clevercut and I painted it exactly the same as the Halloween one, using acrylic paint for the base coat and to rust it up. Although I held back a little on the 'rusting' for this one.

 I had the little pumpkins, burlap leaves and burlap ribbon on my fabric stash box, so it was just a case of decorating it.

Inside I painted a battery taillight with orange paint and added a few die cut leaves to decorate it.

 That's it for today...I had a lovely prize in the post yesterday, as I won a Spellbinders 'Jack O' Lantern' die in a draw that she held. I was so pleased to win it and I will have to see if I can squeeze one more Halloween make in before tomorrow!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Love and Hugs

Carole X

Pumpkin Patch - Wednesday 29th October 2014

Hello Friends,

No WOYWW again for me this week, hopefully back by next week with that! Today I wanted to share some pumpkins!

I made these just sat in front of the TV during evenings(after cutting out and any machine sewing) when we were on holiday at home whilst our kitchen was being fitted in September. They are so simple, just from remnants of material. The large one makes a lovely autumnal cushion!

All you need is fabric, embroidery floss, twine, yarn or heavy weight cotton, felt, toy stuffing, scissors and needle -  

 1.Cut two pieces of fabric that are twice as long as they are high and when folded in half make a square. You can make your pumpkin any size you like.

 2.Fold in half right sides together and sew up the side opposite the fold - you can sew by hand or machine. I used my machine for the three largest ones, but the others I sewed by hand.

3. Using embroidery floss (for strength) stitch a running stitch along one of the open sides through both layers (seam allowance about 1cm). When finished pull the thread to gather it and tie the ends.

4.Turn right side out and stuff with toy stuffing and then stitch all the way around the top. When you've finished pull the loose end in tight and you should be left with a ball shape.

5. You can squash it down a little  and then take some yarn or twine and wrap it around the ball from top to bottom, then pull very tightly and knot securely.. This is how you give the pumpkin shape, Repeat this around the pumpkin on opposite sides until you have 6-8 sections, depending on the size of your pumpkin. To make the leaves I die cut some felt pieces.  

6. To make the stems I used brown felt, cut into strips, coiled and glued together with fabric glue before sewing into the top of the pumpkin.

There are lots of good tutorials for these pumpkins on YouTube.

The little angel is a little 'Prim' hanger I have had for years, she was hung on a door handle in our old kitchen, but after the pumpkins have been put away, I think she will be living in my craft room!

Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a comment, I really do appreciate it...I'll be back tomorrow with another lantern and on Friday, with a Halloween card...what else?

Love and Hugs,
Carole X 

Trick or Treat - Tuesday 28th October 2014

Good Morning Friends,

I was up very late crafting last night...got to admit I'm not usually at my best as a night time crafter, but Tom is away, so I knew I'd have trouble sleeping and crafting was the better option! I made some birthday cards for family and friends who have birthdays next week, so I was quite productive!

Now I am up early to share with you a couple of treat boxes I made recently - they will be for the neighbours children when they come knocking.

 This one was made using a Sizzix box die and Boo die...then for the handle I used a Spellbinders border die. I have had that die a long time, I think it was the first border die that I bought. Simples.

 For this box I cut the two largest pumpkin dies from a Spellbinders set and then ran them through my GC with an embossing folder. I made a base and sides for the box, using part of the box die from above and adapting it and then joined the two together to make a box.

I die cut some leaves and adhered them to the box, adding some glossy accents for dew drops. To finish I added some ribbon, twine and a button.

Thank you so much for stopping by...I did say I would be posting workshop photos, but I still have some autumnal/Halloween projects to show before the 31st, so they will have to wait until the weekend!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

Christmas Joy - Monday 27th October 2014

Good Morning Friends,

I hope you all had a good weekend! I didn't get much time to craft, although I rarely do at weekends. My craft days are the week days I don't work, however I did start to get the Halloween 'decor' ready for Friday when I'll be decoratong the porch.

Thank you for all your lovely comments about my lantern...my lanterns and the Halloween scene were started back in the summer, working on them when I could find time in between paper craft 'commitments', but they were great fun to make.

Today I am scheduling this post as I am in work (not my usual day)..the new national volunteering database is being launched today, so this week I need to go in when my volunteers are there to make sure they are good to use it (and I am to, haven't seen it yet!!! lol).

This card is the one I designed for my groups to make in the last two Out of the Blue workshops for this year..Amy and I have a break now until January - she is of course very busy in her shop and I need to get to grips with Christmas, especially as I am making some presents this year. I will finish off Halloween tonight  as Tom is going to be away for work and then it's my quick Christmas cards, some special birthday and my sewing machine will be working hard to :). I don't normally craft at night, but when Tom's away I don't sleep well so I'll be up late!

We were going to be using this Dreamweaver stencil with Cosmic Shimmer Texture paste in the class and I decided to use a silver paste and make up the card using three different  effects.

I used black and pearlised card and an  8x8 blank. I hardly ever make large cards now -usually only for commissions and to be honest, since I offered 7x7 instead, most people are going for them. However this is a large stencil and I think that it benefits from the large card.

For the first pearl layer I stamped Sam Poole's mistletoe background stamp with versamark ink and then heat embossed using WOW snow twinkling embossing glitter. The small panel is embossed through a Grand Calibur using Couture Creations 'New Year Dove' embossing folder.

For the top black layer I used the stencil: because of time constraints in the class we were going to have to dry the paste with a heat tool...we did this a few years ago in a workshop we attended that was delivered by Lynelle Harlow who designs these stencils. When the paste is allowed to dry naturally it gives a glossy, flat effect which is gorgeous, but heat drying until it bubbles up gives quite a bit of texture, totally different but just as good.

I allowed the dried image to cool and then added some glitter using a glue pen, just to give a bit more sparkle.

To finish, I tied some sheer white ribbon around the panel and added a bow using the same ribbon. I tied so while tulle around the bow and then using glue dots I attached the layered poinsettia (Spellbinders) using some glitter paper. Finally I threaded a little bell through some white twine, tied a bow and adhered it to the front of the flower.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I will hopefully share the cards that the ladies made tomorrow,

Love and Hugs

Carole Z X

Rusty Lantern Sunday Stampers week 330 - Friday 24th October 2014

Good morning Friends!

Sunday Stampers - Faux Techniques

Sorry I still haven't been around much lately...the kitchen is now finished (apart from a few little details) and I have got back into sorting out my times at work (at least for the time being!). Last night was our last 'Out of the Blue' craft workshop before Christmas and I will post the card my group made and the photos of their cards for this month over the weekend.

I have been a bit caught up in Halloween makes, not so many cards this year, but I've been out in the craft barn busily making and decorating autumn and Halloween items...now I can finally make some headway with Christmas cards and makes and try to catch up with some of you!

Thank you so much for all your comments on my Edgar Allen Poe-meets-Psycho landscape on my last post. I admit that I was really pleased with it and am looking forward to putting it in the window at Halloween. 

Today's make is another for Halloween, this one will be put on my porch bench, which I dress up for the Trick or Treaters...it also fits very well with this week's Sunday Stampers challenge from Hels Sheridan. 

As you know, lately I have barely had time to blog and haven't been able to make anything  for my favourite challenge in weeks...so am pleased to be back!

The theme for this week is to create something with a faux technique and of course add some stamping...my faux technique is rust and here it is...

The lantern itself is a plain mdf kit from Stamps Away/Clevercut; I've also made an autumnal one, which I will share next week and am working on one for Christmas. To paint it and create the rust effect I used a technique that Ally Reeve from Stamps Away has demo'd and it is really easy!

I painted the lantern after putting it together, using burnt ember acrylic paint. I then took some orange acrylic and a sponge, (just one of those we use in kitchens). I dipped it in a little of the paint and keeping it quite 'dry' dabbed it over the lantern to create a rusty look.

I did the same with the flowers, which is Sizzix Tim Holz Tattered Florals die. I die cut using a not too heavy plain card stock (I think I used a cereal box). I then painted these and stained them in the same way as the lamp itself, but the amazing result with the card is the texture! When you touch the flowers, they really feel like you're touching rusty metal, honest I have to touch them whenever I am anywhere near this project! Tom was suitably impressed too...I fixed them to the lamp using real rusty wire and it feels the same!

To finish with the non stamping decor, I took some burlap wired ribbon and painted it with burnt ember (they were selling large tubes of this for £1.99 in our local Works and I have made such good use of my buy this autumn!)

The stamping

I stamped various Halloween images, mostly involving crows (well after my last project I had to have a Poe lantern didn't I?) on to acetate and then heat embossed the images with clear embossing powder.

The stamps I used are from the 'Spookylicious' and 'Boo' sets by Chocolate Baroque

 To complete the lantern I painted the base of a battery tea light black and and placed in the centre

That's all for today, thank you so much for stopping by! I have some more autumn and Halloween projects to post this coming week, so please come back!

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Once Upon a Midnight Dreary... - Saturday 18th October 2014

Hello Friends,


'I reined my horse to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled lustre by the dwelling, and gazed down, but with a shudder even more thrilling than before upon the remodelled and inverted images of the grey sedge, and the ghastly tree-stems, and the vacant and eye-like windows.' Edgar Allen Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher


Well if there was ever a time of year for Edgar Allen Poe then this is it! I created this with inspiration from a mixture of Poe texts...The Raven, House of Usher and created a very dark scene for Halloween. The title is from The Raven (had to have crows, ravens somewhere here) and the vision is mostly House of Usher.

I love the fun of Halloween, our front garden will, as always be suitably decorated to reflect this and hopefully raise some "oohs" and 'aahs" from the Trick or Treaters ( I get a special tingle when even the teenagers compliment!), but I also like the more sinister and creepy images and tales.

I won't pretend this was easy or quick: this little scene took a long time to make in very tiny snatches of 'me' time over the last two months. I was also so tempted to keep on going with it (it just started as the little scene with the fence) but in the end I had to stop or it would never be posted...maybe next year it will expand!

So bear with me whilst I explain how it was created:

The background -  this is just A3 card, on which I painted some 'lightening' with white cosmic shimmer paint and highlighted with wink of stella pen.

The House - although the whole creation is a Poe homage, the actual house was kind of inspired by the Bates House in Pyscho. I wanted to go for a large and decrepit looking building.The main building is made from two large and one small block from the Sizzix Scoreboards xl die set by Eileen Hull. I wanted a slatted wood effect, so cut them using corrugated packaging and painted them using burnt ember acrylic paint. Once dry I brushed a layer of Cosmic Shimmer white matt chalk paint on top and then sanded it back to reveal the burnt umber and give it an old and worn effect.

The side part is made from the Sizzix Cottage die by Brenda Walton. I cut two, layering one on top of the other and painted it in the same way as the main building. I free cut the windows, details and door opening and I cut a little figure to stand spookily in the door way. I cut the steps simply by making a concertina from black card and dusting with white paint.

You can't see in the photos, but I used a glue gun over the house to create a web effect.

The Graveyard:

The fence is an mdf art part from Anna Marie crafts. I painted it with burnt ember and then sanded it back before finally adding a touch of rusty hinge distress ink. The barbed wire is simply rusty wire with knots tied at intervals. 

The tree  with the owl is an art part from Calico Crafts, as are the bats and pumpkins. I painted the tree using burnt umber and the bats in black sparkle. For the pumpkins of course I used orange!

I used dried out grapevine for  decoration and some little die cut leaves scattered on the base. The base is just some wooden packaging.

 The stamps: I used rather a lot of stamps in this project!

The owl at the top of the house  and the cat are by Chocolate Baroque

The The gravestone with raven  and 'Be Afraid' sign are  also from Halloween stamp sets by Chocolate Baroque

On the ground is a Poe quote from the poem A Dream within a Dream: "Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?" - the stamp is from Crafty Individuals. The ravens in flight above the tree are also from the same stamp set.

The pumpkins hanging from the tree are also by Chocolate Baroque. I photographed these separately as they are hard to see: they are coloured black with orange faces (Promarkers) and then coated with glossy accents, so still a little hard to see I'm afraid,

 The pumpkins at the foot of the steps (see picture 1) are a stamp from a Hampton Art set I bought in the US last year.


The moon is part of the tree; I backed it with vellum and illuminated it by suspending  a battery operated tea light behind.

 That's about it..what fun it was to make...I love doing things like this, just wish there was more time to do it!


I'd like to enter this project in the following Challenges:

Art with Heart  Tricks and Treats Challenge - 

http://www.eileenhull.com/2014/10/spook-tacular-sizzix-projects.html

The Sizzix Challenge - Halloween 

http://blog.sizzix.com/sizzix-challenge-halloween/


Artists Trading Post Mixed Media Halloween Challenge -http://artisttradingpost.blogspot.co.uk



Thank you so much for stopping by, I know Halloween, especially the darker side isn't too all tastes, but I am such a fan and it was still fun to create!


Love and Hugs,
Carole X