Spellbinders CRAFTOWEEN..... Yes, please!!

Happy I was able to get a set of the Spellbinders "13 Days of Craftoween" when it was first released.... This is a box filled with Halloween projects ahead having 13 holiday die sets, a clear stamp set, and a bag of holiday coloured sequins....... Here is the box it came in:

Each die set is in a clear envelope. The envelope holds a small folder with a holiday image on it. The image on the front of this folder though does not show the die set inside. Here is one of the dies:

Inside this folder is:

One the left side of the folder is the image the die set cuts out and the right side of this folder is a plastic piece that holds the die pieces on. The die pieces are also printed on the inside of the folder under this plastic piece. Very cute presentation but after you make your 13 days of Halloween and store away your Craftoween set how to know which die set is where?????  

I had some clear envelopes in the stash for other projects and these folders/die sets fit into these envelopes so I am using them for storage. For each die set I took it out of the plastic envelope it comes in and flipped the front of the folder to the back so I can see the photo of the die set image in the front of the envelope and by turning over the envelope I can see the die pieces:

and I did this to all the die sets in this collection:

Fun collection for Halloween and each image is very easy to die cut and assemble as there are not too many dies per image.... lots of projects coming soon I am sure!

Cocoa Greetings Santa Card

Used Spellbinders products for these two cards for Christmas. I made two cards and made changes to Santa's face so they are not the same:

For the Santa mug on the cards I used the Spellbinders Small Die of the Month, July 2025, "Cocoa Greetings":

The packaging for this die set only shows one of the three mugs you can make - a Penquin. But I put together an extra Santa to stash with the die set so in the future it will remind me this die set can also make a Santa:

I also used the Spellbinders Better Press Plate "Snowfall Shimmer" that I hot foiled in the Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil machine using matte silver foil:

For the sentiment strips on the cards I used the Spellbinders Better Press Plate "Merry Messages" and foiled shiny silver hot foil onto black card stock. Here is the first card I made using the die set as it suggested:

For this Santa I used scrap card stocks to die cut him out. This die set also embosses as it die cuts so you know where to place your die cut pieces. I cut out his red base and I sponged the edges of that. For my Santa I used pop dots behind his beard when I placed the beard on the red base (body piece). For the face, nose, and cheeks I die cut these out or a blush card stock and sponged the edges of the face and added ink over the nose and cheeks pieces using a dauber. Used liquid glue to add the black pieces that the die set cuts out behind the eye openings. I used liquid glue to add the mustache, nose, and cheek pieces to the face. Added liquid glue to the tab and buttons to the front of his coat. I added small black gems to the buttons piece for dimension. 

For the mug handle I die cut a red handle and layered the white piece over it so it looks like a peppermint handle using liquid glue. Set this aside. Die cut the brim of his hat out of glittered white card stock. Die cut the white hat piece and the white swirls on his hat I die cut those from white mirror card stock I had gotten years ago at AC Moore. Layered those together using liquid glue and used tear and tape to add these white pieces to the top of the Santa face. Used pop dots to put the glittered white hat brim on the white hat piece. With that done I used liquid glue and added the handle. 

Cut and scored a white card base at the top. Used the Spellbinders Layering Rectangle die set and I cut a piece of foil red and white stripe card stock in the stash from Hobby Lobby. Put that on the white card base using liquid glue. For the snowflake piece behind Santa I had hot foiled the snowflakes plate earlier and I cut it out to the size I wanted for my two cards using the Layering Rectangle die set. I put foam tape behind this foiled piece and put it on my card front. Then used both pop dots and tear and tape to put Santa on that. 

Hot foiled the Merry Messages Better Press plate using shiny silver foil and I used a piece of black card stock to foil these on. I wanted a black sentiment rather than a red one to break up all the red on the card front with the stripes and all. Used pop dots behind the sentiment strip. I also added a small candy cane to his whipped cream topping that the die set cuts out. 

This second Santa mug card:

After all pieces were die cut I decided to flip Santa's face piece upside down - this put the two little lines the face die cuts into the face for Santa's eyebrows under his eyes now. I also added white eyebrows to his face. For his red hat I used red card stock and the swirls piece is glittered red card stock. I layered those with liquid glue and put this at the top of the face piece and then added the glittered white brim piece to the base of the hat pieces.  

For the red stripes on the background of his card I used striped card stock, again in the stash but from Hobby Lobby and this is plain card stock. For his greeting I used "Merry Christmas".  Easy cards to assemble as I did it in steps - die cut and assembled Santa, did the hot foiling, and cut and scored the card stock base, and then cut the card striped pieces for the fronts of the cards.  Added small red crystals to the front of the cards for some sparkle. 

Christmas Mouse Bag Toppers

Had seen the video by Nichol Spohr on her YouTube channel showing the Lawn Fawn Tiny Gift Box Mouse Add On die set that she used for a bag topper for holiday treat bags. I did not have all the products she used but to start I have the Mouse Add On die set as well as the Lawn Fawn Cute Candy Canes die set. Looking through my stash I had enough to make my own bag toppers. Here is a photo of the toppers:

First I used the bag topper die set from Jaded Blossoms:

This die set has a layering die piece that you can cut out and put on the front of your bag topper. I used pink card stocks for the toppers and I used the Farmhouse Check stamp from HoneyBee Stamps to stamp my background on my layering pieces using a medium pink ink:

I cut out my bag toppers.  One of the bag toppers I die cut out is from a darker pink card stock and the second one is from a light pink card stock. I did not cut out my layering pieces until I stamped my background stamp onto both a light pink card stock and a dark pink card stock. With those stamped in a medium pink ink I laid the layering die on them at a diagonal so that my toppers have a diamond shaped stamped background and die cut those. Used liquid glue and put the stamped layering die pieces onto the front of the die cut bag toppers. I put the light pink stamped layering piece on the darker pink bag topper and the dark pink stamped layering piece on the light pink bag topper. Set these aside.

Using scraps I die cut out the mouse. Here is a photo of the Lawn Fawn die set this mouse is from:

 In this photo you can see I keep a cheat sheet with this die set that I had written down for the colours I use to make my mouse:

The sheet will help me remember what colours I used for my mice. For the face on my mice I gave them black eyes, a pink nose and mouth, and tiny pink cheeks. There is an oval die in the die set for the cheeks but I thought they were too big so I used a small circle punch and punched out my pink cheeks. I sponged the edges of the pink ears and also sponged the cheek pieces. I also sponged the edge of the mice using a dauber and brown ink. I assembled the mice and I added the tails with liquid glue. 

Assembled my candy canes with liquid glue and set those aside. Cut out the bows for the candy canes and I sponged the edges of those with pink ink. Tucked the candy cane into the hands of the mice and used liquid glue for those. Used this holly die for the holly pieces by Elizabeth Craft Designs:

Die cut those and added the red berries to the holly pieces using liquid glue. I also used clear Wink of Stella over the berry pieces for some sparkle. Used liquid glue to put the holly pieces onto the bag toppers. Added foam tape behind the mice for some dimension. 

For the greeting I used the Spellbinders BetterPress Merry Messages plate and I had hot foiled greetings in different colours of foil so I have plenty of these greetings foiled and die cut and ready for projects. I used the "Merry Christmas" greeting and I used foam tape to put those on the front of the bag toppers. The extra greenery pieces on the bag toppers were die cut using a die set from Divinity Designs. 

Here is a photo of the light pink topper:

and the dark pink topper:

This photo shows the stamped background:

and the mice:

Fun way to use a die cut that is meant for something else. Thanks to Nichol for her inspiration for this holiday project! Always happy to find other uses for stash items...... and also happy to be able to use more stash scrap card stocks up!

Swirling Tree Christmas Card

For this card I used the Spellbinders Swirling Foliage Tree hot foil plate. Simple card to put together but still has the sparkle and shine for a holiday card:

Here is a photo of the hot foil plate packaging for this tree:

I hot foiled the tree onto a piece of card stock, cut larger than I would need for my card front. I used brushed gold foil for the tree. For the card base I used a piece of white card stock cut and scored at the top. Used the Spellbinder Precision Frame die set and cut a frame for the card front out of brushed gold mirror card stock. Trimmed the hot foiled tree card front to size and then used liquid glue to put the frame on the tree piece. Set this aside. 

Pulled out a sentiment I had hot foiled last week using the Spellbinders BetterPress plates "Merry Wishes" and this sentiment had been foiled also with the brushed gold card stock. I put the sentiment on the card front using pop dots for dimension. Used the Pear Blossom crafters T square ruler to center the sentiment over the tree. Easy card to put together and still has shine for a holiday card...... This photo shows the shine on the sentiment strip:

Here Comes Santa Claus... Cocoa Mug Cards

***  My Santa Mug Card (red and gray version) was chosen as a FAVS of the Week over on Splitcoast Stampers this week. Thanks to Amy for picking it! ***

Was happy I was able to pick up the new Spellbinders Cocoa Wonderland die set at the stamp show I went to in Duluth, GA last month:

Wanted to make a card using this new die set but I also wanted to use the new Spellbinders BetterPress Plate "Snowfall Shimmer" for the background to my Santa mug. I have used this background plate and hot foiled pieces for projects but for this project I wanted to use it on vellum. Here is a photo of the Snowfall Shimmer BetterPress plate:

For the background to my Santa Mug cards I used regular vellum (not heat resistant) and I used the Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil machine. I cut the vellum sheet in half and I used matte white foil from Spellbinders to foil the snowflake background on the foil. I had not hot foiled vellum before so I let the plate heat up a little longer than what the timer says on the machine. With my BigShot machine when I hot foil I already use a card stock shim so I get a good foil impression. Since I had not hot foiled vellum before I decided to use a piece of copy paper folded in half and added that to my card stock shim for the sandwich for my BigShot machine. All machines are different but that sandwich worked well for my vellum background pieces. 

Here is the first card I made to show the vellum background:

I die cut all the pieces for my Santa mug using scrap card stocks and with those all cut I sponged the edges of the beard and mustache with a light gray ink. Then I assembled all the pieces and did a dry layout. Decided that I would use a gray cardstock behind the vellum piece and for the card base for that card I used red card stock. I cut and scored the red card stock at the top. Then I used my Spellbinders Precision Layering Basics (frames) die set and I cut out a piece of white card stock for the front of the card. Used a smaller frame die and cut out the gray card stock and the vellum card stock.

With Santa assembled I added pop dots to the back of the mug piece:

Last week I had hot foiled the new holiday die set from Spellbinders - the "Merry Messages" BetterPress plate in different colours - I did the hot foiling as well as hot foiled the waste pieces and here is the pile all foiled and die cut:

With these all foiled I separated them by colour and I keep them in small snack bags from the Dollar Tree. So when I made these Santa mugs I decided to use gold greetings for my cards. 

To assemble these cards I put all the Santa pieces and greeting piece on the hot foiled vellum piece for a dry layout. First I put the greeting at the bottom of the vellum then the Santa mug piece. Above him I put the white whipped topping piece with all the trees glued to that and decided where I wanted the top of the tree with the star to be from the edge. With that decided I used liquid glue and put that piece onto the vellum. Then I removed all the paper from the pop dots behind the mug and I put that on the vellum piece at the bottom edge of the whipped topping piece. Then I moved the greeting piece to the center of the mug and away from the bottom edge of the vellum and I used liquid glue for that. 

With that done I then put liquid glue behind the greeting piece, the mug piece, and the whipped topping piece and put this onto the gray card stock piece that is the same size. Using a toothpick and liquid glue I went around the vellum piece and added glue here and there. Once that was done I used liquid glue and put the gray/vellum piece onto the white frame piece and set this aside. Once that had set up I added the round ornament and the present to the top of the mug piece using foam tape. Added red crystal gems from the stash here and there to add sparkle to the card front. 

Since this Cocoa Wonderland Santa die set has a lot of pieces to die cut I cut out doubles so I could make a second card as well. For this second card I wanted to use light blue card stock behind my hot foiled vellum piece:

For the second Santa card I did not sponge the gray onto the beard and mustache and I changed out a few colours of card stock scraps so each card has a different look. Here are the two cards next to each other to easily see the differences:

First - the Santa card with the gray front on the right - that Santa I made following the photo on the packaging of the die set. I used black card stock for his eyes and his mouth. I also sponged gray ink on the edges of the beard, mustache, and his eyebrows since I knew I wanted to use gray behind my hot foiled vellum piece. For the Santa mug on the blue card on the left, I gave him a pink mouth. 

Second - since I used gold mirror card stock for the star on the tree as well as the top to my ornament I used a greeting that had been foiled with gold foil. If you should want to use a different colour foiled greeting then just use that same colour for the star and ornament topper. First I did want to use a silver foiled greeting but decided to go with the gold so it would match the star and the topper. 

Third - Having not hot foiled vellum before I was not sure how the vellum would foil but I had also used a matte foil and was not sure how the vellum would take that finish of a hot foil. There were no problems with the matte finish at all - but when I laid the layering die on top of the foiled vellum piece to cut out for the card front, I made sure when I put my tape on the frame to keep it in place (while I die cut it) that the tape did not touch the inside of the frame which would be the piece I was cutting for the card front. I did not want to risk peeling off the tape on my hot foiled vellum and maybe lifting my foil - but I do this with all foiled pieces I use so that the tape do not damage my foiled piece. But the tape came right off the vellum and even my waste vellum piece was not damaged by the tape. 

These were easy cards to assemble as I did all the die cutting for both cards at the same time. Then I did all the assembling of those pieces. For the vellum I cut those two pieces and hot foiled them right after each other and they were ready. Did the card bases and white frame pieces for the card fronts together and then cut the vellum pieces and the gray and light blue pieces together. This way I could assemble both cards together so when I was finished I had the two cards ready. Cute die set to assemble. Happy to use more of the stash scraps and even though both cards used the same die set they look different with one Santa sponged with gray and one having a black mouth and the other, pink. Also very happy my first attempt hot foiling vellum went so well and I really like the matte finish of the Spellbinders white foil. Fun holiday cards!

Poinsettia Christmas Card

This card was made with the Hero Arts "Color Layering Poinsettia Pattern Stencils" set. This stencil set can be used with a matching stamp set but I just bought the stencil set to make this card. This stencil set is a set of 4 and for my card I only used red and green inks. Here is the card:

I stenciled the stencil set onto white card stock. This stencil set has stencils that are 5 1/4" x 6 1/2". Once that was all stenciled I set it aside to dry. Wanted to use a darker green card stock for the card base so I cut and scored a dark green card stock with the scored line at the top. Decided to use the Simon Hurley gold Astro Paste for the last layer of the stencil to add some gold sparkle to the card front. Set this aside to dry. Here are some photos to show the stenciled layers as I stenciled it:

 

Once the Astro Paste was dried I decided to add a gold mirrored card stock frame over the stenciled Poinsettia. I pulled out a stitched rectangle frame die set from the stash and cut out a frame using gold poster board from the Dollar Tree I laid the gold frame piece over the stenciled piece and once I had it in place I traced around the gold frame piece with a pencil so I could trim off the excess of the stenciled piece using the trimmer. Put the frame over the trimmed stencil piece using liquid glue. Set that aside to dry.

At the stamp show I went to in Duluth, Ga  I picked up the new Spellbinders Better Press plate "Merry Messages" and last week I had hot foiled the plate with different coloured foils with the Glimmer Hot Foil machine. Once foiled I used the matching die set and cut them apart for later use. Here is a photo of that Better Press Plate set:

Looked through all these die cut sentiment strips and I pulled out a "Merry Christmas" strip that was gold foiled so it would match the frame and the gold Astro Paste on the stenciled piece. With the frame on the stenciled piece I used thin foam tape and put the framed piece onto the dark green card stock base. Put the foiled greeting strip on the stenciled piece using pop dots for dimension. Pulled out small gold gems from the stash for the card front and put those on using Glossy Accents. Here is a photo that helps show the gold touches on the stenciled piece:

and the gold sentiment:

Here is a photo of the packaging for this stencil set:

Easy stencil set to follow as they are numbered and they also have the registration marks on each stencil for easy lining up your layers. Nice stencil set to use for a quick and easy holiday card!

Halloween Witch Gnome Card

For this Halloween card I wanted to use a new background stamp, Cheesecloth, from Brass & Bliss that I picked up at the stamp show a week ago in Duluth, Ga..  Also my camera is not showing the purples on this card but it is picking it up as blue - :0( .    I used scraps to make my witch and all her pieces. Here is the card: 

To start with I stamped the Cheesecloth stamp onto white card stock using gray ink - I wanted the background to be lighter so I stamped it again on a 2nd piece of white card stock and that second piece is the one on the background of my card. For the card base I looked through the bin of pre-cut and scored card bases I have on hand and decided to use a black base. It is cut and scored at the top. I trimmed the stamped background piece to the size I wanted for the front of the card but I decided to cut out a gray frame for the card front piece. I used the Spellbinders A2-B size dies and cut out my frame:

With the card stock base cut and scored, the card front stamped and trimmed, and  the gray frame die cut I then set these all aside and worked on die cutting and assembling the witch. Once I cut out her hat out of the glittered black card stock I used a black Sharpie marker on the edges as my glittered card stock has a white core and I did not want that to show. I sponged the edges of her nose, arms and hands, braids and dress. Put her together using liquid glue. Die cut the three bats out of scrap black shimmer card stock and set those aside. These all come in the Photoplay Halloween Gnomes die set:

At the stamp show I had also picked up the Photoplay bundle of their Iconic Boo & Eek stamps and dies. Here is a photo of that set:

I used the "BOO" stamp and wanted to have a faded look to that so for the bottom of the stamp I used a purple ink pad from Simon Hurley and the top of the letters I did with a marker. Did not want a harsh line across the letters so I used a dauber to tap on the letters on the stamp to soften the line between the ink and the marker. Stamped this onto scrap white card stock and then used the Spellbinders Layering Frames die set to cut it out to the size I needed. Once that was cut I put it onto scrap black card stock and trimmed that with the trimmer. 

With all the pieces die cut and assembled I did a dry lay out of the card front but decided there was not enough colour on the card front so I pulled out my Halloween stash scraps and found a piece of swirly stars printed card stock. I cut that to about an 1" wide or so and put this onto the cheesecloth piece on the left side using the ATG. Then I put the gray frame over these using liquid glue. While that was drying I put foam tape behind the witch and her broom to give her some dimension on the card. 

With the framed card front dry I used the ATG and put the BOO greeting piece at the top of the card. I added the witch and broom. Added her hands. Wanted some sparkle so I added purple gems from the stash and I put the bats on the card front using liquid glue. Once those were dried I pinched their wings so they look more dimensional. This photo shows the background better and her holographic band on her glittered black card stock hat:

Also added a wart to her nose as they have on her on their packaging photo. Used a black Sharpie for that. Easy witch to assemble and the die for her braids is embosses the braids as it die cuts them so that is a nice detail. IRL the purples work well together on this card. 

Candy Bar Treat Holder

Used the KSCrafts Candy Bar Wrapper die set that was released in July 2025 for these Halloween treat holders. These candy bar treat holders can hold the larger chocolate treats. Here is a photo of four of them that I made:

To make these treat holders I wanted to use only card stocks in the Halloween stash that had already been cut - tried to use as much of those papers as I could. This die set has the base box piece with many layering dies for the front, back, sides and bottom. Here is a photo of the die set:

For the base of my boxes I used black card stock. Once those were all die cut I pulled out the card stocks and cut out the curved layered front pieces and two layering pieces for the back - I wanted to put a piece of printed card stock on the outside back of the boxes so they look more finished:

With all the layering pieces die cut I thought it would be much easier to put the layering pieces onto the box base while it was flat before it was all assembled. So using tear and tape I attached the back of the box to the curved front of the box and then added the layering pieces using liquid glue:

and then the back piece:

With all the layering pieces on I folded the box and put that together. Set this aside. For the front of this treat holder I used dies and a punch from the stash -- a Cheery Lynn Spiderweb die set, also used an old Sizzix Ghost #2 Sizzlit die, a Divinity Designs label die set for the greeting, and behind the circles under the ghost I used a scallop circle punch from the stash:

Wanted some texture under the spiderweb so I cut small pieces of cheesecloth from the stash. Used mirror card stocks for the spiderweb and cut that to the size I would need for the box front. Used liquid glue to put the spiderweb on the cheesecloth. Die cut the ghost out of glittered white card stock scraps. Die cut another ghost out of black card stock and glued that to the back of the ghost piece to make it more sturdy as well as fill in for the eyes. For the "happy halloween" I used a stamp set from Paper Smooches:

"Face Off" is the name of this stamp set. I stamped it onto scrap solid card stock and cut that out using the label die set from Divinity Designs. I cut a piece of black card stock to put the greeting label on to frame those on the ghost since the ghost is white. I die cut the two circle dies in the candy wrapper die set for the center of the spider web and I also used a scallop punch for a circle under those. Used liquid glue to layer all the circles. Added the ghost to those and I put pop dots on both ends of the greeting label and put the greeting across the front of the ghosts on the spider web. To add a little sparkle I used crystal gems from the stash to add by the ghost on the webs.

These treat holders hold a normal size Snickers bar, a regular size package of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, a large PayDay candy bar, and a regular size back of peanut M&Ms. I like the die set because it can be used for any holiday or occasion just by leaving the bat dies off of it. This box could also hold embellishments, a decorated pokey tool, a decorated pen, bows, etc for a swap since it is a deeper treat holder. Here are more photos to help show this depth:

and some of the boxes I made:

Easy treat holder to assemble and I like that it can hold more than a normal size Hershey Chocolate Candy Bar. (If you use those I am sure two of them would easily fit inside this treat holder). It is also free standing and with all the layers, very sturdy. Happy to be able to use more of the holiday printed card stocks on hand and to be able to use more of the already cut papers in the holiday stash!