BOO Day Treat Holders

 Wanted to make different treat holders for BOO Day this year - Halloween. Decided to "think out of the box" and dig out some supplies . . .  As usual for Halloween I make a treat holder for a Tootsie Pop lollipops but did not want to make ones I have made in the past. Looked through the die stash and came across the Rectangle Box die from Lifestyle Crafts/QuicKutz:

This die makes a small rectangle box but if you cut it out and add a hole to the top flap it will be a free standing Tootsie Pop holder -  here are photos of the ones I made:

I used scrap printed card stocks for the front of the holders and added crystal gems to them. Wanted to add the black and white bows to the top of the boxes by the lollipop stick but the bows wanted nothing to do with the glue dots I was using - so I added Glossy Accents to the bows and that did the trick:

For the pumpkins on the fronts I used scrap pumpkin card stock and two punches to make them:

To make the pumpkins I punched the orange Marvy pumpkin face out on the card stock. Then I centered the M Stewart solid pumpkin over the punched face and punched out the pumpkin. Using scrap black card stock I punched out a solid black pumpkin and glued it behind the pumpkin face piece using liquid glue. Sponged the edges of the pumpkin and used a light brown marker over the stem part. The Marvy punch is an old one and a must for Halloween projects in this craft room. 

Next I wanted to include a black cat this Halloween. I used solid card stock and cut out my pieces for the matchbook holders I made:

Once the holder was cut out I cut out a panel of printed card stock for the front and I used a cat punch for the glittered card stock cat and added a small bow using a bow punch from Hobby Lobby. In the center of the bow is a holographic orange crystal from Queen & Company:

The matchbook holders can hold fun sized candies - M&M bags, Skittles bags, and Brach's Candy Corn bags. Once I had my candy inside I used a stapler to attach the candy bag to the holder. I did not want to see the staple on the front of the holder so I covered the staple with tear n tape and then put holiday washi tape over that:

Nugget candy holders - wanted to include the Hershey Nuggets so decided to wrap the candies with holiday prints and put them on a 'tray' in a clear bag. I punched out a white tag and added "BOO" that is a die cut piece. Here are the holders:

The "BOO" die was a free gift with a recent order from Taylored Expressions. They usually send a "thanks" die with my orders - I have that in script, small letters, capitalized letters, and so it goes. Those are dies that do not get much use . . .  This last order FINALLY they included a free die I will use - this BOO has a place on the die for small wiggle eyes so I added those from my stash. Tied the clear bags closed using holiday twine. The 'trays' are solid card stocks cut and scored to hold the Hershey Nuggets. Easy treat holder to put together! 

Will finish the rest of the treat holders this week and add photos when I am done. TFL

BOO Treat Bags

 Just finished working on the BOO Treat Bags for this year. As usual I still used the black, white, and orange paper gift bags for Halloween. This year I used all items in my stash and did not have to buy anything to complete them. Used dies and punches to decorate the bag fronts and on some bags I added flocked spiders from a sticker pack from Hobby Lobby. Here is one of the bags:

For this bag I used orange glittered card stock for the letters I die cut out. I also die cut out these letters from #110 weight white card stock to adhere the glittered letters to to make the letters more sturdy. The printed card stock on all the bag fronts is from a paper pad from last Halloween that I had picked up on clearance after the holiday was over. The spider ribbon is from the stash and the silver gem strips on the sides of the bag front is from the Dollar Tree. The white ghosts are die cut out using an old Sizzix yellow steel ruled die. On some of the bags the ghosts are facing the other direction and I cut some ghosts out with the shiny side of the card stock against the die and for the other direction I just die cut the ghosts from the back side of the card stock. The ghosts are all cut out of the white shiny card stock that ACMoore used to sell. When they had their closing sales I bought a good stash of this card stock for ghosts and snowmen future projects. 

The bats are cut out using a triple bat punch and I used black glittered card stock for those. I also punched out bats using #110 weight black card to adhere the glittered black bats to. Problem is the black glittered card stock has a white core so once the bats were punched out you could see the white on the edges. To fix that I just used a black Sharpie marker on all the edges and you can not see the white core anymore. Here is another bag:

Again using the black glittered card stock for my letters and again used the Sharpie marker to cover the white core of the card stock. On this bag I used silver glittered card stock for the bats. Also for all the ghosts I used black plastic spider webs I had in the stash from last year. I put those webs on the ghosts using Glossy Accents and added gems from the stash to those. Added a flocked spider to the "YOU" using liquid glue and the pop dot he came with. 

Some of the bags have the "BOO TO YOU" angled and other bags I used the larger ghost die I have so I had to be sure to keep the letters together to take up less space on the bag front to give me more space for the larger ghost. Here is one of those bags:

With the one ghost being so big I used two of the plastic spider webs and put those on the large ghost. Then used one web for the upper right ghost and for the smallest ghost on the bottom right I just trimmed off a row of the web with scissors so it would fit better on the ghost. For all the bags I added the pipe cleaner/crepe paper trim to the top and bottom of the bag. I had used this idea from decor items I made for last Halloween:

I had seen how to make these on YouTube from Ginny at Polly's Paper Studio on one of her videos. I thought they would be cute for the bag fronts for these treat bags. Here is a photo to show the smooth finish of the white foil card stock for the ghosts:

and the shine from the glittered card stock letters and bats:

and the orange letters:

IRL these bag fronts have a lot of sparkle and shine with the glittered card stocks, the gems, and the shiny card stock used for the ghosts. Fun bags to assemble....  now to fill them up! TFL

Splotchy is not good . . .

 So the problem began last fall when I bought a couple of sets of clear stamps by Jaded Blossom..... no matter what card stock I used or what brand of ink I used I could not get a clear stamped image. I used an acrylic block and stamped my card stock using a foam stamping mat as a cushion for the stamp. . . I used the MISTI and tried stamping with that . . .  Splotchy was all I ended up with. . .   so did not use the stamp sets for my cards/projects last year but I have thought about what to do with these stamp sets over the year. . .  and then . . .

Recently saw a video on YouTube "Coffin Treats" by Lee-Ann.  In her video she is taking you through her projects step by step as she puts things together... once she stamped her tag and shared the tip for a good image I knew I would have to give this a try. In many videos you see stampers using their MISTI tools to stamp their projects and they either use a cloth or their sleeve to press on the MISTI to put pressure on the MISTI door to help get their inked stamp image to stamp evenly. I have tried both a cloth and a sleeve but this does not work with these stamp sets I was having problems with. I have used my MISTI to stamp with other clear stamps as well as cling stamps and I have always had success using it. In her video she suggests using a dry erase board eraser to run across the top of the MISTI tool to give you a good stamp impression....

Off to the nearest office supply store for me and I bought their brand of the dry erase board eraser:

Brought this home and put it to use right away. Here are samples of one of the stamps from one of  the stamp sets using white/GP card stock and also using #110 weight white card stock from Mikes. I used two brands of inks and I used two types of ink pads - Catherine Pooler ink is a foam pad (CP on the samples) and a linen ink pad from Close To My Heart (CT on the samples). At the top of the sample cards I used an acrylic block and foam stamping mat to stamp the image. On the bottom of the sample cards I used the MISTI tool and the dry erase board eraser from Staples to stamp my samples. 

Here is the white/GP sample using the acrylic block for stamping:

this sample I used the #110 weight card stock with the acrylic block:

Now for the samples using the MISTI and eraser:

the above card stock is the white/GP. Here is a photo of the image stamped with the MISTI and eraser on #110 card stock:

Happy to say the stamps worked better in the MISTI using the dry erase board eraser for pressure and also much better images using the linen ink pad from Close To My Heart. Happy I had come across Lee-Ann's video and a big thanks to her for sharing this tip - now I can get some serious use from these two stamp sets with clear results! 

Saturday Sale

DH drove me to a Stampin Up Demo's stamping sale this morning. She usually has her yearly sale in June but with everything this year she decided to wait until Fall. Her neighborhood was having a Neighborhood Garage Sale today so she decided to also have her stamp sale today. Was not really looking for anything in particular but did manage to find a few new to me goodies:

Paper Pumpkin new kit marked $15 but I paid $12 and this is what is inside the box:

Also bought a new Hero Arts background stamp for $1.00:

Also the older Santa Post stamp set from SU that sells new on Ebay for $25.00 - I paid $2.00:

Also a container of square eyelets and a holiday punch:

Always try hard not to buy more card stock at any of the sales but I really like this colour and it is a new sealed package of 8 1/2 x 11 card stock from SU:

Finally a holiday background stamp that looked new:

While I was shopping at the stamp sale DH drove through the neighborhood to scope out the other sales being held and he was happy he was able to buy a new to him Craftsman Belt Sander that works and was $10.00 - he also bought a small gas can for $1.00 so he was happy.  Glad I went to this sale today and was able to find a few goodies for the craft room!!

Tool Share

 Had recently seen this video by Kathya K on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsmaGJFu8Y0

Normally when I use the Nuvo paste or textured paste I use a plastic knife spatula but the plastic can be rigid so it can pull the paste off the card stock so you will not have an even application. Kathya shared in her video that she uses a silicone mask applicator from the Dollar Tree that she cuts and uses for her pastes on her projects. 

I shopped my local Dollar Tree for this silicone applicator but they did not have any in stock. Yesterday when I went to Winston-Salem I stopped at a local Dollar Tree and I was able to buy a couple of these applicators. This is what this looks like:

I took them out of the packaging to show what the applicator looks like when it is sold on the left and after I cut mine as Kathya suggests on the right:

With is applicator being silicone the paste/paint or whatever you are applying can even dry overnight if you should forget to clean it off and all you have to do is peel off the medium you were using with no damage to the silicone. This will certainly make applying texture paste easier and more even on a projects. Thanks to Kathya for sharing her tips - for $1 this "tool" will get lots of use in this craft room!

Weekend of Hauls

 

Saturday was the Paper Crafters Yard Sale that is held yearly in the parking lot of the Enchanted Cottage store in Lewisville, NC.  Stampers set up in the parking lot behind the store and each stamper sells their new or gently used items at their own tables and they can price their items as they like.  I have gone to this sale for a few years now and always seem to find something I did not know I needed -- haha.

Here is a photo of part of the sale set up - the parking is curved and there were more tables past the blue canopies:

There were sellers on both sides of the parking lot with plenty of room to spread out. At every table there were lots of Stampin Up products for sale - trimmers, punch boards, stamp sets, ink pads with re-inkers, and dies. I do not want anymore SU products so I did not look at any of the SU items for sale except for one die set a woman was selling in a box of her dies for sale:

This set was $10 and that is the most I paid for anything I bought yesterday. I also bought 4 of these Close To My Heart boxes that were $5 each and they sell for $16.95 new:

I also bought various items:

The DSS came along with us and she found some items for her crafting as well. So a successful sale for the two of us. After we left there we went to Winston-Salem and stopped at Hobby Lobby. I picked up this die set using the 40% coupon they offer:

I had not seen this die set at my local Hobby Lobby so I bought one. This Hobby Lobby has all their holiday dies out - Momenta, Sizzix, and Spellbinders so a lot of new things for us paper crafters. After Hobby Lobby we stopped at a Tuesday Morning and I picked up a Fall pack from Authentique and two Pilgrim dies:

I do not shop the two Tuesday Morning stores near me as they never have anything in their craft sections that I see on haul videos on YouTube so I was happy I found the Authentique paper pack for Thanksgiving projects. 

We stopped at Marios and had our lunch - this week was her birthday and DSS wanted to eat there so we did that and then headed home. Once we were home we had cake and did her gifts/cards so it was a fun day. 

Also online hauls arrived this week --- first is two small hauls I had ordered:

When I made the raccoon rosettes a few weeks back I was using the rest of the glue in my TomBow glue bottle - it would have made things easier for me if I could have had the glue bottle inverted while I was working so I decided to buy a table top holder for the glue bottles. This is a nice holder and it does not fall over and when the work table is covered with everything it is easy to find!   The coloured clips on the right in this photo are clips you put on the handles of the black blending brushes so you know what colours of ink you have used that brush for - these clips will come in handy when I do not have time to clean all my brushes after every use. 

Earlier this week Spellbinders had their Warehouse Sale - many of the dies/embossing folders/ribbons and other sale items were $1 each and higher. I believe one die set I paid $10 for and the rest were $3, $4, and $5 per set. I ordered 17 items and before their $5 flat shipping fee I paid $58 for this order:

Not everything made it into the photos but I bought hot foil plates for the Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil machine I recently bought as well. This was a very good warehouse sale with great prices and too good to pass up - the flat rate shipping was a plus as well.  Lots of new and new-to-me items to be put to use this in this craft room so I should be busy for awhile! ;0)

Fall Greetings Cards

 

Made some Fall cards using a fall stencil from SimonSaysStamp, Autumn Splendor. Some cards I used a rust card stock base and others I used a darker green base:

Cut and scored the card stock base at the top. Set those aside. For the stenciled front of the cards I used white/GP card stock and that was 4 1/4 x 5 1/2. I used various fall coloured distressed inks over the stencil using makeup brushes. Once the stenciled pieces were done I used a stitched rectangle die from my stash and die cut the stenciled piece. Cut a white/GP piece to put behind the stenciled piece. 

For the "fall" piece I used a solid card stock for the fall shadow die to match the card stock bases. For the gold "fall" die cut pieces I used foiled card stock sold in sheets at the dollar store. I used glue to put the gold fall over the shadow die cut piece. This shadow fall die set is from HoneyBeeStamps as is the "greetings" stamp for the strip below the fall pieces. Easy card to put together once all the stenciling and die cutting were done. As with any stenciled piece all the images look different - it depends on how dark I put the inks on as well as where on the stenciled piece I placed the rectangle die to cut it out. This is a nice leaves stencil that will get lots of future use in this craft room I am sure. TFL

Fall Pumpkin DIY

Had seen a video showing a DIY project using Dollar Tree pumpkins as the pumpkin bases. I had seen the video last year at the end of the Fall season and just put the project on the "list" for making these at a later date for this year --  the video is on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbWLA-X5SI0

Tracy shares a lot of tips and tricks and shows her bows/ribbons, how to mount the pumpkins so they have a layered dimensional look for your decor project.  I had seen other videos for these Dollar Tree pumpkins and a lot of crafters use the blank sides of the pumpkins for their pumpkin fronts. But if I did that then on the back of my pumpkins you would see all different patterns of the pumpkin fronts and I did not want that to show.  Here is a photo of the pumpkins I used for my project and you can see I had lightly sanded my pumpkin fronts to help remove the glitter or paint the pumpkins are covered in so that my finishes would adhere to the actual pumpkin fronts:

With my pumpkin fronts all sanded I covered each pumpkin with matte finish ModPodge. Once that was dried I took autumn printed card stocks from my stash and traced the pumpkins onto the card stocks and cut them out with scissors. Used the ModPodge again to put the printed card stock on the pumpkin fronts. Set those aside to dry.  I wanted my pumpkin groupings to be on a "stand" so I picked up these two Autumn signs at the Dollar Tree and a small wooden piece game from the toy section for my stands:

I used a small acrylic brown paint from Hobby Lobby and painted my two Autumn signs and two of the wooden game pieces so they would match. With the pumpkin fronts dried I used Slick Puffy Paint by Tulip in brown to add lines to the pumpkin fronts. Set that aside to dry. Used pipe cleaners from the stash and wrapped them around a pencil to make them into a coil shape. Used leaves from the Dollar Tree and hot glued those to the pumpkin tops by the stems. Added the pipe cleaners on top of the leaves and set these aside. Using all different ribbons from the stash, Dollar Tree, and Hobby Lobby I made the bows as Tracy shows in her video. Used hot glue and put the bows on the pumpkins at the base of the stems.

Used hot glue and put the pumpkin wooden piece base from one of the pumpkins onto my painted Autumn stand for the pumpkins. Added hot glue to the channel of the wooden piece and added my largest pumpkin to each stand. Layered my pumpkins and hot glued them as I went along. Added the small wooden game piece behind one of the pumpkins to keep it in place:

Here is a photo to also show the back of my pumpkin DIYs:

With the decorated pumpkins on the stand all I had to do is add moss at the base of the pumpkins and different fall items I had on hand. I had bought these flower stems at the Dollar Tree and took them apart and then put them together in layers with a gold brad:

I also used fall themed buttons from my stash and cut the shanks off of them to decorate the stands.  The orange pumpkin pieces were sold in a small bag at Hobby Lobby as was the berry trim that I cut apart and hot glues to the stands. Here is the first set of pumpkins I finished:

and the second one has three smaller pumpkin pieces:

and photos of the base stands:

Hot glued the moss and all the random pieces onto the base stands and when everything was on there I just randomly cut apart the berry trim and hot glued pieces of that here and there to fill it in. These were easy to alter and another good use of card stocks from the stash. Thanks to Tracy for her easy to follow directions and her video!  Glad I was able to be able to make a set for myself in time for Fall!