Pumpkin Patch Card

Used the Hero Arts Rustic Wheelbarrow Die Set for this Pumpkin Patch Card:

Card stock base is Canyon Clay from PaperTreyInk. Cut and folded that at the top. For the burlap print on the card front I used a piece of card stock from the stash. Cut that and put that on the card base using liquid glue. For the white background piece on the front of the card I cut a piece of card stock to the size I needed for the card front. I used Post It tape and put a piece across the bottom of the white piece and two smaller pieces for the bottom sides of the white piece. Using brushes for oxide inks I ink blended both green and then blue across the white card background piece from the bottom to the top. I did not add inks to the brushes - I just used the ink that was left on the brushes from last time I used them. I set this aside to dry. 

Here is a photo of the Hero Arts Rustic Wheelbarrow Die Set: 

This die set has many dies and is perfect for using more of the stash scraps. First thing I did was die cut and assemble the wheelbarrow. With that assembled I used brown ink with a spritz of water and splattered the wheelbarrow so it would have an older look to it. For my "Pumpkin Patch" sign I cut the word die out of brown card stock and the base piece is cream card stock. Put those together using liquid glue. This die set does not have a die piece for a sign post so I cut a piece of darker brown card stock to the width and height I wanted for my sign. Put the "Pumpkin Patch" sign on the post using liquid glue. 

For all the pumpkins I used a lighter card stock over a darker card stock to show the lines on the pumpkins the die layers show. Die cut those and all the leaves and sunflowers and then assembled them all using liquid glue. Sponged the edges of the pumpkins with matching inks.

Put the ink blended white card front piece onto the card base front. Put the wheelbarrow on that using pop dots. Added pumpkins, stems, leaves, sunflowers here and there in and around the wheelbarrow. Put the sign post on the card front behind the wheelbarrow using pop dots for dimension. Hero Arts offers assembly sheets with this die set so you can look for that on their online home page and print out an assembly sheet for this die set:

and for the leaves and flowers:

Here is a photo to show the details on the pumpkins:

I sponged the edges of the sign piece as well:

Lots of paper pieces but I assembled the wheelbarrow then the pumpkins, leaves and flowers so it went together quickly. For my pumpkins in the wheelbarrow I put my large cream pumpkin behind the pumpkins at the top of the wheelbarrow. Set the two orange pumpkins and blue pumpkin in the wheelbarrow so when you assemble the wheelbarrow remember not to glue down the top wooden rail on the wheelbarrow so you can tuck your pumpkins in it. I used pop dots behind the wheelbarrow so i could put pumpkins behind it and the pop dots also give the card front dimension:

Fun die set with lots of options to put it together and to use the die cut pieces for other projects as well. Plus another good use for card stock stash scraps.

Yard Stick "BOO" Door Swag

Made another item for the door for Halloween. Had everything in the stash except the letters for "BOO" and I got those off Amazon. Few years back I made an Autumn Yard Stick Door Swag and I had extra yard sticks so this year I decided to make one for Halloween. The Autumn swag was really full with the deco mesh I used but for this swag I wanted the letters for "BOO" to stand out. Here is the door swag for Halloween:

First thing I did was paint the front of the yard stock and the back of the "BOO" letters light gray using craft ink in the stash. Once the letters were dry I went through my Halloween printed card stock stash and pulled out some prints I wanted to use. I turned the card stock over and the letters over and using a pencil I traced the letters. Cut out these traced letters using scissors. Turned the letters over and I used ModPodge from the stash and put the card stocks on the letters. The letter "B" has only two card stocks and the "O" letters have many prints on those. Once all the prints were on the fronts of the letters I used the ric rac die set from Catherine Pooler and die cut out solid card stocks. I put the ric rac pieces on some seams on the letters where card stocks meet. I used liquid glue to add the ric rac pieces. When it was all dried I went over each letter again using a layer of ModPodge. Set these aside to dry.

Looked through the wreath ribbon stash and found the orange and black plaid ribbon and I made a bow for the top front of the yard stick. Used orange and black mesh from the Dollar Tree in the stash to ad deco mesh around the top of the yard stick. Used pipe cleaners to put all mesh on the yard stick.  Once I had the mesh/ribbon on the yard stick I went through the Halloween box of odds and ends and found a few small black ornaments. Put those around the ribbon on the yard stick using hot glue. Took both fuzzy orange and black pipe cleaners (chenille stems) and cut those in half. Wrapped them around a pencil to give them the curly shapes and I used hot glue to add those to the top of the yard stick around the mesh/ribbon/ornaments:

For the decorated letters I did not want them to be straight in a row so I added them to the yard stick using hot glue and turned them this way and that. Once those were on the yard stick and the hot glue was set I added two painted white ghosts to the front of the letters. Used scissors to cut out glittered spider webs from the Dollar Tree spider web tulle from the stash and added a spider web to each ghost and then added a silver star gem to each web. Tied a bow from thin orange ribbon to add to the top of the painted wooden ghosts (also Dollar Tree stash items) and put that on the ghosts using hot glue. The little orange bows cover up the holes in the ghosts they come with for hanging. Used a larger spider web and added a black and white gingham bow to the center of that and put that on the letter "B" using hot glue. More photos:

Happy to be able to use another yard stick and to be able to use so many more items from the stash. Only had to order the 8" letters. Easy swag to put together and happy more card stocks are out of the stash and being used!

Inside Out Halloween Cards

Before I mailed out the Halloween cards I took photos of the insides for my cards next to the outside of the card. Here are photos of a few of the cards:

For the inside card pieces I used the SpiderWeb background stamp from Impression Obsession/IO Stamps. I cut a piece of white card stock larger than I would need for my card and I lightly inked the stamp using a light gray ink. Laid my white card stock onto the background stamp and pressed the card stock onto the inked background to transfer the pattern to the white card stock. It is a splotchy background but I did not want the background to over power the stamped greeting. The greeting is a stamp from JRL Designs in the 1990's from my stash. That is Jeanette that went on to opening Close To My Heart. 

I used black ink for the greeting and stamped that near the top of the background piece. Cut this to size with the trimmer and at the bottom I used a strip of bats washi tape from the stash to tie in with the single bat on the pumpkin on the front of this card. I cut a piece of purple card stock to put my greeting piece on to bring the purple to the inside of the card. 

For this card I used a piece of striped orange card stock to put behind my stamped piece to bring the orange to the inside of the card. Again used the bats washi tape to tie in the bats from the front of this card. 

For this curved ghost card I used a piece of solid orange card stock to put my greeting piece on. I used a small piece of lime green 'caution' washi tape to bring another colour to the inside of the card besides the orange. Put a small strip of the bats washi tape at the top of the curved arch above the greeting.

For this card again I cut a piece of the purple card stock I had used on the card front and for the tree to bring colour inside the card. Again used the bats washi tape across the bottom of the greeting piece. The other cards I made are similar so I did not take photos of those. 

Two RomComs Later. . . Halloween Wreath

Recently bought some Halloween printed fabrics which I wanted to use with some left over Halloween prints from the fabric stash. I bought a green styrofoam wreath form at Hobby Lobby and for my wreath I used the Felt and Foam glue by Aleene's.  With this wreath hanging on the front door it will be exposed to heat/cold/humidity so I wanted a full wreath so I used smaller pieces of fabrics. Here is the wreath I made:

There are a lot of different directions online to make this wreath if you would want to make one. The basics is you cut your fabric pieces from 2" squares up to 4" squares. You use a tool to wrap the fabric around, dip it in glue, and push it into the styrofoam wreath form far enough for the fabric to stay in the wreath form and then the glue will dry and keep your fabric pieces in place. For the tool I used I used a flower forming tool from the stash - this has a round end to it and will not poke through the fabric like a pokey tool or pencil could. Some crafters use pinking shears to cut their squares so they will not fray but with this being a Halloween wreath I like the frayed/ratty look just using a rotary cutter and regular scissors make. I started with  9 fabrics for my wreath. I did not want to cut too many squares so I cut enough to start with and as I worked on my wreath I had to stop and cut two more times and I have very few squares left over after the wreath was made. Here is a photo where I started this wreath:

You need squares for the inside of the wreath form, the front of the wreath form, and towards the back of your wreath form so that you will not see the green form (or white styrofoam if that is what you are using). I had cut all my squares and I put them on the work table in a row so I worked along the wreath in some order so that I would not have areas of just black or just orange or all one prints, etc.. Once I had the wreath filled in I went back with extra squares I had and I put them here and there to fill in areas that were not as filled as others or if you could see the green wreath form. This was an easy wreath to make and the size squares I used was 2 1/2". Over two days, and 2 RomComs later, my wreath was done. 

Went through the ribbon stash and pulled out an older Dollar Tree Halloween ribbon and I used my Bowdabra and made a bow for the top of the wreath. Pulled out left over Dollar Tree wooden ghosts and painted two of those white and when they were dry I put a piece of black card stock between them and glued them together so the eyes/mouth are black and having the two ghost layered they are sturdy. Once they were dry I tied them on the ribbon/wreath using thin orange ribbon. Fun wreath to make and happy to use more of the fabric stash. Here is a photo of the bow and layered ghosts:

Photos of the fabrics on the wreath:

If you should make one of these fabric wreaths just be sure to use a styrofoam friendly glue to attach your fabrics to the wreath with. Easy project to put together and a fun holiday wreath for the door!

Christmas Bells Card

For this card I again used the HeroArts Jingle Bells hot foil plates set:

I wanted to use gold foil for the bells to match the gold foil on one of the holiday sentiments I had hot foiled using the Spellbinders Winter Peace hot foil plates and dies set:

Here is the card:

For this card I did not want to use a Christmasy or snowflake background so I looked through all my background hot foil plates in the stash and I came across the Birch Press Designs "Gilded Viola" hot foil plate:

I hot foiled this onto white card stock using shiny gold hot foil from the stash. Although it is a floral design I liked the thin lines of the design and I think it works well with the bells on the card front. For my card stock base I used a darker, rich red card stock and cut and scored that at the top. Trimmed my hot foil piece for the card front to the size I needed and I used liquid glue to put the hot foiled piece on the front of the red card stock base. 

Hot foiled the bells hot foil plate onto white card stock and cut that out using rectangle dies. Cut a piece of gold mirrored card stock to fit behind the bells piece. Put these two together using liquid glue. Added a gold gem to the center of the bow on the bells. Used the "Merry Christmas" sentiment on the bells piece and put pop dots behind the bells piece for dimension. 

Double Vision Thanksgiving Card

Wanted to use the double vision technique and make a Thanksgiving card with that. Found this sheet of printed card stock at Hobby Lobby on my last shopping stop at their store:

Although I liked the colours and items on the print I did not want to have the turkey or pheasant on the card front as I was not sure how that would do with the double vision technique. So I cut around those for my card front. Here is the card I made:

The card stock base is Avocado Green from PaperTreyInk. For the full front card piece I used a beige burlap print from the stock. Cut that to fit the card front and put that on the card base using liquid glue. For the print for the front of the card - first I cut a piece of white card stock to the size I wanted for the card front. I measured the height and the width of this and then cut my printed card stock to that size. The key to double vision is to cut your card stock to the size you want before you assemble your card front so you do not have to go back and try to trim pieces to fit. 

I cut all my printed strips to 1/2" wide. As I cut these I numbered the back of each one with a pencil at the bottom so I could easily reassemble them for my card front:

I ended up cutting my printed card stock into 10  1/2" strips for the card front. After numbering all the strips I turned them over and put them in numerical order so the pattern made sense. First strip I used liquid glue and put it on the white card stock piece I had cut for the card front. Second strip has foam tape behind it. Third strip is liquid glue again and you keep doing this - glued strip, foam taped strip, etc until your card front is done. With that finished I use liquid glue on the white card stock and put it on the card front. Added gold gems from the stash to the front of the card. 

Silver Bells Christmas Card

Bought the Jingle Bells Hero Arts hot foil plate on clearance and I made a card with it. Here is the hot foil plate set:

Recently I hot foiled some items and one of the plate sets I hot foiled had two holiday sentiment plates with matching dies. I used scraps of white card stock and foiled extra sentiments for other holiday projects I was working on:

Here is the card I made using one of the extra foiled sentiments:

The base of this card is a rich forest green card stock from the stash and I cut and scored that at the top. Wanted to have a full front hot foiled piece for the card front so I looked through my stash hot foil plates and decided to use the Spellbinders Snowfall Shimmer hot foil plate:

I used shiny silver foil from the stash and foiled that onto white card stock. Cut this to the size I needed for the card front and I used liquid glue to put this onto the green card stock base. 

For the bells piece I hot foiled that onto white card stock and I used the Spellbinders rectangles die set and cut that out. Then I cut a piece of silver mirrored card stock larger than the bells piece and I layered those using liquid glue. Added a silver gem from the stash to the center of the bow holding the bells. 

The sentiment "May the Peace of the season be yours" I used to go with the snowfall piece behind it. Layered the bells piece on the card front using pop dots for dimension.

Winter Peace Christmas Card

Used the new Spellbinders "Winter Peace" Press & Foil Plate Die set for this card. First I used oxide inks and covered 3/4 of a piece of white card stock cut larger than I would need. Right after I added the oxide inks the card stocks look splotchy but oxide inks will blend and smooth out as they dry:

For my card I used Spellbinders white foil from the stash and hot foiled the Winter Peace plate onto the inked pieces. With the oxide inks on the background the white foil does not look shiny on the card. Here is a photo of my finished card:

For my card base I used a light blue piece of card stock and cut and scored that at the top. I used the Essential Rectangles die set from Spellbinders and cut a piece of white card stock slightly smaller than my light blue card base. Put the white piece onto the card base using liquid glue. For the hot foil piece I used another rectangle frame and cut that out. I wanted to add a very slight amount of darker blue around my foiled piece so I used a dauber to add the darker blue ink. I only used the dark blue on the edges of the hot foiled piece to where my oxide inks stopped. Glued this background piece to the card front base.

This hot foil set has two sentiment plates. One is "Merry Christmas to you and yours" and the other one is "May the Peace of the season be yours".  Both are holiday sentiments that can easily be used on many cards and projects for the holiday season. So while I was hot foiling I decided to use scraps and hot foil these sentiments on white card stocks using various foils from the stash:

For my card I hot foiled my sentiment using a teal blue foil from the stash and cut that out using the matching die set included in this foil plate set. I also cut out an additional piece of white card stock and I glued the sentiment on that to make the sentiment sturdy for my card front. This foiled sentiment adds some shine to the card front:

Once again I used the Spellbinders/Frank Garcia "Sweet Snowman" die set for my snowman and once again she is a girl....

I die cut out my snowman and all pieces using scraps. I sponged all the pieces and then assembled my snowman. I put pop dots behind her to give her some dimension on the card front:

Here is a photo to try to show the matte finish the white foil makes over the background:

The only gem I added to the card was to the bow on her hat as I want the ink/foiled background to show all the snowflake patterns and not be too busy with added items. This press & hot foil plate foiled well the first try with no over foiling and all the lines on the snowflakes show up well.  Really like this snowman die set by Frank Garcia......

Hoot Halloween Card

Went to the stamp show earlier this year in Fredericksburg, VA and I picked up this Halloween die set from Brass & Bliss. It is a three piece die set and very easy to assemble. I combined it with another die set from the stash and a free sample pack of holiday card stocks from CraftyStampCo.com:

Used inspiration from the packaging for this die set for my card:

For my card stock base I used black card stock and cut and scored that at the top. Used purple card stock as the mat on the card front to match the purple tree I die cut. Wanted to use the Spellbinders Color Block Accent Rectangles die sets in the stash to add black and white to my card front:

In my last order from the CraftyStampCo.com she enclosed a small pack of sample holiday prints for free. I picked out one of the prints and cut it to size to fit in the rectangle for the card front. I die cut the forest tree using purple card stock. I wanted my tree to have a shadow look but did not want to bring in anymore colour for my card so I die cut a black forest tree and put the purple tree onto the black tree and used liquid glue for that. I offset the purple tree so you can see the black tree behind it as a shadow:

Used liquid glue and put the purple mat piece onto the card front. Put the rectangle frames together also with liquid glue and put that onto the purple mat. Trimmed the "boo" print to the size I wanted and put that on the rectangle.  Used liquid glue and out the trees piece onto the printed card front. For the owl I used black for his body and a dark gray for his wings and a golden yellow for eyes, beak, and feet. He is assembled using liquid glue as well. I put him on his branch with glue and he was all set. Wanted to add a little sparkle but not too much so used three small purple gems from the stash. Fun card to assemble and happy to use more of the stash items as well as the free card stock prints from the CraftyStampCo. She has really nice card stock and I was happy to get these free prints!

When you just can not leave well enough alone...... looked at this card and decided it needed a pumpkin on the card front.... looked through the stash of pumpkin dies and all too big.... where there is a will there is a way..... pulled out a small circle punch and made my own pumpkin - 

Punched out three small circles from scrap card stock and sponged the edges of those. Cut a scrap of dark green card stock for my stem and assembled the pumpkin with stem using liquid glue.... added this to the card front using tear n tape...... Now the card is done.... again....

Witch Shoe Bag Toppers

Scrapdivadesigns.com has a Halloween bag topper die set that has both a small die set and a large die set in the same package and I bought it when it came out. This die set has 12 pieces and here are photos of the dies:

I used all scraps to assemble my bag toppers. The top of the bag topper (the base) you cut twice so you can use smaller pieces of card stocks to die cut those. Here is the small bag topper I made:

I die cut the two bag base dies from black card stock. Folded it on the scored lines and used liquid glue to assemble those. Set those aside. Die cut her shoes from glittered orange card stock and her stockings are die cut using a holiday 6x6 print of card stock. Wanted to dress her up so I used a bow punch from Hobby Lobby (long ago) and punched out black glittered bows for her shoes. Added an orange gem from the stash to center of the bows. Added two larger orange gems to the top of the bag topper. Here is a photo of two of the larger Witch Shoe Bag Toppers I made:

Here is a photo to show the two sizes this die set makes next to each other:

For the purple bag topper:

Used purple card stock for the bag topper base. For her shoes I used holographic silver card stock and cut those out. Her shoe buckles are solid black card stock scraps. Stockings are 6x6 paper scraps. Used an old Michaels dollar bug punch and punched out two black glittered card stock bugs. Added larger purple gems to her shoe buckles from the stash. The sentiment "Happy Halloween" is from the Spellbinders/BetterPress Halloween Icons plates and dies set which I hot foiled. Assembled this bag topper using liquid glue. This next large bag topper:

Used lime green card stock for the topper base. Shoes are a matte black card stock. Buckles are from holographic card stock. Added small green gems to the center of the buckles. Stripe stockings are card stock holiday scraps. For the sentiment again I hot foiled the Halloween Icons from Spellbinders for that. The spider web is cut out from a piece of spider web tulle from the Dollar Tree. Again using the bug punch I added two glittered black card stock bugs to the topper. Fun die sets to work with using more scraps and fun to dress her up using bow punches and adding gems to her buckles.... No reason for her holiday should she not be stylin'!