BOO Day Treat Bags and Holders

Here is a photo of one of the BOO Day treat bags I made for Halloween this year:

To start I wanted the focal point of the bag to be the  "Who's There?" cover plate die that I bought on sale last year from CatherinePooler.com.  First I hot foiled a spider web plate from Spellbinders using silver holographic foil onto black card stock. With that done then I cut out the "Who's There?" cover plate die on this piece. To back the piece I used a lime green card stock from the stash so all the eyes are lime green and spooky looking. But this is a card sized cover plate so to fill the bag front I put this hot foiled/die cut piece onto white card stock as a frame around it. Then I looked through the stash and found the black and white striped card stock and cut that to size for the front of the bag. Used a lime green card stock print from the stash and cut two strips of that for the sides of the bag front. "boo" was cut out using the Poppy Stamps "Boo Outline" die set and I centered the letter "b" over a small spider frame on the hot foiled piece so it looks like the spider web was made inside the "b". Used two older ghost dies from my stash and cut out the ghosts using glittered white card stock. Put those onto the front of the bag. Wanted something for the top and bottom of the eyes cover plate piece so I used 6 pieces of crepe paper - 3 white and 3 black - and layered those white, black, white, black, etc and with those hot glued together I used fringe scissors and cut the top and bottom of the crepe paper piece from one end to the other. Then used my hands and crumpled these up so they are puffy. 

All the treat holders I made for inside this bag are from the stash as are all the card stocks, ribbons, gems, etc..  First I used an older Cheery Lynn Fry Box die set for this treat holder. This is a smaller box and it has a scalloped edge at the top of the fry box"

I used black card stock for all my fry boxes. Hard to see in the photo but I lined the inside back of the fry box using a Halloween printed card stock and I used that same card stock for the rosette on the front of the box. For the rosette I used my favorite rosette die set from Sizzix/T Holtz and I used the scalloped rosette die set. But this is a small box so once I had my rosette strips cut out, and before I began to fold them into the rosette shape, I took the two flat rosette strips to the trimmer and cut off 1/4 the straight edge on each strip - I used two strips for my rosettes as I like them to be full. If I did not cut off the 1/4 then the rosette would be a 2" rosette - too big for this box - so cutting off the 1/4 now gives me a 1 1/2" rosette and that works with this size fry box. With the rosette made I used scissors and cut out a spider web from the spider web tulle from the Dollar Tree from the stash and put this piece on top of the rosette. Then added a glittered ghost made using an old Cuttlebug ghost die. For the "BOO!" that was stamped and cut out using the Halloween label maker die set from Frantic Stamper (She closed her store over the summer). Inside this box is a small holiday printed bag from the Dollar Tree filled with small candies and tied with a piece of twine. Here is another fry box treat holder I made and I added the crepe paper witch broom to that next to the bag of treats:

This taller treat holder is made using the Mama Elephant die set Favor Bag:

This die set is scalloped at the top but I took my die cut bag front and back pieces to the trimmer and cut off the scallops. The spider web bow is the Spider Bow #2 die set from ScrapdivaDesigns.com that I bought a year or so ago. Used black eyelash trim behind the bow and added a black pom pom to the center of the bow. The sentiment is from KSCraft and their Halloween release this year. The rick rack lime green piece at the bottom is from the CatherinePooler.com die set "Rich Rack Strip Dies". These next treat holders:

Box on the left is self closing and it is the die set "3D Double Self Closing Gift Bag" from Scrapdiva Designs.  Again added one of the label maker sentiment strips from FranticStamper. Box holder on the right is a milk carton made using the We R Makers Carton Stamp board and I made the medium size. Used various print scraps from the stash to decorate these boxes. Covered a clothespin with washi tape and put a holiday sticker from the stash on that to close the carton. 

Last candy treat holder is a printed cellophane bag from the stash and I used the Witch Shoe bag topper die set from ScrapdivaDesigns to close that. These witch shoes are so cute - die set has the small and the larger die set included and I used one of the witch shoes on the front of one of my rosettes:

Fun holiday projects for Halloween but back to Thanksgiving and Christmas projects in this craft room and hoping to use more and more of the stash items....

Holiday Mini Tag Boxes

These treat holders were made using the new release this week from Pixi Dust Designs - their "Holiday Mini Tag Box Die Set".  I saw this shown on a YouTube video and ordered it right away. It arrived today and I have made two of these treat holders for Christmas. Here is a photo of the die set:

These little treat boxes can hold two Ghirardelli Squares or 4 of the Hershey Chocolate Nuggets or you can use other wrapped candies for a holiday treat. Here is a photo of the two treat holders I made:

The green holder on the left I made using a half of a sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" green card stock. I cut out the box die. Then I used the stitched layering die and cut out a red and green plaid piece for the front and sides of the box. The front plaid piece I cut at and angle so that it would not over power the green tree I was going to use from that die set for the front of the box. With the green box piece die cut I layered my plaid pieces onto that using liquid glue:

Set this aside to dry. Using scrap green card stock I used the two tree dies from the die set and cut out one tree and for the second tree I cut out gold mirrored card stock. That die cuts out the tree outline piece as well as a tree piece and once die cut they are two pieces. For the front of the box I used liquid glue and put the gold mirrored card stock tree frame on the diagonal plaid piece. Then put the solid green tree in the gold frame. Using hot foiled sentiments I made last year in the stash I used a "Merry & Bright" sentiment for the top of the box. Inside this box is two Ghirardelli Squares:

I tied my box at the top using red and white twine. Remember to buy your twine on the baking/candy making aisle at the craft store. It is cheaper than the twine sold in the paper crafting section and you get a lot more in that aisle for your money. 

For the red and striped box - used red card stock and cut out the box. Cut out the stripes on the diagonal again and glued that to the front of the box. Used one of the candy cane dies in the die set and put that on the diagonal striped box front and cut that out:

With that cut out I wanted to use a small piece of acetate to put behind the candy cane opening on the box front:

Hard to see in the photo but I used a piece of clear packaging that I trimmed to the size I wanted and I used 1/8" tear and tape to put this acetate behind the candy cane opening. With that done I used the second candy cane die and cut out a piece of green card stock for the frame for my candy cane and I put that on the box front using liquid glue:

Used another hot foiled sentiment strip for the top of this box. Inside this box is four Hershey Nugget Candies that I wrapped with holiday prints:

These four nuggets fit easily inside the box even with me wrapping the scrap card stocks around the candies for decorations. This die was so easy to assemble and happy to have a new treat holder for both the Ghirardelli Squares and also another box for Hershey Nuggets...... Also a good use for scrap card stocks in the stash and esp like that you can get two boxes out of one piece of 8 1/2" x 11" card stock!

Triangles Snowman Card

Ordered the Scrapbook.com brand "Stitched Triangles" die set of 4 triangles for a card I wanted to make but as I was clearing off the craft table (again) I came across a piece of ink blended and then hot foiled background I had made. So I decided to use that snowflake background for this card:

Card stock base is a light turquoise card stock cut and scored at the top. I took the two larger triangles in the die set and cut out two triangles from the ink blended hot foiled background piece. I wanted this to be on a white background but I did not just want white card stock. I had used the Spellbinders Winter Peace press and foil plate from the stash for the inked background piece and sentiment and I wanted to use a piece of hot foiled vellum as the white card front. I wanted smaller snowflakes on that piece so I used the Spellbinders Snowfall Shimmer hot foil plate from the stash and I hot foiled a piece of vellum larger than what I wanted for my card front. I used Spellbinders white foil for that. 

I trimmed the vellum piece to 4 x 5 1/4 for the card front and I also cut a piece of white card stock the same size as the vellum piece. Using liquid glue I put the two ink blended/hot foiled snowflake triangle pieces onto the vellum piece. Then I used liquid glue and put this onto the white card stock piece. It is hard to see in the photos but IRL you can easily see the white snowflakes hot foiled onto the vellum piece:

Once again I used the Spellbinders/Frank Garcia "Sweet Snowman" die set and made a snow lady for my card front. I tried to use colours for her scarves that matches the colours on the ink blended background I did using oxide inks. For the sentiment I used a teal colour foil for that and cut that out with the matching die. Put the sentiment on the card front using pop dots:

Fun card to put together and happy to make one more of this cute snow lady for holiday cards.. I put her on the card front using pop dots for dimension:

Happy to use that extra ink blended/hot foiled piece for this card. Here is a photo of the Scrapbook.com triangle die set:

Lots of possibilities for this die set and nice detail that it has the stitching lines on it.....

Not what I expected.....

Just hot foiled the Spellbinders Glimmer Alphabet plates with die sets that was gifted to me from my PIC. (Stamping Partner in Crime).  Last year I had made these treat holders and I used a stamp for the letters on the project:

She said when she saw this hot foil plates/die sets that I would be able to use them since they are the full alphabet. I am working on some Christmas treat holders so I decided I would hot foil this alphabet set in gold and then in red foil to see how it foiled. Totally unexpected results..... here is the Spellbinders hot foil plates/die sets:

Looking at the photo on the packaging I thought the foiling would be thicker lines on each letter. First I hot foiled it in gold:

Not worried about the over foiling on the edges as I figured once I cut them out with the matching die set that would be cut off. Here is the piece after I die cut it out:

and the piece after letters came out of the card stock:

and a few words I put on black card stock to show the foiling on the edges of the letters:

also foiled it in red:

and the letters:

I only foiled these on white card stock but they will work well on coloured card stock with them just having a thin edge of the letters having foil on them. I expected the foiled edges to be thicker but I am happy with the way they turned out. I can easily use a small circle punch to put my individual letters on for holiday projects. Happy my PIC picked this set up for me - there are 2 hot foil plates - half of the alphabet on one plate and the other half on the other plate. There are two matching dies for these plates in the set so cutting out all these letters is very easy. Certainly not what I expected but surprised with the results in a good way!

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 are 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.