Christmas Snowflakes Card

*** This card was chosen as  Favorites of the Week on Splitcoast Stampers. Happy me!! ***

Shopped a different Mikes on Saturday as we were passing through and happy we stopped. Mikes now sells their #110 weight card stock in colour packs. In the past they have sold packs of black, white, and cream but now they sell packs of colours. I bought a pack of the blues card stock. This is the first card I made using that coloured card stock.

Awhile back Taylored Expressions had a sale and they offered a bundle price for various stamps and dies -- like a mystery box. I had never bought one of their mystery bundles but decided I would give this a try. Much to my surprise this was a good buy --- inside this mystery bundle was this stamp and die set:

Winter Wonderland is the name of this set. For the card I made I used the different snowflake stamps and the matching snowflake die set. This stamp set has greeting stamps for the front of a card as well as a stamp for the inside of the card so it is a good set to have on hand since it is altogether in the one set.

To make this card I used a piece of the blue #110 Mikes card stock and I scored that with the score line at the top of the card. Cut two piece of the white/GP card stock and stacked those on top of each other and ran them through the Cuttlebug in a snowflakes embossing folder by Darice. (I always emboss two pieces of card stock at a time for a softer embossed piece and this also prevents the embossing to tear or rip the card stock). Trimmed one white embossed piece to 4" x 5 1/4" for the card front. (Put the other embossed piece with the embossing folder for another card later). Using the ATG I put the embossed piece onto the blue card stock base and set it aside.

Using a rectangle frame die I cut out a blue frame for my card front. For the snowflakes piece in the frame I used vellum by Bazzill. Cut a piece of vellum larger than I would need for my card front and I wiped a Bounce dryer sheet over that. Randomly stamped the snowflake stamps on it using VersaMark ink. Covered this with silver embossed powder and heat set that. (Whenever I heat emboss vellum I heat set it from the back of the piece and not the front). Trimmed it to the size I needed to fit behind my blue frame. Put the embossed vellum piece behind the frame piece using red sticky tape. Cut a piece of white/GP card stock and put that behind the vellum. Set this aside:

The holiday greeting "very merry" is stamped using Delicata silver ink onto scrap white card stock. Cut this to the size I wanted and put it on a piece of the blue card stock cut a bit larger:

Put this greeting on the bottom of the card front. Using a piece of white craft foam I put the framed snowflake piece onto the card front. For the silver glittered snowflakes for the corners of the frame -- the larger snowflake was cut out of glittered card stock from Hobby Lobby using the snowflakes die from the Taylored Expressions bundle and then I used a single snowflake punch from M Stewart for the blue snowflake. Put these together with a glue dot. Added a silver bling to the center of that and put them onto the frame using glue dots:

For the smaller snowflake on the upper left corner of the frame I used a corner snowflake punch and then a snowflake border punch, both from M Stewart, for that. Put those pieces together using clear craft glue since they are so small. (Used a toothpick to apply the glue):

IRL this card is shiny and sparkly but that was hard to capture with the camera.  As usual the stamps from Taylored Expressions stamped well and the dies cut through the glittered card stock with one pass in the die cutting machine. Easy card to put together. Very happy Mikes is selling their #110 weight card stock in colours now. Had not seen the coloured packs of their #110 weight card stock at my local Mikes but will check with them when I stop in again for these.  Nice weight for your card bases. Plus using a coupon makes these packs of 100 sheets economical. TFL

Tom Turkey Treat Box

Used the Tom Turkey die from Frantic Stampers for the front of this treat box -- link for the how-to's of this box by Bona on Youtube is in the post below. I made a box for Halloween following her directions for her box:

Although I liked the shape and size of the box for Halloween I wanted to make a smaller box using this pattern for Thanksgiving so I adjusted her pattern for a smaller sized box. Here is my Tom Turkey Treat Box:

For Thanksgiving I decorated this smaller box simply. Used Saddle brown card stock from Close To My Heart for the box. The embossed front panel is cream card stock and I used the WRMK Woven embossing folder for that. Cut a piece of printed card stock and put that across the bottom of the embossed piece using the ATG. With the box flat I put the embossed front piece onto the box using the ATG. Trimmed a piece of printed card stock for the top flap of the box and put that on the box. Set the flattened box aside.

Used a Sizzix rosette die for the rosette but I wanted a two toned rosette -- the rosette die cuts two rosettes at a time -- larger and smaller -- but when you put these together the rosette is very high. To keep the height down I cut out two pieces of card stock using the die. When that was cut I laid the smaller rosette piece on top of the larger one - used a glue pen and put glue on the larger rosette piece and put the smaller rosette piece on top of that -- pressed it with my fingers to get the glue to stick the two prints together:

Folded this into the rosette shape and used the hot glue gun to keep it flat. Wanted a crystal for the center of my rosette but I only had the larger crystals in clear -- so using a light rust Sharpie I coloured the crystal and now it matched the rosette:

Here is a photo to show two rosettes - the one one the left has two rosettes stacked and the one on the right is the rosette I used for my box -- by putting the two prints together it is flatter and it still gives the rosette a look of dimension and even with the crystal on it it is not so high:

The stacked rosette is not on the scalloped piece and it also does not have the crystal on the front of it. If it did it would be even higher.

Used a scallop punch and punched out a scallop from scrap tan card stock to put the rosette on. Used the Tea Dye distressed ink and sponged the front and the edges of the Rosette. Set this aside. Using scrap brown card stock, lined with Stick It sheet from Ken Oliver, I cut out "give thanks" and put this on the top flap of the box.

For the sides I used trimmed printed card stock pieces and die cut leaves. Put these onto the box while it was flat. For the turkey I cut him out of printed card stock and kraft card stock. Sponged the edges of his body and the feathers piece using brown ink. Set him aside. Here is a photo of the box sides:

With all parts done I assembled the box. Put the turkey on the box front using pop dots for dimension. Put the rosette on the top flap of the box using tear tape. Cut a velcro circle in half and that is how the box stays closed. Here is a photo of the Tom Turkey box next to the BOO Day box to show the difference in size:

Another cute box using the pattern by Bona -- a big thanks to her for sharing that and to Debra Rogers for making her video showing her boxes!  TFL

BOO Boxes 2017

Stumbled across a video on Youtube by Debra Rogers where she had made her own boxes and then decorated them for Halloween (BOO Day). She also decorated some of her boxes into houses for Halloween which is another cute idea. Here is a link to her video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoiIwDCErsE

She said she found this box template, a Happy Meal box, from Bona - on LiveLoveScrap. Here is a link to her box template video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRzGkC_2cTE

A BIG thank you to both ladies for such a fun project. To begin with I had seen Debra's video first and that inspired me to watch the video by Bona for her Happy Meal box template. I have many box die sets on hand but this box is a larger size and too cute not to make up. After making this first box I have decided this will be the BOO Boxes I make for Halloween this year for the gals at work:

Whenever I watch a how-to video I usually watch the video and take notes -- write down sizes or maybe tips or other info I will need to make the project. For Bona's box I watched her video from start to finish and then watched it a second time and made a drawing to work from. Whenever you use the score board to make a box you have to know what pieces to cut off for your box or what pieces you need to just clip the scored lines. In Bona's video you will see she makes the two pieces for her box and then she works on the front piece followed by the back piece. Once I had taken notes I decided to use scrap card stock and make a box front and a box back piece with the trimming on each piece for folding into the box shape. I used two different colour card stocks so I could easy see how these two pieces go together for the box. Here is my sample box front piece:

The blue piece is the front of the box sample piece to show what I need to trim away and also where the scored lines are at the top of the box for folding it closed. Used the Punch board for the center top with the SU Word Window punch for the handle. This green piece is the back of the box piece:

I will keep these sample pieces so I will have them on hand when I make more of these boxes. (Also I cut out a smaller sized box using this pattern for other projects). Here is the photo of the front sample and actual front box piece and then the back pieces:

I used tear and tape to put my box together. I taped the sides together and left this flat. Using black ink I sponged the edges of the box and all scored lines. With the box flat I decorated the front, sides, and back using older Sizzix Halloween dies -- yellow and green dies. Once all decorated I then formed the box and used tear and tape for the bottom of the box.

I cut the fence die out of black glittered card stock. For the two fences on the sides of the box I left those one layer and used a glue pen to put them on the box sides near the bottom. For the fence piece on the front of the box I wanted that to have dimension so I made a fence klipboard piece - klipboard is what I call this -- I cut out a fence piece from the tear off tab from the top of a kleenex box. Then cut out a second fence piece from the glittered card stock. Put that onto the kleenex box fence piece using a glue pen - here is a photo to show this fence piece is a bit thicker with the card board behind it:

For the "Trick or Treat" signs on the front of the fence - I printed those onto white/GP card stock on the computer and cut them to the size I wanted. Sponged the edges of those with the black ink. Put them onto the glittered fence piece using red sticky tape. Used a spider web die to cut out a black spider web. Used scissors to cut that to the size I wanted for the box front. Put this onto the box using a glue pen. Added a 3" circle of green print to the box front. Cut a strip of that card stock for the lower front of the box front. Put these onto the box front using the ATG. Put the fence onto the box front using red sticky tape.

For the pumpkins on the box front and sides I used two punches -- the pumpkin punch is M Stewart and the pumpkin face is a small punch I bought used:

Rather than punch out the tiny pumpkin face pieces and then try to use glue to get them onto the pumpkin I decided to do this the easier way -- punched out the face punch from orange card stock. Used scissors to cut that into a square and then used the pumpkin punch and punched over the face. Used the pumpkin punch and punched out a black pumpkin -- now these two pieces can easily be layered for an easy pumpkin face:

Used the glue pen on the orange pumpkin to put this onto the black pumpkin piece. Sponged the edges of the pumpkin with ink for shading. Here is the decorated fence piece on the front of the box:

The Tim Holtz Rosette die was used for the rosette behind the glittery bat. Used the hot glue gun to form the rosette. Put this onto a black scalloped card stock piece using glue dots. Die cut the bat from black glittered card stock. Cut this die out again using the kleenex box. Wanted the bat to have green eyes so punched out a small circle of green card stock and used the glue pen to put this on the backside of the glittered bat. Using craft glue I put this bat piece onto the kleenex box cardboard bat piece. Using large glue dots I put the bat onto the front of the rosette:

Put the bat/rosette piece on the edge of the printed green circle piece on the box front using glue dots. Used the Sizzix ghosts die for the white glittered ghosts. Behind their eyes and mouth I used a small oval punch and punched out a piece of black card stock. Used the glue pen to put these black ovals on the back of the ghost faces. Put one ghost next to the fence piece on the front of the box. Used mini glue dots for the black flocked bugs and the foil spider by the web. Added sequins from the dollar store using glue dots:

For the top edge of the box I added a printed card stock panel and used black trim from Hobby Lobby at the top. Put that onto the box using red sticky tape. Added a strip of green crystals to the black trim piece. For "BOO to you" I printed that off my computer onto white/GP card stock and used a banner punch for that. Sponged the edges of this with black ink. Ran this strip over the bone folder to give this piece a "wave" look and put this onto the box top section using glue dots. Added two green crystals from the stash. Put a ghost at one end of the banner using glue dots:

Here is what the sides of the box look like:

Used two prints of card stock for the back of my box:

To keep my box closed I used black velcro dots at the top of my box. I did not want to use white velcro as I think the black looks better since it is for Halloween and I have both black and white velcro circles in the stash box. Here is a photo of my BOO Box next to the SU Berry Basket I had made for last fall to show the size of this Happy Meal Box from Bona:

This BOO Box will hold lots of treats and other treat holders -- Coffin box, pillow box, nugget holders, etc for Halloween. Each box will be a different colour and decorated differently. Will post them as they are made. Debra had decorated her first Halloween box using plastic skulls and a plastic hand from Mikes and they are too cute but Mikes is just beginning to put out their Halloween decorations and craft supplies so I will have to stop back later this week to pick up some cute accessories for my BOO Boxes.

BIG THANKS to Debra and Bona for such a fun project!!  TFL

Tissue??? I hardly know you . . .

Had seen a card by Loll Thompson she recently made from a technique by Karen from Karen's Kreative Kards. Loll made a few cards using this technique and she made a video with all the how-to's of the technique for Youtube:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYNnouzX6RU&feature=youtu.be

The video is very informative and easy to follow. When I first saw this card Loll Thompson had made and posted on Splitcoast Stampers I thought it would be very difficult to put together. Clicked on her video and then I made my card:

For my card I followed what Loll instructed on her video. I was happy I already had white tissue on hand, the same snowflake sash die she used, as well as the Stampin Up stamp Hostess stamp set Warmth and Wonder. I had decided since I was trying a new technique that I would make up a few of them rather than just the one for my card. I cut a piece of white card stock into four pieces 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". Set those aside. Cut four pieces of white tissue paper 6" x 6" and set those aside. Pulled out the craft mats and decided for my card I would use these colours of distress inks:

As instructed on the video I swiped my three colours onto the craft mat and then spritzed them with water. Used a palette knife to mix the colours together in a swirl. Laid one white tissue in the ink. Tapped it down to absorb the inks. Carefully pulled up the inked tissue and laid it onto a cookie cooling rack I have for the craft room that I picked up at the thrift store to dry. Cleaned off the mat and continued the ink process until all four tissue pieces were inked:

The tissue pieces did not take long to dry. Once totally dried I crumpled them up. Used craft glue to cover my four white card stock pieces and opened each tissue piece and put them on the white card stock being careful to leave the hills and valleys of the creases in the tissue paper. (Be sure to use craft glue that dries clear)  Set these aside for the glue to dry.

With that dried I used the VersaMark ink and rubbed it over the tissue pieces and I used silver embossing powder from Stampendous on the tissues:

Did one piece at a time -- once the embossing powder was on the tissue I put this onto my foil covered small clip board and heat set the embossing powder. (I use the clip board to help keep the piece being embossed flat and it also helps not to burn the fingers). As you can see in the next photo all four tissues look different:

Now to the card -- cut and scored at the top a piece of #110 weight white card stock from Mikes. I had to decide which of the tissue pieces I would use for my card and with that decided I trimmed the tissue piece to this size:

3 5/8" wide by 3" high

Using a white craft foam sheet I cut a piece of foam smaller than the tissue piece. Put the foam piece on the back of the tissue piece using double sided tape. Set this aside. For the greeting "Christmas Greetings" I used the MISTI. Put the folded white card stock base into the MISTI and tapped the embossing buddy over the front of the card. I laid the embossed tissue piece onto the card front so I would know where to position the greeting stamp. With that decided I removed the tissue piece and used VersaMark ink for the greeting. For the greeting stamp I used the silver embossing powder from Stampin Up and heat embossed that.

Cut out one of the snowflake sash die pieces from silver foil card stock lined with Stick It sheet from Ken Oliver. Peeled off the backing and put the snowflake die cut piece across the embossed tissue piece. Then put this piece onto the card front and the card is done.

A BIG thank you to Loll Thompson for sharing her pretty card and for making an easy and very informative video to follow. A BIGGER thank you to Karen for sharing her technique to begin with. This card is very pretty and sparkly IRL -- A good start for holiday cards!

Rummaging.. . .

Sooner or later it will happen and for me it was earlier this week... :0(  

Distressed inks... love the way they look but sometimes getting the sponges off the velcro on the bottom of the 'blending tool' can be a battle.... of which I lost.... Took off the sponge (AKA foam piece) from the velcro applicator and the velcro was not having any of that... so both the sponge and the velcro came off the blending tool as one. . .

All good stampers have a bottle of rubber cement on hand to put older wood mount stamps back on the wood when they fall off so first thought was I would separate the velcro from the sponge and use the rubber cement to put the velcro back onto the blending tool. Did just that, being careful to keep the rubber cement on the blending tool where the velcro should be. Put the velcro back on the blending tool, pressing it down to stick to the rubber cement, and stood it upright overnight letting it set.

Next morning I checked the blending tool and when I lifted it up the velcro was still sitting on the counter where I had put it -- :0(   .....  So what to do?? Off to the garage I went to rummage the coveted workbench of DH that is off limits.... and there it was --  Gorilla Glue ... a small bottle but I only needed a small amount so into the craft room it went...

Got the blending tool and the velcro piece and put the Gorilla Glue on the bottom of the blending tool and then put the velcro on top of that -- once again I stood it upright overnight to set. Next morning I checked it and the velcro is evenly stuck onto the blending tool -- happy me.

So when the staples on my other blending tools come off and the velcro falls off I will be able to re-attach them using the Gorilla Glue -- here is a photo of the glued/repaired blending tool on the right and the other blending tool showing the staple they come with that holds the velcro on:

Put back DH's bottle of Gorilla Glue and I bought a small bottle for the craft room from Hobby Lobby. Here is a photo of what it looks like:

It does not take much of this glue to cover the bottom of the blending tool so I am sure this small bottle will last me quite awhile. Thought I would share what worked for me if anyone else has had had the velcro come off their blending tools.... TFL and thanks to DH for his bottle of Gorilla Glue so I could 'try before you buy'... ;0)  

BOO Day Lollie

Had seen the lollies made in the past and wanted to make one for Halloween so here is my BOO Day lollie:

Basically the lollies are rosettes on a stick or a straw for whatever holiday or occasion you want to make them for. Had not made one of these in the past so decided for my lollie that I had to have whatever I was using for the base decided first. For my base I used orange glittered card stock and cut out the Spellbinders Pumpkins circle die -- I used the largest circle in that die set. With the orange glittered card stock piece cut out I also cut out a second piece from printed card stock for the back of the lollie. Put the back piece onto the back of the glittered piece using the ATG and set this aside.

For my larger rosette I used a piece of black dotted card stock and I cut my strip 1 1/2" wide by 12". I cut a second piece 1 1/2" wide by 6". I scored these strips every 1/4" on the M Stewart scoreboard. Once they were scored I folded them on the scored lines and then attached the shorter piece to my longer piece using red sticky tape. Using a hot glue gun I put the rosette onto a 1" black card stock circle. Set this aside.

For the smaller rosette for the front I cut a piece of card stock 1" wide by 11" long. Scored this every 1/4" on the score board. Folded and hot glued this to a 1" black card stock circle. Used a decorative die and cut out a piece of purple card stock for behind the smaller rosette. Put the smaller rosette onto the purple die cut piece using the hot glue gun. Set this aside.

For the ghost I used a ghost die and cut out a ghost from white glittered card stock. Used an small oval punch and punched out a piece of black card stock and used a glue pen to glue this to the back of the ghost so his eye and mouth holes are black. For the "boo" --  this is another piece of "klipboard" I made using  the tear tab to the top of a kleenex box. This photo shows my black die cut piece cut out of shiny black card stock that has the Ken Oliver Stick It sheet behind it. This way my die cut piece already has adhesive on it. With the kleenex box cardboard "boo" cut out all I need to do is peel off the backing of the Stick It sheet behind the black "boo" and put it on top of the cardboard "boo". This makes the letters raised and gives them dimension on a project:

Also cut out "trick or treat" for the back of the lollie -- this photo shows that the thinner, more detailed dies, also cut out well from the cardboard:

With my greetings cut out all I needed to do was assemble the lollie. To begin with I put the "trick or treat" greeting on the backside of the lollie using a glue pen:

Added orange glittered stars and purple foil stars to the back and that is done. Flipped this over and used the glue gun and put the larger black rosette onto the pumpkin edged circle. Then used the glue gun and put the purple and smaller rosette piece onto the front of the black one. Using a holiday straw from the dollar store I put the straw onto the circle, under the black rosette, using the glue gun. Used glue dots and tucked the ghost under the smaller rosette but in front of the purple die cut piece.

For the "boo" I cut a piece of scrap white card stock and used a banner punch for the ends. Used a glue pen and put the "boo" onto the banner piece. Used red sticky tape to put this onto the lollie under the black rosette and onto the glittered card stock base. Added glittered shapes using a M Stewart border punch. For the center of the smaller rosette I punched out a smaller glittered circle and I put crystal effects over that. Then cut out a purple circle to put that onto once it dried. With it dried I put it onto the center of the rosette using the glue gun.

Added a dotted ribbon, yarn, and black bias tape to the lower front of the lollie using glue dots to hold them in place. Used the glue gun and added the tulle bow piece I made. Added a gem from the stash to the center of that.

The lollie can be used to decorate a holiday table, or be tucked into a treat holder/bag, or just be a greeting for someone for Halloween. The lollies make good use of card stocks you may not like or bits and pieces you have to use for decorations on them. Here is a photo to show the layers of the lollie:

Another use of rosettes. Lots of ideas for lollies on the internet and many videos to watch for the how to's of this project. TFL

Avery BOO Tags

Recently went to a stamp show in Chantilly, VA and I bought two Halloween stamps from the Rubbernecker Stamps booth. They had used these stamps on shipping tags on their sample board and I wanted to try this out so here are my two sample tags -- they are not decorated or anything but I like the way they turned out:

I had left over shipping tags left over from other projects by Avery.  These tags are manila in colour and they measure 3 1/8" x 6 1/4". Here is what I began with:

For this first tag I used a circle punch and punched out a scrap card stock circle and put this circle onto the tag using removable adhesive. Once that was on the tag I used various distress inks and covered the tag. Used a distressed black ink for the edges:

Once the distressed inks were dry I used the MISTI and stamped the image with VersaMark ink twice and then heat embossed it using black embossing powder:

The above photo shows the shine of the embossing against the dull finish of the distress inked tag. This next tag:

I used different distressed inks to cover the tag and again used the black ink for the tag edges. Once dried I used the MISTI and stamped the image twice using VersaFine black ink. Then covered that with clear embossing powder and heat set that. Once that was done and cooled I covered the whole tag with VersaMark ink and covered it with clear embossing powder and heat set that -- this tag is shiny all over and it gives it a totally different look than the first tag with just the image embossed:

Both tags are cute and will make fun BOO Day bag tags or even a tag on a front of a card. Avery tags are not that expensive and fun to take a shipping tag and make it something SPOOKTACULAR!! Nice stamps from Rubbernecker. TFL

Double BOO to You Post

Working on house projects this week so while paint is drying decided to post two more BOO Day cards for Halloween. Here is the first card:

Went to a local stamp show last weekend and made a stop at the Just For Fun booth. I bought the trick or treaters stamp there and made one Halloween card using that stamp. This is a second card layout from their card sample board using that same stamp. For my card I used #110 weight black card stock from Mikes for the card base. Used a purple card stock for both front pieces to the card.

For the card front I cut a piece of white/GP card stock larger than what I would need for the card front. Covered that with distressed inks. Using the Paint Scratches background stamp from Technique Junkies I stamped that on the distressed piece using black ink. Set this aside.

For the smaller front piece I cut a piece of white/GP to the size I would need. Punched out a circle from scrap card stock for the moon and put that on the white/GP using removable adhesive.  Covered this piece with distressed inks. Removed the circle for the moon. Stamped the trick or treaters near the bottom of this piece using black ink. I wanted them to be really dark so I inked and stamped them twice. For the "happy halloween" stamp over the moon I used a stamp from Impression Obsession. With that stamped I then used a black distress ink and sponged the edges of this piece. Put it on a piece of purple card stock using the ATG. Set it aside.

For the Paint Scratches card front piece I trimmed it to the size I needed for the card front. Sponged the edges with the black distress ink. Stamped a Just For Fun black cat stamp in the lower right corner and used a white gel pen for the eyes on the cat. Put this front piece onto a piece of purple card stock using the ATG and then put these onto the black card stock base. The smaller trick or treaters stamped piece has a small black craft foam sheet behind it to give this piece dimension on the card front. Just For Fun has nice sample boards at their booth and you can't leave there without being inspired for sure!

The second card:

Had picked up the Halloween trees stamp during a recent trip to Enchanted Cottage and never made a card with it until . . .   This card stock base is purple with a piece of black card stock from Mikes for the front. I cut a piece of white/GP card stock larger than what I needed for the card front. Using a circle punch I punched out a circle from scrap card stock and put it on my card stock for the moon using removable adhesive. Covered that white/GP piece with the distressed inks. Once that was covered I removed the circle piece for the moon.

For this card positioning the trees was key. The trees stamp is Batty Trees from Great Impression Stamps. I used the stamp positioner to be sure I would have the trees where I wanted them. I wanted some of the spider webs to be over the white moon so for this card front I stamped right to left to fill the card front using black ink. Once the trees were stamped I trimmed this piece to the size I needed for the card front and then sponged the edges using black distressed ink. Using the ATG I put the card front onto the black card stock from Mikes. Then put these onto the purple card stock base.

For the greeting "Happy Halloween!" I used a stamp from Endless Creations and stamped that onto scrap black card stock with VersaMark ink. Embossed this using white embossing powder. Cut this to the size I wanted using the trimmer. Put this greeting piece onto a piece of black craft foam and put it on the lower left front of the card. Simple card to make but it has enough of the Spook Factor for Halloween. TFL