Beware BOO Tags

Awhile back I had seen a Halloween project on the internet but could not find a posting for it to tell me what products were used. Although the project was cute I only wanted the skull and crossbones product used to use for my BOO day (Halloween) tags.  Decided I would search the internet and see where I could find this product....  Long time later I gave up on it being a die... so this product was now on the "hope to find someday" product list . . .  until . . .

Had seen a video on YouTube a few weeks back and a gal had made Halloween embellishments and at the end of her video she showed embellishments she had made featuring the skull and crossbones I had been searching for -- as she explained the project she said she had used the EK Success punch for her skull and crossbones and it was an older punch from her stash. . . Punch? I had not thought of that as I did not realize this is an older product. Off to Ebay to search for it. . .  Came up with nothing and I thought maybe I would try Etsy.com as in the past I have been able to find older products on that for sale.  Happy me to find this punch for sale and it arrived yesterday!! Here is a photo of this punch:

This is a thicker punch and I wanted to try it on three different card stocks to see how well it would work. In this photo I punched out a black glittered card stock, #110 weight black card stock from Mikes, as well as a black foil card stock. The punch punched them all out with no problems. That is a drawback from buying a used punch in that you really will not know how well it punches out the shape until you try it for yourself. The seller had wrapped the punch very well and used bubble wrap and the punch arrived in mint condition:

When I bought this punch I had already decided I would use it to make tags for my BOO Bags I am making for Halloween for my treat holders. Here are two tags I just made using this new to me punch:

Now to another problem -- I wanted to have these tags be larger than my normal tag dies and I have a set of these larger tag dies from My Creative Time.  But that die set cuts wonky stitches on the tag piece and I did not want that. To get my tags I laid the largest die in that die set on top of the #110 weight black card stock from Mikes and I used scissors to cut this out. I cut out two for my tags.

For the printed card stocks on my tags I used all scraps in the Halloween printed card stock bin so that I would not be cutting up anymore full sheets of card stock. The printed scrap sizes dictated how long the flags/banners I would have on the tags. First I used the larger scraps and cut a piece longer than the tag but a bit narrower for the front of my tags.  I used the ATG and put this onto the tag. I turned it over and I used scissors to trim off the tag corners and top. Punched a hole for the tag top.  This way my whole tag is covered with the printed card stock from the top to the bottom of the tag.. Set those aside.

I used the Hobby Lobby three banners punch and punched out a 2" wide and a 1 1/2" wide banner piece. A longer one and then a shorter one for each tag. I used the ATG and put the smaller banner on top of the larger banner piece. I put this onto the tag front, again using the ATG, and turned the tag over and trimmed off the top and the corners so the prints would match the tag shape. Used a small circle punch and punched the tag hole in the prints.  Stamped my greeting "Happy Halloween" on scrap white/GP card stock using Close To My Heart black ink. I trimmed this piece to the size I wanted and used a small banner punch for the ends. Then I sponged the edges of the greeting banner with black ink and put them onto solid card stock scraps.

For the skull pieces - I used black glittered card stock for one skull and a glittered silver card stock for the other. I also punched skulls out of scrap #110 weight black card stock. I used TomBow glue to put the black card stock skull behind the glittered skulls. This gives the skull more stiffness and shape. I used various printed card stocks and the Sizzix Rosette die set and die cut two different rosettes. I put those together using hot glue. Put the skull in the center of the rosette and set them aside.

Using Glossy Accents I added a glittered card stock bow to each skull. The bow punch is older and I had gotten that at Hobby Lobby.  I added a crystal from the stash to each bow:

Using hot glue I put the skulls on the rosettes and then put the rosettes onto the banner pieces on the tags. Used foam tape to put the greeting pieces on the tags.

For the twine on the tag I used black and white twine from my stash. Put it through the hole at the top of the tag. To keep it in place I used hot glue to add my black and white gingham bows that I had made using my Bow It All tool. With the bows on I added crystals from the stash to the tag fronts randomly. Here is a closed photo to show the bow is over the twine at the tag top:

Using hot glue to add the bow to the tag top will also keep the twine from being able to fall off the tag and the glue will also keep the loop I made putting the twine on the tag in place. Happy I was able to find this punch after my long search ... now I am down to searching for one die from long ago -- Sizzix 658979 which is a Decorative Frame die - it is a movers and shapers die from long ago but hoping to find it on Ebay or maybe a used stampers sale next time someone in the area has one.

Glad to be able to use so many of the printed card stock scrap pieces for the tags. Have cut out more pieces for more of these tags I am making and the scraps make each tag look different so that will be nice that everything does not match. Easy project to put together as well! Thinking by the end of the weekend that punch will get a good workout --- haha.  Happy I finally found it to add to the craft room stash. . .