A Haunting Sky Card

To begin with this card was easy to put together but some planning had to be in place for where to start - I used a couple of older Stampin Up stamp sets for this Halloween card:

The tree/owl stamp is from the SU stamp set House of Haunts with the holiday greeting from the SU Web Wishes stamp set. Now to black ink... it isn't always the ink that does not work out or the stamp you are using. Many times it is the card stock. This photo shows two stamped images using ColorBox black ink but the stamped images are different in shade:

The stamped image on the left is stamped on white/GP card stock. The stamped image on the right is stamped onto Whisper White card stock from Stampin Up.  With my image and card stock chosen I began making my card. #110 weight black card stock base is from Mikes and prints are from the stash. Cut and scored the black card stock base with the scored line at the top. Cut my two prints to the size I wanted for the card front. Set these all aside.

For the stamped image -- to begin with I decided I wanted to use a rectangle frame die for the black frame around the stamped image. Cut out a black frame using a rectangle frame die that would fit over the stamped tree/owl with the moon piece.  I cut a piece of Whisper White card stock larger than the black frame and I used a piece of white/GP for my masking piece:

This masking piece is wider and longer than the white piece I was using for the stamped card front piece.  First I punched out a circle for the mask for the moon on my stamped image. Using temporary adhesive I put the circle piece onto the Whisper White for the card front. Using the Stampin Up Detailed Floral die set once again I sponged clouds on my piece. Here is the template/stencil I had made before to make clouds on cards:

For this card I sponged SU Going Gray over the template/stencil piece moving it around and turning it over as I sponged so as not to have a striped cloud pattern across my card front. With the clouds all sponged on the piece I removed the circle for the moon. Put the masking piece over my sponged cloud piece and covered that with SU Daffodil Delight ink with a sponge, leaving a little white showing. With the mask still in place I went over that using SU Pumpkin Pie ink and a sponge. Removed the masking piece. Here is a photo to show the clouds:

I laid the black die cut frame piece over the clouds/moon piece being sure the full moon would be inside the frame piece. Using the black ColorBox ink I stamped my tree/owl stamp onto the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig clear sheet so I would be sure my image was inside the area my black frame die cut piece would be. Once I had the placement correct I removed the stamped clear sheet and the black frame die cut piece and stamped my tree/owl image onto the card front. With that stamped I put the black frame die cut piece over my stamped image and used a pencil to make light pencil lines so I would know where to trim off the stamped image piece to fit behind the frame piece. With that trimmed I used the ATG and put the black frame onto my stamped image. Cut  a black craft foam sheet to fit behind this piece for the card front. Put the stamped image onto the black craft foam piece using double sided tape. Cut a piece of light gray #110 weight card stock from Mikes to put the framed piece on.

With the card base cut and scored I used the ATG to put the dotted card stock and the candy corn printed card stock onto the black card stock base. Using the ATG I put the stamped image piece onto the black card stock base. For the greeting "Happy Halloween!" I used a stamp from the SU stamp set Web Wishes from 2004. That stamp reads:

Happy Halloween!
From our web to yours

I inked the "Happy Halloween!" part of the stamp using the black ColorBox ink and stamped that onto scrap Whisper White card stock. Used a ruler to mark my trimming lines and once trimmed I used the SU banner punch to punch the ends. Put a piece of SU Pumpkin Pie card stock behind my greeting banner. Used black crystals from the stash to add to the banner piece. Did not want the banner piece to be on pop dots but wanted some dimension with it so I layered three pieces of tear and tape on top of each other to 'clear' the level the black die cut frame gives the card front:

This is a simple card to put together but with me using the rectangle die for my black frame I had to be sure once that was cut out that the stamping and moon pieces would fit inside the frame. Once again a big thanks to Shelly Godby from Stampingsmiles.com who showed how easy it is to give the sky on your card dimension using the SU Detail Floral dies and sponging ink over it! Her tip is a keeper for sure. TFL

Ghirardelli Treat Holders

In the past I have made lots of Ghirardelli treat holders for various holidays - here are some photos of some of those treat holders:

First photo is a box that holds a couple of the candies and the bottom photo holds two of the candies and the gingerbread man on the front is made using a Stampin Up floral punch. Lots of treat holders for the Ghirardelli candies and I just came across another one by Nina S at "wallastamping.com". I had seen her how-to video on Youtube for my holders -- here is the link to her video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqzJcodF8sY

Here is a photo of the four Ghirardelli treat holders I made using her idea:

These holders use very little card stock so you can use up some of your scraps making these. When I made my first treat holder using her pattern I decided the lid to my box was a bit big so I adjusted the measurement and made my four boxes. To begin with the bottom of the box is cut 4 3/4" x 4 3/4". You take this to the score board and score it on all four sides at 1 3/8". The top to the box is cut to 3 1/16" x 3 1/16". Once cut I took that to the score board and scored it on all four sides at 1/2". With all my scored lines made on both pieces I then trimmed the wedges on the pieces and added tear and tape to put this together -- 

Followed her video for trimming and cuts. Peeled off the backing to the tape and put the box bottom and box lid pieces together. I used various colours and prints for my boxes. Used prints for the "belly bands" around my boxes. Those bands are 7 1/2" x 5/8" long. As Nina suggests in her video I put the bands around the boxes and pinched the folds on the bands rather than use the score board for those. Again used tear and tape to hold them together. 

Decorated the top of each box - this one I used two punches for the pumpkin face:

Pumpkin face punch I bought used and the pumpkin punch is M Stewart. First I punched the face stamp from Pumpkin Pie card stock:

Used the pumpkin punch and punched over that for the face, Then punched out a solid black pumpkin to put behind the face pumpkin:

Put the pumpkin face piece onto the black pumpkin using a glue pen. Used a SU label punch and punched out a black label. Put the pumpkins face onto this label piece using a large pop dot. As she had shown in her video I tied twine around that and trimmed it to size after I put the pumpkins face onto the black label piece. Added orange crystals to that piece:

For the bats box I used a stamp from Gina K Designs and stamped it onto yellow card stock. Punched that out using a circle punch and sponged the edges of that. Punched out a circle from black glittered card stock and put the greeting circle onto the glittered circle using red sticky tape. 

For the Trick or Treat box I stamped the greeting onto orange card stock. Sponged the edges using black ink. Punched out a black glittered circle and put this greeting onto that using the red sticky tape again. Used the SU banner punch and punched out two small banner pieces. Stacked those under the round greeting piece. Wanted some sparkle on this circle so I used a small circle punch and punched out three circles from the glittered black card. Put those on the greeting circle using a glue pen:

 For the "Boo" box I used a SU label punch for that and an SU stamp set. Put this onto a Pumpkin Pie oval piece using double sided tape. Put these on top of the belly band using tear and tape.  The belly band on this holder is one of the Halloween shelf strips I picked up at Walgreens for free one year when they were taking down their Halloween decorations while I was at the store. This photo shows the prints I used for the belly bands on my boxes:

These boxes go together quickly and are fun to mix and match scraps from the stash. Another cute holder for the Ghirardelli candies and thanks to Nina S for sharing her idea and video! TFL

Haunted Halloween Card

*** This card was chosen as a Favorites of the Week on Splitcoast Stampers ***  Thanks to Carlene and Nancy W for that!

Card stock base is green with black card stock for the front and striped print is from the stash.

Cut and scored the green card stock base with the scored line at the top. Cut the black and striped print to the size I needed for the front. Used the ATG and put these pieces together and then put them onto the green card stock base.

For the die cut coffin pieces I used the From the Crypt-Haunted die from Taylored Expressions. Cut that out of #110 weight black card stock from Mikes. Using the matching die set Label Stackets 11 I cut out a white/GP coffin piece to fit behind the haunted house coffin die cut piece. Covered the white/GP piece with clouds sponging black ink onto this piece. I used a tip from Shelly Godby from Stampingsmiles.com. She had shared her tip using a die from the SU Detailed Floral die set and here is a photo of these pieces:

I used the die from that SU die set and cut out a piece of #110 weight black card stock from Mikes. Following Shelly's tip I moved the die cut piece all over my white/GP piece so that my clouds would not be stripes across the white/GP piece. Here is a photo of the clouds on the white/GP background piece and a what the black die cut piece looks like before I put it all together:

For the moon I used scrap yellow card stock and punched out a 1" circle. Sponged the edges with Pumpkin Pie ink. Used scrap yellow card stock and cut that to the size I needed to put behind the windows of the haunted house. Used a glue pen to put that behind the die cut piece.

Laid the black die cut piece on top of the cloud piece and then decided where to put the moon piece. Used a glue pen and put the moon piece behind the black die cut piece. Then used the glue pen and put the black die cut piece over the clouds/moon piece. Used the Label Stacklet die set and cut out a purple coffin to put behind the black die cut piece. Used the ATG and put these two pieces together:

Using a spider border punch from M Stewart I punched out a strip of black card stock and cut it to the size I wanted for the sides of the coffin piece. Used red sticky tape to put the two spider web pieces on the sides of the die cut coffin piece.

For the greeting "Happy Halloween" I used a black marker and coloured this greeting and used the huff method to stamp this onto scrap white/GP. That greeting is on the bottom of the single Haunted Forest SU stamp. Once that was stamped I used a banner punch for the two ends. Added purple crystals from the stash to that:

Put the die cut coffin pieces onto the card front using the ATG. Put the greeting across the bottom of the black die cut piece using double sided tape. Using micro mini glue dots I added small sequins to the card front. The dies cut the card stock easily with one pass in the Big Shot. Another thanks to Shelly Godby for sharing her clouds idea using a floral die set from SU. TFL

Give Thanks Wreath Card

Card stock base is Pumpkin Pie with cream card stock from Close To My Heart for the card front. Checked print is from the stash.

For this card I cut and scored the card stock base with the score line at the top. Cut the cream card stock to the size I needed for the card front. Added two strips of the checked print to each side of the cream card stock using the ATG. Set these aside.

For the wreath -- used a twig wreath die and cut out the wreath from Crumb Cake card stock. Put this onto the cream card front using a glue pen. For the leaf/sprig pieces I used distressed inks on white/GP card stock. Using the Stitched Leaf Wreath die from Simon Says Stamp I cut out the distressed piece of card stock and this gave me different shaped leaves - I kept cutting out this die to use up the distressed card stock:

The distressed inks give the leaves the autumn colours. With the leaves cut out I used the M Stewart sprig punch and punched out a few sprigs from the distressed ink card stock. Put the leaves together for my wreath using glue dots and added sprigs to these. Here is the cluster for the bottom of the wreath:

and the cluster for the top of the wreath with a twine bow added:

Used a die for the "give thanks" and I cut that out of scrap Pumpkin Pie card stock with Stick It sheet behind it. Once that was cut out I made it into "klipboard" -- cut the words out from a tear tab from a kleenex box. Put these card board words behind the Pumpkin Pie card stock words and this gives my die cut greeting some height:

The die easily cut the lightweight card board from the kleenex box in one pass through the Big Shot machine. Used the ATG and put the cream card stock front onto the Pumpkin Pie card stock base. Used a glue pen to put the "give thanks" in the center of the wreath. Used glue dots to add the leaf/sprig clusters to the wreath. Added a gold crystal to the center of the bow. Used micro mini glue dots for the sequins.

All the die cut leaves have different colours on them and different shading so they capture the autumn colours. Have plenty of leaves now for other autumn cards. TFL

Halloween Greetings Card

Card stock base is orange card stock scored with fold at the top. Used the Taylored Expressions Ray of Sunshine cutting plate for the starburst pattern. Scrap printed card stock used for the starburst.

Cut and scored the orange card stock for the base of the card but did not crease the scored line. Used black card stock with Ken Oliver Stick It sheet on the back to cut out the starburst cutting plate. Peeled the backing off this black die cut piece and put this onto the orange card front:

Cut small pieces of printed card stocks using the trimmer and cut out the starburst cutting plate:

Used a glue pen to put all the printed card stock pieces onto the card front starburst die cut piece.

Stamped the Taylored Expression Graphic Greetings Halloween stamp onto white/GP using ColorBox black ink in the Misti. Trimmed this to the size I wanted and sponged the edges with black ink. Cut a piece of orange card stock a bit larger than my stamped piece. Put that behind the stamped greeting piece using the ATG. Put this onto black craft foam using double sided tape.

For the two glittered ghosts I used a Fiskars punch -- to get the ghosts facing two different directions I punched out one ghost from glittered card stock with the glittered side facing up:

then turned the glittered card stock with the glittered side down and punched out another ghost:

Used a small circle punch and punched eyes for the ghosts. Used a 1/4" circle punch and punched out black circles to put behind the ghosts eyes. Put those circles onto the ghost head using a glue pen. Put the ghosts onto the card front using glue dots.

Added sequins and two black foil card stock bats to the greeting piece using TomBow glue:

The starburst die cuts all the card stocks with the pieces coming out of the die easily. Another card that uses printed card stock scraps. TFL

If the Shoe Fits Card

Card stock base is #110 weight black card stock from Mikes. Strip card stock is Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby and dotted print is from stash. Cut and scored the black card stock with the fold at the top of the card. Cut the striped card stock to the size I needed for the card front. Cut a piece of the dotted print one inch wide to fit on the striped piece. Put the dotted print onto the stripes piece using the ATG. Sponged the edges of this piece with black ink. Set these aside.

For the spider web I cut a piece of black card stock for the web. Stamped the Tim Holtz Halloween ticket stamp onto scrap white/GP card stock using black ink. Used scissors to cut this out. Sponged the edges of this with black ink. For the Witch Shoe I used a Die-Version die and cut this out of shiny black card stock that had Ken Oliver Stick It sheet on the back.. Used a rectangle frame die from MFTstamps for the Pumpkin Pie frame for the shoe. Cut a piece of lavender card stock to fit behind the die cut shoe. Used tear and tape and put the frame piece onto the lavender piece. Peeled the backing off the die cut shoe piece and put this in the frame.

For the small stars in the frame -- I placed an order with Sunnystudio.com and they sent me a small trio star die and I used that die to cut out three stars using foil card stock in different colours. Put the stars in the frame using a glue pen. To finish the frame piece I added three black crystals from the stash to two different corners.

Used the ATG and put the striped card stock front onto the black card stock base. Used a glue pen and put the die cut spider web piece in the upper left corner of the card with the web hanging over the top and the left side of the card front. Used a dollar bug punch and punch out a bug from shiny black card stock and put that on the web using a mini glue dot:

Used the drippy goop border punch from M Stewart and punched out a strip of green glittered card stock. Cut this piece to the size I needed for the bottom of the frame piece. Put this on the frame using thin red sticky tape. Put the frame piece on a piece of black craft foam and put this onto the card front. This photo shows the dimension the craft foam gives the frame piece:

Here is a photo to show the stamped ticket piece:

Here is a better photo of the frame piece to show the shoe and the stars:

Fun card to put together using the Witch Shoe die and combining it with a spider web and Halloween ticket. This shoe die easily cut the shiny card stock that had the Stick It sheet on the back of it. TFL

Haunted House Card

Used the Impression Obsession Halloween Hill die for this Halloween card:

Last Halloween I had made this Halloween card using a tip from Shelly Godby at Stampingsmiles.com:

Shelly Godby's tip was using the Stampin Up Detailed Floral die set to make her cloudy sky - as she did I cut out the die piece she used for her card. I cut my piece from #110 black card stock from Mikes:

At the bottom of this die cut piece I wrote the stamp set Floral Phrases and die set Detailed Floral so in the future I would know what products I used for this template piece. I keep it in a ziplock plastic bag on the bulletin board in the craft room rather than keep it with the die set or stamp set. As Shelly instructs I sponged my ink over the die cut template piece being sure to move the template piece all over my card stock so that I do not have a striped pattern for my sky.

On my card I wanted a lot of the black to show on the card front so I cut a piece of the black card stock larger than what I would need for the card front. I cut the IO Halloween Hill die from #110 weight black card stock from Mikes. Then I cut the die out of white/GP card stock. I used a glue pen and put the black die cut piece onto the white die cut piece off setting it to show a little of the white card stock. For the windows in the house I cut out scrap yellow card stock and put those pieces behind the windows using a glue pen.

Decided I wanted a second tree to use with my die cut piece so I used the Halloween Hill die and cut out scrap black and scrap white card stock over the tree on the die and cut those out. Used scissors to trim any excess pieces off. Again using a glue pen I put the black tree onto the white tree and off set that.  Set all the die cut pieces aside.

Cut and scored a card stock base of the black #110 weight card stock from Mikes with the scored line at the top of the card. Cut a piece of gray card stock a bit larger than I would need for my card. Using the die cut template for my clouds I used black ink to sponge over the template moving this from side to side as I sponged. Also turned over the template to sponge and was careful not to keep the template in the same location from row to row to avoid making striped clouds. Once that was done I used a 1 3/4" circle punch and punched out a piece of scrap yellow card stock for the moon. Sponged over it and the edges with SU Pumpkin Pie ink:

With all pieces done I put the Halloween Hill die cut pieces onto the sponged clouds card front using the ATG. With that in place I took this to the trimmer and trimmed this to the size I needed for the card stock base. Decided where I wanted the moon to be and put that on the card front using the ATG. For the extra die cut tree piece I tucked that behind the die cut piece on the front of the card and I put that in place using a glue pen. This photo shows that I did not use any adhesive behind the detailed die cut pieces as this gives the card dimension:

I used a glue pen and added the bats to the card front. Put the card front onto the card stock base using the ATG.  The "happy halloween!" greeting is from the SU stamp set Spooky Fun. I stamped that onto a scrap piece of golden yellow card stock using black ink. Trimmed it with the trimmer and used a banner punch for the tail. Added a black gem from the stash. Put this onto the card front using glue dots. Very easy card to put together with spooky results. Another thank you to Shelly Godby for her cloudy sky tip from last year!  TFL

Burst Card

In the past I have made Starburst or Sunburst cards and they went together relatively simple. Hardest part was deciding what printed card stocks to put together for the Starburst/Sunburst pattern. First is a Halloween card I had made:

Just had to decide where on the card front I wanted the design to start/stop so I could stamp my greeting. This next card I made was for Christmas using this pattern:

Both cards went together with no problems and this pattern is easy to do.. . .

In a recent copy of one of my favorite British card making magazines, Papercraft Inspirations, are two cards that were made using the Starburst/Sunburst pattern but the triangles used for their pattern are not all the same size and the measurements are in centimeters and not inches so let the games begin. . .

Liked the cards enough to want to make one so first I had to look up the conversion chart for the centimeters to inches and of course it is not that simple.... they do not come out even on a conversion chart but I forged ahead and here is a summer card I made using their pattern:

Their pattern uses three different sized triangles cut in half corner to corner and then these pieces are put onto a solid card stock -- for my card I used solid red card stock from Mikes. Began with:

Card stock base is white #110 weight card stock from Mikes scored at the top. For the card front I used a black dotted card stock from Hobby Lobby. Cut that to the size I needed for the card front. Green polka dot print is Mikes. Cut that to put onto the black dotted card stock. Put these two pieces together using the ATG. My watermelon printed card stock triangle pieces is card stock also from Hobby Lobby. Once all the printed triangles were cut I sponged the edges using green ink.  Using the ATG and a glue pen I layered my printed triangle pieces onto the red triangle pieces. Then I put these onto the green print/black print piece using the ATG. Once those were all in place I used a trimmer to cut off the over hanging triangle pieces on all four sides. Sponged the edges of the card front piece using the green ink. Put this card front piece onto the card base using the ATG.

For the "happy summer" I used two stamps from the LawnFawn stamp set Happy Summer. Had recently bought a black ink pad from Close To My Heart in their new style pad.  Here is a photo of this new style ink pad compared to the Stampin Up ink pads:

and opened:

Sooner than later it always happens -- one of the SU ink pads comes off the "track" and it is very hard to get the lid back on track to close the ink pad. But the new Close To My Heart ink pads have magnetic lids and you can easily open and close them with one hand! No track issues to deal with and it is such a nice design -- will be ordering more of these ink pads for sure -- here is the contact info for the Close To My Heart gal I order from if you need a CTMH contact:

www.donnaschaeffer.ctmh.com

These ink pads cover the stamp evenly so no splotchy stamping. Easy to clean off the stamps as well. I stamped the "happy summer" stamp and the ants stamp onto scrap white/GP card stock. Used a circle punch to cut that out. Layered it onto a green dotted card stock circle and then put these onto a red scalloped circle using the ATG.  Put this onto the card front using pop dots for dimension:

This photo shows the sponging and the dimension the layered triangles give the card front:

With the card front complete I decided to add three green crystals to the greeting circle for a little sparkle and shine.

The magazine always has many "how to" step by step photos of their projects and since I had to figure out all these measurements into inches I decided to write my measurements on the pages so if I should use this pattern again it will be easy to measure and cut my triangles. Never had done the Starburst/Sunburst pattern with layering pieces before and IRL it gives the card front a lot of dimension. TFL