Halloween Treats

Here's a cute project I found on Erica Cerwin's blog.  I made these for my son and daughter-in-law:

These little boxes each hold 3 Ghirardelli chocolate squares.   They are simple to make and fun to decorate.

Here's very brief tutorial:

Start with a piece of card stock, measuring 5-1/2" x 7".
On the 5-1/2" side, score at 3/4", 1-1/2", 4" and 4-3/4".
One the 7" side, score at 2-3/8" and 4-5/8".

You will have a piece that looks like this:

Now you will cut off the four corners, and cut along the score lines left so it looks like this:

Using your Project Life Corner Rounder, round off the corners (not the little strips, but the other 8 corners).

Fold in the strips and adhere, making a little box:

Place your Ghirardelli squares inside, and using a bone folder, lightly curve the longer pieces; fold over:

The belly band is a piece of card stock or Designer Series Paper (I used the Neutrals Paper Stack), measuring 2" x 8".

I tied some Black Bakers Twine around the belly band, and then cut a 1-3/4" circle, using Pumpkin Pie.  I stamped the witch from Spooky Fun, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored her with Stampin' Write markers.  Then she was cut using the matching Halloween Scenes Edgelits dies and adhered with Dimensionals.

The sentiment, also from Spooky Fun, was stamped and snipped, and added to my belly band.  The finishing touch was a Halloween Night Enamel Dot.

So cute...and so yummy!

All products can be purchased here. 

Take Another Look

Let's take another look at a card posted for the Watercooler Blog Hop (here):

This card uses almost all of my favorite stamps and dies from the Spooky Fun and Halloween Scenes Edgelits Dies sets.  And I had such fun creating it.  The card layout was new to me.  I had seen some of these fun-fold cards on other blogs, and decided this was the perfect time to try it myself.  Look what happens when you open it up:

The card is 5-1/2" x 11", scored at 2-3/4" and 5-1/2".  An easy way to make one of these is to first cut your cardstock 6-3/4" x 11"; score as above, then cut 1-1/4" off the long side.  Flip this piece over and you have the bottom edge of your card with the score lines already in place.

But because I was using the fence from the Halloween Scenes Edgelits, I cut this separately (one loooonnng piece, moving the die and matching it up all the way along the edge).  I set that piece aside to use later.  I also cut out two of the trees, using Basic Black.

Next I took three pieces of Whisper White cardstock to create the panels of the card.  These were sponged with "spooky sky" colors; I placed my trees on the panels so I knew where to start my sunset, and then sponged Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant and finally Night of Navy across the top of the card, blending the colors as I went along.  Once the sponging was done, I adhered the panels to my card.

But I still needed a "hill" in the center, connecting the two trees.  So I just laid the trees next to a piece of Basic Black and hand drew/cut my hill.  These were all adhered to my card.

I also stamped my witch (Memento Tuxedo Black), pumpkins, tombstones and bats.  The witch, pumpkins and tombstones were cut out with the matching dies, and I stamped the ghosts on Vellum cardstock and fussy-cut them.  These are adhered behind the tombstones.

Now that long phrase...as I was making the card, I knew I wanted something along the bottom, but what to write?  I kept thinking and thinking, and suddenly I had a rhyme:  "Witches and goblins, oh what a fright; spooky, scary Halloween Night"

I admit that I had no idea how long this phrase would be; I carefully snipped the Whisper White strips, following the curve of the fence, and just started stamping the phrase, using Labeler Alphabet (love this!  So easy to line up the letters in the words).  As I got to the "spooky, scary" part, I knew I was in deep doo doo...I didn't have enough room.

What to do...what to do...

After all the time I had put into creating this, I wasn't letting a few little words stop me...

I just extended my phrase, adding in one more strip of white cardstock.  So there!

And there you have it!  Creative genius at work...certainly not perfect, but I'm in love with the end product.  And I'm pretty sure my grandkids will love this too!

All products can be purchased here. 

The Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop--What We Love About the New Holiday Catalog

Yes it's time once again for another Watercooler Blog Hop, and this time we'll show our new Holiday Catalog a little love.  Whether you've hopped on here, or come from Marie's fabulous page (weren't her ideas over-the-top wonderful?), I hope you'll enjoy our creations and get some inspiration for your holiday projects.  There are nine stops on this tour; just click on the buttons below to move along.

We have been asked to prepare three items featuring our favorite products from the Holiday Catalog, and I had a hard time choosing.  So I just started creating, and ended up picking three of my creations to share with you.  I hope you like them.

Let's start with Halloween and a double Z-fold card:

Oh my what a fun time I had creating this beauty!  I love Halloween and I especially LOVE creating spooky sky images.  So this card was right up my alley...

Featuring Spooky Fun, I used almost every stamp, and then I used almost every framelit in the Halloween Scenes Edgelits Dies.  Look what happens when I open up the card:

I sponged the sky on three panels of Whisper White card stock, then added the die cut trees.

The fence was cut and added to the border, and I created my own phrase using the Labeler Alphabet stamp set.

My only problem was that my Halloween phrase was longer than my card (insert frowny face), but that didn't stop me--I just added another fold-out extension, and kept on going.  My my, I really love this card!

Let's move on to something more sedate.  I couldn't wait to play with the White Gift Boxes.  Is there anyone else like me who just can't resist a good gift box?  And these are perfect--3" x 3" x 3", and include an acetate sleeve to slide over the box; take a look:

Did I mention these are white?  Because of the "food-safe" quality, they are slightly waxy on the outside, so stamping on them would prove challenging.  But no problem for me--I just covered them with another fantastic product from the holiday catalog--Presents and Pinecones Designer Series Paper!

2-3/4" squares for all sides made these boxes so pretty.  And I added a little trim from the Flourish Thinlits dies and some Cherry Cobbler card stock.  Then I slipped on the sleeve and tied it all up with yet another wonderful new item--Candy Cane Lane Baker's Twine.  It has red metallic thread that is so sparkly!

And see that tag?  Oh my my...another favorite new thing--the Merriest Wishes stamp set with matching Merry Tags Framelits Dies.  But with a twist--this tag is supposed to have a cut out tree; instead, I saved the pieces from the cut out, and glued them together to make a tree.  Such fun!

And I topped it off with a tassel from the Tin of Tags Project Kit--just an extra piece of fun to make your packaging special!

OK, OK, now to my very favorite project--I fell in love with the Detailed Santa Thinlits Dies when I first laid eyes on them.  HAD. TO. HAVE. THEM!  But all the cards I started making with them looked similar, until...

BOOM!  I filled in the cut out face and head with Blushing Bride and Real Red pieces, and suddenly my Santa came alive!  And I put him on a Window Sheet, so you can see through to the inside of the card.

Ain't I clever?

Oh, I'm in love...

Well that's it for me.  I'll have details for each project over the next week, so be sure to pop back in starting Sunday.

And now off you go to Christine's blog, where you are sure to find more creative inspiration!  I love her work.  Thanks for stopping by!