Halloweenie (?) Shadow Box (yep, another one!)

I made this little shadow box from one I got at the Dollar Store – I have had it in my stash forever but I knew someday it’d come in handy and I’d know just what to do with it.  Halloween is definitely one of my top 3 favorite holidays – I love spooky stuff and candy!  The box is only 8 ¼” from the very tip top to the bottom and 7 ¼” side to side so it isn’t very big but I love the little cubby holes and I wish I had bought more. I don't have any pictures of the construction of the box as it's fairly cut & dry; if you have any questions you can either leave a comment for me or use the "contact me" form.

First I gessoed the wooden shadowbox twice.  When I am working with wood, I am careful to ensure it is totally covered because wood will just soak up whatever medium you put on it and in the case of this, with all the nooks and crannies I wanted to be sure the entire box was covered.  And at this stage, I really didn’t know what I was going to do with the box and when I don’t know I try to prep for anything <grin>.

Here's the box after I painted it.

The paint is hand mixed dark gray acrylic (I used my trusty Golden acrylics); I just used some black paint and white paint until I found the color I liked & painted the whole box.  A trick I like to use when mixing paint is I mix it in a plastic cup so when I think I am done I can pop a piece of waxed paper over the top with an elastic and save the mix; inevitably I need the paint again, either to touch something up or fix a mistake and I have kept acrylic paint for days using this trick.  The last thing I want to do is try to mix the exact color because experience has shown me time & time again I won’t be able to do it.  Then when the project is done, or at least the painting part, I can just toss the cup away.  If I only need a little paint I will use those little plastic cups that come with liquid cold medicine and then I’ll wash the cup out and keep it; I have tried to do this with the regular cups but because they have ridges on the sides I can never get the paint out completely so I toss it even though I hate adding to trash.  I can never seem to get the perfect amount of paint out of the container – I always end up with too much, so this way I can at least try to save it.

Once my box was all painted, I started to fool around with finding things that fit in the cubby holes.  I measured one of the cubbies and cut little rectangles out of black and orange card stock but I kept having to trim them to fit in the holes. I measured again and again had to trim – well, come to find out ALL the cubbies were different sizes – oh JOY – at least it wasn’t my measuring skills this time, LOL.  But I decided I really didn’t want the box to be too Halloween like (Halloweenie?) in case I wanted to display it all year (I’m lucky, my honey likes creepy stuff too) so out when all the rectangles. 

I had gotten an order I placed and forget I even ordered the DCWV La Crème stack and once I saw it I thought, it was perfect for the background of the holes.  You can only see some of the paper but I like the fact that if you look really close you can spot it.  The pictures of the skulls, web, Devil, Edgar Allen Poe and the witch are all from clip art.  I got the really cool picture of the lady holding her head from Kris Dickinson’s blog called A Nostalgic Halloween (she is an amazing artist; check out her ATCs!), the two little girls are from a collage sheet from a company that’s gone out of business and the “eyes” face I had in my stash of photos – I don’t know where it came from but I think its Charles Manson.  The poison label at the top is an authentic label from my stash of pharmacy labels.  The swirl is a piece of Tim Holtz grudge board painted with acrylic black paint (I used my tip about the tiny cold medicine cups with the black paint.  Even though it wasn’t a hand mixed color I knew I missed some spots the first time I painted it and, like usual, I knew I’d splotch out much more paint that I needed, so I kept it in the little cup – worked great!).  The adorable black plastic cat is from an eBay purchase eons ago.  The 2 medicine bottles came from The Pork Chop Show – I glued little wooden circles (the size of bingo chips but without the number) to the back of them so I could have them stand out a bit.  The Dresden trim came from a kit club I used to belong to but it is easy to find online, I got the puffy fabric bat ribbon from the same club (but again, I am sure you can find it if you really want it).  I made the black crystal ball out of a marble glued to another little wood thingie (same as the kind I used above) painted silver with a Krylon Leafing pen.  I had the little bottle & ribbon in my stash as well as the little copper nuggets that are inside the bottle (I don’t even know what I am going to use the rest of the little nuggets for – don’t even know why or where I got them! <grin>).  The black chain came from a Dazzles sheet from Paper Wishes called Steampunk . I thought it would be cool to give the pictures some dimension so I picked a few, Edgar, the witch & the web and glued little wooden thingies (the same ones I used to make the crystal ball) to the backs of them and then glued them in place.

This is a view of the dimension.

 Lastly, the little drip of blood running down the side is a drip of resin I made when I had mixed too much.  Once it dried, I painted it with red acrylic paint on the flat side then just glued it on. 

Stunning isn't it?

There ya go – my Shadow Box – I really enjoyed making this a lot and I have quite a stash of various sized shadow boxes so I know I’ll make another one (I know I have one more with the cubbies in it - I just don't know where it's hiding). . .hmmm, is it too early for Christmas?

I would like to enter my shadow box in the following challenges:
My Crafty Life - Anything But a Card (over the end of November)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Rhedd and Rosie Challenge - Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Anything Goes

Get Inky! - 3D Holiday

Creative Inspirations Paint - Anything Goes
Drunken Stampers - Goth or Halloween 
Left of Center Creative Challenges - Halloween or Creepy (entry 2)

The BOO Banner

I have seen a plethora of banners lately but this is my first attempt to make one; mostly because I have no where to hang one & I can’t draw a crooked line.  But then I got my Silhouette Cameo and I actually made my own triangles and viola! My banner was born – well, at least the idea of my banner.

 

In hindsight, I would have made them larger as I don’t feel I had enough room to truly decorate the individual triangles as much as I wanted but overall I am pleased with the results. 

First, I designed the triangles – the tops are about 5” across and the V part is about 6 ½” on each side. I cut them from more of the My Mind’s Eye Halloween paper I had (all from the old Spooked collection).  I then dug through my stash of Dresden – I knew I had these medallion-like black pieces and I thought they’d look great on the banner.  I then used my Silhouette Cameo  to make the BOO letters – I cut them out in various fonts and sizes because I am still not trusting of the measurements the machine shows me & I wanted to pick the best one for the banner.  And who doesn’t like to play around and try different things? Plus, I know I can use whatever I have left on another project.  So I picked the letters I wanted to use and glued them to the medallions.  I put a black plastic gem on each tip to, hopefully, give some weight to the paper; I had originally planned on using this wonderful orange piece of plastic folder under the triangles but I ruined it by drawing on the wrong side with a black Sharpie – so I threw the plastic and the idea out.  I got this wonderful pack of paper, called Glitter Silk from Core’dinations so I decided to punch out some stars to add some bling.  I was surprised at how easily this paper was punched – I used a small old star punch, one of those button ones (not the cool new lever ones) and it punched like a dream! I have had more issues with trying to punch regular card stock than this paper and if you get a chance to get some I highly recommend it.

So I ironed my ribbon (that I got from May Arts) that I used to actually dangle my triangles from – I know, I was shocked that I actually ironed it but I really wanted the ribbon to be creased in half & the only way to do that was to iron it.  I haven’t used my iron in years and am happy to report it worked fine.  Then I glued my banner pieces to the ribbon.  I used “ribbon glue” hoping that the glue wouldn’t show through the ribbon and for the most part, it stayed hidden.  I decided my banner needed more bling and I found a foam die cut I had made of a skull using one of the Tim Holtz Sizzix Dies and it looked blah, so I glittered it.  I also decided to punch out some more stars, just bigger, to add along the ribbon. 

That was it!  I must confess the word “boo” means more to me than just a word to use to scare someone.  As some of you know, I am the mom to four beautiful kitties, 2 boys, Spike, who will be 19,and Boo, who is 17. My girls are Monster, 16, and Mew, 4 months .  Boo is a Mama’s boy – he hates everyone but me.  Honestly.  If I am home alone he acts almost like a normal cat, but if someone else is around, he would live under the bed if I fed him and provided a litter box.  He recently had some dental surgery and I’m happy to report he came out fine and is starting to feel much better – so this banner is also a celebration of Boo’s recovery! (the pictures aren't the best - the banner is literally tacked to my wall in the laundry room.  To see them bigger, as always, just click on them).

 

I am entering my banner in the following challenges:                        
Crafty Ribbons Challenge  - Anything Goes

2 Sisters Challenge  - cute & spooky

Crafts 4 Eternity - Halloween

Cut It Up - Halloween/Day of the Dead

Left of Center  - Halloween/LOC

I am adding my project to this challenge as well - Thanks Linda!!
Craft My Life - Anything But a Card (challenge runs for 2 months)

Thank you for stopping by!  I have one more spooktacular project to share before Halloween is over – look for it to be posted in the next few days.

And if you are wondering where I found these fantastic challenges to enter just take a look at Challenges for Days – an awesome blog that lists crafty challenges!

Halloween Shadow Box & May Arts Ribbon Halloween Crafts Challenge

I had a shadow box frame I had bought at a hobby store ages ago & it’s been hanging around my craft room getting in my way so I decided to use it to make a project out of some scrumptious May Arts Ribbon I had gotten so I could play in their  Halloween Crafts Challenge  - please go take a look at the amazing creations that other artists made for this challenge; and, if you leave a comment about which project is your favorite you will be in the running to win some ribbon for yourself!  

The wooden frame did have a glass front but I took that out and will use it another time.  I gessoed the frame and then painted it with Lumiere Pewter acrylic paint – if you have never worked with Lumiere paint it is the most beautiful metallic acrylic paint I have ever seen & the colors are amazing! It is made by Jacquard Products and I strongly suggest you get a bottle – there are SO many colors and color combinations you can choose from & you can find them online or in art stores; I’ve seen them priced any where from $3.50 to $5.00, a pretty good deal since the small bottles are 2.25 fluid ounces and can last you a while.  Anyway. . .

Skelly's hanging with his bird friend

I had this very long old necklace I had gotten from a friend of my mother’s who was cleaning out her jewelry – the necklace had been broken once and there was a knot in it or I probably would have kept it to wear – but I cut it and used a length on each side of the box.  I altered a Dollar Tree skeleton (I had to cut him apart & rearrange him a bit) gave him a Dollar Tree bird buddy (who was painted with black acrylic paint long before this project) and made him a festive hat out of some of the May Arts ribbon.  I also added some ruby red gems to his eye sockets so he'd be that much scarier.

And a close up of his scary eyes & cute hat

For the back of the box I painted the panel with Golden Quinacridone Violet with some Golden Micaceous Iron Oxide mixed in (gives it a shimmer that you can't see in the pictures) and then I put some of the spider web ribbon on the top (doesn’t this ribbon rock!?!). I then cut out the Happy Halloween, in orange card stock with my Silhouette Cameo machine & glued it to a piece of the silky black ribbon and attached that below the spider web ribbon. 

My Bat

I had the metal pumpkin in my stash, attached that to the back panel.  I had made the bat already; he is from a mold I made with Amazing Mold Putty (the original of the bat is a metal stamping I have) and then he was cast out of Amazing Clear Cast Resin. I painted him with Golden Carbon Black and attached him to the top of the shadow box.  Done! 

DONE!

I love LOVE this box – it has to be one of the projects I am most proud of and it went together like a dream!  It started as one of those ideas that just seem to sprout wings and all the elements just flocked together (get it? Wings, flock? LOL).  I hope you enjoyed my project & I encourage you to visit both the May Arts Blog & Amazing Mold Putty (find the links within the post). 

I knew I had a better picture of the entire box!

I’d like to enter this shadow box in the following challenges:

•  Creative Cutting Challenge – Halloween, not a card (my SVG is the Happy Halloween Words) 
•  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – Spooky 
•  Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – Halloween or Halloween Colors 
•  The Ribbon Reel Challenge – Purple & Black with a Halloween theme plus Ribbon
• Anything But a Card – Orange and/or Black 
• Drunken Stampers – Wood (The frame is wood)

I'm Falling For You. . .

This is my second post of the day (yes, I am on a roll!) so if you are looking for the most recent Happy Halloween card I've made, please scroll down (but, before you go, please consider taking a look at this card & leaving me some blog love ~ thanks!)

Fall is in the air! Autumn is my favorite time of year and I love all the colors that surround me.

I have made versions of this card before as I made a HUGE pile of punch out leaves, in fall colors,  years ago using a McGill Creativity punch of a maple leaf.  It was so long ago that I made these leaves that I can’t even remember why I made so many of them.  But I did, and so I am using them when I can.  The card base is another pre-made card I got and it is a deep red.  The first thing I did was make the sentiment “I’m falling for You” in Microsoft Publisher – in the past I have used tiny alphabet stamps for the words, but this time I wanted to make a quick card and using the computer is MUCH quicker for me than trying to ensure all those letters stamp out correctly (all the alphabet stamps I have are old – red rubber on cushion mounted to wood, so there is no seeing where they land).  So I made my letters to form the sentiment in a few fonts, printed them out on vanilla cardstock and chose the one I liked the best.  I just hand cut the letters & words out because I wanted it to look wonky and flawed (which is much easier than perfect!) I didn’t have to worry about crooked lines.  After the letters were cut, the first thing I did was practice where I wanted them – to me, in regards to this card, the “falling” was the most important part as the letters had to be placed like they were literally falling.  After I glued the letters to the base, I began to sort out where I want the leaves.  Next, I chose a few of the leaves to pop out and I used pop-up stickers on those.  Then I glued down the rest of the leaves, again in no particular order, only paying attention to the colors as I didn’t want 2 of the same color next to each other. 

Another fun, easy to make card, and it’s perfect to send to someone as a secret admirer or someone you love.  I also think this is easy enough (if you place the letters) for the kids to help with (but as much as I try, I can’t get the furbabies to help, they only want to play! Just as well, I can’t imagine cleaning glue off their paws).  Hope you enjoyed the card & have a sparkling day ~

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Use Your Stuff - Color Challenge (use orange, brown & green) 

Creative Craft Challenges 2 - Anything Goes

Inky Impressions - Fall/Autumn 

Crafting With Dragonflies - Nature/Leaves/Trees

Redd & Rosie's Challenge Blog - Shades of Autumn

How did I find all these awesome challenges to enter?? Just take a look at Challenges for Days, where you can find a challenge to enter for almost any type of paper craft!

Happy Halloween Card (again!)

I have made another Halloween card to share! I am trying ever so hard to use up some of my stash as I am getting a HUGE order today from my friend at AlleyStamp – this is a link to Janine’s Esty Shop – if she doesn’t have what you want in stock, contact her and she’ll get it!And her prices are fabulous!

 For this cute Halloween card I used a purple pre-made card that I got from a kit ages ago & I took the negative of a Happy Halloween I had cut out with my Silhouette Cameo for another project, layered it on black so you could really see it and then attached it to the card.  I then took some old dimensional stickers that I had gotten from a friend and made a little scene with the haunted house and the tree.  Finally, I had a piece of fence that I had also cut using my Silhouette Cameo and I just glued that onto the stickers so it would pop out a bit.

This may help you see the dimension a bit better

 Easy as pie & I think it’s so cute ~ enjoy your day!!

I am entering this Halloween Card in the following challenges:

Left of Center - LOC/Halloween/Orange/Black 

613 Avenue - Anything Goes (using chart on the website) 

Sister Act (Cards Only) - Anything Goes

Make My Monday - Halloween

Card Mania Challenge - Halloween

Spooky. . .

I have really wanting to play with my stamps lately – nothing fancy, just back to some basics.  When I saw the weekly challenge for Funkie Junkie Boutique an idea was immediately sparked.  I love Halloween (as you know if you have been reading this blog) and I have a bunch of rubber stamps that reflect that love.  I am also a paper hoarder; in other words, when I find a paper that I like I hate to use it but, this challenge entry was born out of love for piece of Basic Grey paper from their “Eerie” collection, the paper name is Beware, and according to the Basic Grey website, it is a current collection. How could you NOT love this paper? All flourish-y and not a speck of orange so I can use it for my creepy creations that are not centered on Halloween exclusively – like this one - and enjoy it all year round. I purposely left off anything Halloween related; sort of a self test if you will.  
 
So I began with the cardboard back of an 8½” x 11” paper pad and covered it with my designer paper.   Then I began to stamp; I stamped on some scrap paper, I stamped on some white cardstock, some cream cardstock, a few papers I had colored with Distress Inks and even a piece of kraft colored paper that was used in packaging from something that I bought!  Some of the images I fussy cut, others I cut with punches and still others I ripped – I have always enjoyed making collages, ever since I can remember, and this was SO much fun (such a nice feeling after my Halloween Box from Hell)!  

The entire collage - click to see it bigger

I am not going to go into the exact building of the piece as it is really a personal preference and you can see where I put everything, so let me tell you what materials I used:

STAMPS
The following are from Paula’s Kit Club out of Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers – the company has since closed, but you can purchase some of Paula’s stamps here at StampFransico

§      Poison Label (I punched the cat out & glued it on the label)

§      Warning May Be Habit Forming

§      Last Will & Testament

§      Undertaker

§      Warming: Not to be used. . .  (Long warning statement)

Then we have these following stamps:

§      Sebastian (Winged Skeleton) from Meer Image

§      Right & Left Skull from MadRat Rubber 

§      VooHoo Doll from Wild Frog Creations 

§      Tarot Cards & Ouija Board from gg designs 

§      Nevermore from Viva Las Vegas 

§      French Script from Stampin’ Up!

§      The Devils Head & Reading the Hand are from unknown companies

INK

§      Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black

§      Distress Ink in Brushed Corduroy, Forest Moss & Fired Brick

EMBELLISHMENTS and MISC:

§      Cat Punch (Prowling Cat by PunchBunch)

§      Bird Punch (Martha Stewart)

§      Embossing Ink (for Ouija Board)

§      Black Embossing Powder (for Ouija Board)

§      Flower (I had an old dusty blue one that I colored with black spritz ink)

§      Metal Ghost Charm

§      Ranger Glossy Accents (covered the metal ghost charm with it)

§      Silhouette Cameo for Flames at the bottom

§      Tim Holtz Movers & Shakers Skull & Bat die cut (for bat in left corner, die cut out of lightweight cardboard & painted black)

So there you go!  Like I said in the beginning of the post I just really had the urge to do something without feeling all sorts of “pressure” (yes, I apply the pressure myself) and I truly had a great time getting back to my roots so to speak.  I still have a few more cards & projects to share in the next few days so stay tuned!  

I am entering this project in the following challeges:

§      Funkie Junkie Boutique – challenge “What’s Your Poison?”   

§      Unruly PaperArts - RAQ2 - Going Batty

§      Crafting by Designs - Anything Goes

§      Left of Center Creative Challenges - Halloween/Spooky

§      Cut It Up - Day of the Dead or Halloween (I chose Halloween & used the Tim Holtz bat die cut)

§      Tando Creative Challenges - Spook it!

§      Creative Creations Challenges - Halloween

§      Oh La La Creations - Things with Wings (Sebastian the Skeleton)

§      Stamp and Create - Fall or Halloween (I chose Halloween)

§      Incy Wincy Design - Halloween 

Where did I find all these challenges to enter?!?! Why at Challenges for Days please go take a look and don't forget to subscribe!

The Little Halloween Box from Hell

Did you ever have a project that started out fine but then became such a nightmare you were tempted more than once to just chuck the thing through the window? Welcome to that project.  The saga of the small Halloween demon box from Hell begins now.

It started out innocent enough – on one of my trips to the Dollar Tree (dollar store) I found a cute little wooden box with a magnetic closure.  Yippee!  That was the best part of this project for me. 

First, let me tell you I adore Halloween.  Love it, love everything about it; the spookiness, the candy, the weather, the colors, everything.  So I make lots of Halloween decorations, just for me to enjoy. And that is what I decided to do with my cute little box.  I thought I would try to do “things right” this time and I actually took the hinges off (and put straight pins in the hinge holes so I wouldn’t fill them with paint and lose them – I am so brilliant sometimes!) so I could decorate the box without having to worry about getting paint and whatnot on them.  I gessoed the box and thought about what color I’d like to paint it.  This is where my nightmare began.

I had bought some cheap acrylic paints quite a while back and I had one called “Sparkle Black” or something like that – I can’t tell you the actual name because I threw the thing away – and I happily painted my box with this wonderful paint, expecting some shimmer in the black. If you read my blog you know I am a fanatical “drier” – I let things dry overnight, at least.  Well, my cute little box got to dry even longer because we were hit with a massive heat wave, like two weeks in the high 90’s.  When I went back to my box, I noticed that the coverage wasn’t even – at all.  It was streaky and I could still see some of the white gesso under the paint.  No problem, I just put another coat on it and went about my business.  Well, when I went back to my box it stuck to the wax paper. I have never had this happen before but I dutifully touched up the spots and set it to dry again.  It looked OK, no shimmer or sparkle, but I didn’t really mind that it was a “regular” black.  This time I had put the 2 pieces of the box together and left it for a while as I attended to other projects.  The 2 sides didn’t exactly stick together, but I had to use some effort to get them apart which caused some of the paint to chip again.  OK, by this time, I am getting a tad irritated, but I touched up the spots and left it. 

I had gotten the “Steampunk Spells” DCWV paper pack and I compulsively save paper that I love so I was determined to use something out of the stack; my theory being if it is cut once it’s OK to cut again.  I had picked out a cute little label for the top of the box and had some of the paper die cut flowers and gears that came with the stack – so spooky!  As I went to try and see how the label was going to look on the top the light hit the inside of the box and it was STILL streaky and now I was mad.  I decided right then to throw the stupid paint out (which I NEVER do) and just break out my Golden Carbon Black.  After I finally fixed the paint (by painting over the box with carbon black), I took some old ribbon I had gotten in a kit and glued it around the edge of the top.  I then decided to seal the whole box with some gel medium because I was certain I didn’t get ever single spot with my good acrylic paint and if this box chipped one more time I was going to throw it in the road and run it over.  This painting part of the project took me about three weeks, between the heat wave, the touch ups and finally painting it with the Golden paint. 

Sure enough, I had missed covering some of the old paint.  And the spots I had missed became reactivated when I brushed the gel medium onto the box, which of course I didn’t realize until I brushed some on my ribbon.  Ok, I can live with the ribbon being muted by the now black gel medium; I didn’t really have a choice because I certainly wasn’t going to rip the ribbon off and start over – I mean it is a dollar store box and I was afraid it would disintegrate if I messed with it any more.  Plus, the thought of gessoing the box and painting it again was just NOT an option.  I think it makes the ribbon look more spooky (yes, I am trying to make myself feel better). 

The ribbon on the left is adhered to the box & the ribbon on the right (the nice shiny ribbon) is what it looked like prior to me sealing the box with gel medium.

I forged ahead.  I decided I needed a shelf inside the box because I was going to make it stand up as opposed to open like a regular box.  So I made a shelf out of a piece of scrap chipboard; all I did was fold it so it fit, in an upside U shape so I had a shelf & two "legs",  I then covered the shelf with black gaffer’s tape so it would have a bit of sturdiness to it.  To my surprise it worked! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the shelf before I put it in the box.

Then I began to fill my box with all the cute little goodies I had in my stash.  I can’t even tell you where this stuff came from because I have been collecting it for years.  Feel free to put whatever you have hanging around in your box.  I made the spells, elixir and notions labels in Microsoft Publisher and I used some of the flowers & gears out of the paper pack to decorate a little bit.  I glued my cut out on the front (I waited until last to do this because I ADORE this paper and I would have been completely insane if somehow this demon box messed up the label and made it unusable) and the little flower.  I did end up putting four black pony beads on the bottom of the box (and now you can’t open it up all the way or it falls over – par for the course with this project) and you will see the feet in some pictures. 

Not sure why it looks filmy in this picture

The box is on it's back here

 Here are the items I used:

The actual box:

Small wooden box (Dollar Tree)

Black Acrylic Paint (I FINALLY used Golden Carbon Black)

Length of ribbon for around the top

DCWV Steampunk Spells Paper Stack & paper die cuts

Glossy gel medium (I use GOLDEN)

4 straight pins for the holes that the hinges go in (so you don’t fill the holes with paint)

Handle brad (with the little things cut off so it lies flat)

 

Inside the box: 

Wooden Bottles (Scotty’s Pork Chop Show this is a link to his Esty shop but he is also on eBay)

Skull Button (with the shank cut off)

Krylon Gold Leaf Pen (to paint the weird head game piece)

Spell Book (I made mine out of a Mahjong piece, and covered it with the Steampunk Spells paper. Why a Mahjong piece? Cause it fit perfectly!)

Elixir bottle (I have TONS of little bottles)

Notions (I used a small white box for this)

Small ghost with pumpkin

Glass candy corn (I know this was a table scatter but can’t recall where I got it)

And here is the inside

I am actually really pleased with how it came out considering.  Please let me know what you think & I would love to hear your stories of “craft projects from hell.”

I would also like to enter my little Halloween Box from Hell in the following challenges:
C.R.A.F.T, Challenge # 128 - Autumn/Halloween/Thanksgiving (I went with Halloween)
My Craft Creations - Anything Goes
Country View Challenge - Something Spooky (second entry)
Crafty Catz - #202 Time for Halloween
Creative Inspirations Paint - Inspired by Halloween (second entry)
DL.Art - October Linky Party
Hobbycutz Challenge - #19 Halloween
Left of Center Creative Challenges - LOC/Halloween/Orange/Black
Unruly PaperArts - Black (RAQ1)

Spooky Words Halloween Card

I find myself using more & more paper sets lately – I never realized the potential of these coordinated papers, and how much easier it is to create things when the matching is done for you! 

This charming card was made out a paper stack I have from My Mind’s Eye – that pack is called “Spooked” and all the embellishments are from the same set.  The arrow I cut out with my new Silhouette Cameo (and I am SO proud of myself – I am technically challenged and I HATE reading directions – I know, a dangerous combination – and for me to have actually figured out how to draw something free hand and get it to cut is a miracle!) out of paper called “Spook Star Dots”, the front panel was cut out from “Spooked Spooky Words” and then layered onto a purple card. The little Trick or Treat embellishment is actually one of those labels that I cut in half.  Unfortunately, My Mind’s Eye has discontinued the paper pack but you can find some of the papers by doing an internet search, asking your local paper craft store or by doing an internet search.  I think this card is super cute (which is another “out of the box” project for me!) and I hope you enjoyed it.  Please take a moment to see my other blog posts and please consider following me – thanks!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Cuttin and Stampin - Halloween

Craftin' Boutique Challenge - Halloween
Imagination Crafts - Halloween
The Paper Players - Trick or Treat - Halloween Card or Treat Holder
The Cupboard Trilogy - Halloween/Fall