Fancy Pants Spooky Halloween Layout

Crop Chocolate and Halloween!!! One of my all time favorite holidays for which to go all out. Christmas is the FIRST. I guess I like the late summer early autumn days because they signal the end of summer and the beginning of Fall. Life renewing itself by going into a restful state. I told my son that if I don't get out soon with my camera, we will miss the changing of the leaves. Everything seems to be happening much faster. I am a Chocolatier and wanted to share with you the project I posted to Sweet Talk using the Fancy Pants Trick or Treat Paper Kit.

This picture did not come out as bright as I wanted, but I was also trying to avoid having light reflect from the pictures. The background paper is the Skulls sheet. I used the stars on the reverse.

I started out by creating the tree for the project. I drew this freehand and then used a Fiskars texture plate, Black Distress Ink and some of the Pebbles pearlescent chalks to bring it to life.

I cut the tree larger than I needed it to be so that it could be trimmed. Next time I think I will leave a bit more trunk width.

I used foam dots to lift the branches. The moon was stamped with a Foam Stamp from Martha Stewart. I used the Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed Distress Inks and clear embossing powder.

Again, blogger will not allow me to turn the photo.

I cut the frames using Spellbinder dies. Instead of using paper to mat the photos, I thought I would create a frame to go over the top. The sign was cut from one piece, I used the reverse solid side of the Candy Corn on which to stamp.

I will most likely incorporate the leftover pieces into a card or a companion layout.




Now on to the title. I cut one of the strips from the Trick or Treat Strips sheet. EEKS! was perfect.

 

I achieved this look by using Ranger's Glossy Accents and a variety of Martha Stewart Beads. They really make the page shimmer.

The border strip was created in sections using the Martha Stewart Pumpkin punch and emboss.

After stamping them, I used ink to bring out the embossing and glued them together. The hats and the black cat are from Spellbinders. The fall leaves are from a swap.

The bats are from a Making Memories Foam Stamp Set. I stamped onto the back of some American Crafts glossy paper, cut them out and used the scoreboard to create bones for the bat's wings.

The remaining embellishements were either from a swap or my stash. I used rhinestones on the spider's eyes and the cat's to make them just a wee bit spookier.

Hope you have a lot of fun getting ready for Halloween, for those who celebrate. I love driving by the homes and seeing what people have done. Did you know that Halloween is the most celebrated holiday and really brings in the big bucks? Kidding, I made that up. Seriously, it is true.

As you decorate and prepare, think of what might look a little more frightening with a bit of glitter, sparkle or even ink.

Until then.

Buddy Page Swap

Hello everyone. It is finally here; the completed Buddy Page. This was a lot of fun and gave me the opportunity to use up all of those pictures taken by a professional studio. Vee-dios embedded below.

This challenged me in several ways: creating a page for some one else, designing in such a limited format (6x6) and finally being able to use some flowers on a layout. I was so giddy with excitement, that I did not know to handle it.

Buddy Page Swap part 1

I had wanted to keep the journaling hidden by placing it under another decorative piece of paper but was not able to add that element.

Buddy Page Swap Page 2

Hope you enjoy the layout and can find some inspiration from it.

Keep thinking and inking in the name of love.
Until then

Back to School

Well, whether we are for or against; it is that time again. Back to school for all of the kiddies in my neighborhood. We have all gone to a common schedule so traffic should be much worse than usual. Gee, can you tell how excited I am?

To help improve my sour mood I decided to make some welcome to second grade treat bags for my son's class. This was a last minute decision but turned out well, I think.

 The idea came from a video I saw on YouTube. When I find it, I will post it. The plastic bags are the make a mold treat bags size 3.75 x6. When I cut my topper paper I used letter size and just trimmed off a bit on the side and then cut it in half.

Then I trimmed each piece to 4 1/2 scored on the mid line and inked the edges.

The 2nd grade was cut at 2" from the Locker Talk cartridge on page 73. I used the shift and layers key to get the phrase. No matter how many ways I resized and rotated this picture it still would not come out landscape. That is one of the features I miss about the old blogger. You could turn pics once inserting them. Maybe I should move over to Wordpress.

Then I repeated but used the shift and blackout to get the base piece which I inked with Distress Ink.

I used the Quickie glue pen to adhere all of the pieces to the base which I inked. Then wrote Welcome to and signed from my family on the reverse side. My son separated all of the candies and put them into the baggies. 

What became of those leftover pieces? Well they will be used on a layout for this school year as a base piece.

Waste not want not is my motto.

Here is to wishing you and the children in your life a wonderful start to the beginning of a new school year. Keep to your schedule and provide a supportive role to your child and the teacher. When you get a moment to sneak away and craft, try adding a bit of ink. It will make a world of difference.

Until then.