The witching hour

Hello, crafting friends!

Happy Saturday and welcome to the latest challenge at Addicted to CAS! It's Barb's turn to select a code word to inspire you and I think you're going to have fun with this one:

I know lots of you enjoy halloween and go all out decorating and trick or treating. I don't do halloween but every year I make one or two cards for card challenges and have the best time doing so :) You don't need halloween-themed craft supplies, as I've proved with this card, so if you're not a halloween fan either, go on - have a bit of spooky fun!!

 

My card started off with the cat. I used Funky Fossil's Cat Silhouettes stencil to draw an outline with a fineliner, then coloured the cat with alcohol markers and fussy cut her. For the background, I masked off the bottom of a card base and blended some spooky coloured inks (purple, orange and lime) upwards and towards the centre. 

I stamped some books from Beautiful Books by Sugar Pea Designs, fussy cut them and gave one of them a 'spells' title using a fine-nibbed Posca Acrylic paint pen. The books were arranged in a pile and the cat perched on top. I enjoyed finding some mismatched embellishments in the background colours and finished with a halloween sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Simply Said. 

I hope I've inspired you to make something a bit spooky! There's loads more inspiration on the Addicted to CAS challenge site from all my teamies and you'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post so that you can share your own creation with us. Don't forget to keep you card nice and clean and simple with plenty of clear space - and have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge, where Anything Goes; and Watercooler Wednesday where Helen is hosting the All About Occasions challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I'm just back from the North Norfolk coast where my daughter and Eva and I stayed in a charming traditional flint cottage and enjoyed walking for miles on the beautiful beaches there. It was a bit of a milestone because it was Eva's first time visiting a beach and she truly embraced it...

... as you can see from this photo - joy in canine form!

Sending hugs,

The spooky birds

Hello, crafting friends!

Once, when I was 9 or 10 years old, we had a halloween-themed disco after school. It was the most exciting thing ever! We spent the afternoon decorating the school hall with friezes of witches, ghosts, spiders and other spooky-looking things. Then we went twittering off to the loos to change into our disco outfits and one of the girls had actual eyeshadow!! Giddy huh? But apart from that, I've never celebrated halloween, so I've no idea why today's card turned into a halloween one!

I was looking at these bird stamps, which I found in a tiny craft shop last summer on a trip to London with my daughter. They're from a company called Knorr Prandell which I've never heard of (anyone else?!) I haven't used them yet but thought they'd be perfect for a bird-on-a-wire card.

I started with a card panel, masking off a circle cut with a 1 1/2" circle punch, sponging ink up from one corner of a panel and fading it out. When the mask was removed to reveal a full moon, I stamped the birds over it and used a black fineliner pen to join the branches and add a few more.

It looked so spooky that I realised a halloween sentiment was really the only option ('Thinking of you' or 'Get well soon' would just have been rude!) I found the word halloween in Stampin' Up's Holiday Home stamp set and stamped it repeatedly along a piece of orange cardstock using my stamping platform. Once it was trimmed into a thin strip, I glued it to the bottom of the panel and attached that to a card base with dimensionals.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

Delighted this card was chosen as Diamond Winner at Color My Heart Color Dare!

CHALLENGES

It was AAA Cards' fabulous sketch, and their optional twist of At The Movies, that started me making this card; no prizes for guessing that my movie was The Birds! I chose the colours from the palette 409 at Color My Heart Color Dare - Lagoon, Peacock and Nectarine. I'm also joining in at Allsorts where they want to see at least one circle on our cards. I've never used these bird stamps before so I shall share at NBUS Challenge, the place to show off your Never Before Used Schtuff!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

At Halloween, witches are supposed to commune with their familiars aren't they?

I wonder if this counts...?!!!

Sending hugs,

A bargain and a video tutorial to brighten your weekend!

Everybody's talking about the 'join Stampin' Up for only £25' offer! But what's it all about?! Well, the Stampin' Up starter kit is normally £99 (a great bargain as you get to choose £130 of products to put in your kit and you get free business supplies too); but as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations, Stampin' Up has devised a way for you to experience for yourself the discounts, the resources and the family feel of belonging to the Stampin' Up family for only £25. There are no strings attached and if you don't feel it's for you, there are no penalties for dropping. Here are the details:

• For two weeks only (7th October - 21st October) the usual starter kit will be suspended and you'll be able to buy a starter kit for only £25. You'll get to choose items worth £26.95 and will get business supplies for free.

• You can buy the kit just for yourself or you can decide to share Stampin' Up with family and friends.

• After you've received your starter kit, you'll get a 30% discount on your first order of £150 or more placed within 45 days.

• You'll get 20% discount on orders of any amount after that.

• You'll only need to place orders of £275 or more by 30th April 2014 to be able to carry on being a Stampin' Up demo!

• There'll be lots of chances to earn freebies if you choose - and you'll also be in time to book yourself in for Stampin' Up's exciting 25th anniversary Convention in Manchester!

If you'd like to know more, feel free to email me or phone me on 01280 820593 for a 'no pressure' chat.

And now for something quite different:
I was staring at a Ferrero Rocher chocolate the other day, wondering whether I could turn it into a pumpkin...

... and this is the result! How did I make them? Well, I've put together a video tutorial so you can see!



I am frequently asked to do video tutorials and today's pumpkin treat is hopefully the start of a whole series of them. Even if you don't celebrate halloween, you'll love this quick little treat box, and it could work as an apple for going back to school treats, or a tangerine for Christmas...

I was rather late with this post today so I do apologise if you were wondering where I was. My daughter made me laugh at breakfast the other day when she turned up late and I asked crossly where she'd been and complained that her breakfast was going cold. "Never," she said, "ask a girl who wears cats-eye eye-liner why she's late!"

Have a great weekend, enjoy world cardmaking day and I'll see you soon,

Halloween sweeties in three minutes

'It's all about the candy' states the sentiment on today's card - and that describes the card very nicely! I've used just two stamps from Halloween Hello to make a really quick, fun card for Three Minute Thursday - come and see:

The sweeties were stamped randomly over one half of the smaller panel and the sentiment added to the white space using a stamp-a-majig to make sure it was straight. The sides of the panel were tapped gently into a Summer Starfruit inkpad to make a subtle border.

I stamped the sweetie image one more time onto a scrap of Summer Starfruit card stock, snipped it out with my sharp paper snips and attached it under the sentiment with a dimensional. Very quick and easy!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Halloween Hello
Ink: Wisteria Wonder, Summer Starfruit, Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso
Card stock: Whisper White, scrap of Summer Starfruit
Other: Paper snips, stamp-a-majig

You can order from my online shop any time, day or night, but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help. You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.
• Customers placing orders of £250+ will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!


Talking of sweet treats, do you remember this cute little pumpkin treat I showed you on Monday?

Well, tomorrow will see the relaunch of my video career as I show you how to make it! Be kind!

Hope to have news about joining Stampin' Up for the mad, crazy sum of £25 too! Don't miss that!

See you tomorrow,

Another Halloween Hello and a witches broomstick treat

I love Stampin' Up's Timeless Talk stamp set for its beautiful vintage images but the thing that made me want it most of all was the speech bubble! The size and shape are perfect and the possibilities are endless. It makes the skull from Halloween Hello in today's cards REALLY say hello for instance! Come and see:

How can a skull be cute for goodness sake?! I have no idea, but it sort of just is! And have you spotted the witches broom in the front? There seem to be a lot of sugar-crazed tots around at halloween so here's an idea for an alternative, non-sweet treat for someone smallish.

It's inexpensive and so simple to make: take a length of black card stock; snip it into a fringe; roll it tightly around a black pencil and secure with sticky strip; decorate with striped designer paper and a topper. The striped and spidey papers I used are from the Witches Brew pack and you could make loads of these out of it.

Here's a close up of the cards:

A Summer Starfruit card base contrasts nicely with the black panel. The skull has been heat embossed with white embossing powder and has been given googly eyes!

I've stamped one of the sentiments from the Halloween Hello set in the speech bubble but you could make the skull say whatever you like. Scary or rude, it's up to you!

This skull seems to have a more feminine feel... perhaps it's the rhinestone eyes?!

I do love the stripes on the designer paper and if sweets were going to make an appearance, I'd probably go with liquorice all-sorts which would coordinate beautifully!

Here's what you'll need to make these projects
Stamps: Halloween Hello, Timeless Talk
Ink: Summer Starfruit, Pumpkin Pie classic inks, black stazon
Card stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Summer Starfruit
Other: Witches Brew designer paper, Corner rounder, versamark, white embossing powder, heat tool, googly eyes (from stash), Basic rhinestones, 3/4" and 1/2" circle punches for pencil topper, stamp-a-majig

You can order from my online shop any time, day or night, but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help. You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.
• Orders of £250+ get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!


My boys would have loved the pencil broomstick treats for playing quidditch with. They were both Harry Potter mad and once spent the best part of the holidays lovingly making a quidditch pitch out of lego and toilet rolls. They both had such imaginations but I do remember the yearning in their eyes when they tried to come up with a way of making the snitch - one that actually flew!

See you tomorrow,

Oh Hello at Halloween!

The summer is over; there's an autumn chill in the air; Christmas seems a long way off... what are you going to do? Have a party of course - that would cheer everyone up! And with Halloween just round the corner, you have a ready-made theme! All that's needed now is an invitation - like this one:

This amazing paper from the Witches Brew pack takes all the effort out of creating a bit of atmosphere...

... you wouldn't want these blood suckers getting tangled up in your hair - aaaaaargh!

I thought the gothic shape of the 'you're invited' label was appropriate - I cut it with framelits using my fabulous magnetic platform (highly recommended!), added some gems for drama and stapled a strip of striped paper and a banner over it for a touch of colour.

I thought the inside could say something like: Come over for a quick bite - you can be sure the claret will flow... mwah ha ha ha ha!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Oh Hello
Ink: Pumpkin Pie
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Summer Starfruit
Other: Witches Brew designer paper, Apothecary Accents framelits, Big Shot, Basic Rhinestones, stamp-a-majig

You can order from my online shop any time, day or night, but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help. You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.


My husband was nearly killed by bats once... well perhaps that's overstating it slightly! We were on holiday in a house with an ancient tower. The tower was blocked off from the house but you could get in through an ivy-covered arched door outside and climb its ancient, stone stairs. My husband, who isn't much given to flights of fancy, decided to see the view from the top one evening while out on a solitary walk. Here's the photo he took of the place:

I mean, would you have climbed the tower? He said afterwards that he did feel a bit spooked by it but told himself to pull himself together and set off up the steep stairs. As he climbed, all senses began to jangle until somewhere near the top there was a rustling noise and several bats swooped past his cheek nearly giving him a heart attack! He said the journey down the stairs took a fraction of the time it had taken to go up!

See you tomorrow for more spooky nonsense,

Bats about you at halloween!

Good gracious - it's October tomorrow and not long until halloween! Now, I don't normally 'do' halloween but I was so bowled over by the halloween stamps in the seasonal catalogue that I just had to have a little play... and now I think we might have to have a halloween party this year! Come and see what I've made:

I used the Halloween Hello stamp set which has all sorts of fabulous images in it including this brilliant sentiment, but my favourite is this gorgeous bat:

Oh stop it now! He's absolutely gorgeous! And there's no shortage of lovely old bats in my household so this card would be perfect for any of them!

The bat is flying scarily (well okay, perhaps not that scarily!) out of an oval aperture cut into some designer paper from the Witches Brew range. I added some of my beloved candy dots and eagle eyes might spot the Lucky Limeade organza ribbon that was a freebie earlier in the year... Stampin' Up are very good at coming up with special offers - check out the Special Offer tab at the top of my blog to see current offers.

I'm so excited about the coordinating pumpkin treat - made to my very own design! If you're interested in how it was made, hang on to your seats as I'm hoping to produce a video tutorial later in the week.

Here's what you'll need to make the card
Stamps: Halloween Hello
Ink: Early Espresso
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Witches Brew designer paper, Extra Large Oval punch, Candy Dots, paper snips, Summer Starfruit marker, ribbon (retired), stamp-a-majig

You can order from my online shop any time, day or night, but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help. You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

And as a special thank you for shopping with me, you'll get a free gift and a handmade card when you place your first online order with me during September.


There's a Bat Society where we live and my husband sometimes takes our youngest son out bat spotting. One evening before they went out, we got chatting about bats which led us onto a discussion about Batman, the cartoon strip figure. Who decided that the hunky hero of Gotham City should wear a hat with ears and pants over his trousers - and why is it supposed to be impressive?!

See you tomorrow,

A bit of Mixed Medley creepiness

Halloween is creeping up behind us (aaaargh!) so I thought I'd make my annual foray into spookiness, inspired by the colours at ColourQ and this week's One Layer Wednesday challenge, hosted by Cheryl, to 'Make a Halloween card'.

This is a simple card that relies on the fabulous mix of colours for its impact. I masked off two thirds of the card front with a post it note and sponged the three colours over the remaining third. When the mask was peeled away, the spiders web from Mixed Medley was stamped over the top and a sentiment added. Finally I drew in additional spidey threads with the fine end of my black marker so that the web didn't float about - believe me, I consider spiders' webs quite spooky enough without them being haunted as well!

You know, I didn't have a minute to join in with One Layer Wednesday last week but the challenge was very dear to my heart - Susan's challenge was to 'use one stamp two different ways'. I've completely missed the deadline of course but I'd been dying to do this with my zebra from Zoo Review:

Of course she can be a pony! I just went round the edges of the zebra with my Early Espresso marker, stamped the image, coloured in with Soft Suede ink and an aquapainter and added a mane and tail. Have you noticed how much taller the zebra looks? That is simply because I stamped that sentiment underneath the image! The pony looks quite stubby, bless her little cotton socks - a bit like a Thelwell pony but without the wicked thoughts!

Here's what you'll need to make the halloween card

Stamps: Mixed Medley, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, More Mustard, Tangerine Tango, stazon black

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Basic Black marker, stamp-a-majig
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK, France, Deutschland, Nederland or Osterreich. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on +44 (0) 1280 820593.

My morphing zebra made me think of one of my daughters favourite remarks: "They said I could be anything... so I became cold." Hmm, I know the feeling - I'm off to get a cardi!

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy your crafting!

Halloween card using Baroque Motifs

Ok, I freely admit it - I don't get halloween! We don't celebrate it in my family and I am bewildered every year by the increasingly ghastly array of costumes in the supermarket... But if I DID do halloween, I would send cards like this:

And, I have to confess, I really enjoyed making it! The bat was made by folding a piece of black card stock in half, cutting the bottom diagonally with the scallop square punch and then making a few judicious cuts with my lovely sharp paper snips. The background is just sponged in - very quick and simple!

Here's how to make this card:

• Cut an 8.5cm square piece of Whisper White card stock.
• Sponge it lightly with rough lines of Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Perfect Plum and Not quite Navy ink, overlapping them to blend. Go darker towards the edges of the card stock.
• Ink up the Baroque Motifs swirl with Basic Black ink and stamp over the background.
• Add a sentiment using a stamp-a-majig for accurate position.
• Mount the panel onto 8.8cm Tangerine Tango card stock - you only want a hint of this showing round the edges - and attach to a 9cm square card blank made with Basic Black card stock.
• Make a bat (as described above) and add to the card with a piece snipped off a dimensional.

Supplies
Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Occasional Greetings
Ink: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Perfect Plum, Not quite Navy, Basic Black
Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper White
Other: Scallop Square punch,

Well, I hope everyone that does celebrate halloween has a fabulous weekend!
I'm going to be talking about gift wrapping next week - and we could see the return of the fabulous bag-a-lope - yay!
Hope to see you then,