The Pumpkin Patch

I made today's card business size with a craft paper base and then mounted green and a printed sheet from the DCWV Amber Autumn stack. I cut the pumpkin patch sign at 3" from Happy Hauntings and then trimmed off the jagged edges and added more brown paper to the post of the sign to make it taller. At 3" it cut bigger than I had expected so, I wanted to size it down a little more to scale. The vine, I cut at 2" from the October 31 cartridge and the pumpkins I cut in various sizes from 1/2" - 1 1/2" using the Pumpkin Carving cart.

A Graveyard Delight

Halloween is almost here, can you believe it? Today's card started with the skull borders and became a grave themed Halloween card that I think my niece will love. I cut two skull borders from the October 31 cartridge, both at 5". Then I took some G Studio purple glitter glue and added it to all of the vines of the border (once I started, I just couldn't stop) and the gunmetal Stickles to the skulls so that they would stand apart from the vines. Yes, it was a little time consuming but, I was really pleased with the end result. The mat paper is from the DCWV Hauntings stack. The gravestone is the first in the October 31 cartridge as well, cut at 4" and then inked with black. It took a while to decide what else to do and then I remembered the Halloween buttons I had bought in a Making Memories (I think) set and I decided to use it. When I laid it on the tombstone, I thought 'oh, black gem eyes would look great' so, before I glued the button on, I made dots with a pencil where I wanted the eyes to be, removed the button, added the gems and then glued the button on. The 'beware' sentiment is from a set of chipboards that I got in the $1 bin at Target. Halloween will be here soon......

Batty Over You

Today is another card with the October 31 moon. A friend asked me to make her a couple of Halloween cards and she loved my first moon card so, why not? I cut the moon (from October 31) at 3" in the same Core'dinations pearl paper and then the bats, I cut in different sizes from 1/4" to 1" from the Happy Hauntings cartridge. I didn't cut the layers for them but, I inked them around the edges which really made them look like they were coming right out of the paper. The glitter mat sheet and corner punch were the same that I used on the previous moon card. I added the ribbon from Michael's and then the sentiment from a G Studio's stamp onto a scrap piece of the pearl paper, border punched and mounted onto the same gray. That moon is just a fabulous cut, what can I say. :)

Creepy Crawly Spider Egg Pod

Today's card is one of my favorites, a Halloween one for the MPS challenge! I think I will send it to my little sis for Halloween because I am sure she will appreciate it. The base of the card is gray 5x7 with a black layer and then the silver, white, black stripe paper from the DCWV All Dressed Up stack (love this stack). My original plan was to make the spider egg pod but, I made it bigger than what I like and cut it down to what you see here. I hand cut the tear drop shape using a scrap piece of black cardstock. Then, I covered the front with adhesive tape and added some cotton to it from an unrolled cotton ball. I cut some little spiders about a month earlier that were actually a layer of one of the Happy Hauntings framed cuts. I added the spiders and then covered the entire thing with a small piece of white panty hose.

The spiderweb was cut from the October 31 cartridge and the egg pod was glued into the center of the web to 'drip' down from the web. I added a couple more larger spiders to the outside and a pearl gem to one of the backs. The ribbon is from Martha Stewart Crafts and I punched the bottom of the black mat and the top mat using the Marta Stewart drippy goo border punch. I am soooo pleased at the way this one turned out!

Candy Apple of my Eye

I have been wanting to make the candy apple on the October 31 cartridge and I wanted to try to make layers since there aren't any for this solutions cartridge AND I wanted to see how it looked with Glossy Accents. So, I cut the candy apple at 4 1/2" in three different layers. The first is the light color that I wanted for the stick. The second was done on Design Studio, removing the 'drippy' cuts that are on the actual apple and then cut in red to show an apple under the caramel and then the red stick portion trimmed off. The third is the caramel with all the cuts and the stick trimmed off. I was VERY pleased at the results and the Glossy Accents! The actual card is a red base with a plaid mat paper from the DCWV Hauntings stack. I cut the green strip across the top at 1 1/2" then the cream color at 1" and stamped 'Apple of my Eye' from a Studio G stamp and then added some fall colored rhinestones.

Hairy Scary Spider

More Halloween here! Today's card was kind of an experiment for me. I used the Spiderweb cuttlebug folder to emboss a white sheet and then tried to ink it with black so that you could see the spiderweb. I didn't love it but, it turned out ok. I inked the edges of the white card stock in black as well. I cut the spider at 4" from the October 31 cartridge using a sheet from the DCWV Hauntings stack. The sheet is green with a glossy back Halloween design around the edges. I also used the EK Success wide Spiderweb border punch. The sentiment is from Studio G and I mounted and pop dotted it. This was a quick card but, I think it turned out well for an experiment.

Midnight Moon

Another Halloween card today, can you tell I am looking forward to it? This one is a 5x7 inspired by the fabulous black glittered card stock that screams Halloween night, right? So, I started with a gray base and then the black glitter card stock as my mat. I cut the moon at 5" from the October 31 cartridge using Core'dinations Foundations Golden Pearl paper. The bat buttons are my first attempt at using a needle on cardstock. I was really happy with them. I found them at Archiver's...they are from the Little Yellow Bicycle, the 'Frightful Collection'. LOVE them! And then the tag sentiment....clear glitter adhesives from Making Memories, in their 'Spellbound' collection (Archiver's) along with a brad. It was blue with hearts and I didn't have any black so, I colored it black using a sharpie, it worked very well. Then I punched the corners with a Fiskars corner punch.

On the inside, I used a bat from the adhesive glitter collection mentioned above and then added some little 'bats' that are actually the punched corners from the black glitter mat. They have the same shape so, I thought I use them. The sentiment is from Studio G. I think this is by far my favorite Halloween card so far. :) Let me know what you think!

Enter if You Dare

SO, I am sooo ready for the fall. Cool weather, football, and Halloween!!! I am a big fan of Halloween so, naturally, I've purchased the Pumpkin Carving, October 31, AND the Happy Hauntings cartridge. Love all of them! Naturally though, they are inspiring me to make some Halloween themed cards. Today I have the 'enter if you dare' card. This is a 5x7 gate fold that was inspired by the second gate on the October 31 cartridge. This gate cuts in two different pieces so, I thought how perfect to cut the gate for a gate fold card. The card base is solid black card stock and then I mounted a printed sheet from the DCWV 'The Haunting Collection' stack. I cut the gate at 4 1/2" out of solid black cardstock. When you get ready to glue these gates though, you need to be quick about it. I just dab dots of glue all over using the small Zig glue pen. If you don't do it quickly, the first ones will dry by the time you get the last ones. :)

I found the "Enter if you Dare" phrase on the Happy Hauntings cartridge and decided to cut it at 1 3/4" with a dark purple base and a black top layer and then I glued only half of it and attached it to the card so that it isn't permanently stuck to the card, preventing the card from being opened. Then I decided on bats...hmmm. Lots of bats in these cartridges, in some different layers. I love the bat on the Happy Hauntings cart but, when I cut it, it was bigger than what I wanted for the card and the purple top layer was VERY thin so, I didn't think I could cut it smaller without it ripping. Instead, I chose the bat from frame3, layer 1 shift and the one from the cat key, layer function, both at 7 1/2". Since these bats were actually layers on other cuts, I needed to cut them in a larger size to be sure they were big enough to put on the card. I cut two of each, a top layer in black and a bottom layer in purple.

On the inside, I mounted a grey piece of Archiver's card stock, cut a bit smaller than 5x7 . I cut the graveyard from the Happy Hauntings cartridge as well. It was the graveyard shift cut and then the graveyard layer 1, both at 3 1/2". I used my Design Studio to see test the different sizes before cutting. I don't save it as a cut file but, I do like to check it out on DS before cutting so that I don't waste paper when I do the actual cut. Once I cut the top 'grass' layer, the tips of the grass were white from the core of the card stock so I inked them with a matching green color to hide the white core. Then I decided to ink the edges of the tombstones to give them more of an aged look so, I did that using the Cat's Eye alabaster ink pad. I had to trim a little from the sides of the graveyard cut so that it would fit in the card and then ink a little more. This led to me ink the edges of the gray mat in black, I think it adds to the spooky Halloween feel of the card. I added some more bats at the top to complete the inside.