S: Halloween Kit "The Back Yard"

     I promise I have been doing all kinds of crafty stuff! I may not post all of it as to not bore you to death, but it does happen. Yesterday Christy joined me on the beach for a CTMH (Close to my Heart) Scrapbooking Gathering. For those of you that may not know what CTMH is please go to this site and check it out. They have great stuff and it's wonderful quality. I have to admit I am a little bias but I'll keep the shameless plugs to a bare minimum. ;)

     For today however I did work on the Halloween Kit almost finishing my back cover. I had been working on all of the components but to see them together I am quite pleased.

     I finally painstakingly cut out the little skeleton bones I had applied Liquid Glass to all the way down to every little finger joint.

     I glued down my heavy cardstock house that I colored in with colored pencils. I made sure to blacken all the edges so that when I layered it up it would be cohesive!

     Attached the graveyard! I adore this graveyard and pictures to me do not do it justice. With the shading and even the little snips on the edges for blades of grass. To me this is just awesome.

     I had made a fence piece to give this even more depth. I did not glue it flat but pushed the fence up between post so it came off the paper.

Again DIMENTION!!!! tehehe.

     What is an eerie fence post without a deviouse kitteh! Yes, KITTEH! <~intentional spelling error. This is the little guy (..or girl) that I cut out of the kitteh paper. I glued his paws down sliding the back one slightly behind the fence and the front ones with one on each side. A few foamy squares later and he pops off the page!







    
     Speaking of foam pop dots, er squares. I wanted to be able to tilt the book left and right and have a nice effect to it. Hence I blackened the squares with a marker. Just so it wasn't an in your face white dot when you inspect it closer.

And just to fill in the mass amount of blackness in the background which I may add to later, I sketched a few spooky dead looking trees with a questionable thing hanging from on. Ghost smoke coming from the chimney and a few dots for stars and its not half shabby.

 

A Halloween Tag

Christy here and today I am going to share a tag I made for my mini album. 

I was a lot of work! But I am liking - not 100% loving - the way it turned out. The tag is just card stock. Then I layered lots of strips that were about 1/4" wide on top of the base to give it the "wood" look. Each little piece was inked to age it. I added some shimmer mist and a stamp. The "web" was a piece of black plastic mesh that was in the kit & then I layered a spider, also from the kit, on top of the web. The orange rick rack was just stapled on the tag. The witch was cut from one of the papers in the kit & I added some stickles to her for a little bling. 

I used a little piece of white wood fence on top of the witch (wish she would have been moved up higher). The fence I inked then layered embossing powder up to achieve the desired aged look. 

Over all I like it. Wish the witch was moved up a little, but when I was gluing her in place she attached herself to my hand and I couldn't get her back fast enough :( 

This tag will definitely add some bulk to my mini!! 

S: Halloween Kit Phase 2

Yes I should be reprimanded! 11 days between posts is inexcusable. Christy has chastised me severely and I have been through the necessary punishment. ;) I'm so naughty. But to catch up on everything, last weekend Christy and I got a ton of stuff done on our Halloween mini books. I will say the link she posted on her last post is a lot to live up to but great for inspiration!

Here is the current progress I have now. Which by the way, Christy over the weekend knocked her pages out like they were nothing! She was a tag making factory and I was hard pressed to keep up.

I took this awesome glittery swirl paper for a photo mat, note the just small details. I used the ripped paper from the spider gem page to make a little ruffle down one side. Candy in the corners, and even eyes popping out of the zombie goodies! I then moved to the tag page, using a prisma color brush pen in a little darker tone to sketch out some corner cob webs. The tags need a little more oomph but I will revisit those later.  The spider gem page is I think the only one that is almost 100% done. Even down to the little detail of the spider spinning down from a piece of rope. Which may not be webbing but was a part of my kit and I thought it was well placed. More to come over this weekend!

Our Creative Process!

Happy Haunting Mini

Ok, so I have been busy with a sick little boy this week and then yesterday I had a killer migraine :( not much fun at all!!
So, today I am posting a link to a mini album I am inspired by.. I love the gate & am planning on creating one for my Halloween Mini Album. My Gazelle by Bosskut will be out and in full use this weekend!
Well... Off to play around with my tags and mini album :) have a great day everybody!!

The mini continues...

Yesterday Susan came over an we actually crafted! Normally we chat and get nothing made (that's not bad)... But I was happy because I was able to complete a few pages! 

I still have to work on the tags, but I needed to get the base done and then go from that. I kept the pages simple to keep the bulk down in my book, but I am sure that will change near the end and I will be adding extras to the pages :)

This is where my book has been stuck for a few weeks :(

This is what it looks like now, with a few pages inside completed. 

And when it's opened. 

This page is very minimal. The photo mat doubles as a pocket for a tag. The tag is BLANK. I am sure I will add some bling to the sides of the mat & of course add to the tag. I might even add another tag :)

This is my fave page so far. The paper flower, made from the cutouts in the kit. The cute spider sticker :) I still have more tag work, but I got a little more done with these two. 

I orange inked all of the flower petal layers and added a green brad in the middle to hold it together. And look at that spider :)

The background paper is adorable. The pumpkins are embossed and add texture to the base of this page. The spider web cutout is my pocket & I layered the spider web ribbon on top... Super cute!

The dreaded Halloween Mini album continues...

No, not really :( I am stuck! I haven't picked up my mini in a few days. It's been so warm and I am not feeling very Fall at all (haha). 

This is what I am up to... Looking for inspiration and in need of page layout ideas. 

I went looking online (yeah, I use Google - sorry Susan & Bing). Of course there are a TON of cute albums and I even found a few ideas I may attempt when I complete this one. 

This is a cute idea for a page. It will hold some of the smaller tags. I really like how simple the design is since I don't want my album to be too thick. 

This is another page I like, the cat head peeking from behind the pocket is cute! 

Well, I am hoping to pull out my supplies and maybe complete a page to share soon. 

S: Halloween Kit Phase 1

    Hello guys and gals, I know, I know... It's been far to long. But after the battle of life and time paired with a sick hubby I have returned!!! (insert compelling music here).
     You know when Christy set this to be our project I did not understand the caliber of it until I sat down with it and got to know it. I pulled everything out of its neat little bag then started tearing into other little bags and well, its a lot! But no fear! I will conquer!

Step 1: Learn to tie a noose!

      After I typed in my request into my Bing search engine *sorry Google* you would be amazed at the amount of knowledgeable people out there that can tie a noose skillfully. Kinda would have me worried if I thought to much about it. Moving on I used the wonderful pictures at WikiHow and in a matter of moments turned Pro! Around my little Skelli's neck and we were set. Yes he has a name!


 Next with my loyal model to assist me. That's Ash ;). I cut out a arched back kitty from my kitty paper. I will admit I am not much for X-acto knives so this challenging. I made sure to rub a black pen around the edges since the paper was white core. No perfect black kitties have any white showing. :)

     I finally decided at this point that I needed more of a plan of action. I have printed off some of these great layout pages from Above Rubies Studio and started sketching. Tracing my main cover I went to work. I can't show you everything. There has to be a surprise somewhere.

     Christy had included this cute graveyard paper. Yes, graveyards can be cute right? So taking the dreaded knife I slowly and very detailed relieved the graveyard from the sky. Also you cannot see it but I snipped the very top of the grass to give it some texture. To add shadow I broke out the good ol' TH Crushed Olive ink and a Q-tip. I edged the grass parts making sure not to hit the headstones and then basically just darkening the already shaded areas on the print. Dabbing a bit of Vintage Photo for a little bit of dirt I liked how it took away a bit of the cartoon style of the paper. And what is a graveyard without extra bones! At first I cut out the bones and then I was going to put the Liquid Glass by CTMH on it but I thought again and applied it before I cut it out so when it dries it will be easier to cut out. I hope :P

I promised I would only use what was in the kit as supplies. So I sacrificed a tag to make a fence post. Putting my rarely used artistic abilities to the test and did a bit of inking. I'm not sure if I like the way it turned out but we will see.

 


   So in conclusion for this phase. I have a feeling a lot of phases are going to be like this. Just the prep and subtle techniques that it is going to take to put this mini book together. I have the vision in my brain now just to create it!

Happy Birthday Card

Well, I have a few upcoming birthdays to make cards for... One is my mom :) I found a tutorial on YouTube I wanted to try. I think it was called the Magic Card Tutorial... If I can find it again I will link it. 

Anyway, it was pretty easy & I am happy with the way it turned out. I kept it very simple because I don't know how I am going to fit it in an envelope as it is... It's about 6" x 6" overall. 

I have one more to make, but I know I am going to try something different for that one. 

Well, hope this leaves you feeling inspired to try something a little different from the "normal" card shape :)

Halloween Mini: Week 1

Hello all :) 

Well, this week was a very busy one! I have been busy sewing & trying to tackle yard work... The lawn mower hates me & breaks EVERY time I use it :( but its up and running again, wheel bearings, spark plugs, air filter & spark plug wire caps made her a happy machine ... This week anyway. LOL!

Well, before I share my mini so far let me show you a few of my sewing goodies I made..

A nap mat (my first ever)!

I will write up a little tutorial soon.. I used another tutorial, but made a few changes to suit my customers needs. I LOVE how it turned out!

I also made a boppy pillow and embroidered the name of the little girl :) the fabric is flannel, washable & if the new mommy tires of this design, the store bought covers will fit it!!

And I finally put the binding on the baby quilt I shared a few weeks back. I still am in love with the colors of this quilt!

And now on to the mini:

Pulled out my gazelle and (very old) laptop to cut out the house shape for my mini. The gazelle is similar to a cricut, but it doesn't use cartridges. More like a silhouette, it has its own software. 

I am using a black, glittery fabric for the base of the front (I glued this to the cardboard house shape). 

All houses need a door... I distressed the edges & added some hinges. The keyhole brad is from the kit and fits perfectly :)

Here the door is attached to the house, I used some black brads that are in the kit as well.

And when you open the door...

Hehehe.. A witch is there to greet you! I plan on adding a small photo frame under the door, on the black. 

I haven't decided how to finish embellishing the front, but I have a few ideas... 

Well, it's late & I have a huge mess to clean up! I am soooo thankful my husband doesn't mind me trashing the kitchen island :)