{Halloween Blog Hop}

Welcome back....

I know it has been a while but I have so much fun stuff to share with you all...but that will have to wait! Right now I want to welcome you to our little blog hop from over at Down A Dirt Road Scrapbooking Forum.

If you are hopping over from Alicia's Blog, then you are right on track. If you are just catching this from being a follower of mine, then here's the schedule.

• Vernette
• Alicia
• Tasha {You are Here!}
• Tracy

Well now down to my projects...
I recently applied for the May Arts Halloween Challenge and was one lucky participant out of 21. I created a cool little Halloween Ribbon Tree.

I added some Halloween themed cardstock, black tulle ribbon, black wire and FIMO Clay to create a black bat, candy corns and glowing bones....and of course four amazing May Art Ribbons of my choice...(They are amazing!!!)

Next I created a quick door hanger that said Boo! I wanted to keep it really classy and simple. It may not scream Halloween but I think that it adds a little to the decor this season that is not a wreath...lol!

On to my next project of a Trio of Pumpkins...
I took some pressure treated 4x4's and distressed them. I painted it with a base coat of a taupe paint and top coat of an orange paint. I then took sandpaper and sanded and distressed the edges as desired. I then got my husband to cut some stems from a branch I had picked. Added them to the tops of the pumpkins and embellished with burlap and ribbon knots. I love how these turned out and even made a pair for a gift.

Finally, I created a few altered wooden frames. The first two I took some patterned paper and mod podeged them onto the frames. I inked the edges and added some sticker embellishments. A Glittery black raven and an epoxy sticker.

This last frame I created was one that I painted to look like a candy corn. I added some ribbon and burlap, a wooded button and a bow to finish it off...Love the look of this one!

Well I hope that this was inspirational and got you in the Halloween mood. Now hop on over to Tracy's blog and see what she has in store for you!

Come back tomorrow for a new post to see what I have been up to in my hiatus...You won't be disappointed!

Spook-tacularly Wicked Treat Bags

       I found myself in the Halloween Spirit this year more so then last year! I don't know if it was because I really focused on my kids and getting them ready and spending the time to take them through the whole town or if I was just really happy to enjoy the day itself...
      
       Either way, I decided to make little treat bags for the girls to take to preschool for all the other kids. I realize that it probably didn't have to be all that fancy or detailed but I had a picture in my mind and couldn't stop until I had achieved my vision.

So now that you have a good idea of what things look like in my head... I will share with you what I used to create these Spook-tacularly Wicked Treat Bags.

Materials Used: 8.5" x 11" Grey Cardstock
                           8.5" x 11" Orange Cardstock
                           Art Philosophy Cartridge (Z1686)
                           Black Exclusives Ink pad (Z2105)
                           Round Sponge (Z697)
                           Wicked Stamp of the Month (S1108)
                           Goosebumps Clear Texture Spray
                           3/16" Black Ribbon (Michaels)

How I Did It
Now that you know what I used you would be able to switch it up and make it your own so I will explain what it did to make this great little bag.

I used my Cricut Expression to cut out my 8.5" x 11" piece of orange cardstock using the Art Philosophy Cartridge. I use the <Star> shape on page 23 using the shift and Font Layer functions. I cut the purse out at 5 3/4".

Once these were cut out I placed my grey cardstock on the cutting mat and loaded it into the Cricut. I used the <Shape 1> on page 26 of the booklet to cut out the shape for my tag. It was cut at 1 1/2".

Once these are cut out I used black ink and stamped the desired stamps onto the bag and onto the tag. I also used a piece of the round sponge to ink the edges of my tag. After my images were stamped, I creased each edge I would be using adhesive on to form my purse. I then used my Goosebumps Clear Texture Spray onto the purses. I let them dry and cut my pieces of ribbon to the desired length (I cut mine to about 8") and proceeded to use my adhesive to put the purses together.

Once my purses were put assembled I used my piece of sponge and inked the folded edges of the purse to give it a distressed and aged appearance. I then used Glue Dots to adhere my tags and tied the piece of ribbon onto the opposite handle.

I then placed some treats into the bags and got them ready to have my girls take them to preschool. My girls were so proud when all the other kids wanted to see their treat bags and the adults thought they were pretty awesome for the kids to have as a gift.

I will confess that I'm kinda sad that I handed out all the treat bags without keeping one for myself!
There is always next year...

Let's Get Crafty!  









{ This blog post has been entered into a Blog Hop for the Close To My Heart Art Philosophy Cartridge...Here's the linked up blogs...They are all great blogs with spectacular projects and examples of what this great cartridge can do!}