BOO!

Today I have a BOO! banner to share with you. I created this to hang from my antique buffet.

I used my favorite SU! Halloween papers...Cast A Spell which are available as a digital download through My Digital Studio. I still have some left in my stash and love that it has purple in the prints, and it goes well with my other Halloween decor. The pennant and the letters were cut using my Big Shot and the Perfect Pennants and Serif Essentials Dies.

Embellishing my pennant was the fun part and I used all kinds of goodies...including plastic spiders hanging from the end of each pennant using fishing line. Glimmer Brads and Black Flourish Rhinestones added some sparkle to my project. I had just enough black ribbon with spiderweb design left in my stash to string the pieces together. Here's another look at my buffet decorated for Halloween.

I've recieved several nice emails & comments regarding my sweet kitten Stevie and how some of you love to see photos of him. Today I did a fall photo shoot with him in honor of his 1st Halloween. So for my fellow cat lovers, here's one of my favorite shots.

Happy Halloween!

Pick Your Poison Prizes

This past weekend we had our annual Halloween party. We had so much fun! I love decorating for the party and seeing all the creative costumes my friends and family come up with! No Halloween party is complete without a costume contest, and I like to make the prizes. This year I made tombstone candy boxes using the Pick Your Poison DSP.

I started with foam tombstones I picked up from the Dollar Store. I painted the category and the year with white acrylic paint. The boxes were made by cutting down cereal boxes and then I covered them with Pick Your Poison DSP. I stamped "Happy Halloween" from the House of Haunts set onto Pumpkin Pie and embossed with Black EP. Punched it out using the Extra Large Oval Punch and layered it onto an embossed oval Designer Frame Embossing Folder. A couple black brads and some Razzleberry ribbon finish it off. Then I just used some craft glue to adhere the box to the front of the tombstone and they were ready to fill with treats (and a few tricks too!)

Here's a quick and easy project I made to decorate my witch's cabinet. I used the Pick Your Poison Embellishments Digital Downloads. This way I can print them up any size I want, and they will fit a variety of bottles I've collected. Here's a peek into my witch's cabinet.

This year my hubby and I dressed as rockers Alice Cooper & Rob Zombie...here is a photo of us out in our haunted barn along with the pumpkins we carved.

From the Kitchen of

Since my post last week sharing my Sweet Pressed Pumpkin Cookies, I've had several requests for my Mom's Shortbread Cookie recipe. So here it is...

I used the From the Kitchen Of set to make the recipe card and decided to make a cute little recipe holder out of a binder clip, some scraps of Well Worn DSP and the cupcake punch. While I was at it I thought one of the sweet pressed cookies in a cello bag decorated for Halloween would be fun too.

I used Cajun Craze for the topper, along with a strip of Well Worn DSP. The Dark & Dreary set has the spider and Halloween greeting which were stamped in Basic Black and punched out using Wide Oval & 1/4 circle punches. The spiders were glammed up with a Basic Rhinestone each and you have an adorable way to give a tasty treat. Here's a closer look at just the recipe card in case you want to try these cookies with your Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamps.

I also added a approx 3 drops of red food coloring (the liquid kind, because that's what I had on hand) and around 8 drops of yellow to the butter & sugar mixture to make my pumpkins orange. I rolled my dough about 1/4 inches thick and chilled over night. I pressed them with the stamp, and then cut them out with a glass the same size as the stamp, rather than rolling into balls and pressing. I sprinkled orange sugar on them before popping into the oven. I had a real easy time with my cookies and they tasted good too. I hope you like them.

Have a sweet day!

And the winner is....

On my last post I shared the French Foliage set that I created for Craft Project Central, and said I was going to do a drawing on Monday for a free subscription for the month of October. I decided to get my cute little "helper" Stevie to lend his paw on choosing a winner. He loves to raid the trash can for wadded up paper and then plays with it. So...I wrote down numbers to correspond with the replies I received, wadded them up and let Stevie pick one.

So, what number did he choose???

Looks like number three was the lucky number! The 3rd comment was left by Fran Gottsch, so Fran please contact me so I can set you up with your free subscription.

French Foliage Folio

I'm excited to finally share my project that is featured this month on Craft Project Central! I used the French Foliage stamps along with Well Worn DSP to create this Autumn themed set. Wouldn't this make a nice thank you gift to give your hostess at Thanksgiving? That's what I plan to do with the set I made.

These nature inspired designs work well as masculine cards and can be used for many different occasions depending which greeting you decide to use. I have to give thanks to my friend Pat for the inspiration on this project. She sent me the cutest set filled with note cards a while back and it was her design that I changed up to hold these full sized cards. Up to 6 cards can be stored in the folio...depending on the thickness.

To get complete step by step instructions on how to make these cards along with the matching folio to put them in, just go to Craft Project Central and sign up for the month of October. In addition to my project, there are many other great projects created by the talented designers.

In honor of my featured project, I am giving away a subscription to Craft Project Central for the month of October! Just leave a comment on this post and it could be you! I'll announce the winner on Monday morning.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Christmas Tree Pyramid Box & Card

Here's another super cute project offered this month at Craft Project Central.

Cute little packages tied up in string – these are some fun holiday things! This little Christmas tree pyramid box is a sweet way to package small little treats or trinkets for the holidays – and when you open it up, the sides can unfold flat and make a pretty display. The matching card completes your gift ensemble with just a touch of Glimmer Paper bling and country charm with the Cherry Cobbler Baker’s Twine. This project is also a fun and easy club or class project! This cute set was designed by Rose. To get the complete instructions for these and many other great projects please visit Craft Project Central and sign up for the month of October.

Check back here tomorrow...I'll be sharing the project I designed for CPC!

Sweet Pressed Pumpkins

I got busy yesterday and baked some cookies so I could try out the new Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamps. I wasn't sure what to expect when I ordered these, but was pleasantly surprised by how cute and easy to use these are. The quality is really top notch as well.

The stamps come with a few recipes to try, but I chose to use my Mom's shortbread recipe because I know we all love them. Any recipe that does not contain baking soda or baking powder is said to work well, as it won't rise and distort the stamped image. I rolled my dough out, refrigerated it, and then pressed the pumpkin design into the chilled dough and then I used a glass the size of the stamp to cut it out. (I don't have a circle cookie cutter so this worked for me) You could also roll into balls and press with the cookie stamps. I added a little yellow & red food coloring to the dough so my pumpkins would be orange and also sprinkled them with some orange sugar before baking. The results were so cute and oh so yummy!

These cookie stamps would be a lot of fun for kids to use...makes me wish for my boys to be little again and want to help me bake like they used to. They would have loved these! Now they just enjoy eating them!

Along with the pumpkin there is also a snowflake & heart design included in this set. To get yours, please visit my Stampin' Up! website and order yours today.

Edited to add: I created another post to share my Mom's Shortbread Cookie Recipe since I had several requests for it.

Craft Project Central

Have you signed up for the month of October at Craft Project Central? Here are a few more of the great projects offered this month.

Make this super cute witchy treat box and matching pop-up dangling spiders card that will surprise the recipients! This great Halloween gift will be sure to capture their attention and bring a spooky smile to their face! Makes a fun club or class project too! This spooky fun project comes to you designed by Monika

Here’s the perfect gift for the person who is in need of a card. In other words…this project is great for everyone on your gift list! The box has one compartment that holds seven cards and envelopes, and another that holds Stampin’ Dimensionals, postage stamps, and embellishments to make simple, but beautiful cards. This is also a great club or class project especially with the Stampin’ Up! Simply Sent Kits promotion going on this month! This elegant and easy project comes to you designed by Sharon.

If you struggle with masculine cards, the Need for Speed is a great set to use.  Make a set (or several) of cards with a matching gift box and give them away to the guys (the kids’ male teachers, male co-workers, etc.) in your life!  Project includes instructions for a four different cards and a gift box to put them in!  This project is also a fun club or class project.  This great masculine card set comes to you designed by Kris from Australia.

These, and many other great projects are included during the month of October, so hop on over to Craft Project Central and sign up!

Spooky Luminary

Here's a fun Halloween luminary I created using the Haunted Forest stamp. I used coasters so the sides are heavy and it will hold up for years of holiday decorating. Use a battery operated votive inside and the full moon glows.

I'm offering this as part of a class on October 26th, so if you live local sign up today.

Spa-tacular Halloween Party Ensemble

Check out this super cute party set created by Julie . Wouldn't it be fun to have the girls over for a spa themed Halloween Party and give these away as favors? Such a fun idea!

To get the instructions for Julie’s fun project, just go to Craft Project Central and subscribe to October.

Haunted Forest Invitations

We will be having our annual Halloween Party at the end of the month, so I'm relieved to have completed my stack of invites and got them in the mail. I used the Haunted Forest ala carte stamp from the Holiday Mini.

The image is inked in VersaMark and embossed in black. I masked off the center circle and sponged on colors for the background: Not Quite Navy, Perfect Plum, Pumpkin Pie & Old Olive. Then I removed the circle mask and sponged on Daffodil Delight & Pumpkin Pie. Lastly, I colored the trees with Early Espresso and the pumpkin with my Pumpkin Pie markers.

The Perfect Plum patterned paper was easily created using the Web Wheel inked in Perfect Plum. The bottom patterned paper is a piece from the retired Cast A Spell DSP pack. If you missed out on this paper, it is still available on My Digital Studio. I separated the two patterns using ric rac border from the Tasteful Trims Die. I printed up "creep on over" using my computer onto Pear Pizzazz and punched out with the Window Word punch and matted it on a Modern Label punched out of Basic Black and embellished with Basic Rhinestones.

TIP: I thought this stamp would be more versatile if I cut off the "Happy Halloween" sentiment along the bottom and mounted it separately from the image. Now I have 2 stamps for the price of one plus it really helped save time when mass producing my invite.

For the inside I used some images from the Dark & Dreary set and the pumpkin design from the retired Graveyard Gala set. Here's what that looks like...

Thanks for creeping on in today!

Punch Art Scarecrow

It's hard to believe that it is already October! September sure was a busy month around here...so much so that I didn't get a chance to post very often. I will for sure be posting a lot more this month because I'm excited to say I am going to be a Guest Designer at Craft Project Central!

Check out the first project of the month designed by Kim.

Isn't this punch art scarecrow card matching treat box adorable? You can get the complete instructions for this project and all other projects for the month of October...so don't miss out!  Please visit Craft Project Central and subscribe to October for only $10. Nine other projects will be posted to the site over the next 4 weeks.