Tuesday, September 30, 2014

7 Spooky Halloween Decor Projects


If you've followed my blog for long, you know how much I love fall and Halloween decor projects! With Halloween just 31 days away, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite spooky creations from the past few years. Some you might be familiar with, and a few you might have missed.

Here are the links to each of the projects:
  1. Vintage Halloween Wands - this is an older project that is one of my all-time faves. I combined rubber stamps from Artistic Outpost with Tim Holtz's Rosettte die to create these fun vintage-look decorations.
  2. Spooky Halloween House - this project from last year might just use more dies than any other project, but the result is a really cool decor piece that you'll bring out year after year.
  3. Halloween Bell Jar - by combining Eileen Hull's Cupcake Stand die with a candle holder from the dollar store, you can create this spooky bell jar and fill it with anything you can dream up!
  4. Trick or Treat Lantern - a wood base from the craft store plus Tim Holtz's Frosted Film and this fun die from Sizzix combine to make a spooky little lantern that looks like it's made from metal.
  5. Glittery Halloween Houses - another one of my favorite projejcts, these little birdhouses from Eileen Hull sparkle with Ranger's Rock Candy glitter. Vintage spookiness!
  6. Boo Halloween Banner - layer a pennant die plus a few dies from Tim Holtz and you have a quick and easy Halloween banner that can be pinned up anywhere for a little haunted touch.
  7. Halloween Luminary - this die is popular for a reason - it is so versatile! Here, I've created a luminary that will add an eerie glow to your Halloween house.
I hope you've enjoyed this mini-roundup of some of my favorite Halloween projects - and I hope you're inspired to try a few! If you do, I'd also love for you to link back to me so I can see your work.

I have lots more to come this month, so be sure and subscribe and check back often!

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Boo! A Pop it Ups Halloween Accordion Card

Hi everyone! I'm back again today with another card to share for Karen Burniston's Spooky September challenge. For this card, I used Karen's Katie Label Accordion die. It's always fun to play around with the accordion dies - there are so many different ways you can use them.

I love the look of floating or clear panels, so I decided to cut the centers out of the panels and replace them with transparency film. I didn't actually cut the whole card from transparency for this card. Instead, I cut the card panels from cardstock, just like you'd do for a regular card. Next, I cut the center from the panel using one of the companion dies, leaving a frame.

To create the clear portion, I cut transparency sheets using the full die, then trimmed them, keeping just the center portion. I stamped the panels with spiderwebs and a spider from Tim Holtz's Halloween Cutouts stamp set using Stazon Ink. Next, I stamped the letters to spell 'boo' on coordinating cardstock and adhered them to the center of the panels. Finally, I glued the clear panels to the back of the frames that were left after cutting out the centers.

I hope that makes sense! This technique is fun to use for any accordion card, no matter the theme. I hope you're inspired to try it yourself!

Most of the supplies I used can be found at Inspiration Emporium and Amazon via the links below. Remember to use my coupon code - stamptramp - at IE to save 10%.



Thanks so much for stopping by today! Be sure and check out Karen's post on the Elizabeth Craft Designs blog on Wednesday for another amazing tutorial from Karen plus lots of inspiration from the whole team!

Monday, September 15, 2014

Pop it Ups Designer Challenge - Spooky September!


Hi all! Today I'm sharing a card I made for September's Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge. This month's theme is Spooky September, so I decided to create a fun Halloween pop-up!

The paper I used is all from Echo Park's Chillingsworth collection. On the front of my card, I layered various papers, cutting the bottom piece with one of Karen's Agatha Edges dies. The center panel was stamped with a witch image from My Mind's Eye and cut using one of the label dies included in the Lorna Label Pop-Up collection.

Oooh, here's my spooky house! I love how it turned out. I thought quite a bit about how to make Karen's adorable Holiday House into a towering haunted house and I think I came up with a pretty easy way to get that look.

To make the center house panel, I folded my cardstock in half, placed the bottom of the house die just over the edge (so it won't cut through) and die cut my piece. After unfolding the house, I cut off the other pointed end and trimmed the house to fit. I did the same thing for the wings on either side of the house, but used the smaller portico die.

To give the house dimension, I added pop dots to the two skinny parts of the house, then adhered them to the pop-up. Speaking of which, I used the Lorna Label die which ends up being totally covered by my house, but leaves a little ledge in the front to hold up my fence. The fence was cut using Karen's House Pivot Card die. I trimmed the fence pieces out then covered them with ECD's black Silk Microfine Glitter.

To finish my card, I cut an orange panel using one of the coordinating label dies and then used the stitching die to highlight it. I added another panel and then my stamped sentiment, which is on the banner die that's included in the Lorna Label set.

I hope you're inspired to start your fall crafting! If you don't celebrate Halloween, you could easily adjust the colors and images to make a cute autumn house or get a head start on Christmas and make a pretty snow-covered cottage.

All the supplies I used can be found at Inspiration Emporium and Elizabeth Craft Designs. Remember, you can you my coupon code (at IE only) - stamptramp - to save 10% on your order.



Thanks so much for stopping by today. I'll be back tomorrow with another fun card for Karen's challenge!

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Happy Halloween Quarter Fold Card

This weekend I got together with my friends for a fun day of eating, chatting, and creating - all my favorite things! :) We decided to make the Quarter Fold Card that was featured on Splitcoast Stampers last month.

I chose to do mine in a Halloween theme. The paper is all from My Mind's Eye. The spider and 31 are from Tim Holtz and were covered with Silk Microfine Glitter from Elizabeth Craft Designs. The spider sits on a rosette created with Tim's Mini Rosettes die.

Here is the card when it's opened. I went a little crazy decorating the inside! I love this paper from My Mind's Eye and will find an excuse to use it anywhere. The bunting was made with Tim Holtz's Ribbon Flags and Spooktacular strip dies from Sizzix. The Halloween stamp is from My Mind's Eye and was stamped onto a banner cut with Tim's Tattered Banners die, then edged with more ECD glitter.

To create a 5" card, I cut my  cardstock to 10" x 4 7/8" or so and then scored 2 1/2" from each end. You might have to play with the width a bit to get the card to close correctly.

Such a fun card! You can find the full tutorial here. You can find all the supplies I used at Inspiration Emporium via the links below. Remember to use my coupon code - stamptramp - to save 10% on your order.



Thanks so much for stopping by today! Make sure you check out Inspiration Emporium's September challenge  - Fall is in the Air - and enter for a chance to win a $50 shopping spree to the IE store. You can find all the details in this post. Have a great week!

Monday, September 8, 2014

The Witching Hour Artist Trading Block


Hi all! Fall is my absolute favorite time of year for creating. It's cooler, life slows down a bit, and I can spend more time in my studio - yay! This sparkly, spooky Artist Trading Block might just be one of my all-time favorite Halloween projects. Everything I love is piled high on one of Eileen Hull's fantastic block dies. It doesn't get any better than this!

This girl from Tim Holtz's idea-ology Found Relatives cards is the perfect size to stand atop the block. I was inspired by Richele Christensen's use of the new witch hat Mini Blueprint stamp in a card she made for the new Stampers Anonymous release and borrowed the idea for my witch (Thanks, Richele!). I stamped the hat, then colored it in, trimmed it a bit and covered it with glitter. So cute!

The clock is a free image I shared a few years ago (you can find it HERE). After I covered the box with paper, I punched two holes in the back edge and inserted two painted dowels. I added glittered clock hands cut with Karen Burniston's new Clock and Gears die and stamped Tim's mini spiderweb in the middle of the clock, then adhered it to the posts.

The fence was cut from black cardstock using Tim's Ironwork Gate die from Sizzix. I carefully glued it around the edge of the box and cut off the gate so the pumpkins could be seen. Speaking of which - aren't they adorable?! I covered mini pumpkins with Elizabeth Craft Designs orange glitter and piled them near my witch's feet.

To create the ATB base, I cut my panels from medium weight chipboard using Eileen Hull's 3D Block die and assembled them. I painted the edges using Black Soot Distress paint and then covered the box with paper from My Mind's Eye. The text was computer generated and cut using Tim Holtz's Tattered Curvy Banners die. I added a bunting made with the punch outs included in the MME collection. The little wheels are unfinished wood disks I painted black and added punched circles to.

To finish off my witchy ATB, I gave my little witch a bat to hold. The bat is a die cut from Tim Holz that I covered with black glitter. I glued it to a black wire which easily keeps him in the air.

I hope you enjoyed this project as much as I enjoyed making it! Most of the supplies I used can be found at Inspiration Emporium via the links below. Remember, you can use my coupon code - stamptramp - to save 10% on your order!

The glitter I used can be found at Elizabeth Craft Designs and the chipboard and mini pumpkins can be found on Amazon.


This month's Art With Heart Challenge theme is Fall Back. Make sure you check out the fantastic projects from the Eileen Hull Inspiration Team and share your own project HERE. The prize this month is Eileen's Candy Drawer die - one of my all-time faves. Can't wait to see what you create!