There's a Party Brewing

I've got another page from last weekend's crop to share today.  I'm thinking I'm now ready to take a break from Halloween, much to everyone's relief I'm sure.  Next up, Christmas! LOL

 

Supplies:  Paper , Chipboard (My Mind's Eye), Transparency (Fancy Pants), Bag (Scrap Within Reach), Film Strip Ribbon (Tim Holtz), Button (Purple Pumpkin), Stickers (SRM Stickers), Kraft Tag (Maya Roads)

As always I have used some of my favourite Purple Pumpkin buttons and SRM stickers.  I love the title on this one....so appropriate.

That's all for today.  Thanks so much for visiting.

EDITED TO ADD:

Look for this page in the Fall, 2012 issue of Scrapbooking & Beyond Magazine.

Two New Tools!!

Hello all!  I spent Saturday at a crop and took advantage of the day scrapping to work on my fall photo collection.  I know I've already shared a few Halloween pages, but I still have more to come.  I'm quite certain that I document more fall themed pages than any other season.  Is it because the photos are so beautiful with all the rich colours?  Or is it because there seems to be more "occasions" to dig out the camera?  I dont' know but year after year, I find myself creating oodles of fall projects and this year appears to be no exception.  So here it goes, {10/31}.  This also marks the very first post using SRM goodies.  Yay!! 

{10/31}

Supplies:  Paper, Element Stickers (Echo Park), Sentiment Stickers (SRM Stickers), Journaling Spot (Elle's Studio), Bling (Prima), Flower (Jolee's Creations), Banner Punch (Fiskars/Jenni Bowlin)

I bought myself a new punch at the crop....the banner punch by Fiskars/Jenni Bowlin.  It is simply fantastic.  I love it when I buy a punch that works with little to no effort and punches perfect shapes each and every time.  This punch does that.  It's even part of the marketing on the package but I was too excited by the shape to even look at that part.  Although the banner stickers aren't by Jenni Bowlin, these Echo Park stickers worked quite well with the punch;  a great added bonus in my mind.

Second and final tool purchase of the weekend:  Tim Holtz's tiny attacher.  How did I not know how wonderful this stapler is?  All this time I was like, "I have a mini stapler from when I was in elementary school that still works great...why would I need one with Tim Holtz's name on the side?"  I swear it's true.  I should have taken a photo of my beloved stapler.  It's stainless steel with a little red top on it.  I have seriously had it for more than 20 years (okay, maybe 30) and I wouldn't dream of parting with it.  I, however, stand corrected.  My cute little stapler from grade school does not punch through more than two or three layers MAX.  I thought that was the way with all mini staplers.  NOPE.  Not this one.  I ordered it today.  I could resist temptation no longer.  Tim doesn't disappoint. He never does and yes, he makes a better stapler than the average office supply store.  Mr. Holtz, please accept my most sincere apology. I do need a stapler with your name on the side! 

Getting back to the layout, here is another close up:

Check out the date/title sticker from SRM Stickers.  Isn't it great? There is another SRM sticker on the layout.  Can you find it??  Clear stickers rock!  Just sayin'.

With that confession behind me, I'm going to sign off for tonight.  Thanks so much for visiting!



Sketch Challenge

Happy New Year!  Today not only marks the first day of 2012, but it also marks the beginning of a new sketch challenge on the Purple Pumpkin blog. The page I have to share has a Halloween theme.  I have yet to do my Halloween  pictures justice so be forewarned that you will see more Halloween items scattered throughout my blog posts over the next few months.

Supplies:  Paper (Little Yellow Bicycle), Flower Trim (Petaloo), Handmade Embellishments (Purple Pumpking Crafts), Border Punch (Martha Stewart Crafts), Glitter Cardstock (Best Creation Inc.), Stickers (Pink Paislee), Letters (Momenta), Chipboard (Magistical Memories)

I have been itching to create a page with these photos since Halloween. 

Take a peek at all the handmade lovelies by Purple Pumpkin.

Here is a peek at the January sketch.  I encourage all of you to give this contest a try.  You have until the end of January to get your submissions in.  Good Luck!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wickedly Cute

"Wickedly Cute"

Supplies:  Paper (Pink Paislee), Die Cuts (Little Yellow Bicycle, My Mind's Eye), Border Strips (Recollections), Brad (Little Yellow Bicycle), Stickers (Pink Paislee, Basic Grey), Gems (Imaginisce)

Trick or Treat?

Supplies:  Paper (Little Yellow Bicycle), Die Cuts (Little Yellow Bicycle, Teresa Collins, Fancy Pants), Stickers (Little Yellow Bicycle), Felt (Basic Grey), Button (Jenni Bowlin), Brads (Little Yellow Bicycle, Bazzill), Border Strips (Recollections) Pin & Alphabet Beads (Dollarama)

Another "friendship" pin. :) :)



I think that will about do it until next fall for Halloween projects, or at least I think so.  I'm Halloween'd out again. Thanks for sticking with me through this little flashback.  Look for more seasonal pages very soon.

Flashback to Halloween

If you follow my blog at all you have probably noticed that I don't scrapbook in order.  You could pop by one week and see a summer page and a snowy one the next. I also don't scrapbook every photo and event.  I gave up on that a long time ago because I spent more time stressing over what I had yet to accomplish than I spent enjoying the process. Someday I might go through my albums and put them in chronological order but for now, they are lucky to be in albums at all!  So, as the title would suggest, I'm flashing back to Halloween today.  The Halloween publication calls have started to pop up so I thought I'd dig out my stash and play.  I hope you all don't mind.

"Halloween Past"

This album has been on my "to do" list for awhile.  As I mentioned in my last post, I'm into working with comparison photos lately.  This albums chronicles 4 years of Halloween costumes at our house.

Supplies:  Paper (Pink Paislee, Making Memories, Jillibean Soup, Creative Imaginations), Stamps (Tattered Angels), Chipboard & Bat (Recollections), Buttons (Jenni Bowlin Studios), Fence Punch (Martha Stewart), Brads (Little Yellow Bicycle), Canvas (Pink Paislee), Epoxy (Epiphany Crafts), Rub-Ons (Imaginisce, Black River Designs), Album (Tim Holtz)

Don't you just love that bat??

One Spooky Night

I simply adore working with acrylic of any kind, but the one thing I can't seem to master is the photography.  This page is a prime example.  I have layer after layer of transparent pieces but I'm not real certain if you get that same feel looking at this photo. 

"One Spooky Night"

Supplies:  Paper (Little Yellow Bicycle, Basic Grey), Transparency & Die Cuts (Little Yellow Bicycle), Glitter Cut Swirl (Fancy Pants), Black Floral Spray (Prima), Die Cut Border Sticker (Recollections), Epoxy (Epiphany Crafts),  Rub-Ons (Making Memories)

I curved the floral spray and made the end piece curl around the swirl in the letter 'N'.  The piece was then stitched into place with black thread.  Notice also that all the "Creepy Crawlies" on the border sticker were made into epoxies, yet another dimension added in acrylic.

I'll leave you with that for day. I am certainly open to any and all "photographing transparencies" tips as well.
Thanks, as always, for stopping by.  I truly do appreciate it.

Edited to Add:  Look for the page in the Fall, 2011 issue of Scrapbooking & Beyond Magazine.

A Different Twist on a Halloween Banner

We are in full Halloween mode here now that Thanksgiving is over and it dawned on me that I never really put alot of effort into decorating for any other holiday than Christmas.  As of now, I have vowed that will change.  I dug out my Halloween lights and decided to make a banner for the mantle.  I had initially intended to spell "SPOOKY" with my banner and once I got into it, I asked myself why my banner has to spell anything at all.  The answer was simple.  It doesn't.  So I continued about my business and made 6 completely separate and unique panels for my banner.

Supplies:  Paper, Chipboard, Metal Tags (Best Creation Inc.), Tulle (JoAnn Fabrics), Felt (Basic Grey, Little Yellow Bicycle), Transparencies (Making Memories), Chipboard Coasters & Housese (Maya Roads), Glitter Cut (Fancy Pants), Border Punch (Martha Stewart), Bingo Cards (Jenni Bowlin), Dangles (Heidi Swapp)

To add further interest to my panels, I allowed elements to spill over the bottom and sides.  Above I attached a chipboard piece to the bottom using jump rings.  Below, I positioned the house so that it spills over the left side of the panel. This way I had more room to create my scene.  The fence you see is one of Martha Stewart's new border punches.  I can see this one being used over and over again.

Where I didn't dangle chipboard signs, I added fringes of trim.

I just love this little (I mean BIG) guy.  The Dollarama sells packages of foam shapes that my girls like to scrapbook with.  Lucky for Mommy, there is a chipboard shape in each package.  I snagged this one and covered it with Best Creation's Glitter Cardstock.  The photo just doesn't do this one justice.

I used a half a roll of tulle to tie the pieces together.  JoAnn Fabrics sells it by the roll and I will definitely be needing another black.

So there it is.  I hung it last night before I went to bed to surprise the girls in the morning and you'll never guess what my oldest asked me......"What does it spell, Mommy?"  I guess my creative license got lost on her.  LOL.  Oh well. I learned long ago you can't win them all with toddlers!

Halloween Treat Can

There are some really cute packaging ideas for scrapbook supplies and this paint can from Prima is at the top of my list of favourites.  I finally decided to re-purpose it into a Halloween treat container.  It's actually full of candy corn right now.  It was my daughter's idea.  Since we are counting down the days to Halloween using the magnet board, it only seemed right to get a treat everyday.  Right?   I couldn't really disagree since candy corns are one of my weaknesses, too.

Supplies:  Paper & Metal Tag (Best Creation Inc.), Glitter Cut (Little Yellow Bicycle), Crystals (Prima), Tulle (JoAnn Fabrics), Punch (Martha Stewart)

Have I mentioned lately how much I love border punches?

And of course I had to add some glitter cardstock to the project.  I just can't get enough of this stuff.

There's only one thing about this project that is irritating me.  My haunted house won't stick.  It keeps letting go and pulling the crystals off with it.  I seriously have tried everything I can think of.  I tried two different adhesive runners and neither of them worked.  After that, I tried using photo mounting squares on the bottom corners where it wouldn't be seen. Still not working.  Last night, I tried my Stix 2 double sided tape and it isn't working either. I am at a complete and total loss. I've never had a project get the better of me on the adhesive side.  So what next?  Any suggestions?  Keep in mind the can is clear so I'm trying to preserve the integrity of the piece.

I'll leave you with that for today and will be forever grateful to anyone who can solve my troublesome haunted house issue.

Countdown to Halloween

It's official.  Today is the first day of October and the countdown to Halloween has begun.  I have always loved this time of year and now that I have little ones who simply can't wait for the next celebration, I'm excited too.  I decided to create a countdown to Halloween project similar to the Advent Calendar I made for Christmas last season.  There was no question what product line I would use.  Best Creation has two of the most fun Halloween lines I've ever used.  What's better is that there are so many different chipboard and metal embellishments to match that a project like this was put together in no time. 

"Countdown to Halloween"

Supplies:  Paper, Glittered Cardstock, Chipboard & Metal Tags (Best Creation Inc.), Felt (Little Yellow Bicycle, Basic Grey),  Journaling Sprouts (Jillibean Soup), Masks (Tim Holtz), Transparent Shapes (Little Yellow Bicycle), Letters (Momenta, Pink Paislee), Bingo Card (Jenni Bowlin), Trim (Prima), Misc. Number Stickers, Cookie Sheet, Wiggle Eyes, Acrylic Spray Primer, Acrylic Sealer, Staz On Ink

I have decided that working with aluminium is one of my most favourite mediums to alter.  You may remember the Magnetic Alphabet Board or Travel Tin I did last year.  Both are among my most favourite pieces.  As a side note, if you'd instructions for the Travel Tin, you can find a step by step tutorial in the fall issue of Scrapbooking & Beyond.

All three of these projects pretty much went together the same way.  I sprayed the cookie sheet with a white acrylic spray paint and then masked on a design.  On this sheet, I put spider webs in opposing corners and then joined them with barbwire - perfect designs for Halloween.  I used a make-up sponge to apply Dove Grey Staz-On ink over the mask with a light coating of black ink on top around the edges.  Once that was done, I was ready to add my title and space out my numbers.  You might notice that the numbers are evenly spaced and 30 fit perfectly on the sheet.  The only problem was where to put the 31.  Lucky for me, I was making this at a crop and Michelle made a brilliant suggestion:  the spider. Of course, the spider!!  She saved the day because my type A personality could not fathom having irregular spacing to accommodate 31 days in October, or even worse not having a 31 on there somewhere.  Thanks, Michelle!

Up next was decorating the sides and this picture really doesn't show you just how sparkly that purple Best Creation glittered cardstock really is.  They have glittered cardstock in an array of beautiful colours and designs and it is so much fun to work with. It cuts beautifully and the glitter is 100% sealed in so there were no sparkles all over my face for this project.  Ink and glue, perhaps, but no sparkles. 

After all of that, I was ready to make my magnet pieces, 30 of them.  Again, using pre-made chipboard and metal tags is a great way to speed this along.  To add a little extra to the pre-made pieces, I added wiggle eyes.

Here it is with all the pieces on the board.  The girls love it.  I love it.  I hope you do, too. 

Thanks for visiting and don't forget to link me up if you decide to make one for your family.  I'd love to see it.