Halloween

I'll love you 'til the end of vine.

One of my all-time favorite stamp illustrators, Claire Keay, just released two new stamp sets for October, and, yes, I HAD to get my hands on this one. Well, you know, it was destiny formed more than 20 years ago.

I'm not much of a seamstress but I did try my hand at making the kids' Halloween costumes because, well, imperfections just gave them more character. They were Peter Pan (complete with fairy dust glitter), a Lady Bug and Ballerina, and then there was the year I made all four of us M&M's.

Baby Ben was just two years old when I sewed my first costume and it never occurred to me he would NOT want to go Trick-or-Treating. Oh my. I was floored, and not just because my costume masterpiece would go unused, but because of all that candy I, oops, he would miss. After much humiliating begging and grovelling, Baby Ben agreed to try at least one door. He quickly grasped the concept of costume = candy. Smart, that kid!

Pumpkin-adorned Ben made it half way around the block with a respectfully filled bucket when one of our neighbors got into the spirit of Halloween and answered the door with a "Boo!" Well, one "Boo!" sent Baby Ben into a tizzy and we had to run all the way home. This has to be one of the most under-utilized costumes of, at least McClain family lore.

I've been a huge fan of Claire Keay every since I ran across her stamps at My Favorite Things. Oh dear, they're just so adorable. Great news – Claire just opened up a new on-line store of digital stamps called Jellypark and, if that doesn't start your engines, she's also started a new Jellypark Friends Challenge Blog with a fabulous design team headed up by Jennifer Scull. I'm crazy excited that Jennifer asked me to be their guest. I can't wait to see what's next from Claire and her friends.

Catered Crop Follow the Recipe

Oh my goodness, gracious gravy with pumpkin pie! The entries for our Catered Crop Follow-the-Recipe #23 are just amazing. It's not too late for you to join in. I played by including Jane's and Kristi's fall colors, polka dots, Copic markers, thread, buttons, pearl brads, seam binding, twine, die cuts, tags, and by paper piecing, sewing, and making a bow bouquet. I also used Kristi's crepe paper idea by using Dollar store crepe paper I tea stained to match my paper. Shew!

The Catered Crop FTR23 recipe also includes the ingredient to "make us laugh." You know I can't pass up an opportunity for some bad Pun(kin)s.

A man was arrested for carving up 100 pumpkins. He must have been out of his gourd or going through a rough patch. The District Attorney squashed the motion to dismiss and the accused faced jail or a hefty vine. Orange you glad this seedy character is off the streets? That's the scoop.

Hee Hee – I warned you. Here's the rest of the recipe.

InLinkz.com

The Jellypark gang is hosting a Costume challenge this week and also playing along with the Pile-it-On By Happy challenge. So, in honor of that, here are a few challenges I piled on for this card:

Have fun . . . and I'll see you soon at the Catered Crop Quickfire.

October 23, 2011 | Filed Under: Claire Keay, Copic Markers, Halloween Tagged With: Claire Keay, Copic Markers, Halloween | 20 Comments

Woo hoo, witchy woman. See how high she flies.
Woo hoo, witchy woman. She got the moon in her eyes.
~ Witchy Woman by the Eagles, 1972

According to my witch-watch, it's quarter-past time for another Halloweenie post. I seem to be under the spell of yet another witch.

This little cutie is called Miss Star Witch. She's a digital stamp from the very talented Tammy Siemers Thompson at A Day for Daisies. I'm so crazy excited that A Day for Daisies is sponsoring our Catered Crop challenge. I absolutely adore her images.

Yeah, I went kind of crazy with the star thing, right? I covered a chipboard star with this gorgeous paper using ModgePodge. After that dried I covered it with Crystal Effects and then sprinkled Diamond Dust glitter onto it. Lesson learned – if you put too much Crystal Effects on your star, your glitter will clump up and lose its sparkle. So, if you try something like this, just a little dab of Crystal Effects will do ya.

I'm following Sarah's recipe for her beautiful card in our Catered Crop FTR21 party this week. I picked up her crackle medium (on the moon), ribbon, lace, mini-tag, studs (pearls), and thread. Here's the rest of my recipe.

Paper – My Mind's Eye Stella Rose, Bazzil and Neenah
Stamps – Miss Star Witch, Stampin' Up! Tiny Tags
Color Mediums – Memento ink, Copics, Stampin' Up! Pastels
Fibers – Jillibean Soup Baker's Twine, My Mind's Eye seam binding
Tools – Stampin' Up! Jewelry Tag Punch
Embellishments – Stampin' Up! Chipboard Star and Circle (retired)
Misc. – Diamond Dust glitter, Ranger Distress crackle paint, ModgePodge, Crystal Effects, Distress Stickles, and Stampin' Up! Dazzling Diamonds

Come join us at the party – it's hopping. You could be our next inspiration or the winner of a $12 gift certificate to A Day for Daisies.

See you later, my pretties!

September 24, 2011 | Filed Under: A Day for Daisies, Halloween Tagged With: A Day for Daisies, Copic Markers, Follow the Recipe, FTR21, Halloween | 6 Comments

When witches go riding, and black cats are seen,
the moon laughs and whispers, ‘tis near Halloween.
~ Author Unknown

When witches go riding they need a broom and a frog or two?! Absolutely!

This little witch is so cute, I stamped her on the inside, too. Hello my Pretty . . .

That card was fun, so I made a little treat/favor box to go with it.

A cute little witch like this needs a broom, right?

Can you guess what's in the broom treat bag . . . Frogs! it's raining frogs!

I found these great stretchy frogs at Target a few years ago. The colors match my card – so it's kismet. Every witch needs a frog or two for her potions and spells, right?

You can blame My Favorite Things for all this silliness. They gave us such a great sketch to work with this week, that, well, you can't blame me for going a little off-the-farm. You can get all the details and see all the fabulous creations of the other ladies at the My Favorite Things Blog and the MFT forum on Splitcoast Stampers. You'll need to upload your card in the SCS gallery using the keyword MFTWSC38. Oh, and you'll have the chance to win up to $20 in MFT money because a winner is chosen at random each week! Now that's Bewitching!

Catered Crop Recipe

If you're just joining us and didn't see yesterday's post, you can find the details for the pillow box here.

For the broom, I just embellished a Martha Stewart kit of Broom Favors with the mum, tag and seam binding. If you're industrious and want to make the brooms without a kit, here's Martha's How To: Witch's Broom Favors. I ran the paper bag through an embossing folder for more texture and inked the ends with chalk ink, though you can't see it very well in my pictures. I found this wonderful vintage seam binding in a mystery box of sewing notions at an Estate sale this weekend. You never know where you're going to find a great craft deal.

Here's the rest of my recipe.

Paper – My Mind's Eye Mischievous, Stampin' Up! and Neenah
Stamps – My Favorite Things Pure Innocence Little Witch, Typewriter Alphabet
Color Mediums – Memento ink, Copics, Stampin' Up! Pastels
Fibers – Felt, vintage J & P Coats Seam Binding, Stampin' Up! Trim Lace, Ric Rak
Tools – Nestabilities and My Favorite Things Die-namics: Rolled Mum, Woodgrain Fence and Mini Pennants
Embellishments – My Mind's Eye Mischievous Brads
Misc. – Stampin' Up! Basic Black Craft Ink and Embossing Powder on the shoes to make them shine

Here's the whole ensemble. You know what they say . . . "If the broom fits, fly it." She's ready for takeoff.

I know you'd be disappointed if i didn't give you one more bad frog pun . . . so here goes.

A man was shopping for a pet frog and had quite the ribbiting adventure. He left his pad and drove to the pet store. By a remarkable croak of bad luck he got toad away. Wart was he going to do? He paid the fine and got his car back but noticed they had damaged the rear-window de-frogger. No really! Do you think I am-phibian?

I gotta get hoppin'. Hope you all have a ribitting day.

September 21, 2011 | Filed Under: Copic Markers, Halloween, Heather Ellis, My Favorite Things, Pure Innocence | 9 Comments