Halloween Treat Holders

Welcome everyone! Today I’m stopping by to share a couple different treat holders I created for Halloween. The ideas are basic and since Halloween is tomorrow, you could always make them for Thanksgiving or Christmas by changing out the paper and images. Keep that in mind if you’re into this sort of thing. It’s definitely my favorite!

Let’s start with these fun ghost friends! I created the base with a strip of orange cardstock measuring 1.5″x6″. I scored each strip at 2 1/2″ and 3 1/2″ and then used the Spellbinders tag punch to cut each end. I splattered the strips with black metallic watercolor and set them aside to dry.

While those were drying I cut the cute ghost from the Lawn Fawn Scallop Treat Box Haunted House Add On and the actual haunted house from the Lawn Fawn Shadow Box Halloween Add On. I used liquid glue to adhere everything together and then one foam square on the bottom of the house.

These were sized perfectly for Hershey’s Nuggets so when the watercolor splatter was dry I stacked my chocolate inside and threaded ribbon through the holes to keep it all together. Then I removed the foam square release paper and popped those on the front.

The fit is perfectly snug so I didn’t have to use adhesive on the chocolate but they stayed in place. I made enough of these for my whole office in one evening. They came together really quick and turned out so cute!

This next box I just made one of but it would be fun to make lots of these too. I chose a piece of Newton’s Nook Halloween Party paper and followed this tutorial to create my box. It perfectly fits three Hershey’s Nuggets so I slid those inside and tied it closed with black embroidery floss.

I stamped and colored two of the Trick or Treat Newton images like our kitties at home and used the coordinating dies to cut them out. Then I hot foiled a sentiment using the Newton’s Nook Spooky Sentiments hot foil plates and coordinating Banner Duo die to cut it out. I popped the kitties and sentiment banner up with foam squares.

Here’s a side look at the box. It’s the perfect little something to add to a certain someone’s lunch box before they head to school.

Products used today:
Spellbinders Tag Punch
Lawn Fawn Scallop Treat Box Haunted House Add On dies
Lawn Fawn Shadow Box Halloween Add On dies
Newton’s Nook Trick or Treat Newton stamps and dies
Newton’s Nook Spooky Sentiments hot foil plates
Newton’s Nook Banner Duo dies
Newton’s Nook Halloween Party paper pad
Thermoweb hot foil – silver
Foam squares
Liquid glue
Reverse tweezers

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Spellbinders – Beads of Friendship Card Trio

Hello everyone! I’m here today with a trio of cards using the new Beads of Friendship collection from Spellbinders. I couldn’t believe how fun these were to create and how much more of a Better Press believer I became. So much good stuff!

Essentially I used the Bestie Alphabet and Beads stamp set first to stamp and die cut a ton of alphabet beads. Then I cut more beads and bracelet bases from the Bestie Beaded Bracelets die set and then just started playing around.

After putting together a few of the open-ended bracelets, I paused and created this card. I used the Flowers & Foliage 3D embossing folder for my backgrounds and a little distress oxide ink blending for the panel with my bracelets.

I couldn’t resist making a few closed bracelets as well and just love the Bestie Heart in Hand dies to go with them. I pulled this together with more distress oxide ink blending in the background and a frame created with the Make a Wish Arch Labels dies.

Then, unrelated to my massive bead and bracelet creation, I really wanted to play with these sweet hands that shape a heart! This is the Heart Hands dies, with mini bracelets as part of the set. So cute! Plus the Bestie Sentiments press plate and coordinating die. This one presses and cuts 12 sentiments at once! It’s pure perfection!

I used more ink blending and the Notched Corner Frames dies to pull it all together. This ink blending also has some white paint splatter for added texture.

These cards were so fun to create! Once they were done I just kept thinking of new bracelet themes to create so another bead session will be coming soon for sure!

Products used:
Beads of Friendship Collection
Notched Corner Frames dies
Make a Wish Arch Labels dies
Flowers and Foliage 3D embossing folder
Better Press system
Platinum 6 die cutter
Foam tape
Distress Oxide Inks
Blending brushes
Liquid glue
Reverse tweezers

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Doodlebugs – Merry Coloring with Stencils

Welcome friends! It’s Mix it up Monday and I’m slowly transitioning my crafting to a sprinkling of Christmas, as I’m sure some have noticed. We can’t let it creep up on us unaware and be scrambling to create and mail out our Christmas cards now can we?!?

So today I inked up one of the Waffle Flower holiday themed postage stamp stencil sets. This one is called Gingerbread. If you haven’t tried this line of products from Waffle Flower just go into it knowing a few things…they are addicting and so fun to create with, they are so simple with Waffle Flower etching color or theme ideas in the top right corner of each layer, and there is something for everyone, and the collection keeps growing still!

I prefer to die cut my postage stamp backdrop first, then ink up the stencils and stamp my postage extras, then I use my paper trimmer to cut the stamps apart for today’s project. But you could use it whole as a full card design too. It’s that good!

I decided which images I was going to use and tucked the others away to create with another time. Then I cut a Spellbinders Emerald Cut Label, plus the insert layer from pink cardstock. I inked the larger one up with pink ink and splattered them both with pink ink and white paint.

At the same time, I inked the edges of my card base with mermaid ink and splattered it in the same fashion. After those were dry, I layered everything with liquid glue and foam tape.

Next, I popped my postage stamps up with foam squares on the pink rectangle and finished the design off with a sentiment banner from Mama Elephant.

To keep the red cohesive, I inked the background layer of the banner the same way I did on the bird postage stamp. It’s a mix of brown and red from the gingerbread stenciling.

Here’s a little up close of the cuteness we’ve created today! I’m itching to take the other three stamps this stencil set created and get another card checked of my Christmas list!

How far along are you this year? Be honest…I have a solid 15 Christmas cards ready to go and better get cracking if I’m going to get them all done in time.

Products used:
Waffle Flower Postage Collage Gingerbread stencil set
Waffle Flower blending brushes
Waffle Flower Postage Collage North Pole stamps
Spellbinders Emerald Cut Labels dies
Mama Elephant Winter Banners dies
Lawn Fawn Inks – walnut, lobster, mermaid, ballet slippers
Liquid glue
Foam tape

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Doodlebugs – Mixing Critters and Sentiments to Stretch Your Supplies

Happy Mix it up Monday again everyone! I hope this doesn’t get old for you because I truly love it! My brain used to have a hard time reaching for different companies to put on the same card and now it’s like a fun weekly exercise to see how I can extend the life of my crafty stash!

Today we’re playing with cute critter sets that might not have enough or any sentiments in them. So go ahead, grab that other brand and go to town!

Today we’re starting with watercolor and the Pretty Pink Posh Reindeer Friends set along with the new Mama Elephant Holiday Block set. I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers, including the blender to keep things bolder today. If you wanted to tone down your colors, blend them with water which inevitably removes some of the pigment and lightens them.

Once everything was colored and dry, I used the coordinating dies from both sets to cut them all out. So great that the Mama Elephant dies cut the sentiments in the set too! I love it!!!!

For my background, I embossed a piece of white cardstock with the Spellbinders Tiny Dots embossing folder and glued it to a card base. Then I cut a piece of kraft cardstock 2 inches tall and glued it on top of that. I covered the seam with a strip of black cardstock about 1/4″ thick and proceeded to add my images and sentiment with foam squares.

For finishing touches today, I added red twine wrapped around the top and tied in a bow and I also went ahead and added glossy accents in a couple of places – reindeer noses and the hearts in the sentiment.

I love how happy this card turned out! It’s a little early yet but I think Christmas crafting is going to be extra fun this year!

Products used:
Mama Elephant Holiday Block stamps and dies
Pretty Pink Posh Reindeer Friends stamps and dies
Spellbinders Tiny Dots embossing folder
Foam squares
Glossy accents
Liquid glue

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Doodlebugs – Die Cut Mania, Getting Ready for Christmas

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! Today I’m sharing more die cut creations but starting to sprinkle in Christmas with my Halloween and fall creations. This time I was thinking about how to stretch some of the products that might not be holiday and I chose the Pretty Pink Posh dump truck die set to start with!

I cut all the pieces from atypical construction colors and used liquid glue to assemble it. I wanted the bed of the truck to sit on top of the “frame” so I just used a little washi tape to keep them lined up while I was playing around with the other elements.

Digging for Christmas gifts to fill my truck with, I landed on the ones in the Spellbinders Delivery Joy die set. I cut the elements and used liquid glue to assemble everything. Then with the help of a little washi tape, I arranged everything taped it together on the front so I could flip it over and add dabs of liquid glue where things overlapped. After letting the glue dry for a minute I could carefully remove the washi tape and it all stayed put!

For my sentiment, I went with the Spellbinders Make it Merry banners and thought the “jingle all the way” sentiment was too cute with this truck load of gifts. I layered the black top banner over white glitter cardstock and offset them for a little extra sparkle. I popped it up on the truck with foam strips.

For my background, I cut 2 of the largest Spellbinders Emerald Cut Labels dies from white cardstock, scored one 1/2 inch from the top and adhered it to the back to create a shaped card base. Then I cut the inner label from teal cardstock and inked it up with the Pretty Pink Posh Trellis stencil and Lawn Fawn peacock ink. That is adhered with liquid glue and my truck is popped up on that with foam tape.

Isn’t this a fun segue into holiday crafting? Now that I’ve filled this truck with gifts, I’m going backward to fill it with pumpkins and when Valentine’s Day rolls around, watch out!!! We’re going to have fun with this!

Products used:
Pretty Pink Posh Big Dump Truck dies
Pretty Pink Posh Trellis stencil
Spellbinders Emerald Cut Labels dies
Spellbinders Make it Merry banner ides
Spellbinders Delivering Joy dies
Blending brush
Lawn Fawn peacock ink
Liquid glue
Foam strips and tape
Reverse tweezers

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Spellbinders – Embossing Folder Highlights

Hello everyone! Apologies that the blog has been sparse lately. I was really busy prepping for the Keeping it Crafty Retreat and then really needed some recovery time before I felt productive in the craft room again.

I’m back though and today I’m sharing a set of cards I created with very minimal products but if you use them differently, you don’t get bored with the design and can get different looks too!

I’m highlighting the Spellbinders Norwegian Rosemaling 3D Embossing Folder and the banner dies from the Delivery Joy die set for all 4 cards I’m sharing today. I also used the same 4 colors of cardstock throughout, mixing and matching the combos.

I started with A2 pieces of each color cardstock and ran them through the embossing folder. This is a large embossing folder so I was able to move my cardstock around each time and emboss a different section of the print.

After each was embossed, I went over the panels with gathered twigs distress oxide ink and splattered them with gold watercolor. It gives the embossing depth and you know I like my sparkle.

This first card was just trimmed to 3.75×5.5 inches and popped up on a white card base with a teal sentiment banner. I slipped a couple of strips of washi tape on the edge for a little interest.

This panel was trimmed to 5×3.75 inches and also popped up on a white card base. This time I put the sentiment banner front and center.

This idea is like the red one but instead of neatly trimming the edge I tore it off and went over the tear with the distress oxide blending foam again. It’s popped up on a white card base and paired with the red sentiment banner hanging off the edge of the tear.

Last but not least, I went with a full card front glued directly to the base with the sentiment banner front and center like the green card.

Head on photos never show the shimmer of metallic watercolor so here’s a look at that too. It’s amazing how much something this simple adds in real life when someone is opening a card. It’s naturally moving in the light as they pull it out and it’s immediately noticeable.

I hope you’ll give this idea a try and have some holiday crafting fun!

Products used:
Spellbinders Norwegian Rosemaling 3D embossing folder
Spellbinders Delivering Joy dies
Foam tape and strips
Distress Oxide Ink – gathered twigs
Gold watercolor
Liquid glue

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Doodlebugs – Hang in There Mini Scene

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! Sometimes creating even a whole card front can feel overwhelming. Whether it’s too much coloring of images or too much space to fill. Today I have a fun design to share with you that shrinks your scene space but is really fun and has lots of interest too.

I started with a few images from Pretty Pink Posh Batty About You. I colored them with copic markers and used the coordinating dies to cut them out. Then I used a dab of liquid glue to adhere my bat to the tree branch.

Next, used some distress oxide inks to create a spooky sky on a piece of white cardstock. I started with crackling campfire, carved pumpkin and wild honey. After those were blended I went over the whole thing lightly with black soot, then went back over it all with the same colors to blend the black a little. I love the smoky look I ended up with. Next, I spritzed the panel with water and flicked black metallic watercolor on it too.

I trimmed a piece of black cardstock down to 4.25×3.5 inches and ran it through my die cut machine with the Spellbinders Tiny Dots embossing folder. This part of the design is easy to change up. Use a stencil or patterned paper, or maybe you like it simple and plain cardstock is your jam. Then just cut a 1/4″ strip of contrasting cardstock to adhere to the top. It’s like a bridge over the seam of your ink blending and the bottom panel. It polishes the design a lot.

Next, pop everything up on the ink blended panel with foam tape and squares. Placement of the sentiment can vary on this design too. I like the dab of orange at the bottom so that’s where my sentiment strip ended up this time. But it often ends up just below the seam strip or even up in the scene itself. Play around with it and see what you like.

Products used today:
Pretty Pink Posh Batty About You stamps and dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips | Halloween stamps
Spellbinders Tiny Dots embossing folder
Distress Oxide Ink – crackling campfire, carved pumpkin, wild honey, black soot
Foam tape and squares
Liquid glue
Distress sprayer
LH Color watercolor – black

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Doodlebugs – Florals For All Through the Year

Hey friends! It’s Mix it up Monday on the Doodlebugs blog and I’m moving outside of my typical and playing with florals. There are some newer die sets from Spellbinders that are a fabulous price point but adorable, fun to create with and really versatile. The one we’re playing with today is called Little Blooms. The dies in this collection range from $7 to $15 and you can use them for a billion and one different cards!

For today’s card, I cut the different elements from a limited color palette (happens to be a favorite these days) and used liquid glue to assemble all the pieces. I played around with arrangement on my craft mat and landed on a loose circle. To make it easy to add them to a card front, I used a piece of Press-n-Seal to hold them together while I added foam squares to the back of everything. This also made it a piece of cake to figure out what size circle die I could use for my background and actually adhering all the pieces to that circle at once. Definitely a kitchen item to keep in your craft room.

So after the florals were stuck to the Press-n-Seal, I die cut a white circle from the Mama Elephant Circle Combo dies and ink blended distress oxide spun sugar to the center. I spritzed it with water and blotted it dry. Then I cut two of the scallop layers from a peach-orange cardstock and used liquid glue to adhere all my layers together.

After removing the release paper from the foam squares on my flowers I popped them in place on the scalloped circle card front. To turn this into a card, I cut the same stitched circle a second time, scored it 3/8″ from one side and used liquid glue to adhere it to the back.

I went digging for a specific theme of sentiment and landed on it in the Spellbinders I’ve Got You Covered stamp and die set. I stamped it with celery stick ink and cut it out before popping it up across the center with foam strips.

I’m not a floral crafter but sometimes they’re just what you need. This little die set will be a long standing part of my stash for that reason. It’s simple and so pretty.

Products used:
Mama Elephant Circle Combo dies
Spellbinders I’ve Got You Covered stamps and dies
Spellbinders Little Blooms dies
Liquid glue
Reverse tweezers
Blending brushes
Distress Oxide Ink – spun sugar
Lawn Fawn Ink – celery stick

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Doodlebugs – Monochromatic Fun and Shaped Cards

Happy Mix it up Monday everyone! On the Doodlebugs blog I’m playing with monochromatic designs and shaped cards to make things a little extra interesting.

I started by creating an adorable Spellbinders Roller Disco Dottie with a red collar and red skates. She’s the cutest but I couldn’t decide on a complimentary color that I liked today. So I decided to keep it all in the family, the red family.

Next, I pulled out some Mama Elephant dies and created a sentiment banner using Spring Banner Greetings dies. Then I created my card base with the Mama Elephant Circle Combo dies. I love the wiggle room of liquid glue for all of these types of things. It gives you that couple of seconds to line things up.

After creating the 3 top layers of my circle, I cut an additional white circle, scored it about 3/8″ away from one edge and then used liquid glue to adhere it to the back of the stacked circle combo. You can decide if your card opens up or to the side this way too. Total flexibility.

I ink blended the center of the circle on the front and splattered it with the same red ink color. Then I popped Dottie and her sentiment banner up with foam squares and strips.

I’m excited to pop this cutie in the mail to a special friend along with some crafty goodies I picked up.

Products used:
Spellbinders Roller Disco Dottie dies
Mama Elephant Circle Combo dies
Mama Elephant Spring Banner Greetings dies
Liquid glue
Foam squares
Scoring board
Blending brush
Lawn Fawn lobster ink
Reverse tweezers

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

Doodlebugs – Pastel Christmas Wishes, Non-Traditional Color Palettes for the Holidays

Welcome to a fun Mix it up Monday for the Doodlebugs blog where I’m still thinking of the holidays that are far away but are sure to creep up on us in no time! Typically I’m not a make ahead Christmas card type of person, I start late fall and do my best. But this year I’ve been really inspired by all the Christmas in July releases and extra inspiration I’ve seen from other design team members. It’s fabulous and so fun!

Another thing that happens for me when I create outside of the typical time of year for a holiday or season…I’m interested and willing to choose outside of my typical color palettes. It’s been SO FUN!

Today I have the Spellbinders Delivering Joy Sleigh in pinks, teals and mint greens. I added a little gold for some flair and kept the gifts classy with white. Isn’t is so pretty?!? I really adore it!

For the background, I went with the same green and teal color scheme using the Pretty Pink Posh Christmas Trees stencil set. I trimmed the panel down to 3.75×5 inches and popped it up on a pink card base because, well, pink. I chose the same teal from the poinsettias for my sentiment strip, which is also Pretty Pink Posh.

After popping the sleigh and sentiment strip up on the stenciled panel, I finished the design off with a scattering of Spellbinders pearls.

I’m really curious to know how you feel about non-traditional colors for any holiday season. Please share! I used to be really rigid with my colors and now I’m definitely enjoying playing around with it all.

Products used:
Spellbinders Delivering Joy Sleigh dies
Spellbinders pearls
Pretty Pink Posh Christmas Trees stencils
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips dies
Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips | Christmas stamps
Foam tape, squares and strips
Liquid glue
Reverse tweezers
Lawn Fawn Ink – cilantro, mermaid, doe

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!