A Touch of Grace

For a really spooktacular treat for the older trick-or-treaters, I made these coffin boxes and stuffed them with bite size candy bars.  I found the templates for the boxes on the Martha Stewart Crafts site.  The inside of the box is lined with Halloween paper I purchased from Stampin’ Up! a couple of years ago.  I placed the mummy tag on a foam dot and adhered it to the top of the box similar to what I did with the broomstick treat bag.  The mummy tag was created with the JustRite Stampers Witch Way to the Treats set that I got from the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store. 

The boxes are quick and easy to make.  The Martha Stewart Crafts site provides an easy to use template that you can download with instructions for making the box.  Use your imagination on how you want to design it! 

Shopping Links:

A Touch of Grace:  Zip Dry adhesive, Foam Dots, Quickie Glue pen, SU circle punches, Martha Stewart mouse and bat punches (Michael’s), black pearls, Old Paper and Antique Linen Tim Holtz Distress inks, Prismacolor pencils, black and ivory cardstock, lunch size paper bags, Genesis Paper Trimmer, cutting mat, craft knife, skeleton bones and accessories (Michael’s), glitter, SU Halloween paper, Basic Black cardstock,

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store:  Witch Way to the Treats JustRite stamps, cording, Versafine black ink

Joan’s Gardens:  Martha Stewart leaf punch

Last week I was thumbing through a magazine at the check out line in the grocery store when I came across a picture of treats stuffed into a broomstick made with small paper bags about 3″ x 6″.  My creative mind immediately went to the treat bags I was making with the JustRite Stampers Witch Way to the Treats set that I got from the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.  I couldn’t resist making a broomstick treat bag on a larger scale using the theme I was going with in my Halloween project to give to my great-nephew for Halloween. 

In this close up you  can see that I used the same tag that I made for the treat bags I posted here.  I cut a limb from an oak tree in our yard for the broomstick.  To make the lower portion of the broomstick I used two lunch size paper bags.  On the first bag I cut strips about 1/4 of the way down from the top of the bag and filled it with chocolates.  I then cut strips in the second bag from top to bottom of the bag.  I spread out the cut bag and placed the first bag filled with chocolates on top of it, I inserted the oak branch inside the first bag, and pulled the strips up to cover the bag and oak branch.  I used brown floral wire to secure the paper strips.  Once the strips were secured, I trimmed them to about 1 1/2″ leaving plenty of room for the broomstick to show.  I then took thick cord (the same cord I used on the treat bags yesterday, see link above) and wrapped it around the floral wire to hide it (see picture below).  I adhered the mummy tag to the brown cord on the bag using Zip Dry adhesive.  

I found a skeleton garland on sale at Michael’s and used it throughout the Halloween project.  The garland had five skeletons and was marked down to $2.40, can’t be that! One garland completed the entire project of treat bags, broomstick and coffins (come back tomorrow to see those, so adorable!).  I cut the skeletons from the garland and disassembled the bones.  You can see the hands above the mouse on the tag (Martha Stewart mouse punch).  The mummy’s head was paper toled and placed on a foam dot for dimension.  I adhered the legs and feet to the first bag and pulled them through the strips (see right side of bag).  I adhered the skeleton torso to the front of the bag and glued a mouse crawling across the ribs. 

My eight-year-old great-nephew is going to flip for this broomstick treat.  It works like a pinata, but instead of hitting it with a bat, you rip it open and the candy spills out.  How fun is that!  The broomstick is a perfect treat for a Halloween party and it makes an adorable presentation on your table. Using smaller bags would make great treat bags for a classroom party at school.

This photo shows the back side of the broomstick to show how I wrapped the brown cording around the floral wire.   I adhered both ends with Zip Dry glue, it dries fast and the hold is unbelievable!

Thanks so much for dropping in, I love when you stop by for a visit!

Shopping Links:

A Touch of Grace:  Zip Dry adhesive, Foam Dots, Quickie Glue pen, SU circle punches, Martha Stewart mouse punch (Michael’s), black pearls, Old Paper and Antique Linen Tim Holtz Distress inks, Prismacolor pencils, black and ivory cardstock, lunch size paper bags, Genesis Paper Trimmer, cutting mat, craft knife, skeleton bones and accessories (Michael’s), glitter, floral wire, oak branch

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store:  Witch Way to the Treats JustRite stamps, cording, Versafine black ink

Joan’s Gardens:  Martha Stewart leaf punch

I made these Halloween treat bags for our table decorations.  They’re quick and simple to make and add so much to tabletop decorations.  We invited my mother-in-law over last night for dinner and she loved the Halloween treat bags, the ghost ballroom centerpiece and other goodies I have set up on the table.  These treat bags would be adorable for a school party. 

This close up provides a better view of the tag.  You can better see the dimension of the mummy’s head and the glitter on the leaves and mouse. 

To make the toppers for the treat bags I used the Witch Way to the Treats set by JustRite Stampers that I got from the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store for the mummy tag.  I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils.  I sponged Antique Linen and Old Paper distress ink around the edges of the paper and placed black pearls on the tag.  The mummy’s head was colored and cut out a second time and placed over the image using a foam dot.  Using punches, I punched a black circle and adhered the mummy image to it.  I used a Martha Stewart leaf punch and punched three leaves (two black, one ivory) and covered them with glitter and adhered them to the tag.  I added skeleton bones over the leaves.  The mouse is a Martha Stewart punch as well.  I glittered the mouse .   .   .  LOL .   .   . he’s so elegant!  Setting the tag aside, I filled a bag with candy and wrapped the topper around it.  I cut a black strip of paper 3″ x 8″ and used the Martha Stewart mice edge punch across the top of the black strip.  I scored fold lines and wrapped the black strip around the bag and stapled it on the sides.  I cut a 2″ x 8″ strip of ivory paper and randomly stamped black spiders from an Inkadinkadoo $1 stamp set I purchased at JoAnn’s and adhered it to the black paper using Zip Dry adhesive (Zip Dry was used exclusively on all the Halloween projects, including the ghost ballroom centerpiece).  I then adhered a black 1/2″ x 8″ strip of paper around the center of the topper and over that placed a 1/2″ x 8″ strip of ivory paper punched with the Martha Stewart mice edge punch.  Zip Dry is by far the best adhesive I have found to work with.  It dries very quickly and gives you a good firm hold, which is important in Florida with the high humidity.   I attached the mummy tag to the bag using foam dots, wrapped cording around the topper and tied a knot.  I love the little mice on top of the bag .  .  .  so adorable! 

Shopping Links:

A Touch of Grace:  Zip Dry adhesive, Foam Dots, Quickie Glue pen, Scor It, SU circle punches, Martha Stewart mice punches (Michael’s), black pearls, Old Paper and Antique Linen Tim Holtz Distress inks, Prismacolor pencils, black and ivory cardstock, Halloween bags, Genesis Paper Trimmer, cutting mat, craft knife, skeleton bones and accessories (Michael’s), glitter

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store:  Witch Way to the Treats JustRite stamps, cording, Versafine black ink

Joan’s Gardens:  Martha Stewart leaf punch

Happy Halloween!  This week I have several Halloween projects (including JustRite treat bags, broomsticks and coffins) to share with you beginning today with this first design.  Using stencils I have designed a ballroom filled with vintage dancing ghosts. 

The scene you see in the design is from The Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World.  At the end of the post, you’ll find links to the stencils I used as well as other products I used.  The total size of the ballroom is 7″ x 10″, a perfect centerpiece for our small round kitchen table.

I printed the image onto white cardstock and paper toled the ghosts.  Using stencils, I embossed and cut six pieces; the overall frame with the topper, two pillars, two side panels, and the row of six columns that span across the bottom.  The row of columns was made using the same stencil as the pillars by turning the stencil upside down and using only a portion of it. I sponged Tim Holtz black soot distress ink onto the pieces to give my ballroom a dingy appearance. 

The design has a lot of dimension which I’ll try to illustrate in the photographs below. 

The flowers were made with punches and prima paper flowers.  Two stencils from the Star stencil collection were used to design the ballroom. 

In this view you can see a little of the dimension.  If you look closely, you’ll see a bar of the white foam on the right side of the frame, approximately one inch in length, as well as white foam behind the columns.  The foam dots raised the frame and columns off of the paper toled ghosts.   The pillars stand out 1/2 inch from the focal image. 

I used a Martha Stewart leaf punch, as well as Fiskars flower punches, and prima flowers for the floral decorations attached to the design.  The leaves were hand drawn and cut with a craft knife.   To add a little elegance, I added black, gold, and green glitter to the the flowers and leaves.  The black stamens in the center of the roses were made using a small flower punch.   

I embroidered the pillars and columns using black sewing thread.  I attached black silk bows to the side panels and placed roses in the centers of the bows.  The ribbon is 1/8″ white May Arts silk ribbon that I dyed black.  The bows were made with the Bow Easy. 

This picture is somewhat of a teaser.  I purposely made it dark and small to give you just a glimpse of the all the Halloween treats I’ve cooked up.  For some fun Halloween ideas,  come back tomorrow to see which treat I’ll be featuring.  While the ballroom took some time to complete, the treats were simple, quick, and easy to make.

Shopping Links:

A Touch of Grace:  PD0004 Star Collection - Pillar; PD0002 Star Collection; Scor It; Zip Dry; Foam Dots; black embossing paper, silver grey embossing paper, stylus, glitter, sewing thread, needle, light box, Genesis Paper Trimmer, Fiskars punches, self-healing mat, sponge, dauber, graph paper, black pearls,

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store:  Bow Easy, May Arts Ribbon, JustRite Halloween stamps (featured tomorrow)

Joan’s Gardens:  Martha Stewart Leaf Punch

Hi everyone,

Well, we’re at the end of my 2008 calendar.  I hope you’ve enjoyed it and that I’ve inspired you to pull out your stamps and get creative.  I hope to make another one in the coming year and will delightfully share it with you.  If I can get up the energy, I’ll do tutorials as I go along since I’ve had so many viewers that have wanted to make a similar calendar. 

I love Halloween, it’s one of my favorite holidays.  I have many wonderful memories of my children dressed in their adorable little Halloween costumes. We dressed up when they were little, I made most of their costumes.  Stephen was the most adorable pea in a pea pod costume his first year.  I’ll never forget how we dressed the boys as baby skunks, way too cute, what a response we got.  We always decorated our house and yard with all sorts of lights and decorations, usually Pooh bear decorations, I didn’t want to frighten the little tykes.  I usually dressed as Little Bo Beep and sat outside at a decorated table with a huge caldren filled with candy for the kids to dip into. We always had a huge round aluminum tub filled with apples for apple bobbing.  Whoever got an apple could choose an extra large candy bar of their choice.  We normally got well over 500 trick-or-treaters. 

So, when it came to October, I just had to go with Halloween for my October calendar theme.  My favorite part of this page is the witch.  She looks like she’s going to fly right off the page.

November 29 is my birthday and we’re usually celebrating it during the Thanksgiving holiday.  I chose to go with a Thanksgiving theme for the November page, keeping with the Fall holiday themes.

We have wild turkeys that roam our backyard and I have to tell you turkeys are not very pretty birds, well except for the little chicks, they’re adorable as they follow their mamas around.  I decided to go a bit whimsical with this guy using Fall colors in his plumage.  My husband’s favorite part of the page is the Fall leaves. I can’t say that I have a favorite part, I like the overall image with the Fall colors.

I dedicate this page to our Father.

December .   .   . the final month of my  calendar.  All good things must come to an end .   .   . I was so happy to finally be at this point in the project, but I think a little sad as well.  For so long I had planned on designing this calendar and now it’s finished.

O Holy Night!  I think of that beautiful song every time I view this page.  In designing it, I wanted to stay within the true meaning of Christmas, keeping all commercial aspects out of it.  I used two stamps for the design, a beautiful angel and a poinsettia cluster with holly.  I stamped the angel first and then stamped the poinsettia spray around her and the edges of the paper. When attempting the background wash, I tried to make it appear as if the Heavens were aglow with the splendor of what had just occured.  The angel has such a beautiful face, I see her coming down from the Heavens heralding the birth of our dear Savior.  All Glory to the newborn King!

• Paper:  Pumpkim Pie, Handsome Hunter, , Basic Black, Canson watercolor 140 lbs. coldpress 
• Ink:  Versamark
• Accessories:  Versamarker, watercolor brush, heating tool, Ranger EP, gold/gold tinsel, velcro, dimensionals, Towbow markers, Barely Banana, Sage Shadow, Mellow Moss markers (SU)

Good morning ladies,

Today I’m joining in the celebration of Sharon’s (notimetostamp) blog anniversary party and I’ve got lots of blog candy that I’m giving away.  I’ve designed samples for some of the items to give you ideas of what you can do with the blog candy.  The samples are not included in the giveaway.  I’m overstocked and must move these items out of my stamping room to make room for new goodies.

Here are the Rules to enter the drawing . . . Are you ready?

1.  View the designs I’ve posted on my blog and tell me which one you like the most and why.  Now this shouldn’t be too difficult since I’ve only been blogging for six weeks;

2.  One comment only to qualify, duplicates will not count;

3.  E-mail your friends and ask them to visit my blog to enter the blog candy giveaway.   Why?

The size of the prize will be determined by the amount of comments left.  There will only be one prize . . . the lucky winner takes it all!  If I receive 50 comments, Package A will be sent to the lucky winner.  If I receive 100 comments, Package B will be sent to the lucky winner.  If I receive 200 comments, Package C will be sent to the lucky winner.  Are ya’ll following, the more comments I get, the more I add to the kitty?  So, the more comments I receive the bigger the package the winner will receive.   The winning number will be chosen on Sunday, September 14, at 2:00 p.m.  by Random.org. 

My friend, Joan Fricker, is giving away blog candy today in celebration of Sharon’s week long celebration, be sure to stop by her blog to sign up for another chance to win some blog candy.

 I purchased all items in the giveaway from Papertrey, Ink. 

50 Comments Required —- Package A above consists of:

• Two Frosted Tin Tie Bags (small)
• Four Coffee Bags consisting of: two small bags (white and kraft); two large bags (white and kraft)
• Two Window Coffee Bags (one large, one small)
• Four Glassine Bags (two large, two small)
• Two Clear Boxes

100 Comments Required —- Package B above consists of:

• Package A
• Large Nugget Tin
• 8 oz. Large Round Tin
• 4 oz. Medium Round Tin
• 2.5 Small Round Tin
• Tea Tin

200 Comments Required —- Package C above consists of:

• Packages A & B
• Small Clear Paint Can
• Medium Clear Paint Can
• Large Clear Paint Can

It was hard to get the entire package in a good photograph.  I’ve taken a picture of the three clear paint cans to give you a close up view so that you can better see their size.  Below are pictures of the sample designs I made.

I designed this ensemble to give you examples of fun ways to decorate the items in the blog candy.  The designer paper used is from Papertrey, Ink’s First Fruit’s collection.  I used the retired set Happy Fall Y’all from Stampin’ Up! in the designs.  To see the recipe you’ll need to continue to the bottom of this post.

I had fun designing this card.  I stamped the scarecrow with Versafine black ink onto Naturals Ivory paper and watercolored the image.  The birds were both stamped twice and popped up with dimensionals.  I used nestibilities to die cut the images.  The leaves were punched with a Martha Stewart punch that I purchased at Michael’s.

This tag could be attached to one of the coffee bags or to the large paint can.  In the photograph it looks like I got off centered when I adhered the scarecrow image.  It is off centered, but it’s supposed to be, I designed it that way for this project, it looks better in real life.  The tag is a piece of chipboard from an SU package that I have.  I covered the back of it with DP as well.  I love this tag, it wasn’t part of the original ensemble, but when I saw Sharon’s tag this morning, I was inspired to design one. 

Isn’t this hinged nugget tin just the cutest thing!  I didn’t place any nuggets inside because I wanted you to see the lining in the bottom.  It was very easy to place it inside the tin, I just placed the nugget tin on the designer paper and traced around the bottom of it.  I cut inside the tracing lines using a paper cutter,  I then used a large corner punch from SU to round the four corners.  I adhered the lining inside using a piece of double sided tape.  I used the same paper to cover the outside of the tin.  If you look closely at the lid, you’ll see that I adhered Old Olive ribbon around the outer edges of the lid.  I used a craft knife to cut out the scarecrow and placed him on the tag using dimensionals.

These small tins are super easy to decorate.  I used double sided tape that I purchased at Scor Pal to adhere the DP paper to the tins.  I made a tag for the lid that says Happy Fall Y’all.  M&M’s or Skittles would be adorable in this tin. 

These bag toppers were quick and easy to make.  I simply used an old SU Halloween wheel and ran it across Naturals paper.  I used a round circle from another retired set to make the different colored moons across the topper.   I borrowed this design, I believe, from an old SU magazine that is sent to demos, at least I think I did, I remember seeing something like this about a year ago.  The little ghost tag was made using a Cuttlebug die.

Ladies, I wish you all the best of luck!

• Stamps:  Happy Fall Y’all, Retired Halloween Wheel, Circle Stamp (all retired SU stamps)
• Paper:  Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Ruby Red,  Really Rust, Naturals, Naturals Ivory (SU); First Fruits (Papertrey, Ink)
• Ink:  Versafine (black), Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Night of Navy, Basic Grey, More Mustard, Ruby Red, Really Rust, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Colorbox Chestnut Roan
• Accessories:  Martha Stewart punch, SU corner punch, SU 3/4″ and 7/8″ round punches, 5/8″ Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, 1/4″ Old Olive twill, black gingham ribbon (SU), striped black ribbon (JoAnn), dimensionals, watercolor brush, jumbo eyelets, large eyelets, Crop-A-Dile, hemp, various Nestibilities, sewing machine, SU Earth Elements brads, double sided tape, Cuttlebug dies, SU Chipboard, Basic Grey Chipboard, Faber-Castell Sketch pen, sponges, Scor It, Craft Knife