Category Archives: Halloween

A Fun Spider Card for Halloween

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Fun Spider on Halloween Card

You never know where creative inspiration will come from! I got an email advertising Halloween gifts. The designs on the items were so cute, and I thought, “I could make a card using that idea!” So here is a fun Halloween spider card!

The Halloween spider is made by cutting a Gumball Green circle with one of the Circle Framelits.  In order to get the stripes, I used a technique I’ve seen a million times but hadn’t tried myself. Before I embossed the circle with the Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, I inked the inside stripes of the embossing folder with a darker green color, Garden Green. That made some of the stripes colored! It looked really neat when I took it out of the folder!  For the eyes, I punched two Pumpkin Pie circles and smaller Basic Black circles and colored in the whites with the Signo Gel Pen.  I hand-drew the squigly mouth with a black marker and just hand-cut two little triangles for his teeth. Do you know what the legs are?  They are punched from the new Chevron Border Punch!

The card base is Elegant Eggplant layered with a piece of the new Witches’ Brew Designer Series Paper.  For a little greeting I used a stamp from the Halloween Bash stamp set and punched out with the Ticket Duo Punch.  You could use this stamp and this card as a Halloween party invitation!  Since the card is such a dark color, I put a Whisper White layer on the inside and stamped with a another greeting from the same Halloween Bash stamp set.

It’s fun to spot something cute that you know you can duplicate or at least copy to some extent with your stamps, ink, and paper.  Keep your eyes open for ideas in unusual places for papercrafting inspiration!

New Circle Card Thinlits Die Halloween Card

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Circle Thinlits Halloween Card

I LOVE the new Circle Card Thinlits Die! And I loved making this first Halloween card of the season for me!  I didn’t even know what, exactly, I was going to make so actually what I came up with was a pleasant surprise!  I knew I would start with a card base of Basic Black card stock with some Witches’ Brew Designer Series Paper. Then I got out my new Halloween stamp sets in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog to see what I could use. I decided to stamp the flying witch in the stamp set  Halloween Hello on a piece of Summer Starfruit punched with the 1 3/4″ Circle Punch.  It is layered on a scallop circle die cut which comes with the Circle Card Thinlits Die and that is layered on a 2 1/2″ Circle Punch  of Champagne Glimmer Paper.  The die also comes with a small star die but for this card I used the star punch in the carryover punch pack from last year’s Holiday Catalog, Merry Minis Punch Pack #126882.

The Halloween greeting on the front is part of a stamp in the Halloween Bash Stamp Set in the Holiday Catalog.  I covered up the top part I did not want to ink up with a part of an old business card and inked the bottom part with Versamark.  Then I embossed it with White Stampin’ Emboss Powder.

For the inside circle, I thought a surprise was in order since it is a Halloween card and what could be a better surprise than a ghost!  Do you know how I made that ghost?  Just use the Stampin’ Up! Owl Punch! Snip off the feet of the owl and turn him upside down!  You could punch out some eyes and mouth but I just used a black marker.  The “Boo” is handwritten with the brand new White Stampin’ Chalk Marker in the Holiday Catalog.

Circle Thinlits Halloween Card

Here is a close-up of the focal point of the card. The scallop circle die cut does not come with the holes in the scallops.  I wanted more of the Glimmer Paper to show through so I grabbed a hole punch in my stash and punched those holes. I had also considered doing some doodling with the Chalk Marker.  So whatever works for you!  The Summer Starfruit circle is also sponged with some Pumpkin Pie ink and even a little bit of Gumball Green.

Circle Thinlits Halloween Card

I hope you enjoyed my first Halloween card.  You know the fall season is fast approaching!

Go to my Stampin’ Up! Online Store and check out the products in the Holiday Catalog and get yourself in the mood!  I’m sure you will want and enjoy the new Thinlits Dies, too!

Make Fun Holiday Banners

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I think one of the many hits at the Stampin’ Up! Convention was seeing the making of the holiday banners offered in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog and variations using the kits. Shelli Gardner’s daughter Sara fascinated all of us with her holiday banners made from kits and the extra projects she also made. It was one of those products that I didn’t necessarily think I was interested in from the catalog until I saw her demonstrate them at Convention. They were in my first order home from Convention!

Build a Banner Simply Created Kit

You can purchase this Build a Banner Simply Created Kit  and receive the canvas banners with grommets, the stencils with the designs and lower-case alphabet, jute twine, stencil mask and spritzer. In the spritzer you mix 70% rubbing alcohol and reinker and spritz VERY lightly and from a distance with the stencil on the banner.  When I saw it demonstrated I thought that surely wasn’t enough color to show up, but it was! The moisture will pool on the stencil so you have to be careful lifting the stencil off. Some demonstrators have found using a spray adhesive on the back of the stencils help hold them in place better.

Canvas Banner Spritzed with Reinker

Images copyright Stampin’ Up! 2013 Here Sara used Gumball Green for the chevrons and Coastal Cabana I believe for the letter.

Using Sponge Dauber to ink up stencil

Here’s another technique you can use. Dip a Sponge Dauber into ink and apply to stencil. This method may work better than spritzing but might take a little longer. Sara only colored some of the dots so it wasn’t a big job to fill in all the dots.

Banner with Sponge Dauber Dots

Images copyright Stampin’ Up! 2013

I haven’t been able to play with my banner kits yet but hopefully soon!  You can purchase extra banners in the Banner Simply Created Kit depending on your project, or if you don’t want the stencils you could just buy these banners. Then if you would like to jazz up your banner without making everything yourself, purchase the Halloween Banner Simply Created Accessory Kit or the Christmas Banner Simply Created Accessory Kit.

Check out these banner kits in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog and see if you are up for a new kind of project made easy with these kits!

Shop online at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE.

New Stampin’ Up! “Best of 25 Years” Stamp Set

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Best of 25 Years Stampin' Up! Best of 25 Years

Click on Image Above

To celebrate Stampin’ Up!’s 25 years, every month they are choosing favorite stamp images plus one new one and putting them together in one stamp set.  Although these sets are coming out once per month, you can purchase any of them until March 31, 2014.  Be sure to save the Collector’s Sticker and place it on your card.  Once you have purchased six of these sets, you can redeem your card (mail it in to Stampin’ Up!) and get a free stamp set (valued up to $14.95). All “Best of” stamp sets are available in Clear-mount only!

This month’s favorite stamp images set is “Best of Halloween”. You can order it here and add on anything else you would like from Stampin’ Up!, too!

For more information, read the flyer HERE.

 

It’s Stampin’ Up! Holiday Time!

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It may be August, but it is none too early to start thinking about the upcoming holidays!  And just in time is the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog, chock full of creative ideas and new products! Now is the time for us crafty stampers to start working on all these projects we intend to do before each holiday and season and often run out of time to do!  Get an early start now with the Stampin’ Up!  Holiday Catalog!

Stampin' Up! Holiday Catalog 2013

Click catalog image to shop!

Holiday Catalog Flipbook

Holiday Catalog PDF

Holiday Catalog Stampin’ Supplies

Holiday Catalog Spanish Flyer

If you have a copy of the catalog, don’t forget to try out the new feature with your smartphone: little videos!

If you don’t have a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator and would like a copy of the Holiday Catalog mailed to you, please contact me at Karen@KarenStamps.com.

Yes, you can place an order today, August 1st from the new Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog!

And there are even more goodies available starting today!  Check back later!

 

It’s Halloween! Trick-or-Treat! Happy Halloween!

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Spooky Owl Punch Ghosts Halloween Card

Today is Halloween! There are so many Halloween ideas out there that I didn't get to make that I almost hate to see that the day is here already! But I'm sure that the children who are eager to go trick-or-treating are glad it is October 31st finally!

I love that the Owl Punch can be used to make a ghost!  Do you recognize the owl? Cut off his feet and turn him upside down….he's a ghost! I just drew on little ghost faces with a marker.  The background is stamped with the new Illuminate Glimmer Watermark Stampin' Pad….the bats and spider webs. I wanted purple on my Halloween card so I used the Lattice Die and the Big Shot to add that element.

I almost don't remember how I made the moon, but maybe I just started with Whisper White card stock and sponged it with some colors, like More Mustard, Cajun Craze..maybe some Pumpkin Pie.  You could try any similar inks.  The I stamped a witch on the moon as if you would see her shadow on the moon as she flew by. The witch is from Toxic Treats in the Holiday Catalog but I just colored in the witch, not the whole stamp, with a black Stampin' Write Marker and laid the moon down onto the stamp of the witch. I like the kind of shadowy look I got instead of a crisp stamped black image.

And for some bling, I punched a larger circle of Champagne Glimmer Paper to layer behind the moon.

There are so many fun things to do with Halloween, from outdoor decorations to unique food ideas and recipes to cards and candy favors, party favors, costumes, Halloween decor and just not enough time to do them all!

I hope you have taken some time to make something fun for Halloween, whatever it is. I don't necessarily like the scary part of Halloween but I love the whimsical, the fun and cute ideas for Halloween.  And I hope I get lots of little trick-or-treaters tonight!

Happy Halloween!

 

Trick-or-Treat! Have Fun with Halloween Candy Bars!

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Candy Bars for Halloween

Halloween Candy Bars….Before!

 Trick-or-Treat! It’s almost time to hand out Halloween treats, so why not make your Halloween candy bars something special? There are SO many fun Halloween ideas out there, but this is something easy to do for the kids’ Halloween treats.

Trick-or-Treat Halloween Candy Bars
Trick-or-Treat Halloween Candy Bars…After!!

Just take your candy bars and wrap some paper around them! Designer series paper makes it easy, but you could also use card stock. Then stamp a Halloween image and punch out with a circle punch or scallop punch and glue on. If you are looking for an easy Halloween craft to do with your kids, this might be an idea. This is especially good for those special trick-or-treaters, maybe class treats at Halloween parties at school, or your own Halloween parties.

I used my Googly Ghouls stamp set for the images and the Houndstooth & Scaringbone Designer Series Paper, both in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog. I colored in a bit with Stampin’ Write Markers. It’s just something fun to do, and why not have some fun at Halloween?!

 

Have questions?  Just email me at Karen@KarenStamps.com

You can place your order online here or email me. 

Punch Art Pumpkin Halloween Card

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Years and years ago I purchased this Halloween gift bag at a craft show and have only used it as one of my many Halloween decorations around the house. It's made with fabric probably ironed on to the paper bag.

Halloween Bag

Then I thought why not make a card like the bag? So I did!

Halloween Pumpkin Card

I started with the pumpkin head, made out of three ovals punched with the Extra-Large Oval Punch.  I sponged Pumpkin Pie ink around all three ovals and then just played with them until I got them placed how I wanted them. You could even use punched circles if you wanted. I just drew on the face with a black marker and drew on the little stitching lines.

For the Halloween hat, I die-cut the medium-size triangle on the Perfect Pennants Bigz L Die using the International Bazaar Designer Series Paper.  Who would think you would use that paper for Halloween? The hat brim I just cut by hand and tied a Summer Starfruit Stitched Satin Ribbon bow.

The moon is a scrap piece of Summer Starfruit card stock.  You can cut it by hand or punch out a small circle for the inside of the crescent moon and then another circle to cut the outside edge.  You still might need to trim the points of the moon.

And for one more embellishment to the card, I stamped the bats from the Wicked Cool stamp set using the new Illuminate Glimmer Watermark Ink Pad. I just wanted a very light, night-time look for the bats in the background. There is a slight shimmer to the ink but it doesn't photograph as such at all…at least not with my camera and skills!

Halloween is getting close!  Time to finish making those cards and mail some out to your friends!

Make Your Own Halloween Ornament with Paper Strips

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Paper Strip Halloween Ornament

As Stampin' Up! Demonstrators, we receive a magazine that we all love filled with creative ideas, business tips, and the latest Stampin' Up! news.  On the cover of the latest issue are pictures of ornaments like these, except for winter or Christmas. I decided to try making a paper ornament for Halloween with the Howlstooth & Scaringbone Designer Series Paper. These would be so fun to make for Halloween decorations for a party!

Stampin' Up! didn't provide any specific instructions that I found, but I found some examples online! This particular one is made with five strips of paper.  Basically you need two "long" strips, two "shorter" strips, and one "even shorter"!

This is what I used:

Strips are cut 1" wide.

2 strips 10" long, 2 strips 8" long, and 1 strip 6 3/4" long.

Arrange the strips in a "sandwich", paying attention to how you want the sides of your paper to show:  shortest strip in the middle, next longest on each side of the shortest strip, and the longest strips on the outside. So for my ornament, I have the strips stacked 10" – 8" – 6 3/4" – 8" – 10" and make them all flush at one end (they'll be uneven at the opposite end of the pile). Using my paper-piercing tool I poked a hole and inserted a brad. Then I lined up the bottom of the strips, which shapes the ornament and inserted a brad to hold it.  That's it!  Tie a string or ribbon through the top and you've got it!  Experiment with sizes and you can have ornaments of all sizes! I think I would make the next one a little narrower and shorter strips.

Try one with your paper scraps!  Bet you can't make just one!!

When you want to order MORE paper, just go to my Stampin' Up! Online Store….but be sure to check the Clearance Rack because Stampin' Up! added over 70 new products today…some might be gone, so check as soon as you can!  Clearance Rack orders must be made online only because of the availability of the items.

A Tic Tac Pumpkin for Halloween

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Tic Tac Pumpkin Folds

I've seen a lot of different characters online made by various stampers using Tic Tac boxes. When you wrap some paper around the Tic Tacs and punch a hold in order to see through to the Tic Tacs, you can make a cute Santa, snowman, jack-o-lantern, elf, etc. Some have used the Two Tags Die and tied it with ribbon on the side, some have used the Top Note Die, and some have just wrapped a piece of card stock around the Tic Tac box.

In this project, I used a piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock cut at 5 1/4 x 2 3/4" (I assume all Tic Tac boxes are the same size, but I'm not sure). Either you can just wrap the strip around the Tic Tac box tightly, sort of scoring the edges with your fingers as you fold, or you can score at 5/8", 2 3/8", 3" and 4 3/4". The fun part is punching out a shape on the front so you can see through to the Tic Tacs inside.  You will need to tear off the label or it might show in your punched hole. For this pumpkin, I used the Extra-Large Oval Punch #119859 but you could use a small circle punch. Figure out which panel is going to be the front, and center the punch as best you can.  You could also punch a Post-it Note, stick it where you want your shape to be punched on your project, and then punch.

Tic Tac Pumpkin for Halloween

Then to make my box look like a pumpkin, I punched some leaves and branches with the Bird Builder Punch #117191 and cut a little scrap of brown for the pumpkin stem. You could also add scraps of black to make a jack-o-lantern face if you wanted to. You could also add a piece of window sheet inside the card stock and glue a face on that…or just stick on the Tic Tac box.  Then for some embellishment, I added a "Boo" from the Tiny Tags stamp set and punched out with the Jewelry Tag punch #117190. Finally, I tied on a little piece of Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine to the little tag.

This is an easy project and fun to do!  Use your imagination and come up with something to coordinate with the color of Tic Tacs you have!

For any card stock and punches, just shop at my Online Store! Don't forget the Merry Christmas promotion if you are interested in the Ornament Keepsakes Bundle.

Tips for Taking Great Halloween Photos!

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Today I read an interesting blog article written by Suzanne Kantra about taking great Halloween photos . I admit most of these tips are over and above my point-and-shoot photography skills, but you might be more capable when it comes to cameras! And they're not all advanced tips, so I think we can all benefit.

This article talks about how to get those after dark shots on Halloween night, including how to capture a few ghosts in your photo! She has tips for eliminating blurry shots in the dark and how to get some good shots right at dusk. Maybe you will even want to capture some ghost writing!

To read the full article, you will find it here. I hope this gives you good ideas for Halloween photos!

Plan ahead for your Halloween photos and create some scrapbook pages, traditional or digital, so you can just place those photos right in their places the day after Halloween! If you need some Halloween ideas for scrapbooking, please contact me.

Full-Moon-With-Tree

Toxic Treats Halloween Card with Champagne Glimmer Paper

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 Toxic Treat Halloween Card with Champagne Glimmer Paper

It was fun to play around with the Toxic Treats stamp set and the Champagne Glimmer Paper….and all the other elements on this card!  First I used the Spider Web Embossing Folder for the front of the card and then lightly rubbed the new Illuminate Glimmer Watermark Stampin' Pad over the web to give it some shimmer.

I stamped the witch image on Glossy White Card Stock and then sponged the Daffodil Delight moon in the background using a Post-it Note for a stencil.  Then I covered the moon with the punched out circle from the Post-it Note to mask it while I sponged some More Mustard ink around the moon…and then around the rest of it I sponged Cajun Craze. I also used the Labels Collection Framelits to cut out the Toxic Treats image, the Cajun Craze layer and the Champagne Glimmer Paper.  LOVE the glimmer paper!!!  I HAD to put a little spider in the web, although I'm not sure he matches…but oh well, it's Halloween!

Oops, almost forgot to show you the inside of the card, since the card base is black. I just added a layer of Whisper White card stock that I stamped with some images from Toxic Treats stamp set.

  Toxic Treat Halloween Card with Champagne Glimmer Paper _Inside

I hope you will make some fun Halloween cards or projects for your family and friends or maybe neighbors.  It is 90 degrees here today in Houston so anything I can do to make me think it is actually fall here makes me happy!

If you need any Halloween stamping supplies you can find plenty in the Stampin' Up! Holiday Catalog AND the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog!  Find everything you need in my Stampin' Up! Online Store!

World Card Making Day! Make a Card! How About Spooky Bingo Bits Halloween Card?

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Spooky Bingo Bits Halloween Card
Images copyright Stampin' Up! 2012
Today is World Card Making Day, so get in on the fun!  Join cardmakers and papercrafters and stampers all over the world and make a card! Here is one I made in My Digital Studio, the design software from Stampin' Up! for digital papercrafting of all kinds! If you don't own My Digital Studio, you can easily make this same card with some paper, some punches and the stamp set Spooky Bingo Bits! You can get Spooky Bingo Bits in clear-mount or wood-mount. Or you can purchase Spooky Bingo Bits as a digital download to use in My Digital Studio or another design program.
You can purchase My Digital Studio two ways….just get MDS 2 (the new version 2) for $39.95 which is software you can download immediately with a little bit of content and add to it as you like.  Or, purchase MDS 2+ which is the software plus over $500 in digital content for $79.95.  Honestly, this is the best deal….you get SO much content to use for that extra $40.
If you don't even know what I am talking about….digital papercrafting?  digital downloads?  My Digital Studio?? ….. (because I didn't in the beginning!!!), then do the trial version!  Yes, you can try My Digital Studio, the full software plus enough content to play with, for free for 30 days! You can download the free 30-day trial of My Digital Studio.  While you are using the trial version, you can make your projects, print them yourself or send them off to the Stampin' Up! printer.
Whether you make a traditional card, a digital card, or even a hybrid card (digital plus traditional paper additions), stop and make a card today with all the cardmakers around the world on World Card Making Day!

Halloween Medallion Decorations

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You can have so much fun with Halloween crafts! Here are two Halloween Medallion Decorations that I made very easily by just pulling out some designer paper, some punches, some stamps, hot glue and my Simply Scored Scoring Tool. Make your medallions (or lollies) whatever size you want, add some layers and add a stamped Halloween image of some kind to the top. Tie on some ribbon or glue onto a stick. You could make big ones or tiny ones to hang on an ornament tree.
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Need any stamping supplies? If you order $40 in product before the last day of September, you can choose a roll of ribbon for every $40 you spend! This offer is quickly coming to an end as September 30 is not far off!

My Digital Studio Halloween Card

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Hallwn-001

Here is a Halloween card I made in My Digital Studio using a designer template….and then changing it!  It was a birthday card with a little bird, but I changed the background paper, added a layer under the main panel, and added Spooky Bingo Bits images instead of the bird.  A couple of Halloween greetings, of course, change the card from birthday to Halloween!  It's so much fun!  Just start with something already designed and then you can change one thing on it or every single thing!  Whatever you like!

For the free 30-Day Trial of My Digital Studio, just go to my Online Store!