If I'm not scrapbooking I'm thinking about scrapbooking!
To celebrate Blogtoberfest today I have created a freebie for you! I know a lot of us have Silhouette digital cutters, so if you do this freebie is for you. It can be used as a layout title or a card front. If you would like to have this cut file, which includes all the pieces to create the image you see below, please just leave me a comment to let me know and I will email it to you. 🙂
Young Crafters Unite posted their second challenge, which is to make an envelope that matches your card. I had a lot of fun with this one because I decided to make the card rely on the envelope in order to make sense.
Said another way, you have to read what’s on the envelope first to complete the card’s meaning. Fun, huh?
I’m also entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Challenge for the their Halloween/Goth week!
It's a matter of perspective, really ...
I used a shape cut a few times with my Silhouette as the base of the card. Then I added the colors with distress inks before stamping the images. I’m not sure if you’ll notice in the photo that the cobwebs have little hints of glitter pen to make them appear more like gossamer.
Your trick is my treat!
I limited the color palette to add to the stark, creepy effect. I also stamped and inked the flip side of the envelope.
I stamped the back of the envelope to complete the look.
There’s still another couple of days to enter the challenge if you like this idea of embellishing your envelope to match your card. I know I’ll be doing it again!
This wee worried monster is quite happy to gobble up your book while he holds your place!
Have you seen any of the fun tutorials for making monster bookmarks—the kind that fit over the corner of the page and look like they’re eating your book? Well, I decided to try my hand at making a few, and in the process I created a Silhouette cut file to use for them. If you like this project and have a Silhouette, I would be happy to email you the file if you send a request to janice at theconstantscrapper dot com.
Here’s how mine turned out. I made one into a little worried monster and the other into a little cross-eyed jack-o’-lantern. I think they’re darling:
Slide these little monsters over the corner of your book and let them nibble while they hold your place.
STEP ONE
Email me a request for the Silhouette cut file. 🙂 Once you cut the pieces, this is what you’ll have:
These are the pieces you'll have when you use the Silhouette file.
STEP TWO
Glue the smaller accent square to the center of the background piece. Then glue the teeth to one of the side triangles.
Glue the accent square to the square portion of the bookmark background.
STEP THREE
Take a close look at the side triangles and determine which is a sliver smaller than the other. I made the cut file this way so that the sides would lay flatter when you fold them in. Fold the smaller triangle down first. Then apply adhesive to the back of the larger side and fold it down; press.
Fold down the smaller triangle side first.
STEP FOUR
Glue the accent triangle piece to the front and decorate!
I made this one into a jack-o'-lantern!
You’ll notice that I didn’t use the accent square on the green monster bookmark. That’s because I wanted to have his mouth look wide open and feature a slithery tongue. These little guys are so easy to make, and there are a ton of ways to make them different and fun. Wouldn’t they be great to make with your children so they can take them to school and give to friends?
If you make any of these I would love to see them. Will you please leave me a comment and let me know where to look? Now book to your supplies and make some monsters!
Last year I found a Basic Grey Halloween card kit for sale at Big Lots. It was from BG’s 2009 Eerie collection and cost only $5.00, as opposed to the original price tag of $14.99. I thought that $5.00 might be worth paying to find out if I liked using kits. I don’t normally love the idea of card and layout kits; they remove that part of the crafting process that I love—making all the creative choices. But I also don’t believe in saying I dislike things I haven’t tried, so I bought the kit.
Today I pulled out the kit and the extra supplies it calls for—adhesive, pens, etc.—and got to work. The kit contains everything needed to make eight cards (including envelopes). I made four before writing this review, as I wanted to be able to report on how long it took me to complete several, so we could extrapolate the length of time for the whole kit. Following are my perceptions of the kit and the whole process:
Today I challenge you to pull out a few older Halloween photos and use some of the great new products that are available to scrap them. That’s what I’ve done here, using a photo of me and my brother in 1972 and new Bella Blvd supplies. Phil and I are all gussied up and ready to go trick-or-treating. Have you ever seen a cuter Superman and Tinkerbell?
Superman and Tinkerbell are ready to ring some doorbells!
If you do scrap some vintage Halloween photos, I would love to see them. Please leave a comment with a link to your layout here.