A Silhouette Halloween

The Cameo is really getting a lot of use lately.  I'm really enjoying the flexibility of buying exactly the cutting files that I want and then modifying them to suit my needs.

This year I wanted to pull out all the stops and make Halloween special for the Trick-or-Treaters that come to our door.  We have always had the reputation among the neighborhood kids as the house with the cute decorations that gives out good candy but why rest on our laurels?  Some of the decorations from previous years were just too ratty to make it through another Halloween.  C'est dommage!  I fired up the Cameo and made yard signs, but why stop there?  There are so many cute designs available.  Who can resist Lori Whitlock's Bat candy bar wrapper or Jamie Lane's Spider Web tea light holder?  Not only were these cute but they went together quickly.

Candy bar wrapper and tea light holder.

Close-up of Spider Web tea light holder.

I made the candy bar wrappers in Halloween colors-purple, green and purple.  Only one wrapper (to fit a full size candy bar) would fit on a 12x12 inch piece of card stock so I cut the wrappers out of 8 1/2x11 inch card stock resulting in less wasted paper.  The wrapper can be resized to fit smaller candy bars.

The Spider Web tea light holder was just one of those must do projects because it's so different and so cute.  I made several and placed them along the stairs in the foyer and forgot about them.  Everyone who sees them wants to know where I bought them?  When I say that I made them, the next question is what are they made from?  They really don't look like they are made from card stock.  My husband thought they were made from craft foam and my daughter thought they were plastic.  Nope, just a battery operated tea light in a card stock holder!

Assembling the tea light holder is a little tricky and Jamie Lane no longer has the tutorial on her blog.  When removing the pieces from the cutting mat there will be a long piece perforated on both edges with tabs.  Fold the edges along the perforations and glue the tabbed end to the end with no tab. This should fit around the tea light.  Next glue the large solid circle to the outside (over the tabs) of the piece that wraps around the tea light. This is the base.Now glue the other large circle to the inside bottom.  It should cover the tabs and fit on top of the piece that formed the base of the tea light holder.  Press the top tabs down and glue the large circle with the opening in it to the inside of the top.  Then glue the other large piece over the tabs and on top of the previous circle.  Finally glue the smaller circles with the openings to the top of the tea light.  Insert the battery operated tea light in the holder.  Jamie Lane does have a tutorial on a snowman tea light holder that uses a similar construction process.

Another Halloween Yard Sign

With just about two weeks left until Halloween I have been taking every opportunity to work on projects.  The candy wrappers and tea light holders are finished and will be posted tomorrow (hopefully).  The Boo sign is almost finished and ready to put out and the something wicked sign is in progress.

Boo sign just needs the stake and it's finished!

I thought this little skeleton was so cute and envisioned her as a sign.  All of my svg files are from the Silhouette Design Store but may be available directly from the designers to the owners' of other cutting machines:  Ghoulie Girl (Boo) is a Michele Renee Cloud 9 Design, Spider Web Flourish is a Silhouette Design and the bat came from Happy Halloween by Jennifer Wambach.  All pieces of the this design were cut from Orcal vinyl (available from My Direct Vinyl).


Directions for Boo:

Silhouette SVG cutting files: Happy Halloween by Jennifer Wambach, Ghoulie Girl by Michele Rene and Spider Web Flourish by Silhouette.

Orcal Vinyl for electronic cutting machines- black, orange, dark purple, grey and white.  Available at My Vinyl Direct, limited colors are available at Michaels

Americana Craft paint- Dolphin Grey- available at Michaels

DecoArt DuraCoat Varnish

Small purple button

Small yellow crystals for the bat's eyes

Wood available at Home Depot and cut to 24 inches long by 10 inches wide

Wooden stake available at Home Depot

Small Nails

Hammer


1.  Cut the wood to 24 x 10 inches and seal with water based craft varnish and let it dry.  Varnish again and let it dry. Paint the sign with the grey paint, let it dry and repeat.  Varnish with the DuraCoat and let it dry.

2.  Size the entire Ghoulie Girl to 9.75 inches on the Silhouette mat on the computer screen. Some pieces of the file won't be on the mat but that's fine.  Ungroup the file.  Move the body, the eyes, nose and hands on Mat 1 and open a new mat.  Group the bones and skull together on Mat 2.  Open Mat 3 and move the bottom of the skull (jaw) to this mat.  Open Mat 4 and place the bow, the center circle for the bow and the smaller BOO on it.  Finally place the BOO outline on Mat 5.

3.  Place the black vinyl on the cutting mat, select vinyl on the machine, adjust the blade and cut the images from Mat 1.  Cut the images on Mat 2 in white vinyl, images from Mat 3 in grey vinyl, images from Mat 4 in orange vinyl and the image from Mat 5 in purple vinyl.

4.  Center the body on the sign, approximately 2 inches from the lower edge of the sign.  Add the Skull, jaw and the bones to the body, center the purple Boo outline on the body and overlay the orange Boo before adding the hands.  Add the eyes, nose and bow.  Smooth out any wrinkles or air bubbles with your finger tips.

5.   Open the Spider Web Flourish onto the Silhouette mat on screen and resize to approximately 5.5 inches.  Click Copy and then paste to make three more webs.  Next open the Halloween title and ungroup the title and the bat. Move Halloween from the mat and delete it.  Group the pieces of the bat together and resize to 1.75 inches. Ungroup the bat and move the eyes from the image and delete them.  Click on the bat, copy and paste 7 more bats on the screen (8 total).  Arrange the Spider Web Flourishes on the mat so that on flourish is in each corner.  Place two bats is each of the open areas of the flourish.  Select cut, load the black vinyl on the cutting mat and send to Silhouette.

6.  Carefully weed the pieces of vinyl from around the spider web flourish, remove from the mat and place one flourish in the upper right corner of the sign, smoothing out any air bubbles. Place another flourish in the lower right corner of the sign.  The ends of the upper and lower flourishes will overlap at the middle of the sign.  Repeat this procedure on the left side of the sign.

7.  Arrange the Bats around the open area in the middle of the sign.  I used a grouping of three because odd numbers are more visually pleasing.  Glue the small crystals to the bat's face for eyes.

8.  Center the wooden stake on the sign so that the top of the stake is even with the top of the sign.  Nail the stake to the back of the sign at the top and the bottom of the sign.

Halloween Yard Signs

It's been a while since I have posted a craft project, but I have been working on Halloween decorations.  The kids are just getting ready to go back to school and the stores are displaying Halloween candy and decorations.  While I'm holding on to what is left of the summer and not ready to embrace fall or it's holidays just yet, it does make sense to start working on Halloween craft projects now.

Several years ago I purchased some cute signs to decorate my walkway.  Over time the signs faded and fell apart.  Unable to find replacements I decided to make my own.  The supply list for the project is simple- wood and stakes from Home Depot, craft vinyl, paint and an electronic cutting machine.  The total cost one sign was about $5.

Finished Sign- Stake nailed to sign at top and bottom.

Finally finished and ready to attach stake.

Just need to finish the phrase!

Sign in progress.

 

After sealing the wood with craft varnish and painting it with Gesso, it was painted with two coats of acrylic craft paint.  The bat is a Treasure Box Designs file (available from the Silhouette Design Store). The phrase was also purchased from Silhouette.  The sign is slightly larger than 12 x 12 inches.  The bat was resized and printed on a laser printer using the landscape option to fit on  8 1/2 x 11 inch paper.  The image was hand cut because the wing extended past the registration marks for the Silhouette.  I did try to print the image on printable vinyl but my HP 5700 ink jet printer would not feed the vinyl through.  The bat will be applied to the sign with Mod Podge.






Directions For Yard Sign:

Orcal Black and Purple Vinyl (available from My Vinyl Direct, Cricut or Silhouette)
Batty Print and Cut file and Once Upon a Midnight Dreary quote- available from Silhouette Design Store
Piece of Wood cut slightly larger than 12x12 inches
White paper
Mod Podge-Hard Coat
Vinyl Transfer Tape- I used Cricut
Grey Craft Paint- I used two bottles of Americana
Foam Brush
Craft Varnish- I used DecoArt DuraClear
Wooden Stakes (available at Home Depot in the lumber section)
1.  Open the Batty file and place on the Silhouette mat, then open the Once Upon a Midnight Dreary file and place on the same mat.  Resize the files so that most of the Batty image fits on the lower left portion of the mat and the quote fits across the top right portion of the mat. Once you are happy with the layout, save the file.

2.  Open another mat and copy and paste the resized Batty file onto the new mat.  Add the registration marks for the Silhouette and use the Trace Outer edge and Cut options. Load plain white paper in a laser printer and print the Batty file. Place Batty on a Silhouette mat and load into the machine and cut the design.

3.  Seal the wood with the craft varnish and let it dry.

4.  Paint both sides of the wood with the grey paint.  Let it dry and then add a second coat of paint.  Set aside to dry.

5.  Open a third Silhouette mat and copy and paste the quote onto this mat.  Place the black vinyl on the Silhouette mat. I use painter's tape around the edges of the mat to keep the vinyl from slipping while it's being cut.  Load the vinyl into the machine and cut out the quote.  Carefully weed the excess vinyl from the design.  Apply transfer tape over the quote while it is still on the mat.  Position the quote on the upper right part of the sign, but don't press it in place yet.

6.  Liberally apply Hard Coat Mod Podge to the back of the Batty design and place Batty on the lower left portion of the sign.  Press in place and smooth out any air bubbles with your finger tips.  Re adjust the quote if needed.  Press the quote in place and use a brayer to secure it.

7.  Apply two more coats of Mod Podge to Batty, letting the Mod Podge dry between coats.

8.  Cut small triangles out of purple vinyl to fit around the edges of the sign.  I cut a 1/2 wide strip of vinyl and then cut the triangles from the strip, making each cut at an angle to form the triangles.  Place the triangles around the edges of the sign to make a border.

9.  Center the sign on stake making sure that the top of the stake is even with the top of the sign. Nail a wooden stake to back of the sign at the top and bottom.  I put a small nail through the purple border and then covered it with a small piece of purple vinyl.

Raven Halloween Card

I missed the sun. It's so nice to look out the window of my atelier and see the sun shining. The past four days have been chilly, rainy and uninspiring. During this time I did manage to complete my Raven card. While I love my Cricut and Sizzix machines, I don't always want to do die cut cards. I was looking for something different and came across this stamp. Although I don't use stamps often I just had to have this one.

I had originally stamped the Raven onto white card stock but didn't like the result so I decided to use a transparency instead. I liked the result but the image was dark and hard to see until I backed it with a lighter paper. When stamping an image onto a transparency it is important to use a permanent ink (Staz On works well), push down hard on the stamp so you get a clear image, and lift the stamp from the film in one motion (this will give you a crisp image). Set the image aside to dry and avoid touching the image while the ink is wet (to avoid smearing). Once the image is dry, the film can be trimmed with a paper trimmer.

Directions for Raven Card:

Raven stamp available at Michaels
Black Staz-On ink
Transparency film-available at office supply stores
Recollections Ravenswood Manor paper stack- purple and black print card stock
K&Company Kelly Panacci Halloween Paper stack- green skull print card stock
Grey card stock
Recollections Halloween print ribbon
Jolee's Boutique White Pumpkin Repeats
Washi tape- black and white print
Recollections Halloween self adhesive crystals- orange and fold
Small Bats- I used Sizzix Sizlets Bats and the Sizzix Big Kick machine
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Raven mist
Zots medium dots
Foam dots


1.  Fold a piece of grey card stock in half to make a half-fold card. Lightly spray the card with Raven glimmer mist and set aside to dry.

2.  Stamp the Raven image on to transparency film using the black Staz-On ink. Put a lot of pressure on the stamp so that you will get a clear image. Lift the stamp from the film quickly so the image doesn't blur. Set aside to dry (about an hour). When the image is completely dry, use a paper trimmer to cut the film approximately 4 1/4 inches wide by 5 1/2 inches high.

3.  Cut a piece of dark purple dotted card stock approximately 1/4 inch larger on all sides than the dimensions of the Raven image. Center the image on the card stock leaving a 1/4 inch border on all sides. Apply a small Zot to each corner of the transparency film and attach the image to the card stock. Be careful glue will show through the transparency. I had experimented with several glues before deciding to use Zots.

4.  Cut a piece of black print card stock approximately 1/4 inch larger on all sides than the purple dotted card stock. Use foam dots to attach the purple card stock to the black card stock.  Cut a piece of the green skull card stock approximately 1/4 inch larger on all sides than the black print card stock. Glue the black print card stock to the green skull card stock.

5.  Cut a piece of Halloween ribbon and glue it to the upper left corner of the image so that Happy Halloween is visible. Attach a small white pumpkin to the lower right edge of the purple card stock. Attach the Raven to the card, using foam dots, approximately one inch from the top of the card. 

6.  Cut a piece of black and white Washi tape the width of the card. Apply the Washi tape approximately 1/4 inch from the top of the card. Repeat and apply the tape at the bottom of the card.  Apply three gold and orange crystals evenly spaced on the tape borders.

7.  Apply two small bats to the upper right edge of the card. Place one bat at an angle and glue it to the top corner of the transparency film; apply the second bat slightly above the first. The second bat should be flying off the edge of the card.

I used black card stock, the Sizzlets bat die and the Sizzix machine to cut the bats, but any die cut or purchased small bats will work.

Hello Kitty Waits for the Great Pumpkin

I just love Hello Kitty and try to think of ways to incorporate her into my projects. We all know the story of Linus waiting in the the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin to arrive. I decided to use that theme and replace Linus with Hello Kitty. I could envision dear, sweet Kitty dressed in her Halloween costume waiting in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin to arrive.

Waiting for the Great Pumpkin to arrive.

Directions for Hello Kitty Halloween Card:

Grey, dark purple, orange, white and black card stock
Cricut Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge
K&Company Tim Coffey Halloween Bone and Bats Layered Accents; Tim Coffey Halloween Pumpkin Grand Adhesions
Halloween Print Ribbon
K&Company Tim Coffey Halloween Specialty Paper-Black with orange, yellow, purple and green dots


1.  Using the Cricut and the Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge cut Hello Kitty (HK18) at 3 1/2 inches out of black card stock. Press the Hello Kitty Black Cat (HK18) and White Fur/Bow?Nose keys to cut Kitty's face. Press the same keys plus Shift to cut her bow out of orange card stock. Assemble Kitty. Add orange glitter glue to Kitty's bow and paw pads. Let dry.

2.  Cut a piece of black and green, purple and orange card stock approximately 4 inches wide by 5 3/4 inches high.  Place Hello Kitty so that she is centered on the card and approximately 3/4 inches from the bottom of the card. Glue in place. Attach two medium size pumpkins in front of Kitty's feet, leave enough room the sit a small pumpkin between the two medium ones. The smaller pumpkin should sit on top of the the larger pumpkins.

3.  Cut a piece of dark purple card stock approximately 1/4 larger (on all sides) than the black dotted card stock. Glue the black dotted card stock on top of the dark purple card stock. Attach a bat with the moon and larger flying bat to the top corners of the black dotted card stock.

4.  Fold an 8 1/2 by 11 inch piece of grey card stock in half to make a half-fold card. Cut a piece of black dotted Halloween ribbon the length of the card plus 1/2 inch. Center the ribbon on the card and tuck 1/4 inch of ribbon under the top and bottom of the card. Glue in place. Tie a small bow and glue to the bottom of the card over the ribbon.

Franken Diva

For days those of us who live on the East Coast have been warned of the impending arrival of Hurricane Sandy. My family made the necessary emergency preparations for the arrival of Sandy. We are not near any water sources and our house sits on a hill so we are expecting a lot of rain, high winds and possible power outages. Fortunately we are not in an area where we are forced to evacuate and can wait the storm out at home. While I am waiting out the storm, I decided to head off to my Atelier to work on some projects. While I still have power (although the lights flickered while I am typing this) I fired up the Cricut and cut the necessary shapes. My drafting table faces the window and every time I look up from my work I can see the trees swaying wildly in the wind and rain furiously, pounding on my window.

Just in time for Halloween, Cricut released the Frightful Affair cartridge. The images on this cartridge are a little more sophisticated than the cutesy Halloween cartridge that they previously released. I like both types of cartridges and like have a variety of images. My favorite image on this cartridge is the Bride of Frankenstein. She is not the same old Bride of Frankenstein that one encounters every where but a "Bride" with attitude.  I was looking for a background for my Hello Kitty Halloween project and had the purple paper laying on my desk. The color didn't work for Hello Kitty but it would be perfect for the "Bride". I viewed her as a bit of a diva and decided to work from there.

 Here's the finished card. Oh, did I mention that I love bats and that they are a must for my Halloween cards?



Directions for Franken Diva Halloween Card:

Black, cream, light grey and yellow card stock
K&Company Kelly Panacci Halloween paper- purple with black dots and black with black glitter design
Cricut A Frightful Affair cartridge
Martha Stewart Iron Fence border punch
Stickles glitter glue-Ice Stickles
Recollections self adhesive pearls, Halloween crystals, small clear crystal
Black ribbon with silver spider web design
Sizzix die cutting machine
Sizzix bat die


1.  Fold an 8 1/2 by 11 inch piece of light grey card stock in half to make a card.

2.  Cut a piece of black card stock with black glitter design approximately 7 3/4 inches high by by 4 3/4 inches wide. Cut the purple dotted card stock approximately 6 3/4 inches high by 4 1/2 inches wide. Glue the purple dot card stock on top of the black card stock leaving a border of approximately 1/4 on all sides.

3.  Cut nine bats using the Sizzix machine and bat die. If you don't have the Sizzix bat die, you can substitute any bats (Cricut, etc.) You want the bats to be fairly small with long wings and small bodies.

4.  Cut a small round circle out of yellow card stock. I used a circle template just because I had one available, but you can use any small circle shaped object as a template.

5.  Use the Martha Stewart Iron Fence border punch to punch a fence out of black card stock. Trim the fence to fit the purple and black dotted card stock. Glue the fence to the bottom edge of the purple and black dotted card stock.

6.  Using the Cricut Frightful Affair cartridge cut the "Bride" 's dress out of black card stock at 5 1/2 inches. Press the shift and "Bride" key.  Next cut the "Bride" out of light cream card stock by pressing the "Bride" key.  Assemble the "Bride". Use a fine tip red marker to draw in her mouth.

7.  Center the "Bride" on the purple and black dotted card stock and glue her in place slightly above the bottom edge of the fence. Use Ice Stickles to fill in the white streak in the "Bride" 's hair. Add a small self adhesive pearl to the bolt on the side of her head. Apply 3 small pearls to her wrist to make a bracelet. Apply one small clear crystal to her ring finger and apply a golden Halloween crystal to the neckline of her dress.

8.  Apply 2 small and 2 medium purple Halloween crystals to the fence posts.

9.  Glue the yellow circle to the top right corner of the purple and black dotted card stock to make a moon.

10.  Gently fold the bat's wings upward to give them the illusion of flight. Glue 2 bats on the moon and glue the rest of the bats randomly around the top of the card.

11.  Center the black and black glittered card stock base on the light grey card stock and glue it in place.

12.  Tie a small bow out of the black ribbon and glue it to the bottom of the card.