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.

Bewitching Candle

I recently purchased Cricut's Happy Hauntings cartridge and wanted to use the images in this year's Halloween decorations. I decided to make a Halloween candle. Since the images on the candle holder are made from paper I felt it was safer to use a flame-less candle as the light source.




Directions for Bewitching Candle:

Candle base with glass insert

Cricut Happy Hauntings and Mini Monsters cartridges

Sizzix Bats Sizzlets Die

Flame-less Candle

Grey, black, dark purple, dark lime green and light lime green, yellow, white and gold card stock

Black glitter glue

Martha Stewart Gothic Fence paper punch

Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress Ink, Green Ink

Small foam dots

1. Cut bats out of black card stock using the Sizzix Bats die. Highlight the bats with black glitter glue. You can substitute your favorite bats instead.

2. Set the Cricut dial to 2 inches and cut 2 tombstones out of black card stock using the Mini Monsters cartridge. Using the Layer 1 key and grey card stock cut the tombstone tops. Using white card stock and the Layer 2 key cut the skull and cross bones for the tombstones. Assemble the tombstones and highlight them with the tea dye distress ink.

3. Make a small circle out of gold card stock using a circle cutter or paper punch.

4. Punch a fence to fit around the glass insert out of black card stock using the Martha Stewart Gothic Fence paper punch. Highlight the bats with black glitter glue.

5. Cut a 2 inch tree using black card stock and the Mini Monsters cartridge.

6. Cut a 2 inch witch out of dark purple card stock using the Happy Hauntings cartridge. Cut the witch's face out of dark lime green card stock using the Layer 1 key. Next cut the face over lay and hands using the Layer 1 and shift keys and the light lime green card stock. Using black card stock and the shift key cut the witch over lay. Finally cut the broom base using yellow card stock.
Assemble the witch. highlight the witch's face with green ink and the yellow broom base with tea dye distress ink. Apply glitter glue to the broom handle.

7. Attach the fence to glass insert using small foam dots. Apply a small foam dot to each tombstone and attach to the glass just above the bottom of the fence ( I slightly angled the right tombstone). Place the tree so that one branch rests on top of the tombstone. Attach the witch to the glass so that her foot is slightly above the top of the angled right tombstone. Place the gold circle slightly to the upper left of the witch and glue the bats to the circle.