Happy "Boo-Day" and BBTB2 Blog Hop

Happy Halloween everyone and welcome to our Monthly Blog Hop for BBTB2. If you came from Susan's Blog you're on the right track. Our dear and fabulously talented Shelly chose either ghost cut from PDDU for this challenge, but I took some artistic license and used the one from Happy Hauntings instead. I was browsing my DS files and came across one called "Boo-day" that I'd done eons ago using the ancient Stamped (not to be confused with Stamping)cartridge. The sentiment was all that as there and I'd done it way before there was any "spooky" Halloween font available. I was originally thinking Halloween birthday, I guess, but actually, Halloween is sort of a "Boo-Day" in itself so I decided to go from there. Try as I might, the suggested cuts didn't work as well for my design so I opted for the others (and you can too, remember, we're easy at BBTB2).

It's my usual shaped front style, welded in DS. The "Happy" is also from the Happy Hauntings Cartridge and the entire mess is welded to the rounded rectangle from George. The inside mat is from my Halloween stash and set the tone for the color scheme. I'd planned to do something more colorful, but in the end I enjoyed the neutral theme. The rest of the DP is from the DCWV La Crema Stack and the ghosts were cut from old glitter paper from WalMart. The sweet little flocked ghosty brad is by Making Memories.

I've done my usual dimensional layers and am pretty pleased with how it came out. I've been in a bit of a funk lately and I'm hoping to snap out of it soon. Now hop along to Carri's Blog, but don't forget to leave a comment to be entered in my giveaway, a $40 gift certificate sponsored by Custom Crops. Check out their sale going on NOW with Cricut carts starting at $15.00! I'll be drawing the winner using Random Org on Saturday, November 5th. WooHoo! If you ever get lost along the way, hop back to BBTB2 to get yourself back on track and of course, we'd love to see your take on the challenge. Please link up a new creation using any ghost cut by Nov 13th to win our much coveted POW blinkie. Happy hopping, and have a wonderful, safe, Halloween.

I"m also just squeeking in on the ABC "B" is for Boo Challenge and the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for the 2nd Annual Dia De Los Muertos Blog Hop!

Heinously Haunted Houses

It's the day we've all been waiting for! The Masterful Mistress and the Minions wish you a fabulously safe and spooky Halloween! Our challenge this week at HDH is Heinously Haunted Houses and there is a fabulous prize pack being offered by the Mistress herself so let's see some spooky stuff. I've merged two digi images from Make it Crafty, the Spooky House and Spooky Graveyard. I've colored them with Copics in neutral tones and used my Nesties Grand Creative Book Pages to cut both the image and the scalloped base. The hanging handle was cut with Nesties labels Ten and threaded with a hand cut banner. "Welcome" is spelled out with letters from the QuicKutz Haunted Mini Alphabet that works in your Cuttlebug, Big Shot, or Grand Caliber using the same sandwich you'd use for your Nesties. the entire piece was inked with Distress in Pumice Stone, Brushed Corduroy and Black Soot. The Minions will be taking a little break from our regularly scheduled challenges for the rest of the year, but you never know what might be brewing at HDH, so don't be strangers. In the meantime, go have a look at the fab inspiration HERE, and don't forget Wicked Wednesday when Creepy Glowbugg posts the winners and her amazing creation.

ALL THINGS GROW WITH LOVE

just to have a little fun with the 

FLOWERS & FRIENDSHIP.

one of the new releases for next month from the 

MY PINK STAMPER COLLECTION OF CLEAR STAMPS.

 you can pre-order any of her stamp sets by clicking here.

i decided to use one of the sentiments from the above collection for a halloween card. if you are one of my regular followers, you already know i sometimes like to twist and spin things around a bit.
a small example of it is my project for today.

All things grow with love

4.25" x 5.5"

hehe

---even little monsters grow with love---

he is from mini monsters and you will find him on page #48 and he is image #3 on the overlay.

 he is already 3 inches tall---and he is growing a boo boo... i mean a mustache, (wink-wink) 

 all these pretty papers i believe i got them at acm but i am not 100% sure. 

the were already cut in three different sizes.

 my mini monster also grows eating bats and ghosts...hehe
i bet you already noticed i did some paper piercing in some areas. the tombs border is from martha stewart. the embossed bottom strip was done with a cuttlebug folder called diamond plate.

i did the inside of the card and look at the awesome bat. how cool is that?

oh...and i stamped the corner of the envelope.

phew!
finally the whole card

BOO!

thanks so much for stopping by.
i really appreciate it- it means a lot to me.

one more thing....
this is a cute gable box and to me it looks perfect as a lunchbox:
i used the LUNCHBOX THOUGHTS and the SPOOK-A-LICIOUS set for the spider.

have a super great week!

BBTB2 Happy Hauntings Witch Challenge

Happy Monday! Just one week to go until the big day and I've LOTS to do still. (Make that EVERYTHING to do still, I'm such a procrastinator and I've been a bit preoccupied! LOL) This week my dear friend and MSU alumni sister Susan has chosen the witch from Happy Hauntings for our BBTB2 challenge. I wasn't quite sure what to do with her until I was shopping in Target and saw some honeycomb tabletop decorations that reminded me of something I had as a child. That, combined with the Whimsical Wednesday challenge of Halloween Home Decor, led to this project.

Nothing fancy here. I just cut the witch and layers at 5 1/2 inches twice (once flipped) so it would be two sided. I kept the colors to a minimum to hopefully capture more of a vintage feel and embossed the cape and broom. The black layer is popped on both sides, as is the broom. Athough the orange base is also 2 layers, I should have cut it in chipboard for strength as she is adhered to the honeycomb by her foot and just the bottom of her dress. I wanted to be able to close the honeycomb for storage so I glued one side together (with the witch in place) and used some removeable tape and a paper clip underneath for the other. "Happy Halloween" is also from Happy Hauntings and I added tabs to it so it would just fit in the slots of the honeycomb for display instead of gluing it permanently.

I dug out the original hanging decoration to show you. (Couldn't get a pic so it's hanging from the cat pole but won't be staying there. LOL) This is truly vintage from the 50's and is a little worse for wear. Wish I'd been a bit more creative with my cut and I will probably try again as I'm not so pleased with it. I was trying to follow the challenge exactly, but I think I could have found a more vintage looking witch. My FAVE decor item I've made using a witch is HERE. I have trouble doing a second project when I've made one I love and I'm in a bit of a creative slump as I'm trying to get back on track with healthy eating and exercise (and no WINE!) to make up for the year and a half (or more) of crafting 24/7 and I'm sort of a crabby BI---, I mean WITCH! Sorry! My DT siters have done a much better job than I, so be sure to check out the rest of the DT at BBTB2 and we'd love it if you'd play along. Yo uhave 2 weeks to complete the challenge, please make it a new project and link back to BBTB2 and you may use any witch from any cart. I'm also entering it in the Getting Cricky Orange and Black (and only one other color) challenge.

Macabre Monday Movie Madness:Pumpkinhead

This week at HDH the challenge is to create a project inspired in some way by the B Horror fick Pumpkinhead. Okay, I'll admit it. This one slipped by me. I Googled it and the dude looked nothing like a pumpkin to me, but I had this fab digi stamp of the same name by Rick St.Dennis so of course I HAD to use him. He's pretty darn creepy himself, no? Looks like he's about to stomp the crap out of that smiling jack-o-lantern. I've added a "lucky" 7 , cut with my Cricut from the Happy Hauntings cartridge in order to play along with the SBS 12 Days of Halloween (7 pumpkins glowing) and embossed it with a Sizzix folder. The sentiment was done with my Dymo Label Maker. (I'd be feeling luckier if I never ran into this guy on a dark street. LOL)

I've colored this "gourd-geous" guy with Copics and fussy cut him out. Love the detail of this image. The Minions have a fabulous assortment of projects this week, some even featuring the DUDE himself, so be sure to have a look and don't forget our Wretched Wednesday when Creepy Glo posts her fab stuff and announces the winners from the previous week.

On the Fourth Day of Halloween...

My true love gave to me,

Four skeletons,

Three black cats,

Two trick or treaters

and an owl in a rotten oak tree.

I'm so excited to have been invited to participate in the fabulous 12 Days of Halloween Simply Betty Stamps event. Visit the SBS Blog to see the daily prizes up for grabs. Unlike last year when you had two or three days to complete your projects, this time around you have until the 30th of October to upload all your projects for all the 12 Days. Play a little, or play a lot. Of course each day will have it's own linky, and you must upload your projects accordingly. Each project must be a new project. On the 30th, all links will close, Betty and the DT will take one week to sort out the winners and announce them on Nov. 5th. There will be several winners, but one person that enters ALL 12 days and is best of the best will be chosen to be a part of the SBS DT for 2012!

I've used the fabulous Draco the Ghost Gent, one of the Steampunk Victorian Halloween stamps. Isn't he a dapper dude? He's colored with Copics and cut and matted with Nesties Mega Ovals. The skellies are a Tim Holtz stamp that I've heat embossed with white opaque embossing powder, fussy cut and arranged in an underlined "4". (Hope you caught that. I had an extra, what can I say? Personally I think Draco looks like a skellie but DH said no because he has a chin. HUH?)

They're popped for dimension as well as the fab Draco. the papers are DCWV Le Crema and K&Co. The little swirls on the corners are the off cuts from an EK Success border punch. The SBS DT has more gorgeous examples and there's plenty of time to catch up on the previous day's offerings as well. Visit the SBS Blog HERE to be amazed and inspired.

A Tiddly Inks Halloween

Oh what fun we have at the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog today. We're celebrating Halloween in major style and I really think the Tiddly Inkers have outdone themselves. There are so many cute Halloween images in the SHOP that it was tough to choose, but when I saw Sugar Angel and Angel Spice with their little treat bags (and their fab haircuts, LOL, available individually, as well, but the set is such a DEAL!), it brought back fond memories of trick or treating with my BFF, so I thought I'd create a little scene. The house and fence are Tim Holtz dies and the grass and kitty, MS. The little row of pumpkins are felt from Queen & Co.

I merged the two images in my Printmaster Program. This is SOOO easy to do with the PNG version of the images in any computer program like Photoshop etc. Then I colored them up with Copics and cut them out with my Nesties Grand Oval. The top of the sentiment is done with my trusty Alpha Beads.

The easel card is done with my Nesties Labels Three Grands. The fun candy DP is an older K&Co stack. To hold the easel up, I've added a row of adhesive beads and completed the sentiment with a puffy sticker from atd. I just know you'll want to play along with this fun challenge AND on Christy's BLOG you can see the new images as well as a contest for Fall cards that you won't want to miss. See ya there! I'm also entering this in the Simply Betty's 12 Days of Halloween Day 2 Challenge,The Crazy Challenge Halloween, Paper Sundaes Halloween or Fall, The Sparkles Forum Halloween and Desert Islands Crafters using 1, 3 (orange at the moment), 5, 6 and 7 (the fence looks like stripes to me).

BBTB2 Trick or Treat Hello Kitty Challenge

This week at BBTB2 our lovely and talented DT sister Theresa chose the Trick or Treat Kitty from the Hello Kitty cart. I just love Hello Kitty, but I wanted to think outside the box (or in this case inside the box, LOL) and make something 3-D. I've had a jack-in-the-box idea for some time and thought this might be the perfect challenge to try it out. I was hoping to create a real working jack-in-the-box but the head proved to be too heavy for the body so I had to modify my design and just go with the appearance of a kitty-in-the-box. I still think it turned out pretty cute. The body was created with strips of 2x12"card stock, glued at right angles and the alternately folded over each other. Just keep adding strips for as long as you need it. this creates a "springy" body, but the longer you go, the less stable it becomes (if you know what I mean). The kitty was cut a 5" twice on blackout and trimmed the head and paws to use in my piece. I used an empty ribbon spool covered with paper between the front and back of the head to give it dimension. This was part of the reason it was so heavy, but oh well, hind site is always 20/20. Both head and body were hot glued to a rosette ruffle I made with 2 strips of 1 1/2 x 11" card stock.

Originally I planned on using a larger box with an attached lid that the kitty would pop out of but as I said, I just couldn't make it work. Instead I used a smaller box with a detached lid, cut a part of the rim of the lid and glued it open and then hot glued the kitty at the height I wanted to the open lid, just at the ruffle. I attached the paws to those cool sort of thick and thin pipe cleaners and used a metal candy brad and toothpick for the lollipop. The box trim is from the Tim Holtz rosette die that I'd originally cut for the ruffle but found it to be too small. I'm not thrilled with the box decoration. I really think it should say "Trick or Treat", but I cut the phrase with the Cricut twice in different sizes and didn't like how it was looking so I gave up and used puffy stickers because I was running out of time. The flower is Recollections. Be sure to bop over to BBTB2 to ooh and ahh over the rest of the DT's creations and we'd love it for you to play along using a "new" creation and linking your blog post to our linky and back to our challenge. If you don't have Hello Kitty, any other Halloween themed kitty project will do. I'm also entering this in the ABC "B" is for Boo challenge.

BBTB2 Vulture Challenge

OOps! a little late today. I'm not sleeping well and my schedule is all off. Today my dear friend and DT sis Agnes (Flowerdisco) has chosen the BBTB2 challenge this week which is the vulture from Life's a party. I can't believe it's ANOTHER cart I don't have. Too many too fast, these days. Well, there is another vulture on Zooballoo, but try as I did, I just couldn't make that pitiful little thing work for me so I chose the raven from Oct 31st instead. I thought he would be a good substitute, lovin' tearing apart dead carcasses and all. However, when I read Agnes's intro she was talking about cute...ahhh, well, not so much. But hey, I all but exhausted my cutesy quotient last week with that frog so it is what it is. Sorry Agnes.

Yes, it's a shaped front card done in DS using the raven and moon from Oct 31st, the drippy swirl from Happy Hauntings and the skull from Wall Decor and More. The background paper is from the 6x6 Blackbird (how fitting!) collection from Memory Box which lead me to emboss the moon with the Goochie Script (5x7) embossing folder. (In case you can't see it, there's script on the DP as well.) Shades of Poe, eh?

Lots of layers and the raven is glittered with Doodlebug Sugar coating after running it through my Xyron right side down. The swirl is enhanced with Glossy Accents and adhesive gems. Both the moon and the skull are cut from iridescent card stock but the glimmer doesn't really show up well here. All edges were inked with Distress. My DT sisters have done an amazing job on this challenge so be sure to stop my BBTB2 and have a look. We'd love to see your take as well. Remember, the challenges run for 2 weeks, you may substitue the cut for another similar one, please enter new creations only and link them back to BBTB2. I'm also enter this in the Gingersnap Creations Theme Challenge, Horror Stories.

YIKES!---A BITTEN BY THE BUG CHALLENGE

as a newbie for this

 

http://heather-bittenbythebug2.blogspot.com/

Bitten by the Bug team,
i was very surprised they gave me the opportunity to host this weeks challenge. i had to pick an image for the challenge and i chose the vulture from life's a party, page #28. i hope you like the image and if you do not have this cartridge you know you can use another "cute" bird as long as is as handsome as this one, lol.

Yikes!

3.5" x 5.5"

so handsome, he even lost an eye in a battle.

life's a party is another wonderful cricut catridge. you can find this awesome vulture on page@28 of the handbook and it is image #8 on the overlay. i cut him at 2.50" high.

you know i have been onto layering for thickness. i cut several layers and glue them together for thickness. i hope you can see it better on these two pictures. the bat is from another punch and glossy accents was added for details.

the card base is from from the same cart: image #18 on the overlay. the black frame around the embossed red cardstock i made it inserting a smaller layer inside the original, do i make sense? i hope i do :P

the grayish marbled base was a gray cardstock i inked to make it look like a marbled tombstone :-) the RIP is from happy hauntings (image #30 of the overlay) and the bottom flourish is the negative from the card layer. i tweak things around and not everything is "by the book".

the nice brick embossing is from a tim holtz embossing folder called "bricked". look at the details. it is a must have!
*****i will have one embossing bricked folder for a lucky winner who participates in this challenge. you have to let me know you entered the challenge at Bitten by the Bug 2. i will go and look at it and next monday i will  post the person who won. you have 3 days to claim your prize.*****
---

now, i will show you the completed card.

------you can always click on the pictures for a greater view------

 the inside was stamped with a my pink stamper stamp set called spooky puns. it is a set from last year. i purchased it this year so they still have it. you can click here to see what other stamps are in this set.

thank you so much for stopping by and i appreciate you participating in this week challenge.

you can click here to read about the BBTB challenge rules.

see you later!

BBTB2 Create a Critter Frog Challenge

Finally, eh? This week the BBTB2 challenge was chosen by our DT sister Carri, who picked the frog from Create a Critter. I have Halloween on the brain so I did a themed wall hanging. The witch's hat and cauldron are from Mini Monsters. All shadows were welded in DS and the layers were popped with enough foam that a chipboard base wasn't required.

The frog is embossed with the Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles and the cauldron with Swiss Dots. I cut the cauldron multiple times and trimmed them so I could layer the rim. I also resized the cauldron bottom to create a sort of decoupage effect.

The rosette is done with a Tim Holtz die. Not to self: avoid glittered paper as it doesn't want to crease and has a tendency to tear. I reinforced a few of the folds with tape and copy paper and popped a cute little Sandylion spider on top. the star is actually a charm from Making Memories that I've cut the loop off of.

Open the ribbon and there's a surprise. I've layered the cauldron with the card feature so it opens. The sentiment is from Mini Monsters as well. I know this froggie doesn't look wicked, but I just couldn't resist. This particular sentiment is part of the witch's hat family of cuts. I just trimmed off the hat so it would fit. The entire hanger measures 11 1/2 inches, not counting the ribbon so it's pretty substantial. My teamies at BBTB2 have outdone themselves on this challenge so hop on by and take a peek. As always, the challenges run for 2 weeks. We want to see "new" projects only and please link back to BBTB2 so others can join in the fun.. If you haven't the particular cartridge featured, you may use another similar cut. You know the drill. Can't wait to see what YOU come up with.

WITCHY--- A BITTEN BY THE BUG CHALLENGE

HELLO

i have a new BLOG BUTTON not made by me this time, lol. i had chris from http://chatterscene-mom.blogspot.com/p/custom-blog-info.html made it for me. hopefully, you pay her a visit and see how beautiful her work is and how beautiful she can make your blog for a super very reasonable price. i did not want a blog makeover because i like to change things around a lot, but i did want a button that i can always use and that you can grab if you want to.

anyhow, this week at the Bitten by the Bug, we are working with a frog from create a critter, page #24.

let's play along!

this is my project using the cute froggie.

since the witches have already getting ready for their day, i wanted to make my frog fit for the occasion.

Witchy
3.5" x 6"
you might ask what kind of envelopes i use for these sizes...well, with the gypsy, i can maneuver the envelopes in some cartridges and customize them for my cards. ;D

purple is always so hard for me to photograph well, :(
the witchy epoxy circle just added the perfect touch for the spot and, gave me a name for the card. on the back, i just hot glued a piece of black dyed bias ribbon.
the spider web on the left is from october 31st, image #8 on the overlay and,
flipped to fit on the left side of my card. some of the web is behind the background paper.

this cardstock i used for the frog it was a plain cardstock which i stamped with purple ink to give it some substance. i am trying to play more with my stamps and this is a pretty example of what you can do with stamping.
the green bat on her necklace is the negative of a paper punch, i covered it with glossy accents for a bit more of bling.

the fancy right edge border is another paper punch from fiskars, and the orange and black beads i purchased on clearance last year after halloween for this halloween...thrifty/frugal/cheap/smart???...
whatever you want to call me, lol

this is the final card. i just love it so much and i hope you do too and give you a push to participate in this week challenge at Bitten by the Bug.

thanks so much for stopping by 

and, next week is my turn to choose the image you will be working on the challenge. yay! you do not want to miss it, lol.

------------
NOW...it is my pleasure to announce the winner of last week Bitten by the Bug hop. 
below is a reminder of the rules for the giveaway:

"i have a small giveaway and i will use random.org to choose for me.
you will have three days to claim your prize.

***the small print says you must participate in this BBTB challenge to be able to add your name for my giveaway".

ok, i just had three entries and instead of using random i decided i will choose it myself. The winner is Diana L. she is one of my faithful followers. 
sometimes it does pays to be a follower uh?, lol.
Thanks Diana for being such a sweet friend.
contact me and let me know your addy. we all have so many supplies but when you email me i will ask if you have this or not :D

a BIG thank you to Katieo and Sue for stopping by and also for participating on the wheelbarrow challenge at the BBTB2. anothe HUGE thank you for my other friends who stopped by to comment on my project even they did not have time to participate in the challenge. know that i always read your comments and they really fuel me to keep blogging. :P
XOXO

love you all!

Celebrating The Mad Hatter with Twinkles

The Hatter shook his head mournfully. `Not I!' he replied. `We quarrelled last March--just before HE went mad, you know--' (pointing with his tea spoon at the March Hare,)
`--it was at the great concert given by the Queen of Hearts, and I had to sing

"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!"
You know the song, perhaps?'
`I've heard something like it,' said Alice.
`It goes on, you know,' the Hatter continued, `in this way:--
"Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea-tray in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle--"'
-- Chapter 7, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

At The Altered Alice we celebrate Mad Hatter's Day twice a year as the date is taken from the price on his hat - ten schillings and a sixpence or 10/6. That means it is on October 6 here in the United States, and on June 10 in the United Kingdom. But mainly it is just a great reason to party with the Mad Hatter twice a year! Your challenge is to celebrate the Mad Hatter, and as OPTIONS you can use something that twinkles or shines AND/OR you can bring some spookiness into it since we are all having a "Twinkle twinkle little bat" sing-along around our mad tea table!

My project this month is the Hatter's tea cup made from a Sizzix Bigz die run through my Big Shot. Because there were no layering features, I cut the cup several times and added layers of DP from the Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland stack and also popped the rims and handle. Instead of using the saucer from the die, I substituted my Oval Nesties to more easily layer that as well. The Hatter Stamp is on the Alice II set from our fabulous sponsor this month, IndigoBlu. I've added a small bat brad and gem to the center of the clock and a black rosette made from a Tim Holtz die and Stickled around the edges for some "twinkle".

Our prize this month is an A5 sized unmounted stamp set from IndigoBlu (a £13 value), or an equivalent amount of A6 stamps. IndigoBlu is a fantastic new British stamp company that makes "Quintessential English Rubber Stamps" right there in England.

In fact IndigoBlu is sponsoring The Altered Alice for October AND November, and the design team will be working with these two fantastic Alice stamp sets, titled appropriately "Alice I" and "Alice II". Most Americans don't know what A5 and A6 mean so I'll just tell you, these sets are huge!
I encourage you to go visit IndigoBlu.com. All stamps are on sale right now with their introductory pricing, but that won't last forever, and the designs are all wonderful! In addition, the Head Honcho Alfie says The Altered Alice readers can take 10% OFF during the challenge; just use coupon code AlteredAlice in the voucher code box at checkout! Thanks Alfie!

On the tea bag tag I've added a glittered bat cut from a large EK Success border punch and another gem for more sparkle.

The frame was cut twice using my Nesties Fleur di Lis Squares from adhesive Fun Foam and stuck together to hold the wire for my purple glittered flying bats. These were also trimmed from the border punch, run through my Xyron and sprinkled with Doodlebug Sugar Coating.

They were backed in black for a shadow effect and WooHoo, more gems! "Twinkle, twinkle" little bats..." Be sure to stop by The Altered Alice for more inspiration from the DT and welcome Retta as a permanent member. She, Tracy and I make up the first week's offerings. We have new ones every week so don't forget to pop in every to The Altered Alice every Sunday. October is a long month with five Sundays, so you'll have no excuse not to join us in our Mad Tea Party celebrating Mad Hatter Day, US style! Enter by Friday, October 28; our randomly drawn winner and the honorable mentions will be announced on the last Sunday, October 30. Just make sure YOUR watch is not two days slow! Go get your "Alice" on!

I also entering this in The Corrosive Challenge Blog Purple Passion challenge, the Forever Night anything Goes Challenge, and the new ABC Anything Goes Challenge where my dear friend, Leah, is a new Design Team member. WooHoo, Leah and the newly relaunched ABC Challenges!