Mini Halloween Lollapolooza

I bought the Stampers Anonymous Mini Halloween 3 stamp set a couple weeks ago for a project I was thinking about and then found myself working on other things through out the month.  Lucky for me, a friend called and asked for some help making a few Halloween things...I said, I have just what we need!

So the lollapolooza started on Saturday night making simple tags for plates of Halloween goodies being left on doorsteps.  Dusty Concord and Crushed Grape Distress Ink made for a great background.  I taught her how to do the spritz and flick technique which added to the Halloween feel.  We stamped favorite images from the Mini Halloween 3 set, then added the word "boo" cut from the Wordplay die.
NOTE: We glittered the letters using sticky embossing powder and Stickles Dry Fine Glitter.  Can't say enough good stuff about the way the glitter sticks to the embossing powder.  If you missed the post about it you can read it here.

We also made Crinkle ribbon in Halloween colors using Shabby Shutters and Dusty Concord Distress Stain.  Great Halloween combination.

Move on to Sunday...still wanting to do more with that stamp.   I stamped multiple images of the skull on glossy paper then heat embossed it with black embossing powder and cut them out.

 Inked each skull with Dusty Concord and Crushed Olive Distress Ink.

 Don't worry if the back gets kinda inky from the craft sheet...

 Just add Dusty Concord over the entire back.

 I added a toothpick with a Glossy Accents to each one.

Just give them a few minutes to dry, then ink just the part glued to the skull so the toothpick will blend in.

I stamped each of them with the spiderweb and spider using black Archival ink.  Love how that turned out.

Add to some frosted cupcakes.
A fun dessert for the kids after dinner on Sunday night.

And now Monday...one more project using the Mini Halloween Stamp.  

I needed to wrap one Halloween gift.

I found this polka dot gift box in the closet.

 It had a slick surface like glossy paper so I decided to use Alcohol ink the color the dots.  First Purple Twilight.

 Then Lettuce (kind looks like a microscope slide at this point).

 I added a few spiders with black Archival Ink.

 I cut out a mask from scrap paper and added webs.

Some webs covered the entire circle.

 Some, only partial.

Love how it turned out...I really wanted to make more boxes!

The box needed a tag so I made a big one using Glossy paper and Alcohol Ink.  The shape was created using the Sizzix Alterations Baroque die edged in the black Stickles Glitter (and a bit of Crinkle ribbon left from the Saturday night soiree).

Happy Halloween!

cheers for a great one! 

paula

*Tim Holtz Cling Rubber Stamps 2012 * MINI HALLOWEEN 3 CMS140	*PREORDER Ranger STICKY EMBOSSING POWDER Emboss Industries EPJ35275	*Ranger EMBOSSING POWDER SUPER FINE BLACK Detail Rubber Stamp Ink	*PREORDER Ranger Stickles Dry Fine Glitter BLACK DIAMOND SDG35350
*Tim Holtz ALCOHOL INK LETTUCE Green Adirondack Ranger	*Tim Holtz ALCOHOL INK PURPLE TWILIGHT Adirondack Ranger	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS Ink STAIN SHABBY SHUTTERS Ranger	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS Ink STAIN DUSTY CONCORD Ranger
*PREORDER Tim Holtz Idea-ology CRINKLE RIBBON TH93020	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD DUSTY CONCORD Purple Ranger	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD CRUSHED OLIVE Green Ranger	*Ranger Inkssentials GLOSS PAPER 8.5 X 11 White Glossy
*Ranger Inkssentials HEAT IT CRAFT TOOL HIT00471	*Tim Holtz Sizzix WORD PLAY Bigz XL Die Alphabet 657837	*Tim Holtz Sizzix VAGABOND MACHINE Die Cutting Embossing Alterations 656850	*Ranger Inkssentials Non Stick CRAFT SHEET Reusable 15 X 18 Stamp Paint Ink

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Pumpkin Patch

When my sister Ann, told me that her and her daughter (my lovely niece Erin) were making some fall pumpkins, I asked her if she would please take pictures and include a tutorial of their fun.  They used great fabrics and made a multitude of sizes.   In an afternoon they cranked out enough for both to have their own little pumpkin patch.

Thanks for sharing Ann and Erin!

(The idea for this project originally came from designsponge.com via Pinterest)

Instructions:

Cut your selected cotton fabric to size.  The size of your fabric should be twice as long as it is tall/wide.  A 6” tall fabric would need to be 12” long, 8” tall would be 16” long, and so forth.  Our largest pumpkin is 12” tall and 24” long, down to the smallest at 4” x 8”. 

Fold fabric right sides together and machine stitch along the “height” of the pumpkin/fabric.  We used a 1/2” seam allowance.  You could also hand stitch this seam.

Gather the bottom of the pumpkin.  This can be accomplished a couple of ways.  You can use 3 strands of embroidery floss and make a running stitch along the length of the fabric, cinch together and knot.  Or we found it easiest to stitch on the machine a long and wide zig-zag stitch over a length of crochet thread. 

 We did both layers at once....doesn’t matter if it’s cinched together....it’s all gathered together in the end.  

Cinch up the crochet thread ends tightly and knot the ends well.  Quick and easy!

Turn the pumpkin right side out to look like this...

Stuff your pumpkin using polyester fiberfill.  Stuff pretty firmly.  We didn’t stuff the first one tight enough and it was a bit ‘floppy’.  Basically it’s stuffed well, then heaped over the top a bit.

  Handstitch a running stitch about 1/2” from the top edge all the way around.

  Cinch it up tightly, stuffing the fiberfill in as you go.  You may need an extra pair of hands for this part!  Whipstitch closed, then knot tightly. 

Give your pumpkin some shape using a coordinating or contrasting yarn.  The smaller pumpkins we were able to do with a plastic yarn needle just fine.  However, for the larger (especially the firmly stuffed ones!) ones, we used a metal doll needle that was the longest one we could find that would accommodate the yarn.  Thread the needle and knot one end.  Be sure you use a rather long piece of yarn....it needs to wrap around the pumpkin several times.  Beginning at the bottom, stick your needle in the center and bring it up through the center top. 

Continue stitching around your pumpkin making defined sections all the way around.  

Knot the yarn at the top.

Make the stem.

  You can use coordinating cotton fabrics for this, but we thought it needed a little more pizazz.  We purchased 1/8 yard of dupioni silk for the stem.  We just drew a basic shape on a piece of paper for a pattern.  Cut out your stems....two pieces per stem.

  Stitch with right sides together around the top.  You can either machine stitch or hand stitch.  Leave the bottom open for turning.

  Before turning, though, clip the curves 3 or 4 times to ease the curve.

  Turn right side out.  Stuff firmly.  

You can either whipstitch the opening closed or....

...we found that you can just as easily lay it on top of a pumpkin and handstitch it onto the top.  Either way works.  We tried them both.  We found that it was best to have the thread you use match the stem so any exposed stitches blend in and aren't so noticeable.

  

Love that some are non traditional colors!

 Thanks again Ann and Erin!

deb