Halloween Goodies

Hey all! I don't know about you guys, but I have been LOVING the fall so far. The cool weather and the gorgeous colors right outside your window, not to mention the delicious treats! We've already made a pumpkin pie and an apple pie at our home. I can't resist how wonderful they make the house smell!

Since I don't have a new Label Tulip kit to play with this week, I though I'd just show you a fun little 'treat' I've made for the adults on Halloween. Instead of giving Sarah's teachers and our friends a bag of candy, I whipped up these adorable butter biscuits. They took about 1.5 hours to create and the kiddies can help! I found this idea in one of my favorite holiday idea books - Halloween Tricks and Treats by Matthew Mead.

Here's what you'll need:

Le Petit Ecolier -The Little Schoolboy (biscuit cookies with milk/dark chocolate topping)
White Icing
Orange and Black coloring for the icing
2 Decorating Tips - (1) size #1 Round and (1) a bit larger (not sure of the size since I've had it for a while)
Ziploc bags or decorating bags
Green Icing - tube
Toothpicks
Clear a large surface and lay out as many cookies as you would like to create in rows. I used four boxes and placed them on upside-down cookie sheets lined with aluminum foil. Putting them on a cookie sheet makes them portable and easy to put aside if you aren't able to finish the decorating in one sitting.
I use store bought vanilla icing but you can whip up a batch if you feel so inclined ;) I thinned it out some by adding about a tablespoon of water to a portion of the icing and mixing it well. Otherwise, it was very difficult to pass it through the tiny decorating tip.
Then I snipped a tiny bit off the corner of the ziploc bag, inserted the #1 decorating tip and spooned in some white icing. Very carefully, and slowly at first, I created the little mask on the boy's eyes. It takes very little icing and you'll want to wipe off the tip often.

Next, I colored the white icing with the orange coloring until I got a nice deep color. I then spooned that into a new Ziploc bag with the larger tip and made the pumpkins in the corners. I found it best to just keep the tip in one place and slightly move the tip up and down as I piped out the icing.

I used a tube of green gel icing to create the stems of the pumpkin. A very small amount went a long way!
Finally, I colored the leftover orange icing with black coloring. Using a toothpick, I picked up a tiny bit of color and then dabbed it onto the mask to create the eye holes. From here, you can get more creative and add other little touches throughout the cookie. My daughter Sarah loved adding little stars in the background using the toothpick!

These cookies need to be given in a flat box since the icing does not harden completely. I used the leftover plastic tray the cookies came in and wrapped them in a clear Halloween bag I purchased at Target.
They were fun to make and even more fun to eat!!

Get that down

Many of us have company, friends, and family that we'll be around during the upcoming holidays. So, how do you capture what it means to be around those special people? How do you add meaningful journaling to those pages about your family? Well, I don't have all the answers, but here are a few ideas:

Sometimes, I've found the most meaningful journaling comes from the person you're doing the page about. Ask your mom or grandmother, for example, to write down some of her favorite things about spending time with you and your family.

Get your child's perspective on what makes a visit with someone special.
Make a list- I jotted down a few things I noticed that were special when my mother-in-law recently visited us. Pretty simple - I just listed them in the journaling spot right next to the photos..

I also adore Sasha's layout using this month's kit of her and her sister-simply fabulous:


another fabulous example is from Leslie:

Enjoy those times with those special people!, Charity

A wee tip.

Just wanted to share a little tip with ya! I wanted to get the feel of sewing on my page, but I don't own a sewing machine. So, the next best thing was to use the October Afternoon paper in the kit that has dotted lines across part of it. I simply used the end of a pin and punched holes along the dotted lines to make it appear like stitching! I also added some holes in the crepe ribbon to make it look stitched.
Simple and fun! By the way, there are still some of the add-on kits available! and we're taking pre-orders as well! Happy Scrapping!, Charity

Thinking of you!

What do you do when every single yummy morsely scrap from your kit has not been used up yet?- Why, create a few cards! So, for a bit of inspiration I have made a card using October's "Gossip" kit and a few pieces from the add-on called "Trendsetter". I used the marvelous sketch over at Card Positioning Systems blog for my inspiration.

(click on the image for a better view)

Oh, talk about using every piece of the kit... I even used some of the round, chipboard holes that punch out of the mini album from the add-n kit for the centers of some of the flowers! So fun! Hope you join in, if you do be sure to link up here or show us your creations in the gallery! Have fun! OH, in case you somehow missed the amazing design team creations using October's kits go check them out here! hugs, Charity

Reveal Time!! *Oct Kit*

Wowsa WOW WOW!  That's all I can say... well, no, that's not all I can say, I can say a LOT more!.. and I'm gonna! ;) The ladies at LT have outdone themselves again.  This kit is packed full of beautiful papers and awesome embellishments.  Just look... 

Ooooohh.. the colors, the patterns, the cute little touches of embellies.. looove this kit!  And do you see that "sold out" sign on the bottom?  Yep it's true.  It sold out in record time.  You know what that means?  So this doesn't happen to you again, you must RUSH over to LT and subscribe to these kits to guarantee you a slice of the yummy pie!  And don't forget to check out the add-on kits, some of which are, as of now anyway, still available! :)

I'm also gonna grab some images from the wonderful Tulip Girl Gallery.  And sorry for the extreme gushy post here.. but there is some SERIOUSLY talented ladies there!  I am so honored to be a part of this amazing group!  So much eye candy.. so much inspiration, I could ooogle through the gallery all night and continuously find cool things to look at!  I was so excited for the 1st gallery with this new team, and they did NOT disappoint!  Great work ladies!

So, I'll grab one from each gal...

First of all, our very talented Guest Designer: Jamie Harper

Tulip Girl Coordinator: Holly Hanks

Veteran Tulip Girl: Alexis Hardy ;)

Now the newbies...

Tulip Girl: Charity Hassel

Tulip Girl: Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

Tulip Girl: Leslie Ashe

Tulip Girl: Sasha Farina

See, I told you these girls totally RAWKED this kit!  Now run to the gallery and oogle all of the inspiration in there!   Is it wrong that this new gallery just went up and I already CAN'T WAIT to see the next one?!  {hee hee}

Where's my work you ask?  Well, I will have a "special" reveal night tomorrow (Friday) night at 6pm! .. you can thank the mailman for that! ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Owl-O-Ween

How about a quick little card making how-to? It's a great way to use your scraps! Here's what you'll need...

1 - 5 1/2" x 8 1/4" piece of kraft colored cardstock
1 - Pink Paislee Vintage Moon Borders Top Siders (sticker part only) cut to 5" wide
1 - Piece of black & white patterned paper (I used Martha Stewart's Halloween collection) cut to 1 1/2" x 5"
Jenni Bowlin crepe paper ribbon
Vintage trim or ribbon (I used some vintage gold sequin trim)
Oval chipboard shape (mine was from Bazzill)
Pink Paislee Vintage Moon (Full Moon design) patterned paper (for covering chipboard oval)
2 1/2" circle punch (can have scallops or pinked edges)
Black cardstock (to punch w/ circle punch)
Owl stamp (mine was from Sassafras Lass - Oliver & Friends)
Black pigment ink pad
Black detail embossing powder
Stick-on jewels (black, orange and clear)
Aqua colored glitter glue
Alpha rub-ons (I used American Crafts miniMarks)
Adhesives: glue stick, double-stick tape, hot glue gun, pop dots
X-acto knife

First, adhere the Full Moon patterned paper to the front of the chipboard piece. Cut out with X-acto knife:

Then, using black pigment ink, stamp the owl image on top of the covered chipboard:

Quickly, before the ink dries, coat the image with embossing powder. Tap off the excess, and heat-set with an embossing/heat gun. You will end up with a snappy, glossy image like so:

Set the chipboard piece aside, and begin to assemble the rest of the card. Starting with the kraft cardstock, fold it in half to achieve a card size of 4 1/8" x 5". Then, adhere the Vintage Moon Top Sider sticker to the bottom half of the card:

Next, adhere the black and white patterned paper on the top half of the card. Then, run a piece of double-stick tape down the middle of where the patterned paper and Topsider sticker meet:

On top of the double-stick tape, gather the crepe paper ribbon to achieve a pleated look, and adhere it on top of the tape:

Once you have covered the entire length of tape with pleated crepe paper ribbon, use hot glue to attach the vintage trim on top:

Using pop dots, attach the punched piece of black cardstock to the middle of the card:

Attach the owl chipboard to the top of the black cardstock with some hot glue:

Next, place some black jewels in the holes of the Top Sider sticker:

Add some finishing touches with a little bit of aqua glitter glue around the edge of the chipboard piece, and some orange jewels for the owl's "eyes":

Finish off the whole card by using some rub-ons and jewels on the inside to complete the saying "Happy Owl-O-Ween."

There you go...all done! Fun, pretty simple, and something a little different than the typical pumpkins and witches you find on most Halloween cards. ;0)

Crepe Paper Ribbons

Here's a fun little technique (and a free sneak peek at some October's kit goodies). ;0) These flowers are made using the new Jenni Bowlin crepe paper ribbons. To get started, cut off a 24" piece of the ribbon (I used the pinked-edge design). Begin accordion folding in 1/2" increments:

If you unfold it, it should look like this:

Keep folding until the entire length of ribbon is done, and you have something that looks like this:

Next, using a needle and thread, make a small stitch near the straight edge of the ribbon. Here's the back:

And, here's the front:

Now, place a glue dot on one end:

Now, wrap that end around to meet the other end. You will end up with a flower shape like this:

Now, smash down the middle of the flower, and spread the "petals" out until you get it looking the way you want. Don't worry...it takes some fiddling with to get it just right. Once, you have that looking the way you want it, add some fun embellishments to the center of the flower like so:

For this particular design, I took an Icing Polka Dot from Glitz Designs, adhered it to a piece of colored cardstock, and cut it out. On top, I hot-glued a glazed brad from the new Offbeat line from Basic Grey. Voila! Pretty little flowers... all ready to adorn your page or card!

Stay tuned later this week for a fun little Halloween card design!

xo,
Holly