Halloween Greatest Hit - Revisited

Sometimes projects are so fun and so fabulous that they deserve a re-post on the blog.  This haunted house is one of my "Halloween Greatest Hits".  Just as this week is my turn to select the cut for Bitten by the Bug 2 and I chose the flying witch, last year my turn also feel in October.  I was not nearly so easy with last year's challenge cut - I chose the haunted house from the Happy Hauntings.

I think my design team sisters wanted to shoot me but in the end we all made fabulous haunted houses.  And guess what??  The house survived in the top of a closet and is in use again this year!!  I feared that the humidity here in South Carolina might make the house droop, but being the air conditioning addicts we are, the house was fine!

If you have not tried to make on of the 3D houses, I suggest that you challenge yourself to do so.  You will be amazed at what you can do if you just give the house a try.  Sure the house was a lot of work, but I am getting my second year with this great home decor item!!

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I would love to assist you in acquiring the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge and stamp sets. Just click on the cartridge name to visit my Close to my Heart store site.

The Art Philosophy set includes:

CTMH Art Philosophy Cartridge (retail $55.99)

Three coordinating stamp sets (retail $17.95 each)

Three chipboard sets (retail $4.95 each)

This is $124.69 value all for $99!!

Also please remember that the deadline for ordering your Stamp of the Month, Holiday Magic set is fast approaching. The stamp set retails for $17.95 but you can order it for $5.00 with any $50 order, but only it is only available until October 31st!!!

Art Philosophy Cartridge and Stamp set $99*

Stamp of the Month set $5*

You save $38.64!!!

* Shipping and taxes are extra 

Witchy Pillow with Happy Hauntings & BBTB2

Hello everyone, it is another Bitten by the Bug 2 Monday!  I had the pleasure of selecting this week's challenge cut and I chose the FLYING WITCH from the HAPPY HAUNTINGS cartridge!  I love the intensity of this witch's posture - she has "purpose" written all over her.  She must have some Halloween spells to cast or witch's brew to create!

I decided to create home decor project with the witch cut - best of all a reusable project that I can pull out year after year!   I used home decor fabric leftovers from my crafting closet along with Silhouette's FLOCKED HEAT TRANSFER MATERIAL to craft my pillow. 

I placed a 9 x 9 inch square of the flocked heat transfer material onto my cutting mat and cut the witch image at 8 inches.  Following the instructions on the package, using a pressing cloth I ironed the flocked cut onto a square of home decor fabric.   I will add that it took me a few tries to get the hang of how hot the iron had to be and how long the iron had to sit in the same position for the bonding to occur. 

Next I took out my I-Rock tool and assorted color I-Rock gems and bedazzled my witch cut.  I used the hot I-Rock tool edge to outline the cape edges so that gem placement would be easier.  The heated line also defined the areas more clearly.  For those who did not know, I-Rock is great for setting gems onto fabric as well as cardstock/paper. 

Using the leftover home decor fabric from my office window treatments, I was able to sew together this great Halloween home decor pillow.  I photographed the pillow on my bed, simply because it photographed well in that location.  In reality the witch pillow has a spot of honor in an occasional chair in the great room.

Be sure to take time to visit the BBTB2 blog and check out all of the great witchy projects the design team put together!  Also, you may want think about joining the Bitten by the Bug 2 team in this week's challenge and create your own great Witchy project.  If you do not own the Happy Hauntings cartridge, feel free to use a witch from another cartridge in order to join the fun. 

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I will be back later in the week with some fun projects to share.  In the mean time, please remember that I am now a Close to My Heart consultant and would love to help you learn to use the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge and stamp sets. 

Also please remember that the deadline for ordering your Stamp of the Month, Holiday Magic set is fast approaching.  The stamp set retails for $17.95 but you can order it for $5.00 with any $50 order, but only it is only available until October 31st!!!

Hello Kitty Trick or Treat Card

Do you know how much I love Hello Kitty?  My Bitten by the Bug 2 design team sister, the lovely Theresa, actually had no idea that Kitty is one of my favorite characters - and character cartridges - when she selected this Halloween outfitted Kitty as our challenge cut of the week.  But how can you not love a trick or treat Hello Kitty?   

I used Cricut Design Studio and two cartridges to create this card:  Hello Kitty Greetings and Happy Hauntings.  All of the character cuts were from HKG, with only the spiderweb card coming from the Happy Hauntings cartridge.   The spiderweb card was created by welding to spiderwebs together.  I used CDS's Hide Select Contour feature (right click the cut, see the bottom item on the list) to hide the inside cuts on one of the spiderwebs.  The "blacked out" spiderweb became the back of the card.

I cut Kitty at just under four inches tall.  Her costume was cut in cardstock printed on the Imagine machine using Teresa Collin's Black & White cartridge!   Kitty was finished with black micro tipped doodles and a "trick or treat" stamp on her tummy.

Also on the front of the card are two other Halloween cuts from the Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge.  I cut the pumpkin at 1.5 inches.  I used Smoochies to highlight the pumpkin cardstock and green Smoochies on the stem area.

The bat was cut at nearly two inches tall.  I used a grey textured striped cardstock for the bat body.  I used copper Smoochies over the grey area to color the bat brown.

I welded the base cuts of each of the three images together and completed the cut in a single piece.  I built the characters on this single cut, then carefully traced the spider lines with glue and glued the Kitty image scene to the spiderweb.    I cut the base cut a second time and glued it to the back side of the spiderweb.

The final additions to the card were orange Smoochies on Kitty's sucker and hairbow.  I also cut the blacked out spiderweb again, one-half inch smaller, in orange cardstock.  I attached the smaller orange cardstock to the inside of the card and stamped a Happy Halloween message in the center.

Thanks for stopping by Busy with the Cricky today.  If you have not already done so, please visit BBTB2 and check out all of the great Kitty designs the design team created this week.  Also, consider playing along with us and entering your own Halloween Hello Kitty project in the weekly challenge.

I will be back tomorrow with an exciting announcement.  I hope you will drop back by.

Halloween Centerpiece a Creepy Vulture

It is Monday and that means it is time for the Bitten by the Bug 2 weekly post.  This week's challenge cut, the Vulture from Cricut's Life's a Party cartridge, was selected by Agnes, my fun design team sister.   I have to admit that I found the vulture to be quite a challenge!  I did not want to do the expected birthday project, so had to put a great deal of thought into this week's project.  I designed a Halloween card that I felt rather indifferent about, but finally Sunday afternoon I had an inspiring thought! 

I remembered that I had this fabulously huge centerpiece vase, with the beads and the candle, that a friend had decorated for my 50th birthday last year.  I took the centerpiece apart, removing black ribbon and flowers, pulling the beads out of the inside, and completely disassembling the birthday vase. 

Using chalkboard vinyl, I cut the vulture from Life's a Party at 3.5 inches tall.  I then cut the graveyard fence from Happy Hauntings at 5.5 inches tall.  I peeled the backing from the vinyl and applied the vinyl to the vase.  Using rusty metallic orange vinyl, I cut the word BOO!, also from the Happy Hauntings cartridge. 

I applied adhesive runner around the top edge of the vase and about one inch from the bottom of the vase. Using black and silver beads, the top of the vase was decorated in a random draping design.  I was pleased that the adhesive held the beads in place.  I trimmed the length of a strand of silver beads and pushed them into the adhesive on the bottom of the vase.   I finished the project by wrapping silver beads around the candle in a criss-cross pattern.

I photographed the centerpiece in two different areas of my house.  I really liked it sitting on the baker's rack (pictured below) but the lighting was not good and I kept getting glare in the photos.  I found the photos above, on the coffee table, showed the details of the cuts far better. 

If you have not already done so, head over to the Bitten by the Bug 2 blog and checkout the design team's great projects.  Also, please consider playing along with us this week and post your project in the Mr. Linky area under this week's post at BBTB2.

Thanks for stopping by today, I will be back with more projects to share this week. 

Time For Fun Halloween Set

Happy Monday everyone.  Today's Bitten by the Bug 2 project was selected by our Design Team leader, Heather.  Heather choose the "Time 4 Fun" cut from Cricut's Cutting Up cartridge.  I do not own the Cutting Up cartridge so I chose to create my own welded phrase using Happy Hauntings. 

I used four cartridges to create this project:  Happy Hauntings, Forever Young, Art Philosophy, and George & Basic Shapes.   Using the Happy Haunting alphabet I welded the characters to create the "Time 4 Fun" phrase that the design team is using this week.  I created a two layer tag using the Art Philosophy card and affixed the two layer word phrase to the tag.  I added black ribbons and tied them with variegated orange twine.

The base box was created using Forever Young.  I placed two identical sheets of 12 x 12 inch cardstock placed side by side on the 12 x 24 inch cutting mat.  After completing the cut I adhered the two halves of the box together with ATG tape.   I had to do this because I did not have any 12 x 24 inch Halloween cardstock.  I scored along the score lines and creased the folds, but left the box open so that I could add the decorative cuts to a flat surface.

Using George and Basic Shapes I welded circles and ovals together to create the orange and silver inlaid matting on the side of the purse.  The edges were inked with black ink before adhesive was added and the mat was affixed the box/purse side. 

 Continuing to use the Happy Haunting cartridge, I cut Dracula at four inches tall and the lady "monster" at 3.6 inches tall.  I created hand cut cocktails for each of the creatures - Dracula is sipping a bag of blood while his date has a deep red cocktail. 

Above and below are close ups of my Halloween dating creatures!

For the purse handle I cut the layered BOO! cut from Happy Hauntings.  I adhered the cut to top of the purse handle.  I also cute several spiderwebs.  I used the same damask print that I used on Dracula's cape and his date's dress to cut the spiderwebs.  I like the effect of the two color print on the spiderwebs.

I forgot to mention that most of designer paper used on this project (and used as a background for the photographs) is the new Halloween line by SEI.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I will be back with a few additional projects this week.  Midweek I will share photos of the two banners I made for Provo Craft's E2 Banner Contest.  In the meantime, if you have not already done so, please go by Bitten by the Bug 2 and check out the other designers' takes on the "Time 4 Fun" cuts.  Also, consider making your own Time 4 Fun project and playing along with us this week. 

Spooky Halloween Labels For Everyday Cricut

Happy Saturday!  It is the third Saturday of the month and that means it is my day to share a project with you at Everyday Cricut.  This week I am using Cricut's Happy Hauntings cartridge to decorate bottles/decanters/canisters for Halloween entertaining.  For more details and to see more photos visit Everyday Cricut.

I also have news to share.... Beginning Saturday, October 1st, I will be designing for Everyday Cricut twice a month.  From now on I will share projects on the first and third Satrudays.  I am super excited and very appreciative of this opportunity for additional work with Melanie and Joy!

3-D Sweet Treat Halloween Fun House

It's another Monday and that means another Bitten by the Bug 2 weekly challenge.  This week's challenge cut was selected by our sweet design team member, Jeri.  Jeri chose for us to use any 3D box for a project of our choice.  I love this fun little house on the Sweet Tooth Boxes cartridge and thought it might look great
dressed up for Halloween.
 

I began by making this elegant black and white cardstock for the house sides. Using my Cricut Imagine and the Teresa Collins Black and White cartridge I printed two sheets of the black and white print above. I then cut the house sides. Next I cut the roof, window, and door trim in solid black cardstock.

I used an interlocking circle embossing folder to emboss the roof piece. The roof tag was cut using the Happy Hauntings cartridge with gray and white cardstock. Black Stickles were used to fill in the word Spooky. As a final touch I added ecru lace to the edge of the roof.

Using Happy Hauntings, I cut a Mr. Bones and affixed him to the corner of the roof. Mr. Bones is sporting black pearl eyes and a few white gel pen doodles.

Using the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge, I cut a few white spider webs. I snipped one of the webs into quarters and used it on the house windows and roof line. I also added spider webs to the front door and end windows.

Finally I dressed up the tag and windows with black pearls and diamond bling.

Please do go by the Bitten by the Bug 2 blog and check out the design team projects - so many cute 3D boxes!  Also, please think about playing along with us and possibly becoming our weekly blog blinkie winner.  Just create your own 3D box project and post it in the linky spot at the BBTB2 blog!  We love it when our readers play along!!

Heritage Tree Halloween Scene with BBTB2

It's another Monday with another Bitten by the Bug 2 challenge and monthly blog hop!!  If you are following the blog hop you arrived here from Penny's blog, PenniAnne's.   Our adorable design team sister, Julie Huxter of Huxter's House, selected this week's challenge cut, Tree 1 from the Heritage cartridge.

When I first looked at the challenge cut, my first thought was “Family Tree”.  I designed a sweet heritage-family tree scrap layout, but I was never hugely excited about the page.  Last Thursday – Saturday I attended Creating Keepsake’s Charlotte Convention in Charlotte, NC and saw some really pretty heritage/family tree cardstock lines, but I did not purchase any.  Friday night while in bed at the Westin, it suddenly came to me.  The card was completely visualized in my head.  I was so afraid that I would forget the card idea before I arrived home!!

I began by cutting the tree, both the icon and shadow cuts at 4.25 inches. Using finger daubers and assorted brown, tan and black ink pads, I added shadows and highlights to the top layer of the tree. I then glued the two layers of trees together and added white pen highlights.

Next, using white card stock, I cut the base card. I welded two 5.5 x 4.25 inch rectangles together and then I welded a 5.5 x 2 inch rectangle to the two rectangles. I scored the card at 4.25 inches (middle fold), at 8.5 inches and at 9.5 inches (to create the fold on the lower front of the card).

Using the same cutting guide as above, I removed one of the two large rectangles and cut a rectangle in the dot cardstock for the front of the card. The dotted cut measured 5.5 x 6.25 inches. I scored at 1 inch and again at 2 inches (to cover the fold at on the bottom front of the card). The dot cardstock was then affixed to the card.

I added pop dots to the back of the tree cuts and added the tree to the card.

Next I cut a 2.75 inch moon in golden orange cardstock.  I inked the edges of the circle with a golden brown ink and added a few black dots.  I affixed the moon to the card with my ATG runner. I then cut a small flying witch from Happy Hauntings and pop dotted her to the front of the moon. 

I cut a 5.5 inch wide iron fence from the Heritage cartridge. Using light blue ink, I added moon light highlights to the fence before affixing it to the front of the card. The bottom of the fence was covered with a Halloween ribbon.

Using punches, I created a triple layer HAPPY HALLOWEEN tag for the lower front edge of the card. Once again I added moon light "highlights" to the tag.

Inside the card I used my new Close to My Heart Halloween stamp set and added the sentiment, Have a Wicked Halloween.  The sentiment is stamped onto green drippy edged cardstock affixed to the same dot cardstock that was used on the front of the card.

I know I mentioned a blog hop….. And you know what that means, right? Blog Candy! I am once again offering FABULOUS blog candy provided by the continuing generosity of CUSTOM CROPS. Custom Crops is offering a $20 gift voucher to my blog candy winner. All you have to do to be registered for the blog candy is be a blog follower of my blog and leave a comment under this post. I will be drawing a winner on Friday.

Custom Crops is one of my favorite on-line scrap goods stores. For me they are a go to source for all things Cricut and paper crafting related. Right now there is a great Back to School sale as well as Sizzix sale at Custom Crops. The Heritage cartridge is one of the Cricut cartridges included in the Back to School sale.

Once you have become a follower and left a comment below, and you have checked out Custom Crops sale, you will be ready to continue on with the blog hop. Your next stop is at the lovely blog of my adorably sweet design team sister, Krista. Krista is sure to inspire you with her Heritage tree project!


Remember that the BBTB2 Design Team loves it when you decide to play along with us on the weekly challenge.  You have two weeks to create your own Tree project and post it under the Heritage Tree post at Bitten by the Bug 2!

Have a great Monday. I will be back tomorrow with details of my seven classes and other CKC experiences!

Fall Digi Stamp BBTB2 Challenge

Hello everyone.  It's another Bitten by the Bug 2 Monday with a stamp and frame challenge.  This week we have a sponsor at BBTB2, The Stamping Boutique, who provided digital stamps for the design team to use in this week's challenge.  We also had to use a frame from the Happy Hauntings cartridge with our digital stamp to complete our project.

We had a choice of several fall or Halloween themed images and I chose this cute scarecrow, who I do not believe could scare a soul!!   I used my Copic markers and colored image to be a night time pumpkin patch setting.  I especially like how my moon and night time sky turned out. 

I chose the loopy square frame from the Happy Hauntings cartridge to use with my card.  Using Cricut Design Studio, I stretched the frame into a rectangle, measuring so that it would fit my image. 

I used Just Because Cards to cut the base card as well as the green background on the card front.  I cut a rectangle to go across the bottom edge of the frame, and a tabbed index card for the top of the card. 

I found fun fall ribbon in my stash and added the ribbon to the index card as well as the top and bottom edges of the card.  I finished the card with an additional loop of ribbon and lots of black and white doodles.
If you have not already done so, please do go by and check out the other design team members' projects for the week.  Some of the projects are truly "WOW"-ers!!  Also, be sure to check BBTB2 this week for information on a new contest that will offer you the opportunity to win some great stamps from

The Stamping Boutique.