happy haunting!

hey there, how've you been?  everyone getting ready for Halloween?  Mr. Bagubian's been talking about "going to Halloween" for a couple months now.  he's insistent upon being a monkey this year, but he was a monkey when he was 1 so i'm trying to get him to change his mind.  we had him on the cusp of being a firefighter tonight at dinner, but we'll see what happens when we ask him about it again tomorrow.  he'd like Nemy to be a "tiny, tiny witch."

i've got some Halloween treats to share tonight...i don't do too much for this holiday but i did have a bit more fun this year than i normally do.  everything here is in my Etsy shop and it's ALL ON SALE!

first up is one of my goodie/favor bag kits.  there are 10 glassine bags, ten washi tags, 10 mini clothespins, and 10 small tags that say "trick" on one side and "treat" on the other.  it's a really fun idea for a Halloween party, or if you live out in the boonies and only have a handful of trick-or-treaters, like my parents!

here's a treat...

and here's a trick...

next up is a fun little tag set.  i really kinda love this.

5 yards of orange baker's twine, 5 small tags stamped with an ominous black bird, and 5 bitty silver glitter clothespins, all in a tiny round tin.  it's only $3.75! 

a sample package...i love the doily (not included) with the black spatter on it.  i first saw the idea used last Halloween by Michelle Wooderson.  they are so spookily cute that i had to try a few for myself. 

and, of course, a couple different sets of Halloween-inspired washi clothespins...  

black, silver glitter, and neon orange...{i LOVE neon but i find it very difficult to photograph!}

again, it's all on sale...you still have a few days to get these goodies before October 31st!  you'll find sets of orange and black baker's twine, as well as a couple of autumn-inspired items on sale, too.

happy looking!

happy little garland

hi guys!  i'm popping in quickly tonight to share a quick and easy home decor project with you.  i made this a couple weeks ago for the Crate blog.  it was my first post for them using the new collections--have you gotten any of them yet?  they're full of beautiful things--pretty bows, colorful chipboard, gorgeous patterned papers, fun layered embellishments...i could go on and on.

while i can't wait to dive in head first to Flea Market, i just couldn't stop myself from using the wood shapes from Close Knit  first.  i am completely smitten with them, especially for fall!  the dark wood is rich and warm, and reminds me of toasty fires on chilly autumn days.  lo and behold, we actually had one of those yesterday.  it rained!  it was so nice to hear it coming down and to look out the window and see dark, gray skies instead of super-bright sunshine!

to make the garland, i picked out the shapes i wanted to use first.  i chose the boy and girl cameos to represent my 2 little sweethearts, Mr. Bagubian and Nemy-Lemons.  and since the two of them are so close to my heart, i also used hearts and the L-O-V-E cutouts.

next, i chose my papers.  i think the dark wood pairs beautifully with yellow so i stuck to mostly papers with that color in them.  i find the “Memories” chevron to be somewhat of a masculine pattern so i matted the boy cameo on top of it.  the feminine floral of “Seamstress” is oh so pretty for the little girl.  actually, picturing those flowers peeking out from underneath her is what kick-started this whole endeavor!  "Fabric" is one of my most favorite papers from Close Knit, given its allover delightfulness!  can i just tell you that i’m a hoarder sucker for every single yellow patterned paper Crate has ever released?!  it’s true.  last but not least, i went with "Needle & Thread" for the woven wheat-colored hearts.  it’s a wonderful light neutral to contrast with the dark wood.

i dug through my paper punches to find the best fit for each of the wood shapes, keeping in mind that i wanted a symmetrical line when the garland was all said and done.  medallions, hearts, scalloped ovals, and pointed labels worked beautifully here.  this is not a very big nor heavy piece and i wanted to keep it dainty so i used a long piece of gold thread, simply stitched through each paper shape.  {tip:  i doubled the stitch so the individual shapes would stay put and not slide up and down the thread.}

with that, my garland was complete.  in a short amount of time, and using just a handful of items, i have a sweetly simple piece that celebrates our family.   now all i have to do is pick a spot to hang it in my house...

and because i'm still feeling a little festive from my last post, here's a sneak peek at what's coming soon to the Etsy shop...

have a great weekend!

festive friday stars

there is this very, very super-fun, awesome Christmasy blog called Festive Friday.  have you heard of it?  it's the brainchild of my friend, Meredith MacRitchie, and every 2 weeks she and her talented team of designers bring you an idea and a challenge to help you make holiday cards all year long!  i love this idea and it really helps!  plus, i don't know about you, but every year when the holiday season comes to a close, i'm always sad to put away my papers, stamps, and embellishments, always feeling like there were so many more things i wanted to make.  Festive Friday is the perfect fix for that!  please, please, please go check it out!



i was beyond thrilled when Meredith asked me to be a guest designer this month.  and when she sent me the element challenge photo, i was even happier.  the theme is stars and i was already planning to fully incorporate stars into my holidays this year.  the star challenge gave me a head start and i became immersed in them while creating these cards!

the first card i'm showing you was actually the second one i made, but it ended up being my favorite of the two.  i used basic supplies, some that all of us probably have in our stash.  the wood stars are from Studio Calico; aren't they so tiny and cute?  {WARNING: they're going to be all over my projects this season!}   i love the simple message on the card, too, which i think we should all do at Christmastime.

 

i like the red and silver on this card, which features the City Sidewalks collection from Pink Paislee.  i adore this line from them; i had it last year but didn't get to use it much.  i happily broke it out for my Festive Friday feature!

i also used my silver leaf paint pen quite a bit here.  i used it to paint the small white tag in the above photo, as well as the chipboard star below.  a little swatch of lace, some tiny acrylic stars, silver stitching...this card was much more involved than my other card.  they're totally different, in fact.  

there's still time to play along with this week's challenge at FF; the contest closes Wednesday, October 9th.  and make sure you check back every Friday for more inspiration--trust me, it's not too early to start thinking about your holiday cards!

have a smashing Sunday!