Frankenstein Halloween Trick Or Treat Matchboxes

Although I have used my Stampin’Up Matchbox die for this idea, there are plenty of matchbox templates on the internet that could be used instead.

I decided to have a go at making a Frankenstein Halloween Trick or Treat box but I am not that sure about Frankenstein's face, I don’t think he looks scary enough!

Embellishing the matchbox sleeve was a good way of using up odd bits of scrap paper, card and adhesive Halloween borders…….

……. an excuse to get my Stampin’Up plain and scalloped edge punches out of hibernation.

……. plus, I got to do lots of fiddle fart doodling.

Now,  all I’ve got to do is to find some suitable Halloween sweeties to fill him!

Glow Stick Wreath

Marc and I were talking about the very plain twig wreath that hangs all year round on my front door …… usually it only has a set of Poundshop battery operated lights on it ……..

…… but because of it’s loose weave we worked out that it wouldn’t take a lot to enhance and theme it to different times of the year ……. so this is my very simple first effort for Halloween  ……

All I did was weave a pack of £1 glow bands through it.

It looked so different,  I really want to try it again but next time blitz it  ….. with two packs of bands …..

Trick Or Treat Halloween Matchboxes.

Although I have used my Stampin’Up Matchbox die for this idea, there are plenty of matchbox templates on the internet that could be used instead.Last year Dianne, my special blog friend in Florida, sent me a wonderful parcel of deliciousHalloween crafty bits from Michaels, that, before now, I could hardly bear to think of using, but they are no good kept in a drawer …. and as I have enjoyed looking at them for the past year it’s about time I put them to good use!

So, these are the very lovely 3D, bubble stickers Dianne sent me that I decided to put on some Halloween Trick or Treat matchboxes.

I decorated the sleeves of the matchboxes first, which involved mat and layering, some doodling and using up other Halloween scraps as well as punching, using my trusty old Stampin’Up plain and scalloped edge punches.

I just love the colour combination of purple, green orange and black.

I lined the box trays with contrasting card scraps to make them a little stronger and then added a few stickers inside for good measure.All that was left to do then was to fill them with Halloween type sweeties.

I am really chuffed with how they have turned out ……….
……. and sad in a way, a few more bits of stash are finally used up.

Boo Halloween Card Made From Paper Chain Strips

This card measures 6ins x 6ins and is made using a hand cut black card blank.
I can’t believe how effective this card has turned out to be …… and so simple to make!

I used just 6 (out of 120) paper chain links from a pack I bought from HobbyCraft for just £1 a couple of weeks ago.

I made the background by sticking four chains onto a piece of paper, using double sided tape and then cutting it down to size, approximately 5.5 inches- ish square, and then mat and layered it, first on silver laser card and then plain purple, before sticking it on to the front of the card.

I then added two panels in black, again matted and layered on silver laser card, on one I put two very large googly eyes and on the other self adhesive letters to spell boo, with two smaller eyes in the middle of the o’s

And then inside the card I added two more strips.

This would make such a quick and easy Halloween party invitation, you could even add strips to the envelope.

With so many strips I can afford to experiment some more ……. so watch this space ….. I am thinking perhaps decorating a Trick or Treat bag?

Halloween Trick Or Treat Spider Nightmare!

This is just a mad, mad idea …… I had a few marshmallow poles left over from my Boo Brew …. and thought what on earth am I going to do with them,….. apart from eating them!

When, all of a sudden  I had a moment of erm ….. inspiration?   I tied four poles together with a little black cord, and then covered it over with a short length of the black web ribbon I got from Michaels in Las Vegas last year …. the happy memories flooding back to me  as I did it.  I used my trusty glue gun to glue the ribbon ends together as it was very quick and I didn’t have to wait for anything to dry.

Then,  glue gun still in hand, I began to randomly glue down plastic spiders all over the bundle ….. The spiders came from DiscountUK and cost just £1 for a huge bag of 72 of the creepy blighters and my aim is to use them all up before this Halloween is over!!

I think they each took me no more than 5 minutes to put together …….

……. and probably cost me less than 50p each to make, and they are, I have to say, my favourite Halloween make this year …… so far!

The PE Lady’s Mum’s 2014 Remembrance Poppies

Just a quick post today to show you the poppies that the (ex) PE lady’s Mum has been busy knitting for Remembrance Day. This year she has made them slightly smaller and used glittered wool.  They are beautiful and to be honest my picture just doesn’t do them justice.
I gave Marc his when he came to stay in the summer, it went straight on his bag and looked beautiful.

Halloween Frankenstein Mug

A bit of spooky fun today ……. this is the mug I shall mainly be drinking my poison from, at work, in the week leading up to Halloween!  It’s not meant to last forever ….. the week will do, just for a laugh!

I found a mug for 99p in perfect Frankenstein green and then drew hair, a mouth and a couple of scars (round the back) with a black Marabu Porcelain Painter pen and then baked it in the oven for 30mins (170 in electric oven).

I would have painted the eyes on ….. but I don’t have a white painter pen (doh)!!!  However the googly eyes just add a bit of extra fun.  I have stuck them on with E6000 glue, so there is no chance they will come off, but I won’t be putting it through the dishwasher just in case.

Tim Holtz Matchbox Die and Lindt Chocolate Bear Offer.

Following on from yesterday, I think the reason why I was so desperate to master my Stampin’ Up matchbox die (which I don’t believe was ever available in UK) was because Sizzix/Tim Holtz Alterations have also bought out a matchbox die and I was curious to find out what his tray looked like and if it was any easier to put together than mine, so YouTubed  it ….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdd8ORjP0lI

Tim/Sizzix’s die certainly looks simpler …. it has corner flaps that fold over, rather than the fiddly perforated corners of my Stampin’ Up one and it has a small flap on the bottom of each side that hold the folded sides in place, where the Stampin’ Up one only has one at each end.

http://www.sizzix.com/product/659447/sizzix-movers-shapers-l-die-matchbox

However, there is one big difference, it is an All Movers and Shapers base die which means that you can cut windows in it, but …………..

“Creative Note: All Movers & Shapers Base Dies are designed to work with Movers & Shapers Magnetic Dies to cut a window within a shape. However, when Movers & Shapers Base Dies are used without Magnetic Dies, special Magnetic Ejection Foam is needed to eject the die-cut shape. One piece of Magnetic Ejection Foam works on all Movers & Shapers Dies, no matter the design.

This special Magnetic Ejection Foam is available from Sizzix free of charge to owners of Movers & Shapers Dies. To get yours, please contact customer service.

Anyway, I have made a considered purchase (with foam mat requested via Sizzix), but as the die is hard to find in UK at the moment, I got mine from US via e-bay, being very, very careful about shipping costs ….. OMG!!! Mine might take a few weeks to arrive, but I am in no hurry as it isn’t for me, it’s a present …. but I certainly did not pay more on the postage than the actual item!!!!!

And so to the Lindtt Teddies ……..

Having decided that I wanted to make a lot of matchbox tree decorations this year, for my box in the staffroom, I set about looking for any special offers available on the 10g bears that I need, the cheapest I could find were at Tesco with a 50g pack of 5 bears for £3 or two packs for £4 http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=270966394 – working out at 40p each (80p per matchbox), but I still wondered if I could whittle the cost down a little bit more………

…… and that’s when I stumbled upon the Lindtt website and found 100 x 10g bears for £33 (£3.95 P & P, which I avoided by adding a few snowmen to my order as well).  Now, it may look like I’ve gone stark staring mad….. that’s an awful lot to spend on chocolate bears, with my order they worked out at 33p each, but they are a quality item ….. and I am going to share a few with Marc. but, as there is always a very good “use by date” on chocolate, I am already thinking ahead, and what I don’t use for Christmas will come in very useful for Valentines Day, birthdays, fairing gifts at the start of a new school term and inside crackers on my festive table this year or as a dinner party place setting, so lots and lots of other possibilities to get my monies worth.

 http://www.lindt-shop.co.uk/lindt-mini-bear-10g.html

Stampin Up Christmas Decoration/Favour Box

Marc and I LOVE the idea of the Stampin Up matchbox die that my son paid stupid money for a couple of Christmases ago …… but to be honest, we have never perfected putting the inside tray together. When Marc and I were making them for a friends wedding earlier this year the air became quite blue and several ended up binned in our frustration!Then…..  the other night I decided to You Tube it …… why didn’t I just do that at the start of my/our frustrations? Sometimes I can be so stupid I don’t even believe it  myself????

But finally I can put the tray together without swearing and fiddling for far too long! I was so determined this time because I had set my heart on making hanging Christmas tree decorations to put mini Lindtt bears in. So ….. now  there will be no stopping me!

My first attempt at a finished box is admittedly very plain ….. but I think the ideas will flow as I plan to treat the outside panels (above) as very small Christmas cards using some/all of the many, small Christmas embellishments I have had for far too long. 

To make the hanger, I set an eyelet using my Crop-O-Dile in the top of the matchbox die and threading a red ribbon through it.

I also lined the tray with a scrap of card from the box sleeve ……

……. and two Lindtt bears fit perfectly in the box. Dead chuffed. As I said now I can finally put the bones together I can run with designs!

Shopping in HobbyCraft And Other Shops With The Duchess

I am trying to keep to a tight budget ….. but sometimes things just slip into my basket!

Like this tin for keeping an emergency stash of chocolate digestives in, bought for the computer boffin at work as a thank you for always sorting out all my computer glitches  with a smile and a laugh.  When he said that chocolate digestives were the best biscuit in the world, this tin was a no brainer (£2 from HobbyCraft) and I filled it up for him!

Two packs of 12 wooden hearts (HobbyCraft reduced from £3 to £2.25), perfect for covering with Nordic Christmas patterned paper, a lick of varnish and a bow … as a quick Christmas tree fairing.

Still in HobbyCraft …… but this didn’t fall into my basket, priced at £15, I am praying that they will be included in a 3 for 2 offer nearer Christmas, then I might just pounce!

Packs of stickers for £1 each, no immediate plans for them, but I feel a couple of tags or cards are in the making.

Halloween stickers are of a premium this year, especially for someone like me who uses a lot of them for tags and boxes.  Love the spiders, but not so keen on the pack of ghosts that came with them.

The pack of 120 paper chains for £1 to use as an edging to a tag or card or as a band round a Halloween box also seemed like money well spent. The Halloween party bags (20 for £2) will also be useful for a very quick bit of  spooky nonsense …. I plan to fill them with sweets and then add an big orange ribbon and tag, perhaps also featuring a skeleton or two to keep with the theme.

You can’t have enough wiggly eyes at this time of year either and for a pack of this size for just 79p it’s a no brainer …..  from Home Bargains.

And finally …….. they have milk chocolate and butterscotch Elizabeth Shaw mints crisps in B M Bargains, I was reserved, I only got this one box ….. but these are always a staple for my Halloween and Christmas crafts (£1.99)