Now the children have all gone to bed...

...well you didn't really think I'd miss the chance for a really scary one on Hallowe'en did you? Especially when there are two challenges asking for houses!! How could I resist a haunted house? Well, I couldn't Mwwwaaaahhhhaaaaahhhhaaaaaa *Maniacal laughter*

There are way too many pics, so why not pour yourself a glass while you're waiting for it to load... and if you are easily offended, please look away now and come back another day ;-)

"Haunted house"

[House cut from Tim Holtz' grungy cardstock. Well whose else could it be?]

"Blood"



[The "blood" is really a deep red gritty embossing powder with lots of splatters!]

"Shingle roof"

[Small pieces of cardstock stuck on as individual shingles.]

"Ghosts"

[Characters from the "Lost and Found" paper pack are peeping out from the windows.]

"First corner view"

We're moving around the corner a little here... what's that in the doorway??

"Foot"

Aaarrgghhh - a Graphics Fairy severed foot!!

"End of house"

Eeeewww, a severed hand on the doorknob and another reaching into the window!

"Severed hand"

Oh no, that one seems to be grasping a smaller hand on the inside of the house!

"Through the keyhole"

We look through the doorway, but it's too dark to make out the inside properly [the inside of the walls are decorated with more Tim Holtz people and perspectives from the Graphics Fairy, but they won't come out with the camera - boo hoo!]. Let's move on...

"Second corner view"

Oh no, it's getting worse...

"Side view"

...is that a gggggrrrraveyard??? *shakes with fear*

"Pet Semetary - R.I.P Spot""

No worse, it's a "Pet Sematary" aaaarrrrgggghhhhhh

[aside: I love horror novels. "Pet Sematary" by Stephen King is the only horror story I've ever read that scared me! - and yes, it's supposed to be spelt like that :)]

"Spiders"

Noooo, spiders... [drawn]

"Ants"

...and ants!  [stamped]

"Hands on the roof"

Those hands are trying to get into the house by prising the shingles loose - looks like it's working.

"Eye eye"

Yuck, there's a disembodied eye peeping out from behind that window, and blood running down the frame from the hands on the roof.

"Hand behind gravestone"

Another hand appears to be clawing it's way out of the grave.

[The "mud" around and on the gravestones is actually lots of brown embossing powder. Overheating it leads to a grey colour which looks great on the front of the gravestones]

"Third corner view"

For the first time, we get a glimpse of the word written in blood on the last wall.

"Help..."

Well, I guess that's all the guy managed to write before he was stuffed upside down into the chimney...

"Feet in the chimney"

...at least, I think it's a guy. Not so easy to tell just looking at the feet.

Entered for the following challenges:

Haunted Design House

Merry Hallowe'en from the lucky black cat

After all those intricate Hallowe'en cards I've shared with you over the month, I thought I'd finish up with a simple one.

"Hissssss"

I love this image & frame from the Graphics Fairy. It didn't need much to turn it into a card. Just an extra frame lifted with foam tape, some orange glitter on the moon, and the cat's eyes coloured green and covered in glossy accents. So here's a "Merry Hallowe'en" to you all!

Hallowe'en shaker card

I'm so pleased today - woke up to find out I won the Samuel Taylor's challenge with this Hallowe'en card! The prize is a Tim Holtz configurations box and I've been wanting one for ages, but couldn't afford it, so I can't wait for it to arrive now :)

To celebrate, I thought I'd post another Hallowe'en card.

"Merry Hallowe'en"

During the Victorian era, cards were often sent with the message "Merry Hallowe'en". At some later point, Hallowe'en cards dropped out of fashion and the "Merry" started to appear on Christmas cards instead.

This card image is from the Graphics Fairy. I cut out an extra pumpkin head & frame and glittered in behind the pumpkin face to make the eyes & mouth glow, then added acetate and foam tape to the second frame and Hallowe'en-coloured sequins in behind for shaking before trimming to size and fixing to the front of a card blank.

"Merry Hallowe'en" from Mr. Pumpkin Man!

Entered for the following challenges:
Crafty Cardmakers
Crafty Boots
Haunted Design House
The Shabby Tea Room
There She Goes
Creative Inspirations Paint
The Crafty Pad Designs
Basic Grey Challenges

Hallowe'en in Wonderland

Of the gorgeous things I bought at the Belfast Craft Show last week, the Graphic45 papers inspired me first. I started playing with them as soon as I got home, and came up with this card for this month's Altered Alice Challenge which celebrates the Mad Hatter's birthday in the US (6th October in America and 10th June here, after the 10/6 in his hat!). In the book, the Mad Hatter sings "Twinkle, twinkle little bat..."

"Hallowe'en in Wonderland"

This was also the first card I made with my new Hougie board; the folds for the stepper card were a breeze! I used small pieces of black velvet ribbon tied into the top of each of the Graphic45 tags to look like bats, and the main image is a digitally altered Graphics Fairy image coloured with promarkers to match the tags. The bats were also downloaded from the Graphics Fairy. A couple of bats were adhered to thin strips of acetate and the acetate fixed to the card so the bats can fly.

Also entered for the following challenge:
Crafty Boots

And check out this mega candy

Owls and witches and black cats

Sometimes I think I'm turning into a one-woman advert for the Graphics Fairy, but her images are so good and she's so generous letting us use them for free. This Hallowe'en card features more of her images

"Hallowe'en card front"



It's hard to see in the photograph, but the main image is decoupaged and highlighted with glitter, especially the witch's eyes and the pumpkin cut-outs. That's a very large, fat owl there. Guess he must have eaten a lot of mice! Now where is that black cat...?

"Hallowe'en card inside showing pop-up black cat"

He pops-up out of nowhere - this card uses the Sizzix twister pop-up die for the mechanism, so as the card is opened, the cat twists round to face you. Some of my precious Tim Holtz' Lost and Found paper stash was used for the lettering - the grungy look goes quite well with the feel of the card. The cat's eyes were highlighted in promarker and then covered in glossy accents. He looks just like our little Lucky :)

The Bat Cave

Alizabethy left a comment on my Horrible Hallowe'en card that gave me the inspiration for this card. She called it a "bat cave" and I thought, "that gives me an idea..." :)

"The Bat Cave - front of card"

The front of the card features a free Graphics Fairy image with some orange glitter on the moon for extra sparkle, and a little purple glitter around the edges of the silhouette to help it stand out from the background (pearlescent black card).  The lettering uses the Vintage Market Sizzix alphabet strip, with my usual two sets of letters cut (this time in silver and orange) to add dimension.

Enter if you dare...

"The Bat Cave"

This card has the concertina-type tunnel card construction with apertures cut using Spellbinders label dies and liberal sprinklings of Graphics Fairy bats of all shapes and sizes, including two bat ladies!

"The Bat Cave - top of card showing construction"

Sleep well :)

Entered for the following challenges:
Clear it Out
Everybody Art
Scrap Creations
My Time to Craft
Shopping Our Stash
Craft Spot By Kimberly
Stamps & Fun = Creativity
Victorine Stamps

Not too scary - another Hallowe'en tunnel card

Just a quickie this evening. I made this "not too scary" Hallowe'en card for my m-i-l. The cat looks so like our little one, I just love it! The image is from the Graphics Fairy, and the other embellishments are from a pack of stickers I bought in a Supermarket last year. mil wants me to add a nose :)

"Not too scary Hallowe'en tunnel card"



Sleep well and I'll upload a scary one tomorrow :)