Friday, October 30, 2020

Dracula Carry-out Box


(Please note - If you are reading this post in an email some of the text may not display properly. Please click here to see this post on my blog.)

I usually send my grandchildren Halloween cards but since I feel there is generally plenty of candy floating around I don't usually do candy. This year due to the pandemic restrictions I decided to send treat boxes containing candy. Many years ago I purchased some carry out boxes to use for gift packaging. I decided to use those and decorate them for Halloween. I really struggled with how to decorate them. I came up with a few ideas that I was not excited about but thought they would be OK. I had started to make the various pieces but had not glued anything to the boxes when I checked out Mary Fish's Wow Picks on the Sunday before last (October 18) and stumbled upon the perfect solution! Here is what I created.






I love punch art and there are lots of ideas online for using punches in ways you never dreamed of! For this project I CASED a design from fellow Stampin' Pretty Pal Kat Chancellor who in turn had gotten the idea from Graciela Valdez Vera a Stampin' Up! demonstrator in Mexico! Each of us made our Draculas a little different depending on what we had on hand. They both did videos that you can watch. Just click on their names. 

I will list some of the items I used but if you want to make one just look in your punches and see what you have on hand. This is how I made mine.

My box was shorter than a standard 4.25"X5.5" card so my Dracula needed to be shorter. That meant the Stampin' Up! Apple punch that they used would not work. For the head I just drew a similar shape on white cardstock, cut is out and used that for a template for the head. I used a 1 3/8" circle for the hair because that size worked best with my head and then ends from the classic label punch for the ears. I drew in the eyebrows and mouth. For the eyes I punched out red circles with a hole punch and used the retired Iridescent Pearls for the centers. You can't really tell in the picture but I used a black gel pen for his hair part (my chalk pen which they used is very old and it was not working). For the fangs I used the very tip of the retired Stampin' Up! Tree punch but next time I would free hand them and make them skinnier. Then I went over the fangs with Wink of Stella so they would stand out from his face. I used the retired owl punch for his vest and made the bow tie using two pieces from the tip of the Tree punch used earlier. Since the pieces were made from glimmer paper I adhered them together with glue dots. A hole punch created the knot which covered the seams of the bow tie which was again adhered with a glue dot. 

I used the owl punch to create the vest and added tiny black glimmer paper buttons. The pants were made with the same Tree punch but any narrow triangle would work. I drew a line down the center with the black gel pen to create the two halves of the pants. The shoes were made with the small feet from the retired elephant punch but a half circle would also work. 

I made the cape with the retired Oval Collection dies but you could also use the Stitched Shapes oval dies. I first gave the cardstock texture using the Tasteful Texture 3D embossing folder and then cut three ovals for each cape and cut them to the right length across the short axis. I then cut staggered sized ovals out of two of the three shapes to create the look of pleats in his cape. For his collar I used the wings of the large bats from the Halloween Magic dies. This is a great die set! In addition to two sizes of bats there are two really wonderful frames dies that can be used year around and a large spider that I put on the box lid. I attached the Dracula to the box with a Wobble. I purchased a pack of these years ago and still had some left. They are fun to have on hand. Here they are on Amazon. I am sorry I didn't think to record of video of the wobbling Draculas in action before I mailed them. 

I decorated the boxes with small bats and a spider from the retired Wicked die set and added the sentiment using an old wood mount stamp I purchased many years ago.   

Here are the three different colors of Draculas that I made. Look at your punches and see what can you come up with!





Hope these have made you smile and that you enjoy your Halloween. 🎃

comments and would love to hear what you think.

Katie



Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Inking Royalty October Blog Hop



Welcome to InKing Royalty's October Blog Hop! During this year's blog hops, we are enjoying a year of celebrations. This month's projects celebrate Thanksgiving, so prepare yourself for Autumn landscapes, warm colors and sweet reminders of all the reasons we have to be grateful this time of year. We are excited to share our creations with you today! After you read my post, I hope you'll hop over to the next person on the list at the base of this post.


Last fall I went to a Stampin' Up! event in Huntsville Alabama and received a swap card from Joy Hall a fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator. The card consisted of two individual pieces, one fitting inside the the other like a card in an envelope. I thought it was a really neat design and decided that I would make a similar one sometime for my monthly card class. During the pandemic my class has been meeting on Zoom and making cards with the materials they pick up from my porch. As a result we don't use any Stampin' Up! stamps. Instead we do lots of interesting things with Designer Series Paper and dies. This month i decided to make Joy's card using my favorite new paper from the current mini catalog, Gilded Autumn Speciality Designer Series Paper. That paper was so loved by everyone it is currently out of stock but the good news is it will return - probably at the end of November so check back. Here is my card. 




This is the card with the inside piece pulled out.

During this pandemic I have been sending thank you type cards to just regular people trying to do their jobs in these difficult times. That is where this card will go. 

With some trial and error I developed the template below to use to make the envelope piece. To make the card start with a piece of Designer Series Paper that is 11 1/8" long by 4" wide. This measurement produced a completed piece that will fit easily into a mailing envelope without having too much play. Score it at 2 7/8" from each end and then cut a triangular piece off the top corner of each end as shown.




Then fold along the score lines. You will see that the two side pieces overlap each other about 3/8. If you use a pattern paper it is unlikely that your pattern will match at the center seam so experiment with the fold of your paper having each side on top to see which way looks the best. A busy pattern will make the seam less noticeable. Once this is done add Tear & Tape adhesive all along the very bottom edge of the center of the paper. Then add Tear & Tape along the side edge of the paper that you decided looks best on top. Remove the paper backing from the Tear & Tape and fold, lining up the bottom edges.  Burnish along the adhesive lines.

For my card I did use the So Grateful sentiment from the Ornate Thanks photopolymer stamp set and masked off the "So" and only inked up the Grateful. I love the large bold images in this set plus all the wonderful smaller phrases that can be used individually or along with the larger ones.   
 
Stamp your sentiment on a piece of Very Vanilla and cut with the die shown from the Hippo & Friends die set. I used the middle size die. Then cut a piece of Early Espresso cardstock with the largest matching die from the set. I totally overlooked these dies until one day I saw a card made using the exact dies I used on this card. After checking the catalog and seeing all the great dies in the set I immediately added it to my order. I encourage you to check it out!

For the inside I cut a piece of Very Vanilla 3 7/8"X5 1/8" and adhered a 1/2" strip of the DSP that was left over from the "envelope" along the side. I put the reverse side up. 

I decided it needed a little something more. I looked at all my leaf dies and nothing caught my eye so I decided to check out some of my past Paper Pumpkin kits and discovered some perfect leaves in the September 2017 Layered Leaves kit. That is the wonderful thing about Paper Pumpkin kits. There are always lots of pieces left over which can be added to projects later. It is a great way to add to your supplies. 

Thank you for stopping by today.  I hope you'll hop along to the next stop on the blog hop, Jackie Beers at Blue Line Stamping. There's lots of inspiration to be found in this group - and you don't want to miss it!

I comments and would love to hear what you think!! 

Katie

Thank you for hopping along with us. If you get stuck during the Blog Hop, please use this line-up as a guide:
  1. Brian King at Stamp with Brian
  2. Renae Novak at Blessed by Cards
  3. Pam Morris at Tap Tap Stamp
  4. Lynn Kolcun at Avery's Owlery
  5. Joanne Brown at The Inky Dragon
  6. Linda Krueger at The Stamp Coach
  7. Sheryl Sharp at Sharp Notes by Sheryl
  8. Rachel Brumley at Artistic Designs by Rachel
  9. Ann Murray at Murray Stamps Ink
  10. Sue Jackson at Just Peachy Stamping
  11. Katie Ferguson at Cottage Paper ← You Are Here
  12. Jackie Beers at Blue Line Stamping
  13. Candy Ford at Stamp Candy
  14. Julie DiMatteo at The Paper Pixie