Cathies Sweet Spot: October 2011

I bought both this white pumpkin & owl @ Michaels after Thanksgiving a couple years back & just love them. I use them to decorate for Thankgiving & Halloween. Just change the surrounding a bit for each Holiday. Love the big eyes on the owl & the simplicity of the white. Nice change from orange. It's an unusual pumpkin too not seen it sold there since either. It has a realistic stem with vine & leaves attached.

Here's a close up of the pumpkin itself:

The pumpkin, stem & leaf have a dusting of shimmer & just a hint of glow in the dark paint in the ribs of the pumpkin. You can see some of my sewing handiwork in this photo too! The runner is quilted with harvest vegetables on one side @ the ends there is a graduating watercolor pieced farm scene. On the reverse side is a Halloween scene in a watercolor quilt effect with Haunted Neighbourhood full of Trick or Treaters & ghouls of all kinds. I like how the runner does double duty for the fall holidays. It's trimmed around the edges with black bias tape for a clean bold look. It has to be one of my favorite pieces that I ever made.

PS if you click on the bottom pic to enlarge it you can see that I was stamping on my table. LOL There is a very noticable imprint of black ink just to the side of the runner. Oops! It did come out eventually. Can't say the same for a watermark left by leaving a real pumpkin on the table overnight without something underneath it to protect the table. That mark never came out. So I have a permanent reminder of Halloween past. : )

Cathies' Easy Peasy Handmade Bra Embellishment

Here is an easy peasy way to make a bra to embellish a handmade card or scrapbook page. You need very little materials & tools so you'll probably be able to make one with your supplies right now.

I chose to use sparkly pink paper for my embellishment I made for this post in support of the GIRLS
& BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH. You can choose whatever paper you want - plain, patterened, embossed, sparkly, whatever. You can also use a different paper for the straps if you want.
I chose to use one piece of paper to show how simple you can do this with only one piece of paper.

MATERIALS:

Cardstock of your choice
1" circle punch
Scissors
foam tape, squares or dots
glue/pen

The picture below shows the steps I took to get to the results which I think is pretty in pink! Try it!

Just click on the picture to enlarge or save to your files.

PERSONAL USE ONLY

designed & copyright Cathie

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH - NOVELTY CRAFT PROJECT

OCTOBER IS BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

I am participating in an international

friendship scrap book pages swap.

I seen these PINK TIC TACS

supporting breast cancer awareness with proceeds to the cause

and had to buy them for a little project to share with my partner

& share the instructions with you so you can make one too.

This project is easy peasy & uses very little supplies & tools,

so most of you should be able to make one.

The hard part might be trying to find the Tic Tacs.

There's only one shop around here that I have seen selling them.

If you don't get your hands on a pack you can always find other colors & flavors.

Keep in mind this is the larger Tic Tac box that comes out for special reasons.

You would have to reduce the size of your projects papers if you are using the regular size Tic Tacs.

I have made these before myself with the regular size - maybe you have too.

I wanted to share the technique I used to get my result on the construction/embellishment.

Oh & the PINK TIC TACS for the CAUSE!

I appologize for the pics not being clear. It's a very rainy day here with bad lighting.

MATERIAL REQUIRED FOR THIS PROJECT:

1" CIRCLE PUNCH ( IF YOU DON'T HAVE A 1" CIRCLE PUNCH TRACE SOMETHING ABOUT 1" ROUND & - PIERCE OR PUNCH WITH REGULAR HOLE PUNCH WHICH MOST PEOPLE ALREADY OWN, THEN FUSSY CUT THE CIRCLE WITH SCISSORS)
1 STRIP OF PATTERNED CARD STOCK TRIMMED TO 3 1/2" X 5 7/8" (USE PLAIN IF YOU PREFER TO STAMP SOME IMAGES ON YOUR PAPER)
SCORE BOARD & SCORE TOOL
PAPER TRIMMER (IF YOU DON'T HAVE ONE JUST SCISSOR CUT TO DIMENSIONS)
12" PIECE OF RIBBON
BIT OF DOUBLE SIDED TAPE
RHINESTONE FOR BLING (OPTIONAL)
CORNER ROUNDING PUNCH (OPTIONAL)
GLUE/PEN (FOR TRIM ON HAT)
GLUE DOT FOR HAT BASE (USE GLUE IF YOU DON'T HAVE DOTS)

INSTRUCTIONS:

First Cut your strip of patterned paper to 3 1/2" x 5 7/8". Then place the paper horizontal across the top of the score board- pattern side up. Score @ 2 1/2"and 3 3/8". Fold on the score lines & use your tool to press firmly on the score line. This gives you a little book shape. I rounded the corners, but you don't have to - it's optional.

Here's the start of the snow lady.

Punch a 1" hole near the bottom right of the paper- the right side of score lines. Save the patterned circle you just punched.

If it is white on the reverse side you can use it to make the face of the snow lady.

Just use the punch to snip off a a bit to fit the curve of the hole you cut out of the patterned paper. Glue down. I chose to use a scrap of white to make the face. I used the punched pattern piece that was punched out of the patterned paper to turn into the snow ladies hat. I just snipped off a bit as in the step for making the head of the snow lady. To fit the curve of the top of the head. Then another just above that by about 1/4". This made a kind of barette style hat or fastenator if you will.

I also used the little snippets that were created when cutting the circles down for the curves. This makes a little detail glued onto the hat.

I finished the hat off with a pink rhinestone of course keeping with the theme. I simply hand colored her facial features on with gel pens. Anyone can do that. Trust me. You could use googlie eyes if you want. I just kept things simple to show you what you can do with as little supplies or tools as possible.

Cute!

To finish the project I put a small piece of double sided tape at the center of spine inside book-like cover, as well as on opposite sides halfway down near the edge. This is for the ribbon. Attach the ribbon leaving even on either side. This is to tie closed into bow. Use more double sided tape to secure your TIC TACS in place.

Here's another version that's even easier. Just Punch out a shape on the front. I chose a folk heart.

I put a glue dot on two seperate 6" pieces of ribbon here & stuck them to the inside edge for tying it into a bow to close.

You'll have a S W E E T little niftie-giftie for someone special. I used Pinks in my patterned papers because I was doing this project with the PINK RIBBON campaign in mind. You can do one in any color of your choice. Remember this was done with the larger Tic Tacs too. Adjust to the ones you purchase.

Enjoy!

THINK PINK!

Paper Pumpkin & CHALLENGE

I made this adorable pumpkin a couple of years ago after seeing one on another site. You may have previously made these as Christmas ornaments as I have, which is basically the same idea. I altered the instructions slightly to suit the materials I had on hand. This plump little pumpkin was the result.

Materials:
Although I chose a piece of pumpkin colored cardstock for the pumpkin & brown cardstock for the stem, you can choose whatever color you want - be CREATIVE!

Instructions:
A piece of scrapbook paper -
8” 1/2 x 11” or 12” x 12” size doesn't matter
scrap piece of brown scrapbook paper about 1” x 1”and ½
1” piece of double sided tape
rotary cutter/scissors
12” piece of thin green jute/hemp-like twine
blunt needle – the eye of the needle has to be big enough for the twine to pass through doubled.
hole punch with small hole
Decorative bits: Small piece of ribbon and decorative trim – I used a leafy bit of ribbon
stamp – I used a foam stamp with a vine & leaf design U can use acrylic, rubber or foam stamp etc. doesn't matter, it's to your liking.
Ink pad – again your discretion.

1.Stamp image all over paper, let dry.
2.Cut paper down to 6 x 12” or 6 x 11” depending on size paper you started with.
3.Cut paper into 1/2” x 6” strips.
4.Punch hole on both ends of strips.
5.Fold piece of jute string in half tie a knot, and draw folded end (*Not the Knot end) through the eye of the needle.
6.String all strips through hole at one end.
7.Then thread through all holes at the opposite end while twine is still attatched to needle.
8.Pull slightly so strips come together a bit like a crescent moon; you're giving the pumpkin its beginning shape here.
9.Tie off in a knot.
10.Place double sided tape along edge of brown paper scrap.
11.Roll starting from edge with no tape to opposite edge with tape to create a stem, stick edges together with tape on edge.
12.Thread twine through stem.
13.Add decorative bit to base of stem.
14.Separate each strip of paper a slight bit as you go around you'll create a pumpkin shape. When circle is complete you can squish down on it a bit to give even more shape to your pumpkin.
15.Add ribbon tied bow.

You're done! Now that you've made one, bet you'll make more. Too cute !

You will all get a unique result as each of you will be using your own
stamps, ink and papers choices.
So now let's see what you can come up with.
Post pics and link back to me so we can all see them,
and I will post a picture of a pumpkin patch using them.
Make one for your Fall - Halloween - Thanksgiving décor
If you're my fave I'll send you a sweet TREAT – no TRICK!

Looking forward to seeing yours! :)

LEAVE A LINK TO YOUR PUMPKIN!

PS
This is the perfect size for decorating a Harvest or Halloween Buffet, even put one on each persons place setting & give them away as small gifts to each person @ a dinner party! Make them in any color, use patterned paper instead of stamped, add bling etc. This is an easy & affordable decor to make!

My Own HALLOWEEN BINGO CARD Clip Art

I created this Halloween Bingo Card Clip Art for use in Cards, Tags, Altered Art etc. I started with the vintage photograph then searched far & wide for the perfect Witches hat to sport on both the doll & the little girl. I worked this out in many layers to achieve this look. Added the primitive style hand penned star highlighting the number 31 for Halloween. I like how this one turned out. Who can resist these Sweet Wee Little Witches wearing their sweet little party dresses!

designed & copyright by cathies pARTies 2011

A GOOD HAUL - YARD SALE FIND!

This is a

GOOD HAUL

I got from a yard sale just a few weeks back in the summer

when yard sales were in full swing around here.

This was my lucky day!

The following pics are a haul from just one yard sale.

You read that right!

I was blown away -

I got all this great stuff for - are you ready?

$2.25

Can you believe that? It's true. There was so much stuff, it took me about an hour to scan it all into my files so I could share this with you. It took all morning to blog about it too! I just wanted to let all you crafter's out there to not forget about yard sales as a great source for your creativity! If you have yard/garage sales in your neighbourhood - check them out. You never know when it's going to be your lucky day! I'm going to be sharing much of this stuff with swap partners. I'll keep the items I'm most likely to use and pass on the rest. So if your one of my swap partners watch for some of this stuff coming your way.

The show/story starts here:

I struck a gold mine of creative goodies at a yard sale when I came across a box, or I should say my DEAR HUBBY came across a box of what he calls CRAFTY STUFF at a yard sale. Before we went yard saling that day I told him what to look out for today on my behalf. We help each other out that way. He spotted the box, asked the lady to hold it aside because he was going to get his wife to come take a look at the contents in the box. He came to me & said "I found something you'll want to take a look at". Maybe not in those exact words, but they meant the same thing, no matter what words he strung together. So I go to see what he might have found for me. WOW...I was blown away by a box full of BEADED TRIM, LACE, TASSEL & TRIM, FABRIC YARDAGE, PATTERNS, ETC. I inquired about the price of the entire contents of the box. $2.00 was their asking price. Who could argue with that.

SOLD!

But the story doesn't end there. At the same yard sale I spotted a Chess/Checker board & game pieces. "How much for the Game board & pieces"? .25 cents Can't argue with that!

SOLD!

At the same yard sale they also had a sewing basket with bits & bobs. I was really interested in the gold wire & filament thread I spotted in there. "Oh just take it!" was there response to my inquiry. So now I was going home with a cute little vintage sewing basket too!

Well after paying a whopping $2.25 for total of purchase at this one yard sale, hubby & I started for the car with both our arms full of my goodies. On our way there was a FREE STUFF pile at the same yard sale. I couldn't help myself, I had to pick up the free bottles we spotted we could use for a HALLOWEEN project.
MY OWN HALLOWEEN CLIP ART LABELS. Plus we took a darling little vinaigrette bottle from the pile for some homemade dressings or vinaigrette's. There was so much stuff in this haul I'm just showing you some of the contents as it related to the creative goodies. Some I've already used too so it didn't even make it into the pics.