November Virtual Crop Class by Ann

Afternoon my lovelies. 

Virtual crop day for November comes to you with a spooky pair of pages from me so hopefully you have some suitable photos - if not, pop on a daft mask like I did with some friends!

I am sure you will have a great fun with these graphic style pages, the instructions for which can be found here.

Come back at 2pm for our third and final virtual crop class today.

Time to Flourish - Spooky Style!

Ok So I know it is September and not October but if you wanted to get a head start on preparing for the spooky season keep reading!

Mel & Jill sent me Graphic 45 Time to Flourish papers for the September design team gallery. Those of you who know me are well aware I struggle with G45 but I have had a whale of a time playing with them creating no less than 4 layouts and a mini altered altoid tin!

This uses the October Flourish paper and the October Cut apart (click on the names for hyperlinks that take you straight to the store for these).

There are so many great elements that can be cut from the papers, perfect for little projects such as this tin which now sits on my scrapping display shelves. Spooky mist effects were added by tearing up a cotton wool ball (although my kids suggested I not clean for a while and use real cobwebs!!)

I cut apart an old cheap plastic necklace from the 99p store for the little skull and bones that I have used on it. Inside the tin I made two cardboards bridges which stuck to either side of the tin and to which the elements could be stuck both on the back and the front given the impression of more layers than there are. 

And the back of the bird was patterned so I inked it black before using so it would stand out if turned around.

I also make this layout from the papers adding a sheet of black card and a photo from the spooky photo booth we had at the Autumn retreat last year.

More Graphic 45 projects will be shared by the design team as the month progresses so look out for more inspiration coming your way soon.

Welcome to Spooktacular October

Boo! Hello October... you sure creeped up on us!
It has been a while since I have done a blog post for ATDML - crazy work schedule to balance with home life and an injured left hand that has been in a cast for the last 7 weeks has meant very little crafty time for me.  Nevertheless the ATDML design team pizza box arrived on my doorstep (before hand injury I may add) and it contained some spooky Graphic 45 papers including this one from the Steampunk Spells collection.

With Halloween falling in half term this year my children had asked if we could have a spooky party with a few of their friends so I started looking for decoration ideas. A quick trip to our nearby 99p store had me armed with a halloween toot including a plastic skeleton just the right size to fit Mr Seymour Bones head from the paper above.

I had a wooden plaque from my last visit to the Ally Pally Stamp & Scrapbooking show that I knew would work for my spooky sign. Time to dig out the paints and crackle accents, add a few sharpie drawn webs and a handle from the bones necklace the plastic skeleton was hanging from originally and voila - a spooky sign for our front door inside the porch which will feature cobwebs and of course a pumpkin or two!

I love the teal and orange combined in this paper collection and hope you feel inspired to create something spooky this month!

Ann x

Paper Pumpkins

I am always in awe when I see paper engineered products appearing on the internet, made from the products you and I use for layouts, cards and maybe the occasional mini book. With Halloween just round the corner I  almost burst with excitement when I saw these cute paper pumpkins made from simple strips of patterned paper, perfect to adorn your table at the spookiest time of year. I decided to follow the instructions and have a go at making some myself using the MLS Farmers Market papers.

They are so easy to make too. 

• Start by cutting 10 strips of patterned paper 1" x 6". 
• Punch a small hole at the top and bottom of each piece.
• Then take two brads and wrap some string thread or wire around them so they are 4" apart.
• Then thread the top of your pieces onto one of the brads and affix, then thread the bottom of each strip on the other brad and affix. You will be bending your paper strips to enable the brad to reach the second set of holes.
• Then the slightly fiddly part where you fan each piece of paper round to make your pumpkin. You can fiddle and fix as you like manoeuvring the paper into the correct shape
• Add a rolled strip of brown card for a stalk (adhered with a glue dot or heat gun), a couple of leaves and some curled paper swirls to complete. 

You can always run your strips through an embossing plate first for some embossed texture to your pumpkin and of course add a scary face too if you like! Vary the width and length of your strips to make your pumpkins different sizes. You will need more strips the longer and narrower you make them. Enjoy!

Tis The Season To Be Spooky...

I have to admit that Hallowe'en is not a festival we make a lot of fuss over in our house but this year we have got into it a little more as my Dad picked up an entry form and a seed (or was it a small plant) from a garden centre a while back to enter a "Grow A Giant Pumpkin" contest.

He and Isabelle have spent ages tending to it and it reached a fair size before we took it to the garden centre yesterday to enter the competition. Here is Izzy in the garden hugging her pumpkin on Saturday morning....

And Lo and behold she came in with first prize today.... one very happy little girl with a lovely orange rosette!

So of course I will need to do a layout for that and there really was only one option - I absolutely LOVE the flocked kraft Hallowe'en line "Haunted" by My Minds Eye. Now we have this line in collection packs, and knowing that my Hallowe'en layouts will be limited to one I needed a good use for the rest of the pack so I set about making a mini book which, when finished, will be decorated and ready for someone to fill with their own Hallowe'en photos and journaling.

With the retreat only a week away this also solves my "what can I put in the raffle?" dilemna. Every retreat we run a charity raffle in aid of Cancer Research UK and delegates bring items, handmade and bought, for the raffle. We donate various scrapbook related prizes as well but the handmade items always go down well and my Hallowe'en book will go into the raffle. Hopefully someone with some spooky photos will make good use of it. In the meantime here is a photo of the front cover.

If you like the look of this paper line which features gorgeous flocked designs (there is a witch destined for one of the inside pages, a chandelier on the back and flocked spiders galore then take a look HERE on our site to see this collection pack.