Be scared!

Halloween Card by Els Brigé

Witch by Jaine Drake

Layout by Jill Hildebrand

Layout by Jill Hildebrand

Card by Jill Hildebrand

Card by Agata Pfister

Layout by Jolene Johnston

Trick or Treat!

Love,

I stamped the skull image from this set using Ranger Archival ink in Jet Black on white cardstock. I glued it to a Tim Holtz glass Fragment using Glossy Accents and added a jewelry bail to the back. I tied the pendant to a black satin cord with a few distressed white beads. My son proudly declared that they reminded him of bones!

At first I wasn’t sure who was going to get the necklace, so I whipped up a quick tag to go with it using the same skull image and letters from Lots of Dots.

My youngest son, Matthew, is our rocker, so this necklace didn’t stand a chance! Once he saw the skull he sheepishly asked if he could have the necklace. Of course this crafty mom agreed! Matthew’s review of this project was, “Way cool, Mom!” I’ll take that any day! Here’s a quick look at two other stamped, beaded Halloween necklaces I made last year.

As you can probably tell, I love stamping to create jewelry. These stamps work so well with the glass fragments that it’s super easy to make your own custom pendants. Give it a try!

myStampBOX Bottlecaps, Boo!, and Lots of Dots; Tim Holtz Glass Fragments; Ranger Archival Ink; Ranger Stickles; Paper Reflections cardstock; Ranger Glossy Accents; My Mind’s Eye paper; Tim Holtz Distress Inks; Karen Foster Design paper; assorted beads and fibers.

Now that Halloween is over it might be nice to jump right into those layouts needing to be done with you kiddos pics.  Here is and easy and fun sketch to get you going.

How about trying this one…

How about checking out some close ups using the stamps.  I love these Boo stamps soooo much.  I can’t stop using them.  Anything Halloween just gets me everytime.

And the line stamps from the Just Add Notes set is perfect for journaling lines…I use it all the time.  I even added some lightly stamped cobwebs to add something extra.  And don’t forget your date stamp…not that we all don’t know when Halloween is…lol.

And one last peak at the title of this layout.  I uesd the stars from the Deck the Halls set to add to my chaulkboard chipboard nubers…just perfect!

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you find these sketches useful and give them a try.  Link us to what you come up with…all of us at MSB would love to see your work.

Now we would love to share some of our DT’s unpublished highlights from October with you:

by Agata Pfister

by Jolene Johnston

by Cari Locken

by Eva Pizarro

by Allison Cope

by Jaine Drake

by Maryfrances Fabbri

by Melissa Wright

We hope you enjoyed the show! Have a spooky Halloween!

Happy Stamping,

Love,

Hi, Kristen here with my first myStampBOX post! today since it’s so close to Halloween, I wanted to share a nice gift set with you.  I used the BOO! stamp set to create this treat container, and made a matching card to gift alongside it. I thought this would be a nice set for a teacher, or coworker, or neighbor, or for your kids if they are too old to go trick or treating!

First, the box is simply a recycled packaging I had that once held an adhesive gun ( American Crafts).  I took out the gun and the paper packaging, and had a simple plain box, which I then filled with Hershey’s  Kisses wrapped in autumn colors. At the top of the container, I have a knotted ribbon, along with twine that holds on one of the stamped circles. I simply stamped with a black ink, and then punched out a circle around it, then I added it to a dark orange cardstock- ( all cardstock is with Cordinations cardstock), I took some zigzag scissors and trimmed around the circle.

Then I used the plain circle in the set, and lightly inked the stamp- you could also completely ink the stamp, stamp off on a scrap of paper, then stamp onto the yellow cardstock to get the distressed look I achieved.  I wrapped the cardstock around only the front of the box, then added a scallop punched strip of purple. and a thin strip of green.  I stamped the Boo circle, punched that out, added it to the dark orange and trimmed with scissors as well. I also added that circle to foam tape, crumpled and ruffled a strip of cardstock, then made it into a circle, which I inked with the same black ink. I then added the white paint dots to my treat box, along with some sticker letters with the word Treats.

Finally I created this card, using the same basic ingredients, stamping the solid circle to look distressed, and then stamping the Happy Halloween and pumpkin face to the orange cardstock, punched them out and inked the edges. I foam taped them, stuck them to my card and then added these fun wiggle eyes  to the card as well.

thanks for looking at my Halloween gift set!

The backgrounds of the tags are created with ink applied and smooshed around with a wet wipe. A burned edge is made up of layering different colours over a torn edge. I started with a mustard colour, then added light brown and then black to create the burnt effect.

Hope this inspires you to create some scary tags for your family and friends,

Happy stamping!

I put together a couple of Halloween goodie bags.  Now I’m all about the heartfelt and handcrafted, but I’m also all about the quick and easy as well   So I took a black lunch bag, mixed and matched some stickers, die cuts, bingo cards and pom-pom trims.  And then for the grand finale:  my sentiment! I love these round sentiments from Boo! Are they not the ca-utest stamps you ever did see?  I picked up these colored bottle caps a while back and they have literally been sitting on my craft table just waiting for that perfect occasion and I found it!  StaZon ink meet myStampBOX and myStampBox meet bottle cap *giggles*

Spider Necklace

Materials: Stamps: MyStamp BOX stamps (Boo! set); Cardstock; Ink: VersaFine, Ranger Distress; Gems: Reflections; Hardware: bottle cap, star charm, jump rings, ball chain; Other: googlie eyes, Stickles; Tools: circle punch, hammer and ice pick (to make holes in bottle cap for jump rings)

Directions:

1. On a block of wood, lay down your bottle top (interior side down, flat side facing you) and carefully place ice pick between crimps. When secure, hammer ice pick (one good blow should do it). Repeat directly across from your first hole.

2. Thread a jump ring through a charm, and then thread it through the hole in the bottle cap. Thread the second jump ring through the other hole (this is the top of your pendant).

3. Stamp web image with Ranger Distress ink (Honey), then stamp spider image on top of stamped web with VersaFIne black ink.

4. Circle punch your stamped image and use a drop of glue to adhere it to the bottle cap interior.

5. Adhere googly eyes and gems with Diamond Glaze.

6. Apply Stickles around the inside “walls” of the bottle cap.

7. When completely dry, thread a ball chain through the top jump ring and enjoy wearing!

Halloween Clock

Materials: Stamps: MyStamp BOX stamps (Boo! set); Patterned Paper: Basic Grey, Graphic 45, Mary Engelbreit; Cardstock; Ink: VersaFine; Other: Cosmo Cricket chipboard stickers, Stickles, googlie eyes; Hardware: 12″ x 12″ square, battery-operated clock; Tools: circle punches

Directions:

1 Stamp your images on various patterned papers. Punch out images and 12 larger circles of purple and orange; layer and adhere to one another.

2. Attach googly eyes and apply Stickles to the border circles. Also apply Stickles to chipboard stickers – set all aside to dry.

3. Cut background patterned paper to 11.5″ x 11.5″ and adhere to 12″ x 12″ orange cardstock “matte.”

4. Using a template made from a small punch, draw a small circle in the center of the orange matte (do this on the back) and then cut out the circle.

5. Remove the clock’s hands and line up the hole in your background paper with the hands’ movement post – enlarge the hole if necessary, then adhere the paper to the clock face. Temporarily attach a 5/8″ scrap of paper to the end of the hour hand. (This will guide your circle placement so each is the same distance from the clock’s center.)

6. Mark 12, 3, 6, and 9 on the clock (find the center on each side) and attach your first four circles. (This helps you place your circles equal distances from one another.)

7. Attach the chipboard stickers. Apply Stickles to clock arms.

8. Once dry, replace the arms on the movement post.

Comment: This clock cost me $3.48 – see attached BEFORE picture (gotta love the reduced aisle at Hobby Lobby)! Always make sure that whatever you place on the clock will not hinder the hand movement.

Bettina, ah, what fun these little stamps were!!! Thank you once again for giving me a chance to play with them and for the honor of being a guest designer! I hope you enjoyed my work!

Deborah is our guest designer this month and I must say she does some seriously beautiful work. Deborah worked with the BOO! set and came up with some very fun ideas on how to use the stamp set. On Thursday you will be able to see not one but two great tutorials from her.

I started scrapbooking shortly after my daughter Gigi was born in 2002, and that naturally lead to cardmaking, as well. My daughter remains my favorite subject, but I’ve become the unofficial photographer for my church, and I maintain a bulletin board in the narthex that is filled with scrapbook pages of our various events and celebrations. I’ve been fortunate enough to have my scrapbook pages and cards published in books and magazines – when I make the effort to actually submit something! (I’m very lazy about that part of the process, I have to admit.) My favorite “style” is shabby chic/distressed, although I try very hard to explore other styles and looks as a means of nurturing artistic growth.

I don’t have a set routine for crafting – I sneak up to my attic “atelier” whenever I can get the chance – which is usually on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, I often sit there for quite a long time, pushing elements back and forth and generally scratching my head because I can’t make up my mind what I want to do because I have too many choices (a major drawback to being a collector and horder of crafting materials).

I was such a little squirrel with my supplies that I eventually started a blog, The Society of Stamp- and Scrap-aholics. Every so often I invite readers to join me in my attempt to stop buying goodies for a year. (Luckily for me, they always decline!) When I’m not spending my free time working on all things scrappy, I apply my efforts to a young adult novel I’m writing. (For the record, it’s light and humorous – no vamps, tramps, or psychos – just a story I would have liked to have read at that age about a heroine who has a unique way of doing things.)

Boo!

Materials: Stamps: MyStamp BOX stamps (Boo! set); Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Halloween; Ink: VersaFine; Gems: generic; Hardware: bottle cap, star charm, jump rings; Other: unknown ribbon, Halloween font, pop-dots, googlie eyes; Tools: circle punches, hammer (to flatten the bottle cap), ice pick (to make hole in bottle cap for hanging charm). The tiny gems here were purchased from a beauty supply store – they are used in fingernail art!

A Boo-quet for You!

Materials: Stamps: MyStamp BOX stamps (Boo! set); Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Halloween, K & Co. Halloween; Ink: VersaFine, Ranger Distress; Other: Halloween font, pop-dots, googlie eyes, Zig Writer; Tools: Nesties, circle punch

Check in again on Thursday for more projects by Deborah!

So, on to the fun.  Here is my banner.  I used the Boo, Royal Flush, and Deck the Halls stamp sets on this project.  Yes, you read that right…Deck the Halls.  You know Christmas stamps are not just for Christmas anymore.  Aand if you cut up your stamps you can get even more out of them.  Yes, you read that right  also.  So, grap your stamps, and some ink and don’t forget your scissors.

Here are the individual banner pieces.  I used some of the swirly chipboard from our company partner Mystical Memories and spray painted it gold…it worked up so easy.  I also attached all of my pieces using Helmar adhesive and dots.  And my cardstock is all from Core’dinations.  What great partners we have!

In this banner I used the circle ornament from Deck the Halls and cut off the hook.  That is where your scissors come in.  You keep this piece and when you want to stamp an ornament for your holiday crafting you just put it back in place…super easy.  I also used some of the Halloween theme stamps from Boo to add some fun to this banner.

In this banner I useed more of the Boo stamps and added some dimensional glaze over the tombstone to add dimension.

In this banner I used the Royal Flush Alphas and stamps the word BOO.  I then used some red sparkle embossing power to add some more color onto the black stamped image.   I also cut out one of the bats from the Boo set and added it on top of the word.

Here are some close ups.

Have a super day everyone!  Happy stamping and crafting.

I made the card base from embossed Core’dinations cardstock, one of our preferred product partners. Honestly, I could use this stuff on every project! My scrappy pal and I chat on instant messenger often, so I thought she’d enjoy this silly sentiment from the Whatever set of stamps.

I also made some fun notes to slip into my sons’ lunch boxes. I printed simple sentiments onto white cardstock and then stamped with a variety of images from myStampBOX. I stamped some with colored ink, and for others I stamped in black and colored in the images with markers. After inking the edges of the cards I laminated them for durability.

I had fun mixing and matching images from six different sets of myStampBOX stamps on these cards including Passport to Adventure, He Loves Me, Seal It!, Programmed Robots, Itty Bittys and Wishing You Sunshine.

I also made a few lunch box notes with Halloween images from the Boo! set of stamps. I’m so happy that October is here – I use this set so much! I hope you find fun ways to use your stamps in ways that make you and the special people in your life happy. Enjoy your stamping!

Today I’d like to share some fun autumn related projects I have made to both put in my scrapbooks, give as gifts and also to hang on my walls.

I started off by celebrating the first day of my son going to Kindergarten for the full day.  I captured him all dressed and ready for school on his first full day of school and thought it would make a great layout to share with you!

Ready 4 School

For this layout, I used some non-school themed stamps to add those special touches.  I used some of the postage stamp canceling images from the Road Trip stamp set and the school related stamp set from Neighborhoods, of course!

Here are a few closeups…

Next I wanted to create a fun card caddy to give to my son’s teacher around Thanksgiving; which is next week here in Canada.  So I found a 6×6x1 acetate container to use as my card caddy and then I decorated the front…

Autumn Card Caddy

For the front, I used some autumn inspired papers from Imaginisce as the starting point for my colour palette of light orange, rich red, dark brown and a pop of dusty blue.  I stamped the tree with coloured leaves from the Tree For All Seasons set and than added a fun tag using the Itty Bittys (the wood grain stamp) and Small Greetings for the sentiment.

I created one card to put inside my caddy too!  I used the pretty little leafy branch from the Floating Leaves set to decorate the front oval.  Doesn’t it look great with that similarly patterned paper?

And here’s the back of the little card caddy… using the simple leaf shape from the Floating Leaves set again.

Next I wanted to create something autumn related for my door.  So I grabbed some fabric and created a stuffed fabric ring and wrapped it with some soft satin brown ribbon and tied it at the bottom.

Fall Wreath

To decorate my wreath, I stamped a variety of leaves from the Floating Leaves stamp set onto the autumn patterned papers and then cut them all out.  I adhered each leaf using the amazing Professional Acid Free Glue from Helmar Adhesives, one of our extremely generous partner companies.   Each leaf is securely attached but flexes with the fabric.  I’m so impressed by this great glue!

And the final autumn inspired project that I have created to share with you today is a fun welcome sign to hang on my door as the happy haunting season begins for Halloween in a few weeks.

Batty Welcome Banner

I started off my using some black embossing powder and heat embossing the entire surface of that super cute bat chipboard piece by our newest partner company, Magistical Memories.  A few sprays of glittery mist to add some sparkle didn’t hurt either!

I strung a bunch of Halloween colour inspired banner pieces from our newest stamp set here at myStampBOX, Pennants (soon to be released!).  I added some fun Halloween themed stamps from our BOO! set to the tops of some of the banner pieces to add to the holiday theme.

I then used my Funky Alphabet stamp set and created a fun “welcome” statement to hang below my glittery bat.  The title appears to float below because I used some of my “recycled” stamp backer acetate pieces from all of my myStampBOX stamp sets and adhered the hand cut letters using Helmar’s fabulous Scrap Dots and black foam adhesive circles called Zapdots to it and then attached it off of the back of the chipboard bat.

I coloured the inside of all of my funky alphabet letters using some coordinating Copic marker colours to match my pennant pieces.

Thank you for joining me today on my autumn inspired journey.  I hope that just one of these fun projects inspires you get out your myStampBOX stamps and create something fun today!

Happy stamping everyone!

With this step by step I would like to show you how to use the solid stamp to create a very linear and quick greeting card.

Materials needed:

Stamp Sets used:
BOO
FLOATING LEAVES
GELEGENTLICHES

I have stamped the solid dot in two different ink colours onto white cardstock and punched them with a circle punch, still showing some white frame, as I prefer this look.

Punch slightly larger circles in a cardstock colour that matched your stamped image and layer

Using a variety of cardstock scraps in colours matching my chosen colour scheme, I started layering the background for my card.

Now adhere the stamped images to the background and add some sentiments and a little leaf image to complete your card.

Posted by: Kim Sonksen

And ad can evoke a colour combination, you may be taken by the font used, or some design elements…it just amazes me how many different takes you can get from one ad challenge. So, for this month’s challenge I just had to grab one of my favourite ads – look at it: the possibilities are totally endless…are you gonna look at the colours? The font?? The elements???

So, which element of this ad would tickle your fancy and get your creative juices flowing??
I chose the circle theme and the focal blue.

The stamp sets used for this layout were:

I never really thought much of the colour orange and cringed whenever an orange piece of paper/cardstock/embellishment made its way into my craft area. But somehow I have grown to love this colour and when you team it with pink, you can get such exciting projects together.

So, this week I challenge you to not only use the colours ORANGE and PINK together on a layout but also to include CIRCLES in different sizes.

Here is what I came up with – can you guess how many different stamps I have used on this layout?

Stamp Sets used (if you click on the images you get directly to the set in the store and can add it to your cart)

On this first project, I used a fancy bling design by Zva Creative in addition to glitter.  I simply put two sided tape around the perimeter of the card and sprinkled my glitter on top.  A simple shake to remove the excess was really all that was needed.  The adhesive I used is Stix2 and works really well for this type of application.  The sentiment is from the Lines of Life set.

In this next example, I added bling with my stamps using glittered embossing powder and a glitter cut by Fancy Pants.

The BOO! set was my stamp set of choice for this Halloween page.

I can’t wait to see how you bring on the bling with your next myStamp BOX project. 

Until next time,

Tracey

Anyway, a while ago I found these pages in a German magazine: lots of shoes and purses, in all kinds of colors. While the other pages, with lots of super chic shoes in black, brown and white, were definitely interesting (and the shoes probably more versatile… grin), the first two pages, with shoes in bold, popping colors, made me gasp. Pure color delight!

So, my challenge for you today… let this spread inspire you.

This is what I came up with:

This LO is all about the colors. I started out with red CS for the background. I heat embossed the magenta circles (from the BOO stamp set), the green hexagon (Hive of Life) and the turquoise flower petals (He loves me). I then layered three different pattern papers as well as two different overlays, and then added the picture, which is also heat-embossed with teal embossing powder around the edges. Last, but not least, I added a skull die-cut out of teal vellum on top of which I layered the title.

So, have at it.  I cannot wait to see what you come up with.

I stamped and embossed several images from BOO! with gold Zing! embossing powder. I punched out each image using a 1 1/4 circle punch to make little medallions which I attached to the layout with 3D glue dots. The images from these stamps are so bold that they are a dream to emboss!

Try using this sketch to create your own layout or card. Remember that you can always flip or reverse the sketch and change elements such as the circles to shapes that best match your theme.

Happy scrapping! – Jolene

Supplies: myStampBOX BOO! stamps, Tim Holtz Distress Embossing ink, Elle’s Studio journaling card, Making Memories pins, Offray ribbon, QuicKutz crow, Reminisce paper, Little Yellow Bicycle die cut paper and felt border, American Crafts cardstock, Slick Writer and Zing! embossing powder

We bought wrapped candies (they should not be more than 1″ in diameter). We started by stamping the halloween images with Versamark ink onto white and orange cardstock. Then we sprinkled them with black embossing powder and embossed the pages. Now we had to use the circle punch (1.1/4″) and punched out all designs (30 in all). Then we used a 1.3/8″ punch to punch 60 black circles.

The sweets were glued onto one black circle each (Helmar Professional Acid Free Glue worked well for us here). The images were stuck onto the remaining 30 black circles and then glued onto the sweets. Done! I think the sweets look just adorable – and they disappeard quickly!

While I had the circle punches out I couldn’t stop punching. I used up different shades of orange scraps and punched two different sizes of circles. They were arranged on a card and some of them were stamped with the Jack-o-lantern face, leaving the circle out. Then I added a bit of sowing to add the vines and give the impression of a pumpkin patch. A fun Halloween card…

I hope you are inspired for another Halloween project.

Happy stamping!

Bettina

Ladies, please send your addresses to bettina@mystampbox.com and go brew a nice cuppa to wait the arrival of the mags. Have fun reading! Make sure to check out Jolene’s article on homemade gifts.

And now over to Chrissy, who is showing more cool projects with the Boo! set.

With the holiday season closing in on us, many of us are looking for quick and easy gifts to give to friends, neighbors, coworkers, classmates, etc. For this project, I have created a quick and easy 3″ gift card and an easy peasy treat sack – a perfect spooky surprise for your child’s lunch box or a coworker’s mail room box.

The card was created using a leftover strip of my patterned paper that I made for the “Boo” accordion tag. I added a strip of torn black card stock, a piece of cute gingham ribbon, and the “Happy Halloween” sentiment from the Boo! set. I cut out the sentiment and adhered it to a scrap of black card stock and cut it out again. Then I added it to the card with foam tape to add dimension.

For the treat sack, I just stamped a few of the Boo! stamps onto a glassine bag and let it dry. So quick and easy.  You could even have your kids help you out with this task! Once the ink was dry, I filled it with some candy, folded over the top and punched two hole to string the ribbon through. You could easily add a small tag too, if desired.

Don’t worry if Halloween is approaching too fast … both the treat sack and the little card could easily be reworked for the another holiday just by changing the stamp set and color scheme – the Christmas Minis set would be perfect for recreating these in a Christmas theme!

Stamps: Boo! from my Stamp BOX
Ink: PTI Orange Zest, Pallete Noir Black, Paper: PTI White, Orange Zest, True Black
Accessories: PTI balck & white gingham ribbon; orange ribbon from craft store; foam tape; glassine bag

Did you know you could use the Boo! Halloween set to make a winter-themed card?!

In this project, I am going to show you how to get more out of your Boo! set just by using the solid circle stamp and a punch.

First, you need a punch and scrap paper. For this project, I used a snowflake punch. Punch out a few snowflakes and layer your punched card stock over a scrap piece of paper.

Next, ink up your solid circle stamp and stamp over the hole you punched out. This will remove some of the ink, but leave the ink intact where the punched out shape was.

Then, stamp onto your card stock and repeat as desired. Once I finished stamping my circle snowflakes, I used the punched snowflake hole as a guide to add some snowflakes with a glitter pen.

Once you have your patterned paper complete, the assembly for this card is pretty simple. Cut your snowflake paper strip and a wider pink strip of card stock and distress the edges of both. Adhere them together and wrap a length of grosgrain around the top of the panel and tie a knot before adhering to your card base. Finally, stamp your sentiment on the bottom and add some stacked buttons to your knot with twine.

Thanks for inviting me over! I love how this card came out and I hope I’ve inspired you to experiment with creating your own patterned paper using your my Stamp BOX stamps.

Chrissy

Stamps: Boo! and Everyday Lines from my Stamp BOX
Ink: PTI Aqua Mist, Paper: PTI White, Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush, Accessories: PTI Aqua Mist grosgrain, vintage buttons; twine; Sakura glitter pen, Tools: Heidi Swapp edge distresser tool