so sweet, it's spooky

The weather is changing, the stores are all decorated for the season, and it's time to get out your pumpkins to decorate! To help you get started we've come up with some fun ideas to help you get ready for Halloween.

Designer: Patti Milazzo

With Li’l Davis’ “frightfully spooky” new stamp set you can create your own treat bags.  They’re great as party favors or you can give them to trick-or-treaters.  What I liked most about this stamp set is the variety of stamps offered in the set – everything from tags to small stamps to create borders or larger stamps that are great for framing journaling, photos or other embellishments.

To make the bag use the template (see photo below) on a 12x12 piece of paper or cardstock.  Score and cut lines as indicated on the template.  Fold and assemble treat bag following the numbered tabs. 

Make a scalloped top with patterned paper and Fiskars Threading Water Border Punch.  Using Stamp Blocks, stamp small images onto white cardstock, punch out and adhere on treat bag topper.  Stamp owl image onto white cardstock and cut out with scissors or craft knife.  Apply sticker, other embellishment or a photo in the center.  Mat design onto black pattern paper and stitch around border, then adhere to bag front.  Stamp R.I.P. tag design onto patterned paper and cut with scissors, hole punch top of tag then use ribbon to attach to treat bag.

Fill with sweets and other fun treats and enjoy!

Designer: Katrina Simeck

I love to decorate for Halloween! Pumpkins, candy corns, spiders…love them all. When I saw this wooden house at a local craft store, I knew it would be perfect for a “haunted” décor item. I wanted to stay with earthy browns & oranges so that it would blend with my fall décor items.

After painting the house a dark chocolate brown, I cut window panes out of patterned paper. Cutting out all those little window panes was a breeze with the Fiskars Fingertip Craft Knife. I created the row of pumpkins with Fiskars Jack Seasonal Squeeze Punch.

Wondering how to create the green stems? Simply punch a pumpkin from both orange and green cardstock…trim the stem off of the green and adhere to the top of the orange. I used Heidi Grace Halloween stamps to create spiderwebs, a hanging spider, and top-of-house greeting. Happy Halloween!

Designer: Lisa Storms

Halloween is a fun holiday for card making, and my favorite cards to make have a surprise on the inside.  This first card is all about being spooky on the outside and sweet on the inside.  The cut-out circle on the front gives a peek of yellow from inside to form the eerie moon.  However, inside the yellow is actually part of a set of stripes to mimic a Halloween classic treat! 

I wanted to incorporate several punches and stamps on the cover to create a spooky feeling.  Silhouettes instantly turned these images into something much darker than they are!  It also pulls all of the elements together into one cohesive scene.  For the punches to hold their own against the chipboard tree I created, I punched each image four times and glued them together in stacks to bulk up their appearance.  This is a great use for punches to create your own faux chipboard elements. 

To keep the bat flying on only the outside, I stamped him onto a transparency using black StazOn ink that is adhered inside the front flap.

A card doesn't always have to be a piece of cardstock folded in half.  Here I incorporated a very "corny" card onto a treat topper to serve double duty!  I started by stamping a spiderweb all over the snack bag using white StazOn ink. 

For a creative candy corn embellishment, I created five candy "petals" to make a fun flower.  The card, which is a silly joke, opens up to reveal a ghost popping out by way of an accordion-folded piece of cardstock for a spring. 

Since the card has this small bulk inside, I created a tab on the topper to hold it closed.  This tab is simply part of a circle cut using the Ultra ShapeXpress with the 1" circle template.

 

 

Designer: Lisa Truesdell

This sweetly spooky centerpiece will be the star of your Halloween party!  It’s an easy project that goes together quickly, leaving you a lot of time to get ready for trick or treaters.

Start with a glass vase and some styrofoam - I found mine in the floral section of my local crafts store.  Gather twigs and arrang them in the styrofoam, and then cover the styrofoam with moss.  Use your Fiskars Halloween Squeeze Punches to punch many little ghosts and cats from black and white cardstock, then paint them all with clear glitter glaze to add a little sparkle. Turn them into ornaments by gluing them together with embroidery floss in the middle.

Next, use your Fiskars Round N Round Squeeze Punches on a variety of Halloween patterned papers  Stamp the circles with pumpkins and spiders from a set of Heidi Grace Halloween clear stamps, and layer the circles together to create more ornaments.  Arrange the ornaments on the twigs, and then finish the project by adding bows to the tops of some of the ornaments.

By Fiskars design team