Its Halloween Season!

 I can’t believe it’s October already! This year is just going by super fast. Have you decided what you want to be for Halloween yet?

Next week is already time our yearly community fall festival. I will be a volunteer again this year. It’s mostly for the kids but it’s fun to see them in all their costumes and we will be showing them a great time. Lots of games and candy to be had.
My friend Cheryl and I made these cute mini witch’s hats to attach to headbands so we can wear them at the festival.


 My camera phone didn’t do these justice but you can still see how adorable they are.

I also took some time to complete a Halloween mini book I started last year and set aside. I tend to do this a lot so I made it my mission to complete old projects this year. I took Amy Tan’s class “Get Your Creative Juices Flowing” at Big Picture, where she taught how to make mini books like her Daybooks.
Here are a few pics of my Halloween mini book. 



This was a fun and easy book to create and I used up some Halloween paper and embellishments I had in my stash.  Most of the papers were Little Yellow Bicycle. The Fence, spider and Spooky were cut with the Cricut. I can’t remember who made the journaling cards and the embellishments where from Fancy Pants, K&Co, etc.  (Don’t remember who made all of the items.) 

Well, I hope you have a Safe and Happy Halloween and get lots of candy!
Cat

Using up my old stash.

I was just popping in to say hello and share a couple of cards I made this week.  I hope everyone had a nice summer, labor day and an easy back to school week.  

This summer, I have been very project focused.  This year I was determined to go back to some old projects I never finished and complete them.  So far, I've completed 4 projects that have been laying around for quite a while. (Yay!)  And it was fun combining those old supplies with newer embellishments and paper.  

Anyway, these cards were made using the WRMK Elegant paper collection.  I also found some old Prima flowers from the Got Flowers? collection that were a perfect match for this paper.  If you are a loyal reader you know that I love combining old with new and these little flowers are probably 5 years old now.  Yet, I still have a ton of them and I don't want to get rid of them.  So how many jars of old Prima flowers do you still have in your collection?

The little pearls are actually made using the Viva Decor Pearl pen in Sunny Yellow.  The chipboard tag is also old and unknown now.  The stamps are KI Memories and the Hello sticker font is also from an old card making kit by Lisa Bearnson and Becky Higgings.   

I've been working on busting through my stash lately so you will see more projects that combine old and new soon.   

Are there any supplies you own that aren't "in style" anymore but you just can't seem to get rid of it? I have a bunch, like the foam stamps.  I still love the designs but just don't think to use them.  Please share some of your tips for using up your stash with me. 

All I ever see in scrapbooking and cardmaking blogs is new, new, new. And I can no longer justify (to myself) purchasing the huge amounts of scrapbooking supplies I used to.  It just seems like such a waste sometimes.

So, until next time...happy stash-busting!

Cat 

Another Magazine Bites the Dust

Well, Scrapbooks Etc. announced on Wednesday that they are shutting down production and August will be their last release.  
This saddens me because it was the only scrapbook subscription I had left.  
I let my Creating Keepsakes subscription lapse back in February because I was irritated by all their cutbacks and lack of inspiring new ideas. It just wasn't worth the money anymore.  
For more information, you can visit this article on Scrapbook Update.  They also have another article about the print industry and how it's affecting the scrapbooking and crafting magazines.
I left this comment to express how I feel about this news:

They say the cost of publishing is too much, but I just don’t see it. I would think publishing a scrapbooking magazine is way cheaper than it is for lots of other magazines in the market. I mean, aren’t they just taking pictures of pages that are submitted to them? It’s not like they have to find an exotic location, a model/s and a first rate photographer (plus assistants and other artists) like fashion and beauty magazines do. They also don’t have top notch writers writing in depth articles. Most have very little creative writing in them. It’s mostly instructional writing which is pretty easy.
And anything they use to create for an editorial is usually donated by manufacturers.

Why can’t they continue to publish digitally? Scrapbooks and Cards Today does it and it’s free!
I’m sad to see my favorite scrap magazine shut down but I’m mad at them for not trying harder even if just out of loyalty to its many readers. It’s easy for a big CEO to bring down the ax but they forget that it leaves a sour taste in all our mouths and that taste never goes away.

What do I care about any new publications they release now? (Insert expletive here) them! From now on I’ll use my dollars towards new supplies. I was also burned by Scrapbook Answers, Simple Scrapbooks, PaperKuts, Memory Makers and now, Scraps Etc. But that’s it, I’m done! No more magazines for me.

So, how does this news affect you?  Are you a current subscriber to Scrapbooks Etc.?


Cat

Christmas Projects at The Little Blue House

The Little Blue House is our local paper crafting studio.  They have beautiful projects you can create every season and I wanted to share some of the neat things I made at the House this season.
A glittered and blinged up washer necklace.  I’m going to make more of these.  They were lots of fun, Simple and make a great gift.















A cute magnetic post it note holder.  Adorable right?

A lovely lollipop flower.

               

And many more little gifts. 

We also made a gorgeous Origami Christmas Tree Canvas. All with our own supply stash!

 

Here’s a couple of close ups

These projects were great fun to make. So support your local scrap store and sign up for one of their classes today!
Have a great holiday! 
Cat
Linky Parties

Important Announcement & DIY Deco Tape

Hi everyone. Today I wanted to announce that I went ahead and changed this blog’s (URL) address to http://scrapbites.blogspot.com.  Please note the change in your readers (http://ohkianex.blogspot.com is NO longer active). 

This change not only better reflects the content of the blog but also reflects the title. When I started this blog, I didn’t plan on focusing so much on my crafting and yet, it took over.  Thanks for sticking with me even though I’m not a regular poster. 

Now, on to today’s DIY project. Deco Tape.  I’ve seen some bloggers create their own out of masking tape but mine is made from this stuff called Hinging tape by Lineco. I found it at Hobby Lobby on clearance but I believe it’s available online.  Anyway, it’s got a nice fabric-ky texture and is slightly transparent.  And you get 150 ft or 50 yards of the stuff.  It’s also easy to tear and acid-free! So feel free to use in your scrapbooks.

Okay, so on to my finished deco tape.  I colored them with permanent markers (Bics and Sharpies) and stamped them with ink and white paint. 

Now, I have a nice assortment of tapes to use and without having to pay $8 a roll for the stuff. And I still have more than half the roll left!I can also make them as needed, but for now I can use and play with these.

So have you tried making your own deco tape? If not, then get started. It’s quite a relaxing project.

Cat 

 

 

Hello Fall! Word Blocks

Hello everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful summer and that you are already enjoying the cool fall days.  My summer was pretty uneventful.  It was just too freakin’ hot here to do anything.  I’m not a big fan of summer so I stay indoors a lot. 
And with that, I caught a horrible stomach flu that kept me mostly in bed for 2 weeks. So, I didn’t get a chance to add anything nor was I in the mood to complete my July minibook.  Oh well, I’ll save it for next year. 
Now, on to my little project.  I made the fall tags with my Cricut.  Keep in mind that I’m still using the same blocks I created for my Spring blocks.  I also created summer blocks but never got around to posting because of my illness. But here’s a quick picture of them:
Those were not done with the Cricut. I used chipboard letters and the new 3 in 1 Stampin Up flower punch and some stickers.  The pennant shape I cut out by hand. 

Now back to the fall blocks.  These were done with the All About Fall cartridge to cut out the leaf and pumpkin shapes.  Also used the Gypsy font but I can’t remember which one was the “hello” font.  Then I used a few miscellaneous stickers and flowers from my stash and DCWV paper which has a foiling treatment on some of the leaves.  The texture on the pumpkin was created using my Fiskars texture plates with the Cuttlebug.  I like to use these plates when I don’t want a deep impression.  Then, I used lots of glitter for the red letters even though it doesn’t show much on the pictures.  No video this time.  I forgot to set it up until it was too late. 

Well, that’s all for now.  I will be posting a cute Halloween frame in the next week. Now, I need to catch with everyone’s blogs and projects. 
Cat

Linky Parties

Spring Cards

Today I wanted to share a couple of Spring cards I made during my Card-a-Palooza.

These were made with a Making Memories butterfly die cut, Sizzix embossing folders, misc flowers and ribbon and some Brenda Walton rubons. 

Here are a couple of close ups to show you the texture.  I debossed one card and embossed the other. My favorite is the debossed card.  Which do you prefer?

Thanks for stopping by.  I will be posting more of my card a palooza cards soon.

Linking up to these parties: