Halloween Buffet & Spooky Garland

I have been working on this project in pieces for what seems like a really long time but I guess it has just been gradually over the last month or so. Hey, I'm a busy woman, lots of crafting and painting has been going on here in my house. Also, I am so excited as I write this post, have you heard about ArtPrize? Well, it has received tons of press over the last two weeks including two bits on the Today Show. It takes place right here in my home town, Grand Rapids, MI! And I have been competing in it with my encaustic wax painting Spring (Renewed) click here for more about it. I was even interviewed for radio about my painting on the opening day of the competition. As I sit here right now I am watching the awards being announced. I am a realist and know that I never stood a chance to win but it is such an honor to be a part of it.

Ok, enough of that, onto the real post!

Here is the buffet decor that I have been working on for the last month. You have seen some of the items before in previous posts but here is the finished product at night. Love the new LED candles that I purchased the other day, they even have a times that comes on the same time each evening. With a two year old in the house I had to give up "real" candles, but these are going to work for me for now.

Here is the overall look. During the day of course.

Here is a close up shot of one of the bats on my garland. I used Stampin' Up!'s My Digital Studio program to enlarge the bitty bat "punch". Then I printed and cut it out to make a stencil, traced onto designer series paper, and cut out.
I then attached the bats to the vine by using hot glue. Can you spot the small green bat? That is the size of the Bitty Bat Punch. I also punched out several bats using this punch and attached to the vine.
Here is the overall view of the garland that I made. Love the big bats! I'm thinking about making some more and hanging them. How fun would that be!
Here is what the garland looked like originally, when I purchased it from a craft store chain. I did like the look of it but really needed something that fit in my scheme better. So I spray painted it black, added black glitter, and bats, then called it a day!
Remember, my Spooky Candy Jar? Check it out here! Plus, you'll see the great card and luminary that I made.

Remember, these great pumpkins? Check out more here!

Spooky Things Luminary, Spooky Candy Jar, and Bat Card

Halloween is just around the corner! Today's post consists of three projects: A luminary, candy jar, and card. FYI: I did create a tutorial for the luminary in the post below this one.
Using the bats from the Spooky Things Decor Elements out of the Holiday Mini Catalog I made this luminary. (Remember the great white Trick or Treat Pumpkins? I'm still using up the same sheet of decor elements) This project calls for the 3 bats that are included in Spooky Things sheet.

I also used some Raven Lace to add a bit more pizzaz to the project.

This card is SO simple to make. All I did was simply punch out 9 bats out of the halloween paper in the main SU! catalog, attach with a mini glue dot, fluff up the wings, and stamp "Happy Halloween" in Basic Black in the corner.
I love the Tiny Tiny Wishes stamp set that "Happy Halloween" came, it truly is my go to stamp set.
I have to say that this Spooky Spider was the first Decor Element I ever tried & I still love it 3 years later! I found the jar at Target, I do believe they still sell them in some of the bigger Targets.
I decided that my jar needed an updated tag. I used the bat punch and the halloween decorative paper for this one. All I did was punch out the black paper, layered it onto the spooky paper and trimed. For the finishing touch I added a strip of the polka dot paper at the bottom. I tied the tag on with some of that great Raven Lace.
Normally, there would be a lot more candy in this jar, but I couldn't bring myself to fill the jar quite yet. As it is I had to kick my hubby out of the candy while I was setting up for pictures. This jar is quite large, I think it holds at least 5 smallish bags of candy. That's a LOT of sugar!

Spooky Things Luminary Tutorial

So, you want to make one of those great luminaries? Well, today is your lucky day! I made one of these luminaries for my Stampin' Up! workshop hostess today at her workshop. The project went over so well I thought I would come home and whip up another one.

Items Needed:

Stampin' Up! Big Shot with Top Note Die (SU! exclusive)

1 piece of Basic Black 12 x 12 Cardstock

1 piece of 8 1/2 x 11 Vellum Cardstock

Spooky Things Decor Elements in Black (3 bats)

1/2 SU! Raven Lace

Sticky Strip

Paper Trimmer with Scoring Blade

Cut the Basic Black Cardstock in two 5 1/2 x 12 inch pieces. Fold in half. Place onto top note die approx 1/4 from edge of die. "Sandwich" up and run through the Big Shot.
Place tip of Top Note cut out even with the inside "rail" on your paper trimer (as in picture) and score. Do this for both ends of the cut out cardstock. After scoring trim "flap" to 1/4 of an inch.
Apply stick strip on the inside near the cutout in order to hold your vellum cardstock on. Layer Cardstock on AFTER applying your bats to the vellum, one side will be blank. 3 bats, 4 sides (sorry no picture for that step).
Apply sticky strip to the 1/4 inch lip on one of the sheets of black cardstock. Cut off the flaps on the other black cardstock piece.

Attach the two pieces together in order to make a square luminary.

Next, I took a very generous piece of Raven Lace and wrapped it around the luminary 3 times and tied off in the front in a knot.

That's it! Now, that wasn't so painful to do was it?!