Miniature Trick-or-Treat Basket

Most of the spoils of trick-or-treating end up in a plastic pumpkin (or a pillow case if you're old enough to remember the good old days) but why not a basket? In miniature? Good thing there's Alpha Stamps to make your dreams come true! I created a mini treat basket in 1:12 scale, chock full of all sorts of goodies, but if you're feeling ambitious, there is a Half-Scale version too.

After assembling the basket, I painted the entire thing orange. The black portion of the basket was colored (believe it or not) with a Sharpie! It worked better than acrylic paint and actually made nice straight edges. After painting the basket, I cut a piece of green florist foam to fit inside the basket, nearly to the top, so it would be easier to glue the green basket grass and treats inside.

 There are little pumpkin cookies and white chocolate ghosts made from the Mini Halloween Molds, which is the funnest thing ever, tucked inside the basket. I used polymer clay in the molds to create the pumpkin cookies, ghosts, and black bats that are on the caramel apple sticks. How cute is that mold??!

The pumpkin on the right is simply a Glass Pumpkin Charm, and I sliced sections of the Halloween Mix Polymer Canes to create the wrapped candies. The sliced sections of polymer clay were put into a bitty square of plastic wrap and then it was tied together with a snippet of sewing thread. The candy corn was made from polymer clay and wrapped the same way.

It was so much fun creating this weensy basket of sweets! Happy Halloween to you!

Supply List can be found right HERE.

The Spider House and a Hallowe'en Book to Play With

I'm just going to say this right from the start: This tiny Tealight Haunted House from Alpha Stamps is the greatest thing ever. Why? It's a house and house crafts are always fantastic. Then there's a place in the back for a tealight so you can light up your little house. So cute! And also, it is a haunted house!!! Did I mention the rickety fence and tombstones? All the good things in one little kit!

Actually, I can easily see how this tealight house can be elegant, too, but it is October and I had this giant bag of spiders...

Run, Carl, run!!!

To accent the windows, I used pre-cut frames but cut a rectangle of cardboard to transform the center window into a door. I also cut a little cardboard frame for the upper right and matching rear windows. I stamped a spider, webs, and a skull onto some vellum, then glued them inside the house. Like Kristin, I added a tree by poking a hole in the base and glued in the tree.

Here's the spider house with the tealight inside, and I think it is a bit scarier since Carl can't really see exactly what he's running from. 

When the Spider House was finished, I realized I had all of this awesome Nightfall paper left over, so I made a book using an ATC Ticket Journal and a House Shaped ATC Frame Set (because houses are cool). The book is accordion style, so it opens out to reveal six interactive pages. Warning! There are a scary amount of photos of this book! 

Here are the inside "front" pages, followed by the back.

This is my favorite page. I used a stamp from the Mr. Bones stamp set to create a dapper skellie with eyes that change. There is a dial on the bottom of the page that rotates, changing the eyes.

There are three sets of different eyes and when you  stop part-way, you can give Mr. Bones a single peeper. Fun! There's a tutorial right here for you to make your own. (thanks for helping me get that together, Leslie)

This page has a pumpkin pocket with a surprise inside.

Oooh, it's a kitty!

But wait, there's more! You rotate the base of the kitty and...

Holy crow, it's a witch!

And she transfigures back into a cat! I will not mention how long this entertains me because it is probably embarrassing.

The back side:

This page has a slider at the top that changes the image in the center.

WHEW! For such a tiny book it sure did have lots of things going on. Finally, the front again because that's just funny.

To see a Supply List for the Spider House, go HERE.

For the Hallowe'en ATC Book, go right HERE.

And the tutorial for Mr. Bones' spinning eyes is HERE.

Happy Haunting!

Felt Kitty with a Book and Wee Witch Spoolie

Still making Hallowe'en over here! I'm actually trying to cram in all of the quicker projects I want to make before tackling costumes for the smallish people. One of the things I finished was a bitty accordion book using a Matchbox Ticket Journal, but it looked odd all by itself and really needed something more. It fit nicely inside a small Altoid tin, and of course it would've worked with a matchbox, but I remembered the black felt that Leslie from Alpha Stamps had sent (okay, that's a lie. I completely forgot about it until she courteously reminded me in a very pleasant email). 

I used the felt to sew a sweet Hallowe'en cat with a lace trimmed dress and bow. The accordion book was tucked in the pocket. 

She likes her new book.

The kitty didn't take too long so I also managed to finish a Wee Witch on a spool. She has a crepe paper dress, striped stockings, and carries her pumpkin pail. The 31 was glued onto a button and attached to the spool. I used the felt scraps from the cat to make a friend for the witch.

Oh, that bat's face. Hahaha!

Want to make your own fuzzy felt bat? Grab some felt scraps, a small bead, a bit of wire, and glue. Cut out a rectangle for the body and some wings. I just scissored out a wing-like shape. Bend the end of the wire over so it fits snugly inside the bead.

Cover the rectangle with glue and roll it around the wire to form the body of the bat.

Glue on the wings.

Give him a derpy little face and two triangle ears. Done! Maybe I will make an entire colony and add them to the next project.

HERE is where you can go to see the supplies used for Felt Kitty and HERE is where you'll find the list for the Witch Spoolie. Happy crafting!

October Fun Mini Shrines

It is official. I spotted Count Chocula at the grocery, so Hallowe'en is truly right around the corner. That means there's only a few more weeks of making all the spooky things! Must craft faster, must craft faster...

My latest things are these really cute, pretty small Hallowe'en shrines. I used the Halloween Countdown kit (it includes the shrine with a sweet kitty perched on a pumpkin) and two other shrines from Alpha Stamps to make a trio of festive fun. The overall size of the largest shrine is not quite 6" tall, so small enough to finish a couple of them in an afternoon. 

I used vintage images from several collage sheets for the sides and back. Look at those pumpkin faces!

The inside of the shrines are 2" x 2", perfect for a pile of mini pumpkins, a polymer clay candy corn, or how about a zombie arm? Ooooh, zombie arm...

I simply painted the shrines black, papered them, added glitter, and tucked a pipe cleaner critter inside the shrine. 

After painting, I glued on a square of paper that fit along the top edge of the shrine front.

The front was flipped over and the excess paper on the edges and the center was trimmed off.

Here's the fun part: GLITTER! The pumpkin was painted orange, covered in glue, then a pile of Pumpkin Orange Fine Iridescent Glitter was  dumped on top. So shiny.

The inside of each shrine was decorated with a black spiderweb paper, then a gathered circle of glittery orange tulle was stuffed in there, and finally my little pipe cleaner dudes were glued in place. I had a few old wooden letters in the stash (the letters for BOO and EEK were long gone) but fortunately I found FUN, painted them orange, and added them to the shrines.

I'm gonna go grab a bowl of Count Chocula and think about more Hallowe'en things.

List of Supplies can be found RIGHT HERE and don't forget the glitter!