Halloween Treats With Cricut

I was excited to be able to get the new Create a Critter 2 cartridge - I love these little critters all decked out for the holidays!  They are the perfect not-so-scary treat toppers for our Halloween dress up party at preschool.  I added a bit of glitter glue here and there to dress them up a bit.

I also picked up these cute notebooks at the Target dollar spot and topped them with more Critters.  The title phrases are also on this cartridge - can't wait to use them in our scrapbook pages!

Here is a shot of my worktable (before the cellophane wrapping on the notebooks).  Also shown are two cards I made with Teresa Collins' new Christmas cartridge.  I recieved both in the mail the same day and just couldn't wait to start working with them.  I have to say it's been awhile since I've been so excited for new Cricut carts :) and it felt great!  I can't wait to have some time to make the Christmas critters for another set of treat bags - they are so cute, too!

Happy Halloween, everyone!  Stay safe and get crafting!

Halloween Layout and Tags

It's that fun time of the month when I get to highlight some wonderful products available at Scrapdoodles in Fredericksburg.  I love going into this store!  Super friendly ladies and tons of scrapbook paper :0  Makes me happy. 
This trip, I focused on their Halloween selection - so much to choose from.  I was inspired by the orange/blue color combo and vintage feel of October Afternoon's "Witch Hazel" line.  (You can check out the whole line HERE)  It made me want to dig up some old childhood photos.  Luckily, I knew just where to look and put together this layout.  Can you see my mom making a goofy face in the door window? He he - Fun times.  For this layout, I broke up the heavy patterns by just using blocks or strips on top of a more neutral cardstock background.  I tore some of the paper edges, distressed others, and inked around the background sheet.  I also used Washi Tape from a My Mind's Eye collection and a few stickers off my Authentique Halloween collection.  I cut the title with my Cricut (Happy Hauntings).

This line isn't just for your "vintage" photos, though.  I thought the blue would be a great complement to these pics of our daughter as Cinderella from last year.  With some creative placement of my photos, I was able to highlight the black paper titles, instead of creating a new one.  Trying to keep a softer touch, I created these Washi Tape flowers (My Mind's Eye tape and enamel dots, and stickers).  I used about an 8 inch piece of tape and gathered it around the middle.  I placed an enamel dot in each center.  I did add an extra glue dot or two to get them to lay right on my page.
Here are a few tags I created with some of the scraps.  I thought they would be fun to place on a card or use to embellish treat bags this Halloween.  Tags are also a fun way to experiment with new products or techniques.  I used my Washi tape to alter some of the strong paper patterns - the moon and the chevron backgrounds on the first and last tags below, for example.  It was a fun way to get more out of the papers and highlight some of the cute images and patterns.

October Afternoon recently hosted a "Witch Hazel" blog hop on their blogs, if you need more inspiration!