Trick or Treat Goody Card - DIY Video featuring Judi Watanabe

This week's WCK All-Star Designers Holiday Series episode features Judi Watanabe from Judikins!  Judi shares this adorable trick or treat Halloween card with a pocket for a treat!  

etchall® Day of the Dead Decorative Mirror

Day of the Dead crafts are growing in popularity - this mirror combines a variety of mixed media for a finished piece which will make a colorful accent to you home.

Materials:

9" Darice Mirror 

etchall® - Etching Cream, Squeegee 

              - etchnet® stencil - Sugar Skull 

Painters tape 

Makin’s Clay® - Red, Yellow, Green 

                        - Leaves Push mold 

Smoothfoam™ Disc 

DecoArt® Americana® Multi-Surface Satin™ - Deep Turqouise 

Beacon® Adhesives Tacky Glue 

Toner Plastics™/The Beadery® Skull Beads  Paintbrush 

Instructions:

This was my first time working with the new etchnet® stencils with etchall® cream - and I’m happy to say that the results were absolutely fantastic - one of the cleanest, crispest etches I’ve ever achieved!

Apply etchnet® sugar skull stencil to left side of mirror.  Use painters tape to securely tape in place, ensuring there are no ripples in the stencil. 

Pour etchall® cream on the side of the stencil - NOT ON THE OPEN AREA - Use squeeegee to pull etching cream over onto open areas of stencil, pressing slightly to ensure the cream is evenly applied though the net of the stencil.  Once you are sure you have a good even application over the open areas of the stencil, apply an additional coat of etchall® over the stencil.  Let set 15 minutes.  Return etching cream to bottle, rinse to remove remaining cream and remove stencil.  Clean any remaining cream from stencil and set aside for later use (etchnet® stencils are re-usable). 

Create multiple roses approximately 1” in size from red and yellow Makin’s Clay®.  There are multiple tutorials online for making roses with polymer clay and/or fondant - it really is quite simple!   

Use leaves push mold and green Makin’s Clay® to create multiple leaves for the roses. 

Use Beacon® Tacky Glue to mount roses and leaves as desired on left edge of mirror, extending above and below the etched skull.   Leaves and flowers can be mounted when the clay is still fresh, or after dry (normally the clay will be dry in 24 hours). 

Use Tacky Glue to mount blue skull beads randomly amongst the flowers.  Let dry.

Paint sides of Smoothfoam™ disc with Turquoise Multi-Surface Satin™ paint.  Let dry. 

Apply liberal amount of Tacky Glue to top of Smoothfoam™ disc and mount mirror.  The disc will give added depth when the mirror is mounted to a wall. 

Faux Hand-Carved Wood Bowl

This month on the Smoothfoam™ blog I shared this autumn project - I created a faux hand-carved wood bowl with a Smoothfoam™ half ball and DecoArt® Americana Decor® Chalky Finish paints.  Find the full instructions here.

Sullivans USA Gothic Goes Girly Macrame Bracelet

What does a Halloween obsessed designer think of first when she receives with a package of two lovely shades of pink Hebe Cord from Sullivans USA?  Why, SKULLS of course!  The result is this Gothic Goes Girly Skull bracelet.   Thinking back over my crafty past, I don't ever remember attempting to macrame - but after searching the web for easy to follow instructions I found great site that was able to walk me through creating this piece.  I went back to school at www.MacrameSchool.com!    Here's the link to the video tutorial that will walk you through the easy to follow instructions for what they call a "cool wave" or "snake" style bracelet. This project is part of a special Designer Craft Connection blog hop - Be sure to click the Designer Craft Connection button in the right column to see what the other participating Designer Craft Connection designers have done with their Sullivans USA Hebe Cord!

http://www.macrameschool.com/resources/bracelets/222-easy-wave-snake

Materials: 

Sullivans USA Hebe Cord - Two shades of pink
The Beadery pink skull beads - 10
Westcott Craft Titanium Bonded Non-Stick Scissors & Ruler
Needle
Duck Brand Tape (optional - but sure made it easier!)

I'm including a few photos to give you a close up of the steps in the video.  It took me a couple of tries, but once I got rolling, it was quite simple to do!

Smoothfoam™ Burlap Pumpkin Door Banner

Find the full instructions on how I combined Smoothfoam™, Rit Dye, BurlapFabric.com and Ad-Tech to create this dimensional pumpkin door banner here on the Smoothfoam blog! 

Beaded Spider - DCC October Blog Hop

It's time for the Halloween edition of the Designer Craft Connection blog hop!  Be sure to follow the link to the right to see what the other participating designers are sharing to add some BOO to your world! 

This beaded spider was a snap to create - I followed the directions in the most recent episode of When Creativity Knocks - We visited Crafted at the Port of LA and Mary Austin from Twisted Sisters showed us how easy it was to create these little bejeweled crawlers.  I couldn't resist whipping one up for myself!    Add a pin back, or make  a necklace for him to hang from as a pendant - or perch him on a pumpkin like I did for a little creepy fun.   

Materials: 

22/24 Gauge wire

Jewelry pliers

Black seed beads, black bugle beads, round glass bead for head

Connie Crystal blue bicone beads, large blue glass bead for body

Bead caps 

Follow the instructions in the episode below to create your own spider you don't want to squish! 

Burlap Apples & Display Bowl

BurlapFabric.com is sponsoring this amazing blog hop featuring projects from 20 Designer Craft Connection designers - Be sure to follow the links below to visit their blogs and see what they are sharing too, and sign up to win the amazing prize package BurlapFabric.com is offering!

I decided to try making burlap apples with the red burlap I received in my box of burlapy goodness from BurlapFabric.com - and a decorative "bowl" to display them in (I like the "bowl" so much I plan to display other seasonal goodies in it too!).   Don't let the multiple steps overwhelm you - it's easier than it looks to create your own burlap apples!

Materials: 

BurlapFabric.com red burlap, regular burlap, frayed edge 1" burlap ribbon, 3 1/2" burlap ribbon with black stripe top and bottom
Smoothfoam™ balls - 3 7/8"
Westcott® Craft Knife, Self-Healing Cutting Mat, Titanium Bonded® Non-Stick Scissors
AdTech® Glue Gun & Glue Sticks
DecoArt® Americana Multi-Surface Craft Paint - Apple Green
Spanish moss, paintbrush
Real apple for reference and mid-project snack (optional lol!)

Instructions:

1) Use craft knife to cut approximately 2" circle, then add 4 cuts inside.

2) Remove foam from top of ball.

3) Use craft knife to carefully trim/scrape away around edges of removed portion to create curve of top of apple.

4) Use craft knife to cut approximately 1" circle from bottom of ball, remove foam.

5) Use craft knife to create 4 small arcs/curves around hole on bottom of ball (like the arcs on the bottom of a real apple).

6) Carefully use end of scissor to create hole inside top and bottom openings on ball (you will tuck burlap ends into these holes).

7) Cut 5 petal shaped pieces from red burlap, approximately 5" x 2" in the center (I used my cutting mat as a guide for sizing each petal).

8) Add small amount of hot glue to one end of first petal, tuck into hole on top of apple.

9) Bring bottom of petal to base of apple, add small amount of glue and tuck into hole at bottom of apple.  Add small amount of hot glue on each side and adhere to foam ball.

10) Add small amount of glue to second petal, tuck into top of foam ball, slightly overlapping first piece of burlap.

11) Turn apple over, add small amount of hot glue to sides of petal, and mount to foam ball overlapping first piece of burlap.

12-13) Add small amount of hot glue to bottom point and tuck into bottom of apple.
Repeat with remaining petals until Smoothfoam™ ball is completely covered and your apple is ready for the stem & leaf.

14) Cut 3" piece of frayed edge burlap ribbon.   Tightly roll and use small amount of hot glue to adhere to create stem.

15) Use hot glue to mount stem into hole at top of apple.

16) From plain burlap, cut leaf shapes.

17) Paint both sides with Apple Green multi-surface paint and let dry.

18) Use hot glue to mount leaves to stems on top of apples.

To create the display bowl - I upcycled!   I used a clean chipboard potato stick can (and sadly, I had to eat the rest of the potato sticks in order to empty the can - it was a hard sacrifice but worth it for the finished project), but any sized can would work depending on how big you want your finished display bowl to be.

19) Use Westcott® Titanium Bonded® scissors (I love these scissors!  They are STRONG enough to cut through almost anything!) to remove top of can and leave 3" sides from base of can.

20) Use hot glue to mount burlap ribbon around can (it will extend about 1/2" off the top edge of the can).  Add Spanish moss.

Here are the links to the blogs for the other participating designers:

Angela Holt   http://www.angelaholtdesigns.com

Anita Scroggins   http://www.theflamingochronicals.blogspot.com

Beth Watson  http://www.bwdesignstudio.blogspot.com

Carmen Flores Tanis   http://www.florestanisstudio.com

Cherish Flieder   http://www.somethingtocherish.com

Jennifer Priest   http://www.hydrangeahippo.com

Julie McGuffee    http://www.juliemcguffee.blogspot.com

Kristi Parker    http://www.kristiscreativecafe.blogspot.com

Lisa Fulmer    http://www.lisalizalou.com

Madeline Arendt    http://www.madelinesthoughts.blogspot.com

Marilyn Gossett    http://www.marilyngossett.blogspot.com

Michelle Frae Cummings    http://www.faeriedustdreams-michelle.blogspot.com

Sue Eldred   http://www.sueeldred.com

Susan Brown   http://www.sbartist.com

Terry Ricioli    http://www.terryriciolidesigns.blogspot.com

And here's how you can win the fabulous prize package valued at $100 that includes a really nice variety of natural and colored burlap yardage, ribbons, embellishments and totes.  They have several ways to enter by leaving a comment on my blog and by following the DCC, BurlapFabric.com and Craft Foxes on social media. - http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/73bd0b11/

Autumn Bling with Connie Crystal

My latest project designed with Connie Crystal is now live on their blog - you can find instructions on how to create this stamped necklace and earring set here:  http://sparklebycc.com/stunning-fall-set/

Warm Wishes for Autumn with Connie Crystal & Tombow

Instructions for this cross-promotional mixed-media card featuring Connie Crystals, Tombow products, Spellbinders, fabric and more can be found on the Connie Crystal blog.    I hope it inspires you to create an autumn card for someone special in your life - Cindi

http://conniecrystalsparkle.blogspot.com/2012/11/more-with-connie-crystal-and-tombow.html

Warm Wishes with Connie Crystal and Tombow

Connie Crystal, Tombow Adhesives, Spellbinders dies, and Tombow Irojiten Color Dictionary pencils are combined for a mixed-media Autumn toned card to send warm wishes to someone special.  Find a full tutorial on how to recreate this project at the Connie Crystal Blog. 











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Shades of Amber Frame - Creating with Connie Crystal

Autumn is upon us and that means it's time for warm, cozy, Autumn decor.    Today my first project for Connie Crystal is live - a mixed-media frame featuring unique shell beads from their line.  You can find the full tutorial to create your own version of this frame at the Connie Crystal Blog.

Autumn Pendant with ImpressArt Metal Stamps & Connie Crystal

I've got a new autumn pendant featured on the ImpressArt blog and as part of their Resources/Project samples - You can find the tutorial on how I created this piece using ImpressArt metal stamps and bling from Connie Crystal here.

I'll be wearing this piece this weekend at the ImpressArt booth at Maker Faire, NY.  

Try to find the time to create something unique to add to your fall wardrobe soon! - Cindi