Boo! - are you too cute to spook - or very grown up Halloween?

Good morning all

Well the day is finally here - well that's what my grandson Jacob thinks anyway.  He's six years old and is totally taken up with the idea of Halloween, dressing up and face painting, trick or treat and everything else that goes with it.  He's had a fun week going to a National Trust Halloween night at the weekend, Apple ducking at Beavers on Monday night and finally..... the big day has arrived lol

My daughter rang me last night because he was so excited to come round to visit tomorrow after school because I told him I might have a special treat (or trick!) for him and his sister.  She was just making sure that I knew about this - to avoid disappointment lol.

Things certainly seem to have gone up a gear in the Halloween celebrations round here,  I passed a full blown graveyard in someones garden when I was walking the dog - really fun and obviously lots of work had gone into it, the painted gravestones with funny verses, bones in a wheelbarrow too!

Anyways ...... our challenge theme this week at

Fab'n'Funky Challenges

and our theme is 

Halloween

and as expected by Jacob I  made a treat bag!

This one is much more 'grown up' than the one I made for his sister Eva - after all she is only 2!!  I used papers to decorate it from a very old pad from from MME - I hope he'll be impressed at how grown up and scary it is! - and filled with treats of course!!  I always put their names on things I make - I think kids love to see their name on a card or box, they like the idea that it's made just for them : )

This is what I did...

Box made from a peice of orange card on my scoreboard

Papers - My Minds Eye - Wicked Merchant Malvado

Label dies - Dienamics

Skeleton 'parts' - Sheena Douglass  day of the dead die

Alphabet dies - Fashion Dies from Crafters Companion

Black twine and sticker spider from my stash

velcro sticky fastener to secure the flap

Hope you'll join in with our challenge this week - can't wait to see what you make!

Challenges I've entered with this card

Disdigis -Creepy or cute 3/11
Digichoosday - anything goes 6/11
Asyoulikeit - favourite autumnal or Halloween colours - orange and black!

#2017 - Happy Saturday! - happy planning with my crafty Happy Planner!!

Good morning all

I hope you're all warm and well this wintery Saturday morning

(well it's wintery in my corner of the world!)

We had a small amount of snow that only lasted yesterday

and I live only about a mile from the sea where there have been some spectacular tides crashing up

thankfully not doing any damage - but a wonderful display of nature

I't's been a busy week craft wise has this one!!

If you pop over to Fab'n'Funky Challenges you'll see we have some lovely new teamies.

Running a DT takes a lot of work sometimes and this was one of those weeks!

But I've got everyone up and ready on the blog and our new sponsors sorted for the year 

(well except one closed before the year started so  - we're on the lookout for someone to cover a couple of weeks! - - any offers or ideas lol

I've also been busying away with my new crafty goodies for the year

continuing with my 'crafting for a purpose' theme

and here's the beginning of the beginning - so to speak!

I got myself a lovely 365 Happy Planner (the craft version!)

and aim to use it!!

I started off colouring the cover, using my Clouristapens from Crafter's Companion

- they're great for this type of colouring if you've never tried them

I loved how it turned out but it wasn't really what I wanted

- it's a bit too .....nice ha ha

so I had a lovely couple of messy days and made some covers of my own design

and this is the one I chose to go with

Still quite flowery but in a messy sort of way 

and it says something about me and what I'm aiming to do with it

- not your bog standard planner cover

I used Sheena Stamping card and coloured it with my Ranger Dylusions paints in bubblegum pink, crushed grape, fresh lime and cherry pie - just sort of slapped it on with a baby wipe - it blends beautifully, I then stamped and painted in the details and dotted about a bit with the handle end of the brush - I loved the messyness of it! - a bit scary but very satisfying

The flowers are Sheena Douglass Day of the Dead Floral Fiesta

and I then layered up using the coordinating dies

- these Perfect Partner dies really are perfect!! 

I didn't want it too dimensional or 'big' because I wanted it to fit inside the plastic cover. After all if it's going to get regular use it needs to be hard wearing lol

After that I added just a few odds and ends, buttons, brads,beads and a key

and finally added the inspiring words which are again stamps from Sheena Douglass

I just stamped them very simply, cut them by hand and stuck them on  in a random way

and in the top corner die cut   -   #2017   - and that's what it's all about!!

I've started to decorate my pages as I go - I've even written i it lol

I'll keep you updated as I go 

.... I think this will be fun

The flowery colouring didn't go to waste, I liked it to  much!

- I've used it on the inside cover, which is still a work in progress

 - I'll show you the back another time!!

Why don't you join me - you don't need to buy a fancy planner, it could be done with any reasonabley sized diary - and they'll be reduced in price  by now as the shops scramble to get rid of them before the end of January

Happy Saturday, Happy planning

Challenges I'm entering with this card 

Challenge up your life - a self made background 17/1

Just us girls- all over stamping 20/1

art by miran - Anything goes 20/1

Creative artists mixed media - anything mixed media goes 30/1

hugs Judith 

xxx