The Witching Hour

Hi everyone, I’m very late to the Lavinia Hallowe’en party as I think I have said previously that I don’t really “do” Hallowe’en, but I decided somewhat belatedly to buy a small selection of the 2024 Hallowe’en stamps so that I could decorate the October page of my Lavinia 2025 calendar. I’ve not had a Lavinia calendar before and I have to confess that it has sat in the cupboard since about July, so I recently woke up to the fact that I need to get a wriggle on to complete it before the end of 2024! My new Lavinia stamps and ink pads arrived on Tuesday so I set straight to work, mixing my new items with existing ones to create the October page. My concept was to incorporate both Hallowe’en and autumnal elements - here’s the result.

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I wasn’t brave enough to create straight onto the calendar page, so I measured up and cut a piece of stamping card 19.5 x 14.5cm. I started by creating a background with blended Elements inks, working outwards from light to dark. I then created some landscaping using hill masks and blended Elements, then started stamping. I started with Hattie the witch in the middle of the page, then added the castle, trees and cauldron all in Nocturne VFC. I stamped the moon using Morning Mist, then added the owl, bats, mini mushrooms and cat in Nocturne, and the magical mist and wording using lilac VFC. I coloured the castle windows, mist and Hattie’s dress with Sakura stardust pens, added white Posca accents and highlighted the scene with a clear Stardust pen to suggest moonlight. I then stamped a few autumnal leaves in various  shades of Elements inks, added some shadows with grey Inktense pencil, and blended darker Elements ink around the edges of the panel. 

This panel is very sparkly … here’s an angled picture.

Stamps: Lavinia Hattie, Willow the Witch (cauldron), Magical Mist, Far World Castle, Seasonal Tree, Skeleton Tree Scene, Brodwin & Maylin, Bats, Moon, Small Lanterns, Mini Jinx, Slender Mushrooms Mini, Leaf 1 Mini, Mini Maple, Witching Hour;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Sundance, Sahara, Russet Orange, Violet Chalk, Merlot, Mulberry, Graphite); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist, Lilac Bloom); Sakura Stardust (clear, yellow, orange, purple); Posca pen (white);

Tools: Lavinia Hill Masks, Mini Hill Masks, White Orbs stencil.

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (October) - Anything Goes with option Lots of Leaves (4th entry)

Country View Challenges (October) - Hallowe’en (2nd entry)

Crafting Happiness #198 - Bats

Creatalicious #282 - Anything Goes with option Hallowe’en (2nd entry)

Creative Crafting Uncles #58 - Hallowe’en (2nd entry)

Dragonfly Dreams (October) - Anything but a Card (3rd entry)

Dream Factory #133 - Hotel Transylvania (Hallowe’en) (2nd entry) - TOP 5

Fab ‘n’ Funky #603 - Autumn/Hallowe’en (2nd entry)

Hallowe’en and Other Occasions #19 - Hallowe’en (2nd entry)

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie #197 - Boo! Eek! (2nd entry)

Inspired By … - Witch - WINNER

Make My Monday #237 - Spooky/Hallowe’en (2nd entry)

Outlawz (October) - Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone with option Name Game (3rd entry) - WINNER

(I used P for Purple and Posca)

Papercraft #111 - Spooky Season (2nd entry)

Simply Create Too #205 - Hallowe’en/Hallowe’en Colours (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #255 - H is for Hallowe’en (2nd entry)

Sweet Stampin’ - Hallowe’en

Try It On Tuesday - Make It Magical

I must admit I had been putting off decorating my calendar as I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but having completed my first page which was a real labour of love I’m now feeling fired with enthusiasm to continue! So hopefully in amongst the Christmas rush there will be 11 more of these coming along over the next few weeks - watch this space! 

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Bewitched

Hi everyone, this month’s Lavinia Creative Challenge is “Bewitched” … clearly in homage to Hallowe’en. I don’t really do Hallowe’en as I have no young children to send cards or treat boxes to, so I’ve never invested heavily in Hallowe’en supplies. I have actually extremely belatedly ordered a couple of this year’s Lavinia Hallowe’en stamps, primarily so that I can decorate the October page of my calendar, but they’re not here yet so I had to get my thinking cap on in order to sneak a last minute project in before the challenge closes! The upside is that there are also lots of other Hallowe’en/spooky themed challenges around right now to enter!

I decided to go for Mooch the cat being bewitched by the moon, and the scale of the scene I had in mind best fitted the dimensions of a tag - something else I don’t create very often! So I also had opportunity to bring into play a grungy tag die set that I bought a while ago when there was a promotional offer, but I hadn’t used yet.  Here’s the result.

I cut my tag from white stamping card, and the tag border from black linen card stock. I blended Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide on the bottom 1/3 of the tag, and Wilted Violet and Villainous Potion on the top part with a circle moon mask in place. I then  created the landscape with Black Soot DOX and my Mini Hill Masks, and stamped Mooch near the bottom. I added some softly blended Spiced Marmalade DOX inside the moon circle then stamped the moon over it using 2nd generation Morning Mist VFC. I stamped the castle at the edge of the tag, added some branches, mushrooms and a flight of bats. I coloured the castle windows with watered down Posca sparkle pen, and highlighted the scene with orange Sakura Stardust pen and white Posca. I blended Black Soot DOX all around the edges to add depth, and finally added some orbs using sparkle pens coloured through my White Orbs stencil and dotted with Posca pen. When dry I matted onto the tag border, punched a hole and edged with a teeny die from the same set, and added black glitter twine.

Here’s an angled pic to show the shimmery orbs.

Stamps: Lavinia Mooch, Far World Castle, Moon, Bats, Tree Branch, Slender Mushrooms Mini;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Spiced Marmalade, Wilted Violet, Villainous Potion, Black Soot); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist); Sakura Stardust pens (Orange, purple, clear); Posca sparkle pen (orange); Posca pen (white);

Tools: AALL & Create die #30 Taggletastic; Lavinia White Orbs stencil; Lavinia Mini Hill Masks and Circle masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Cardz 4 Galz #236 - Pick 3 of Purple, Orange, Black or Green - TOP 3

Country View Challenges (October) - Hallowe’en

Craft Rocket #119 - Autumn/Hallowe’en (2nd entry)

Crafting Happiness #197 - Moon

Crafty Gals’ Corner #260 - Anything Goes with option Make It Spooky 

Creatalicious #282 - Anything Goes with option Hallowe’en and/or use Black and Purple - TOP 3

Creative Crafting Uncles #58 - Hallowe’en - TOP 3

Daisy Chain #90 - Autumn/Hallowe’en (3rd entry) - TOP 5

Dream Factory #133 - Hotel Transylvania (Hallowe’en)

Fab ‘n’ Funky #603 - Autumn/Hallowe’en

Hallowe’en and Other Occasions #19 - Hallowe’en

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie #197 - Boo! Eek!

Inkspirational #327 - Seasonal (2nd entry)

Lavinia Creative Challenge (October) - Bewitched

Make My Monday #237 - Spooky/Hallowe’en

Papercraft #111 - Spooky Season

Simon Says (Monday) - Spooky/Add Some Purple

Simon Says - Celebrating 20 Years of Distress #SSS20YearsofDistress

Simply Create Too #205 - Hallowe’en/Hallowe’en Colours

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #255 - H is for Hallowe’en

Tag Tuesday - Spooky Vibes - CHALLENGE FAVOURITE

Try It On Tuesday - Hallowe’en - TOP 5

Two Old Bats (October) - Anything Goes Hallowe’en

Unicorn #103 - Autumn/Hallowe’en (3rd entry) - TOP 3

I think that’s me all spooked out! Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Try It on Tuesday GDT - Hallowe’en

Hi everyone, I was really thrilled to be asked to be a Guest Designer for this fortnight’s Try It On Tuesday Challenge as it is one of my favourites which I enter as often as I can.

The theme for this challenge is perfectly in keeping with the time of year, and is 

Hallowe’en

So we would love to see your scary projects or those that are too cute to spook!

Here is my GDT card.

I have to confess this was a bit of a challenge for me as I don’t send Hallowe’en cards so I have only very limited supplies .. I already had Willow the Witch and the gorgeous castle, but I also persuaded myself to invest in some flying bats and I managed to get the dragon stamp from a craft de-stash site!

I blended Elements inks over a square of stamping card using an acetate moon mask, then used my hill masks and more Elements to create the landscape. I stamped the moon directly over the circle I had masked using 2nd generation VFC in Morning Mist, then stamped the fairy castle, Willow, bats and ground foliage in Nocturne. I stamped trees either side in Twilight to give a bit of depth, then coloured the castle windows using yellow and orange Sakura Stardust pens. I highlighted various items with white gel pen and smudged white pastel pencil, then did a lot of further highlighting to represent the reflection of the moon with my clear Sakura Stardust pen … the card is actually VERY sparkly, much more so than shows up on camera. I used the tiniest circles on my White Orbs stencil to create the bubbles rising from the cauldron using orange and purple Stardust pens, interspersed with white pastel pencil “steam” and white gel pen dots. Finally I added some sparkly orange fire coming from the dragon’s mouth, and edged the panel with blended Graphite Elements ink before matting onto black card stock and a 7” square card blank.

Here’s an angled picture to show the sparkle.

Stamps: Lavinia Willow the Witch, Far World Castle, Mideela (small), Moon, Bats, Forest Scene, Tree Branch, Slender Mushrooms Mini,  Flower Collection;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Graphite, Violet Chalk, Dark Denim); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Twilight, Morning Mist); Sakura Stardust pens (orange, yellow, clear); gel pen (white); pastel pencil (white);

Tools: Lavinia circle and hill acetate masks, White Orbs stencil.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Art Impressions #362 - Give Us a Fright

Craft Rocket #108 - Autumn/Hallowe’en

Crafting Happiness #147 - Hallowe’en

Crafty Calendar (October) - Autumn Colours/Hallowe’en

Crafty Gals Corner #248 - Hallowe’en Colours - TOP 3

Creatalicious #269 - Anything Goes with option Hallowe’en - TOP 3

Creative Crafting Uncles #46 - Hallowe’en

Creative Inspirations (October) - Autumn/Hallowe’en

Daisy Chain #79 - Autumn/Hallowe’en

Dream Factory #121 - The Fantastic World of Oz - WINNER

(keyword - witches)

The Fairy and the Unicorn #10 - Anything Goes Fantasy

Lost Coast Portal to Creativity #176 - 31 Days of Hallowe’en

Papercraft Challenges #99 - Happy Hallowe’en - TOP 3

Sheepski #79 - Autumn or Hallowe’en Colours

Shopping Our Stash #507 - Franken-card (Hallowe’en)

Through the Purple Haze #209 - Hallowe’en

Two Old Bats Hallowe'en Challenge (October) - Anything Goes Hallowe'en with optional Moodboard

Unicorn Challenge #92 - Autumn/Hallowe’en

I hope you can join in with the challenge - please do head over to the Try It On Tuesday Challenge blog to see the fab inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and to link up your entry. Thanks again to Avril for inviting me to be GDT for this challenge.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Hubble bubble II

Hi everyone, today I would like to share my extremely last-minute make for this month's Lavinia website Creative Challenge "Dancing orbs".

I racked my brain over this one, as I don't have the orb stamps and have never attempted colouring orbs in before, but I have the "White orbs" stencil, so I decided to make a little ATC with Willow the Witch with her cauldron, from which orbs float upwards as she casts her spell!

I cut a piece of stamping card slightly smaller than standard ATC size, and created my night sky with Distress Oxide inks and a circle mask, including some wispy clouds across the moon. I stamped and heat embossed Willow and her cauldron, then "grounded" them with a torn paper mask and sponged DO. I used my orbs stencil to colour various tiny circles using my Sakura Stardust pen, and then dotted the centre of each one with a white gel pen. Finally I stamped my branches and birds which I (clumsily) turned into bats by drawing on them with a black fineliner, highlighted everything with my Sakura stardust pen, and matted the finished piece onto standard ATC size black linen card stock.

Here is the usual angled pic to show the sparkle.

 Stamps: Lavinia Willow the Witch, Birds, Mini Branch;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, Villainous Potion, Seedless Preserves); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Sakura Stardust pen (clear); white gel pen; black fineliner;

Tools: Lavinia stencil - White Orbs.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Tiny Craft #14 - Spooky (2nd entry)

ATC's With a Heart #121 - Hallowe'en (2nd entry)

Country View Challenges (October) - Hallowe’en or Harvest (3rd entry)

Crafty Calendar (October) - Hallowe’en (3rd entry)

Creative Knockouts #475 - Hallowe'en - WINNER

Lost Coast Portal to Creativity #153 - 31 Days of Hallowe'en (2nd entry)

Make My Monday #186 - Spooky or Hallowe'en Colours - TOP PICK

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Spooky

The Most Magical Time of the Year #1 - The Most Magical Time of the Year (4th entry) - TOP PICK

Try it On Tuesday - Hallowe'en Time - TOP 5

No more tricks or treats from me for today. Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Dragon's Night Flight

Hello, today I would like to share a pair of ATC's I made with Hallowe'en in mind.  My newest acquisitions include a Lavinia fairy castle and teeny tiny dragon, so I tried to represent a flight of the dragon over the castle at night with a blood red sky  - very Game of Thrones!!

I created an inky background on a large snippet of stamping card using Gamboge (yellowy orange), Vermillion and Purple brushos spritzed with water, then cut the inked panel into 2 pieces each 3 3/8" x 2 3/8". On each panel I stamped my castle using Versafine Clair, then used a small punched circle mask to create a moon using black Distress oxide ink. I stamped my li'l dragon and some tree branches to frame the scene, then coloured the castle windows and highlighted the moon, dragon and castle with Sakura Stardust pens. Finally I added sentiment stickers related to the flight of the dragon (as I don't have any specific Hallowe'en wordings, but I thought these would work well with the dragon), and added some gold Posca Pen spatter before matting onto standard ATC size cards cut from snippets of black card stock.

Here is an angled pic to try to show the sparkle ...

... and a close up of each ATC.

1/2

2/2

Stamps: Lavinia Far World Castle, Mini Dragon, Mini Branch;

Media: Brushos (Gamboge, Vermillion, Purple); Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Black Soot); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Sakura Stardust pens (copper, clear); Posca pen (gold);

Other: Tim Holtz Idea-ology "Small Talk" stickers.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Tiny Craft #14 - Spooky

ATC's With a Heart #121 - Hallowe'en - TOP 3

Country View Challenges (October) - Hallowe’en or Harvest (2nd entry)

Crafty Calendar (October) - Hallowe’en (2nd entry)

Dragonfly Dreams (October) - Hallowe’en (3rd entry)

Lost Coast Portal to Creativity #153 - 31 Days of Hallowe'en - WINNER

Sheepski #67 - Autumn/Hallowe’en (3rd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Hallowe'en/Spooky - DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT

Snippets Playground #439 - Anything Goes With Snippets

The Most Magical Time of the Year #1 - The Most Magical Time of the Year (3rd entry)

That's all for today - take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Hubble Bubble ...

Hi there, today I would like to share the results of my first playtime with some of the new stash I bought at Port Sunlight on Saturday. I don’t normally do Hallowe’en, but there are so many challenges out there I thought I’d buy a couple of new Lavinia Hallowe’en stamps so that I could join in 😀

First I stamped and heat embossed Willow the Witch and my tree (it is called “Seasonal Tree” and I chose it primarily to create Autumn cards, but I think it also works very well for Hallowe’en). I then created my background with blended Distress Oxide inks, created a moon halo with a circle mask, and stamped the moon 2nd generation. I stamped my birds (as I don’t have bats !!) and highlighted everything with a selection of Sakura Stardust pens and Posca glitter pens. I also created some sparkly dots to represent the spell bubbling out of the cauldron, and some wisps of mist with a white pastel pencil. 

I only realised when I came to make this card that I don’t have any specific Hallowe’en sentiments, so I finished off with a “magical” sentiment from Crafter’s Companion, and edged the card with sponged black DO to create some depth before matting onto plain black card stock. A fairly simple Hallowe’en card, but effective I think.

Stamps: Lavinia - Willow the Witch, Seasonal Tree, Moon, Birds; sentiment - Crafter’s Companion Enchanted Dreams;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Barn Door, Ripe Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade, Fossilized Amber, Black Soot); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist); Sakura Stardust pens (red, orange, clear); Posca Sparkle pens (Sparkling Orange, Sparkling Violet); Posca pen (metallic gold); pastel pencil (white);

Tools: Lavinia circle and hill masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Aud Sentiments #298 - Hallowe’en/Fall plus a Sentiment

Country View Challenges (October) - Hallowe’en or Harvest

Crafty Calendar (October) - Hallowe’en - TOP 3

Creative Inspirations (October) - Autumn or Hallowe’en

Craft Rocket #97 - Autumn/Hallowe’en

Daisy Chain #68 - Autumn/Hallowe’en

Dragonfly Dreams (October) - Hallowe’en

Sheepski #67 - Autumn/ Hallowe’en

Taylormadecards4u (October) - Anything Goes with option Hallowe’en/Fall (2nd entry)

The Most Magical Time of the Year #1 - The Most Magical Time of the Year

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Abracadabra!

Hi everyone ... hope you are enjoying your weekend. October already ... where is the year going to?? ... And that means that it's nearly time for Hallowe'en!! I don't do much in the way of Hallowe'en cards but as there are so many themed challenges out there I thought I'd just have a go at one ... and here it is!

 

 

My mojo is still very shaky at the moment ... my dad is not at all well, which is a lot of worry on top of everything else that has already happened this year. Still I'm quite pleased with how this one turned out.

 

 

Stamps: LotV "Abracadabra"; Whimsy Friendship Ticket;

Media: Promarkers; imaged edged with TH "dusty concord" distress ink;

Papers: The Robin's Nest (Purple/black glitter), ?? (black);

Supplies: ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Fleur-de-Lys nestabilities; X-Cut star dies; Stephanie Weightman "Tattered lace" alphabet for sentiment; Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" embossing folder.

 

Challenges:

Sketch & Stash #122 - Sketch 

 

 

Crafty Calendar (October) - Hallowe'en

Bearly Mine #106 - Hallowe'en

My Mum's #10 - Hallowe'en

Crazy 4 Challenges #206 - Hallowe'en

Really Reasonable Ribbon #81 - Hallowe'en + Ribbon

Gem Of A Challenge #100 - Let's Hear It For The Boys

Fussy & Fancy #99 - One For The Boys

Cute Card Thursday #289 - Signs of Distress

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Going Dotty!

Passion for Promarkers #218 - Lots of Legs!

(2 on boy, 2 on teddy :-) )

Creative Craft #20 - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Penny Black & More (October) - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #201 - Anything Goes

MAWTT - Anything Goes

Totally Gorjuss #204 - Anything Goes With Stars

Crafty Ribbons #64 - Anything Goes With Ribbon 

That's all for today. Thanks very much for visiting and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Hugs,

Witching Hour

Hi everyone, hope you are enjoying your weekend. Just a short post from me today to show you my only Hallowe'en card so far. I don't really "do" Hallowe'en and I'm well behind with my Chrimbo cards so I really should be getting on with those; but I just had to try to bodge together a card from my (very) limited supplies for all the spooky challenges there are out there!

Definitely not one of my best; but the best I could do with what I had available.

Stamps: Debbi Moore;

Paper: The Robin's Nest;

Supplies: computer-generated sentiment; ribbon, lace and gems from my stash;

Tools: Marianne D lantern die.

Challenges:

Craft Your Passion #132 - Which Witch Is Which?
Sparkles #37 - Hallowe'en
Dream Valley #43 - Hallowe'en
Sentimental Sundays #125 - Hallowe'en

Really Reasonable Ribbon #58 - Hallowe'en With Ribbon
Simon Says - Eerie Inspiration

Heck Of A Challenge - Spooktacular!

Crafty Calendar - All Things Spooky!

Stampin' For the Weekend #19 - Something Spooky
Divas By Design #57 - Something Spooky
Crafting For All Seasons #38 - Spooky
Papertake Weekly - Fright Night
Fab 'n' Funky #143 - Orange, Black + Choice (purple)
Paper Pretties Monday #61 - Orange, Black + 1 (purple)
Crazy 4 Challenges #159 - Orange, Black, Purple
Sketch Saturday #230 - Sketch

Off now to try to  get a bit of Chrimbo colouring done before the light completely fades!

Penny Black Saturday #174 - Too Cute To Spook!

Woo hoo! ( or should I say woooooooh!!) It's Saturday, and that means that it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge! Thanks as always to everyone who joined in last week's challenge - adorable entries as always!

It's coming up to that time of year when ghosts and ghoulies are out and about, so we thought we should have a theme to make you hide behind the sofa ... but then we decided to be kind so this week's theme is

Too Cute To Spook!

So it's time to bring out all those cute Hallowe'en stamps and take them over to the dark side lol!

This week's prize is this totally adorable and apt stamp - "Frightful Flight"

Aww!

Don't forget to be eligible for this bundle of cuteness you should submit a new project that features a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stckeroo as its main focus.

The other DT ladies have produced the most adorable selection of not-at-all-scary Hallowe'en cards ... here's mine.

I do struggle a bit with Hallowe'en cards as I don't have a great many supplies (3 stamps to be exact, and no specialist dies or punches) ... so I tend to keep them simple. But as luck would have it, earlier in the year I spotted this scrumptious paper in a nearby craft shop and just knew it would be perfect for a Hallowe'en card - I was well chuffed!! :-) The paper is double sided, so I used the plain side as my outer square and background stamped it with a rather large PB spider's web!  I don't have any Hallowe'en sentiments, but luckily I had this one stamped out from last year, sent to me by the lovely Domi!

Stamps: Penny Black "Witchy Mouse" (2253K), "halloween web" (3902K), "Trick or Treat.." (1906E);

Media: Copics (fur), Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: The Robin's Nest;

Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House; sparkly lace, ribbon and spider's web peel offs from my stash.

Challenges

Sparkles #22 - Hallowe'en

Dream Valley #18 - Hallowe'en

Stamp With Stampavie #154 - Hallowe'en

Allsorts #126 - Hallowe'en

Paper Sundaes #91 - Hallowe'en or Fall

Craft your Days Away #31 - Hallowe'en Colours

PaperPlay #42 - Use Black

Papertake Weekly - Spooky Hues

Hooked on Craft #10 - Something Spooky!

Stampin' For The Weekend #19 - Spooky!

Creative Card Crew - Spooky Fun

Crafty Cardmakers #54 - Cute With A Dark Twist

ABC - B is for Boo

The more eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that I have managed to find 13 challenges for my card to enter - now that really is spooky! Let's hope it's lucky for some lol!

Hope you can join us this week - have a great weekend!