{"id":543,"date":"2013-10-21T00:00:45","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T04:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.simonsaysstampblog.com\/mondaychallenge\/?p=543"},"modified":"2013-10-22T10:11:00","modified_gmt":"2013-10-22T14:11:00","slug":"challenge-spooky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.simonsaysstampblog.com\/mondaychallenge\/?p=543","title":{"rendered":"Challenge: Spooky"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I sit and sip coffee from my Nightmare Before Christmas mug, I ponder all the spooky crafty possibilities. From stitching up a monstrous creation to making a sweet little trick or treat sign, embracing my dark side for some steampunk with edge to simply making something with a lot of black and grey – this week let\u2019s embrace the spooky.<\/p>\n

As soon as spooky was mentioned Tracy<\/a> knew she had to indulge in a little Halloween fun.<\/p>\n

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I have a collection building up at the side of my desk of new products yet to be used, old products not used for a while and a few gifts from generous blogging friends, so for this challenge I decided to use a mix of all these elements. I wanted to use the Tim Holtz Laboratorie Paper Stash<\/a>, I have not used the Umbrella Man Die<\/a> for such a long time and also wanted to incorporate that in some way in my spooky piece. I also had a board leftover from Wendy Vecchi’s Art Parts Film Strip Frame<\/a> and this made the perfect base for my design.<\/em><\/p>\n

Halloween is one of Candy’s<\/a> favorite holidays for creating vintage home decor pieces. Check out her new “Spooky” frame!<\/p>\n

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Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. Being a little “vintage” myself, I prefer the decorations of my childhood; the predominantly orange and black cardboard witch faces, jointed skeletons, humped back black cats and creepy spiders. Tim Holtz Halloween die cuts Headstone<\/a>, Candlelight Fright<\/a>, The Bewitching Hour<\/a>, Raven and Scaredy Cat<\/a> provide the perfect Grungeboard<\/a> cut images to use on my spooky frame. Color washed in Sunset Orange<\/a> and Dylusions Black Marble<\/a> Ink Spray and accented with Ranger’s new Mercury Glass Stickles<\/a>, this frame really has a vintage feel. Check out the whimsical addition of my freaky umbrella (that can be removed) created from Tim Holtz’ Picture Wheel<\/a> and Tapered Fringe<\/a> die cuts!<\/em><\/p>\n

Ashli<\/a> took her inspiration in the way of color and contrast this week!<\/p>\n

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I have recently indulged in many of the trendy chalkboard products. But, you know what? I am finding them a bit challenging to use. I think it is the heavy nature of the black colors. I’m not exactly sure. But what I do know is that this is a challenge blog after all, so I am challenging myself to use all things chalky and black for this week’s theme. To begin with, I selected a fun striped paper from Polka Dot Party<\/a>. I then gathered some of my My Mind’s Eye Chalk Studio<\/a> goodies and set about layering them all together. The layered chalk labels provided the perfect journaling spot for my White Signo Pen<\/a>. I certainly needed lots of journaling space for my notes on the first tri-mester! While using these darker products was initially a challenge for me, I am pleased to say that I love the end result!<\/em><\/p>\n

This week Michelle<\/a> constructed paper puzzle blocks.<\/p>\n

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For centuries, puzzle blocks have delighted children of all ages. When arranged properly, a Whatnot Owl <\/a>eerily appears from these paper toys. Apothecary<\/a> text and a Bronzer<\/a> spray keep everything equally spooky.<\/em><\/p>\n

Anna-Karin<\/a> made a very spooky shadow box where scary items and creatures are hiding in the dark corners.<\/p>\n

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I had a Tim Holtz Configurations shadow box<\/a> waiting to be decorated and thought it was the perfect base for a spooky project. There are lots of little details hiding here and there, ready to be discovered. I used shrink plastic <\/a>to shrink some stamps <\/a>and die cuts <\/a>so that they would fit into the compartments. The Retro Halloween <\/a>stamps and dies are so much fun and I was also very happy with the finish of the different glass<\/a>, shrink plastic <\/a>and grungeboard bottles<\/a>. Do you dare to peek into those dark corners?<\/em><\/p>\n

Mona<\/a> was inspired by the black and grey color combination.<\/p>\n

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The beautiful scene in the Serenity<\/a> stamp set was calling to me to create a page in my art journal. To create the page, I combined a variety of mediums such as jet black ink<\/a>, Black Velvet Color Shine<\/a>, Tinsel Color Shine<\/a> and Grunge Paste<\/a> as well as lots of layers made using Tissue Tape<\/a> and patterned paper<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Suzz <\/a> decided to create a vintage cute tag for her spooky project.<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

I have been seeing so many beautiful holiday decorations (yes already on display) with a beautiful tarnished brass with a metallic blue colors. Although they aren’t traditional Halloween colors I thought they worked for my sweet vintage witch from the Artistic Outpost Vintage Halloween<\/a> plate. I also played around with beeswax<\/a> in the Melt Pot<\/a> for a different texture along with a touch of gold using Wendy Vecchi’s Gold Embossing Paste<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Meihsia<\/a> was inspired to make a haunted birdhouse for this Halloween.
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\nI love to alter birdhouses so this week I decided to make a spooky birdhouse to display in my craft room for Halloween. After painting the background with black<\/a> and orange acrylic paints<\/a>, I attached all the Halloween elements such as a spider, bat, skull<\/a>, spider web, branch and pumpkin<\/a> on this birdhouse. It is so fun to see this finished haunted birdhouse in the night time and my kids think it is really spooky.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dan<\/a> took the opportunity to practice a little hat-making on his spooky tag.<\/p>\n

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Halloween isn’t as big of a “thing” here in the UK as it is in the USA but I have many happy trick-or-treating memories from my Chicago childhood that I channeled into this tag. I was determined to make a tag this week (not that I ever need a lot of persuading) because now that I have a Tim Holtz worn cover<\/a> and some page pockets<\/a> I can feel a tagstravaganza coming on! Tim’s Laboratorie paper stash<\/a> was an obvious starting point, the distressed black and white designs lend themselves so well to a Halloween theme. Among the stamps I used were Tim’s skull<\/a> and the Spills and Splatters<\/a>, Mini Halloween<\/a> and Odds and Ends<\/a> sets.<\/em><\/p>\n

Andrea<\/a> wanted to use her powers of spook to make some ghoulishly delicious Halloween party treats.<\/p>\n

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Bless my genius chef of a mother, but my skills just don’t reach the kitchen realm. You know that show about being the worst cook in America? Yep. My family encouraged me to apply. Even so, I still have the desire to be involved in seasonal treat-giving. My solution is simple: instead of cooking or baking treats, I rely on the decorations of the treats to earn me brownie points (no pun intended). With eye-catching Halloween collections like Graphic 45’s “Steampunk Spells”<\/a> and Authentique’s “Thrilling,”<\/a> and Tim Holtz’s Odds and Ends stamp set<\/a>, it’s easy to feel like Martha even if you don’t know how to turn the oven on<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I (May<\/a>) am seriously spooked by how close\u00a0Christmas is!<\/p>\n

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I really can’t believe November is around the corner, and Christmas just\u00a0behind that. It’s spooky, I tell you!\u00a0So I called on my stash of Tim Holtz paints<\/a>, cardstock<\/a>, and other goodies to get cracking! In fact – Simon Says Stamp even has a Tim Holtz kit<\/a> and I think that could be just the thing to take my holiday 2013 prep from spooky to jolly.<\/p>\n

Sandra Mouwen<\/a> has a fascination for spooky things, so with Halloween around the corner she can go all out.
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\nCheck back here this Wednesday, then I’ll share a tutorial to make some spooky backgrounds with the Gelli Plate, using only 2 colors.<\/em><\/p>\n

For more inspiration click on our design team’s blog links so you can see more photos (and full supply lists) for their projects. Leave them a little comment love while you’re there so they know how they’ve inspired you too, if you’re so inclined.<\/p>\n

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As always, Simon Says Stamp<\/a> is giving away a $50 gift voucher that will go to a random entry chosen by random generator. To qualify all you need to do is create a new project that ties in (in any way!) with our theme and post it, along with a link back to this challenge, and add a link here. This challenge will end at 11:59pm on Sunday October 27th Eastern time.<\/p>\n

We will also be choosing some of our entries to put in the spotlight – a special honor where we talk about why we loved that entry in particular and award a special badge too!<\/p>\n

For the full rules, read the “challenge rules” posted in the side-bar here on our blog.<\/p>\n

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