Today's Prompt: Clones If you could clone yourself, what would you have your clones do for you today? I'm not sure I would want to clone myself. Wouldn't my other me have the same arthritis, etc.? If so, she would be pretty useless to me. But if they could take out the arthritis gene and maybe a few others that are wonky and replace them with healthy non-arthritic genes, that would be very useful. She would be able to do all the things I can't do know . . . like scrubbing the kitchen floor and cleaning out cupboards. If she thinks like me I'm sure I could keep her pretty busy in the studio trying out all the ideas I keep trying to make time for.
From the sweet to the spooky, Halloween is hands down one of our favorite times of year! And what’s not to love!? Free candy, imaginative costumes, and some good old-fashioned scares to get our hearts racing are a winning combination and create some prime subjects for memory keeping and papercrafting magic!
When wonderful memories and adorable photos come together, you need a selection of top-notch materials to create your scrapbook pages, and this year we’ve got a real treat in store with the Fa-BOO-lous paper suite! To show it off, we’ll be having some fun with a handful of scrapbook pages and an adorable selection of treat holders even sweeter than the candy inside!To start off, though, let’s take a closer look at the Fa-BOO-lous collection itself. This whimsically spooky suite lives up to its name with a variety of fun patterns, Halloween characters, and icons to bring more than a little spirit to your artwork. Right at the heart of this collection is the Fa-BOO-lous Paper Packet + Sticker Sheet.
The distinguishing patterns, characters, and icons that set Fa-BOO-lous apart are all reflected in the papers, while the sticker sheet brings some additional options and titles to the crafting table. The individual icons and images present in the patterned papers can even be snipped from the pages to create standalone accents if you like. When taken all together, the Fa-BOO-lous Paper Packet + Sticker Sheet creates a one-of-a-kind foundation for your Halloween scrapbook pages and crafts! To help maximize your crafting ability when using Fa-BOO-lous, this collection also has a coordinating cardstock pack, with six colors to help you create beautiful designs and smooth transitions between patterned papers and solid colors. For the Fa-BOO-lous Coordinating Cardstock pack, we’ve included our Color of the Year, Melon, accompanied by Black, Linen, Paprika, Peach, and Seabrook cardstock sheets; these same colors can also be seen in the Fa-BOO-lous Paper Packet + Sticker Sheet, so coordination between the cardstock and Fa-BOO-lous patterned papers is flawless every time! It is this whimsical color scheme that helps the Fa-BOO-lous collection capture just the right amount of playfulness for the Halloween holiday.
Cardstock is a staple in any sort of memory keeping or papercrafting project, and it not only makes an appearance in the scrapbook pages we’ll show you today, but is also used in the selection of treat holders we’ll be looking at later in the post. Whenever you craft with Fa-BOO-lous, it’s always a good idea to make sure you’ve got the Fa-BOO-lous Coordinating Cardstock pack close at hand! Along with the exclusive papers and stickers, Fa-BOO-lous also includes its own selection of Melon Dots! These dots are a great way to add a touch of pizazz to your pieces.
They have a slight shine on their finish to attract the eye, and each dot comes with adhesive already applied to the back, making it a simple matter to apply them to your artwork for an eye-catching accent every time! Whether you’re placing a single dot, or creating a cluster using varying sizes, the Fa-BOO-lous Melon Dots are an incredible addition to this collection! Rounding out the Fa-BOO-lous collection is the exclusive Stamp + Thin Cuts set! These stamps and Thin Cuts metal dies are designed specifically to coordinate with the patterns and themes included in the sticker sheet and patterned papers. With an adorable cadre of ghosts, cats, skeletons, spiders, and bats, the Fa-BOO-lous Stamp + Thin Cuts set is a must-have for your 2022 Halloween crafting projects! This too-cute troop is joined by a jack-o-lantern with options for three different faces, a spider web corner accent, and a couple of title and accent options. As with all our Stamp + Thin Cuts sets, the Fa-BOO-lous stamps are accompanied by coordinating metal dies to effortlessly cut out your stamped images!
These stamps can also be used to create cute background accents, which you will see in a few places on the Fa-BOO-lous scrapbook pages. You’ll also notice that the Fa-BOO-lous Thin Cuts have been used to create central accent pieces for the treat holders. Regardless of where they are used, the stamps and metal dies of the Fa-BOO-lous Stamp + Thin Cuts sets are an invaluable asset as you craft with Fa-BOO-lous!
Now that we’ve given you a better introduction to the Fa-BOO-lous collection, it’s time to get a better view of what can be done with this incredible suite! Along with the awesome array of new Fa-BOO-lous products, the Fa-BOO-lous special includes an exclusive workshop with instructions for scrapbook pages and Halloween treat holders! These projects are a great way to get into the Halloween spirit and have some great crafting fun while you’re at it! (As an added perk, this workshop kit is available at a discount during the Fa-BOO-lous special, allowing crafters to save 20% on this bundle of exclusive Fa-BOO-lous products!)
The Fa-BOO-lous Workshop Kit includes instructions and materials to help you create a single 12” x 12” scrapbook page, two 2-page scrapbook layouts, and a dozen treat holders. Each scrapbook page includes multiple options for photos and journaling. Having a good balance between photos and journaling is a key aspect to consider when creating or designing your own scrapbook pages, and the pre-designed pages featured in the Fa-BOO-lous Workshop Kit do this well.
For example, let’s look at this single “Halloween Cutie” scrapbook page. It includes spots for seven photos and a central journaling section, putting your stories right at the center of this crafting project and allowing you to surround it with your favorite pictures to complement the experiences and memories you record.
By placing the journaling piece in the center and clustering photos around it, it not only draws the viewer’s eyes to the written story but allows for photos close at hand to fill in the context of your story. This page is an excellent example of an effective storytelling device, and with so much memory keeping potential in just one page, it’s easy to see that big things are in store with Fa-BOO-lous!
Like the single page, our other scrapbook layouts also have excellent options for showcasing your treasured photos and favorite fun moments. Another great example of this potential in action is this 2-page “Spooky” layout, with spaces for eight photos and another ample journaling section! Along with the fun photos displayed on this layout, the pages were designed to incorporate many of the stickers, Thin Cuts die-cuts, and stamps, layered onto the already vibrant patterned papers used for this pair of pages. Many of these accent pieces were attached with Thin 3-D Foam Tape for added dimension. This step is an easy one and can be incorporated into almost any project!
In this scrapbook layout, we see a more linear design at play, with the photos arranged more in rows than in the clusters we saw in the previous page. This approach allows for plenty of photos to still be used, but also presents a more straightforward design and places a greater emphasis on your pictures, as the journaling section sits at the bottom left corner. With the journaling in this area, the story flows naturally from left to right in both words and pictures. A design like this allows you to maximize your storytelling capacity while still incorporating a variety of fun stickers, die-cuts, stamps, and patterned papers for eye-catching embellishments and background accents.
The last scrapbook layout we’ll be looking at today focuses more on the photo inclusion, but still gives place for journaling. With four 3” x 4” photo spaces, and two 4” x 6” ones, this “Boo-tiful” layout is a great way to make your pictures the focus of the pages, and after all, a picture is worth 1,000 words! Another aspect of note when considering this layout is the relative simplicity of the base page design. The foundation of this layout begins with two Black cardstock pages, and additional patterns and colors are layered on with seven vertical strips of patterned paper. To cap things off at the top and bottom edges, zip strips from the edges of the Fa-BOO-lous Paper Packet have been added as tidy borders.
Once the patterned paper and zip strips have been adhered to the base pages, you’ve got a wonderful canvas ready to complete with additional stickers, Fa-BOO-lous Melon Dots, photo mats, and, of course, your selection of photos! With all these elements combined, your “Boo-tiful” layout, along with the “Spooky” layout and “Halloween Cutie” single page, are sure to be pieces you will look back on fondly for years to come! We’ve loved showing off these Fa-BOO-lous scrapbook pages, but we’re not done yet! As we mentioned at the beginning of this post, the Fa-BOO-lous Workshop Kit also includes instructions and materials to create a selection of adorable treat holders for even more crafting fun! These treat holders are created with a few simple folds and a touch of adhesive to form a pocket, and are embellished with a handful of stickers and stamped die-cuts from the Fa-BOO-lous Stamp + Thin Cuts set.
A few of these treat holder designs even include simple inserts, allowing die-cut Halloween characters to peek out over the edge of the pocket. Each treat holder measures 2” x 3” when complete, allowing enough space for a fun size candy bar, or a handful of smaller goodies.
The pre-designed Fa-BOO-lous Workshop Kit contents supply you with the materials to create twelve treat holders—3 each of 4 designs. Thanks to their simple design and the step-by-step instructions in the workshop guide, it’s quick and easy to create these treat holders en masse for Halloween parties, small and festive gifts for friends, or to add a unique touch to your trick-or-treat offering!
We are in love with the Fa-BOO-lous collection and all the crafting potential it offers! This incredible suite and its accompanying workshop kit are available through October 31, so you can craft with it right up to the Halloween holiday itself! The instruction guide for the Fa-BOO-lous Workshop Kit is available for download on our website; click here to access it!
No matter how you choose to utilize the Fa-BOO-lous paper suite and workshop kit, this whimsical collection is the perfect way both to celebrate Halloween 2022 and commemorate those celebrations with stunning scrapbook pages and papercrafts. It’s an all-around winner of a collection, and we’re excited to see how the members of our amazing crafting community put it to use this autumn! What’s your favorite part of this collection, and how do you plan to use it in your own Halloween crafts? Leave a comment below and let us know! We can’t wait to hear from you!
Amity Doncaster is a world traveller who is used to adventure and risk . . . until she becomes prey of the notorious killer, the Bridegroom. I am not going to say too much about this book. That does not mean I didn't like it. Actually the opposite. It was a lot of fun and very suspenseful . . . and I'm afraid to give away too much of the story. So in this case all I will say is if you are looking for a good read this book may be for you.
Today's Prompt: OMG Have you recently seen a peer (another parent, a coworker, a friend at school) do something that shocked you? These kinds of events make our jaw drop because people we think we have a lot in common with turn out to be totally different than we thought. What happened?
Yes I have witnessed some of these jaw dropping events . . . I guess I assume that all people who think would have similar opinions on certain subjects especially gender-bias, racial and religious-bias and so on.
I will say that my husband and I got into a HUGE fight years ago when I heard him declare, upon watching a news report about making O Canada more gender inclusive, that that was a stupid idea and that the anthem has always been a certain way and should not change. I crushed him with facts and realities, including how the anthem first came into being and the number of times it has already been altered. And then the knock out punch was to wonder why I wasn't as Canadian as he was.
Since that time, whenever he makes a comment without thinking it through, I ask if he wishes to get into another O Canada battle.
David Usher (born April 24, 1966) is a British-born Canadian musician, best-selling author, keynote speaker, and activist best known as the front man for the band Moist. He has also released a number of solo albums. He is the founder of Reimagine AI, an artificial intelligence creative studio.
He was born in Oxford, England to Thai Buddhist artist Samphan Usher and Queen's University economics professor Dan Usher. He has lived in various places such as Malaysia, New York City, California and Thailand since early childhood, before his family settled in Kingston, Ontario. He attended high school at Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute at the same time that Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip and Hugh Dillon of the Headstones attended the school. Usher attended Queen's University for one semester before transferring to Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, majoring in political science.
While studying in Vancouver, Usher helped form the band Moist, composed of Usher on vocals, Mark Makoway on guitars, Jeff Pearce on bass, Kevin Young, who, like Usher, had moved to Vancouver from Kingston, on keyboards, and Paul Wilcox on drums. Usher became the principal songwriter for the band.
Moist's debut album Silver was released in 1994 and went on to achieve four-time platinum status, selling 400,000 copies in Canada.
Today's Prompt: Adjusting What's the biggest adjustment you've ever had to make in your life?
In my world, I've had to make adjustments so many times that I'm not even sure which is the biggest. We've lived in tiny apartments and big homes. Each required adjustments. We've had children and we've had an empty nest. More adjustments. I've been married and single. A whole lot of adjustments.
Today's Prompt: School Play Were you ever involved in a school play as a student? Did you act, sing, design props, play an instrument, or hold prompt cards? Tell us all about it! The details are foggy because you know it was back in ancient history but I vaguely recall being a master of ceremonies for something (Christmas concert?) and I shared the podium with someone (a boy). I was in Grade 6 at Forest Park School. I wore a long red and white dress. That's all I've got for you.
Today's Prompt: Wild Pets If you could have any wild animal as a pet, which would you choose?
I like animals in the abstract. I am not a pet owner. We had all kinds of pets when the boys were young but mostly cats. The worst pets we had (In My World) were the mice, a gift from my sister . . . although she still denies she did that. The boys were very young and I was responsible for the horrid little creatures. We now have two cats, Fibber McGee and Molly. They are a pain in the neck but they also keep life interesting.
We are so excited to share this shaker birthday card with you! Not only does it use the new Round Balloon Thin Cuts, but, if you look closely, you can see that we shook things up with how we created the window!
Unlike the shaker cards we’ve shown you on this blog, so far, all of the shaker cards pictured in our new Core Products Catalog have the window mechanism built from behind a large framing project piece, rather than on top of it!
Let us show you what we mean!
If you recall, in May we shared how to recreate the shaker window on the Tutti Frutti: Here’s the Scoop scrapbook page. On that page, and up until then, we built a shaker window on top of a base and then attached it to the project.
On this birthday card, we are still building the shaker element separately and then attaching it to the art. However, the top “frame” that attaches to the acetate window is a larger piece of the final project, which helps to seamlessly integrate the shaker element into the artwork.
Another thing that we did differently with this card was to create the window’s shape using a die that is not specifically designed as a “shaker window” Thin Cuts. The round balloon, as you can see in this very same card, is part of a standalone Thin Cuts set that can be used to create paper balloon shaped accents and does not have to be used for creating windows. (How fun that it can be, though!!)
Let’s take a closer look at this card and assemble the front shaker part of it, together!
1. From the Seabrook cardstock, die cut the balloon and keep the resulting negative space portion to use on your card. (Keep the balloon, too, for another project!)
Tip: When you are cutting the balloon, remember which side of the cardstock you want facing up, toward the front. One side of the cardstock is the true Seabrook color, and the other side is a lighter tone of the color. On our card, we wanted to use the lighter side as the front and kept that in mind as we positioned our die.
Tip: We also wanted to use the lighter side of the Ballerina cardstock. Because a circle is a symmetrical shape no matter how you turn it, it didn’t really matter which way we cut it.
3. Flip the prepared Seabrook cardstock over and attach the circle acetate. Only use adhesive along the edges of the cut-out balloon shape on the cardstock.
4. Carefully pull the circle foam tape off the backing sheet it comes on and attach it to the perimeter of the acetate.
5. Add gems and hearts, or your choice of filling, to the center of the frame. Do not add too much, so there is enough room for movement once the shaker is complete.
6. Expose the adhesive on the top of the circle foam tape and attach the cardstock circle.
7. Attach the shaker window to your project!
As you can see on this project, the back of our window is light Ballerina and the cardstock that it was attached to is light Flamingo. We did this intentionally to make the window more visually interesting, especially since a few of the mini heart colors are on the darker side. With the lighter center, you can see all the pieces and nothing gets lost in the background.
If you do want your shaker window’s background to match the piece you are attaching it to on your project, you can simply skip the step of cutting out the backing circle and attach another part of your project to the shaker instead. This may be a little bit trickier, depending on what your project is. If it gets too complicated, just cut out a circle in the same patterned paper or cardstock color as the piece your shaker will be attached to on your project and use that to back your window before attaching it. No one will know!
This cute card is just one of the many shaker window cards pictured in our Core Products Catalog using this new approach for the window! We’ve collected them all for you below, along with their recipes, so you can continue to get inspired and shake things up!
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