13 Days of Halloween - Days 12

Hi stampers!  I'm back with day 12 and I have a fabulous project for you today.  I found a super spooky and cool candleabra at Target a while back but didn't get it because I didn't NEED it.  But then I found this great idea on a blog from a fellow demo (you can see her fab blog here). I just had to order the nit owl DSP after I saw her candles.  NOW, before I get any hate mail about the dangers of paper and adhesives and flames these will NEVER be lit and are for decoration only!  My dad AND step dad were both firemen before they retired so I'm an expert on fire safety!  :-)  So here are my candles. 

They were easy to make and I just used plain white candles.  I simply trimmed the DSP to fit the candle (making sure I had the image I wanted well centered).  I then ruffled some waffle paper (love that stuff) on the back on both the top and bottom.  The part that took the longest was the glitter.  I used some crystal effects and just piped a thin line across each edge and sprinkled on the silver glass glitter and let it dry for a long while.  After it was dry, it was just a matter of a couple of strips of sticky strip to adhere to the candle. 

I just love them!  They are so spooky with the black and white and the hint of the silver glitter!  They worked perfect with the candle holder too!  I just love the black dangly crystals! 

Hope you like it.  See you tomorrow with my final project...it's almost time for one of my favorite holidays!  I'm all decked out in 80's style stuff for work today...sadly I'll probably just look goofy since I'll probably be the only one dressed up...

Happy stamping!

13 Days of Halloween - Days 7-11:-)

Hi stampers!  Soooo, life has gotten in the way of all the fun stuff again!  I hate when that happens!  Work was crazy last week and I worked a ton of hours so my blogging suffered and I've been trying to get caught up on a lot of things this week!  Anyway, I have days 7-11 share today so the descriptions of the projects will be brief.  If you should have any questions, please email me at Mindy.Backes@gmail.com and I'll answer any questions you may have!  So....here goes! 

Day 7:

Here are some cute little treats I made.  This is the matchbox die and it creates a little box and slider that holds 4 hershey's nuggets just perfect.  I went a step further and glued a small strip of DSP to each nugget with 2 glue dots.  So easy.  The papers are wicked fun and the nite owl DSP.

Day 8

Here are some more simple treats.  This time I used the mini milk carton die.  I just love the big shot!  I wanted some super easy treats so all I did was cut out the carton and run the Haunting Hill jumbo wheel over it.  I slapped a bat that I punched out on it and added some ribbon and D-U-N!  Now, I could have made these a lot fancier but they look cute this way too (although how cute would the little kids from Fang-Tastic look on these?).  I had one sparkly bat left from the black paper I embossed with II EP so one treat is special and sparkly! 

Day 9

Spooky spots!  This is a cute little card I whipped up that I based off of a treat box I saw another demo had made.  I loved the design but didn't have the die so I said that would make a great card!  It's a bit out of my comfort zone with the offset layers but I love it.  And I love the details.  The lace is pinned down with one of our shimmer brads, I LOVE them!  Stamp sets are Dark & Dreary and the paper is also Wicked Fun.  As you can see, it has a sparkly bat as well!

Day 10


Who says the glass glitter is just for Christmas?  Not me!  In this card I used more of the Wicked Fun DSP (can you tell I LOVE it) and this is one of the pages that is flocked...some of the big black dots are fuzzy, how fun!  The main image here is actually cut out from the Midnight musings wheel.  I love that you can use the wheels to do a border OR use any part of them you like!  I think the glitter is just perfect for this project as well....sparkly AND spooky!

Day 11

Here I have another home decor project using the Decor Element pumpkin faces.  This is super easy.  I simply got a glass craft block from my local craft store and frosted the front panel (you don't HAVE to do this but you can clearly see the lights inside if you don't, so I prefer to use etching cream to make it less see-thru).  I stuck some orange lights inside and then applied my pumpkin face to the outside.  Tie some ribbon on for a stem and leaves and plug er in!  So cute.  I also think this would be super spooky with purple lights inside and the DE that has the from the crypt design!  Sadly, I don't have that DE!  Hope you like my pumpkin!

Whew, did I overwhelm you?  Sorry!  But I have two SUPER projects left Friday and Saturday.  They are my two faves!  So make sure to check back!  See you soon and happy stamping!

13 Days of Halloween - Day 6

Hi stampers!  It's day 6 today and I have a super cute project for you.  It's inspired by an example in the mini catalog. I love how our catalogs are more than just that, they have WONDERFUL ideas and inspiration in them!   I actually made this project (the insert that is) twice.  Here is the first version.  

So why did I make two versions???  Because I loved it in the mini catalog and I didn't have the DSP they had used to make it.  So, I improvised and this is how it turned out.  Not bad, instead of the DSP I just used white CS and used one of the bat decor elements images in the upper right corner.  I loved how they used the swirly image from the set Baroque Motifs....I NEVER would have thought to use it for Halloween but it totally worked.  My colors here are pumpkin pie, basic black and pear pizzaz.  Unfortunately in this version (the second)

I used old olive by accident instead.  For some reason I keep forgetting about my in colors this year!  I was bummed that I messed up but it still looks ok (even though I prefer the pear) and I didn't want to waste this piece of DSP since I had cut it and stamped on it already.

So how did I make it?  It was so easy.  I first applied my Happy Halloween decor element on the FRONT of the glass in the frame.  Putting it on the front is important as it would be backwards on the inside.  Next, I simply cut the DSP to the size of the frame (8 x 10 in this case) and then stamped on it.  The DSP is from the Nite Owl pack in the holiday mini.  I made sure I cut it so that the fence on the bottom and the tree would show. 

As you can see in the pic, I have it up by my DE pumpkins and it looks totally cool and spooky!  Hope you enjoyed today's project.  I have to work late every night but today this week and all day Saturday (booooo) so I hope to have time to share more projects with you...I'll try hard!!!!  Thanks for looking and happy stamping!

SALE - Get a headstart on your holiday projects!

Hi stampers!  Starting today, SU is offering some new bundles at discounted prices on holiday themed stamps and papers!  There are some great things out the holiday mini!  You can click on over the the SU customer site to check them out...all you have to do is click right HERE . 

If you see something you like make sure you click on over to MY WEBSITE so that you get the best pricing and the best shipping.  My site can be found HERE. 


Happy shopping:-)

13 Days of Halloween - Day 5

Hi Stampers!  It's day 5 here!  Today, I have an extra special project to share from my friend Michelle.  The other day she and her adorable daughter gave me a Halloween treat at Turbo kick class.  It's a hand sanitizer in a cute little holder.  I'm pretty sure there are many tutorials out there for them.  I know Kimberly VanDiepen has one on her blog here.  It's shaped a bit different but the same idea.  So here is Michelle's treat.

How stinking cute is that???  And it has marshmallow scented hand sanitizer in it!  The little witch is from the Fang-tastic stamp set in the Holiday Mini.  I hope you enjoyed seeing it as much as I did getting it!  It was just so cute I had to share it with you.  See you soon and happy stamping!

13 Days of Halloween - Day 4

Hey stampers, I better get crackin' here!  Not too many days before H-ween and I promised 13 days of projects!  No worries, I'm gonna do it!  So, here is tonight's (it will be quick as it's late and I need to get to bed!).  Today I have a pumpkin for you. 

Isn't he cute?  He was so easy to make and didn't take long at all.  The longest part was waiting for the glue to dry!  All I did was to cover 4 decor elements blocks (they are MDF type blocks 3 x 3 square and come 4 to a set) with pumpkin pie textured card stock cut into 3 x 3 squares.  And you only need to cover the front, sides, and top since you can't see the back, bottom, or middle!  It takes 10 total.  I used the tombow multi glue for this.  It has one end with a flat applicator and then you spread it around and stick the paper on the block.  Easy as pie.  I also glued the blocks together after I got all the paper on and then tied the ribbon around the whole thing.  Here is what it looked like before I started (don't mind that there are only three blocks, I got the idea to take this pic after I'd made Mr. Pumpkin and it looks like I broke into this set of blocks and only used one, whoops...time to order more!).

Those ugly brown things, those are the blocks.  Cool huh?

Next, I applied my decor element pumpkin face and I was almost done!  All I did then was add a "stem" with brown ribbon and cut a few very thin strips of old olive.  I wrapped them around my paper piercer and glued them on as little curly tendrils.  This pumpkin is great....it won't get old and moldy and mushy AND no one will smash it in the street:-) 

Hope you enjoyed the project!  See you soon and happy stamping!

13 Days of Halloween - Day 3

Hey Stampers!  It's day 3 of 13 Days of Halloween!  I can't beleive it's October 10th already!  Um and that it's like 90 degrees today either!  I mean, hey I'm all about warm weather BUT 80 and 90 is a bit much for me!  I love fall and when it's like 70 out...plus I kind of said good bye to all my summer clothes and want to wear all my cute fall stuff now!  Oh and the super cute jacket I bought yesterday!!!!  But anyway, back to the stamping!


Today's project is another "grown-up" halloween card.  I loved this card as soon as I saw it on Twila Mooneyham's blog!  I call it Halloween vintage!  I never would have thought of making my Halloween cards vintage but I love it!  It's sophisticated yet spooky!  I also loved how she used the label punch to frame the main focal point.  Here it is:

Stampin' Supplies: 

Stamps:  From the Crypt, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Wicked cool
Paper, whisper white, very vanilla, old olive, basic black
Ink:  Basic black, basic gray, old olive
Accessories:  Raven lace trim, designer label punch, basic rhinestones

Hope you enjoy it!  Happy stamping and see you soon!

13 Days of Halloween - Day 2

Hi stampers!  I'm back for the second day of 12 Days of Halloween.  Check out today's SUPER awesome project.  It's a haunted house....just lookie:

Isn't it just the cutest thing ever????  I made it using the design-a-house from the Holiday Mini catalog and the great part is that they are under $6!!!!  It's made of a sturdy white chip board and comes flat.  All you have to do it bend it up and use some sticky strip to glue it together.  I was afraid it would be hard but it had really clear directions and was super easy!  It also has a great template so that you can cut paper to glue to it as I did with the roof and the wicked fun DSP.  The tombow multi liquid glue is fab for this project!

Now, for all the other little details....it does come with a little door knob but I used a glitter brad instead.  I also spray painted it black.  The windows are just daffodil delight that I stamped on and then glued to the inside.  The medallion on the front is just a strip of DSP folded every quarter of an inch accordion style and then folded in on itself!  And those bats!  Now that idea came from the SU guru herself, Shelli!  Simply ink up some basic black CS with versamark and then heat emboss the whole thing with iridescent ice embossing powder and you have instant glitter paper.  I just punched them out with the bat punch.  Finally, the chimney has some waffle paper smoke coming out of it and I used some more tombow glue to adhere some chunky black glitter on the edge. 

I kind of want to do more with it but don't want it to be toooo busy.  But really, there are SOOOOO many things you could do here!  And I can't wait to make a Christmas or gingerbread house and a Valentine's house!!!!  Anyway, that's the project for today.  I'll leave you with the other views of it.  Hope you liked it!  Happy stamping...or building as the case may be:-)

13 Days of Halloween - Day 1

Hi stampers!  Of course we know the 12 days of Christmas but before that you have to have 13 days of Halloween!  Why thirteen you ask?  Well, 13 is a creepy, spooky number....there is that movie 13 Ghosts (one of the FEW scary movies I have seen, unfortunately, LOL)...and it just sounded cool, haha.  Plus, I love Halloween and have been having fun making cards and also decorations for the house!  Anyway check back often to see all of my cool Halloween cards and other projects.  I've shown you a couple already, like my spooky frame and white pumpkins with our decor elements! 

So, I have a card for you today.  The basic idea was inspired by a card I saw on the Stampin Up demo site.  I was amazed how the demo got the skull to be white....she simply masked over it with a post it note that had been punched from a circle and then sponged away.  Pull away the mask and the skull is creepy white!  PURE GENIUS!!!!  I also used the waffle paper as a ruffled accent.  I just love this card, it's more of a sophisticated grown-up spooky card!  The deets will be listed under the photo.  Enjoy and check back often for the other 12 super spooky projects!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps: From the crypt, sanded background, grateful greetings
Paper, Rich razzleberry, whisper white, pear pizzazz, wicked fun DSP
Ink:  Staz-on, pear pizzazz, rich razzleberry
Accessories:  Rhinestones, basic black striped grosgrain ribbon, waffle paper asst #2

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

Clearance Rack Blitz!

Hey stampers!  Exciting stuff going on over on my demo web site!!!!  SU is doing a clearance rack blitz today through the 18th!  They will be posting over 200 retired items to the clearance rack at ROCK BOTTOM prices!!!  These are items NOT found in the current catalogs!  So hurry on over to my store and check it out!  Get your favorites or things you missed out on the first time around at discount prices!  There are rub ons, inks, papers, DSPs, chipboard, buttons and lots more!  Now, I THINK new items will be added over the next few weeks, so check back often BUT BE AWARE some of these items might sell out quick and are on a first come first serve basis!!!!  Please email or call if you have any questions.  Shop the clearance rack now!

I'll try to be back with a pretty project soon!  Happy shopping....and stamping:-)