Fright night festivities - part 2

So, here we are again.  It's November, which pretty much means that the countdown to Christmas has begun.  I've started to pull papers for my December Daily/JYC album and daydream about Christmas decorations (I can't wait to put the tree up this year).  That said, right now I'm munching on the remaining few pieces of candy corn while the scents from my Halloween-themed Yankee Candle samplers waft through the flat, so indulge me one last time as I share some 'fright night' photos with you!  And then I'm done.  I promise.

Jamie and I managed to squeeze in some pumpkin carving before leaving for the San Francisco 49ers V Denver Broncos NFL game at Wembley on Sunday morning.  I grumbled my way through the design/carving stage, but loved the result (mine is on the left, Jamie's is on the right).  Always a classic, we watched Hocus Pocus at the same time...it's still one of my favourite films.  

Some more pumpkin shots, iPod Touch style (using the Photobooth app).

Some Halloween decor - I tried and failed to successfully photograph the whole display, but it grows each year. 

More Halloween decor.

Two staples - Halloween isn't quite the same without large quantities of candy corn and the Martha Stewart Living Halloween issue.  By the way, if you're in the UK and enjoy the unrivalled Halloween treat that is candy corn, try American Soda - their customer service was fantastic and the shipping is pretty reasonably priced. 

 Krispy Kreme donuts.  The pumpkin-esque donut on the left was delicious...it had green ooze inside! 

Jamie and I didn't have a chance to wear costumes this year...instead, we spent the evening at Wembley watching the 49ers beat the Broncos.  The atmosphere was amazing, and we had a wonderful time with Jamie's family (who came down from Scotland especially for the occasion).    

And that was Halloween, 2010.  I love this holiday, but nothing beats the next month and a half.  I can't wait for Christmas.   

All Hallows' Eve

I'm so sad that Halloween is over! Yesterday was a flurry of activity - I pottered around in the morning making the cinnamon cream cheese icing for my yummy pumpkin cupcakes (inspired by the very talented Shimelle) and spent some time fiddling around with yet another Halloween project. In the afternoon my Mum and I met up for the most incredible Serendipity-style ice cream sundaes at Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly (which you can see above), where we also wanted to look at the beautiful Christmas decorations that they already have on display. Afterwards we went for a quick wander around the Harrods Pet Kingdom, where we saw some adorable Shih Tzu and Chihuahua puppies! It was especially sad for us because our 17 year old Shih Tzu died earlier this year, and these puppies bore an uncanny resemblance to him when he was just a little puppy. In the evening Jamie and I finally got around to carving our pumpkins after hauling them back from the Whole Foods Market in Camden on Friday...the lack of a car is a definite disadvantage in London. Anyhoo, this is the result:

From the left: Country 'Pumpkin' (designed and named by Jamie), Winifred (named after my favourite of the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus), Count 'Pump-cula' (also designed and named by Jamie), and the little guy in the front is called Casper (as in the ghost), because he just looks so happy.

Jamie carved all but the one in the middle, which I very ambitiously started at 8pm and immediately regretted five minutes later. I don't think I scooped out the pulp properly, and the pumpkin was way too thick to carve using a little precision saw that I found in Waitrose. So Jamie heroically stepped in and we pushed and pulled and tugged until it was eventually finished! Once we got the tea lights inside I was so glad that we perserved because they all looked so awesome lined up below our Halloween display. In honour of Halloween we watched Hocus Pocus whilst eating A LOT of junk food - by the time we started watching Interview with a Vampire I was definitely in a sugar-induced coma, which is probably a good thing because the bits of the film that I saw were just a little creepy...

Before settling down to gorge ourselves we nipped out for a few minutes to (randomly) watch the BT Tower. Over the past couple of days it has been beautifully lit up - complete with Batman-esque spotlights - and every time I have walked past it at night I have unsuccessfully tried to photograph it. During one of my attempts last night, a guy walking past us mysteriously said to stand under the Tower at 8.50pm, so Jamie and I interrupted our pumpkin carving and dutifully stood underneath it. And this is what we saw:

It turns out that yesterday marked 1000 days until the start of the 2012 Olympics in London, and to celebrate the BT Tower got a makeover and a very impressive fireworks display. It was so cool to watch, but sad that it hadn't been particularly well advertised - there were only a handful of people there. I should also thank Jamie for taking the photos (I still had serious camera shake despite his best efforts to change all of the settings on my camera).

And, finally, a couple of the Halloween projects that I have been working on this week:

Again, not ideal photos! But I'm so pleased with the end result. I got the idea for these hanging panels from the Imaginisce Idea Gallery (click on Spooky Town for some more Halloween ideas). I L-O-V-E Imaginisce papers - although I'm not always initially attracted to the designs, the heavyweight cardstock and the 'glossy spot UV accents' (as described by the Craft Emporium) add so much dimension to whatever it is they are used for. For this particular project, I used the Boo Buttons, Bestitched, Boo Whooo?, Fraidy Cat and Trick or Treat papers - all from the Craft Emporium - with some Bazzill cardstock for each background. The accents are all cut out from the patterned papers and attached with foam pads. I used repositionable glue dots for the photos in case I want to switch the photos next year. For the corners, I used my Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper and to make the holes for the ribbon I used my Crop-A-Dile Big Bite (both purchased from the Craft Barn).

For this quick and easy project, I used the Pink Paislee Twilight collection, also from the Craft Emporium. I found this "spooky" card in the 'Pink Projects' section of the Pink Paislee website, but it is also worth checking out their blog, which is showcasing some really amazing ideas at the moment. This card was literally so easy to make - I varied the design just a little bit, using two pieces of ric rac from my stash instead of the suggested twine, and I cut out the skull and the crow (along with the nested circles) using my Slice machine and the Spook Alley design card (purchased from the Craft Barn).

Well, that pretty much sums up our All Hallows' Eve! Today was spent watching Saturday's X Factor on Sky Plus with a Starbucks Hazelnut Hot Chocolate, which seemed appropriate for such a miserable day. I couldn't believe how many leaves covered the roads and pavement on my way to the gym this evening - it's amazing how quickly the season changes in London!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

To imitate or innovate?

I have to admit that most of the time I imitate rather than innovate when it comes to craft projects. I think that in part this stems from a little bit of performance anxiety combined with 'project envy' and a more general lack of inspiration from within. Sometimes I have days when I am well and truly inspired, but I spend many others sifting through back issues of Scrapbook Inspirations and Creating Keepsakes looking for layout ideas and sketches. More often than not I try to adapt ideas that I particularly like so that the end result bears my own little stamp of creativity, but I would love to channel my inner creative flair so that I can create some of the innovative and amazingly original ideas that appear every month in these magazines (and others). I say this because for Halloween this year I have decided to make my own decorations, and after browsing the internet for a good many hours I have found four projects which I really want to recreate. So, although I did the cutting and the sticking, the credit for these projects definitely lies elsewhere!

This Halloween frame was inspired by Carole Janson over at the Bo Bunny Blog. Ironically I can't find the original post, but you can view Carole's own Halloween frame here. It is made almost entirely out of the super cute Bo Bunny Boo Crew collection (Stripe, Here's Looking at U, Ghoul Friends, Dot and Boo Crew) which I bought online from Crafts U Love. The fence, cat, bats, 'Booooo' writing and spiders/spider's web stickers are by Stampendous, which I bought locally along with the googly eyes. I used some 3D foam pads to give the montage along the bottom of the frame a little bit of dimension, and I distressed some of the grass with a black ink pad to make it pop.

I was also so excited to receive a great big pizza box of new stash from the Craft Emporium and an EK Success punch from Art Cards which I have been coveting for the last few months. I have banned myself from buying patterned paper for the foreseeable future, but I did get the Pink Paislee Twilight collection and the Spooky Town collection by Imaginisce for my next three Halloween projects. The Prima flowers and clear stamps in the bottom left hand corner are also for a Halloween project, this time for one that was featured in the October issue of Scrapbook Inspirations by Morag Cutts (which you can find here). I absolutely LOVE the 'Spooky House' and particularly the embossed chandeliers with the bling embellishments - gorgeous!

Happy Friday!