Hocus Pocus Halloween Banner

Happy Halloween to all my spooky friends!

I created this super fun home decor piece and it's been hanging above my mantle all month.  I've been dying to cast a spell and show it to you all but I had to wait until it went up on the American Crafts blog and that happened today so...now I can share it with you all.  I just LOVE it and I hope you do too!

 Supplies: DIY Shop - (366652) 3.5x4.5 in Notch Banner, (366653) 3.5x4.5 in Scallop Banner, Haunted Hollow collection - (368904) 12x12 in Medium Weight Paper Pad, (366605) Wow! Glitter – extra fine glitter set, Studio Calico sequins, (AM710-82) Black cardstock

How to: Use your favorite banners from the DIY Shop collection. Cut paper to fit the inside of the banners. I used the same subtle paper on all the banners. Next, cut 2.5 inch round circles out of a light colored paper. Add gold glitter around the edges and set aside to dry. Cut 2 – 3 banners/flags in colors that can be layered over each other. Cut them in various lengths and widths. My largest banner is 1.5x5 inches. Adhere them to the background paper. Cut 3 inch rosettes. Adhere the glitter circles on the top and add them to the middle of the banner. Lastly, cut 2 inch letters to spell out your word or phrase. Use the twine from the DIY Shop banners to string the banner. Display proudly! 

Trick or Treat Tri-fold Tag Card

Halloween is almost here and you know what that means?  In our neighborhood it means surprising your neighbors with "BOO" treats.  I made this cute little card to accompany the treats that we are leaving our neighbor friends.

Supplies: Haunted Hollow collection - (368676) Eek Bits Decorative Tags, (368677) Accent & Phrase Stickers, DIY Shop - (366652) Twine from 3.5x4.5 in Notch Banner

How to: 

Use 3 tags that are similar in height. 

Adhere together with washi tape or you can machine stitch. 

Create a BOO banner by stitching the banner stickers to twine.

Embellish to your liking.

You are my UNIVERSE | Basic Grey Guest Designer

Okay...I may have freaked out just a teeny weeny little bit when Becky emailed me a couple of months ago and asked me to guest design for Basic Grey this month. Choosing the collection was a hard one because I love them all but ultimately the Aurora collection just spoke to me. Perhaps because it reminded me so much of our trip up the mountain to the observatory in Hawaii to see the sky full of stars.

Anyway, I created 2 layouts and two cards, all of which are on the Basic Grey blog TODAY!!! There's also a little Baker's Dozen Q&A by yours truly.  I'd love to have you visit over there and tell me what your favorite is!  Here's a sneak at what you'll see and then keep reading to see one of them in detail.

Can you tell I had a lot of fun?!?! These are some of my fave projects, for sure!!! Again, you can see them in full on the Basic Grey blog.

I don't show my cards here too often and I'm not sure why.  So, how about I do that today, seeing as how it's the first photo in my collage?

How to:

• This card all started with the You are my UNIVERSE card included in the ephemera pack.  After being married to my hubby for 12 years, we are kind of sort of going through our honeymoon phase again so this card was so completely fitting.  I liked that the card had a semi circle above the constellations.
• I created star garland and strung it over the semi circle right over the card.
• I adhered a festive little background right in the center of the card base and placed the decorated card over the top using foam dots.
• Those triangle bits are clear acrylic and worked magically at the bottom.
• So as not to ignore the top, I added a little border using the paper strip extra bit from the bottom of a 12x12 sheet of pattern paper. I added a little stitching and voila!

Now I have a fun little card to surprise my hubby with.

Thanks for stopping by today. Now go on and get crafty!

Gossamer Blue Blog Hop Winner

I used the Random Number Generator based on the Instagram activity for my Gossamer Blue giveaway and I'm happy to announce that lkates78 is the WINNER!!! Congrats!

I also posted this on Instagram.  Please email me at heather @ heatherleopard . com and I'll get the gift card right over to you!

Stitched Bookmarks | American Crafts Shimelle collection

We love to read in our house so when I saw the sentiments in the new Shimelle collection, I just knew I had to create some bookmarks.  

Supplies: Shimelle collection - (368147) - Harding paper, (368152) - Haynes paper, (368139) - Hurley paper, (368136) - Goodall paper, (368173) - die cut cardstock shapes

Wander Bookmark how to:

• Pick your favorite patterns from your favorite American crafts collection.  Make sure to choose a mix of subtle and busy patterns, with more on the subtle side.
• Chose one pattern as your background and cut it approximately 1.5” wide and about 6” long.
• Next, layer different patterns over each other.
• Stitch along the edges to adhere them down.
• Stitch fun patterns , like a zig zag, the Star and diamond shown here.

I think I’ll Stop Here Bookmark how to:

• Chose one pattern as your background and cut it approximately 2” wide and about 5” long.
• Cut another pattern (Be Happy) just slightly smaller in width.
• Stitch along the edges to the background. Add any extra stitching you wish to add.
• Choose a favorite phrase and adhere it to the top of the bookmark with your favorite adhesive, leaving the bottom with a pocket so you can slip it over a page in your book.
• Add a few thin embellishments.

Thanks for stopping by today!

What a Beautiful Life

Hi everyone.  We thought it’d be super fun to do a blog hop this month to showcase some of the Gossamer Blue Design Team’s projects using the October kits.  While we submit everything to the online gallery and the blog, sometimes it’s nice to dedicate a day just to inspiration.

I am in love with all the gold in this month’s kit so I found it only fitting to use gold as a major element of my layout.

I had some large scraps of this gold and white striped paper leftover from another project so I took my scissors to it and just stared cutting.  I ended up with these two large bits and offset them like so on the page.

I fussy cut some arrows from another sheet of pattern paper and then stitched right down the middle of them. 

More stitching on the lower half and then I added a few layers of paper, die cuts, gold doily and brads/flair to finish it off. I used elements from the Gossamer Blue Main kit and add-ons. 

GIVEAWAY

Now, how about a giveaway?  I’d love to give one lucky Instagram follower a $10 gift card to My Scraps & More, where you can purchase the latest Gossamer Blue collections.  Just follow me on Instagram @heatherleopard and leave a comment on the post that features this layout. I'll announce the winner on Sunday, October 19, 2014 so follow and comment by Saturday night.

Now, head on over to the lovely Jill Keller’s blog. And if you get lost along the way, you can find the full list on the Gossamer Blue Blog.

Thanks for stopping by today!

The More You Know | Blinks of Life Guest Designer

I was incredibly delighted when I opened my email and saw the sweetest note from Natalia of Blinks of Life, inviting me to guest design for her new kit company. I was flattered and shocked and immediately said YES! And she put together an amazing team of talented designers this month that I am proud to be a part of.

I showed a sneak of my projects last week. You can see them all in the Blinks of Life gallery but I'm planning to highlight them here this week and give the how to details.

I saw the October Afternoon Public Library paper and I just knew I had to feature this photo!

How cute are they?!?! They fight like siblings but they also love like siblings. My super talented friend who is a scrapper and photographer extraordinaire, Krissy McKee, is launching her photography business so I asked her to shoot some back to school photos of my girls last month.  She captured some amazing photos and this is one of them.

The Dr. Seuss quote was a no brainer, seeing as how she is "reading" one of his books and all. I was running low on big alphas and I don't like things to be all uniform so I mixed and matched.

Layers and stitching and mixing patterns. That's me. I hope you enjoyed this project today.

So Happy

Today I wanted to share a layout with you that is a bit more simple than I usually do.  I wanted to see what I could whip up in 30ish minutes and truest me, that's a HUGE thing for me. Yep, I take hours sometimes on layouts but I walk away a lot to do other things so who knows how long it really takes.

Anyway, I challenged myself but who am I kidding, I was actually short on time and just wanted to create so here's what happened using the NEW Gossamer Blue October Main kit only....

Although it's a far cry from my usual - mixing and matching multiple patterns - I am pleased with the result. I got some fun stitching in there and some sweet sentiments. Now I just need to add my journaling.

Before you go, check out how cool this kit is.

As of the moment I wrote this blog post, Lori still had some in stock, along with many of the add-ons. Head over to the Gossamer Blue store now to get you some!