Creepy Chic

AtticGal Rachelle says:

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays when it comes to decorating and crafting!  This year I couldn't wait to play with my new SU! stamps and accessories!  My favorite Halloween decor is what I like to call Creepy Chic.  My whole house is decorated in Creepy Chic as the Witch's Lair.  See my post on my Halloween decor here.

Here is my first Creepy Chic card using SU!'s Dark & Dreary set and Midnight Musings wheel, and my new Simply Scored scoring board (LOVE IT!) to make the pleated rosette and the striped pattern on the black paper.  I just love the classic bold black and white color scheme!

The creepy candelabra was embossed in black on a silver metallic cardstock and embellished with a few well placed basic rhinestones that just give this card some extra bling!  The photo does not do it justice. 

I also really love the vintage Halloween look.  I used the owl from the Warmest of Wished hostess set and my favorite Owl punch to make these cute little goodies.  I love the way the candy stacks up in the new 1 inch cello bags!  I am going to making lots of treats with these bags! (And at $2.50 for 50 of them, I can afford to!)

 The little owl's tiny bag is cut out of orange paper and stuck on with a dimensional dot.  Super easy and so spooky cute!  Whooooooo doesn't love that?

 My last card is another Creepy Chic, and my favorite.  The background is a technique called embossed embossing.  I dry embossed it first using my Big Shot.  Then using a brayer I lightly rolled over the raised image with embossing ink and heat embossed it with hologram highlights embossing powder.  I love it!  It looks like dew drops sparkling on the web.

The lacy border is from the Lace Ribbon border punch and decorative paper, threaded with ribbon and gathered up a bit.

  The spider from the Piece of Poison set is also embossed in black.  My favorite part is the red jewel-like thorax.  I simply stuck on a glue dot and sprinkled it with red glitter.  Watch out!  It almost looks like it will crawl off the card.

May your Halloween be Creepy Chic!

Witch's Lair Dead Ahead!

Attic Gal Rachelle says:

I was feeling WITCHY, so I decided to pull out my Halloween decor and create my witches' lair. Now I am feeling much more comfortable.

Come inside... if you dare.

Near the front is our family graveyard with bones strewn among the headstones. Inside the gate is a stack of pumpkins and a recent addition, a smoldering cauldron that my kids can't get enough of.

Another new addition to the family, a wayward witch who landed head-first in an urn. My kids saw the idea in a magazine, and begged me to copy it. I already had the witch socks. The legs were just poles wrapped with bath towels. I found the shoes at a garage sale. The were black suede, but the soles were light, so I spray painted them with a shimmering metallic black paint. Perfect! I think they are hilarious.

A chair on the front porch invites guests to have a seat that is already occupied by a pumpkin, a crow, and a tangle of barbed wire. Very welcoming, don't you think?

A friendly spider meets you in the entryway.

The sentimental witch has a wall with photos of all of her long departed family members.

On the opposite wall is the witches' mudroom where she can hang up her cape and broom after a long night in flight. Above it are silhouettes of her and her sisters, Hilda and Hazel. Lovely.

I simply spray painted some old oval frames and freehanded some witch silhouettes on black paper and cut them out.

A banner announces "Spooky" as if you didn't know already.

After my ascension to the top of Notre Dame, I have a new-found love for gargoyles. Such cuddle creatures. They watch over my witches lair, but these ones keep the evil spirits in, not out. Nestled among them are black and white photos I took in an ancient cemetery in France. I put the in the silver frames that hold my family pictures the rest of the year.

Also to greet you in the entryway is my favorite headless hanging friend draped in strips of cloth. Out of the corner of my eye I keep thinking someone is standing there. When i found her at a garage sale, I knew she would be perfect for Halloween.

Also in the hallway are a pair of ravens. We painted an old birdcage black and made one of them his own little flag. Quoth the Raven: "NEVERMORE'." Caw, caw, caw.

On the dining room table, a witch has been concocting her powerful potions and secret serums

while a few of her feathered and furry friend look on from above. One of my kids put them there to be funny, but I think the black creatures look great against the stark red and white, so they are staying (at least for the rest of the month. They will be gone by Christmas, I promise.)

I am a big fan of the holey gauze drape cloths that you can hang on everything to make it all super creepy. Something is too cheery to fit into the spooky theme? Just drape it is this stuff. Done. Instant creeps!

And it also helps to have a whole bunch of little grey mice running around the dining room table...

and some big fat cockroaches, of course. And every witch needs a skull with ruby eyes (the rubies were an addition for my twins' Indiana Jones birthday party a few years back. Now I can't imagine him without them.)

The living room doubles as the witches' study. She is quite cultured and has the masterpiece The Moaning Lisa.

The witch's spell library and the candelabra she uses to read them by.

More gauze cloths on the curtains. And the witch's black cat sit atop a stack of old luggage anxious for a trip to Salem. Wonder how she gets that luggage on the broom anyway?

So that is the witch's lair. I think I say this every holiday, but decorating for Halloween is my favorite - at least it is the most fun (plus, you don't have to dust for a whole month!) It really gives me the chance to get creative and silly, and tap into my dark side. (insert cackling high-pitched evil laugh here.)