Day of The Dead Party Decor

This post was originally featured on the Stampin' Up! corporate blog.  

Hello friends!  October is here - leaves are changing, there's a chill in the air, and halloween is just around the corner.  Halloween is a favourite in our house, but maybe you're looking for something different.  I've got you covered today for a fun and festive party!  November 1st marks a Mexican holiday known as Dia De Los Muertos, or Day Of The Dead.  The day is marked to remember loved ones who have passed and help them on their spiritual journey to the afterlife; with that said, though, it is done in a bright, fabulous, festive way with lots of colour and a big party.

Sugar Skulls - a traditional symbol of Dia De Los Muertos - have majorly taken over halloween decorations in the last year or two, and the Mr. Funny Bones stamp set has a teeny tiny sugar skull in it...  It got my gears turning.  I decided to whip up a party theme based around Day Of The Dead decor - the bright colours, the bold sugar skulls - and it would be so much fun to bring to your next gathering!

Halloween doesn't have to be dark and spooky - why not make it bright, festive, and fun?

I started with a colour pallet - to me, there's no better way to go bright than with one of my all-time favourite colour combinations; Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, and Bermuda Bay.  A few touches of silver and black - in the Black Metallic Thread, Silver Glitter Ribbon, and Silver Glimmer Paper - added some bling.  Because no party is complete without bling!  And all of my stamps are from the fabulous Mr. Funny Bones stamp set from the 2016 Holiday Catalogue; that tiny sugar skull stamp inspired it all!

One of my favourite ways to add texture and dimension to a project is with Decorative Masks; this fabulous teardrop design is from the Seasonal collection, and it is perfect for halloween.  Doesn't it remind you of ghosts?

The Layering Circles Framelits collection were integral in creating each of the items in this suite - they were used for every single project!  The tiny scalloped edge in a contrasting colour makes for such a sharp frame, and these framelits do it perfectly in a variety of sizes.

I've used another of my favourite tricks throughout this collection as well - custom-made black embossing powder.  Simply stamp your image in Basic Black Archival Stamp Pad, colour with Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder, and heat set.  Voila!  A bright, shiny, crisp black image.

Thank you so much for joining me today - I hope Mr. Funny Bones has inspired YOU to change up your party decor this year!

Cheers,

Shannon Lane
Artisan Design Team 2015-2016
http://www.CrushOnColour.com

Jar of Haunts - Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team blog hop

Hello friends!  Thanks so much for swinging by today!  You're either starting here with me, Shannon in Calgary, Canada, or you're coming from Rachel in France; either way, get comfortable and take some time to enjoy the blog hop!  We are featuring the fabulous Jar of Haunts today, just in time for some halloween creations!  

Halloween is kind of a big deal in our house.  We don't really "go big" for many holidays, but on Halloween, we are all in.  The house is decorated, we have family costumes, and deciding on candy to hand out is a major negotiation process.  We both want it to be the best!

Usually dinner is quick, since we have limited time to eat before the trick-or-treaters start showing up and my son is ready to run out the door too, but we like to make it special and festive.  

A really easy way to make a table setting special is with a festive place marker - and since Halloween is all about the spooky and the candy, why not make it both?!  These adorable little boxes make a great treat for the whole family. 

The boxes came together in a flash with the Gift Box Punch Board - it's one of my favourite tools for quick and easy treats!  A quick stamp with Ghoulish Grunge and a sponging in black ink gives them a spooky finish.  Eyeballs in a jar?  Why not?!  Blender pens make your colouring easy.

The Labeler Alphabet makes personalization easy; with multiple vowels, it's easy to just line up your letters and stamp your names in one fell swoop!  No more stamping individual letters... well, except for all of those Ns in Shannon!  Haha!  

Thank you so much for joining us on our blog hop; make sure to click through and join Steffi in Germany.  I'm sure she'll have something wonderful up her sleeve!

Cheers,
Shannon

Jar Of Haunts Photopolymer Stamp Set

Everyday Jars Framelits Dies

Ghoulish Grunge Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Gift Box Punch Board

Labeler Alphabet Photopolymer Stamp Set

Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

Old Olive Baker's Twine

Blender Pens

1" (2.5 Cm) Circle Punch

Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad

Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad

Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad

Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad

Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad

Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad

Basic Gray 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

Stampin' Dimensionals

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Dia De Los Muertos and the drilling of the bone...

Hi friends!

I'm hungry, I'm in pain, and I'm blogging.  It's been a while - I kind of had to!  I had a little surgery earlier to try and fix a tooth that has given me 12 years of trouble and already resulted in five root canals and three crowns - no word of a lie! - but that's what's made me pick this card to share tonight.

I'm sitting at the kitchen counter right now, warming up some nice mushy soft hashbrowns (seems like a good idea when I'm both starving and in pain...) and I decided to whip up a quick blog post.  One of the projects in my queue is this Day Of The Dead (or Dia De Los Muertos) card, and it seemed fitting.  Trust me, this all ties together... I'm getting there.

See, I have a little large love for sugar skulls and Dia De Los Muertos stuff.  It began about 17 or 18 years ago when I visited Mexico as a teenager.  The details and designs are so beautiful, and there was something about the dark subject matter- death, loved ones who have died, skeletons - contrasted with the bright colours and happy accessories that just seemed so... NICE.  It was such a festive way to celebrate family and friends who have passed, instead of solemnly and sadly mourning them.

Which brings me to today.  I will often sneak little Sugar Skulls into my life, and that currently includes a pair of shoes.  I bought some Converse shoes this year with a totally amazeballs sugar skull design all over them, and I was wearing those shoes today when I went to my specialist's office for my surgery.  He's a funny guy, and he took one look at me and said "Skulls on your shoes... is that how you think today is going to go??"  Ha!

So when I was choosing a card to share tonight, well... it seemed fitting.  Even though I definitely didn't die but almost passed out when I saw them drilling a window through my jawbone on the live-feed monitor.  Yikes!

There is a stamp set in the Holiday catalog called Mr. Funny Bones that contains a tiny, perfect sugar skull.  It also has 28 other totally fabulous stamps, but that sugar skull was all I needed to seal the deal.  I needed it.  Badly.

Paired with the Festive Birthday DSP and some spicy accents, this card is a perfectly cheerful way to send a spooky halloween greeting - or change the sentiment and it's a great everyday greeting for the sugar skull lover in your life.

Have a great day - see you soon!

Cheers,
Shannon

Mr. Funny Bones Photopolymer Stamp Set

Birthday Fiesta Photopolymer Bundle

Festive Birthday Designer Series Paper

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

TGIFC23 - October Colour Challenge!

Good mooooorning!  It's Friday morning - while you're reading this, I'm probably hittin' the highway on my way to my twice-annual paper crafting retreat weekend in the Rockies!  Surely, you can understand why I'm in such a darn good mood!  And, of course, Friday means time for TGIF Challenges!

This past week (okay, month...) has been chaos in our house, so I needed a project this week that was short and sweet, but still packed a punch.  This month is a colour challenge, so that leaves it wide open... and I've got Project Life on the brain, since I just printed three full years of photos to finally put into albums... so I decided to make a set of custom Project Life cards!

The colour pallet lent itself beautifully to a little halloween collection.

And a bit of washi tape and a window sheet made an easy shaker card!

A few quick lines with a Stampin' Write Marker and you've got a custom journalling card!

So quick and easy - I can't wait to slot these into my book this weekend!

I'd love it if you hopped over to TGIF Challenges this week and played along with us!  Cheers!

Project Life Seasonal Snapshot 2015 Photopolymer Stamp Set

A Little Something Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Sweet Hauntings Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Howl-O-Ween Treat Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Project Life Day To Day Photopolymer Stamp Set

You've Got This Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Dotty Angles Photopolymer Stamp Set

Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad

Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad

Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad

Brights Sequin Assortment

Metallics Sequin Assortment

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.