Challenge #30 - You are the Apple of My Eye

Fall makes me think of crisp leaves and even crisper cool weather along with pumpkins and hay bales and.....apples! Bushels of apples right off the tree that smell heavenly and beg to be put into pies, tarts, salads, and eaten out of hand. YUM and so good for you! Their simplicity and beautiful form is also probably why you see decorating shows often use bowls of apples to give a fresh, clean, natural element to a room's decor.

Rosemary here - My submittal is a card of fall motifs with a happy little sentiment. Unfortunately, some of my adhesive (how Opus Gluei of me) is showing - obviously, I'm not very modest to have my glue hanging out there for everyone to see - but I have to go back to sickbay now.

Jana here: I love this card. The colors are perfect for fall. So warm and cozy feeling.

So.....the challenge this week is for you to incorporate an apple or apples into your effort - remember, that can be anything from papercrafting to a blog entry to well...whatever you want!

*************HOCUS POCUS MAGIC FOCUS**************

Let's see who played with Magic and created some Hocus Pocus with us last week for our theme!

Electra made a beautiful fairy with all the elements; swirls and pearls and bling (OH MY)!!!! Love the feminine touches!

and then Electra comes back with another entry! It is spooky but I have to admit I really like the colors - and it is reminiscent of The Shining hotel.

Kristen, that crafty gal, loves Halloween and decorates with a lot of personal flair and unique touches sure to "scare" up some fun - for her Opus Gluei submittal she shows us some realistic looking bones to go into her Halloween pantry!

A Halloween theme needs a black cat doesn't it? Well, we have Chat Noir and she's the kind of black cat you want crossing your path because she has great ideas. For this challenge, she created a very spooky card with perfect touches; she got to use black (her fave), the cobweb (I have to find that embossing folder), the image, and the embossed "Escape." Very cool indeed!

Irit Shalom doesn't celebrate Halloween in Israel but you wouldn't know it by her submittal. She created a really cool card that has all sorts of cool touches - I love the cauldron and I think painting the haunted house in crackle paint is a great idea - as is the button full moon!

Jessica made a great card; so much to love!!! I love the expression of embarrassment on the dog's face! Yep, what they do for love of their humans. The colors just pop and the design is fantastic - I am never so clever with my cards but I'm getting inspired! I'm going to have to consider Copic markers, those of you who use them make such cool projects! Fran came back for this challenge and brings a sweet card with two very cute and mischievous kitties playing about the pumpkins. The embossed background is perfect and makes the image pop! Welcome back, Fran!

Here are first time Opus Gluei submittals - Welcome - we sure hope you come back for more challenges with us!

Another cool blog and an even cooler name - Black Dragon (spooky eh) - is submitting here for the first time and she's made a scary ATC - somehow, I think the lady is going to escape the ghoul (I'm an optimist that way) - in fact, I think she's calling her flock of bats to carry her away! (okay, I'm the one hiding under the covers at scary movies on tv, I admit it)

Now, you have to love a blog named "Krazy's Place," that's just a given. Then you get to see all the great projects she does. For her first submittal to an Opus Gluei theme, she's created a Halloween card that just says FUN! I love the little touches - she used the Martha Stewart border punch I used a little while ago, and the Cuttlebug embossing folder of the cobweb that Chat Noir used - and isn't it cool how we each make them our own in our projects? Love those brads too!

And another new first time submittal to Opus Gluei from Alma7 who made a card of a sweet trick or treater who is too cute to spook!

Li-Bee-Ti submitted a cute card - and I love a good pun! Hope we been witchen you for future themes too!

Challenge #29 - Hocus Pocus & a Treat

Hocus Pocus is the challenge.

Wave your wands and make a project appear.

Anything Magic goes.

Jana here: It's not too late to send out a Halloween hello. So, I made a card. I layered and had fun. I also colored my first image. I haven't broken down and become the owner of any Copics or Promarkers. Yet. But after trying to make due, I think it will be on my birthday wish list. I'll email a link to DH. Just need to do a little more research. If you use either one of these, let me know what you think. If you have used both, let me know which you prefer.

Anyway, back to the card. The base is Wasau black cardstock, the background paper is K&CO, the white spider web is Martha Stewart, ribbon is from my stash, image is from In Style Stamps, orange spider is one of those rings the girls got in a goodie bag, scallop punches from my stash, Stampin Up "creepy crawly" stamp and the drippy goo punch from Martha Stewart. I had to go old school glue with the Martha spider web. It's felt and wouldn't stay put with glue dots.

HI! Rosemary here, the magic I've created is I started and finished this stitching piece in one week. Yeah, right, okay...Here's the real deal. The magic of this challenge for me is...I finished this myself.

Which is truly Magic because in the past I've spent oodles of money at AC Moore, Michaels, Ben Franklin, etc. getting my stitched pieces blocked and stretch and framed. In reality, this isn't that hard and I think it looks pretty!

Also, another Magical aspect of this is that I actually have this on the wall. Not sitting in a box in my craft room.

I mounted it on backer board which was adhesive and acid free (very important so that when my descendants sell this in a yard sale as Crazy Auntie Rosemary's craft crap it will still have vibrant color) and then into a frame.

Now, for photographic purposes, I took the glass out and sometimes I've had projects framed without glass, but I tend to keep the glass because I have furballs and their fur magically attaches itself to anything of value of mine.

They're good like that.

So, this is my project - please to enjoy!

Closeup is tweaked a little to show the difference in the pattern (The pattern, by the way, is designed by Vicki Hastings from The Cricket Collection of the Cross-Eyed Cricket and is entitled,

Seasonings - booklet No. 100)

Jana here again. We throw an annual Halloween Sleepover Party.

Last year I made these little albums for the girls.

I put them in little bags. And made matching tags

I used my Quickutz to make little tiny scenes for the pages.



Not a fancy album. Or a big one. Only 8 pages.



Just a little something for them to remember the party.


(OMG - says Rosemary, how does she do all of this? It's all the coffee she drinks, has to be. I'm in awe of how cute these are.)



I got carried away and made too many albums.

I have some left over, so I want to give away. (Sorry, I don't have the little bags.)
All you have to do is be one of the first five to join and post the challenge this week.
I have them ready to go. I just need to know to whom to send them.



Now go conjure up something magical.
(Rosemary again, a recap of our "Blue Blue Blue" projects is posted below. Make sure to check them all out and visit their blogs to leave some love.)