Tricked your Treat!

Who won the "What's inside the coffin contest?" No body. The answer is fish skeleton! Make no bones about it - I even put the answer in my Etsy listing! Please, no booing! Thank you all for playing! I had a screech :)

One more if you dare? Why couldn't Dracula's wife get to sleep?  Because of his coffin.

Crouching Spider, Hidden Candy

OK so it wasn't hard to guess what was coming, but I hope you've enjoyed the unveiling of my die cut Halloween coffin boxes. This one has a spider web made of black vinyl hidden on the inside of the coffin's lid. A small length of fishing wire is attached to the spider so kids will get an extra hidden surprise as they reach for the goodies inside. I have always loved shiny black on matte, a subtle and entrancing effect.

Here are some of my prototypes. Can anyone guess what's inside? I'll give you a hint - it's white and emaciated. Please be very specific - only FULLY correct guesses will qualify.

I will email a free SVG or DXF spider file to anyone who guesses correctly by next Monday, Oct 10, 2011.

Knuckles

Pale knuckles grip the coffin's edge... 

my latest trailer for an upcoming die cut bundle for Etsy.

Butterfly Quilling Pattern / Tutorial

During our moves (renting in between), I found it hard to focus on crafts. So I am impatient to finally launch this new quilling pattern for butterflies. Varying the colors, one can easily change the type of butterfly. The monarch is easily identifiable, but would you believe a teal and brown butterfly actually exists? I found the inspiration here.

This pattern first appeared in the book I contributed to, The New Encyclopedia of Techniques for Crafting with Paper. 

However since then I realized written instructions are slower to follow. Instead of writing out the measurements and instructions, I give diagrams - even where to glue and in what order. I hope this inspires you. I'd love to see what you make with my pattern, sold on Etsy for $5.