Graphic 45 paper pumpkin

Hi, design elf Katrina here again to show you what I have been up to in my craft nook.

     Halloween is almost upon us, so I have a nice quick and easy project to share with you. I used the wonderfully spooky Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells papers for my pumpkin but you could always use a plain cardstock and make it as a Autumn pumpkin, it dosen't have to be Halloween themed if you don't want.

These are wonderfully simple to make and look so cute. I cut 12 1inch strips of the paper ( the length of the strips will determine how big you pumpkin will be, they all just need to be the same length ) 

You then need to pile them up and make a hole in both ends and secure with a brad at top and bottom. The gently fan the strips out in a rounded shape. Fiddle about with it until you have the shape you like and then you can decorate it!

I chose to cut some leaves out using the PaperArtsy leaf die and shaped them with my fingers. For the  stalk I rolled a small scrap of the paper and glued it to the top then arranged the leaves around it using silicone glue.

I used one of the pieces from the banners pack as a tag and attached it with some thin craft wire. I also used some pieces of craft wire to wrap around a cocktail stick to make some curly wire pieces and poked them into the silicone glue under the leaves.

To continue the Halloween theme I die cut some bats, 2 for each bat so I could sandwich the wire in between them, made wire curls for them to wiggle on and I was finished!

This is such a nice project to make for Autumn or Halloween, They would look lovely in a group of different sizes and are perfect for children to make too.

I hope you will give my project a go, have fun with it ,

   Love Katrina

Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells art doll

Hi everyone, design elf Katrina here. I cant believe it is nearly a month since I posted, I am so sorry its been so long but unfortunately I have been poorly. But I am back to normal now and have a seasonal art doll to show you.

   Of course you cant think of Halloween without thinking Graphic 45!! I love this paper and wanted to make a spooky art doll with it, so here is what I came up with, a little bit larger than first planned perhaps but I am very pleased with her.

She stands about 14 inches high and I made her out of re-cycled box card. I re-enforced her neck and body with coffee stirrers in between the 2 layers of card so she would stand up. The base is a box made from box card, I cut slits to push her legs through but did have a few engineering issues which were solved by stacking pieces of  card either side of her legs inside the box to stabilise her

For her head I chose one from my digital collection but you could use a stamp, magazine picture or why not use a photo of a family member? That would be fun!  Her glasses I made by wrapping some craft wire around a spray bottle top that was the size I needed and her hat I drew, covered with the Graphic 45 paper and decorated with bakers twine and stickers from the collection. All it needed then was a couple of die cut bats!

Her body I covered with strips of the different papers and decorated with stickers and embellishments from the collection. I then made her a little spell book and a broom from twigs from the garden.

I also drew and covered her arms.

I then covered the base box  with more of the wonderful Graphic 45 paper and added a few decorations.  These are the Creative expressions glass vials filled with witchy potions!! The labels are from the Graphic 45 stamps

I also made a couple more books for her and gave her a friend, after all every witch has to have a black cat!

So there she is all ready for Halloween! I must admit I had so much fun making her.

If you have any questions just pop them below of on the Fruit Pixie facebook page

     Happy crafting!

                                  Love Katrina