Halloween in the "Time of COVID"

 As the back side of 2020 approaches, Wisconsin is backsliding into "COVID Central" for the whole United States.  I gotta say, it's wearing me down. I can't really put my finger on why, but it feels like attention span fatigue. (Yeah, I just made that up.) No focus, even for the fun stuff.  

So what does a girl do to perk up her spirits for Halloween?  Into the craft cave we go!  It is, after all, her favorite time of year.

As I rummaged around looking for papers and stamps to play with, it became very apparent that I've been hoarding some stuff for a LOT of years.  I decided this was the time to get out the old, and make something new from it.  I found some 8.5 x 11 cardstock that I'm sure I bought at the old Scrapbook store in Cedarburg more than 10 years ago.  Some was printed, some was not, some was green some was purple. I pared it with a fabulous stamp drawn by Daniel Torrente and sold by Stampotique.com, a couple of sentiment stamps, one from Brutus Monroe (Hello Pumpkin), the other from Poppy Stamps (Give 'em Pumpkin to talk about).  Some scraps of black to make the pocket, some punches, ink and hot glue and Boom!  There you go.  Simple starts lead to greater things....

Next up, Alice in Wonderland.  Man, I have been hanging onto the full set of Alice in Wonderland stamps for longer than I can remember.  And have I ever used them?  No. Ugh.  Not even the Mad Hatter, for fuck's sake!  Well, I'm still going to save HIM for something special.  I don't know what, but it'll be something.  This year, its the Red Queen on Halloween.  Off with her head!  Googly eyes and a skelly trinket, fun stuff, that.  

I have a small collection of Ninja stamps, because, why not?  Judikins Boy Ninja made it to the card, but I stamped 'him' in pink, because he is a she.  Period.  Full stop.  I also have one from Inkadinkadoo, Crafty like a Ninja, because, well, of course I am.  What'sabi??

With a minimalist approach to this one, I grabbed usable scraps from my rather large bin.  I throw very little out.  I mean, it's got to be pretty small for me to toss it, and even the tiny scraps get saved and used to mark the path for trick or treat.  Its all acid free paper, so harmless to the environment.  I toss the tiny stuff like confetti.  It's fun, and the kids like to look for the different shapes of this or that, that wind up in the toss.  I don't suppose there will be many trick or treaters this year, given Rona, but I'm still putting out candy.  Maybe only the raccoons will get it, but it's Halloween, damn it.  

Last but not least, All Dressed up and No Where to Go.  Stupid Covid.  Ugh.  I love sequin waste.  You can find it on Etsy in lots of colors.  Amazon has some, but you have to by huge amounts of one color.  It's also called Punchinella, or Punchinello.  Don't ask me why.  It is, in fact. the waste product of producing sequins.  Now, sequins, are bad for the environment.  Micro plastics, don't you know.  Glitter too, (Andrea!)  While I've never been a fan of glitter, I do own an embarrassing amount of sequins.  So, if you ever get a card from me with sequins on it, don't throw it out!  

Happy Halloween to you all.  I've got a couple of pumpkins out, and if I get myself off the couch I'll doll up the front porch like I usually do this time of year.  No promises. I'm just taking it day by day.  Hell, I may not even send the cards.  Its enough that I made them, sending them may take another year.  They can hang out in the shoebox of happiness.  Lord knows the Christmas Cards I've got in there have been there quite a while.  It's a happy place, that shoebox.  I named it well.  

EDIT - a late addition to the cards this year - Its all my fault!  I pulled together three different stamps from three different companies to bring this one together.  Some fussy-cutting to make it interesting and there you have it.