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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Halloween Birthday - Serendipity Stamps



My baby girl turns 21 this Halloween.  She has always loved having her special day fall on Halloween and has celebrated it to the max each and every year.  I am sure this year will be extra special for her.  As this milestone birthday approaches, I have been a bit nostalgic and have been thinking of Carly's very first Halloween birthday.  This week's challenge from Serendipity Stamps is to create a Halloween project and I wanted to make something that I can look forward to displaying every year during Carly's birthday month. (Yes, she makes it last an entire month!)  Serendipity has so many Halloween images to choose from, from cute, to vintage and I decided to use one of their brand new Fall Stamps, Ghost with Pumpkin.  Here is the wall decor I created with Serendipity Stamps to celebrate Carly's first Halloween.

Serendipity Stamps Ghost With Pumpkin Halloween Birthday frame wall art
I started with a piece of 6 x 6 patterned paper by MME from the Haunted Collection.  It's an October calendar page with lots of empty space to embellish however you want.  I added my Ghost with Pumpkin stamp and shaded it a bit with copic markers.  (You all should be able to tell by now that I am not big into coloring), but one of the things that is so great about Serendipity stamp images is they are so detailed, you can color them which looks beautiful, or not...which is totally me and they still look great.

I also added a Serendipity sentiment to the card (It's a Special Day), because after all...it will always be a special day to me. Carly was born on a Thursday, so I added the date with diecut numbers.  You might notice all those big black spiders.  They are dimensionals and actually were put there because they have a very special meaning to Carly.  When she was 9 months old, she was bitten by a black widow spider and spent 3 days in Intensive Care.  That was one of the most scary few days of my life, but ever since then, Carly has been nicknamed Spider-Baby.  The letters spelling out Halloween Birthday are cut from orange felt and glued to the picture frame.  The picture is mounted on a Spellbinder Postage frame and is Carly dressed in her first Halloween costume.


I can't wait to hang this up on October 1st, and I am hoping someday Carly will display it in her own home and tell the Spider-Baby story to her own kids.  Here's a pic of Carly today at 21:

Serendipity Stamps is having a great sale now too. Any stamp selected from the Halloween category is 20% off. The sale runs through September 26th, so head on over there and take a look!
Are you ready to see some more Halloween projects using Serendipity stamps and dies?  Make sure to check out the projects from my fellow Design Team Members.  They are either going to be cute, scary or vintage...but most of all, great!





12 comments:

Helen Berry said...

Stunning Cathy! Wow, that spider story made me shudder! You must have been at your wits end - terrifying! Your wall art is fabulous - totally inspired me to make a Halloween frame. Such a cute little pic of your daughter then & now, really beautiful ;)

The Paper Parade said...

I love it Cathy!!! I love that you put everything on a calendar page first of all...what a great idea :) Then stamping and adding the pic and spiders right on top looks great! The letters on the frame itself were a fabby idea too :)

Amy Marie said...

Beautiful! I love it in the clear frame! What a great idea!

Marybeth said...

Oh , such a pretty picture of Carley.what a scary story ,I can only imagine what you all went through. I love hearing a bit of a new Halloween story about Carly,each year. I'm sure you feel like me time went by to fast.
Love the personal calendar page you made spiders and all.i also like how you put the 31 on Thursday for the day Carly was born on. Beautiful work of love.

Miriam said...

What a creative way to display her birthday! Love all the elements and especially the spiders and the story behind them.

Jean Martin said...

Oooooh!!!! Sooo wonderful! I have never been able to manage anything like this. You are fantastic! :)

Jeanne J. said...

Cathy - this project is just stunning! Carly will love looking back at this every year - I love that it is preserved for her! It's so fun and festive (love the orange 31 with "its a special day")! You have so many great details here that make it so personal, the spiders and the baby photo. Thankfully you can look back and smile - what a horrifying experience. I think you should celebrate the whole month too!!

Pauline said...

What a wonderful piece of home decor Cathy, and a very special one too to celebrate your daughters birthday! Stunning creation!

Kim Heggins said...

Cathy, this is just amazing! What a wonderful gift for your daughter and I am sure she will treasure it forever! You are just the best mom!

Joyce said...

Well, your daughter is gorgeous, and so is this project. How scary about the spider bite, and how wonderful that you have made this keepsake for her. It is so cute that you found a calendar page for your background, and her baby picture is just adorable. I know she will love this, even if she rolls her eyes.

Sharron said...

OMG, this is SO SWEET! What a wonderful keepsake for your daughter. Love how you decorated the calendar--the spiders, the 'It's a special day' sentiment and her adorable picture! The spider bite must have been so scary. She's a very beautiful young lady. Hope her birthday this year is fabulous!

Renee said...

This is too fabulous...
LOVE it!!
And what an incredible decor item to pull out and celebrate Halloween each year...
it's perfect!!
Such a precious memory and keepsake...
a family treasure! :)
And she's even more gorgeous than the project!
A beautiful girl! :)