Halloween Mojo 2014!

Hi Everyone,
Oh yeah, Back to School items have taken over all the store shelves and TV along with print ads are ramming back to school down my throat.  Now as a Grandma and crafty Nonna all it means to me is that the pool will be closing soon and it will be time to drag the 20 or so Halloween boxes down from the attic and get the decorating mojo going.  So seeking inspiration while I was floating in the pool, I started to feel a tad sad about putting away all the patriotic decorating goodies.  All my stars will be boxed up and put away until next May.  I just love my barn stars (some call them nautical stars).  So I thought why do I have to live without stars until May.  I thought lets make me up some Halloween Stars.  So I did.  Now I am hooked and will most likely make one for everyone I know.  I found these to be quick and easy using my CAP2 software along with my digital Stampin' Up papers.  My Brother Scan N Cut made easy work for cutting out the stars.  Here is a picture of the prints as they came out of the printer:

 I know it just looks like a page of flat stars, but they get better.  I wanted the assembled stars to look good from the back too so after the SnC cut them without ejecting the mat I slapped down a piece of black paper on to the mat and hit the cut button again.  This way a solid black star in the exact same shape was cut.

Just a note about the SnC:  I find while it has its place in the world of digital die cutters. it is not perfect.  I don't use it for anything other than fussy cutting print outs and stamped images.  I often have issues with that as well.  There are a lot of work arounds as I have mentioned in the past but until Brother adds a negative offset in direct cut mode this cutter will not meet the need in which I bought it for.  Wow, was that ever a boring statement! I don't recommend this cutter for peeps who only have one cutter.  But if you are like me and have an arsenal of cutters you would enjoy having this one as well.  You can clearly see by the picture the condition of my mat shows that I use it all the time. OK,enough venting! Here is a picture of the star after it has been cut, inked and assembled.  I will for sure have these bad boys hanging everywhere come October. (who am I kidding, I start decorating for Halloween the second week of September):
TA DA..... Here it is:

 What you can't see in the picture is that the star is completely covered in gold Tsukneko ink that was mixed with rubbing alcohol and sprayed on .  It really does look amazing in person.  I hope you like it too! I am off to get my chores done so I can get a bit of pool time in as our summer days are numbered.  Have a great day and thanks for checking in.
Lysa