Welcome To The Helmar Halloween Howler Hop

Hello Everyone! Jeepers, Creepers, it's Sunday and I am so excited!!! Welcome to the 1st Annual Helmar Halloween Howler Hop!!! We are so glad that you decided to join us! Are you ready to scare up some fun?!!! We are and we've got lots and lots of spooktacular projects to share with you! AND lots of ghoulish gifts to give away!!! So put on your frightful Halloween smiles and get ready for a howlin' good time!

If you have been following along you should of hopped here from Tanisha's blog.  If you happened upon my blog first, hop on back to the Helmar blog to start at the beginning and view some great Halloween/Fall projects and the prizes!!! Make sure you leave some love at each blog along the way for your chance to win BIG!!!

I don't know about you, but I love Halloween! I love all of the fun colors, trick or treaters, and decoration. I love to go outside and take a gander at all of the aforementioned things and come back to my scrappy studio to create. For this hop, I decided to create a Halloween Mask. This is not a 'full face' mask. It is one that is attached to a wooden dowel and you would hold it up to your eyes to delight your fellow ghosties and goblins. Or it could be used as a simple decoration in your home. I love this type of mask. It reminds me of masked costume balls or something. I always like to envision what it would of been like to be an old timey southernbelle in my prettiest, puffy dress...of course escorted by a handsome southern gentleman to a fall ball. Tee Hee! Right up my alley! Here is the mask I have created for the hop:

 Now, for this project, I mainly featured two of my absolute FAVORITE Helmar Adhesives: Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots and Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive. But I also snuck in some Helmar Zap Dots!

 To begin, I cut all of the pieces for my mask out using my Cricut Expression Electronic cutting machine and Sure Cuts A Lot Software. The svg file for this mask was a freebie from svgcuts.com. It is designed to be a caption for a card or a layout, but I knew when I saw it I had to make a mask out of it.

I cut the base out twice, once using cardstock and then with chipboard for stability. I used the Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive to adhere my cardstock to my chipboard. Oh, Helmar 450 how I adore thee?!!! This adhesive is essential for any scrapbooker! It is quick drying and provides the sturdiest hold ever!!! It doesn't bubble or make the paper curl...just frightfully delightful!

 Next, I decided to add some trim to the edges of the mask. I love adding any type of ribbon or lace into a project. It is one of my favorite scrapbooking mediums. So I chose some black grosgrain that coordinated with my mask. I squeezed out just a little strip of Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive at a time and then zigged zagged the ribbon back and forth as shown below. Also, a note...I found that if I squeezed out the adhesive and let it set for just a few seconds it became much more tacky. I then pressed down on the ribbon for like 15 seconds and it was secured perfectly.

 I also decided to pull out some pearl ribbon for the edges of the front. I used the same technique with the Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive as above. Simple and effective!

 Before I began work on decorating the front of the mask, I squeezed a rather bulky strip of the Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots (shown below) and laid my wooden dowel on top. I wanted to make sure my dowel would stay in place. I then set this aside to dry.

 As the Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots dried on the back of my mask, I decorated the front. I added some rhinestones using my Imaginisce I Rock Tool.

 I just love the Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots. They too are so versatile and provide great dimension to any project. I used them to pop up my chipboard spider and ghost. I also used them to adhere my squiggly eyes.

 I used Helmar Zap Dots (in black) to provide 3 layers of dimension. I popped up the word 'Boo' n the background, the black shadow of the mask, and the orange part of the mask.

 Here's an up close view of the ribbon trim. See how the Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive worked wonders?!!! And it doesn't show too bad either.

 I wish the hubby would of been home when I snapped pix of this project so I could put it up to my face, but sadly, he was not. So I held it up so you can see how sturdy the Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots worked to hold the dowel in place.

 Now, I also wanted to take just a minute to mention another one of my favorite Helmar products...the Helmar Acid Free Remove Cleaner.

 This spray cleaner is another positively defrightful product from Helmar! It is acid free and removes adhesive residue left from stickers, tapes, labels, etc. It has a nice orange scent. I use this to clean off my scrapbooking tools, scrapbooking mats, and all around the house. For example, I don't know about you, but my Cricut spatula, scissors, and paper piercer can get pretty icky! Can you see that funky icky-ness on the spatula...eek!

 No problem! Just spray a bit of the Helmar Acid Free Remove Cleaner on a paper towel, wipe gently, and voila'! It's like new! Although, if truth be told and this is a funny little story about my hubby, I usually am not the one to do the cleaning. My husband is known as my 'de-icker.' I can be at my desk and say, 'Brandon...ick.' He knows to hop up and grab my Remove and get to cleanin'! LOL. He says he enjoys 'contributing' to my scrappiness!

 Another great use...cleaning off your craft mats! I thought my Basic Grey Magnetic Precision mat wasn't so bad, but I noticed some spots of adhesive. Look at what I was able to remove!

ALSO, I have a Helmar prize pack I would like to give away during the hop as well. All you have to do is leave me a comment on this post and you're entered to win the goodies below!!!

1. Helmar V2 Vellum Adhesive

2. Helmar Zap Dots-Black, 1/2" round

3. Helmar Zap Dots-White, 1/4" round

Please leave your blog addy or some way I can get in touch with you if you win!!! Thanks!

I want to thank you for hopping along with us for this spooky hop! I hope you have enjoyed this project! I have enjoyed having you at 'A Scraphappy Southernbelle.' Happy Haunting!!!

Next stop on the howlin' hop...the frightfully creative Cathy!!! Click on the picture below to be directed to her blog!

Happy Scrappin'!