PLAID BAT AND BLACK CAT!

I have been gone from the scene since mid-September (hubby and I went on a 3-week road trip to the southwest), and today is my first foray back into card-making. I'm filling in the last couple of Halloween cards before I need to get them into the mail.

Here's my CAS card, combining two challenges - Inkspirational Challenge #378 - "CAS" with an optional word prompt "Plaid" and Shopping Our Stash #584 - "Black Cats".

This card was very simple to make. I die cut a panel of printed Halloween paper with a deckle-edged die and double-matted it with a narrow edge of black cardstock and plaid paper. I white heat-embossed the sentiment onto a black card base, attached the matted image and glued on a bat die cut from the plaid paper. The final addition was little dots in the eyes of all of the creatures with a white gel pen.

Inkspirational: Inkspirational Challenge #378 - Word Prompt - CAS - Optional Twist: Plaid

Shopping Our Stash Weekly Challenge Blog: SOS 584 - Black Cats

OCTOBER TWO OLD BATS HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE

Here we are in October, and if you've been following us all year, you probably have between 12 and 24 Halloween cards (or projects). Our new inspiration board has some great ideas to play with. I decided on the lower right quadrant.

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge

I've been really wanting to use this mummy paper from my stash, and this month's board offers me the perfect opportunity! These are all coordinating papers from a 12x12 pad I purchased several years ago. I trimmed several of the papers, plus a red-orange solid square and layered all of them on a black square card base.

I had fun using a gift card envelope die that I cut from double-printed paper, and I tucked into it a die cut 3-piece word die from Whimsy Stamps. I attached it to the other layers of the card face, and the final step was to fussy-cut a couple of the mummies. The custom envelope features both sides of the mummy paper.

Go to the blog and take a look at the great inspiration provided by all of the Design Team, and let them know how much you appreciate them!

SEPTEMBER MID-MONTH TWO OLD BATS HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE

Here we are mid-point in September and crushing toward Halloween!

I liked the image of the 3 witch hats hanging on a door. I mounted 3 die-cut hats (from Spellbinders "Boos! Cocktails") with colorful hat bands and buckles on a scrap of old printed paper, edged it with a black marker, and matted the panel with an orange die-cut rectangle. I glued this to a black card base, tied it with a double baker's twine bow, and attached the double die-cut sentiment from LDRS Creative "Large Word Halloween".

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge

SEPTEMBER TWO OLD BATS HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE

We have a new inspiration board for September at Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge, and we're quickly sliding into Halloween!

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: September 2026 Anything Goes Halloween

HA! I just realized, looking over at my TOB Halloween Challenge badge, that today is my 4th anniversary with the challenge! It's been great fun! If I multiply 2 cards each month times 4 years, I come up with 96 cards!

I was attracted to the books and candles in the lower right quadrant and got out my Whimsy Stamps #CWSD427 "Poe Boy" stamp set to make a Poe arrangement. I think one of the reasons I love Halloween cards so much is that my maiden name was Poe! But you already knew that.

I started by stamping the row of books with black ink and adding a Tim Holtz cobweb in white. Then I colored the books with Copic markers. I trimmed the front panel with a deckle-edged rectangular die and edged it with black ink. This card stock is textured, so to get a clean inking I turned the paper over and inked the raven/scull/candle and open book on the backside of a scrap. I had an old paperback book that had Edgar Allen Poe in the index and paper-pieced that page to the book image and attached it to the front panel. It wasn't in great shape, so I decided to add some gray splats over the book and panel and over-stamped the sentiment (LDRS Creative "Wicked") in black. I paper pieced the skull to the raven image and fussy-cut after touching up with a bit of Copic markers. Finally, I attached the raven and skull to the face of the card with a bit of dimensional foam tape. 

You have 28 days to come up with your September Halloween project - check in over at the blog to see the wonderful inspirational cards made for you by all of my Design Team pals!

STAYIN' ALIVE!

I couldn't resist naming this post "Stayin' Alive" because the new challenge over at AAA Cards Challenge is #322: "Disco Inferno"!

How fortuitous that I have this Whimsy Stamps "Zombie Party" stamp set with the silhouette images of zombies partying! Starting with a square white card base, I orange and purple heat embossed the sentiment on a smaller white square. Then the splatter was over-stamped in green and the stars and confetti in orange. The final steps were to add the zombies, mat the square in purple cardstock, tie on some twine strips. and attach to the face of  the card base. The square envelope was custom-made to coordinate.  

AAA Cards: AAA Card Challenge #322: Disco Inferno

Added September 20, 2026:

BOO!

We're at the mid-point for the month! That's the signal that you still have plenty of time to get your Halloween card or project completed and shared with us. The Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge closes on the 28th.

My card borrows from the general overall black and tan tones of our inspiration board, with a specific nod to the top left Haloween door wreath and bats on the right. I started with a black card base and die cut the elements from various die sets I own. The circular die is cut from kraft wood-embossed card stock using Tim Holtz's Christmas wreath ("Vault Festive Wreath" #666715); the branches in three colors of textured papers are from a couple of Spellbinders seasonal dies; and the bow is from "Christmas Cocktails" by Spellbinders. The ghost of course is my favorite Tim Holtz Halloween ghost that I've used hundreds of times.

Before assembling all of the parts I rough cut a circle from a bat printed paper scrap and white heat embossed the sentiment. I lined a kraft A2 envelope with the remaining black and tan circle printed paper to coordinate with the wreath's bow. Check out the great inspirational cards from my fellow designers:

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: August 2026 Mid Month Reminder

AUGUST 2026 TWO OLD BATS HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE

It's August and starting to close in on Halloween, so come and join us at Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge! We have a brand new inspiration board with some great images - or you can create your own Halloween images. You also don't really need to make a card, because this is an 'anything goes' challenge - so, bring them on!

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: August 2026 Anything Goes Halloween

I'm CASing it for this 2-week period and using a favorite postage die and new-to-me Whimsey Stamps "October 31st" #CWSD457 stamp set (with black witch's hat). The sentiment is white heat embossed from Newton's Nook "Spooky Roundabout." The envelope is custom made from a sheet of double-sided paper in my stash.

I made this card quickly and early, because as our challenge goes live I'll be attending a 63rd high school reunion! 63rd, you say? My class of 1963 has reunions every year now because we're all in our 80s and losing a couple of members a year. Our class was a small one and started the first year of a brand new school. When there are only 142 in a class, all of the missing ones are noticed, so we pay tribute to them. Our gatherings are very casual, meeting for lunch in the banquet space of a pizza parlor that we all enjoyed in high school. Meeting every year is a nice way to keep contact with each other. The class is spread out over the state and country, so not everyone can attend each year, but for me it's only a 2-1/2 hour drive.

IS THE MOON OUT TONIGHT?

It's mid-July and time to remind everyone that you still have two weeks for this month's challenge. I actually made this card some time ago, but it was never published, so I decided to use it this month because of the gray, black and burgundy colors and full moon of the lower left quadrant. Is that cheating? 

This Tim Holtz die set is so complex, with many layers, so it's not a quick card. I started by assembling all of the parts for the Count and then made a background from a couple of different stamp sets - the sentiment is white heat-embossed with Impression Obsession "Is the Moon Out Tonight?" and the graveyard scene from Unity "Toil and Trouble."

I made a black card base and added the dark gray background (die-cut with a stitched rectangular die), die cut moon, Count, and his bat. The envelope is a custom one made from light-weight black textured paper and lined with black/gray printed paper. 

Here's our July inspiration board for a kick-start, if you haven't started working on your Halloween project yet - also, go and check out the great cards the other ladies have made for your inspiration:

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: July 2026 Mid Month Reminder

JULY 2026 TWO OLD BATS HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE

We've hit the mid-point of 2026 and if you've been following along with us you would be well on your way to creating all of your Halloween cards! Our July inspiration board is packed with red, white, and blue images.

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: July 2026 Anything Goes Halloween

But I didn't pay one bit of attention this month to the red, white, and blue theme, because I am fresh out of ideas AND I was determined to use a couple of brand new die sets from Spellbinders - "Boos! Cocktails" and "Olive Martinis".  

Starting with a black 5-1/2" square card base and an additional 5" square panel, I stamped the Tim Holtz cobweb with white ink and heat embossed the sentiment from Whimsy Stamps "Pick Your Poison" #CWSD346a (I'm looking forward to using this stamp set in the future, as it has a lot of fun images and sentiments). I die cut the martini glass and liquid from the "Olive Martinis" set and the skeleton hand and skull from "Boos! Cocktails" and assembled all of the pieces to glue to the front of the top panel. I also stamped a centipede in black on white cardstock, colored and fussy cut it, and draped it over the skull for a truly disgusting drink. I matted the panel in red-orange and attached it to the card base.

Go to our challenge page and you'll see that the other members of the team were a bit more successful at following the inspiration board!                     

'TIL DEATH US DO PART

The June Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge is clearly wedding-themed, so it seemed appropriate to bake a cake! I was taken by the eerie wedding cake in the left top quadrant and thought to copy the elements for my card.  

I started with a black card base, to which I glued a dark gray deckle-edged rectangular panel. I used a Simon Says Stamp die cut "Fancy Cake Set" #S731, but expanded the 2-layer cake to a 3-layer one. I stamped Tim Holtz spatters on a scrap of white cardstock,  cut the layers, and grunged them up a bit. I started building the cake by adding some Spellbinders die-cut drips and skulls from their "Boos! Cocktails" die set. I used a bit of warm metallic gray cardstock for the cake stand. The candle was stamped from Whimsy Stamps "Poe Boy" and fussy cut. The cake and top part of the stand was attached with foam dimensional tape and the black things tucked in behind the cake that look like tree branches are actually tree branches from one of Tim Holtz's Halloween die sets.   

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: June 2026 Mid Month Reminder

CREEPY & KOOKY

As we start into June, it's time once again for a new inspiration board at Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge! This month our board is all about June weddings and skeletons. 

https://twooldbatshalloweenchallenge.blogspot.com/2026/06/june-2026-anything-goes-halloween.html

But, I'm fresh out of ideas for Halloween weddings and decided to go with an unrelated theme in gray tones - no skeletons or pumpkins.

The background for this card is a circular graveyard die scene that I've had in my Halloween stash for quite a few years. I top-folded a piece of pale gray cardstock into a 5-1/2" square and die cut a circle in the center of the front that is slightly smaller than the graveyard scene - then I glued the scene to the back side of the front and added a pale gray-green liner inside the card, with an almost white full moon. I splattered some dark gray ink on the lower front of the card and added a two-layered LDRS Creative "Large Word Halloween" die sentiment. The final addition was a dark gray die-cut Dracula from Whimsy Stamps "Dracula Going Batty. The coordinating gray envelope is custom-made from skull and crossbones printed card stock.

Maybe in a couple of weeks I can "scare up" a wedding-themed card for the mid-June challenge! Check out what my fellow design team members have come up with - very creepy! 
 

PINK PUMPKINS AND SKULLS AND GHOSTS, OH MY!

Continuing with our pink-themed May Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge...

This card is made almost entirely of Tim Holtz Halloween die cut images of pumpkins, skulls, and ghosts. I layered and attached them to a black A2 card base and die cut stitched rectangular panel. The sentiment is another old rubber sentiment stamp that I black heat embossed onto some layered Stampin' Up tags. That's it, and now it's your turn! You still have 2 weeks...

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: May 2026 Mid Month Reminder

MAY TWO OLD BATS HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE

May Day! And yes, we at Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge make Halloween cards year-round - that's just how we roll around here! Old Bat Diane has provided us with an all-pink inspiration board for the month of May:

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: May 2026 Anything Goes Halloween

The idea of making pink-themed Halloween cards has been a difficult one for me, but I think I'm starting to ease into it. If you look closely to the bottom left quadrant, you'll see a chandelier and bats - so that's where I started.

For this card I made a black card base that I added a Tim Holtz cobweb to with some Hero Arts "Unicorn" pigment die. Then I die cut a smaller black panel with a deckle edge, matted it with pink polka dot printed paper, and laid it over the front of the card and stamped the cobweb a second time. The pumpkin chandelier is an ancient Impression Obsession rubber stamp, long separated from its wooden block. I white heat-embossed it over the cobweb and filled in some of the open areas with white gel pen. For the pink pumpkins I stamped the image with black on white cardstock, colored them pink, and fussy cut them to glue over the top. I did the same with the bottom tassel, which I glued over the white sentiment tag. I added some pink tiny sequins to the base of the chandelier, tied off the tag with pink and white bakers twine and added a couple of pink bats for good measure. 

Check on what the other ladies have done with this inspiration board and try your hand at it - you have a full month. And remember that you don't have to make a card - any Halloween project is welcome! 

GHOSTLY GREETINGS

It's already mid-April, and there's still time to play along with us at Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge! We love cards, but you can share any Halloween project that you wish.

This time around I was inspired by the lower right quadrant photo of our mood board, with the candelabra and pumpkins. As anyone who follows me knows, I love making little miniature scenes. I started with a die-cut rectangular panel of white cardstock and die cut an opening with a stamp outline die. The sentiment is from a set of small images and words from LDRS Creative "Wicked". The cobweb, spider, and candelabra are all from various stamp sets and the pumpkins were fussy cut from printed Halloween paper. I added a bit of white gel pen to the candles and yellow Prisma pencil for some glow. These were all stamped and glued to a warm gray scrap, and everything mounted to a white card base.

Check out the inspirational cards prepared for you by our design team - you still have 2 weeks left on our rainy April challenge!

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: April 2026 Mid Month Reminder

APRIL TWO OLD BATS HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE

It's April and time to get out the umbrellas - and your Halloween crafting supplies! Diane has a great 'stormy' mood board to inspire us. 

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: April 2026 Anything Goes Halloween

The minute I saw this inspiration board, I knew to go straight to my Tim Holtz trick-or-treaters stamp - the only one I have with an umbrella. I dug through my stash and found very old Halloween paper from the very first 12x12 paper stack I ever bought, and I don't have a clue who manufactured it oh so many years ago. I thought it looked like it was raining ghosts on these poor kids and their cat!

I started with a top-folded black card base and glued panels of the ghosts and bubbles paper, then over-stamped the trick-or-treaters with black ink. It didn't cover very well, so I had to go back in with a black marker to fill in everything. This very simple card was finished off  with a layered die cut sentiment from LDRS Creative "Large Word Halloween." The custom envelope has been knocking around in my envelope stash for a very long time, waiting for the perfect time to use it.

You should go over and check out the rest of the ladies' umbrella cards for further inspiration! Remember, you can create 'anything' Halloween.

MYSTERIOUS & SPOOKY

My goodness, it's already time for our Mid-month Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge! If you haven't done a project yet, there's still plenty of time in the month. It doesn't have to be a card, but can be anything 'Halloween' that catches your fancy.

I took it a bit easy this time around and used a panel of already printed paper with a witch on her broom. But the moon was a light color and I took my green Copic markers and re-colored it to work with this month's inspiration board. I die cut the image with a deckle-edge die, added a green mat, and attached it to a black card base. The sentiment was die cut from some green glitter paper and I added a couple of die cut black bats.

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: March 2026 Mid Month Reminder

MARCH TWO OLD BATS HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE

Here we are at the beginning of a new month! Our March challenge always features green, but I can never quite get the tone of green blue enough, and my card always looks like it's black and yellow. Looks like I need to invest in some new green cardstock!

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: March 2026 Anything Goes Halloween

While there are no zombies in this month's inspiration board, I used the black and green as inspiration - well, sort of!

My card started with a top-folded black card base. I white heat-embossed the Tim Holtz sentiment, masked it off, and added yellow-green heat embossed splatters (also Tim Holz). I die cut the "EEK!" layered dies with yellow-green glitter paper, black, and white. I stamped the zombie face and hand on pale gray card stock, fussy-cut it, and colored it with Copics. I glued the EEK, hand, and heat to the face of the card.

Inside the card I trimmed a piece of yellow-green printed paper to a square and black heat-embossed the second part of the sentiment and splatters. I had a black square envelope and I heat-embossed the "BUUUURP" (Whimsy Stamps) on the back flap.

You're not bound to just what is suggested by the inspiration board - in our challenge, you can share any Halloween project. March is a couple of days longer than February so, there's plenty of time to enter the challenge! Also, check what the other ladies have provided as additional inspiration.

TWO OLD BATS MID-FEBRUARY CHALLENGE

My mid-month inspiration card for Two Old Bats Anything Halloween Challenge is a take-off from our mood board's lower right quadrant - a bouquet of  long-stemmed skulls tied with a red bow. The closest image I had in my stash was Whimsey Stamps "Happy Halloweeds".

I decided to do a monotone card with the emphasis on the red bow die from Tim Holtz's "Vault Festive Wreath". The original image of the stamp is the jar and 1 scull and 1 pumpkin. I stamped the image on white card stock and fussy-cut it, cutting off the pumpkin. I then stamped two more skulls on white, fussy-cut them, and layered them into the vase. I mounted the jar and sculls on the face of a gray die-cut rectangle that I had stamped with a spider web and sentiment and mounted to the face of a black card base with two additional mats. The final addition was a double red bow and red dots in the Os of the sentiment.

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: February 2026 Mid Month Reminder

There's still plenty of time to re-erect your Halloween supplies and join the fun! 

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

It's February 2nd and time for a new challenge at Two Old Bats. The ladies have a fairly creepy mood board as inspiration for us!

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: February 2026 Anything Goes Halloween

When I saw the above board the first thing that caught my eye was the really creepy heart-shaped creature in the lower left quadrant. EEEK! With all of its little spidery legs I immediately thought about a Katzelkraft rubber stamp set of whimsical bugs in my supplies. 

I'm not sure what this Kratzelkraft character is supposed to be, with all of his eyes - something quite disgusting! I stamped him with black ink onto a deckle-edged light gray panel and colored him with Copic markers, Prismacolor pencil, and white gel pen. I masked him off and over-stamped the gray cobweb and splatters from Tim Holtz. I attached the panel to a black card base. I white heat embossed the sentiment from Impression Obsession "Is the Moon Out Tonight?" on printed cardstock, trimmed it down, punched the blood drips, and attached it with dimensional foam.  

Here's a close-up of my long-legged beastie:

Head over to the blog to see what our other creative designers have come up with to inspire you with hearts and skulls!

HAPPY HAUNTS

We're at the mid-point for our January Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge. If you haven't started a project yet, there's still plenty of time!

My second card this month is a continuation of the top right quadrant with the creepy house, trees, and pumpkins, but with the addition of a ghost, as in the lower left quadrant.

I had this idea to, instead of using a full background paper and making a scene to place the pumpkin and ghost against, that I would use the background paper to die cut a Tim Holtz haunted house and 2 trees. I placed them against a solid black panel to get the same feeling of a dark Halloween night. The sentiment is white heat embossed on a stitched die cut rectangular panel (Newton's Nook "Spooky Street") that I glued to a black card base. Then I layered the house, trees, pumpkin mug, and vellum ghost on the front of the card. You may recognize this mug that I used last month for a Christmas card! It's from Trinity Stamps "Boo Brew". 

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: January 2026 Mid Month Reminder

Now, your turn!