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Happy Halloween

I overheard someone say that I cost them a lot of money as I have a tendency to mix and match a lot of stamps and dies from various companies when I make sample cards for Scrapendipity. Some of this is intentional, of course, because I do want to showcase as many of our new products as possible, but sometimes it is because it is a challenge that I just enjoy taking on.

Today is such a day. I had just added a witch stamp from Lavinia to my collection. Lavinia stamps definitely have a look that is all their own. They can be really large or really small, but they all have an “other world” look about them. They actually remind me of the old computer game “Myst” where the unexpected was expected, as you moved around the game. I know, I am dating myself, but it is true. I thought it would be fun to combine the witch with the die called Splats from Paper Rose. When this die came in, I quite frankly, thought it was the stupidest die ever. It was only when Selena (owner of Scrapendipity) demoed it, did I begin to realize its’ potential. The name suggests that it was designed to create paint splats in different sizes and I have made one card using it this way, but far more often it has been used as a layered cave. This is how I am using it again today. Somehow, glow in the dark elements just seem perfect for anything Halloween themed, so I used Glow in the Dark Nuvo drops in the Cauldron and on the Orb (right out of Myst, I tell you). I used Brutus Monroe Glow in the Dark Seaglass for the floor of the cave. I also had a happy accident where the collage medium I used reactivated the ink in the background and the rocks took on a purple as well as a green glow. Perfect.

I will not attempt to show what it looks like in the dark, because the camera just never captures it well, but it really does look spooky and awesome at the same time. These elements “glow” all the time, and do not fade away quickly like Glow in the Dark embossing powder tends to do.

For My Best Fiend

No that is not a typo. This card was made for my best fiends. The September My Monthly Hero reveal actually had two Heroscape stamp sets. The one included in the main kit is a lovely pumpkin patch and I will be making a card with that one shortly. This card was made using the Graveyard Heroscape which was one of the add-on products accompanying the kit.

Here is a funny thing. At first glance, I thought the layered landscape part (the Heroscape) of the stamp set was a bit narrow which left a lot of unoccupied space in the sky area of the card. So what did I do……………I decided to make a slimline card that is much taller than a regular card……………………what??? Yes, I decided to make the design extra complicated as that is just what I do. It worked out well though. I did three layers of the landscape vertically on the card. I made it lighter with more detail on the bottom and darker and more indistinct on the top two layers. I added the fence to the edge of the first landscape to disguise the transition a bit and ink blended the top layer all over to make it darker and more indistinct. As I still had lots of real estate left after adding all the black embossed images, I was able to add two sentiments instead of one. Usually I am struggling to find a spot to put one sentiment as I rarely plan for the sentiment up front, when designing a card. In the end, I really liked the card as the ink blending which turned out well is a more prominent feature of the card.

I did a little stamp surgery on the crows so that I could place them where I wanted on the sentiments. It kills me to do this on a brand new set, but I didn’t want to take the chance of an ink smear that might have happened with trying to mask the well inked crow trio stamp.

A Nod to Halloween

 

I keep thinking that I have all the stamps and dies that I could possibly need, and yet I buy more.  There is a reason that crafters refer to this hobby as their addiction, and think they will stop buying as soon as they add this or that to their collection.

Today, I thought I would share some Halloween cards that I recently made.  For the most part, they were made with stamps and dies already in my stash, but I confess to buying a couple of new ones.

I liked the crazy sentiments in the stamp set from Cathy Zielske called My Zombies, so I had to get that.  I also liked the oval Spider Web from Hero Arts and even though I resisted buying it with my recent Hero Arts kit, I caved in and bought it when it appeared at Scrapendipity.   I also had to have the Tim Holtz Stamptember exclusive stamp set, but have yet to make a card with that one (Stay tuned)

Coffee Lovers Bloghop-Day 4

Some days are just better than others, aren’t they?  So far, this day has been a great one.  First of all, I found out that I won a stamp set from The Ton stamps during their latest release giveaway.  Double, Double, Quadruple Yahoo about that!  Secondly, I finished preparing for a Scrapbook retreat that I am going to this weekend.  Usually going to a retreat entails packing in haste, and then lamenting that the perfect item for what I am working on, is in my stash at home.  “Not this time”………….she says proudly.  This time I have made up about 10 homemade kits in preparation.  Everything I need for each double page layout is tucked into a 12X12 zip lock bag.  Some assembly required, of course, and some blank spaces to be filled with items from the shopping frenzy that is part of the Great Canadian Scrapbook Carnival, but generally they are “Good to Go” and I won’t be stymied from completing quite a few pages.

The last good thing that has happened so far (hopefully more to come :-)), is that I got another coffee card made for the bloghop.  It is a set that I didn’t have for the last bloghop, so it is always fun to see what can be done with it.

There is no mistaking the fall theme in this one:

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Monday Challenge-Simon Says Stamp

I had so much fun making my light up card yesterday, that I wanted to make another one.  This time I made a card that fits the criteria of the Wild Card class and the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge so I could link it to both.

Simon Says Stamp is featuring Memory Box this week and the theme is Halloween.  I have a great Bat Cave die from Memory Box so it was great for the theme and lent itself to a light up card as well.

I think the card turned out really well.

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Supplies:

Memory Box Bat Cave Cutout, Tim Holtz Halloween Cutouts stamp set, Tim Holtz Distress Paint, Unknown orange embossing powder,  Recollections vellum, Scotch 3M foam tape, Papertrey Ink LED light, micropore tape, Simon Says Stamp top folding card base, Scor tape.

Halloween

Here are some of Sandra’s Halloween cards.

Pics for Blog5 Pics for Blog3 Pics for Blog4

Ok the last one is more of a “Selfie” than a card.  I have to admit she looks pretty good when she puts her makeup on  :-).