Spooky Family Portrait Card

BEST time of year for card making!

It is almost (almost but not quite) Halloween and I am trying to rein in my natural instinct to get my Halloween on. I don't want to be THAT person- actually if I was, I would be in a huge and lovely group so I am almost certainly wrong.

The spooky possibilities!

Anyway, I am trying to see other sides to Autumn as well as JUST Halloween so I am making myself create a card this time that is Autumn and earthy but nothing to do with monsters or anything monstrous.

I am becoming a bit scared of the little guy with the wings to be honest.

This is a personal journey and one that is supposed to teach me to see that there are lots of things going on in this, the greatest season of all, blah, blah, blah. Ah who am I kidding! I am totally making a Halloween card and I will square it with my zen consciousness later on!

It doesn't have to SAY Halloween to be a Halloween card! Experiment!

I  never played with dolls as a child because I always always creeped out by them. So the Paper Dolls collections have been a real revelation for me; a license to creep!
So let's get on anyway and see what I did to make this card.....

I do apologise for the appalling lighting problems - all that shiny paper on the dolls! That's my story and i am sticking to it.

You will need
-a 5"x 7" card blank
-white watercolour cardstock
-white 300 gsm cardstock
-4" sq. masking paper
-distress spray stains: crushed olive, black soot, weathered wood, hickory smoke
-iced spruce distress oxide spray
-distress archival ink: hickory smoke
-distress markers in a few favourite colours
-any Ideology paper dolls
-3" round die to cut the moon
-Mr Bones stamp set 
-dimensional foam squares
-your usual card making needs

Before we begin, a huge shout out to my friend Stacy for the inspiration for the background! I love her work and you can check it out here on her awesome blog. I am sure that you will love it too!

Start by cutting the watercolour cardstock just a bit smaller than the size of the card and cut a round shape from the masking paper

My 'masking paper' is just a post it note and I spritzed it with water to get it to stay put. You actually want the colour to bleed slightly so it doesn't need to seal perfectly.

Use the crushed olive spray to make some marks on the paper

I am working in my Splat Box - this is a really great investment.

Add the other colours of spray stain, drying off in between until you have a motley and creepy sky

I am totally keeping this green post it note when I am finished!

Dry this and then it is time for the big reveal!

As you can see, the not-quite-perfect-seal of the masking paper works well - all part of my cunning plan!

Now spritz the moon with plain water and allow the wicking of ink to occur...

Magic! Well, the magic of science of course!

I flicked a couple of spots of distress oxide spray over the moon too to increase the shadows

It doesn't take much to achieve an incredible effect.

Time for some branches! I am using the ones from the Mr Bones stamp set but where Stacy used black ink, I am going for a smokey grey so that they fade into the background a bit....

The stamp platform means that you can repeat the print and get some nice crispness.

I wasn't 100% happy with the depth of colour so I inked the edges softly with black soot distress ink

This step is optional so I haven't put the ink into the requirements list.

Okay, we need bats next!

I LOVE this bat die set - it is going to be one of those ones brought out year after year!

Consider getting some white 300 gsm card and colouring it with various spray stains. It really is like money in the bank when it comes to die cutting. I have made mine with hickory smoke and black soot. An A4 piece of card in each colour lasts ages and is really inspiring to plan with.

One of my favourite things to do with card!

Cut some bat shapes from the different coloured card and the different sized bat dies...

I adore this die!

Next I chose a few paper dolls. It is not important to get them from the same set. What is important is to make sure that they look great together and that the scale is right.

Mix and match until you get a family group that works well.

I tinted the paper dolls with some distress markers (my camera isn't all that interested in showing you apparently).

Trust me the colour is subtle, but it is there!

I glued the older boy and the two girls down first

These dolls will form the background.

Then the little boy and the dog were put on with dimensional foam squares

Even has its own spooky shadow thanks to my appalling lighting

We are almost there! I have to sew everything though so out came the sewing machine next

I love the way this frames the work. I may shade it a bit though. That is the beauty of using white thread, you can ink it and make it blend a little into the background.

Now the bat's turn...

When you put the bats on, only glue the bodies allowing the wings to 'fly'.

I glue the card onto the blank at this point. I like to put design tape around the edges of the card. This makes a really neat border.

Roll the edges over to make them look a bit more distressed.

The design  tape is the same colouring as the paper dolls (sepia) and this ties everything together. The background is more cooler colours and this element makes the card look more connected.

And finally (well almost finally) we need the card to say something

These label letters are great for making any word that you want. 

Just as I was finishing, I wondered what the little boy would look like with wings....

Some cards are never finished!

But finally (yes really this time), I realised that I had done everything necessary.

Finished and ready for Halloween!

And before you go - I have changed one of may page sections to a card inspiration gallery and it might be worth a look. Let me know what you think!
Hugs
Debbie
xx

Adding a little metal - SSS Challenge

Time I  rejoined the crafting world I think!

Well my goodness it has been a while! As promised, we did move and we moved to Germany. I would like to say that the trip went smoothly but that would be the worst of lies and to be honest, the challenges are ongoing and with no real end in sight - the result of moving anywhere with a very old person I am afraid. However, I cannot praise my new countrymen enough. They are helpful and good natured and really go out of their way to make things better if they can.

A view from our house through the village.

However, I am still pleased that we made the decision and that Germany was the winner. It really is the most beautiful country in my eyes.

The sunsets from our bedroom are something worth seeing!

We have bought a beautiful 119 year old farmhouse in the German countryside and we have bags of room so I can feel myself spreading out.

Springtime and our house in the background.

I am waiting for the day that the challenges ease up a bit so that we can enjoy this beautiful part of the world.
Of course a certain little someone is enjoying it all immensely...

Naturally nose in the air (default position) and sunning herself on the terrace!

Cannot beat breakfast on the terrace.

Our garden is really taking off and I am loving the discovery of all the hidden plants emerging.

It is all just a bit much to take in! But as you can see, it is a bit nice here.

I love piling on the details.

But enough about that for the time being. I thought that it was high time that I joined in with another Simon Says Stamp Challenge. I love them and I have missed taking part. This week is all about adding something metallic - as a die hard metal fan, I could not pass that one up! So my lovelies, here it is......

So many people are doing lovely things for us at the moment, I needed more thank you cards!

I wanted to make something with a summery feel this time. My natural inclination is to Halloween and Christmas and to be honest, I really struggle with Spring and Summer themes.
Because of the theme of this week's challenge and because of the beautiful new(ish) rose gold and copper kraft core from Tim Holtz, I decided to start there and create an 3D embossed panel...

The trend right now is to leave the threads loose and tangled.

A frame came next and the centre was cut out with the largest of the Deckle dies from Sizzix.
Naturally I sanded it all (you know me) and then I stitched it with black thread.

Love that antique distressed look.

I splattered it with dark brown acrylic paint too and allowed it to dry. 

always, but always have a spare bit of card handy to mop up the excess. This can be put aside for another project - like money in the bank!

The next step was to create a background. This is a big card (A5) and the lovely Tim Holtz papers do not quite span the card. Oxides to the rescue! I started with old paper and antique linen, went on to shabby shutters and then finished with stormy sky.

Coming together now!

I stitched the front panels onto the background and trimmed it to fit the card. 

NOTHING finishes a card for me like stitching.

I adore this film strip too so some of that went next. I cut a scrap of lace from the background offcut too using the lovely new Sizzix 'Crochet' die from Tim Holtz. It adds texture and because it is the same as the background, it pulls it all together.

Adding another colour in at this point may have been too much.

Time to build the floral bit. I cut a frame from rose gold metallic card stock and glued it to a piece of grey board. This is one of the new seasons dies from Sizzix too. It is a steel rule Bigz die so it cuts through the thicker stuff effortlessly.

Lay some leaves onto the panel before you put the frame on to add depth.

I went to my stash of greenery for the leaves and used a mixture of everything. I have a tute for these leaves here. It is actually an Autumn leaf one but the technique is exactly the same for green leaves. Have a play. Get your favourite greens going. 

I used a dimensional foam to give the daisies some lift - and never glue down the whole flower! Just the centres will do and it makes the project look a lot better. Not so flat.

All that was left for this bit was to choose some flowers. I love these daisies from the Wildflower Stems #1 set (Sizzix). I used only the heads and coloured the centres with Distress ink in mustard seed and wild honey. I came back in with some Distress markers and added some dots around the base of the centres for more depth. Let me know if you would like a tute to show you how to do this.

Of course no self respecting bouquet is complete without filler flowers so I used some of those from my stash box.

When you get a moment, make some little blooms and blossoms from your paper offcuts and put them in a handy box. You will be pleased that you did!

This little guy was goíng to be an insect - a bee or similar but it just didn't look right so I thought about a little fairy child instead. Acetate wings from Ideology and a paper doll and Wham!- success! I used dimensional foam to put him on too.

You NEED a packet of these fairy wings!

I love the way that the paper dolls have different poses. You can usually find the perfect one.

Don't worry if some of the label is hidden - you really want those layers happening so tuck things in behind other things and watch the magic happen.

One of the last things to do was to make a label to say thank you - Sizzix Alphanumeric label is the die that you are looking for. And I have gone over to using double sided adhesive sheet to make the letters. SO much easier than messing around with glue! An A4 sheet lasts for ages and I use my Sizzix Side Kick because it is also less fiddly.

The daisies needed some work!

I really wasn't happy with the flatness of the daisies so I went back in with a water brush and some weathered wood Distress Ink and shaded the petals. All of a sudden the card popped!

And that's it guys! I do hope that you like it. It felt funny to be crafting again after so many months without my things while we were moving.

There will be more fairies in the future!

Its all about the texture and the layers.

See you next time!
Love and hugs
Debbie
xx