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

Frilly and Funkie October Challenge- Haunted Halloween

**********************UPDATE************************
Guess what peeps - I won! I cannot believe it and it really made my Monday. You can see all the action here.

My debut make for the Frilly and Funkie. October challenge There is the usual amount of things going on- I am not sure that I am capable of making a simple card!

Well I find myself drawn to another card making challenge (well okay, I am addicted to them now) and to be honest, it is a wonderful way to focus my makes and really test myself - the whole point of a challenge after all!

I had some card stock left over from another project that I had painted with acrylic paints. Perfect for the Skeleton!

This time it is for Frilly and Funkie and the theme is Haunted Halloween. Now how could I possibly resist that!

Highlighting the bats with some white Gel pen and then only adhering the middles gives some extra dimension.

I started this make with a C5 white card blank and a piece of 250gsm card the same size.  To this I added some Tim Holtz Halloween Design tape for the edge.

Purple, bone and black just works!

I am not much of a purple user but this time, it suited the theme perfectly. I inked some pieces of card with Distress Oxide Ink         (seedless preserves, dusty concord, hickory smoke and black soot).

I sew on almost all of my cards - it is a nod to my day job!

These pieces were layered and sewn (one trimmed to make it slightly smaller.).

The card that I used for the skeleton had been painted and treated with a weathered wood crackle medium (DecoArt). This we perfect for giving him a cracked and old look!

Then came the die cuts. Tangled Twigs (Sizzix) was perfect for the background onto some TH black kraft core paper and then sanded (of course!).

Adore layers and dimension!

Before I adhered the twiggy panel on, I stamped an owl and moon from the Stampers Anonymous Mr Bones onto a piece of oxided card and die cut it with a circle die.

I have been waiting for the perfect chance to use that owl stamp!

It was time for skeleton man to come out of the grave and go exploring. He is from the Sizzix too and comes from the Ghoulish die set.

For me, it is all about that shadow!

I made a shadow for him by keeping the negative piece that I cut him from and using it as a stencil with some Black Soot Distress Ink and a Blender Brush. He has some bat companions too! They come from the same die set.

The tombstones are so easy to make - don't forget to check out the link!

A tombstone was a must. I have a full tutorial for those here and the black grass was just card offcuts snipped with a lovely sharp pair of Tonic scissors.

When I first started using the quote chips, I didn't think of sanding them -Duh! I sand everything!!

All that was left to do then was to sand a quote chip and add some spookiness with another message using TH Label Letters.

Well fingers crossed that this one will meet with favour! Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope that you are a bit inspired to enter a challenge yourself!
Hugs
Debbie
xx

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Monochrome!

I am a little bit in love with this!

I am not very brave. I can sit a five hour science exam and really enjoy it but the thought of entering a card challenge has kept me captive for just a little over 15 weeks- because, well, Aspergers. In that time, I have visited the site and drooled over the other people's entries and planned what I would do.

Monochrome is how I roll.

Then the other day, I looked again and thought to myself, this is it! You can do this and because it is Autumn (my very favourite season), the time just felt right. Another undeniable sign from the cosmos came when I saw that the challenge was monochrome! That means black and white to me.....black and white thinking is how Aspergers is on a day to day basis! Cool huh?!

So here, without (much) further ado, is my submission for the SimonSaysStampMondayChallenge! I hope that you like it and will make one for yourself. In case you want to, I have provided some step by steps for you.

So what do we need-
Most of my items are by Tim Holtz. if that changes, I will put a note beside it to let you know.
-Card blank
-A sheet of white card stock spare (Cut this in half to make two pieces. One exactly the same size as your card and one a bit smaller)
-Plain black card stock
-Ivory pearl card stock
-Washi tape in black and white and also a slight tea dyed colour.
-Distress Oxide inks- antique linen, black soot, hickory smoke and iced spruce
-Distress inks- black soot, tea dye, picket fence

-Harlequin diamond shifter stencil
-Halloween stamp set. I am using Mr Bones (#CMS345)
-Halloween quote chip
-Label letters
-Foliage dies. I am using some of the Funky Foliage (#663087) by Sizzix
-Embossing ink
-Black fine embossing powder
-White Nuvo Drops
-Ideology white roses
-Ideology film strip
-Cream cotton lace
-DecoArt Americana metallic lustre- champagne ice
-Your usual card making needs including a good clear dry glue (I love my Nuvo glue) and I have used a sewing machine to sew the card layers together.

I REALLY need to link with some thumbnails! next time 😁

Well that is quite a list! You can swap things out and almost any foliage will work. The same goes for the embellishments. Some tiny little flat back pearls would work as the white details on the spray. Have a look at what you have handy.

I am always shocked in a good way with Oxide backgrounds. The great thing is that no two are the same and the only drawback is that no two are the same.

So the first step is to get some colour on the smaller of the two pieces of card. I have done this with the oxides, beginning with the antique linen and building up colour, using the black soot least of all.

It is difficult to see the black tape here. In the next photo it is clearer.

On the other piece of spare white card, make a frame from the washi tape. 

It was about now that I fell in love!

Use the shifter stencil to make some Distress Oxide diamonds in the greys and black. Then strengthen the black on the edges by inking that with Distress Ink in black soot and also make a small glow in the centre with Distress Ink in tea dye. You don't need very much.

I like to keep the diamonds quite misty and keep changing the colours.

The next step was to go to the sewing machine and stitch twice around the edge with black thread. Don't be too neat and go around twice. Then carefully roll the edges of the card to stop it being too flat.

The pity of it was that that terrific black bit was destined to be hidden by the skeleton!

Rolling the edges makes them interesting and a little distressed. Careful not to tear!

So far, so good! That is the background basically finished and it is time to think about a focal point. I used a pearl card stock in ivory because I wanted the skull to shine out of the card the way bones do. And I embossed him in fine black which means that there is a texture change with the main focus of the card. It is subtle but it works well against the distressed background.

Loving the sheen and the rich colour.

He needed to be fussy cut next!

Now those of you who are paying close attention will notice that I have made a small border in the last photo.

There is just enough brown on the film strip to pick up the colour of the tea dye ink in the centre of the card and compliment it without stopping the card from being monochrome. It warms it up though.

I started out with the lace and glued that on and then went back to add some film strip (loooove this stuff!). The Nuvo glue was great for this because it dries crystal clear.

This step really brings them to life.

I made a whole lot of foliage next from the black card stock. When it was dry, I picked up a bit of picket fence with my finger (think applying eye shadow) and highlighted the topography of the leaves.

Leave the foliage at the very back unhighlighted. It adds to the depth of the bouquet. 

I did go back in with some metallic lustre and highlight further because it was not quite enough.

I used some dimensional foam dots to bring the skull out and give me some room to add the foliage and embellishments.

The various leaves made a spray of foliage around the skull. I then added the white Nuvo drop dots in singles and groups of three. 

Use hot glue to put the roses on. They need to be really secure.

Finally, some white roses just touched with black finished the picture.

Careful distressing with sandpaper is a game changer!

All that was left to do then was to lightly distress the chosen quote chip with sand paper and add a second line with the label letters.

I love the way that sanding takes the 'brand new' look away from the quote chips.

And there you have it! A spooky enough card for anyone and I am super happy with it. Here goes and fingers crossed!

Layers of detail make these cards

The wand just HAD to make another appearance!

Do join in with the challenge - rich coming for me I know! It is super fun and a great way to focus your card making. I may even make another one!

***********************UPDATE***********************
Before I disappear though - there has been an update after the competition was drawn and although I did not win the main prize, my card was picked by the DT to be put into the Designer Spotlight!

I could not believe my eyes!

And do you know what? I value that so much more than a prize draw! This means the world to me and I am now hooked on this. I reckon that I am in for the long haul!

Happy crafting!
Debbie
xx