Happy Halloween! Anything Goes

This week's the challenge at The Outlawz Coloring Challenges is Anything Goes and/or Christmas. My Outlawz Coloring Challenge teammates, Carla, Penny, , Vannessa, and I challenge you to use create a project for this challenge. You should check out their blogs to see their gorgeous artwork. 

Our October sponsor at The Outlawz Coloring Challenges is Sweet Pea Stamps, who is offering our lucky winner three digis of his/her choice from the Sweet Pea Digi Stamp Store.  Play along with us for your chance to win!

Here's a card with Molly Harrison's October Winds (Sweet Pea Stamps).

October Winds was reduced in PhotoElements, printed out with my laser printer onto Neenah cardstock, colored with Copic markers, then die-cut with one of the dies from the A2 Card Creator Nestabilities die set (Spellbinders). Touches of Spica glitter pen (Copic) were added to the cats' eyes and around the circumference of the moon.

Since the stamp is rather detailed, I decided to go with a relatively clean and simple layout. Kraft cardstock was embossed with a Moroccan 5x7 embossing folder, then sponged with Gathered Twigs Distress ink (Ranger). Kraft cardstock was also die-cut with the D-Lites Flourish Trim die (Spellbinders) and one of the dies from the Victorian Tags die set (Spellbinders). Both die-cuts were sponged with Gathered Twigs Distress ink. The tag was stamped with the sentiment from the Sentiments 2 stamp set (Purple Onion Designs).

I must mention that Sweet Pea Stamps is going out of business, which is really sad since they had such a wonderful variety of rubber and digital stamps.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:
• Left of Center Challenges: Halloween 
• Scrapy Land Challenges: Embossing  
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenges: Anything Goes   
• Die Cuttin' Divas Challenges: Halloween 

K is for Kitty, plus some fun news!

I played along with the Steampunk challenge at Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers and guess what? I've been crowned as a Queen of Snark! Those of you who know me, know how fitting that title really is. All hail me -- the Queen of Snark! Woo-hoo!

One of the honors of being the Queen of Snark is that I get to be a guest dt member this week and the challenge, K is for Kitty, is ever so fitting for me as I am a krazy kat lady.

Here's my card which uses Penelope from Vera Lane Studio's Little Whimsical Witch digital stamp set and the cat from Vera Lane Studio's Girl and Cat with Party Hats.

I'll preface this with saying that I use a relatively old version of PhotoElements when I play with my digital stamps. The first thing I did was to open the Little Whimsical Witch set, crop the witch hat off of Penelope, and use Save As to save the hat in a separate file that I called Penelope's hat. Using the eraser tool, I got rid of any extraneous bits of Penelope, and saved the file.

Next I opened the cat from the Girl and Cat with Party Hats set and cropped the left and right ears from him and used Save As to save each ear in a separate file. The next step was to position the witch hat on the cat's head, which involved a bit of shrinking/stretching the hat, and free-rotating the layer, so the hat would fit. Each ear file was opened and the ears were positioned, then brought to the front, so they would appear to be poking through slits in the hat.

Penelope, from the Girl and Cat with Party Hats set, was opened again, reduced, dragged into place, free-rotated a bit, and sent to the back so the tip of her hat would be behind the ginormous cat.

When I was happy with the placement of my little scene, I added a bit of type, merged the scene, reduced it slightly, and printed it out onto Neenah cardstock using my laser printer.

The scene was then colored with Copic markers. Several layers of Clear Gelly Glaze pen (Sakura) was added to the cat's eyes, the skulls on both witch hats, and Penelope's buttons to give them dimension and shine.

The image panel was die-cut with one of the dies from the A2 Card Creator Nestabilities die set (Spellbinders). Copic markers were used to outline the images and add a dotted background. The image panel was edged with Black Soot Distress ink (Ranger), then matted with patterned paper from the Eerie 6x6 pad (Basic Grey) that had been die-cut with the next largest Card Creator die. This layer was also edged with Black Soot Distress ink.

Two different pieces of patterned paper from an old MME 6x6 pad were layered. My Drippy Goo Edger punch (Martha Stewart) was used to punch a sheet from the same pad, and glittery skull tape (Recollections) was adhered atop the border. The layered paper was cut down to size, then edged with Peeled Paint and Black Soot Distress inks.

The computer generated, laser printed words were cut apart and sponged with Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Wilted Violet, and Black Soot Distress inks. The image panel was adhered to the card front and the sentiment words were added.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenges: Anything Goes
• Left of Center Challenges: Halloween 
• Papertake Weekly Challenges: Take Your Pick -- I picked Halloween Hues.

Snow White is a Zombie!

Arwen McCullen is the hostess at Stampotique Designers Challenge Blog and her theme is Scary Confusion. Here's what she had to say about her challenge.

"I  love creepy things and I like weird. Combine in your work a little scary and a little confused."

If you'd like the chance to win your choice of $30 worth of Stampotique stamps, you should play along with this challenge. Visit Stampotique Designers Challenge blog and be sure to read the rules so that you'll have the chance to win that great prize!!!  Remember to check to see the deadline for all of this month's Stampotique Designers Challenges!

                   Here's my card with Skull Moon Small (Arwen McCullen), Snowy (Kira Nichols), and Owl Tree (Kira Nichols).

In honor of Halloween, the most wonderful time of the year, I decided that Snowy needed to be zombi-fied and freshly dug up from the graveyard, presided over by some spooky owls and the Skull Moon.

Black and white cardstock was die-cut with dies from my new Basic Step-Up Framelits die set (Sizzix). Snowy was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts) onto the front panel and onto Eclipse Tape (Judikins). The Eclipse Tape version was fussy-cut and positioned over her counterpart on the image panel. Owl Tree was overstamped using Jet Black Archival ink (Ranger). 

Snowy's mask was lifted and Snowy and the owls' eyes were colored with Copic markers. I went over the owls' eyes and Snowy's apple with a VersaMarker (Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts), then heat set with Filagree Clear Fine Detail embossing powder (Stewart Superior). 

The Graveyard Border die (Cottage Cutz) was used to die-cut white cardstock and Eclipse Tape. Snowy's mask was replaced, the Eclipse Tape Graveyard Border die-cut, was positioned, and Removable Scotch Tape (3M) was used to mask off the bottom portion of the image panel. Blueprint and Chipped Sapphire Distress ink (Ranger) were sponged over Snowy, the Owl Tree, and the Graveyard Border. The embossed eyes served to resist the Distress inks.

The masks were lifted and the Removable Scotch Tape was repositioned at the base of the Graveyard Border. Forest Moss and Mowed Lawn Distress inks were sponged over the bottom part of the panel. The tape was lifted and a T01 Copic marker was used to color the tombstones. A Forest Moss Distress marker was used to touch up the area and to add blades of grass to the tombstones. The die-cut cardstock was colored with a variety of Toner Grey Copic markers plus a gold gel pen and set aside. 

A Red Glaze pen (Sakura) was used to add some bloody touches to Snowy and her apple. Espresso Distress ink was used to add some touches of "dirt" to Snowy's hair, face, dress, and shoes. 

The primary image panel was edged with Black Soot Distress ink, the die-cut, colored Graveyard Border was adhered behind it, and the combined pieces were adhered to the cardfront. 

White cardstock was sponged with Blueprint and Chipped Sapphire Distress ink, die-cut with the smaller panel dies from the Step-Up Framelets die set, and added to the card front.

Skull Moon Small was stamped with Jet Black Archival ink (Ranger), colored with Distress markers (Ranger), and fussy-cut. A touch of A Red Glaze pen was used to add some gore to the Skull Moon 's fang and then Skull Moon was adhered to the card. Some bats were die-cut from the Halloween die set (Impression Obsession) and the Halloween set (Little B) to finish the card.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:
• Die Cuttin' Divas Challenges: Halloween 
• Forever Dark Challenges  
• Papertake Weekly Challenges: Take Your Pick -- I picked Halloween Hues.
• Haunted Design House Challenges: Holy Hell, It's Halloween! 
• Scrapy Land Challenges: Use Heat Embossing and Dies -- The owls' eyes are embossed.

Fallen Angel

I have a thing for angel images. When I saw From Heaven Angel Large (Stampinback)
at I Brake For Stamps, I just had to get her.  Her tattered wings and her crestfallen expression tugged at my heart strings.

From Heaven Angel was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink onto 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock because I brought my colored pencils with me on holiday, mistakenly thinking that I'd get some time to color. Nope. Anyway, I colored her with Copic markers, then grabbed my Skullduggery stencil (Andy Skinner/Tando) and traced it with a Black Multi-liner pen (Copic). The skull was colored with Copic markers. A few cracks were added with the Multi-liner, because I like my skulls (not my personal skull or those of anyone I know) cracked.

The image panel was die-cut with one of the dies from the Card Creator Nestabilities die set (Spellbinders). Black cardstock was die-cut with the next largest die from that set.

Yellow chalk pencil (Derwent) was used to outline the image. Shimmery yellow and blue palette chalk (Pebbles) was used to add the background. When that was done, the image panel was edged with Black Soot Distress ink (Ranger)and matted with the black die-cut.

Grey cardstock was debossed with the Clocks Embossing Plate (Cherry Lynn Designs) then sponged with Black Soot Distress ink.

You really ought to go check out  From Heaven Angel Large, the other Stampingback stamps, and all the great stamps at I Brake For Stamps. Click on my badge below to be whisked over there to check out their fabulous images! Best of all, if you buy something, use this code: SAVE10KATHI  and you'll get 10% off your purchase.

 

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:

• Cherry Lynn Designs Blog Challenges: Anything Goes

• Left Of Center Creative Challenges: Use Your Skull

• Chalk N Stock Challenges: Anything Goes 

• Forever Dark Challenges

Worn and Tattered ATC Swap -- One for the hostess!

Over the past year or so, Nikki Woodward has organized wonderful Stampotique ATC swaps. I decided I should send her a little gift, accompanied by an ATC and a card.

Here's the ATC with Julep (Amy Wilson-Wellenstein), the Love Potion bottle from Containers Cubed #2 (Amy Wilson-Wellenstein), and Symphony Scroll (Jo Capper-Sandon).

Julep (Amy Wilson-Wellenstein) was stamped onto canvas with Jet Black Archival ink (Ranger), colored with a combination of Distress markers (Ranger) and some old Zig Photo Twin markers (EK Success), fussy-cut, then edged with black marker. A bit of glitter marker was added here and there to add a touch of sparkle. 

The Love Potion bottle from Containers Cubed #2 was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink, colored with Copicmarkers, fussy-cut, then edged with black marker.

Several colors of Distress ink (Ranger) were smooshed onto my craft pad and spritzed with water. A piece of canvas was pressed into the puddles of watery ink, then scrunched up, and flattened. This process was repeated several times until I was happy with the color. The canvas was heat set until it was dry. 

Symphony Scroll was stamped onto the dried canvas with Golden Glitz Delicata ink (Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts) and heat set with gold embossing powder. A Clear Wink of Stella Glitter pen (EK Success) was used to add a touch of glitter to the Symphony Scroll.

The edges of the canvas were tattered and the canvas was adhered to a black ATC.  Julep

 was adhered to the ATC and the Love Potion bottle from Containers Cubed #2 was positioned in Julep's hands.

Here's the card that accompanied the ATC and the gift.

Julep was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink, colored with Copic markers, then die-cut with the pierced circle die from the Blueprints 3 die set (Die-namics). The background was added with blue Copic markers, then the circle was edged with Dusty Concord Distress ink (Ranger). 

One of the fishtails from the Fishtail Flags Stax (Die-namics) was used to die-cut a scrap of patterned paper then edged with the Dusty Concord Distress ink. Another scrap of patterned paper was used for the card front. 

The layers were all attached and some purple rhinestones were added to finish the card.

Thanks for visiting today.

Worn and Tattered ATC Trade: Old Timey Frog

Here's the second ATC made when I took a piece of 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock (Strathmore), cut two 2.25" x 3.25" pieces from it, applied Media Gesso (DecoArt) heavily to one piece, pressed the second piece of cardstock onto the wet gesso, left it for a few seconds, then pulled it away which left a lovely texture on both pieces. 

After the Media Gesso dried,  Old Timey Frog (Kira Nichols) was stamped with Jet Black Archival ink (Ranger). Old Timey Frog and the background were colored with a combination of Distress markers (Ranger) and some old Zig Photo Twin markers (EK Success).  

A Post-It Note was applied over the the base of the image and the Barcode (France Papillon) was  stamped with Leaf Green Archival ink (Ranger).

Just keep on keepin' on (Kate Crane) was stamped with Jet Black Archival ink, cut apart, and edged with Black Distress ink (Ranger) . The edges of the image panel were tattered, then the card was matted with black cardstock.

Green and silver metallic cardstock was die-cut with the Tiny Gears die (Memory Box) and added to the back wheel of the cycle.

Unfortunately, I forgot to snap a photo of the card that accompanied this atc on its trip to Canada, but it was posted on Facebook!

Thanks for visiting!

Worn & Tattered ATC Trade: The Castle

I've been away on vacation and am leaving again for the sequel in the morning. By next Wednesday, I will have traveled from New Jersey to Madrid and back again, then from New Jersey to California and back again. 

I did try to post the cards that I created for the Worn and Tattered ATC trade while I was gone, but my iPad had a different idea. So, I'm going to share all of them now.

Here's the first one, which went to England. 

It features Stampotique's Fairy Castle (Jo Capper-Sandon)

and Make magic wherever you go (Amy Wilson Wellenstein).

Here's the ATC.

 

I took a piece of 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock (Strathmore) and cut two 2.25" x 3.25" pieces from it. Media Gesso (DecoArt) was applied very heavily to one piece. The second piece was pressed into the wet Media Gesso, left for a few seconds, then pulled away, leaving a lovely texture on both pieces. They were left to dry for a bit.

Fairy Castle was stamped onto the Media Gesso textured cardstock with Jet Black Archival ink (Ranger) and colored using Distress markers (Ranger) and some old Zig Photo Twin markers (EK Success). 

The sentiment was stamped onto matching green cardstock, cut apart, and edged with Black Soot Distress ink (Ranger).

The edges were distressed with a distressing tool and the edge of a pair of scissors. Then the image panel was matted on black cardstock.

Here's the card that went with it.

This time the Fairy Castle was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts), die-cut with a die from the Card Creator Nestabilities die set (Spellbinders), and colored with Copic markers. The edges were sponged with Black Soot Distress ink (Ranger). The background was patterned paper that was sponged with Distress ink over two layering stencils (Stampers Anonymous).

Thanks for visiting today.

She Sees All!

Meet Fortune Teller Esmeralda, one of the latest Rick St. Dennis rubber stamps, that is available at I Brake for Stamps. Isn't she gorgeous? Do you like images of fortune tellers and other images from the occult/realms of fantasy? I know that I do! They hearken back to older times when things were perhaps a bit more mysterious.

Fortune Teller Esmeralda was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts) onto Neenah cardstock and onto Eclipse Tape (Judikins). The Eclipse Tape version was fussy cut and set aside while the cardstock version was colored with Copic markers. When I was done coloring, I applied the Eclipse Tape mask over the colored Fortune Teller Esmeralda. The image panel was die-cut with one of the dies from my 5" x 7" Card Creator Nestabilities die set (Spellbinders). The panel was kept in the die and a piece of Washi tape was place horizontally over the base of the image. Watering Can Archival ink (Ranger) was sponged over the die onto the bottom of the cardstock. The tape was removed and Milled Lavender Distress ink was sponged over the die towards the top part of the image.

Aqua/turquoisish ancient patterned paper (Patchwork Paper Design Co.) was stenciled with Hickory Smoke and Wilted Violet Distress inks, using the Crackle stencil (Prima), the Dot Fade Layering stencil (Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous), Old Ledger Stencils for Art (Wendy Vecchi/Stampers Anonymous), and the Gothic Romance stencil (The Crafter's Workshop). The stenciled patterned paper was edged with the Watering Can Archival ink, then layered onto striped patterned paper by the same manufacturer, so it would be all matchy-matchy and bring out the colors I used on Fortune Teller Esmeralda. Virgos like matchy matchy.  Just in case you were wondering. Then the entire panel was edged with the same ink. That matchy-matchy thing again, don'tchaknow.

The sentiment was computer, die-cut with one of the dies from the Fancy Tags Shapeabilities (Spellbinders), kept in the die, and sponged with Milled Lavender and Wilted Violet Distress inks. All the bits were assembled and mounted onto a 5x7 white card.

You really ought to go check out Fortune Teller Esmeralda, the other exclusive Rick St. Dennis rubber stamps, and all the great stamps at I Brake For Stamps. Click on my badge below to be whisked over there to check out their fabulous images! Best of all, if you buy something, use this code: SAVE10KATHI  and you'll get 10% off your purchase.

 

Thanks for visiting today! 

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:

• Lunagirls Moonbeam's Challenges: Gothic

• Through the Purple Haze Challenges: Halloween/Magical

Mad Hatter for Mad Hatter Day (October 6th)!

This week's challenge at The Outlawz Coloring Challenges is anything "Alice in Wonderland" in honor of Mad Hatter Day on October 6th. Carla, Penny, Karen, Vannessa, and I challenge you to create a project for this challenge. You should check out their blogs to see their gorgeous artwork.

Here's my card with SCACD's The Hatter.  If you like this digital stamp and are an International friend, you can now buy it HERE.

The Hatter was resized in PhotoElements, then printed out onto Neenah cardstock with my laser printer. It was then colored with Copic markers and set aside while I created a background for it.

A 4.75" x 6.75" piece of 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock (Strathmore) took a ride through my Big Kick (Sizzix) inside the Cuttlebug Clockworks embossing folder (ProvoCraft). Black cardstock was die-cut with the hat, hatband, and cane die from an old QuicKutz Snowman set. The hat band was adhered to the hat, then all the hats were adhered the embossed cardstock using Media Matte Medium (DecoArt). 

When the piece was dry, it was painted with a layer of Carbon Black Media Fluid Acrylic (MFA) paint (DecoArt), then sponged with Ultramarine Blue, Pthalo Blue, and Metallic Gold MFA paints. I finished the painting by stippling Quinacridone Magenta and Transparent Red Iron Oxide MFA paint over top of the other layers of paint.

Sometimes I don't feel like fussing endless to lay out a card, so I visit various websites to find sketches to use. Lazy I am. Yep. This time, I found one that would work at the paper players challenges.  

So, according to the sketch (shown below) I matted the image panel with black metallic cardstock. I found some shiny shimmery blue metallic paper that was embossed with the Clocks embossing plate (Cherry Lynn Designs). This layer was matted with the black metallic paper that had been punched with a Lattice Border punch (Martha Stewart). 

Silver metallic cardstock was die-cut with the chain die from the Rope and Chain die set (All Occasions), adhered to a strip of black metallic cardstock, and adhered per the sketch. The image panel was adhered over these layers.

Gold metallic cardstock was die-cut with an old Pocketwatch die set (QuicKutz), which oddly didn't have a a watch face, though it had watch hands. Never fear! I found the correct size watch face from the Retro Mod Clocks Shapeabilities die set (Spellbinders), which I used to cut and emboss the clock face from green cardstock. I used a gold gel pen to highlight the dots. Gold metallic cardstock was also die-cut with one of the dies from the Decorative Border die set (All Occasions). The clock and the chain were adhered. The card front was adhered to a 5" x 7" black card.

Here's the sketch so you can see how I did!

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:

• the paper players challenge #264

• SanDee and amelie's Steampunk Challenges: Top Hats and Moustaches
• Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenges: P is for Steampunk!