Halloween Card Making Fun

Hi everyone I've got a couple more Halloween cards to share with you, having so much fun making them this year!

First up is my Stacked Jacks card.

I used Tim Holtz's Halloween Script stencil on the background, inking it with Black Soot Distress Ink and then colouring over the stenciled words with Wilted Violet and Seedless Preserves DI.  I then spattered on some water and some drops of Evergreen Bough and Aged Mahogany Distress Oxide Inks.

Tim's new Bat Crazy bats were die cut from black cardstock and adhered over top.

And then the pumpkins were stamped onto Distress Mixed Media Heavystock coloured with Rusty Hinge, Carved Pumpkin and Spiced Marmalade with Tim's Jack O Lantern stamps (this set was only available through Michaels a couple of years ago, they are a slightly smaller version of his Pumpkinhead stamps) and die cut with the coordinating dies.  I stacked them up on top of each other and the card was done.

It wouldn't be Halloween without my beloved Lost Zombie so I broke him out to make my Trick Or Treat Zombie card.  Went a little nuts with the colours on this one LOL!

I stenciled the mini Crossbones stencil onto black cardstock with Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide for the back panel and then used Tim's new Shifter Chevron stencil with Crushed Olive and Seedless Preserves Distress Ink for the top panel, spritzing it with water.

The Lost Zombie was die cut from Distress Mixed Media Heavystock coloured with Peeled Paint, Cracked Pistachio and Evergreen Bough Distress Oxide Inks.  His shirt was die cut again and coloured with Aged Mahogany DOX and his pants die cut from a piece of Tim Holtz stencil packaging.

The spider from Tim's Frightful Things die set was cut from black cardstock and hung from the zombie's hand with a piece of thread and then the 'trick or treat' sentiment from his Regions Beyond stamp set was stamped onto the same DOX inked card that the zombie was cut from.

Hope you've enjoyed seeing them, I have to get them into the mail right away to some of my Halloween loving crafty buddies and I hope that they will like them too.  Thanks as always for stopping by today and happy (Halloween!) creating,

Deb xo

The 100 Day Project Finale - Days 90 To 100!

Hello, well believe it or not (and I don't believe it!!) I have finished my #100daysofartjournaling for #the100dayproject.  I have to admit I never thought I'd get it done, I lost major motivation around day 75 but kept plugging along and made a final push this past week to get the last few art journal projects completed.  If you are a masochist and want to see the previous 89 projects here are the links to my posts :O)

Day 1

Days 2 - 6

Days 7 - 12

Days 13-22  

Days 23 - 36 

Days 37 - 50

Days 51 - 61

Days 62 -73

Days 74 - 89

So without further ado, here are my last 11 projects.

Day 90

An altered book cover journal inspired by Katy Leitch's class in Wellspring 2019, most of the images collaged onto the cover are from Mixed Up Printables.

Day 91

A junk journal inspired by Mags Woodcock's lesson in Wellspring 2019 using gel plate prints for the cover.

Day 92

Calm art journal page, this page started out anything but calm, can't remember how many layers it has on it as I really didn't like what was underneath!

Day 93

Last few days of summer, celebrating with one more butterfly art journal page, going to miss them!

 Day 94

Wonderful Creature art journal page, playing with a Distress Ink resist technique.

Day 95

Innovator art journal page, eroded metallic background (Tim Holtz technique) with the wonderful Professor, love that stamp!

Day 96

Stack O'Jacks art journal page, this is where I first used my faux chalkboard background technique, you can find a quick and easy tutorial for the technique here.

Day 97

Bright Idea art journal page, used Tim Holtz's gesso fresco technique on the background with Distress Crayons and stamps from The Professor and Dapper.

Day 98

Small Pieces art journal page, using up bits and bobs from my stash with a quote from Tim Holtz's Small Talk stickers.

Day 99

Somthing Wicked art journal page using some of Tim Holtz's new Halloween stamps (Life Of The Party - gosh that skull is creepy!) along with stamps from his Undertaker, The Professor and Regions Beyond stamps sets.

Day 100

Et finis!  Haunted art journal page, I used Tim's Frightful Things ghosts dies, cut them from clear acetate packaging and coloured them with alcohol inks.  My favourite new technique!

So that's it, while I am happy to have participated in and finally completed #the100dayproject I don't think I will be doing it again, 100 days is just too long a commitment.  Might try a 30 day challenge next year or something shorter or maybe I'll just take it easy LOL!  Thanks so much for sticking with me through this entire challenge and as always, happy creating!

Deb xo

Trick Or Treat Faux Chalkboard Halloween Card

Hi everyone I have a quick little tutorial to share with you today for a faux chalkboard background technique.  I'd shared a picture of it on Instagram and promised a tutorial so here it is, read on for the easy peasy how to!

Grab a piece of watercolour paper and paint the rough side of the paper with Black Soot Distress Paint.

Let dry thoroughly and then rub a piece of chalkboard chalk over the painted surface, rubbing it in with your fingers and adding more chalk as needed.

Stencil the faux chalkboard with Tim Holtz's mini Crossbones stencil (or regular size Crossbones stencil if you want a larger design on your background) with Picket Fence Distress Paint, using just a small amount of paint and leaving some of the stenciled areas lighter than others.

And that's pretty much it (told you it was easy!).

I added another layer of chalk overtop of the stenciling to push the skull and crossbones back a bit and then tattered the edges before embellishing it with some die cuts from Tim Holtz's Ghost Town, Bat Crazy, Frightful Things and Trick or Treat dies to make my Trick Or Treat Halloween card.

The Trick or Treat sentiment was die cut from cardstock coloured with Wilted Violet, Seedless Preserves, Barn Door and Evergreen Bough Distress Inks and then backed with another sentiment die cut from black cardstock.  The ghost (Frightful Things) was die cut from clear acetate packaging and then coloured with Mushroom and Snow Cap Mixative Alcohol inks.

The Ghost Town house was die cut from card coloured with Distress Oxide Sprays (Walnut Stain, Antique Linen, Iced Spruce and Pumice Stone) and Distress Oxide Inks (Seedless Preserves and Wilted Violet).  The bats (Bat Crazy and the small bat from Trick Or Treat) were just cut from black cardstock.

I love this technique for the Frightful Things ghosts, you can see through them just a bit just like a real ghost LOL!

As always, thanks for stopping by today and hope you've enjoyed this easy tut, I've been having great fun making faux chalkboards everywhere!  Have a great week and happy creating,

Deb xo

Haunted Graveyard Halloween Plaque For Therm O Web

Hello everyone, thanks so much for stopping by.  I'm popping in to let you know that I have a tutorial over on Therm O Web's blog today and we are celebrating all things Halloween this week, yipee!

I used Therm O Web's Metallix Gels and Foil Transfer Sheets along with some of Tim Holtz's Halloween dies old and new from Sizzix to make my Haunted Graveyard Halloween plaque and had so much fun making it :O)

I used Black Ice, Champagne Mist and Pure Gold Metallix Gels and stamped some texture into the Pure Gold Metallix Gel moon with Tim Holtz's Composition background stamp.  Tim's Bat Crazy, Frightful Things, Regions Beyond, Village Graveyard, Vintage Spirits and Ghost Town dies all came out to play.

I love those eyeballs from the Frightful Things die set, they are hilarious!

The Frightful Things ghosts were die cut from card covered with Champagne Mist Metallix Gel and the Village Graveyard ghost was die cut from Opal Deco Foil covered card.  Love how they work so well together.

The fence from Village Graveyard was die cut from Black Deco Foil covered Toner Sheets and the gravestones, tree and skull and bones die cut from card inked with multiple colours of Distress Oxide Inks and Distress Oxide Sprays.

And since it wouldn't be Halloween without my beloved Lost Zombie, I die cut his hands from green Classic Kraft Stock, added a touch of blood to his finger tips with a Distress Marker and then buried him in some ground walnut shells inked with Distress Spray (you can get the walnut shells at the pet store, they are used for lizard bedding and make great dirt!).  You can't have only one eyeball of course so I added another one down at the bottom :O)

Hope you can pop by Therm O Web's blog for my how to and make sure to stop by all this week as the Design Team celebrates Halloween Week, it's going to be spook-tacular!

Thanks as always for stopping by and happy creating,

Deb xo

Haunted Art Journal Page

Hi everyone, I've got a quick little art journal page to share with you that I created for the current Monday challenge 'Something Clear' over at Simon Says Stamp's blog.  I used some clear acetate packaging coloured with alcohol inks and mixative to die cut my spooky ghosts for this Haunted art journal page.  Love those ghosts from Tim Holtz's new Frightful Things die set!

The background was painted with Distress Paints and then stenciled with Tim's Halloween Script stencil with Black Soot Distress Ink and spritzed lightly with water before removing the stencil.  Aged Mahogany Distress Paint was then diluted and dripped down the page from the top edge.

The ghosts were die cut from acetate packaging with the Frightful Things ghost dies and then the ghosts were lightly coloured with Mushroom Alcohol Ink and and Snow Cap Mixative, pulling and smearing the inks.  Love how you can still catch glimpses of the stenciling and 'blood' drips behind the ghosts! I adhered them to the background with Glossy Accents glue.

The 'haunted' word was printed out on the computer, a bit of inking was done around the edges with Distress Archival ink and that was it.

This was such a fun page to make, love how the ghosts turned out!

Thanks as always for stopping by today and hope you'll be able to stop by again tomorrow when I'll have another haunted creation to share with that I made for Therm O Web, I obviously have Halloween on my mind!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and happy creating,

Deb xo

Still Journaling - Days 74 To 89 of The 100 Day Project

Hi everyone, even though #the100dayproject ended weeks ago, I'm still carrying on with my personal #100daysofartjournaling project and have now completed days 74 through 89.  I blogged about my previous 73 art journaling projects in these posts if you are interested:

Day 1

Days 2 - 6

Days 7 - 12

Days 13-22  

Days 23 - 36 

Days 37 - 50

Days 51 - 61

Days 62 -73

And if you are still around after looking at all of that here are days 74 to 89!

Day 74

A fun Viva Las Vegas stamp and some of Tim Holtz's Mini Movers & Shapers Retro Packages dies, this is another page for my Carolyn Dube corrugated cardboard art journal.

Day75

Got totally stuck on this cardboard art journaling page and ended up Googling synonyms for the words 'two' and 'pair' to fill it up LOL!

Day 76

Lots of Sizzix Birds dies cut from some of Carolyn Dube's Sparks of Art-spiration print outs.

Day 77

Tim Holtz Flower Garden stamps and die cuts, think the stenciled background was from StencilGirl Products.

Day 78

Final page in my Carolyn Dube Permission To Play corrugated cardboard art journal, had so much fun with this project.  Totally outside my comfort zone but so glad that I did it, thanks Carolyn!

Day 79

Participated in Art Is Magic's Creative Retreat Weekend and made this journal page inspired by Jenny Grant's 'The Path Is The Goal' lesson.

Day 80

Just playing, I can see lots of influence from Jenny Grant's class on this page too.

Day 81

Took another Creative Retreat Weekend course from Mary Beth Shaw called 'Nothing To Hide" and used one of the stenciling techniques she taught us on this page, LOVE!

Day 82

Also participated in Mixed Up Creative's Wellspring 2019 workshop this summer and this journal page was inspired by France Papillon's '3 Second Rule' lesson.

Day 83

Was desperately in need of a Tim Holtz fix so used his Collage Papers, stamps, die cuts and Clippings Stickers on this page :O)

Day 84

Another intuitive art journal page inspired by Jenny Grant's Creative Weekend Retreat course, there be whales!

Day 85

Another Wellspring 2019 art journal page, this one inspired by Riikka Kovasin's 'Hidden Messages' lesson.

Day 86

And now for something completely different!  Found this #fiveonadime challenge on YouTube and made a little junk journal insert from a windowed envelope, paper doily, safety pin, button and lace.

Day 87

Variations on a theme, made another junk journal windowed envelope insert but this one also has a couple of extra envelopes added that are hinges and flip open, fun!

Day 88

Was cleaning my studio and looking for inspiration for some upcoming DT projects when I came across a pile of ATC's and ATCoins, so of course I had to stop and make a little V-pocket journal to hold them all!!

Day 89

Another junk journal insert, this one inspired by the August #fiveonadimechallenge on YouTube, love how it turned out!

So that's it for now, down to 11 more projects to complete #the100daychallenge and I'm getting close, only one or two more to go and then I'll be back to show you the finale!  Thanks as always for stopping by today and happy creating,

Deb xo