Happy Halloween!

Wow! October 31st already - where do the months go??? Hope you get all treats and not tricks today ;o)

Card measures 4 3/4" x 5 7/8"

This very spooky LOL rat and pumpkin unmounted stamp is by After Midnight. I stamped it with Palette ink in Burnt Umber. I used a wet paintbrush and Lyra Aquacolor crayons to color it and the background in, and when it was dry I highlighted it with colored pencils.

Then I used black dye ink to stamp Happy Halloween (imaginations!), and the spider web and spider (Rubber Stamps of America). The eek! (Hero Arts alphabet set) was stamped on a tag I punched from white cs using McGill's MultiTags Scallop punch. The tag was edged in the Burnt Umber ink, a hole was punched, and applied to the staples holding down the ribbon by cutting a slit in the punched area. I put a slim pop-dot under it to give it a little height for dimension. The ribbon spool says American Crafts Elements.

I inked the edges only of the large Judi-kins crackled paint background stamp with Stampin' Up!'s Going Grey, stamped it over all, then edged the panel using a sponge dabbed in the same ink. I used the Burnt Umber to edge the green cardfront the same way.

*tip*

When using large stamps, make sure your ink pad is wet enough to cover rubber easily, and consider investing in an oversized rigid stamping surface to get even coverage. I like the Sunday International Acrylic Mega Stamping Block which is 7 1/4" x 8 1/2" x 1/2", but a perfectly flat piece of wood, laminate, etc should work just fine. I actually put the acrylic on my wood floor, then the image panel, then the inked background stamp (upside down of course! >;o) and stepped on it to make sure the light grey ink transferred completely.

Congratulations if you've made it to the bottom of this post without drifting off! Here's a treat for you - look for a fun mechanical slide card post coming tomorrow!

Thanks for looking!