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!

Metallic Dragonfly

This card was basically made using metallic rub-ons (by Craf-T Products) and black cardstock. This is a versatile technique featured in the TechniqueJunkies February 2004 newsletter (see sidebar for link).

Finished card measures 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"

The background cs is rub-ons applied randomly and then stamped over with a Great Impressions veining stamp using white Staz-On ink.



The dragonfly image is by Stampin' Up! (Measure of a Life set). The wings are highlighted with a sparkling Sakura Gelly Roll pen which doesn't show up well in a scan. The grid is Magic Mesh and the dangles are cs rolled around toothpicks to shape. IRL the cording is a metallic sheen in a brownish-plum. This is one of those cards that definitely looks better in person.

Thanks for looking!

Paisley Pumpkin

Before I do anything else I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your sweet comments! I'm so touched (:o) And to anyone who has been wanting to start a blog of their own, don't wait another day - it's so much easier than I imagined it would be.

Okay, I have to share the inspiration for the card today. My Mom was kind enough to snag a bunch of See-D's stamp sets for me when they were clearanced, and we both ended up with some Paisley sets. A couple weeks ago she sent this cool sample stamping. She will be horrified that I published this unfinished work - sorry Mom! LOL but I loved the idea and the placement of the paisleys, and the overall shape of the pumpkin/gourd is perfect.



So I dug out my paisley set (See-D's Perfect Paisley #50326) and three orange inks by Stampin' Up! (Really Rust, More Mustard and Pumpkin Pie). I stamped various paisleys into a rough outline I had drawn in pencil. I ended up with lots of gaps at the edges, so I trimmed a Post It note into a crescent shape and sponged the darker ink where the section lines would be, and the outside edges. For the stem I ripped a v in a Post It note and stamped a distressed paisley in Old Olive at the top. The swirls were stamped in Chocolate Chip and Old Olive. Which brings me to my

*tip*

if you get ink where you don't want it, grab an eraser immediately and buff it to get as much off the surface of the paper as you can, then grab an Exacto blade and gently scrape the top layer of the paper off, going both directions. This will rough up the paper a bit, but you can usually make it less noticable by stamping over it, etc.

The brown background cs was stamped with a leaf pattern in black ink, then sponged around the edges in black. The main panel was sponged around the edges in Brilliance Galaxy Gold, then Chocolate Chip. The embellishment is an antiqued brass-tone circle with a rope border (a bottle cap would work just as well) and since I didn't have a circle punch to fit inside I chose the closest size and stamped the phrase (Savvy Stamps) on cream cs, punched, sponged the edges and pop-dotted it in the recessed center. The ribbon, which seems to go with every fall card I work on LOL is from Joann's.

The finished card measures 5 1/2" x 4 13/16"

Thanks for looking!

First post!

Welcome! I have Linda (you know who you are ;o) to thank for hounding me in the nicest way possible to start this artwork blog LOL so here it is.

Finished card measures 6 1/8" x 4 5/16"

This card features an unmounted stamp from After Midnight of two zebras in a rectangle. I masked them and added the trees from another of the AM stamps picturing trees, a mountain, an elephant and a water/pond scene. Coloring medium is pencils, and I used Gamsol and a blending stump on the sky.

The letters are from the Hero Arts set Pastel Pop Alphabet. I stamped them in Stampin' Up!'s True Thyme on white cardstock and then colored the letters in with a black Zig pen.

The background is textured black cardstock with Antique Silver Pearl Ex applied randomly and sealed with a fixative spray. This piece is adhered to an olive green card front, and there is olive mulberry paper under the main image.

*tip*

the easiest way to tear mulberry paper is to set a ruler where you'd like the line, paint with a waterbrush, wait a minute, then tear apart slowly

Thanks for looking!