simon says... halloween (or halloween colors)

Back again, with a Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog post! :)

As always, your participation could win you (via random drawing) a very generous gift voucher to spend at Simon Says Stamp!

This week's theme is Halloween/ Halloween Colors (purple, orange, black). Here's a color inspiration board to get the mojo goin'...

..so even if Halloween cards aren't your thing, you can still play along using the colors shown as your inspiration... yay! :)

Here's my card:

I used the Hero Arts SCARY HOUSE cling stamp and heat embossed it on to a glossy paper, gradient background (sponged Dusty Concord, Worn Lipstick, and Spiced Marmalade - the moon was masked). The card base is Simon's WHITE WOODGRAIN CARD STOCK, liberally inked with Hero's Charcoal Mid-Tone ink (direct to paper technique). After using the Charcoal ink, I inked up my brayer with some BLACK INK and lightly rolled it over the paper a few times. The brayer ensures the black ink just sits on "top" of the woodgrain, and not get in the recessed areas.

It really helps emphasize the texture and give it a very weathered look (that center-left photo on the inspiration board is what really inspired this technique)! The sentiment was created using KELLY PURKEY WHITE ALPHA STICKERS, stacking several of each letter so they look like they're pop-dotted.

Now it's your turn! Upload your Halloween/Color Challenge project HERE, no later than 8am EDT next Wednesday (the 30th), and you'll be entered into the drawing for that amazing gift voucher!

And please go HERE to see the incredible projects created by the rest of my fab teamies, including our newest addition, Emily Leiphart! :)

Thanks for reading.. later, 'gators! xo

halloween in the spring

Hey, there! :) I know I'm posting later than usual... the weather is seriously luring me outside today! It's gorgeous. I'm really trying to appreciate it all that I can now, considering we may be moving back to AZ in a month or so. :/

Anyway, here's those two Halloween cards that I made and had pub'ed last year. I don't usually make Halloween cards, but they were for an assignment. This first one uses some Hero Arts owls that are actually line art images, but coloring them in with a black pen turns them into silhouette images! Perfect for that spooky night time scene:



I know the photography isn't the best here, but I was literally shooting dozens of pics the other night... didn't strive too much to make each one come out perfect, sorry. ;) You can click the images to make them larger to see more detail. Anyway, I punched out a piece of copy paper and used the negative from that to mask the entire sky so I could brayer the moon in with yellow ink. Then I used the punched piece to mask the moon and brayered the sky. Like I said, I stamped the owls, but then colored them in with a black pen and added googlie eyes to really make them spooky!

This card is pretty straight forward, but it was a fun one to put together:



The card base was stamped ("Sanded" from SU) and sponged, the pumpkins were paper pieced with their expressions heat embossed, and the bats were heat embossed. The alpha is from SU's "Typeset" alpha - pretty sure that's the name - also heat embossed.

Anyhoo, better get back outside! We're scheduled for rain this weekend, so it's now or never! OH - and my brand NEW Cricut Expression is on it's way! YAY! Can't wait until that gets here. :) I still have my original up for sale, and I'm now including an exclusive cartridge (Plantin Schoolbook) with it, so let me know ASAP if you're interested! And stay tuned for some really great clean and simple cards done on the Cricut machine with the Storybook cartridge, too! ;)

Thanks for reading today... see you soon!

SUPPLIES:
"Happy Halloween" - stamps are Hero Arts (Sparkle Clear Yoo Hoo Owls), Stampabilities (web), and Inkadinkado (sentiment), Vivid and Memories inks, glossy card stock and googlie eyes
"BOO!" - stamps are all SU!, inks are SU! card stock is SU!, ribbon is May Arts