By The Light Of The Moon Halloween Cards
To get started, I began with a piece of Distress Watercolor Paper cut to 4 x 5.25 inches and placed it in my stamping tool. For this card, I'm using Distress Oxide Inks and will be using the stamp and smudge technique. This technique quite literally involves stamping the image and then smudging the ink. Distress Oxide works well for this since it is pigmented based and dries slower. This gives you time to stamp and smudge!
On the first layer of stamping I used Aged Mahogany and 3 stamps (the script, music note and advert from the Exquisite and Gothic Tapestry set) and placed them so they are in somewhat of a triangle from each other. After I stamp the images, I use a paper towel to smudge the ink. This is one of my favorite techniques for creating stamped backgrounds!
The next layer used the gorgeous floral from the Exquisite stamp set with Uncharted Mariner. Sometimes I stamp the image twice to get a good ink coverage. However, if the ink is too thick, I dab off some of the excess with a paper towel before I smudge it. I've found that if you have too much ink on the paper and go to smudge it, that it will blur the image so much that you can no longer see any of the detail. After I stamped the floral in the upper right hand corner, I flipped it around and stamped it in the bottom left hand corner using the same technique and ink color.
For the final stamped layer, I used the spider webs from the Unraveled stamp set and stamped them in Villainous Potion Distress Oxide. With the stamping completed, I inked the edges of the card with Villainous Potion Distress Oxide using a blending tool.
To create a more distressed effect, I spritzed the paper with a bit of water using my Distress Sprayer. I pulled the trigger slowly to get larger droplets of water and then dried it with my heat tool. I tried to keep the water droplets toward the outer stamped areas so that I don't get a lot of ink or color in the center. I repeated the spritzing process to add a bit more interest and once again dried the paper with my heat tool. I then added some smaller droplets by flicking the water onto the paper using the end of the spray nozzle. This is a great way to have a little more control over where the water goes and how much water you apply. Next I'm inking the edges with some Black Soot Distress Oxide to darken them and bring the focus toward the open area in the center. And yes, I added a bit more water but this time I did a quick mist and dabbed it dry with a paper towel to remove the ink where the water came into contact with it and then dried it.
Next up, I added some more stamping using the awesome bat stamp from the Unraveled Stamp Set. I wiped an anti-static powder over the paper to decrease any static that's on the paper and to prevent the powder from sticking where you might not want it. It's also very important to make sure that the ink and paper are completely dry before this step as well, or the embossing powder will stick to those areas. After wiping the paper with the powder, I stamped the image using an embossing ink, removed the paper from my stamping tool and poured black embossing powder over the stamped image. I then tapped the excess off onto a piece of typing paper folded in half and returned the excess embossing powder to the jar. The folded piece of typing paper makes this easy to do! I then turned on my embossing gun, allowed it to warm up and then melted the embossing powder. I don't know why, but even after all these years, watching the powder melt and transform is just magical to me!
For the final touch to the background, I added some splatters of Tim Holtz Halloween Fortune Teller Distress Mica Stain. Before you use the Mica Stains, makes sure to shake them until you hear the mixing ball rattle and then turn the bottle over and make sure all of the mica is mixed in. Then you can proceed with using it. I just wanted some little splatters, so I used the nozzle to flick some onto my paper. Another option, is to use a small thin paint brush to splatter the ink.
To finish the card, I added a bit of silver thread and a sentiment from The Scarecrow stamp set.
I also did a second card, this one was featured in Tim's Stampers Anonymous Halloween YouTube Live.
Supplies
Below you can find the products I used to create these Halloween cards. Each product is attached to an affiliate link with Scrapbook.com. When you shop through the links below, I receive a small commission from Scrapbook.com. These links are at absolutely no cost to you. These commission I receive helps me cover the costs of my blog and other expenses and it allows me to continue to provide you with FREE inspiration and tutorials. If you want to learn more about what an affiliate link is, you can see my full affiliate and product disclosure statement here. Thank you so much for your love and support!
