Hi, crafty friends. It’s the time of year when all the ghosts come out to play, and as such, I’m sharing a fun Halloween card today, featuring the adorable Cast a Spell image from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Pei.
I stamped the image near the bottom center of a panel of X-Press It blending card using Extreme Black ink from MFT, which is a Copic safe hybrid ink. I colored the image and created a spooky silhouette background which fades from black in the distance to green as you get closer to the front of the image.
I masked off the scene and put a moon mask from an old Simon Says Stamp Stamptember collaboration with Tim Holtz into the top right corner, before I went in with Copics and an airbrush to create the sky. I used three colors of blue, trying to make it a bit lighter near the moon and darker further away. I took off the moon mask, masked the sky and airbrushed into the circle opening using E40 for a very pale moon. I then added the detail mask for the moon and airbrushed the openings with T1, which is a very light grey that I also used for the mouse. Once all the coloring was complete, I removed all the masks, added a bit of black glaze pen to their eyes and stamped a sentiment at the bottom using Obsidian ink from Altenew, before trimming the panel down a little and adhering it to a card base I created from Black cardstock from Concord & 9th to finish.
I used quite a few markers for this. The ones after the gap are the ones I used for the airbrushing of the moon and sky.
I started by stamping the little decorations on the trees with VersaMark ink onto Artichoke cardstock from Concord & 9th, before heat embossing with white embossing powder from Ranger. I then used the coordinating tree die to cut out my trees. I added foam tape to the back and put the trees aside while I worked on the rest of the card.
Onto a panel of Wheat cardstock from C9, I stamped and white heat embossed the snow flurries from the Sleigh full of cheer stamp set from C9, as well as a sentiment from the Joyful and merry stamp set from Kristina Werner. I used one of the dies in her Gift bows die set to cut a thin strip of Champagne cardstock from C9, which I adhered below the snow flurries and sentiment. I also die cut a star from the same cardstock using a die in the Yuletide Lane die set from Concord & 9th. I mounted my trees to the card and added the champagne star on top of the tallest tree to finish.
This was my inspiration for my card. Very clean and simple with lots of white space and the snow flurries in the background to ground the trees. It’s an awesome card!
I die cut the “map” from the Joyful Wreath die set into a panel of Nectar cardstock. This die doesn’t actually cut anything, but is a great placement guide when gluing all the leaves on top. I die cut the leaves from Eucalyptus, Rainforest, Grasshopper and Champagne cardstock and put a drop of liquid glue at the base of each, which made it possible to lift the leaves off the panel for an airy feel.
I die cut the top layer of the berries from Cayenne cardstock, opting for the darker Cranberry for the base. I glued them directly to the leaves, tucking parts behind some of the leaves. I went back and forth on the sentiment, trying a few different things before choosing this simple Kort & Godt sentiment to stamp in the center using Cayenne ink. I trimmed the Nectar panel slightly and adhered it all to a top fold white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I colored the image with Copics onto X-Press It blending card and fussy cut it right up against the black lines. From another piece of X-Press It, I die cut the postcard shape using the Postcard combo die set from Mama Elephant. I used Peachy Glow ink from Altenew to ink blend across the panel, giving it a vintage feel. I then went in with a stencil from the mini stencil set 3 from Tim Holtz and added the splatter texture using Classic Kraft ink from Papertrey Ink along with a blending brush. In some areas, I added ink with the blender brush without using the stencil.
I stamped the leaves from the 
Fairly limited color palette for this one.
I started by die cutting the branch four times from a piece of green patterned paper from the Key to my Heart Collection from Kaisercraft. I then painted unevenly with a VersaMarker and added White puff embossing powder from Wow! for a snowy effect on parts of the leaves. I then cut each of the branches up into little mini branches to create my wreath.
I splattered white reinker onto a panel of Wheat cardstock from Concord & 9th and adhered it to a top fold white card base. I added my mini sprigs of leaves in a wreath formation, popped up a sticker sentiment near the base of the wreath and added three red pearls to embellish. I also put little pieces of foam squares behind some of the leaves to make it more dimensional.
I colored the image with Copics, opting for the cool grays for the bench. I wasn’t planning on making it this dark originally, but when my C9 made a blob, dark was the only way to go. It still works, and I don’t think you can really see where the blob was. I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things to trim the panel down a little, then a large blending brush to add some soft blue to the background. I didn’t add any ink to the brush, I simply used whatever was left from a previous project.
I stamped a sentiment from the Småtekster stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS next to the bench using Tide Blue ink from Altenew. I added my colored piece to a panel of Buttercup cardstock from Concord & 9th, which I then adhered to a top fold white card base. I die cut the word hei twice from Green Parakeet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, stacked them and adhered my double die cut next to the boy on the bench before adding a few die cut clouds and some dew drops. Both the cloud dies and dew drops are from Concord & 9th.
I used quite a few colors for this very simple image.
This card was a bit of an evolution. I originally wanted to make a snowflake wreath, but quickly decided that that was too simple. I then had an idea of half a very layered wreath, and this stems from that.
I die cut a sprig of leaves a few times – two from 40 lb vellum from Bazzill and a couple from Ocean Tides cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I dry embossed a couple of circle dies into a panel of Blue Breeze cardstock from My Favorite Things and adhered the two vellum pieces in the bottom left of my impressed circle. I cut the green leaves apart and added them here and there, before topping with felt snowflakes, alternating between large and small.
I wanted a white sentiment, and started with white glitter cardstock. The white didn’t match the snowflakes, so I went to regular white cardstock and die cut four of each word and stacked them. The sentiment got lost, there was too much going on in the background. I then die cut the words from Blueberry Sky cardstock from Papertrey Ink and added that on top. I also cut down the panel slightly and added a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″ panel of Blueberrry Sky cardstock behind the lighter one to pick up the color from the sentiment. Guess what? The sentiment was still lost in the busy background. Plan D: die cut one more layer from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink and add that on top. This is one of my most used blue cardstocks, I love it. The sentiment was finally legible.
I embellished with a mix of faceted white pearls and some blue diamonds, and the card was finished. I kind of wish I’d made my half wreath tighter, it’s very wide, but I’ll revisit the snowflake wreath idea, I might have a plan for a new card using these products.
I stamped the 
I used my Mijello Mission Gold watercolors and brushes in varying sizes to color in my scene, cut it down and stamped a sentiment from the 
I adhered the panel to a 5 3/4 x 5 1/2″ top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, before finishing off with a few Raindrops from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I stamped the large floral image using Memento Espresso Truffle ink, which sits somewhere between brown and grey, it’s a nice color to use when you don’t want black. I then die cut the image, before I used the coloring stencils and fresh dye inks from Altenew to do the “coloring”. I used the North Shore set for the blues, Sun-kissed Delights for the yellows, Jade Dreams for the greens and Warm Gray for the gray (which I covered up with the green). I didn’t want the centers green, so I started out with grey, which got very flat and dull. I covered it with green, which then made it very dark, and still pretty flat, so in the end, I went over with lots of dots of a white Sharpie paint marker and a black glaze pen. It turned out okay in the end, but if I were to remake this card, I think I’d go in with a couple of greens anyway. Live and learn, I guess.
I created a large card base (5 x 6 1/4″) and ink blended Winter Lake ink onto the bottom for a nice, gradient effect. I used the Stippled Plaid press plate from Pinkfresh Studio to create some subtle interest in the background on a separate piece of paper. I inked up the plate with Icy Water ink, spritzed water on the back and front of the piece of white cardstock, then ran it through my die cutting machine with an embossing mat to create some deep texture. I then adhered this panel in the center of the card base using foam tape.
Behind my die cut floral, I stacked another 3 die cuts from white cardstock and adhered my stack to my card, letting equal amounts hang off the sides on the left and the right. I also die cut the Waterbrush Hello die from Altenew four times from white cardstock. I inked up the top layer with Arctic Mountain ink and adhered it to my flowers.
To finish off the design, I added some ombré glitter drops from Pinkfresh Studio in a visual triangle across the card.
I stamped the image with black ink onto X-Press It blending card and colored it with Copics.
I added a mask to my image, then used the Bokeh Elements stencil duo from Waffle Flower to softly ink blend additional bubbles in an ombré effect in the background. I used Sweet Pea, Grapefruit and Buttercup inks, all colors from Concord & 9th, making sure to add slightly more color on the smaller circles than the large ones, while still keeping it fairly light.
I stamped a sentiment from the 
I trimmed my panel down slightly and added it with of dimension to a top fold white card base that I ombré ink blended using the same three colors I used with the stencils. I did also add a dot of black Glaze pen to the eyes of the ducks for a finishing touch.
Simple color palette for this one.
Papirmølla 