Witchy Business

It's time for a new challenge with Just Add Ink and this time around we're asked to ...

As I'm enjoying making Halloween crafts I thought it would be fun to try a bit of witchy paper piecing.

I used digital papers so I could reduce the size enough to get maximum pattern within the confines of the stamp. The rest of the image was coloured with Copics then fussy cut, while the spiderweb background was foiled.

Materials used:

• stamps - Miss Witch (CC Designs), If the Hat Fits (SSS)
• dies - essential stylish ovals (Spellbinders), spider web (Tim Holtz)
• other - Copic markers, MISTI, digital papers, foam squares, foil machine, silver foil, spiderweb press plate (Spellbinders), silver sequins, clear embossing powder, heat tool

Have you got stamps with nice open areas suitable for paper piecing? We'd love you to play along! Check out more inspiration on the challenge blog.

Entering in the following challenges:

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - W is for Witch

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie - Halloween

Two Old Bats - Halloween

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Frightfully Fun

Following on from the dragon-mouse of my last post, I'm adding a vampire-mouse to the menagerie. This little cutie is the epitome of sartorial splendour and on his way to some frightfully fun shenanigans, no doubt - at the Blood Bank, perhaps? 😜 

Isn't he adorable? There's two layers to 'fright', of course, and I inked a little behind that and the mouse for a bit of shading. And on the inside:

Materials used:

• stamps - Ghostly Greetings (Catherine Pooler)
• dies - Little Mouse, Halloween Costumes Scary (both Elizabeth Crafts), Vault Gothic Portraits (Tim Holtz), Capsule Basics (The Greetery)
• other - blending brushes, paper from Etsy, foam squares, Big Shot

Inspired by and created for the following challenges:

Two Old Bats challenge - anything Halloween

Colourful Options challenge (red, black, white, orange)

Just Us Girls challenge (die week - Halloween)

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie challenge

Die Cut Divas challenge - shaped cards (no squares or rectangles)

Thanks for swooping by!

Cheers

Kerry

Trick or Treat

Having grandchildren is a wonderful excuse to make cutesy cards and though my grandbabies are a little too young still to appreciate them, I don't let that deter me! 😂 Today's card is one such, featuring an adorable wee mouse dressed as a dragon for the all-important trick-or-treating.

All the die pieces were cut from white and coloured with inks. For my background I masked the moon and blended oxide inks around it then stencilled the shading and a touch of a pattern for added interest. 

Materials used:

• dies - Little Mouse, Halloween Costumes Cute (both Elizabeth Craft), sentiment from stash
• stencils - moon mask, Gothic (both Tim Holtz)
• other - distress and oxide inks, water sprtizer, Big Shot, blending brushes, foam squares

Inspired by and entering in the following challenges: 

  

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Here for the Candy - Just Add Ink Challenge #772

Welcome to a new Just Add Ink challenge. This time around you can take the colours or the image or both as inspiration for your creation. If you choose only the colours, you must use at least three of those given.

The witches' hats and jack o'lanterns were the main inspirations for my Halloween card.

I started by creating the background, cutting from white and inking before stamping a number of iconic Halloween images. Next I constructed the cat using dense black card and a touch of sparkle for the witch hat. Cutting the postage collage die came next, then adhering the background segments and this was attached to my card base before I added the cat, jack o'lantern treat bag and sentiment. The confections were cut down through the middle with a craft knife to make them less bulky.

Materials used:

• stamps - Postage Collage Spider Web and Postage Collage Spooktacular (Waffle Flower), Tree Branch, Slender Mushrooms Mini and Mini Meadow Mushrooms (Lavinia), Tiny Frights (Tim Holtz)
• dies - Bewitched and Woof-or-Treat (Spellbinders), A6 Postage Collage and Blocks dies (Waffle Flower), Postale (Tim Holtz)
• other - distress inks, Big Shot, blending brushes, Dimensionals, craft foam, white gel pen, MISTI, white embossing powder, heat tool, Confections Halloween ITim Holtz), Deco Sheets Halloween (Tim Holtz), craft knife

I hope the mood board inspires you to create - it certainly doesn't have to be Halloween themed, the colours allow pretty much anything! Just be sure to mention what your inspiration was. Whatever you choose, have fun making and do share with us using the Just Add Ink linky. There are lots more samples to inspire you on the blog too.

Entering into the Double D challenge of Halloween colours.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Wrapped in Fun

I think this is probably my last Halloween themed card for the year - my mind seems to be latching on to Christmas pretty firmly, lol, but I couldn't resist one more play with some spooky cuties for the Inkspirational seasonal challenge.

Colouring and cutting delightful mummies was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Materials used:

• stamps - Mummified (Mama Elephant), Unraveled (Tim Holtz)
• other - MISTI, blending brushes, grass edge dies, branch die, essential arches dies, Copic markers, craft foam, distress inks, moon mask

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kerry

My Favourite Boo

I'm rushing in with a last-hour entry for the Inspired by... challenge! 

I was inspired by the use of soft colours for a Halloween card and the Boo, which fits my sentiment stamp so perfectly.

A very simple card; some stencilled clouds, stamped images which were fussy cut and raised on the background. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Boo Crazy (Tim Holtz), Boo Sentiments (Waffle Flower)
• other - cloud stencil (My Favorite Things), blending brushes, Dimensionals, craft foam, MISTI

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Hey Pumpkin - Just Add Ink Challenge #771

Howdy and welcome to the first challenge under our new format at Just Add Ink! We do hope you'll embrace the changes and have fun joining us in creating. For this fortnight's challenge we have upsized our classic Choose Two - now it's Choose Two or More and your options are:

I couldn't help noticing the alliteration going on in those choices, lol, and for my card I chose plaid, patterned paper and pets plus added a couple more 'p' words - purple and pumpkin. 

The pupkin is cut from watercolour card and coloured with distress inks. There are three layers to the frame and two for the sentiment.

Materials used:

• dies - Pupkin (Spellbinders), Nesting Piercing Ticket Frames and Hey Pumpkin (Waffle Flower)
• other - distress inks, blending brushes, Big Shot, black marker, Dimensionals, Hocus Pocus Worn patterned paper (Etsy)

Check out the rest of the design team's samples over on the Just Add Ink blog. I hope you'll choose two or more items from our list and have some creative fun of your own - and if you do, please share with us! Remember, you now have longer to create as the challenge doesn't close until Wednesday 22nd.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Something Wickedly Adorable This Way Comes

Two current challenges feature pumpkins on their mood boards.

  

For me at this time of year, as we're coming into spring and not autumn, pumpkins make me think Jack-o'-lanterns and Halloween. I love the fun, cutesy aspects of Halloween and that had a heavy influence on my card.

I combined some different die sets to dress up Mickey and Minnie and had such a blast putting them together. Apart from the black, everything else was cut from white card and coloured using Copics. I did have to really squeeze Mickey's head inside the opening of the pumpkin costume and Minnie's hat is not a perfect fit, lol, but they seem quite happy about it! 😉

Materials used:

• dies - Steamboat Willie, Bewitched, Pupkin, Woof-or-Treat (all Spellbinders)
• stamps - Ghostly Greetings Sentiments (Catherine Pooler)
• other - Copic markers, Sidekick, Dimensionals, MISTI

Hope you have some fun and cutesy in your day! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

The Silence of the Night

I don't usually delve into the darker side of Halloween, but I'd been playing with moon backgrounds the other day and had one which reacted quite differently to what I was expecting and ended up being a little on the spooky side. Then two things converged: one, I was thinking there was just a little time left for one last Halloween craft project, and two, I saw this week's theme of stencilling at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. My mind put those things together and I decided there was no harm in playing with that spooky background to see what I could make.

Here's the result:

I stencilled fractured cracks over the moon and decayed over the gravestones, then added trees, ghosties and a couple of sentiment stickers. 

Materials used (mostly Tim Holtz):

• dies - Vault Fright Night
• stencils - Fractured mini, Decayed
• other - moon mask, distress oxide sprays and inks, Curiosities sticker book, water spritzer
• not TH - blending brushes, Big Shot, heat tool

I hope you enjoy your Halloween, whether it's spooky or cutesy or anything in between! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun - Just Add Ink Challenge #724

It's colour combo week at Just Add Ink and this time around we're giving you two colours (plus neutrals) and an option to pick a third!

I picked purple as third choice for my ghoulishly fun card.

I began with misty moonlight card, inking it darker around the outside then splattering with white gesso and white embossing the sentiment. The other bits were all die cut from either black or white card and colour added with Copics. A few dots and dashes of white gel pen were the finishing touch. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Boo Sentiments (Waffle Flower)
• dies - Sweet Ghosts (Waffle Flower)
• other - Copic markers, Dimensionals, blending brush, Big Shot, white gel pen, white gesso, fan brush, water spritzer, craft foam, white embossing powder, heat tool, MISTI

I can't wait to see what you create with these colours and what third option you pick! Do share with us over on the Just Add Ink blog, but before you do pop over to see what my team mates came up with to inspire you.

Thanks for floating by.

Cheers

Kerry

Spooktacular Mummies - Just Us Girls Challenge #749

Welcome! I'm guest designer this month with the folks at Just Us Girls challenge and this week it's a moodboard to inspire you.

Here's a bigger version of the pic to make it easier to see and inspire:

I combined a few stamp sets for my card, wanting to have orange pumpkins but also I couldn't resist these adorable little mummies. They took a while to fussy cut and my aging eyes weren't happy afterwards, lol, but they are so worth it. I mean, how damn cute are they? (My favourite is the little guy bottom left contemplating that toilet roll 😂😂😂)

I began with blending my background blocks and doing the outside edge bits using stencils, then cut two of the blocks die from black card. The top one was cut again with the spider web texture die and I ran some white ink over it to highlight the pattern a little more and stop the black from being quite so intense. The sentiment strip was white embossed and also given some white ink edges. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Little Mummy Agenda (Mama Elephant), Frightful Little Bits  (Hello Bluebird), Postage Collage Spectacular (Waffle Flower)
• dies - Postage Collage Block die, Spider Web Texture die (Waffle Flower) 
• distress oxide inks - milled lavendar, wilted violet, carved pumpkin, picket fence
• other - Copic markers, blending brushes, Big Shot, Postage Collage coloring stencil (Waffle Flower), MISTI

Do check out what the design team created to inspire you, and hopefully if you make, you'll share it with us in the gallery.

Thanks for rolling on by.

Cheers

Kerry

Once in a Blue Moon

Once in a blue moon...I make a clean and simple Halloween card. 

The sketch at AAA Cards Challenge caught my eye this week, so I sat at my craft desk and this is what transpired.

I knew I wanted to use this little ghostie, so began with stamping and colouring it and accessories. Then the idea of the blue moon came to mind, so that was blended next, then it was simply a matter of stamping the bats and sentiment. Too easy!

Materials used:

• stamps - Boo Crazy, Mini Bird Crazy & Things (Tim Holtz), Boo Sentiments, Postage Collage Spooktacular (Waffle Flower)
• other - blending brushes, blender pen, moon mask (Tim Holtz), circle punch, MISTI, Dimensionals, craft foam

I've been giving my Halloween cards to my daughter to give away but this one might get saved for my grandson - not that he's old enough to appreciate it, lol, but it's the thought that counts, right? He is definitely too cute to spook!

Thanks for floating on by.

Cheers

Kerry

Double Trouble

Today's card was inspired by a wicked challenge. 

I used four options from the inspo list - black, orange, candy and bats. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Boo Crazy, Mini Bird Crazy & Things (Tim Holtz), Gorgeous Grunge (Stampin' Up), Postage Collage Spooktacular (Waffle Flower)
• dies - Postage Collage (Waffle Flower)
• stencils - Postage Collage Spooktacular (Waffle Flower)
• distress inks - wilted violet, carved pumpkin, picked raspberry, black soot, lost  shadow 
• other - blending brushes, Dimensionals, Boo Diecut Subsentiments (Waffle Flower), Big Shot, white gel pen

It's getting close to the 31st but there's still plenty of time to get some more fun Halloween craft made! 😆👻 

Thanks for ghosting by.

Cheers

Kerry

Something Wicked - Just Us Girls Challenge #747

Welcome! This month I'm honoured to be Guest Designer with Just Us Girls challenges and for this week it's a colour combo.

The chartreuse and grey immediately made me think Halloween but the light blue threw me for a bit of a loop, I must admit. Luckily it didn't take long before an idea came to mind that I hoped would work.

The drink was coloured with Copic markers then I sponged some oxide ink through a bubbles stencil to make it look a bit more 'evil potion'-esque, lol. I shaped the bubbles to give them roundness and added some shimmer to the drink, drips and bubbles. Does it look suitably wicked? 👻

Materials used:

• stamps - Unravelled (Tim Holtz), Lovely Legs - Best Witches (Colorado Craft Co)
• dies - Boos Cocktails, Olive Martinis (Spellbinders)
• other - Copic markers, white gel pen, clear Wink of Stella, shaping mat and tool, Dimensionals, blending brush, MISTI, Bubbles stencil (Tim Holtz),  twisted citron and hickory smoke distress oxide inks, hickory smoke distress glaze, heat tool, gold POSCA pen, tumbled glass distress ink, hickory smoke archival ink, craft foam

We'd love for you to be inspired by this colour combo to create, and of course to share your creation! Do check out what the design team came up with over on the Just Us Girls blog.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

You Colour My World - Just Add Ink Challenge #720

This week at Just Add Ink, Tristan brings us a challenge to

Soooooooooo many possibilities, I really did have trouble narrowing this one down! In the end I've gone for cuteness factor, lol.

I started with stamping and embossing my ghosts on watercolour card, coloured with Zig markers then die-cut them. I sponged the edges lightly with grey so the white wasn't quite such a stark contrast but is just enough to give them that ethereal ghostly aura, lol. For my background I stencilled clouds on light grey card then stamped trees to create the mood. The sentiment was done on the computer - do you know any couples who call each other 'Boo'? 💀 Well, I do, so I made this for one to give the other.

Materials used:

• stamps - Tree Branch (Lavinia), Frightful Little Bits (Hello Bluebird)
• card - smoky slate, soft sea foam (Stampin' Up)
• other - slimline cloud stencil (My Favorite Things), blending brush, waterbrush, Zig Real Color brush markers, Dimensionals, craft foam, computer and printer, Big Shot, clear embossing powder, heat tool

Check out what rainbow inspiration my team mates came up with over on the Just Add Ink blog and of course we'd love to see your own creations.

Thanks for floating by.

Boo!

Kerry

Trick or Treat - Just Add Ink challenge #717

 

Tina suggested this sketch for the new challenge over at Just Add Ink and while it's not unusual for me to play along on my non-rostered week, it is definitely unusual for me to do so when it's a sketch, lol. Sketches are often the most challenging themes for me but this one sparked an idea for a card, perhaps because I'd been using the die for other projects and had it on the table in front of me. 

I've been seeing a fair bit of pink for Halloween this year and love it as much as I love the more traditional Halloween colours. To me, it adds charm and whimsy.  

I blended three shades of pink oxide inks on my background, masking the moon after the first and lightest shade had gone on. As the regular distress inks are a bit more vivid than the oxides, I also sponged a little of that at the top to darken up my edges. Then I sponged grey and black for the ground using a stencil and stamped 'Happy Halloween' in repeat across the page. For a bit of shimmer and sparkle, I sprayed Distress Spritz over everything and cut two layers of the trick or treaters die. 

Materials used:

• dies - Halloween Night (Tim Holtz)
• distress oxide inks - spun sugar, kitsch flamingo, picked raspberry, hickory smoke, black soot
• other - moon mask (Tim Holtz), blending brushes, Sidekick, picked raspberry Distress Spritz, craft foam, Happy Halloween stamp, drifts and hills stencil (My Favorite Things), picked raspberry distress ink

Do check out what my team mates created with this sketch to inspire you by following this link to the Just Add Ink blog, and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Getting an Early Start

Over the past few years I've come to love orange and hot pink together, so when I saw the Just Us Girls challenge had this combo, I was highly motivated to play along. 

For some reason my first thought was Halloween and although I tried thinking of other themes, that thought persisted - so of course, eventually I gave in, lol. Here's what I ended up with.

Materials used:

• stamps - Unraveled (Tim Holtz), Gorgeous Grunge (Stampin' Up)
• dies - Trick or Treat colorize, Mischevious (both Tim Holtz)
• distress and distress oxide inks - spiced marmalade, picked raspberry, carved pumpkin
• other - Sidekick, MISTI, Dimensionals, blending brushes

I know it's early for Halloween craft but I am sooooooo in the mood for it this year! This is also being entered in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, which is Anything Goes.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Keeping You In Sus-Spencer

I honestly thought I was done with Halloween craft, but the perfect storm of new-to-me digi papers, a couple of dies I hadn't used and a spooky challenge conspired to lure me ... last one, I promise! (I think! 😉)

The theme is SPOOKY over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog and here's my entry:

Spencer was cut from watercolour card and coloured with oxide inks before assembling. The big EEK! has a purple cardstock layer under the batty purple paper for depth, and I trimmed the shadow die down between the letters as I wanted the background paper to show through. I went crazy with my sewing machine attaching the bones (might have gotten a bit carried away here) and making a border, leaving the threads for added creepy ambience (pretend they're spider web threads). A couple of stickers, moss and some bats added the perfect final touches.

Materials used:

• card - granny apple green, gorgeous grape, basic black (Stampin' Up), Hocus Pocus Worn papers (Etsy), watercolour
• dies - Spencer colorize, Big Frights (Tim Holtz)
• distress oxide inks - frayed burlap, antique linen, pumice stone, hickory smoke, lost shadow
• other - Curiosities sticker book (Tim Holtz), sewing machine and thread, blending brushes, Dimensionals, craft foam, distressing tool, moss, hickory smoke archival ink, sponge dauber, craft blade, steel ruler

Hope you enjoy! Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Ghostly Presents

I'm loving this week's theme at Inspired By challenges and couldn't resist playing along:

Here's my ghostly inspiration:

As you can see, I'm still loving some bright pink for Halloween! I ink smooshed the background and once it was dry, stamped the candy corn and sweets with oxide ink before white embossing my sentiment. The hats were coloured with markers and my finishing touches were some white gel pen and black stitching. I'm thinking I'm gonna need a second sewing machine for my cards so I can keep it set up and not have to change needles! (Mind you, threading the needle with a different coloured thread each time is a real challenge for my old eyes, so perhaps I need a number of machines, lol - one for each colour!)

Materials used:

• stamps - Tiny Frights (Tim Holtz)
• card - basic black, distress white heavystock, watercolour
• distress inks - kitsch flamingo spray stain, picked raspberry oxide ink and spray, cocktail party mica stain
• other - MISTI, white embossing powder, heat tool, Zig Clean Color brush markers, white gel pen, Dimensionals, craft foam, sewing machine and thread, scissors, embossing buddy

Thanks for calling in. Have a crafty day!

Cheers

Kerry