Edited: I have found the original inspiration for this, see the end.
Halloween is a week away, which for me triggers the start of Christmas card-making. This card again uses lots of
Michelle Zindorf style brayering, with some sponging and distressing. It really takes no time at all and I feel like my brayering is really improving. It's a wonderful technique and the dramatic results work perfectly for Halloween cards and projects.
I was actually inspired this morning by a mylar balloon that I saw in Publix. The image is almost exactly what you see here. The background was a gradient from purple up to green, with a red to yellow sun. The haunted house and tree were so close to the Stampin' Up! House of Haunts image that I had to make it. I used mostly Stampin' Up! inks for the background, and Classic Black for the tree. No versamark or embossing here. The moon was brayered on a separate two-inch circle and adhered to the background. I then stamped onto the panel with the haunted house. Just prior to stamping, I very carefully removed the ink from the moon portion of the stamp, since I already had that on my panel. Unfortunately, there was a gap in the stamped image where the moon attaches, but I used a black marker to fill in any gaps. I also misjudged the position of the tree and the house, and sponged some more black to make it look more connected.
The googly eyes glow-in-the-dark when you turn off the light. This was Olivia's addition to the card, and they came from one of those foam haunted house kits at Michael's. She's obsessed with glow-in-the-dark products. We've cleared out Michael's of all their glow-in-the-dark paints, clay, foam, etc. Fun!
This photograph highlights every flaw, the card actually looks really cool in person.
Click on the image to see a larger version, with our cat in the background. His name is Bill.
EDITED TO ADD: My crack Google research skillz (aka hours of mindlesss internet browsing) have finally paid off. I have located the balloon that I spotted at the grocery store which was my inspiration for this card. You can see it
here.
I could have sworn the colors went from green to purple, not purple to blue as shown here - and I don't recall the cemetery at all. Although I managed to see the moon correct. I definitely remember the tree with the eyes and if I had some decent gel pens I wanted to do that on my card. I also reversed the images, but either way hopefully you can see the resemblance between the balloon and my card.
I'm going to try again, using this color scheme and maybe embellish with more of the bats and spider webs. Only a few days left to stamp these spooky scenes!
Recipe:
Stamps: House of Haunts (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Stampin' Up! - Eggplant Envy, Green Galore, Garden Green, Classic Black, Summer Sun, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie; Other Inks - Versamagic Chalk Perfect Plumeria, and Aegean Blue. Distress Tea Dye
Paper: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Papertrey Ink Plum Pudding
Accessories: Heidi Swapp Distresser, Brayer, Adhesive, Glow-In-Dark Googly Eyes from a Michael's foam craft kit.
Here are two cards I made with my new dies. I'm not even a true HK fan (Rachel, if you are reading this, go away NOW!) but I really have some cute card ideas for my good friend, who really is a true fan. I endured all the pain mentioned above with the sole purpose of making her the cutest, card, evah.
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