31 Days of Halloween: Brewing Up Some Spookiness with Stampendous and Dreamweaver-Day16

Here is my creation for day 16 of the 31 days of Halloween challenge over on the Smeared Ink blog. This one is dedicated to my favorite "Witchy-Poo", and co-incidentally, also my boss at Stampendous. No, this will not be an insult to her, as Halloween is her favorite time of the year, and even her profile pic is of her in a witch's hat. She will love this framed witch (yes, Laura, I promise to send it to you to add to your Halloween collection!) mainly  because it uses some awesome products from Stampendous...the center of the Cling Mirror Mirror, the web and music from the Perfectly Clear Halloween Charms set, and piles of Aged Black and Aged Wine Embossing Enamels.

The frame base is a cheap one that I purchased at Michael's for $1. It is quite small, about 4 1/4 X 3 1/2 inches, and has a small easel back for display purposes. I covered the frame in VersaMark ink, and poured a mix of the two Fran•tagé enamels over the frame, and heated until it was molten and textured. I had some really cool Swarovski crystals in a color-shifting purple-to-gold that I embedded into the molten enamel.

I used the insert for the frame as a template, and stamped the music, the web, and the witch to align in the center, in Onyx VersaFine ink by Tsukineko®. I kept the acetate oval in place, and inserted my stamped oval, and POOF! That was it. Think how fun these would be as gifts or place holders for guests at your Halloween Monster Mash, or as part of your own display for Spooktober.

Thank you so much, Smeared Ink, for providing the opportunity for us to take Halloween to a whole different level, and to Alison Heikkila for nudging us there!

 I hope you've been following the Stampendous team as they've taken turns to demonstrate that even cute can be creepy in the right hands...or claws. Follow on the Stampendous Blog.

Buttons Galore for Dreamweaver Thursday!

 

All of this week, the Stampendous team have been playing in the "button box" of wonderful, colorful, Buttons Galore & More! As today is also Dreamweaver Thursday, the team is also showing unique ways to incorporate these fun additions into our stencil and paste projects as well. But before I share my project for today, let's cover all the hop and prize info that you need. 

To be eligible, you must be a US resident, comment on our blog, and that of each Stampendous designer’s blog posts each day of the hop and tell us in what state you live. Stampendous Official Contest Rules apply. Deadline to comment for our prizes is Sunday, October 18, 2015. Winners will be selected by random.org and we’ll announce sometime on Monday, October 19th. Wait! There is even more! Be sure to comment and tell us where you’re from, because our Australian Distributor The Stencil Specialists are sponsoring a prize for one friend “down under” to win a Stampendous Stamp, a Dreamweaver Stencil and a surprise goodie from their terrific stock of Stampendous merchandise!

Now, check it out...

 My wonderful mix of buttons (Key Lime, Teal Ice, and Berrylicious) that were sent to me had so many great retro colors, that I decided to to go all-out retro. I used a 7Gypsies small shadowbox tray, painted with a mix of aqua acrylic and DecoArt Americana Chalky Finish paint, and stamped with Andy Skinner's crackle image from his Cling Industrial set by Stampendous. The large section was the perfect space to feature the
Dreamweaver Oval Ornament, paste-embossed in a mix of Glossy Black with red acrylic added. This became the outline and fixative for a mosaic of Buttons Galore, over an appropriately themed paper from American Crafts' Holiday collection. These same papers were  cut to fit inside the other three openings, with a bit of ink-distressing around the edges in Peanut Crunch Memento ink by Tsukineko. Three stockings were die-cut from the same paper pad, using the Dreamweaver Nested Stockings Dies. Each were popped up in their respective squares, and decorated with more cute little buttons. The Joyeux Noel sentiment was paste-embossed on a strip of Vertigo by Imagine Crafts®, and adhered with Glue Dots clear dots. The final addition was a cute Chevron-striped ribbon bow from May Arts.

To button up this hop day, be sure to visit my other teammates' blogs...

Stampendous Blog

Wendy Price

Pam Bray (DW)

Pam Hornschu (DW)

Alison Heikkila (DW)

Louise Healy (DW)
Laura Drahozal (DW)
Kristine Reynolds (DW)

Buttons Galore and More Blog

Gifts with Flourishes from Woodware UK and Stampendous

There are times in life when you need to do something with a flourish, and this week is the perfect time. The Woodware team are challenged this week to add a flourish to their creations, and my project is full of them! I've created a portfolio of cards as the perfect gift for someone special.

The outside cover has been scallop-edged using the border die in the Stampendous Pop Up Die Set. The edges have been inked. The Cling Stampendous Filigree set has been used to add plenty of flourishes, stamped and embossed with Fran•tagé Aged and/or Shabby Enamels. A Stampendous Hummingbird has been die-cut from chipboard, coated with embossing ink, and embossed with the same enamels, and adhered to the front of the folder as an extra flourish. Even the inside has been decorated...

A set of everyday cards has been created to match, also featuring the same Filigree set with the Hummingtbird Dies. Colors and design were kept simple and consistent, and sentiments from the Perfectly Clear Happy Greetings were added as well. Even the envelopes have been decorated.

Woodware carries all the items to create "with a flourish", so keep them in mind, and check your stockist for these items as you create your next gift! Be sure to follow the Woodware Blog for even more inspiration for YOUR creativity!

31 Days of Halloween: Brewing Up Some Spookiness with Stampendous and Dreamweaver-Day 12

For the entire month of Spooktober, the Stampendous team are breaking out toys from their ghoulish bag of tricks in an effort to scare the fans of the Smeared Ink blog into a new view of Stampenedous and Dreamweaver. Bwahahahahaha.

My card today features an ink-pressed Dreamweaver Spider Web on fun plaid cardstock from Core'dinations. A great sentiment from the Stampendous Perfectly Clear Tricky Words was stamped in black on this panel, and was adhered over a dotted Paper Pizzazz paper, and onto a tent-folded black card. All layers have been ripped, inked, and distressed.

The focal point is a paper-pieced Great Pumpkin design from Dreamweaver, also paste-embossed over the top with Translucent Paste. The top of the pumpkin was cut away to reveal spooky eyes peeking from within. Plenty of Stampendous Color Fragments in Trick or Treat and Lime were adhered with Tacky Glue from Beacon Adhesives. The finishing touch was a plastic spider, covered in VersaMark ink and coated in Fran•tagé Aged Black Embossing Enamel. Surprisingly he didn't melt from the heating, but he did squirm a bit....(insert maniacal laugh).

Woodware with the Mirror Cracked: Light as a Feather Wall Hanging

The Woodware team are playing along with "The Mirror Cracked" team and blog, and have been challenged to create a wall hanging. Here's one of my favorites that combines a bit of Stampendous, a bit of Dreamweaver, and plenty of Woodware goodies.

Using the Woodware Canvas pad sheets cut in half, I added washes of various spray inks over a paste-embossed in Translucent background of the Dreamweaver Gradual Dot stencil design, and a palette knife smeared bit of Matte Black Paste. The Dreamweaver Feather design was also paste-embossed in Copper over the top, and sprinkled heavily with Stampendous Aged Black and Aged Copper Embossing Enamels from the Fran•tagé collection. Extra sprinkles were added randomly over the canvas and heated from behind to melt. A section of Mark Richards linen squares was stamped in brown ink using the Life is Art sentiment, distressed with ink, and frayed around the edges before adhering. A wood dowel from Woodware was painted black, and with bits of WW ribbon tape, attached at the top of the hanging. Extra tape bits were added to canvas as well.

Dreamweaver Thursday: If You Can Haunt It...Flaunt It!

One of my favorite things to do is to create a mood in my designwork. I was going for "Dead men tell no tales" with this card. Everything is edgy and distressed, with a stormy feel to it, and this is how it was done...

The base of the card is Core'dinations black with a gray core, which has been run through my Big Shot machine with the Dreamweaver I Beams stencil. Using the Core'dinations sanding block, I went over the embossed areas to reveal the design, and sanded more areas and around the edges as well...particularly where I wanted to stamp the sentiment from the Perfectly Clear Tricky Words set.

I stamped the Cling Raven Skull image with Versamark ink on the card base, and embossed it with Aged Black Embossing Enamel. I used a white paint marker to color in the skull, and then went to work on the focal panel.

I used the Tombow Zero Drawing technique and Mono products to cover a panel of Canson textured paper with graphite. I placed the Dreamweaver Clipper Ship over the surface, and erased the areas within the design. I also erased areas around the scalloped edge of the Picasso tool to create my cloudy sky. After this, I replaced the stencil, and using the Tombow Recycled Colored Pencils, I added color to the frigate, the waves, and a bit the guiding light of the moon through the clouds. I daubed Tuxedo Black Memento ink around the edges, and tore two sides. Once again, I stamped the Raven Skull off the edge of the focal panel, and embossed with Aged Black, and colored the skull cap white, so that the parts would match up.

Using Translucent Embossing Paste, I paste-embossed the DW Rain stencil across the panel, and set it aside to dry. Once dry, more Aged Black was sprinkled and heated from underneath to add texture. The panel was then adhered to an ink-distressed and torn yellow panel, and then to the card base. Beacon Adhesives Tacky Glue was applied to add sprinkles of Marine Blue and Trick or Treat Color Fragments to bring the whole design together.

For more "happy hauntings", visit my teammates here:

Stampendous Blog

Lyn Bernatovich

Kristine Reynolds

Lea Fritts

Amy Hurley-Purdie

Laura Drahozal

Louise Healy

Pam Hornschu (you're here)

Alison Heikkila

Spellbinders and Stampendous Quarterly Hop...Spookilicious!

Stampendous and Spellbinders are hopping today, and Wendy Price and I are the featured designers for this event! However, before I share my project with you, I want to let you know where you'll find all of the info, rules, and details for this hop, so that YOU will not miss out on some awesome prizes! Spellbinder's rules can be found HERE. Stampendous' rules and info can be found HERE.

I've created this Halloween "lantern", perfect for party or home decor to ramp up the spooky! Here's the info:

Layout the dies from the Spellbinders 5 x 7 Matting Basics A (S6-001) set on Bazzill Board in black 

Run through die cut machine, repeat this three more times to create the four sides

Cut four pieces of vellum to fit the four sides, stamp each piece of vellum with the Cling Tomb Elements stamp (CRW134) from Stampendous using StazOn Jet Black

Use the Dreamweaver Spider Web (DWLJ816) to emboss a web design on each stamped piece of vellum

Adhere the embossed vellum images to the back of each frame

Ink the front edges of each frame with VersaMagic Cloud White ink

Die cut a gate and two fence pieces for each side from Spellbinder's Garden Gate on Bazzill Board in black

Pat the die cut piece with VersaMark ink

Sprinkle lightly with Aged Black and Aged Silver embossing enamels

Heat set each embossed piece

Use a glue pen to attach the gate and fence pieces to each side

Die cut corner pieces from the Fancy Label Tags Four set from Spellbinders, emboss the pieces with the Aged Black and Aged Silver embossing enamels, cut some branches from the new Woodland Collection Trees die (S3-227)

Use small brads, the embossed label pieces and branches to assemble the sides

Cut four black stripe for the"handle"

Cut four decorative pieces and emboss with Aged Black and Aged Silver embossing enamels

Use small brads to attach the filigree pieces and strips to the lantern

Bring the four strips together at the top and use a small black strip curved into a small circle and a brad to hold it all together

Add some flameless candles for an eerie glow!

Check out these other Spookilicious designs today:

Stampendous Stamps

Pam Hornschu

Wendy Price

Pam Bray

Spellbinders Blog

Have a "spook-tacular" day!

Pam