Mixed Media: Spooky Halloween Tree with Gina's Designs Lasercuts

Hey there chippie fans!  Can you believe it is October already?  Oh my gosh, it is already cooling down here in the mid-south, and Halloween is just around the corner.  I love making Halloween themed projects, and today, I want to share this removable piece that allows you to use the memory tray frame over and over.  This will come in handy when you want to change out the artwork for Fall, Thanksgiving, and/or Christmas, holidays that are approaching soon.

Directions:

Paint Spooky Tree with black gesso.

Glue crinkled pieces of tissue paper (any color) to tree for texture, following along branches, and let dry.

I used my Sand-its tool to remove any excess tissue paper in the tiny crevices.

Sandits Tool 

Paint textured tree with black gesso.

Add brown paint to high spots, and darken openings around eyes, nose and mouth with black.

Trace eye, nose, and mouth holes onto a scrap piece of paper.

Paint spooky eyes, and dark nose and mouth, painting beyond traced lines to ensure openings are filled with color.

Adhere behind tree openings.  Paint medium size spider web with black gesso, then with metallic silver and adhere between tree between branches.

Trim mat board slightly smaller than inside of tray.  Trim Blackbird paper to the same size, and heavily distress the edges.  (I used my Distress-It-All tool for this because it works fast, but you can use any tool you have.) (TIP:  By adhering your project to mat board that fits snugly into the frame, this piece can be removed and the memory tray can be used for other seasonal decor projects in the same way.)

Tear two small distressed openings on the left and right side of the paper and ink edges with the Gathered Twigs distress stain.  Adhere paper to mat board.

Paint the two smallest spiderwebs from the Spiderwebs Shape Set with Seedless Preserves Distress Paint.  Insert spiderwebs beneath the torn openings.

Adhere tree to base with foam dots for dimension, and a close-up of the spiderweb beneath the torn paper.

Paint Halloween border with black gesso and color individual shapes, as shown.  I was going to string the border along the tree limbs, but decided to cut the shapes apart and use them individually.  I had already used two of the shapes in my previous post.

These are two bats cut from the Halloween Border, painted with silver metallic and detailed with black paint.  Lime Green Stickles added to the eyes for spookiness.

The Raven is from the Tree Shape set, and was painted with Prussian Blue, then a mixture of white gesso added to the Prussian Blue to detail wings.  Dip end of paint brush into white paint and make dot for eye, adding tiny dot of black in the center.  Behind the Raven is one of the spider web cut from the Halloween Border, painted with a mix of Primary Yellow and Phthalo Green Yellow.

The pumpkin is also cut from the Halloween border, painted with a mix of Cadmium Red Hue and Primary Yellow, brown for the stem and green for the leaf.  

The medium size skeleton is from the Skeleton Shapes set, painted with white gesso, then antiqued with Raw Umber to age it.  Gently shape the arms, legs, and head before adhering to page.

Here is a close up of the shaping of the skeleton and the dimension obtained by adhering the tree with foam dots.

Supplies:
Gina's Designs Lasercuts
Spooky Tree (coming soon)
Ravens (coming soon)
Skeleton Shape Set
Border Halloween
Spiderweb Shape Set

Sandits Tool
Memory Box Blackbird 12x12 paper (Perched)
Hobby Lobby 12x12 matboard (Quicksand-white core)
Paper Studio 12x12 Black Memory Tray
White Gesso
Black Gesso
DecoArt Media Prussian Blue Hue
DecoArt Media Cadmium Red Hue
DecoArt Media Primary Yellow
DecoArt Media Raw Umber Antiquing Cream
DecoArt Media Quinacridone Violet
DecoArt Media Titanium White Antiquing Cream
DecoArt Media Phthalo Green Yellow
DecoArt Media Carbon Black
DecoArt Media Metallic Silver
Tim Holtz Seedless Preserves Distress Paint
Tim Holtz Gathered Twigs Distress Stain
Ranger Lime Green Stickles

I hope you enjoyed my project today.  Stay tuned for more home decor pieces to make and change out in this single memory tray frame.  And as always, check out Gina's Designs Lasercuts online store for all of your chipboard needs to make these fabulous holiday decorations.  And for getting into those tiny places, check out the Sandits website.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful and creative weekend!

Barbara

Pink Card and ATC for October

Hello everyone! Welcome to my first Altered Pages post for October.  Can you believe Fall is here already?  And since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, I thought it would be fitting to make a card and ATC in honor of it.  We also have a wonderful sponsor this month, Royal & Langnickel, makers of many fine art products.  I hope you will stop by and check out their website.

Here are the parts I used to make the card.  I started with a kraft card (A2 size), trimmed paper slightly smaller than card front, and die cut the pieces shown with label dies.  The middle solid pink piece was made by tracing around the smaller die and fussy cutting.  I did not want too much of the brassy gold paper to show, and this particular die set does not have another in-between size.

Edge the print layer with Delicata Gold ink and the blending tool, adhere to card front.

I needed to color my dyeable seam binding to a matching pink color, so these are the products I used to do this.  The Royal sable brushes worked like a charm and were so soft and silky smooth that they just glided across the ribbon.

A tiny dot of the Magenta Splash ink on my craft mat was all that was needed, adding lots of water and picking the color up with the Royal sable  brush.

When dry, I folded it in the shape used to promote breast cancer awareness, stapled in the center, and covered the staple with a dew drop.

I also made an ATC that I thought would be nice to include inside the card.

Once again, I used my Splash Inks to color this beautiful gypsy lady.  She was stamped with black Stazon ink onto a piece of print paper from the Pretty in Pink pad.  Stazon ink is waterproof and will not bleed when I add water.  

I put a few drops of each color and one drop of white acrylic paint onto my craft sheet.  With a wet brush, I picked up the colors, as needed, mixing colors to make new colors, and adding the white if I needed a more pastel, and somewhat opaque, color. The possibilities are absolutely endless with these highly concentrated inks.  

When the paper was dry, I adhered it with glue stick to a darker pink paper layer, which was glued to a slightly larger ATC sized kraft card.

Supplies:
Altered Pages Collage Sheets:  ATC Beauty;
6x6 Glitz Paper Pads (Pretty in Pink)
Rubber Stamp Sets: Gypsy Journey set
Kraft envelopes & cards
StazOn Midi ink pad Black
Delicata Ink Pad Gold
Ranger Blending Tools
Dyeable Seam Binding
Splash Inks
Dew Drops (Pink)
Glue Stick
Double Side Tape Mini
Royal & Langnickel SableTek brush

White acrylic paint

Big Chat stickers (Remember)

Altered Pages will be having a Royal Brush PINK giveaway this month, so be sure to leave a comment on their blog for a chance to win.  And while you're there, take a moment to check out the new products in the Altered Pages shop.  Good things await!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful and creative week!

Barbara

Mixed Media: Halloween Home Decor Canvas

Welcome all!  Today I wasnt to share a hauntingly spooky canvas wall hanging for Halloween.  I love mixed media and I seem to always be learning new ways to combine them.  When I saw this 31 Wall Art chipboard piece from Gina's Designs Lasercuts, I knew it would make a fabulous home decor item.  

Paint the 31 Wall Art piece with DecoArt Media Carbon Black.  

Add a layer of Liquitex coarse texture gel to the numbers only.  Add a few details to the cat.

Add a wash of DecoArt Media Interference Gold over the numbers.  Glue a piece of shiny gold card stock behind the cat's eye's and nose openings for a spooky effect.

Use your finger to add DecoArt Media Antiquing Cream, first with Patina Green, then hit the high spots withe the DecoArt Media Carbon Black Antiquing Cream.

And here is a close-up picture of that ghoulish texture.

Now to prepare the canvas background.  Paint an 8x10 canvas with DecoArt Carbon Chalky Finish.

Tear a piece of spiderweb scrapbook paper slightly smaller than the canvas and adhere.

Paint randomly, as shown, with DecoArt Media Carbon Black.  

Combine 80% DecoArt Media Crackle Paste with 20% DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Cadmium Red Hue and spread over painted areas with spatula.  

Brush a light coat of the DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Cadmium Red Hue over the cracked areas.

Still not quite orange enough, so I sponged over with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Primary Yellow.

Sponge over the cracks with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Quinachridone Violet, than apply a light coat of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Burnt Umber for depth and dimension.

Cut the hanging spider and witch's hat from the Border: Halloween set and paint black.  Also paint the largest spider web from the Spiderweb Shape Set.

I used my finger to dab a mix of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic  Phthalo Green-Yellow with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Primary Yellow, then applied Stickles Lime Green glitter glue, as shown.  I also added a red dot to the body of the hanging spider and adhered each to the canvas, as shown.

I painted a hat band with a mix of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Burnt Umber and DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Titanium White.  Details were added to the hat with a dry brushing of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Interference Gold.

Supplies used:

Gina's Designs Lasercuts
Border Halloween
31 Wall Art 
Spiderweb Shape Set

Black Gesso (Liquitex)
Carbon Chalky Finish (DecoArt)
Coarse Texture Gel (Liquitex)
Authentique Spellbound Spiderweb 12x12 paper

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Primary Yellow
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Cadmium Red Hue
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Burnt Umber
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Titanium White
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic  Phthalo Green-Yellow
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Quinachridone Violet
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Interference Gold
DecoArt Media Antiquing Cream Patina Green
DecoArt Media Antiquing Cream Carbon Black
DecoArt Media Crackle Paste
DecoArt Decoupage

Stickles Lime Green glitter glue

Check out Gina's Designs newest chipboard shapes, not only for Halloween, but for just about all of your creative needs!!!

Thanks for stopping by, and as always, I hope you have a wonderful, creative weekend.

Barbara

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Monthly Blog Hop: October 2015

Welcome to the October Craft Hoarders Anonymous Blog Hop! You should be coming to my blog from the ever-so-talented Teresa's blog.  After visiting me, hop over to the very creative Marisa's blog next! To start at the beginning of the hop, and for the full list of Bloggers, go to Gloria's Blog.  

I found this teapot shaped chipboard mini in the Michael's dollar bin some time ago. I bought several of them to use as mini albums with different themes.  Quite a few years ago, I found this pretty paper from Die Cuts With A View (DCWV) called Linen Closet.  Then I was on this Alice in Wonderland kick and found collage images, stamps, printed fabric, etc., from various sources which shall remain nameless since I cannot remember them any more.  In any case, I hoarded them for awhile, until I came across (unearthed) my stash of chipboard teapots.  Well, as they say, the rest is history.

I present to you my Alice's Adventures in Wonderland mini album. I did a lot of fussy cutting, some appropriate die-cutting, and embellished with a variety of "stuff" I had been hoarding, or perhaps waiting for just the appropriate project.  Well, that sounds like a plausible story, so I think I'll keep it.

Front cover

Inside front cover and Page 2

Pages 3 and 4

Pages 5 and 6

Page 7 and inside back cover

Back cover

Here is the list of the participating Bloggers. Make sure to hop along and say hello! 

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Blog Hop List:
Gloria Stengel (you are here)
Vicki Robertson
Debbie Seyer
Ginny Nemchak 
Pam Bray
Jacquie Southas
Glenda Brooks
Amber Milone
Tracey Sabella
Donna Idlet
Bonnie Garby
Nancy Dynes
Wendi Robinson
Teresa Horner
Kathy Clement (on vacation, hop on to Barbara's Blog)
Jan Ennenga (on vacation, hop on to Barbara's Blog)
Barbara Rankin
Karen Zueger-Brownell (on vacation, hop on to Marisa's Blog)
Marisa Job
Christy Houser

I hope we have inspired you to join us every month and de-hoard those supplies! 

Have a wonderful and creative weekend, but most of all, have fun!!!

Barbara

Mixed Media: Think Pink Art for Breast Cancer Awareness Journal Page

Welcome, my fellow ColourArte-ists!  As most of you may already know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  So, today's blog post is all about thinking pink.  I have made a video tutorial for you to watch my process as I transform a chipboard art journal page using this theme, as well as those awesome shimmering watercolors we've come to know as Twinkling H20s (aka Twinks), and a fabulously fun water droplet texture stamp from Designs by Ryn, our sponsor this month.  These stamps are high quality, deeply etched, and stamped with precision.

So, grab yourself a beverage, sit back, and enjoy the video.  Please give me a thumbs up and subscribe to my youtube channel if you like the video and want to see more projects!

INSERT VIDEO

Supplies:
ColourArte Think  Pink Twinkling H20s set (contains Dreams Bloom, Good News, Hopeful Honeysuckle, Lucky Apple, Courageous, Luv U Pink)
Colourarte Twinkling H20s Sky Blue and Wintermist Gray
The Crafter's Workshop 12x12 Exploration stencil
Design's by Ryn Water Droplets texture stamp
Derivan Mixed Media Adhesive
Golden Light Molding Paste
#2 Round brush
1/2" angle shader brush
Versafine Deep Lagoon Ink Pad
Versafine Black Ink Pad
Colorbox Charcoal Chalk Ink Pad
Prima #555382 Alphabet stickers
Prima Script paper pad
Chipboard

In honor of those we know who have battled with this disease, please be sure to make a generous donation to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

I hope you enjoyed my video project today, and please visit both ColourArte  and Designs by Ryn for some fabulous products to use in your next art project.

Happy October to you all!!!

Barbara

House of Cards October 2015 Monthly Challenge: Add Texture and/or Color

Hello everyone, and welcome back to a new monthly challenge here at House of Cards.  I so enjoy seeing all the creations each month, not only from the design team, but also from you, the challenge participants.

This month's challenge is ...

OCTOBER 2015

Add texture &/or Color Challenge

While I certainly love texture, and I love these gorgeous Fall colors, I had no trouble working with this theme.  I was able to combine a bit of both in my Autumn Splendor card.  

I layered the print paper onto a dark green card base, and fussy cut the apples from the Apple Cider Orchard paper, layering with foam tape.  I adhered a ribbon, some burlap paper (for texture), and some acrylic leaves.  I also punched some leaves from olive green card stock, adding a bit of shimmer by touching them to the Delicate gold ink pad before arranging them around my apples.  Pretty simple, eh?
Supplies used:
Dark Green card stock
Olive Green card stock 
Autumn Splendor papers, ribbon, wooden tag (Making Memories)
Apple Cider Orchard 12x12 paper (Bo Bunny)
Burlap paper scraps
Ink Pads:  Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint, Delicata Gold
Black pen
Acrylic Maple Leaves (Hobby Lobby)
Glossy Accents
Fast Grab Tacky Glue
McGill leaf punch

I hope you enjoyed my card this month and that I have been able to inspire and entice you to play along with us in this month's challenge, which can be seen by clicking here..

Linking up with:

Simon Says Anything Goes
Seize the Birthday: Make Your Own Background
The Pink Elephant Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, and please come back on the 3rd of the month for MORE inspiration from this very talented Design Team!  We hope you join in the fun, too--please check out our House Rules HERE before linking up!  I can't wait to see your creations!

Barbara xo