Today I am collaborating with Whimsy Stamp for their annual 31 Nights Of Halloween event, that runs from 1-31st of October.
I have a VIDEO up on my YouTube channel, and you can find more information on the Whimsy Stamps blog, as well as instructions on how to enter the giveaways. There are $300 dollars in gift vouchers up for grabs!
Check out the video for full details, and to see the other card! Thank you to Whimsy Stamps for inviting me for a collaboration, I love how my cards turned out and hope you do too! Thanks for stopping by today and see you soon again!
Affiliate links used in this post, at no extra cost to you! Thank you if you shop using these links as every little helps, and I’m so grateful for the support.
As much as I love colouring (she says whilst the inner child is jumping around with joy) sometimes I just don’t have the time or the energy to colour, but I still want colour on my cards. What a conundrum, right? This is where ink blending comes to the rescue and oh, how I love that technique too! It’s one of my go-to for a blast of colour FAST!
It’s fun, fresh, and you can mix and match colours to suit occasions, themes and preferences of the recipient of the card. What’s not to love?
If you don’t want glitter card stock, you can add Clear Gloss on top for shiny card stock. Super simple and high impact! Plus it’s quick and easy to make more when you run out. Win-Win!
Other ways of adding interest to an ink blended background is to splatter some water, coloured or gold water colour, shimmer sprays, white paint or something like Distress sprays. I’m particularly loving gold splatters myself. It’s such a simple, yet wow-factor way of adding a little something extra.
These cards in this post are done with Distress Oxide inks, blended with my go-to blending tools: the Life Changing Blender Brushes from Picket Fence Studios. I can not stress enough how important it is to have a tool for ink blending that works for you. The brushes might not be for you, you might prefer the Tim Holtz ink blending tool, or the domed version from Scrapbook.com, or maybe the hexagon brush from Honey Bee Stamps. Whatever works for you is what you should stick to, no matter the opinions of someone else, me included. I’m merely saying that for me, the Life Changing Blender Brushes really live up to their name, and they have helped elevate my ink blending game to a whole new level!
As the idea was to have the Scarecrow Cover Plate Die from Picket Fence Studios on top of this, I have gone from light to dark, almost as if there is a fire behind it, or candles in the Jack-o-lanterns.
I didn’t get a photo of that before I cut it up, but here is the second piece I made with Autumn Persimmon Paper Glitz.
When this was dry, I cut out the Scarecrow using my diecutting machine. Depending on your machine and how much Paper Glaze you use, you might need to run it through twice to get clean, sharp lines.
The second card was done in a similar fashion, with the same colours on the background, including the gold splatters. This is the one I used that second shimmer card stock for, and I used the Scarecrow diecut again. I also cut out the word BOO with the Seeing Double Alpha dies.
Instead of gold splatters on the first one, I opted for black and yellow by using Distress Oxide sprays in Mustard Yellow and Black soot. I tried to not overdo it, but I think a few more wouldn’t have been amiss.
Similarly, the shimmer card stock was done with black card stock, and some Ocean Poppy and Lime Zinnia Paper Glaze. These colours are kind of glow-in-the-dark-esque on the black card stock, which looks really quite cool.
Once that was dry, I cut out the scarecrows and again, adhered it straight to the background with the Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive. For the second card, I also cut out the word BOO with the Seeing Double Alpha dies from the shimmer card stock made with the Paper Glaze.
Sentiment wise I used one from the So Franken Cute for the card on the right, but this one was heat embossed in Opaque Bright White on black card stock. It was also adhered on an angle, with more Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive, rather than straight across. The second card was done with the BOO glued down and the same sentiment from A Spooky Day with Black Hybrid ink.
With four cards in total done, all that was left to do was adhered them both to a card base and that’s it. What do you think? Not a bad pop of colour for no-colouring cards, right?
I am working on a YouTube video for these as well, it’s very long at the moment so I’m thinking of doing one full-length version and one more condensed, so you can chose which one you want to watch. Keep an eye out on my YouTube channel and click that notification button so you don’t miss any uploads!
Lots of the goodies for these cards are from Picket Fence Studios, and the rest are from various online shops. I have used compensated affiliate links in this post, for your convenience, at no extra cost to you. Any earnings I get from these go towards paying for things like blog hosting, technology faff-stuff, import duties and new stuff to keep things fresh, fun and free for you! Thank you so much for supporting me while shopping using these links, I really appreciate it!
You can find me on various social media platforms if you want to see more of my work, click the links below and click follow or subscribe to come along on more crafty shenanigans adventures! Instagram YouTube Facebook
Below you can find affiliate links to Ellen Hutson, as well as some suitable alternatives to the products used for these cards.
It’s the 14th and that means a new release from Picket Fence Studios! This month we have something I am super excited about: Paper Glitz! Most of you know how much I love the Paper Glazes already. I’m a tad obsessed and not sorry at all about it.
The Paper Glitz is another obsession for me now. Gee, Nicole, give a girl a break, right?? 🤣 This stuff is totally amazing. The base is coloured mica so they cover an area completely, instead of just where the glitter end up. Which it’s also full of, and not just one shade. In each one there are between 4-7, which gives an amazing effect. It also doesn’t shed! Can you imagine?? OOooh, child, it’s like unicorn poop in colours!!
Like Paper Glaze, Paper Glitz colors can be used for the following techniques: die-cutting, making glitter paper, stenciling, adding texture, adding shine, layering color on precut dies, making a shiny mist, making a flicking medium, water coloring with watered down Paper Glitz, etc. I do love versatile mediums! It feels like you get way more bang for your buck, right?
The first thing I did was simply slap a little of almost all the colours on card stock, and swipe the across it. It created a gorgeous glitter paper, and I still had a little left on my scraper so I wiped that off on a card base. I didn’t know if it was going to warp the paper or how it was going to look, but it dried flat so I had to use that one for a card!
It was finished off very simply by adding a word topper that says ‘You are phenomenal’ cut out of black card stock, and layered up. The top of the words were decorated with a little Fall Gold Paper Glitz.
In this release there are a mix of Halloween and Christmas stamps, stencils and diecuts. I am not a fan of Halloween in real life, because I am a whimp and don’t like to be scared, BUT funnily enough I love making Halloween cards! I’m so weird… The Scarecrow Cover Die is so fun, and I have used it for two cards.
I cut out the Scarecrow Cover Plate image out of black card stock a few times and layered these up, with Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive. This is a liquid adhesive which I find VERY useful when layering up dies, as you have a few seconds to adjust your pieces if they don’t layer up perfect the first time.
Then I cut out the Scarecrow out of purple card stock and layered a couple of them up. This was then added to the background panel. Once I was sure this was completely dry, I popped this into a cellophane bag and filled it with sequins from the Trick or treaters Sequin Mix. The cellophane bag was then wrapped up and closed up on the back of the panel.
My friend Ilda Dias came up with this idea and Tonic Studios made her vision come to life! Make sure to check out Ilda’s blog and Instagram for more inspiration! I didn’t have time to wait for the actual bags to arrive, so I “MacGyvered” my own, but it was quite fiddly, I must admit. I can not wait to actually try the proper bags for this as shaker cards are NOT my forte. At all. Anyway, I did my best and with all that done, I then secured that whole shebang to a purple card base.
Well, I could go on and on about all these goodies, but this blog post would turn into a full-on essay. Why not hop on over to my YouTube channel and check out the video I made for this release instead?
If you don’t want to wait, and just want to shop, I have used compensated affiliate links in this post, at no extra cost to you. I know I keep harping on about this, but if you can use an affiliate link when you shop, that’s so encouraging and helpful. It helps pay for stuff like blog hosting, photo storage, import duties and upgrades so I can keep doing what I love to do, and share it with you, so THANK YOU if you shop with my links. I really appreciate the support!
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
p.s. I also want you to know that the Card Maker Success Summit is coming up. The mission of the summit is to help you get a game plan for your holiday card making project. I’ll be speaking on Friday July 16th, at 1pm Eastern time, 6pm UK time and 19.00 Central European time about Adding Shimmer with Paper Glaze. Get all the details and grab your free ticket here! The classes will be available to watch for 24hrs after they go live so mark your calendars now!
There is the option of upgrading to the VIP All-Access Pass, which gives you the option of watching the classes whenever you want, as well as get over $2000 worth of extra content, including svg files, Digi stamps, card making classes, tips on how to up your ink blending game, mass producing cards and much more. It’s a total steal at $79! I have a class on Paper Glaze, how to mix your basic colours and I even made a swatch file that you can download! The peeps over at Picket Fence Studios also put together my Basic Must Have Colors in an easy bundle, so you can grab all of them, plus palette knives in one easy go! (please note that this bundle will be available from the 15th of July)
Today’s card is made with one of the Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember set from last year, If The Hat Fits, combined with their Spider Web Background stamp. I’m not much into Halloween and scary stuff, that’s just not my jam at all. Making Halloween cards, however, I for some reason, love making!
I used quite a few of the Cool Grey Copics to colour in the hat, but still getting some highlights and contrast to it. Both hats were done in the same colours and the accessories were done in “witchy” colours.
Thankfully for me, as I’m not a fan of fussy cutting, there are coordinating diecuts for this set too, and I used them to cut out the hats.
The background is the Spider Web Background stamp, heatembossed in Opaque Bright White on Eggplant card stock from Concord & 9th. For some reason, despite using an anti-static tool on the card stock first, there was a lot of stray powder all over it and it felt too fiddly to try cleaning that up. The effect was sort of a dusty spiderweb, which actually worked out pretty cool.
To make it look a bit spookier, and also to draw the eye in, I ink blended some Black Soot with a Life Changing Blender Brush around the edges. Doing this works really well with coloured card stock, if you want to add a more dimensional look to your background.
That little piece of acetate with the PostIt tape is a clever little tool I use to keep my fingers off my project, both to avoid finger prints on my ink blending and smudging the ink. It’s super inexpensive and works a treat. After doing the ink blending, I splattered some gold water colour on it and set that aside to dry.
I also heat embossed one of the funny sentiments, from If The Hat Fits, in white on black card stock. This piece I cut out with the Stitched Circle dies, and did another one in white card stock, in the next size up.
To finish off the card I adhered all these bits and pieces to the background with Lawn Fawn glue tube. For an extra pop, I added some Glossy Accents to the green ribbon hat and to the buckle and the moon, on the other hat.
The last finishing touch were some matte black and iridescent black sequins, which I adhered with more Glossy Accents.
With that, I’m all done! I hope you found some inspiration where with me today. If you did, I’d be ever so grateful if you would use the compensated affiliate links provided in this blog post. Using these do not cost you anything extra at all, the company the links are affiliate to, pay me a small commission directly as a thank you for directing you to them. These earnings, however small, help keep my little blog, YouTube channel and Instagram feed fun and fresh for you, so thank you if you use them! It means a lot to me.
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
You can find me on various social media platforms if you want to see more of my work
I know it’s a bit early for trick or treating but I simply could not resist making a few Halloween cards with the super adorable little dinosaur from the Dinomite Halloween set. This one is from the Essentials by Ellen September release. If you missed my big news (eeep!) that I was a guest designer for Ellen Hutson in their release hop, check out that post HERE.
For these cards I have done my usual thing of using the same stuff, but changing up colours and add-ons for different looks. I will link all the products I’ve used at the bottom of this post, as well as throughout, in case you want to grab one or two.. or five… (no judgement!) for yourself.
As I knew I was going to do some ink blending on both of the cards, I started out by cutting out two 5.5″x4.25″ panels out of Bristol Vellum card stock. After using my anti-static tool on both of them I placed them in my MISTI, and then added the images I wanted from the Dinomite Halloween set as well as the Booyah set.
I’ve used Embossing ink from Inkon3 on both, and Arctic White embossing powder on one and Black on the other. After setting these with my heat-gun, they immediately look different!
I’ve used Distress Oxide inks for the ink blending and the rainbow-a-licious Blender Brushes from Taylored Expression. They are so pretty and colourful, I’d love to have a set just as decoration in my craft room! But that would be crazy… right? You can also use the Life Changing Blender Brushes from Picket Fence Studios.
Ok, back to the cardmaking! On this first panel you can see how it looks right after the ink blending is done. From top to bottom I’ve used Ripe Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Mustard Seed and Squeezed Lemonade. The white embossing isn’t very white at all, is it? This used to bug me so badly until I realised I can just wipe it off, lol!
To begin with, I gently rub an old kitchen towel over the images and then I go over them again with a very lightly wet paper towel. It makes such a difference!
You would think it wouldn’t be necessary to do it on the black heat embossing but I did, and it really made the images pop!
My first dino was coloured purple. I’m not really a big fan of purple for myself but I LOVE purple dinosaurs for some reason. This one got a few accessories done too. I used all the markers in the photo to do the colouring, although the Cool Greys I used on the hat, his tummy and freckles are not pictured.
The second dino was done in bright teal and yellows!
Once I had all my images coloured in and cut out, using the coordinating Dinomite Halloween designer dies, I set about putting the cards together. After pairing up accessories and adding the dinos to the cards I decided to also use the Boo & Treat word dies to add one final flourish. I cut them out of both white card stock and black to see what looked best.
Originally I thought about layering these up but it just didn’t look right. I’m not sure why as usually I love that look. Next I tried adding some colour to the bottom of the white. It’s just a little bit of leftover Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade inks on the brushes. I didn’t even need to add more.
In the end though, I used the black Boo on one and the black Treat on the second card.
It turned out so fun with the mix of heat embossed sentiments and images and the added diecut word. Plus I love that little mask for the dino too!
I think the choice of black Boo & Treat diecuts was the right one. They just pop a bit more, don’t you think? On this card I also added a bunch of pumpkins to cover up the larger candy corn image. Again, just to change things up a little bit without making any drastic changes.
Well, that’s it from me for today! Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed these cards. If you decide to pick up a few of these fun Ellen Hutson goodies, I’d be so grateful if you’d consider using my affiliate links when you shop. Every little helps and any money I make goes directly to the running of this blog, my YouTube channel and giving you all fun and creative content. Thank you so much for your support in keeping my dream going, I really, really appreciate it!
CaCaCraft by Erica 