Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Haunted Shaker Cards

 Hello again! Surprise--second post in one week! I'm slowly stretching my creative muscles again, having taken quite a bit of time off from making due to real life circumstances. My daughter liked her card so much she asked me to make a couple for the twin boys she occasionally baby sits for. I chose to make these a bit less ghoulie, more giggly, since they are still young.

Here's a closeup of each of the shakers. They are made pretty much in the same way as my daughter's card, starting with those rescued tags from my husband's gym bag, covered front and back with paper from my stash.



This time I did some stamping in Archival Black Soot ink. The spider web is from Tim Holtz Tangled Webs set and the tree is from Mr. Bones set. Die cut church and house are from Ghost Town. The full moon is fussy cut from the same piece of paper I used for my daughter's card.  

I used the cut off pieces of the gate from my daughter's shaker card.  The bat on the church scene is from Bat Crazy and the Crescent Moon is from the Haunted House Thinlits set. 

I chose paper from Abandoned Paper Stash and cut windows with Stacked Baroque and Stacked Archway Thinlits. Spider and Web die cuts are from the Spider Web set. Die cut bats used as shaker filler are from Haunted House and Gate Keeper sets. I used Halloween Small Talk Stickers and pumpkins fussy cut from Tim's old Halloween ephemera pack. They remind me of my terra cotta pumpkins in my garden (shown below).

That's all for me! I took a break from making my usual Halloween altered birdhouse this season, as my display is full. Please take a peek at passed year's makes shown below...I've included links to each below each photo, so you can enjoy the details if you would like. Until next time, Happy Haunting!

I'm sharing my shakers with The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog in their Grunge, Ghouls or Giggles challenge.

A Little Glimpse of Our Haunted House

An Altered Birdhouse

It's Halloween

Spooky Graveyard

Haunted Mansion

Sunday, October 24, 2021

Shake Well

 Hello and welcome! Most people who have been regular visitors to my blog know that I love Halloween! My daughter shares my love of this creepy, kooky, freaking spooky season so I decided to make her a special Halloween card to keep her 'spirits' up until she can visit Halloween weekend.

My husband pulled some tags off a new gym bag yesterday, and I saved them, thinking they might come in handy. I used one of them as my base for this shaker card. I covered each side with Tim Holtz prior year's Halloween paper stash. I fussy cut a moon from some old designer paper I found in my stash. You might catch a glimpse of that old spooky moon in the photo above. I added a gate die cut (Tim Holtz Gate Keeper) to complete the background scene. I cut a panel of Kraft Core card to fit the front and die cut a window (Tim Holtz Stacked Archway), sanded it and adhered vellum to the inside. 

A bat from  Bat Crazy flies around out front, but if you look closely, you can see some bats (Tim Holtz Haunted House and Gate Keeper) flying around in the foggy background along with some spooky sequins.

I used a label, a jack-o-lantern fussy cut from a card and this Shake Well piece from one of Tim's previous year's Halloween ephemera packs. The label is colored with Ground Espresso ink and I added a Halloween Remnant Rub. The creepy girl is from a Halloween Paper Dolls pack, and she is colored with Seedless Preserves and Picket Fence crayons and Ground Espresso ink. I used Ground Espresso and Seedless Preserves on the Shake Well tag.

Initially I wrapped design tape around the edges to hide the foam between the layers, but I didn't like how it looked. I ended up covering it with died cheese cloth.

The number index clips are from my stash and colored with Black Soot paint and White Gold Metallic Wax by Prima. Here's a look at the back, where I splashed some watery inks and wrote a quick message.


I hope you are enjoying crafting something for Halloween or perhaps getting a start on your Thanksgiving or Christmas card making! Either way, happy crafting!  

Sara Emily


Monday, October 18, 2021

Blessed Fall Leaves Card




 Hello and happy fall! I love this time of year with bright blue Carolina skies and vibrant leaves! Inspired and blessed by the autumn beauty, I decided to make a card to celebrate the season. This will make a great Thanksgiving greeting to send to those I won't get to see in person this year.




To make the background, I stamped the leaf image from Tim Holtz Pressed Foliage in Ground Espresso Archival ink and colored with Distress inks: Fossilized Amber, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Forest Moss and Crackling Campfire. I smooshed the leftover color onto the background and dried between each color. When the leaves are done, I applied Distress Microglaze with my finger; mostly covering the leaves, but being a little haphazard with my application. I splattered with more of the same colors and then stamped with the plaid stamp from the Lumberjack set. I inked the stamp with Salvaged Patina ink and spritzed it with water before stamping on my background. For the most part, the leaves have resisted the Salvaged Patina because of the layer of micro glaze. The edges are blended with Ground Espresso Distress ink.


The ephemera is from the Field Notes pack, and I layered them with a scrap of Lumber 3D embossed 'bark' and a ide cut leaf from my box of bits. The Blessed sticker is from the Metallic book, and I tied on some old Ideaology jute string.


To balance the gold metallic sentiment sticker, I applied Tarnished Brass Distress paint to the black Skeleton Leaves die cut. All embellishments were edged in Ground Espresso ink. 

Well, that's it for today! I hope I can find more time to craft as the weather cools down. I haven't even made anything for Halloween yet! Gasp! The horror of it! 

I'd like to share my card with The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog Fall Gratitude Challenge and Country View Challenges Autumnal Colors and or Halloween. I just learned of this challenge: Mixed Media Lovers Challenge #6, and will play along there, too.

Big hugs! 
Sara Emily