The Crow King ATC

I am so excited Halloween is just around the corner, and with that I thought this cute little guy would be great for this post. I got his image from a vintage photo share on Flickr. I printed his image onto good sturdy card stock and very carefully cut him out I inked his edges with Vintage Photo Distress ink from Ranger. I also colored in the lace on his shirt with an orange Tombow marker. I put a small slit at his hand for the wand to go through so he would look like he is holding the wand.

Next I stamped out the butterfly wings onto 130 cold press watercolor paper with Ranger Archival ink. I then colored the wings in with Pentel oil pastels and used a blending stump to blend and soften the colors. I then coated the wings in Ranger Glossy Accents and dipped them into clear reflective micro beads that are made by Rolco. These give the wings an iridescent look and great texture without interfering with the color under it. The crow cut out is from Stampington's Tempting Templates section. The paper I used for the crow and the hat came from the Making Memories line it is the the Spooky Newsprint one. These were both inked in Black Soot Distress ink from Ranger. I added some extra black to his beak so he would not blend into the hat. Background paper is from Creative Imaginations and is called Fright Night.

The image of the crow is a stamp that I purchased from the Stamp Asylum in Dallas,TX. I used Ranger Archival ink for that image too. Once I completed designing my collage I xyroned the pieces and placed them on the card. I then used glaze medium made by liquitex to coat the entire card except the wings. The final steps were to glue a star and rhinestone to the end of his wand and I distress embossed the edges of the card with Black Soot Distressing powder from Ranger.

Halloween Is Almost Here!

Well it's that time of year again when the colors change, weather cools down and the cute ghouls and gremlins come looking for free candy. I was going through some photos I took last fall and thought they would be super to post for Halloween. The grave yard picture I took in Galveston,TX last August during our annual summer trip to the island city. I inverted the color of the picture in the Microsoft paint program to give it that spooky feel.

The grave yard was actually quit a unique place to tour. Some of the graves there dated back to as far as 1836 when Galveston was founded. While we were visiting Galveston we also took the haunted tour not only was it fun, but it was full of history. If you ever get a chance to visit I recommend you take the tour.






Then the next picture I found was the pumpkin I carved. That's right its a Dachshund! I just love how well the carving came out on it. I just wish I was able to get a better photo of it.



Here is what it looked like at night all lit up. The Kids just loved it. The back side of this pumpkin had paw prints cut out of it and when you lit it up the paw prints would glow against the back of any wall it was sitting near.
I hope this inspires everyone to go get a pumpkin and try their hand at carving, it is so fun and there are tons of free patterns you can get from the Internet. I got this pattern at http://www.pumpkinlady.com/ go visit her site and you will be so amazed. Hope you all have a great week.

Tropical Background

WOW!

What a great weekend I had. I just came back from the Houston Scrapbook and Rubber Stamp Expo. I learned tons and spent way "too" much! LOL. These conventions are so great and the vendors are eager to share the newest techniques that are out there. So for my post I am going to show you a background technique I learned from the good folks at Rubbernecker stamps. I will add their link so you can see all the great stamps and products that they carry.


Well, lets gather our items and get to work you will need the following:
One 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 piece of heavy card stock, Ranger ink blending tool, Ranger blending foam, 2 Distress inks in coordinating colors, large floral rubber stamp, embossing pad, clear embossing powder, large background rubber stamp, heat tool, acrylic paint in contrasting color, paper towel, Ranger archival ink and rubber stamp that looks like hand writing.














Step 1:

Take and load your blending foam with the background color of your choice. Here I used the Ranger Distress ink in China blue. Start on the very edge of your card stock and in a fast circular motion start applying the ink to the paper. It is okay for the ink not to go evenly. This will give the piece more dimension and definition when complete.

Step 2:
Stamp your favorite floral pattern in the opposing corners of the card using the other coordinating color of ink. Here I used Ranger Distress ink in pealed paint. Then take the large background stamp you have have chosen and get it coated well with the embossing pad. I used a Versamark watermark for this step and then stamped the back ground over the entire card.

Step 3:
Quickly apply your clear embossing powder to the card tap off all the excess and then melt completely with your heat tool.

Step 4:
Now for the magic! take and completely cover the card with a contrasting color of acrylic paint. I used the Making Memories brand in chocolate brown. I applied it with one of those foam brushes that you get at Michaels. Now quickly before the paint begins to dry take your paper towel and wipe the excess paint from the card.

Step 5:
Take the rubber stamp you have selected to look like hand writing and and stamp the corner of the card with it. Remember to use Archival ink for this step it will stay on the embossed areas and will not smear off the card. Now there you have an amazing ATC background. Enjoy!