All Things Dark and Beautiful - Gecko Galz October Challenge

Welcome back to Paper Play, friends!

October's Gecko Galz Challenge theme was a very fun one to create for - All Things Dark and Beautiful.  I have always been a fan of all things eerie, spooky, paranormal, and creepy.  I'm also a fan of anything Gothic, which i why this challenge was so much fun for me.  But what defines dark and beautiful?  It's so varied from person to person and it was fun to see how each Design Team member interpreted it.

I created five projects for the challenge - A Gothic vampire curio box and four greeting cards.

For the curio box, I used a small wooden rectangular box and painted it black.  I used a Gothic print from the Nosferatu ATC Sheet as the background and fussy cut an image from Victorian Gothic Ladies as the focal point.  Some gems were added around the edge of the frame for a little sparkle.  I love the mischievous smirk on her face!

The first greeting card that I created is a shadowbox card.  The background is a Gothic print from the Nosferatu ATC Sheet that is adhered to a black A2 card base.  The image of the woman was fusst cut from an image in the Victorian Gothic Ladies set and a crystal was glued to the center of the spider web on chest.  I cut a gold arched frame to fit around the background, glued a piece of acetate to the back of it, and adhered it to the card base with double sided foam tape.  A few gems were glued down for added effect.  She looks like she's ready to star in The Curse of the Spider Woman!

The next card is a fun trio of photos preserved in a slimline film strip frame.  I felt like these three images go together well and tell the story of a woman who is haunted by both her past and her future.  I used a die to cut the frame and added distress to it with Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, and Scorched Timber.  I also added from distress to the pictures and then adhered them to the frame.  The frame was adhered to the card base with double sided foam tape, and the sentiment made with a label maker.

The third card celebrates el dia de los muertos, The Day of the Dead.  The gorgeous image is from the Day of the Dead Card Toppers collection.  I centered the image on an arch of black cardstock and adhered it to the card base.  A gold metallic gel pen was used to outline the black rose in her hair.  I rubbed little white flowers with some Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink and glued them down around the arch.  I created a small distressed rectangle and hand wrote the sentiment of hermosa eternindad, eternal beauty, on it.  It's truly dark and beautiful!

The last card is a a Gothic Wedding card.  For the background, I cut a piece of brown shipping paper to fit an A2 card base, wrinkled up the shipping paper several times, and then adhered it down to the card base with a combination of double sided tape and craft glue.  I ran Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the card base and Scorched Timber around the edges of the card.  The blood spotted letter is from the Vampire Dreams Junk Journal Kit, and the image is from Gothic Halloween.  The skeleton mask for the husband was cut from an image from The Dark Library set.  I made a frame for it using some chipboard, gold gilding wax, and turquoise gilding wax.  The result is a perfect wedding card for a couple who enjoys everything dark and beautiful.

I hope that you enjoyed reading about my creative process for these projects.  Until next time . . . be well!

Spooktacular - Tuesday Morning Sketches

Hey there, friends!

Welcome back to Paper Play.  Today’s share for Tuesday Morning Sketches is a fun Halloween card.  I thought that the circle element in the sketch lent itself perfectly to a moon.  And what better than to have a witch flying across it?  I used patterned paper from Kat Scrappiness and stamps from Heidi Swapp to create it.

Here is my card and the sketch that I had to use:

I hope that you enjoy it!  Until next time . . . be well!

BPM/IBFS: Beware the Bird Man

Hello, friends!

I really enjoy legends and lore of everything from local ghosts to strange creatures.  Today’s creation, a Halloween card, is inspired by this.

This card is inspired by tales from folklore.  It contains quite the warning to watch your p’s and q’s - especially around Halloween!  Mr. Ignatious Crane was a well-to-do member of the village of Maple Falls, located just outside of Salem, MA.  He wasn’t a pleasant man and was known for his temper.  Townsfolk would move out of the way when they saw him coming . . . lest they take a chance on offending him and suffering his verbal abuse.  They all snickered behind his back about the fact that his surname was quite appropriate since he resembled a bird with his long, protuding nose and small dark eyes.  As fate would have it, he encountered the widow Winslow on All Hallow’s Eve in 1792.  The widow was rumored to be a witch, and it was hinted that she killed her husband with witchcraft many years back.  She was carrying home some herbs that she picked in the forrest when Ignatious appeared in front of her on the path back to the village.  Being the bully that he was, Ignatious refused to move out of the widow’s way and let her proceed.  Instead, his acerbic toungue spewed insult after insult at the old woman until she had enough.  She had warned him to move on and he refused the warning.  Old widow Winslow started to yell in what Ignatious could only think was gibberish . . . until he started to feel different.  He could feel something sprouting from his head, and only heard bird chirps as he yelled at the widow.  He left her behind and ran back home, garnering gasps and shrieks of horror from each person he passed.  It wasn’t until he reached for his hand mirror that he understood - and saw a man’s body with a bird’s head staring back at him.  It was said that Ignatious left the village that night and lived in the woods around the town.  He’d return each All Hallow’s Eve to scare the townsfolk - and would run off at just the mention of old widow Winslow’s name.

I hope that you enjoyed my Halloween story inspired the products used to make the card:

• Vintage Style Hybrid Mystical Character Bird Man Art Rubber Stamp
  
• BEWARE Word Art Rubber Stamp
  
• Faded Page Text Words Rubber Stamp
  
• 4”x5” cotton paper panel
• 5”x7” Kraft card base
• Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Tea Stain, Old Photo, Lost Shadow, Hickory Smoke
• Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains - Old Photo, Antique Linen

Making the card was very easy - just stamping, cutting, and mounting with double sided foam tape.

I added lots of grunge to make it look very old, and the cotton paper helped make it look older, too.

I hope that you enjoyed my card and my story.  May you all have a happy and safe All Hallow’s Eve!

Until next time . . . be well!

BPM/IBFS: A Haunted House Shadow Box Card with Sliding Doors

Hey there, friends!

Thanks for coming back to Paper Play.  Today’s post is very fun and trendy.  Diorama, or a shadow box with sliding doors, cards are pretty popular right now.  There’s been some new die sets released to help you create one.  The only issue with those die sets is that they limit you to a standard A2 sized card - and sometimes you may want one larger than that.  We crafters also have limited budgets and can’t always buy everything that we’d like to buy.  I spent some time creating and came up with my own way of creating one, which is what today’s post is all about.

Halloween is the perfect time for sliding door and shadow box cards.  What kind of spooky surprise is lurking behind the doors?  In today’s creation it happens to be a haunted house:

I used the following items to make this spooky, fun card:

• BPM Haunted House Halloween Rubber Stamp
  
• BPM Caution Word Art Rubber Stamp
  
• Altenew Wrought Iron Gate Die Set
• Altenew Deck Planks 3D Embossing Folder
• Scrappy Boy I Put a Spell on You Stencil
• Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain - Stormy Sky
• Tim Holtz Distress Mica Spray: Winter Frost, Iron Gate, and Wicked Elixir
• A,tenew Ruby Red Crisp Dye Ink
• 1 5”x7” piece of black card stock (front panel)
• 1 6”x7” piece of black card stock (frame behind panel)
• 2 4.75”x11” pieces of black card stock (sliding doors & sides)
• 2 4.75”x3.5” pieces of white card stock (create scene on doors)
• 1 5”x6” piece of black card stock (back panel)
• 1 5”x7” piece of black card stock for cutting out the iron gates
• Piece of white scrap card stock to stamp house and create wooden sign

This card was so much fun to make!  Click here to see a tutorial on my YouTube channel on how it all came together.  You can also click here to see a (much!) quicker card promo.

There are lots of great details in this card - the haunted house, iron gates, brick walls, caution sign, and ghoulish hand coming up from behind the wall.  So festive!

I hope that you enjoyed the learning more about the card and my creative process.  Thanks for spending some time here with me today!  Until next time . . . be well!