Howl at the Moon

Morning, I am sharing a themed card today, as it's the 2nd of October. Halloween has now become the third biggest 'Event' for UK retailers, behind Christmas and Easter. The spooky night in October has even overtaken Valentines Day. Until recently this was largely associated with our American cousins, but it has been sweeping Britain over the past few years.

Card and Craft sales have been soaring, so now is the time for all craft enthusiasts to get creating. Here is a card I have made for the special night, a little different from what you would typically find. The design could easily be modified for another occasion by changing the colour and embellishments.

You will need:

Matt Black Cardstock

Sheena Stamping Card

Black Distress Ink

Fossilised Amber Distress Ink

Rusty Hinge Distress Ink

Candied Apple Distress Ink

Clarity Landscape Mask and Stencil

Clarity Letterbox Stamps and Masks

Clarity Wee Houses

Bee Crafty Spooky Tree Stamp

Graphic 45 An Eerie Tale 12x12 Pad (or your choice of pad)

Glue,Scissors and Foam on a roll for assembly.

Cut a piece of Sheena Stamping Card to card to measure 7'' square. This is the same size as the clarity mask.

Using the stencil as a guide, stamp the first 3 letterboxes with black Archival ink and add the mask. *Top tip: Work on a piece of copier paper and mark the halfway point to help position the stamping.

Position the next set of 3 letterboxes either side of the first, these will contain the word 'Halloween' later.

Position the inner part of the landscape mask using Stick n Spray, make sure all of your letterboxes are masked.

With all mask in place blend over the card using your Black Soot Distress ink. Clean and remove your masks.

To add further depth to your piece, stamp a tree in the foreground. Here I have used one of the spooky trees.

Position the moon mask and position your outer mask using Stick n Spray.

Starting with the lightest colour(Fossilised Amber), blend around the moon. Then blend to darker with the Rusty Hinge and then Candied Apple.

Tear a piece of copier paper and place over your work, using the darkest colour along with a little black taken from your craft mat, lightly create your landscape.

Next, create your haunted building, here one of the wee houses from Clarity. Use black Versafine to stamp with. Then colour the house with a dark brown Archival marker, using the same pen make a little fence.

Using a small brush and some water add the smallest amount to the windows and doors, lightly blot to remove the colour, this gives  a glowing appearance. Repeat until you are happy.

From the pad, cut out some pumpkins and a sentiment.

To complete the card, layer your design onto a sheet from the same pad with glue. Using foam tape add this to your black 8x8 card base. Then add the embellishments with 3D glue gel.

I hope you like the finished card along with the Tutorial. Another thing, here is a 30% off voucher to use on your first order from Hochanda, use code FEY5JBP7. Take care and Happy Crafting.

Harmony House

Morning Friends and Crafters, Thank you for joining me today. I am sharing a card I made for the Launch of the wonderful Three Way Overlay Stamps on Hochanda. I do hope you got to see the shows during the celebrations for 25 years of Clarity.

You will need:

Clarity Three Way Overlay Townhouse Stamp Set

Clarity Word Chain Stamps "Harmony"

Clarity "Wee Houses" Stamp Collection

Black Card

Versamark Ink Pad

Anti Static Bag

Selection of Mica Powders

Spray n Shine

Step 1: Wipe your card with an Antic Static bag.

Step 2: Stamp your negative stamp using Versamark. Add the 'Harmony' from the word chains. Next add three of the wee houses.

Step 3: Sprinkle your selection of Mica Powders.

Step 4:Using a very soft brush to brush of the excess. Protect with Spray n Shine or Hairspray.

Step 5: Take another piece of black card, this will be your layer. Edge the card with Versamark and using the same selection of colours add Mica, Brush off the excess as before. Once it's been cleaned up spray with Spray n Shine or some hairspray, this will stop the image being smudged.

Step 6: Layer you design onto the edged card you have just made, with Tacky Glue. Then mount this piece on to a black card base.

Thank you ever so much for popping by today. I do hope you have enjoyed the tutorial and finished card. Hope to see you again very soon to see what I have to share. For now take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Merry Little Christmas

This was a really fun card to make with the stamps Leonie launched recently on Hochanda. I have created a little fantasy village for the wee magic folk. Before I start my step by step for this one, I want to let out a little secret. Leonie will be launching her Brand New and Exciting collection on Hochanda tomorrow night as  a One Day Special, I hope you will join her at 8 pm. I will be sharing some of my samples tomorrow night at launch.

Back to today's card, To start with, I stamped the Angel wings and part of the 'Build a Tree Stamps onto copier paper and cut out to use as masks. I then took a piece of Sheena Stamping card from Crafters Companion and created the fantasy flowers using the wings, I also stamped the tree section which would become a new roof.

Next I masked off the tree section and lined up the stamp of the house I had chosen to use, it really is great to change the look especially if you want to create a project with a lot of the houses and want them to look completely different. I then stamped the little row of houses further back and off to the right, adding some distance. For the stalks, I used a strip stamp from Leonie's previous collection and added some leaves at the same time.

To mask off the images, I used the Pebeo Drawing gum to allow me to create the background. I just had to use Leonie's Glitter Pens to give a magical background to this. I used Lavender and Lilac blended from top to bottom. I also used the smallest amount of Iris to the very top and blended to give a colour fading from dark to light. I then removed the drawing gum and coloured the piece with a selection of my alcohol markers.

I stamped my sentiments onto some card and blended the same colours across them, I layered this onto some purple Centura Pearl cardstock from the Brights collection and then onto a lilac base leaving a 5 mm border on each. I then secured them with 3D glue gel which finished my card.

Thank you for joining me today, I hope you like the finished piece along with the step by step I have shared today. I hope you will stop by again tomorrow. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx