Spooky Soiree

This one is from Lindsay Bateman's Spooky Soiree class. Her classes are always such fun and make such fabulous use of Heidi Swapp and Tim Holtz products. In this class, we made a large window pocket with oversized ticket insert using stamps and papers from Heidi's newest release, Ghost Stories. Take a look.

We have some windows that open.

The skeleton is attached to a tiny envelope that fits into a slotted window behind him. There is also a tiny note card inside the envelope. So cute!

Here we have the ticket that fits into the large window piece. Isn't it so cute. It looks like it could be a genuine vintage Halloween party ticket. (Bonus class included to make this multicolored ink pad.)

There is also a bonus lesson in this class. If you haven't made a DIY ink pad before, Lindsay walks you through the process of making a Candy Corn ink pad with Halloween colors. Check it out on her website.

Halloween Everyday, cluster tabs

Yesterday we dyed more paper. I didn't have the products she used in her video, but I still was able to use what I have and made more papers for creating tabs and clusters and embellishments for the junk journal. 

Today is Day 13 and we used these pieces to make the cluster tabs. Here are a few I have made up so far. This has been such a fun project, I don't know what I'll do with myself when October is over. (Well, besides work on Christmas, but now I'm getting ahead of myself again.)

Keep in mind, these all started as white cardstock. I've added other pieces I created, a few Tim Holtz ephemera pieces, and some washi tape. Also, the stitching is actually stamped as I'm not yet at a point where I can keep my sewing machine handy and out on the worktop. The longest tab is just under 7 inches and the shortest is 3 1/2 inches. These will look so cool on the inside pages of the junk journal/folio we are making!

I don't have a tab punch, so I cut all of these with scissors.

Tim Holtz moth transparency; everything else is what I have dyed and stamped.

For the dying I used distress reinkers, distress spray stains, and some glimmer mists I've had in my stash for ages. The cardstock I used is Neenah bright white, 65 lb. so it's not too heavy, but takes the ink well without being flimsy like copy paper. I used that paper for the stamped pieces as well. 

Halloween Everyday, Day 11

Today we made the large tag that will go into the page we made yesterday. This is fast becoming my most favorite project ever. I can't wait to finish and show you all the finished journal at the end. It's going to be absolutely epic! But now I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's see Day 11, large tag. 

I started with a jumbo tag from Heidi Swapp. Great size for the full page as the page is 10 inches and the tag is 7.5 inches. I love the door feature on this one, but since I didn't use the digital paper kit used in the video, I scoured images for the perfect creepy door I could print out and embellish. Look how perfect this one is! 

And, of course, the door opens or it wouldn't be a door...duh! I also added a teeny brad for a door knob.

Poor, creepy, little, dead girl still wants to play Halloween even if she is only a ghost, so she is wearing a mask. Did she scare you?

And the page with the tag in the pocket. 

Halloween Everyday, Day 10

We are making great progress in the Halloween junk journal series. For today's project, we made another page insert. What fun way to use the ephemera, tags, and spooky clusters we made in the first days of the series. 

As you can see, the top area is pretty bare. It won't be for long. I'll be adding more to that, but in the meantime, there is a slit there at the stitching where a large tag will slip into, so much of the top area will be covered anyway.

The bottom flap holds it all closed with a magnet. Here is the bottom flap opened:

Here we have all the flaps opened and you can see the fun spookiness inside. Again, we have lots of Tim Holtz and Heidi Swapp in this piece. 

Creepy slide lady over a giant transparency moth; more bugs and stuff on the inside of the bottom flap.

These guys are so cool. Another Tim Holtz piece, but it wasn't creepy enough. I sanded it, then used a black pen to fill in the eyes and to make it even cooler, barely swiped over the eyes before the ink dried. What a cool effect! Not to mention, I had to chop their legs off below the knees. Morbid!

Halloween Everyday, Day 5 full page insert

I'm finally getting pictures of the larger pieces we've made in the Halloween Everyday series. I am so loving this!! This was Day 5. Tons of Tim Holtz and Heidi Swapp and stamping and cutting and ... well, here's what I made. 

This piece measures 6x10 inches, closed. We have flaps and pockets and pockets IN pockets and fun creepy Halloween stuff. 

The top flap opens to this creepy lady who, I'm guessing, was declared a witch and thrown into an asylum. Or something. I made the slide using acetate, alcohol ink and stickers. The lady on the bottom is also a sticker with acetate. 

Inside is another flap at the top, a pocket at the bottom and a large tuck pocket on the right. 

By the way, all the stitching is actually stamped as I continue my purge and try to make space to put my sewing machine out so I can use it more regularly. 

Halloween Everyday, Day 8

For Day 8 we made Spooky Clusters to go in the Halloween Journal at the end of the series. I can't begin to tell you how fun this has been. I'm loving every minute of it, even if it takes me sometimes two days to watch one video. Hahaha! Literally, I'm in crafty heaven over here. 

This is my project for Day 8. Hope you like. :) 

Heidi Swapp, Tim Holtz, and a few other stamps in my Halloween stash, along with washi tape, cheesecloth, string and other stuff, for creating these fun little bits of ephemera. The journal is going to be so awesome. 

Thanks for coming by the studio. If you are following along with Toni's youtube series, give me a holler. I'd love to see what you make too! You can find mine on instagram as well as the studio blog. 

Distress ink dying, continued

Yesterday I shared my first attempt at using distress re-inkers for dying paper. Well, I couldn't stop. LOL I kept at it in search of the perfect color (which I never did achieve, but I am not deterred!!) and this is what I created. Who knew this was so easy (messy, though) and FUN!! There will be more in the future, but for now, I made these for a specific project so I had to stop and move on to another piece of that project. ;) Check out how cool these are with just distress ink and water. 

I used ink several colors, just adding to the water when I wanted something else. I couldn't tell you how much or what colors for each of these papers, but the colors I worked with are vintage photo, antique linen, shabby shutters, the tiniest bit of black soot, iced spruce, and walnut stain. Not all of them at the same time, but throughout the process. 

Placed these on a white doily to show the difference just a few minutes in the dye can make. 

It's amazing how a different brand of paper can change the whole color, and the fact that random patterns/shapes appear is such a pleasant surprise. I'm not a chemist, but I'm sure happy playing science with these mediums. And because I had this out for Halloween already, I tossed in a little cheesecloth for fun. Undyed on the right to see the difference. 

I used ink several colors, just adding to the water when I wanted something else. I couldn't tell you how much or what colors for each of these papers, but the colors I worked with are vintage photo, antique linen, shabby shutters, the tiniest bit of black soot, iced spruce, and walnut stain. Not all of them at the same time, but throughout the process. 

Having so much fun in preps for Halloween. :) HAPPY CREEPY CRAFTING!

Dying paper with distress reinkers

Day 6 of Halloween Everyday: today's project was dying papers for the Halloween folio project we'll be putting together at the end of the series. I hadn't tried this before (believe it or not!!!) so it was experimental to say the least. LOL But you know what.... AWESOMENESS!!! Check out the few papers I did just to see how it would go. 

I used mostly lost shadow, a little iced spruce, and just a touch of ground espresso. These are two different brands of paper doilies. So interesting the coloring came out so differently on each of them.

Mind you, everything I'm showing was all in the same solution for the same amount of time. I left them overnight and dried them this morning to these beautiful results! They couldn't be more perfect for my Halloween projects. Also, the paper I used was just regular copy paper. Plain old printer paper from Walmart, nothing special at all. 

Look at this! I made a perfect full moon somehow. 

And this one...again with the moon, but also some spooky black splotches. Perfectly Halloweeny! Now to make something with them. Stay tuned! 

Make your own ephemera, coloring acetate, and vintage slide

These past few days have been so busy in the studio that I almost had to leave a trail of breadcrumbs to find my way back to my desk! There were so many stamp sets, ink pads, paper scraps and tools (not to mention the boxes of things I'm purging as I work to rearrange for more worktop space) that I started to become overwhelmed. Well, we can't have that or the creativity becomes sluggish and eventually blocked. Ack!!! So I spent some time this morning putting some things away and clearing off my desk .... so that I can get back to messing it up again. Hahaha! 

Huge shout out to my newest crafting idol, Crafty by Toni, for her fabulous you tube series this month, Halloween Every Day. I have learned so much and had such a blast and we aren't even a full week in yet. Not to mention, I have yesterday's and todays' projects undone yet. Oops!! I got lost in watching her videos and now I'm tardy! 

Here are a few of the things I've created since yesterday. First this vintage slide. Oh how I love the look of vintage. I got this die through Amazon and it's pretty cool, although bigger than I anticipated. I was so sure I had a smaller on in my stash from years ago, but it seems to have alluded me, or maybe I was just dreaming. Anyway, the window in this one measures not quite 1 1/2 x 2 inches and the label area below is a little more than 1/2inch x 2. Finished overall size is about 2 3/4x2 3/4 inches. 

For the negative film portion, I colored acetate with copic marker to place over the photo. The cool photo is from Tim Holtz Ideaology Sticker Book, this year's Halloween collection. I also used a piece of washi tape, handmade label from a scrap piece with writing on it, and the super cute, tiny little circle tag is a stamp from Heidi Swapp that stamped with the number, cut with a circle punch, and added twine. 

Look how easy it is! Just color a small piece of acetate with copic marker in whatever color you like, and it's just that simple. 

As I mentioned, I created the film with a piece of transparency colored with copic marker. It was just a small piece, so coloring worked great for this. However, I wanted to make a whole sheet in order to have more of the vintage look acetate, but I don't have any of the Tim Holtz alcohol inks. Well, hello, copic ink refills. ALCOHOL INK! This is the result of just brushing on some of the refill ink with a foam brush. It dries fairly quickly and leaves these awesomely cool markings, which are perfect for making vintage slides and negatives. 

Here it is against a plain piece of white copy paper. Please ignore my ink stained nails and fingers. Haha!

But that's not all. This is a technique I have used before, but it's always fun and I never seem to remember how cool it turns out until I do it again. Distress Ink paper dye. I quickly grabbed my baby distress inks (all the full sizes and reinkers are in a box I wasn't going to dig through LOL) and made these. These are the colors Toni used in her video and I love them together so I used the same ones; shabby shutters, weathered wood, and tea dye. After I finished coloring the white cardstock the way I wanted, I blotted the leftover color with a couple of scraps of pattern paper I had handy. No sense wasting it. 

Then I cut out strips and pieces of the cardstock for the next phase of the project...ephemera! 

My goodness, this was fun. I could just sit and make these all day and be happy, if I'm honest. But now look at all the goodies I have premade for adding to journals and pages and projects. I love them!!!

And there you have it. I must now get back to class or I'll never be able to catch up. All the cool stuff I have in my room, it's no wonder I get sidetracked. At least, that's why I tell myself. Hahaha! I hope you're enjoying these projects and maybe even watching Toni's you tube channel for your own inspiration. 

Journal/page cluster tabs

Today we made fun tabs to go along with the Halloween Every Day Series. Who knew tabs could be such fun to create. Inking, blending, stamping, ephemera, washi and more. Just put stuff together and what a fun element for your crafting projects. Here are some I did. 

Using lots of bits and leftover pieces from yesterday's paper wallet/folio project, I had fun making these little guys. We have Tim Holtz, Heidi Swapp, faux stitching, stickers, even faux tabs. If you don't have a tab punch or die, use a circle folded in half and cut below the fold. Or use a small rectangle and do the same thing. Just be sure to cut below the fold and you can make a tab of almost any shape. 

From tiny bits and pieces of larger pieces, you can make teeny fishtail flags. Add washi and stickers and some distressing. 

This enamel "O" sticker has been in my stash for SO MANY YEARS!!! I had completely forgotten about a bunch of vintage look stickers that used to be all the rage (remember them??) and pulled them out for this project. 

More stickers and distressing with sanding and ink. Also a scrap piece with some faux stitching from yesterday's project, and a skull sticker.