Haunted Card

 Hi Everyone, 

Today I have my first Halloween card of the year to share with you.  To make it, I used an old alcohol ink background from my stash, a paper bag and a chipboard from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts. 

Here's how it came together:

I had some dark alcohol inked backgrounds leftover from other projects.  These dark ones were made with black and a lot of silver and they are so shiny.

I think I might have overdone it with the silver as they took ages to dry lol.

So I wanted to use this background for my card and it measures 5 x 7 inches, so I cut a 6 x 8 rectangle from my green paper bag to give 0.5 inch border around it.

I decided to use black cardstock for my card base but as my card was so large I had to make a card base from two pieces of cardstock and glue them together.  

After gluing I left them under something heavy to hold them in place.  

I used a mixture of metallic paints to add some splatters on the green paper and the black cardstock, concentrating on the edges that would be seen. I used the same paint to edge the black card using a paintbrush.  

Since I like it so much and don't want to waste it, I added the leftover paint to my art journal.

 

I gave the chipboard a coat of white acrylic, and when it was dry I added the embossing powder and did the heat embossing.

It's Halloween card so of course it had to be Glow In The Dark embossing powder!

Now I had all my pieces, it was time to put my card together.

Once all the layers were stuck down, I used some PVA to glue down the Haunted word and held it in place with something heavy till it dried. 

Here's a closer look at the heat embossed chipboard word.  

After dark, I attempted a photo of the Glow In The Dark effect and it turned out pretty good! 

If you are using GITD embossing powder, or paint or any other GITD product, it's really important to leave it in the daylight to charge up for a while so you will get a better GITD effect when it gets dark.  

Hope you enjoyed this card tutorial.  If you make any Halloween cards, I'd love to see them.

Elle
Empire of the Cat

 

Project Recipe:

GSL Haunted Title Word chipboard BB2
metallic copper paint
glow-in-the-dark embossing powder, embossing ink
white acrylic paint
matte gel medium, white glue
black cardstock
From stash: alcohol ink bg, lime green paper bag

 

 

A phone is not for calling--plus a free ear worm!

We all have those special friends who just "get" our unique humor. Those are the friends to whom we can send our snarkiest cards.

This is one such card--a not so subtle reminder about how annoying phone calls can be.

To keep this site family-friendly, I blurred out some language on this card. If you want, you can see the original adult-language-version card on my blog.

Complete with a retro telephone dial, the dial actually turns, to reveal more numbers...

and a few key letters.

To make the card, begin removing the smallest of the Rotary Dials from the package and adding colorful ink.

Adhere decorative paper and the image from Questionable Characters 2 to the card base.

Determine placement for your telephone dial and punch a small hole in the card for the brad. With a pencil, lightly trace the location of the dial holes that fall onto the white card base.

Remove the phone dial, add rub-on letters and numbers within the traced circles and then erase the pencil marks. 

Next, place Post-it Notes over the areas you wish to mask and stamp a textured background onto the card. 

Remove the Post-It Notes, replace the dial pad, add the center "Miss You" sentiment, smudge white pencil around the image and lightly pencil fake telephone numbers onto the background paper. 

I can't tell you how many times the 867-5309 song went through my head during this process. You are incredibly welcome for that free ear worm. 

Print snarky sentiment and "Miss You" sentiment on your computer. Adhere the "Miss You" to the circle chipboard that came with the rotary dial and adhere it to the brad. If you wish, you can first carve out a hole for the brad in the back of the chipboard so it sits flat. 

Adhere the snarky sentiment to the card. The font I used would not print an apostrophe, so I had to do some printing gymnastics to turn a comma into a outline and then flip it upside down to create an apostrophe. This made for some tiny gluing!

Lightly ink the edges of the card with black ink and your card is complete. Have a great day everyone. Hopefully that song won't stick in your head all weekend--if it does, just use it as a reminder to get crafting! -Betsy

Great stuff

Rotary Dials

Questionable Characters 2

Brad

Decorative paper

White cardstock

Ink jet printer

Stamp by Seth Apter

Purple ink

Black ink

White Stabilo All Pencil

Black Stabilo All Pencil

Beacon Zip Dry

Giving dimension to handcrafted cards by Betsy Skagen

It is SaturYAY! The perfect day for rebuilding my stash of handcrafted greeting cards. One way I make my cards stand out from those purchased at a store is by adding dimension with layers.

Gypsy Soul's embellishments are perfect for this because many are small and light enough to still fit in a regular mailing envelope.

I wanted to share with you the basics of how to make these handcrafted cards so you can create some of your own. 

Begin by giving all your embellishments a coat of gesso and let dry. 

Paint the embellishments with acrylic paint and dry with heat gun.

Next cover each embellishment with embossing ink and clear embossing powder. Use a heat gun to set the embossing powder. 

Cut 4.25 x 5.5 inch rectangles of background paper. I used a variety of gelli prints that I made in an earlier craft session.

Layer images, ephemera, rub-ons, message and the embellishments on the card. 

Finish your card by adhering your creation to a blank 4.25 x 5.5 card that you previously made or purchased. 

Great Stuff

Five Petal Flowers with Flourishes

Feathery Flourishes Miniatures

Flourish Miniatures

Mini Flourishes Bella

Petal Corners

Leafy Corners

Vintage images

7gypsies rub-ons

Acrylic paint

Blank cards

Decorative paper

Embossing powder

Clear embossing ink

Pre-printed messages

Assorted ephemera

Thanks Sew Much Greeting Card

Hi everyone!  Barbara Rankin here today on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts blog.  You know, there's nothing better than laser cut chipboard for adding dimension to your greeting cards without adding lots of bulk and height.  But don't stop there, it's also great for adding layers and cool shapes to all your scrapbooking and mixed media pieces.

First I cut up a piece of pink card stock to make a 5-1/2" square card.  Then I trimmed blue chevron paper to measure 5-1/4" square, and used a distressing tool to rough up the edges.  Set the pink card aside for now.

Using one of the small zipper chippies, trace around it with a pencil, then cut a "V" shape in the paper inside the lines, as shown.  I cut approximately 1/8" inside the lines.

Paint the outer edges of the zipper, first with a coat of Blue Green Light, which is opaque, then after that dries, paint a coat of Cobalt Teal Hue, which is transparent, over that.  Paint the zipper teeth and zipper pull with a silver leafing pen.

You can use the Translucent White to give the color a more pastel look, just by adding a light wash over the zipper edges.

Glue zipper to blue chevron paper.  Add a small piece of pink flower print paper beneath the zipper opening, distressing the outer edge to match the blue chevron layer.

Add a detail to the zipper pull with the Viva Décor Silver Pearl Paint Pen.

Tear white doily in half and adhere to right side of blue chevron paper.  Tear blue flower print paper in half and adhere both strips over torn edge of doily, and tear a few more strips of the pink flower print paper to the card front, as shown.

Cut out two printed decorative portions from one of the sheets and adhere to card, as shown below.

Cut away a small section from the Posey Panel.  Color each posey with a combination of the Titanium White plus Quinacridone Violet (purple flower), Titan Buff plus Diarylide Yellow (pale yellow flower), Titanium White plus Primary Magenta (pink flower) and last flower with only Titan Buff.  Cover all flowers with a wash of the Translucent White.  Let dry between coats.  Then use Faber Castell Pitt Pens in Light Skin over all the flowers except the yellow one.  Cover that one with Cadmium Yellow.  This will color the Translucent White paint and give it a shaded effect.

Paint the body of one of the dress forms from the  Dressforms 1 Miniature Shape Set the same way as the zipper edges and then color the dress form stand with a Pitt Big Brush Pen in Nougat.

Add tiny details to the drop pendants with the Viva Decor Silver Pearl Paint Pen.  

Adhere the dress form and poseys to the card front, as shown.

I decided to cut a few more poseys from the Posey Panel and paint the same way as the zipper and dress form.  

Glue these pieces over the posey panel, as shown, for added dimension.

Add some bling to the posey centers, as shown.

Trim one of the less busy patterned papers from the pad to 5-1/4" square.  I chose the wood grain paper for the inside of my card, and computer-generated the sentiment "Thanks Sew Much!".

Add a strip of lace along the top edge to finish the card off.  

Supplies Used:

GSL Dressforms 1 Miniature Shape Set
GSL Zippers (Coming Soon)
GSL Posey Panel
Lavender 6x6 Paper Pad (My Mind's Eye)
White Doily
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics
  Blue Green Light
  Cobalt Teal Hue
  Translucent White
  Diarylide Yellow
  Quinacridone Violet
  Primary Magenta
  Titan Buff
Faber-Castell Big Brush Pen
  Nougat
Viva Decor Pearl Paint Pen - Silver

I know we all love those flower filled cards that end up requiring a box to mail them in, if you cannot hand deliver them.  This, to me, is an awfully beautiful alternative while still fitting in an envelope, and may only require a small amount of extra postage.  So, I hope I've inspired you to make some beautiful cards with your laser cut chipboard pieces, and like I said, they are fabulous on your scrapbook layouts and in your mixed media projects.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a super crafty day!

Hugs,
Barbara