halloween haunts…

Cards
hey bloggers…  hope you had a great weekend.  we've been busy doing the final prep and packing, but i'm happy to say the cruise shipment is all finished up and 5 pallets are being picked up today to head off to florida for my upcoming crafting cruise.  now just a couple more days at home before heading off to scrapfest at mall of america and also the creative connection on wednesday for another jam packed weekend of creative goodness!

speaking of creative, i took some time this weekend to immerse myself in my studio where i had a chance to work with my latest idea-ology release of halloween haunts.  i have to say i really like the way these elements come together to create the perfect vintage-style halloween creations.  just wanted to share some tips and techniques to create these simple yet ghoulishly grunged cards.  hope you'll find some ideas to inspire you…t!m

how about a giveaway?  just leave a comment sharing your favorite thing about halloween and i'll select a winner tomorrow – tuesday 9/13 for the ultimate spooky prize including the halloween paper stash, adornments, muse tokens and more!

supplies: distress ink, distress stains (picket fence), ink blending tool; halloween haunts kraft resist paper stash, halloween muse tokens and adornments, seasonal salvage stickers, memo pins, trimmings, jump rings, long fasteners, tiny attacher, sanding grip; kraft core; paper distresser; foam tape

Kraft
kraft resist is kraft cardstock with a printed imagery in black layered with another image in clear varnish.  the clear varnish will act as a resist to inks and paints when applied over the paper.  the cool thing about my new seasonal kraft resist paper is that this stash has 12×12 designs as well as 6×6 designs so it's perfect for cardmaking as well as scrapbooking…

Inking
there are many different ways to color these papers, but one of my favorties is using distress inks with an ink blending tool.  simply ink the paper using the tool in a circular motion.  when applied over the clear design, the contrast immediately appears and the effect of the kraft resist comes to life…

Picket1
of course since we're working on brown kraft paper, sometimes there is a want for brighter colors.  the simple solution is to apply a base layer of picket fence distress stain over the kraft resist.  start by shaking the stain well and begin applying a single layer over the entire surface.

Picket2
don't panic!  when you first apply picket fence distress stains over printed paper, the image seems to disappear.  as the stain dires into the paper you'll see both the printed image as well as the resist image start to appear.  let this layer dry completely before inking with any additional colors…

Resist2
here's an example of inking the same kraft resist design: one has been base coated with picket fence distress stain and inked using various colors of distress inks (top), and the other shows just the basic kraft paper being inked with various colors of distress ink.  notice how the colors over the picket fence appear brighter?…

Resist1
this next example is one of my favorite things to do with distress inks – flicking water over the top.  check out how cool the top paper with the picket fence stains looks where the water hit the paper.  it reveals the white base, i love the contrast…

Karftcore
for the base of the cards i used my new kraft core paper.  this paper is so fun to work with especially when used with my kraft resist paper.  i guess i have a thing for kraft…

Kraft1
to reveal the kraft core, simply sand over the colored surface using a sanding grip

Kraft2
the more you sand the more the kraft core is exposed…

Stickers
for the words on the cards i used my seasonal salvage stickers and sanded the edges.  i attached them to the front of the cards using foam tape for a little dimension…

Charms
i have to say these new halloween embellishments are so cool.  finally something with a seasonal vintage style to adorn my projects.  i simply attached the adornment to the cards using a memo pin.  i finished the cards off with some trimmings i inked to match and attached that to the card using my tiny attacher.  the muse token was hooked on the ribbon with a jump ring.  see i told you they were simple…

Card1
Card2
Card3
Card4

Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 101