Boo! Who’s hunting who?!

Hello Friends! Happy Wednesday!

I hope that you are all doing well…I have a new tutorial for you today featuring a new set of Halloween stamps that Tim released with Stampers Anonymous this past weekend. I made 2 projects that were featured in the Youtube Live and this one is my bonus Social Media make.

If you’d like to see some more awesome creations from a bunch of super talented people, CLICK HERE to watch the full Youtube LIVE.

You know that Halloween is my favorite and Tim does it THE BEST!

This project features the new Gothic Tapestry CMS454 which features a beautifully detailed floral skull, and a couple gorgeous background stamps that included a handwritten font and sketchy musical notes. I LOVE it!

Now looking at my finished piece you may think, what?? Where is the skull part of the stamp? Well, that’s the beauty of a stamp, you get to choose what parts of the stamp you want to stamp! When I saw this set for the first time, my eyes went right to the gorgeous sketchy details featured around the skull. It reminds me of the sketchy details found on paper money and bills if you look super close at it. See what I mean? Pretty cool!

Here’s a closer look at the stamped areas of the tag, and honestly, I didn’t know that the tag that I started with a moon would lead me to this set, but it did and I’ll show you how it happened.

I started by creating a tag featuring a moon using the Moon Masks that Tim introduced to us last year. It’s a super fun way to add a spooky looking background to your projects and Tim just happened to share how you can make them on his Youtube Live on Saturday. This was actually a technique that I discovered a couple years ago and I shared on my blog, (you can CLICK HERE to check that out) and here is the link during the replay of the Live, it’s right about at the 1 hour and 41 minute mark.

I am always taken aback when Tim says my name on a Live as he’s sharing my makes and it is even more humbling when he shares a technique you discovered, after all, I am a maker just like you, and I am so glad that he enjoys the technique so much that he wants to share it with others too!

Using a distress mixed media #8 tag and the smallest moon from the Moon Mask set, I laid the mask onto my tag, spritzed it with water then spritzed on some Ground Espresso , Hickory Smoke Spray Stains and some drips of Frayed Burlap Oxide Spray and drips and Spritzes of Decayed Mica Stain. I lifted the moon mask carefully from where it was placed, then dried the tag using my heat tool. Once dry, I spritzed the moon area with some water to draw some of the inks towards the center of the moon, then dried the area with my heat tool again. See how the inks run towards the center and create that spookiness? Next, I spritzed tiny drips of Decayed onto the moon area, then dried the tag again with my heat tool.

Here’s what the finished tag with the moon looked like when I was done. See those drips that the ink made towards the bottom right and left? I instantly thought I needed something for those drips to be dripping onto, so, I dug through my new sets of stamps and saw that beautiful sketchy background on the skull and “ding, ding” an architectural background! My mind saw a creepy room, a window with a moonlight scene and I just ran with it from there.

Using Black Soot Archival Ink and my Stamp Platform, I stamped the portions of the skull background area into the corners of my tag. To get a very dark look, I inked up the stamp, stamped it, I did it again and again until it was good and dark, then I turned the tag, wiped off any extra ink, lined up the corner area of the tag doing the same thing over and over again until I had the tag done.

When I was done stamping, I noticed that some of the stamping went into my moon…oops, I got a little too stamp happy, but that’s an easy fix, so I used a little Antique Linen Distress Paint and water to paint and cover up those areas. I rubbed the edges of the tag using Black Soot Distress Ink and a Blending tool.

I stamped a portion of the handwritten stamp onto the right side of the tag then began arranging the Window Frame and Mr Bones.

I added an Etcetera Trim piece to the window frame then rubbed the entire window piece with Crypt Grit Paste and Black Soot Distress Paint to both the front and side edges.

I broke a piece of Mica Tile in half to become the “broken window” and placed Mr Bones behind it. As I was placing him, I noticed that the window frame parts were in his way, so I decided to tear them to look as though he had broken through them. Now, as I was looking at him, I decided that he needed someone to scare…

…cue the tiny black cat and mouse that I found in the Toil and Trouble Thinlet set.

I cut the cat twice from scraps of black inky paper and added his details using watered down Antique Linen Distress Paint. The two cat pieces were adhered together with a slight bit of the back piece showing as to create a more 2D look to the cat. I cut the mouse out of a scrap of inky gray paper, then added a tiny piece of thread to the mouse for a tail. This was then adhered to the mouth area of the cat. Hmmm, who’s hunting who???

I gathered some bits and pieces of vintage lace, mummy cloth and fabric scraps and stitched them around the edge of the tag very randomly using my sewing machine. Once the tag was all stitched, I added it the the front of a #8 Etcetera Tag to give the piece more stability.

I adhered Mr Bones and the Mica Tile to the back of the window using foam tape and Distress Collage Medium, then once dry, added some pieces of ripped lace to create the look of torn, weathered and worn curtains. The window Frame was then nailed to the front of my Etcetera Tag using tiny nails and a hammer. Tiny nails are always a good idea…I just love to use them whenever I can, and this seemed like the perfect project for them. I adhered my little black cat and mouse into place using foam tape and collage medium then set the entire piece aside to dry. Once dry, I added some ribbons and thread to the tag and with that, my project was complete.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and keep an eye out..there’s more Halloween goodies to come!

Take care and see you soon!

Creatively yours,

Stacy

Products used to create this make… To purchase from Simon Says Stamp, CLICK HERE, To purchase from Scrapbook.com, CLICK HERE.

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Gothic Tapestry CMS454, Sizzix Mr Bones, Toil and Trouble, idea-ology Window Frames, Mummy Cloth, Black Soot Archival Ink, Black Soot Distress Ink, Black Soot, Antique Linen Distress Paint, Crypt Grit-paste, Distress Halloween Mica Stains, #8 Etcetera Tag, #8 Distress Mixed Media Tag, Mica Tiles, and more…

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