Many years ago, my sister (-in-law), Judy, Retired2stamp, invited me to a Stampin' Up Party. I was drawn to the 6X6 recipe card swap our local group was doing and had wanted to scrapbook too. I wasn't really interested in card making because I had witnessed my brother (in-law) Ed fold up a handmade card and put it in his pocket. I almost fainted and I didn't even make the card. But after a few parties, I was hooked and now make more cards than I had ever thought I would. My most recent passions are ATCs, tags & altered art. As you look through my blog I hope you can see how I've grown in my crafting ability!

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Fright Night Birthday Wishes



I was honored to be asked by Georgia Lydic to demo a technique for Distressed Ink Techniques on Facebook!  I decided to try stamping in embossing paste on a tag for my friend, Mary Ann.   She's one of the Giggler's who has an October birthday & loves Halloween.  I watched a video but it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.  I tried several different thickness of embossing paste & several different stamps. First I tried using a stamp with an image of a skull but I just couldn't get the image to appear.  When I removed the stamp it just formed peaks.  The good news is I had time to smooth it out & try again.  I found that using an image of dots or lines worked best and believe it or not words. I do love this technique & it just took a little practice.  I also made this tag interactive so there's a spider that can scurry up it's web!

First I blended the background with twisted citron, wilted violet & carved pumpkin.  I then placed Tim's cobweb stencil in the corner & blended with fired brick.  I love how the color shows through the cobweb.

I really didn't have a plan so I spread a light coat of embossing paste in the center of the tag.  I pressed a stamp from Tim Holtz's Mixed Media Set into the paste.  I wasn't happy with my first attempt so I smoothed it out, pressed the stamp into the paste & gently peeled the stamp off.  This time it worked & I think turned out really cool!  You need to clean the stamps right away so the paste doesn't dry on them.  I used warm water & an old toothbrush to get it out of the crevices.

I also decided to try coloring the embossing paste.  I placed a small amount on my craft sheet & added a drop of ink from a black soot re-inker.  I mixed it up with my palette knife & it was perfect. So many options using the re-inkers!

This time I spread a thicker layer of embossing paste above the white.  I had a wooden stamp I'd never used that said "Fright Night" so I pressed it into the black paste.  I was so surprised that the colors showed through the stamping so well especially the twisted citron through the black soot!!  I let it dry for a few hour then blended twisted citron over the white embossing paste.

I used the skull from Tim Holtz's Mini Halloween 3 Stamp Set & stamped the image with distress embossing ink then embossed it using WOW embossing powder.  I blended a little pumice stone over the image which made the skull show up better.  I think the skull has a cool grungy look & the twisted citron shows through...he almost glows.  

The trick or treaters are stamped in black soot at the bottom of the tag.  The bottom of the image ended up a little crooked (that's why I'm called Crooked Stamper) so I covered it up with Tim Holtz's materialize design tape.  Remember mistakes are just an opportunity to embellish

Next I began adding details & embellishments...to cover up the straight edge of the stenciled cobweb, I stamped "Happy" from a stamp that says "Happy Halloween" in black soot & added a line of black lace from Tim's Gothic remnant rubs.  Below "Happy" I placed "October" from  Tim's seasonal chitchat stickers & distressed it with twisted citron & carved pumpkin ink.  Next to that is "26" from Tim's materialize 8x8 paper pack which is Mary Ann's birth date.  So her birthday greeting is "Happy October 26 Fright Night"! To the right & left of the trick or treaters I stamped part of a small script stamped in fired brick.  The "witching hour" is from Tim's occasions small talk stickers.  At the top is an "advertisement" cut from the same paper pack, inked & distressed by crumpling it up.  The "26" & "advertisement" were added using Tim's tiny attacher.  Below that is another rub, "orders attended to day or night" which describes Mary Ann to a T.  There were some small blank spaces so Tim's splatters stencil was perfect to fill them in using several colors of ink.  It's hard to see but I also sprayed the entire tag with brushed pewter mica spray.

The spider from wicked adornments is interactive & can climb it's web!  But first I added a back to the tag from the paper pack to cover the inky mess.  The spider is tied to the middle of a piece of floss.  Then the floss is threaded through a small hole punched in the web & the hole at the top of the tag. It's tied in a knot at the back of the tag by the top hole.  There's a little video at the end showing how the spider works but remember I'm not a videographer!

I applied wilted violet paint to the beware Halloween typed tokens, rubbed it around with my fingers & let it dry.

The black jute string was wound around my hand five times then tied to the tag with another piece.  I added the token with a loop pins.

Here's a short video showing how the spider works.

Hope you try stamping in embossing paste, I know I'll be using this technique gain!  TFL!

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