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, September 29, 2016

Frightful Observations

I joined a Halloween tag swap in a Facebook group called Love Paper Crafts. I usually only participate in a swap if I'm going to an event or with the Gigglers but what attracted me to this was I only had to make one. We had to post a pic of the front, back or small part of the tag before the deadline to prove we had done it.  I think there were 8 of us & not all from the US.  My partner was Elizabeth from Massachusetts, who generously sent me TWO fabulous tags & a cute bag of goodies.

I decided to use a #8 manila tag & started by stamping the witch in black archival ink.  She has a ring around her for the moon which I didn't want in black so I wiped it off & inked it using a mustard seed marker.  I then blended mustard seed over top for a bright noon.  The rest of the tag is blended using hickory smokefired brickfrayed burlap & black soot & the edges are distressed.

The devils are by Sugarland & stamped in vermilion.

The tree is cut in SU Early Expresso & I didn't ink the edges because the manila made it look like a shadow (plus it was too hard...LOL).

I cut 2 Memory Box fences in SU Basic Black then I wiggled it around so it wasn't straight. Both are adhered using a glue pen.

The "31" was cut in Tim's new Halloween black deco sheet.  I love these sheets because the glitter doesn't come off & they're very soft.

The sentiment & spider are from Tim's new Gothic remnant rubs.  I used a fine line Sharpie to draw a line so the spider was hanging from the "31".  I dabbed a small amount of picket fence around for a little fog then added black jute at the top.


I thought it need some dimension & knew I had a skull jewelry charm in my stash.  It was very shiny so I applied a coat of gesso then sponged it with frayed burlap.  It just happened that one of Tim's small arrows fit through the charm!  I also distressed the arrow with mushroom alcohol ink then adhered them with mini glue dots.











The back of the tag was pretty much a mess so I decided to add a paper backing & Tim's new materialize paper pack was perfect. It gave the tag the finished look it needed. I also printed my info, tore it & inked it in fired brick & black soot then adhered it using liquid glue.

I've never done a lot of Halloween projects except for a friend's birthday & a few tags but I did enjoy making this. I so happy Elizabeth enjoyed my creation as much as I enjoyed her's!  One fun fact about our swap...she has the same devil stamp!!

TFL!








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