Stretching Your Stamps to Create Halloween Cards with Mendi

Hello there!  I hope you are enjoying your Sunday.  It's Mendi here today with a fun share.  This coming week the team is going to share all sorts of wonderful ideas using our Harvest Happiness stamp set so I thought it would be fun to show how you can stretch that same stamp set (and several others) to work for Halloween cards as well.

My first card features a bokeh inking technique that was inspired by the great Sandy Allnock which she shared on her blog HERE. I was so inspired that I sat down and inked up some backgrounds the very same day I watched this.  

The only trouble was I didn't have the magnets and my Copic airbrush on hand at the crop I was at that day so I improvised with some circles die-cut from vinyl (you know the type that you would adhere to your wall with home decor phrases) and some distress inks.  I simply laid down the circles inked on one color, moved the circles inked on a second color and repeated until I had the look I was going for.  I didn't have any purples on hand so I mixed in some worn lipstick with shaded lilac, chipped sapphire and black soot.

For the focal point images I colored in a cat from Furever Friends and the pumpkins from Harvest Happiness in with Copic Markers.

Up next I have a card that turns the house from Happy Home into a Haunted Mansion.  ;)  I love that with some simple color choices, this house easily takes on a completely different mood.

I inked up my background using scattered straw Distress ink for the moon (with a crude stencil I created by punching a piece of cardstock with a circle punch). I then set to work inking the background with wild honey, spiced marmalade, ripe persimmon distress inks, and my favorite Tsukineko Jumbo dauber.  When I was done I dropped some drops of water which I dabbed off with a paper towel to lift some of the color and then flicked on some watered-down spiced marmalade ink from the re-inker bottle.

For my stars, I heat embossed 5 stars from the School Time stamp set and then added three more mini wood veneer stars which I inked up with VersaFine ink and set with some clear embossing powder.  I love how easy it was to change up the look of them.

For my little trees, I used the free download found here, but you could also get the same results by stamping the tree from the Happy Home set and cutting off the leaf portion of the tree. 

I finished off my card with a handmade sentiment using white letters in a black text box in Microsoft Word and then cut the end into a "v" using the Fishtail banner dies.  Since none of the sets have Halloween sentiments I printed my own using my printer and the free font called Marketing Script.

I hope I've inspired you to see what fun combinations you can create with a little creative thinking.  I would love to see what you come up with.  I am dying to see your projects using any of our products--all skill levels are welcome.  You can share your creations with us on our facebook page, upload them to our Flickr Group, or share a link to your project here on the blog.  :)

Supplies Used:

Fishtail Banner Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Furever Friends Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Happy Home Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Happy Home Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio
Harvest Happiness Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	School Time Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad Shop at: Sunny Studio	Memento Tuxedo Black Marker Shop at: Sunny Studio
Tsukineko Jumbo Dauber Shop at: Sunny Studio	Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio	Sleek Stripes Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Hero Arts White Detail Shop at: Sunny Studio
Harvest Happiness Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	VersaMark Watermark Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio