Special Guest - Rachel Alvarado

 

Hello, Whimsy friends!  We are super excited to welcome the lovely Rachel Alvarado to the blog!

Hello crafty friends! It's Rachel here and I'm thrilled to be guest designing today for Whimsy Stamps! I absolutely love all of the amazing products that Whimsy Stamps has to offer! For my card today, I created a slimline box card featuring a semi-spooky Halloween-themed graveyard scene.

To start, I first created my box base from scratch using some black card stock, a paper trimmer, a scoring board, and adhesive. When folded, this card fits perfectly into a slimline or #10 business envelope! (See photo at bottom of this post.) I layered my card with both some white card stock and a piece of spooky patterned paper from the "Haunted" Paper Pack. I usually like to ink-blend my backgrounds but I absolutely love how easily this detailed patterned paper adds such eye-catching designs! I then added some strips of grass that I die cut from black card stock using the "Grass and Cloud Edger" Die Set. I also added a spooky fence from black card stock using the "Build-a-Graveyard" Die Set.

Next, I stamped some images from the "Sheets and Giggles" Stamp Set onto a sheet of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb Card Stock with some Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. I colored them with Copic alcohol markers (colors listed on photo above) and quickly cut them out using my Brother ScanNCut machine. I then used the "Build-a-Graveyard" Die Set again to die cut some headstones from white card stock. You can simply use gray colored card stock but I wanted to color mine with Copic Markers in order to add some shading and subtle texture. If you don't feel comfortable coloring, ink-blending would work well too! I used Copic colors W1, W3, W5, and W7.

I then adhered my gravestones to the inner shelves of my card base with liquid adhesive and attached a ghost behind each gravestone. I also added some twiggy tress that I had die cut from black card stock using the Trees Assortment Die Set. For my sentiment, I used the same piece of patterned paper as I did for my card background and heat embossed the words "Trick-or-Treat" from the "Candy Corn Dress Up" Stamp Set with Fine Detail Black Embossing Powder.

Thanks so much for dropping by! If you liked this card and want more inspiration, feel free to stop by my INSTAGRAM feed! ❤️

Sheets and Giggles Clear Stamps |... [ WHM ] Candy Corn Dress Up Clear Stamps |... [ WHM ] Build-a-Graveyard Die Set | Whimsy... [ WHM ] Tree Assortment Die Set | Whimsy Stamps [ WHM ] Grass and Cloud Edger Die Set |... [ WHM ] 6x6 Paper Pack - Haunted | Whimsy Stamps [ WHM ] Amazon.com: Ranger Embossing Powder,... [ AMZUS ]

31 Nights of Halloween - Night 6 - Special Guest Tonya Brooks

 

Tonight we welcome the talented Tonya Brooks to the Whimsy blog. Are you ready for some spooky inspiration?

Hello, crafty friends! For this card I used the Haunted Parlor Background stamp, the Sheets and Giggles stamp set, and a piece of Haunted Paper.  

I started off by cutting all my paper to size.  I cut white card stock to 7" x 10” and scored it at 5” to create my cardbase. I trimmed black cardstock into two sizes, 6 7/8" x 4 7/8" and 5 1/2" x 3 3/4", and trimmed the Haunted paper to 4 1/8" x 6".

Next, I stamped images from Sheets and Giggles onto watercolor paper with black archival ink. I stamped 2 of each ghost. I also stamped the Haunted Parlor Background and 1 of each of the two sayings. I trimmed the background image down to 3 5/8" x 5 3/8”.  Now, we're ready to add the color! 

For the Ghost I only colored in one of each image. I used Sharpie Neon markers in yellow and green for the eyes and a light pink for the mouth. I then used Glossy Accents to cover the eyes and then set the ghosts aside to let the gloss dry. Once dry I fussy cut them out. Then I used foam tape to attach the colored layer to the matching front of the plain stamped image.

I also add inks to my sayings and then fussy cut them out following the flow of the words. I then glue those to a scrap of my black card stock and emboss the saying and the black background. Once that cools I then trim around the black to match the saying cutout. 
While that was drying, I started painting in my background image. I used a watercolor brush and Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Oxides to paint it in. Here is a list of colors and what I used them for:
Chair seat and back- Abandoned Coral and Aged Mahogany
Chair wood, Clock, Door Trim, and picture Frame- Walnut Stain
Floor and Stairs- Gathered Twigs
Sofa cover, sayings- Antique Linen
Walls- Peeled Paint and Forest Moss
Upstairs wall also has touches of Hickory Smoke
Picture, Clock Face and Glass door- Tumbled Glass
Holes and open door- Black Soot
Upstairs Door and Stair railings- Hickory Smoke Oxide 
After coloring, I let the image dry and then inked the edges using Black Soot distress ink. I also added Glossy Accents to the clock face, door and glass in picture frame.

Now I start building my card.
I start by distressing the edges of my black layers with Picket Fence Distress Ink. I glue the larger black layer to my card front first, making sure to center it. Next, I apply a tape runner in a couple places in the center of that black layer to hold the gauze in place until I glue down the pattern paper. I apply glue to the back of my pattern paper, making sure to get to the edges, then center that over the gauze, pressing down well so the glue takes hold. Next, I glue my stamped background image to the smaller black layer, making sure to center it, then glue that onto the pattern layer. 

This is when the fun part begins....
I first give my saying cutouts a few crinkles by gently bending them in some places, then use foam dots to add my sayings to the top and bottom of my card.
The ghosts get little white dots to their eyes using a white pen and then foam dots on the back of them, and they are placed on the card also. 
Last, I add two gems to both the top right and bottom left corner of the card. 

This card was so much fun to make thanks to the Whimsy Stamps adorable ghosts and that very cool background stamp. I hope you enjoy this card!

Thank you, Tonya, for the awesome inspiration! To view more of Tonya's work, check out her Instagram account.

31 Nights of Halloween - Night 4

Hi Whimsy fans! Alanna here and I'm super excited to be participating again this year in the annual 31 Nights of Halloween celebration here on the Whimsy blog.  You have a several chances to win awesome prizes throughout the month. Scroll to the bottom of this post to see how to play and win.

I am sharing a fun card using the awesome Sheets & Giggles stamp set. If you're like me and have just the tiniest bit of naughtiness in you, then this set is perfect. I adore the fun and cheeky sentiments in this set. :) This set is out of stock right now but is expected within a week so make sure to check back then if you want to add it it your Halloween stash.

For my card today, I started by taking the Halloween Creatures stencil and blending on black ink over the large cluster of bats. I did this several times on my card, making sure to angle the stencil differently each time and in some cases, just inking up a portion of the bats. I then ran this through my die cut machine with the largest die from my favorite Wonky Stitched Rectangles die collection.

I then stamped, colored and cut out a couple of the ghost images from the Sheets & Giggles set. I quickly added just a touch of grey Copic markers to them.

I pulled out a couple of the sentiments from the set and stamped those onto my background panel.I adhered my panel to a black top folding card base and then added my ghost images with foam tape. It was at this point I decided my card needed just a bit more so I took the Dracula Going Batty die collection which has 3 different bat dies and I die cut it with some black glitter card stock. I added these bats to help round out the card, making sure to position a couple of them towards the edges of my panel to help ground them.

Here's a closeup of these cute little ghosts and background. 

Click here for all the details for your chance to win the $300 in prizes that will be given away throughout the month!