Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Halloween Howlies

I have always been conflicted about Halloween.  If it was just me, I wouldn't bother celebrating, but it's so much fun for kids to dress up and be outside in the dark!  And as a teacher, I would always have a party for my students, and dress up myself, but I really have problems with the darker side of Halloween.  I'm not quite sure what the attraction is to evil and fear and mayhem, but maybe it's a way of speculating, "Could I live through that?  How would I handle a situation so terrible?"

But if we stick to the fun side of Halloween, the colours and images are very rich and vintage and cool.  I'm doing one card!  We have almost no trick or treaters at our house, so I won't be designing treat bags or anything like that, but I wanted to participate in the Dynamic Duos challenge for this week,  Lucky Limeade and Black with Halloween as a dessert option.  I just got the Toxic Treats stamp set in the mail and as I put it together, I visualized a 3D card with the images at different depths.  Here's how that visualization worked itself out in real life:



I found a video tutorial for how to make  this Step Ladder or Accordion fold card here.  It was quite easy to follow, but there are lots of tutorials out there.

I made the card base on a 6" x 10" piece of Lucky Limeade card stock and added some black Neutrals Designer Paper Stack DSP to the different panels.  The steps are 1", 1 1/2" and 2 1/2" wide from front to back.  I stamped the images from Toxic Treats and one from Christmas Lodge with StazOn Jet Black ink and fussy cut them all except the gravestones which perfectly coordinate with the Decorative Label punch.  I just cut off the little curved end on the bottom of each.  I used a blender pen and some Basic Black ink to colour in the snow on the roof of the lodge, so it would look more sinister and not covered in snow.  Then I used the Little Leaves Sizzlet to cut out several sprigs of black leaves and added them to the backs of the panels, especially the side panel.  The new ribbon slide works great on the Lucky Limeade Ruffled ribbon, and I used one of the framelits from Apothecary Accents to cut out the sentiment.

 
I used one of the doilies from the Delicate Doilies sizzlet to create the spider web in the top corner.  I was really pleased with the way the whole thing worked out according to the picture in my mind!
 
Here's the challenge photo:  



It was fun to see all the other Halloween designs on this challenge site.  Give it a visit and enjoy seeing them yourself.
 

 
 
By the way, my blog hits are at 9863, so it won't be long until I reach 10,000 and close the Blog Candy contest by drawing the name of one lucky reader!  Don't miss out.  Enter here!
 
Stamps: Toxic Treats (w127898; c127901); Christmas Lodge (w123767; c123769)
Paper: Lucky Limeade (122926), Basic Black (121045) and River Rock (108640) card stock; Neutrals Designer Series Paper Stack (117157)
Ink: StazOn Jet Black (101406); Classic Stampin' Pad in Basic Black (126980)
Accessories: 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon in Lucky Limeade (122977); Designer Ribbon Slide ( 127834)
Tools: Simply Scored Scoring Tool (122334); Decorative Label punch (120907); Delicate Doilies Sizzlet L (126999); Little Leaves Sizzlits (114511); Apothecary Accents Framelits (127003); Blender Pens (102845)
 
Toxic Treats
Christmas Lodge
 Apothecary Accents Framelits
 
 Simply Scored

4 comments :

  1. WOW what a fabulous little work of art! Frighteningly fun! thanks for playing along with us at Dynamic Duos!

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  2. Omgoodness, so many details in this detailed card, and you still nailed the colour challenge. Wow!
    Thanks for joining the Dynamic Duo's challenge this week.
    Cheers, Karen

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  3. What an impressive card! Very stunning!
    So glad you played along with us at Dynamic Duos!
    Anni

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  4. Heather, what a fun idea to use the snowy lodge as a haunted house!! Very creative and I love all of the fun elements you added. Thank you so much for joining us this week at Dynamic Duos! :)

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