Watch Your Step!

I thought this was a creepy, yet fun card to give in October. Would be good for the person in your life that loves creepy or spooky things. 

The background is blended using sand colored distress inks and a bit of brown. The scorpion is from Hero Arts' Desert Fox stamp set. I stamped using Versamark ink, a glue-like ink, and then used Brutus Monroe's black fine embossing powder on top. Some of my earlier posts have specific directions for heat embossing, but I recommend you treat the area first with an anti-static tool so powder only sticks to your image. I did a few rounds of embossing. Then, I used some purple embossing powder from Lindy's Stamp Gang for the unique scorpion. The matching sentiment comes from Paper Smooches. 

Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp

Tech Ninja

Hi, I made a birthday card for my tech-ninja friend. He is a computer wiz with his trusted tool, his laptop.

I used Altenew's Ninja Invasion layering stamps and used a stamp positioning tool to make sure that the swords were aligned properly. 

I then created a mask of each ninja with a post it note and covered them up. Then, I placed the circuit board stencil from ACMoore on top. I sprayed lightly with some green spray from Lindy's Stamp Gang and removed the stencil. 

The sentiment is simple, so that the ninjas steal the show. I stuck it to a piece of black design paper from Blick and then adhered it to my card-base to create a top folding card.  

Challenges: 

Moving Along With the Times

The Male Room Challenge

Water-colored Vampire and Blood-Moon Shaker Card

Halloween will be here in no time so I am sharing a Vampire Shaker Card I made. The eerie "Blood Moon" was inspired by these cool Red Beads I found at a jewelry shop. 

I used Tim Holtz' Bat Stencil and some Black Acrylic Paint + Paste. I will be using some nicer pastes in the future, but this mix is an effective and cheap technique. I let it dry and cut it down to size. Be sure to clean your stencils with hot water afterward so they don't dry on the stencil.. using soap is OK too.

After cutting the hole for the Shaker element, I filled it with Beads + Sequins and adhered it together behind some Black Glitter Card-Stock. You can get 'Shaker Pouches' at a lot of places now, and it makes it easier to make cards like this. This pouch is an old one from Impression Obsession, but I know Simon Says Stamp has some too. Otherwise, you can use Acetate for the window and Foam Tape along the edge to keep the components in place.  

The vampire is from a La-La-Lands-Crafts stamp. I used an Anti-Static Tool to prep the area, then stamped him with VersaFine Onyx Black Ink. Then, I used Clear Embossing Powder. If you get some powder where you don't want it, you can take a dry paintbrush and brush it off. Fingers work too, but a brush works better, trust me. I did the sentiment the same way. The final step is to heat set it with a heat tool and it will become permanent. When it melts, it turns shiny. Note that you can not use a hair-dryer, it needs to be a special heat tool: I personally use a Precision Heat Embossing Tool by Hero Arts and it says "Wagner" on the side.

Then, it was time to water-color! My set is from Kuretake (Gansai Tambi) and I like that the colors are highly pigmented. I took my time in-between layers and let them dry, thus building more saturated color. I also used progressively darker shades to get the shadow effects. I used gold on the buttons and staff; it is hard to tell from the pic, but it shines a lot. I used some Glossy Accents by Ranger on the boots and bats. Then, I cut him out and stuck him under his Blood Moon. 

Hope you enjoyed my creation. I might use the Blood Moon idea again with another concept I thought of based on the Avatar TV show..... Stay tuned... True fans will already know where I am going with this...! 

:D

-John

Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge
ATC Smitherz
Brown Sugar Challenge

Wiggling Monster

Happy Halloween- This monster's feet wiggle and the inside of the card says... wait for it... 

 "Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet"

The "My Feet" Set from Art Impressions has everything you need for a not-so-scary-monster card. You can buy extra "action wobblers" as well. I chose my colors so that they would be complimentary and match the decorative foil paper. 

My Instagram, @CoolPaperArt, has a video of the feet in action, along with the inside sentiment if you would like to see it in action!

Challenges:
My Time to Craft Challenge
Crafty Hazelnuts Patterned Paper

Autumn Leaves

It's Official

So, it is officially Fall and that means I need to post an Autumn colored leaf card before diving headfirst into zombies, vampires and werewolves. This is a punny card for my mom depicting my sisters and me. Mom taught grammar as well so she will be happy to know I used that last "me" properly.

The sentiment: "We can't be-leaf what a great mom you are- Happy Fall".

Cool right? For the front I used an old leaf stencil (from AC Moore) and pounced brown ink through it. Sprayed it with some gold spray, cut it out and set it aside. I used autumn colored distress inks on a sheet of white paper, sprayed some water on it and dried it off after 2 seconds.. then, I used a leaf embossing folder to create the textured background. 

For the inside of the card, I used stamps by The Greeting Farm. I really love this style of artwork from TGF- the characters are a bit taller and more evenly proportioned. I emailed TGF to try and get more stamps made in this style. They said that they tend to do the smaller characters so they can fit more images on a stamp set.. They added that they might make more in the future..  Please feel free to email them and demand they give the masses what they want... Or what I want anyway... lol.  I definitely think these characters were worth the money, and I'm glad I bought them a while ago as they seem now sold out. The sets I used are named "My Sunshine" and "Together Anywhere". You can still find them on ebay etc. Contact TGF or browse their other stamps here.

I also used Glossy Accents on my sisters' dress, boots and scarf. All those leaves were die cut out using a die from Impression Obsession named Oak Leaves and Rake. It is an awesomely useful set, though I didn't use the rake this time. 

Hope you enjoyed and stop by again. Thank you.

Challenges: 

Impression Obsession

Brown Sugar Challenge

Craft Rocket Challenges

Crafting with an Attitude

Use Your Stuff