Monster mash by Tracy Blackwolf

 Hello everyone!!!

Almost Halloween!! Where has the month gone!?

So my project for this week is a long card. 4.5 x 10 and it s a new paper I have not used before. I have to say it does not have the blending properties of what I usually use. I used white heavy stock. This is for the background only. If you're a heavy inker/ paint user as I am, Id stick to the mixed media heavy stock.

The project is pretty straight forward, tons of fussy cutting and then painting the images and then a lot of foam tape, sometimes triple layered as I wanted a lot of different depths of the images. 

I chose many images, stamped and cut out as I wasn't sure how many would fit or what my scene exactly was going to be and I wanted enough to chose from. After all are colored and cut,  and foam tape applied, I like to fluff them- bend wings ,limbs, collars, etc. to give them some life as it were.

I hope you enjoy the monster Halloween!

Stamps Used:

Spider on web line   19263

Death head moth ( for the wings)   20056

piles of bones and skulls ( for 3 skulls on stick) 19903

wolfman   19725

Frankenstein bolts   5842

Devil  19905

Mummy   14748

Dracula   17686

Vampire boy   15165

Pumpkin   18626

Bat comin at ya   12649

 Plague doctor   19701

 Eye and brow   5795

Intense lady   17904

Bat wings set   14339

Vampire or kisser   17874

Other supplies:

Distress spray stains: Dried marigold, crackling campfire,

Squeezed lemonade, Wilted violet, Salvaged patina, Speckled egg, Lost shadow, Black soot, Antique linen, vintage photo, tea dye, tattered rose, twisted citron, lumberjack plaid

Silver sparkle gel pen

white gel pen

white pigment ink

foam tape

Trick or Treat | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone!

Sue Plumb here with my latest design team project for you. Today I have a Halloween themed mixed media scrapbook layout to share featuring some of the recently released Halloween stamps. Halloween isn't as big here in Australia as it is the US, but it is steadily growing in popularity each year. (My kids think any occasion where you get to collect candy from the neighbours is a great idea, and I am happy to hand out treats to kids who have made an effort to dress up.)

I started this page with a sheet of Bazzill Marshmallow cardstock and some Dina Wakley acrylic paints. I used the colours Lime, Sedona, Tangerine, Lemon and Cheddar. I used several methods of applying my paint - starting with a brush, then a brayer and finally, my fingers! Once I had all the colours down, I went back over it with some white acrylic and my brayer where I wanted to place my photos.

Once my background was dry it was time to pull out my stamps. I started with the awesome Spider Web in Tree Branches and stamped it several times on my page. I followed that with the Bats Over Moon at the top of my page. (I repeated the smallest bat a few times to increase the "battiness".)

I then added the Jack O'Lantern on the right side of my page, before adding the Beware Of: list in the bottom left corner. 

I love the way the black images pop against the warm colours of the paint!

With all the stamps in place, the main structure of my page was all mapped out and it was simply a matter of filling the blanks between them. 

I wanted to add an extra layer behind my photos, and reached for one of my favourite items - some paint sample cards from the hardware store. I love using these! Not only are they easy to coordinate with whatever colours you are using, but they are also free! I stamped them with the Evidence Label for some extra detail before adding them to my page.

Now it was time for some texture! I added some pieces of torn printed tissue paper; a paper doily; some small pieces of punchinella; and frayed gauze to my page and then secured it with staples.

Next, I added some small red ink splatters randomly around my page using Colour Blast 'Sunburnt' Colour Artist Ink and a small brush.

To finish off, I added some cardboard to the back of my photos to mount them up, before sticking them down on the page.

I then added some handwritten journaling with a felt pen and my page was done!

I was really happy with how this page turned out and can't wait to take some more Halloween photos this year to use these stamps again. (First I need to convince my kids to dress a little creepier this year!)

Thanks for stopping by so I could share this with you. I hope I have inspired you to get inky too! 

Stamps used:

- Spider Web in Tree Branches

- Bats Over Moon

- Jack O'Lantern

- Beware Of:

- Evidence Label

Other materials:

- Bazzill cardstock

- Dina Wakley acrylic paints

- Tsukineko Staz On ink

- Paint sample cards

- Collage materials (tissue paper, paper doily, punchinella, gauze)

- Colour Blast Colour Artist Ink

- Felt pen, staples

October CHALLENGE

Ready for some creepy stamping time?! We LOVE Halloween!

We're going a little more traditional this year with yellows & oranges, black & white. Also be inspired by anything that goes BUMP in the night, creepy crawly feelings, scary ladies & witches. You can draw inspiration from bats and things in flight, moons, trees, and other lights. GOOD LUCK!

Don't forget the rules:

-Create a new project based on our inspiration board (it has to be posted this month, but you can certainly link up to other challenges as well!)

-Use at least one (but certainly more if you want) Viva Las VegaStamps! rubber stamps

(We are now allowing competitors stamps to be on your work, but please make VLVS! the focus of the project, thank you.)

-Post it to your blog with a link back to us

-Upload to our linky using your direct blog post link (You may also upload via facebook, flickr or other gallery)

You could win a Project Spotlight post on our blog + some new rubber of course.

And visit us back here for inspiration!

An InLinkz Link-up

September Challenge

It's MONTHLY CHALLENGE time! I love September because the weather starts getting cooler.. the leaves will change.. and HALLOWEEN is right around the corner. I LOVE HALLOWEEN! 

VLVS! loves Halloween, too :) Have you seen our Halloween stamps?!

Well that brings me to this month's challenge...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

We are jumping right into the season and would like to inspire you with words like : bones, skeletons, garden gnomes, nymphs, goblins, ghouls, bats, creatures, critters, vampires, graveyards, catacombs, dead, death, halloween, spooky, creepy, and more.

Don't forget the rules:

-Create a new project based on our inspiration board (it has to be posted this month, but you can certainly link up to other challenges as well!)

-Use at least one (but certainly more if you want) Viva Las VegaStamps! rubber stamps

(We are now allowing competitors stamps to be on your work, but please make VLVS! the focus of the project, thank you.)

-Post it to your blog with a link back to us

-Upload to our linky using your direct blog post link (You may also upload via facebook, flickr or other gallery)

You could win a Project Spotlight post on our blog + some new rubber of course.

And visit us back here for inspiration!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Witching Hour

Hello, my fine feathered friends!

Aimee here, with a Halloween tag just for you!!

I have to say, I love the way this turned out, 

and it actually came together pretty quickly.

Wanna make it?

Here's what you need:

Manilla tag

Distress Inks- Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Black Soot, Vintage Photo

Handle/foamies

Heat gun

Kromecote card stock

Scissors

Beaded trim

Markers/colored pencils

Stardust glitter pen

Permanent black ink (I used Archival)

Miracle Tape- sheet and 1/4"

Baker's twine/ribbon/etc

Itty bitty bat punch, die cuts

Water

Stamps: Harlequin background, witch, 

The Witching Hour, 

Tree background

 Ink your tag using Wild Honey & Rusty Hinge.

Flick water onto tag. Dry with heat gun.

Ink edges with Vintage Photo and Black Soot.

 Stamp the Harlequin background with Wild Honey.

 Stamp the tree background with Black Soot.

Rub some back soot onto the ribbon trim.

Adhere with Miracle Tape.

Do this twice.

 Stamp witch onto tag with permanent black ink.

Stamp her again onto the Kromecote. Dry with heat gun.

 Trim around the Kromecote witch, and put her onto the Miracle Tape sheet.

Color her (carefully!) and cut out.

Remove backing from Miracle Tape, and add her over the stamped image on the tag.

 Stamp "The Witching Hour" onto tag.

Trace over "witching" with Stardust pen.

Add three bats.

 Tie some ribbons/trims/fibers through the hole in the tag, and you're done!

And....

Here's your wiener!

This is what happens when your wiener gets too hot!

They never want to come out of the blankets, no matter how hot they are,

so they just stick their noses out.