Hello, my friends! I’m visiting with you today from our beloved home away from home. We packed all the pets in the car and drove out in time to enjoy the pool, a long Labor Day weekend, and the nice dry climate. There is something about desert air that suits me sooooo well! I’m usually a very low energy person, and I have to fight it in order to get things done. But here, despite the heat, it’s always go go go – whatever the cause, it’s AWESOME! I’ve been to the gym more in one week than what I usually do in a month at home. Wish I could bottle up the secret and bring it back with me.
Anyway, because of the trip out, which always ends up getting kind of crazy as we near our departure date, and because of my desire to relax/refresh with the husband, I was delayed a bit in getting this post ready for you! Today I have some ominous cards to share with you that feature dies from Tim Holtz’s new and spooky collection with Sizzix.
To start, I got my card bases inked with a variety of distress inks. I simply took the ink pads and rubbed them on my paper as shown.
I spritzed a little water and used my fingers to move the pigment around.
Once that dried, I added more black around the edges, lightly spritzing again to create some puddles.
Then I started die-cutting. This die above is the Gothic Gate Thinlits Die – once cut, it will fit perfectly on a vertically oriented standard 4 1/4 in. x 5 1/2 in card. All the dies I’m sharing today cut quite nicely, but because the Gothic Gate was so intricate, it was necessary to add to my Sizzix Sandwich an extra piece of cardstock as a shim, and send it back and forth through my Big Shot in order to get a complete cut.
This bat stencil above…
And this spiderweb stencil above were made using dies from Tim’s Mixed Media Halloween Thinlits die set. Very cool – 2 out of the three could be easily used year round, IMO. For both effects, I applied black distress ink through the stencils to reveal the patterns against my colorful backgrounds.
Check out the detail on this Gothic Gate die-cut! #ohyeah
For a nice pop, I like going especially dark where the background is lightest/brightest.
I added text to two of the cards using the Halloween Words: Thin Thinlits Set. And as a final step, I blended in more black around the edges – remember, you can always go darker, but it’s difficult to go from dark back to light, so it’s wise to use a light hand and start out light!
I’m pleased with how these cards turned out, and especially how easy it was to create the spooky atmosphere!
Hope you will check out Tim Holtz’s new collection. He always sells out quickly!
Thanks for stopping by!
-V
contadina k 
Wow! So spooky cool! Your distress blends are amazing. Thanks for sharing.