Happy Halloween Card with Katelyn Grosart

Hey Southern Ridge Trading Company fans, Katelyn here. October is here and that means that Halloween will be right around the corner. For today's post, I created this Happy Halloween Card which features a variety of our Halloween chipboard pieces. You'll want to read below as I share with you how to recreate my card at home.

To start, take out the Haunted House from the package. Apply a coat of Emboss It Ink to the house. Sprinkle Onyx Frost Embossing Powder overtop of the house. Tap off the excess powder and emboss with a heat tool. If there are areas that are missing embossing powder, repeat the previous steps.

Take out three Mini Wood Pumpkins out of the package. Apply two coats of Carved Pumpkin Distress Stain on the bottom portion of the pumpkins. Apply two coats of Pine Needles Distress Stain to the top portion of the pumpkins. Set the pumpkins aside to dry.

Take the tree out of the package. Apply two coats of Black Gesso to the tree. Once the black gesso has dried, rub Picket Fence Distress Crayon along the edges of the tree to make it look like the moon is hitting it.

The last chipboard piece you need is to choose a zombie out of the Zombie Gang package. Apply two coats of Black Gesso to the zombie. Once the black gesso has dried, rub Picket Fence Distress Crayon along the backside of the zombie to make it look like the moon is hitting the back.

From the Eerie Tale patterned paper pack, choose three pieces of patterned paper. Cut one patterned paper to 5 1/4" x 6 1/2". Cut the second patterned paper piece to 5" x 6 1/4".  At the top of the second patterned paper, tear a bit of the paper down. Cut the third patterned paper piece to 4 3/4" x 6". At the top of the third patterned paper, tear a bit of the paper down. Distress the edges of all three patterned paper pieces. Ink the edges of all three patterned paper pieces using Black Soot Distress Oxide Ink and a blending tool with foam.

Cut out the 3/4" Stitched Fishtail Banner out of the leftover pieces from the second patterned paper. Apply Jet Black Archival Ink to the Happy Halloween stamp and stamp onto the banner. Trim the banner down to 2 3/4". Distress the edges of the banner. Ink the edges of the banner using Black Soot Distress Oxide Ink and a blending tool with foam.

Apply Emboss It Ink to the bat stamp and stamp onto a piece of white cardstock. Sprinkle Midnight Black Embossing Powder over the stamped bats. Tap off the excess powder and emboss with a heat tool. Fussy cut the three bats out. Using a blending tool with foam and Black Soot Distress Oxide Ink, blend over the white areas of each bat. Ink the edges of the bats using Black Soot Distress Oxide Ink and a blending tool with foam.

Adhere the 5" patterned paper piece to the 5 1/4" patterned paper piece. Adhere the 4 3/4" patterned paper piece to the 5" patterned paper piece. Adhere the Happy Halloween banner 3/4" from the top of and right to the left hand side of the 5 1/4" patterned paper piece.

Adhere the tree 1/8" from the bottom and right to the left hand side of the 5 1/4" patterned paper piece. Foam square the haunted house 1/8" from the bottom and 1 1/8" from the left of the 5 1/4" patterned paper piece.

Use adhesive and foam squares to adhere the zombie to the right hand side of the haunted house. Adhere two of the pumpkins on the left hand side of the tree and haunted house. Adhere the other pumpkin beside the zombie.

Foam square the small bat to the top left side of the haunted house and tree. Adhere the medium sized bat to the left of the zombie. Foam square the large sized bat to the top right side of the haunted house.

To finish the card, cut a cardbase out of white cardstock that measures 10 1/2" x 6 1/2", score at 5 1/4". Adhere the cardfront to the cardbase.

Here are a few close up photos of the card.

And here's the finished Happy Halloween Card.

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Halloween Tree

- Zombie Gang

- Mini Wood Pumpkins

- Haunted House

Other Supplies Used:

- Emerald Creek Craft Supplies: Onyx Frost Embossing Powder, Midnight Black Embossing Powder and Vambatia 

- Tim Holtz for Ranger Ink: Distress Oxide Ink - Black Soot, Distress Crayon - Picket Fence, Distress Stain - Carved Pumpkin & Pine Needles and Blending Tool with Foam

- Ranger Ink: Emboss It Ink Dabber and Jet Black Archival Ink

- Graphic 45: An Eerie Tale - Wicked Whimsey, Captivating Characters and You Bewitch Me

- Elizabeth Craft Designs: Stitched Fishtail Banners

- Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous: Crazy Talk Stamp Set

- Tombow: Aqua Mono Liquid Glue

- Misc: White Cardstock and Heat Tool

Until Next Time!

- Katelyn

Playing with Patina Effect Paste with Karen Bearse

Karen Bearse here today with a fun & quick tutorial on how to create patina pieces using Prima Marketing Patina Effect Paste. This is a wonderful mix media kit with 3 paints that create multiple patina’s without using a chemical reaction. There is also a rust kit available.

Here is the project I used to hold my cool finished patina chip. This tag is actually part of a 2 tag technique class I will be teaching at Goldenshill Papercrafts on May 23rd, in Clifton, VA. There are a lot of Prima paints & powders in this class but today we focus on patina!

I was playing with some chippies trying to get used to this product. I realized this is a great way to play & create embellishments to be used in future projects. The best part, you get to hear what I learned in my experiments. The kit contains a blue, mint-green, & brass paste. Each of them has a different consistency. The blue is slightly gritty, the mint-green very gritty & the brass is more of a heavy bodied acrylic.

Step 1: Starting with a gear chip I painted it with the blue paste and let it dry. Tip: I have learned that the best way to do this is to dab & pounce the paste on in random places. It creates more texture. Leave some spots open for the next colour. If you leave it wet & go to step 2 and do the same, letting some of the paint overlap it gives you a more patina look as the colours blend a bit.

Step 2: I may have had some focus issues as I took pictures of different chippies but you will get the idea of where I am going with this. Add the mint-green in random spots. Dab & pounce it on  to give the paste that texture. Remember the idea is to recreate rusty/patina metal so there are lumps & bumps in that. Let dry.

Step 3: Add the brass paint. Tip-I learned the best way is to apply a small amount of paint with a dry brush. Start by just lightly brushing over the bumpy areas hitting the high points & distressing bits of the edges. Add more paint to taste as you go stopping to have a look at the overall piece until you have the results you want.

Just play with the product to get used to it, there is a learning curve so have fun practicing. In my examples above I created 3 different looks.

#1- I let the paints dry in between application & used the brass colour sparingly. The effect is very bright & colourful.

#2-I applied the first 2 without drying in between. I let the colours overlap somewhat and added much more brass. The effect is much grungier & darker, more of a true patina.

#3- I painted the blue on smoothly, stenciled the mint & then added the brass. The mint even though it is fairly wet held up really well with a stencil leaving a nice gritty yet crisp image. This creates more of a mix media rather than a patina effect but gives you another way to use the product.

Here is a close up of my patina chair. Yes I realize the odds of having a copper Adirondack chair on the beach are slim to none but remember this is art! Anything goes. I hope you get a chance to play with this fun kit & make some patina. You can also try the Rust Effects kit that is applied the same way but gives you… you guessed it, rust!

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Med Gears

- Gears 2

- Adirondack Chairs

Other Supplies Used:

- Prima Marketing: Finnabair Patina Effects Paste

- Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous: Mini Stencil Set #9

If you want to see more of what I have been up to you can find me at karenbearse.blogspot.com with links to my other social media. Have an inky day!

- Karen