Wicked

I just made a set of six of these postcards for a Halloween swap that my friend Cindy is hosting on the TN Stampers Yahoo group. I don't know how other people operate, but I tend to use swaps as an excuse to experiment with something I've been wanting to try - my swap partners are my guinea pigs! This time I wanted to play around with texture.

A couple weekends ago, my friends Roxi and Candice of RockCandy Studios taught a class for our stamp club's annual Stampers Day Out. They showed us a faux beeswax technique using different Golden products to duplicate the look of beeswax. I had an extra container of medium and thought it would be perfect to use for my postcard.

I love the whole concept of mail art and the idea of making something that would actually be enhanced by the process of going through the mail. I knew I wanted something very textured, but still able to make it to its destination without losing too many pieces. Covering the piece with the faux beeswax concoction sealed and protected it and also added another layer of depth. I hope my partners like them!

Stamps are all from Oxford Impressions' Wicked collection.

Technique Junkies October Treasure Hunt!

Welcome to the October Technique Junkie Treasure Hunt! If you've arrived here without starting at the beginning, please make sure you head over to the Design Junkies blog to start collecting your clues. When you have all of the clues, you will leave your answer on Pat Huntoon's blog for a chance to win a wonderful prize!

My card today (and the tag below) features the Sepia technique from the October/November newsletter as well as stamps from Alluring Impressions, one of our TJ sponsors. I have been a fan of these stamps for years - please make sure you stop by and see the amazing collections they offer. The main image above is from the Girlfriends plate. The sentiment and also the image on the tag below are from the Beauties plate. The typewriter letter on my tag is from the Typewriter Key alpha set (very cool stamp set!). Speaking of which, the letter below is your clue for this stop!

Thanks so much for visiting today - your next and final stop is Pat Huntoon's fantastic blog. Enjoy!

Created Byhand Challenge - Stencils

I have been intrigued by Michelle Ward's latest Crusade - Come Over to the Dark Side. I love the idea of layering gesso and paint over a black background. When I saw the stencil challenge over at Created Byhand, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to experiment with this technique.

I started with black cardstock and scraped gesso over it randomly. Then I did the same thing with green and pearlized purple acrylic paints. When I was happy with it, I used the waste from a sheet of Grungeboard flourishes as a stencil and sprayed it with black paint. The bird is from Oxford Impressions. It's stamped on Grungeboard and cut out - it's a great way to get a nice, solid image. I added a bit of cheesecloth that's been dyed with distress ink and a few stems left over from a silk flower spray.

LOVE this technique and will be experimenting some more with it. Thanks for the inspiration Michelle!

Tech + Stamps + Paper = Haunted!

Isn't it funny how sometimes things just come together? I recently received three things - a paper order from Paper Temptress, the Oct/Nov issue of the Technique Junkie newsletter, and new stamps from Oxford Impressions. I had been thinking about the Faux Paneling technique from the newsletter when I had an 'aha!' moment. I could use the gray paper I'd ordered + the Paneling tech + the OI stamps = haunted house! The scarlet cardstock is also from Paper Temptress and looks great with the gray paper. I also used a crackle stamp from I Brake for Stamps to add a bit of texture to my paneling.