GD: Lelainia Lloyd Project #3 Happy Hallowe'en

"Hello everyone, Lelainia here with my final project of the week. Since Hallowe'en is just around the corner I thought this was the perfect opportunity to make a quick card. I don’t make cards very often, but Hallowe’en is such a fun holiday and most people aren’t expecting to get a card in the mail, so it’s the perfect time to send them a little handmade goodness and say hello".

I started by taking a sheet of laminated paper and cutting it into strips just a bit wider than the width of my masking tape. If you don’t have any handy, you can always use a sheet of scrap plastic. Recycled milk jug plastic works well or any flat plastic packaging you have lying around. You just want something you can stick the tape to, but still have it remove easily. 

Next, I put a piece of masking tape on each strip, leaving a bit hanging over the end to make it easy for me to peel it up later.

I used Limelight, Spanish Mulberry and Autumn Fire to paint each of the strips of tape. I did two coats. I recommend allowing these to air dry-you do not want to apply heat to speed up the process, as this is going to mess with the tackiness of the tape. Once the paint was completely dry, I used my bone folder to smooth out any air bubbles that formed underneath. You will want to have a smooth surface for stamping.

I decided which direction the tapes were going to go and stamped them in that direction accordingly. I used Black StazOn Ink to stamp the bat stamp from HPHW04, the spider web from HPHW02 and the tiny circles stamp from EEV06.

 

Next I stamped the tree image from HPHW02 on a piece of Smoothy White Stamping Card using Black StazOn Ink. 

I used my Prima craft knife to fussy cut the tree image out. The key to doing this is to work slowly and carefully. I do really small sections at a time. This took some time, but I found it quite relaxing. I put some music on and sang along while I worked on it. It really does help! *grins*.

After I had the tree all cut out, I cut my card base 7 inches tall x 5 ¾ inches wide from Smoothy Cardstock. I peeled the tape with the cob web off the laminated strip and positioned it across the bottom of the card, leaving about a ½ inch from the bottom.

I then peeled the strip with the small dots and positioned it vertically, ½ inch from the right hand edge, overlapping the cobweb tape end at the bottom. Next, I added the bat tape vertically, overlapping the dot tape slightly and lining it up to overlap the cobweb tape at the bottom. Once all the tape was on the card, I used my bone folder to make sure everything was stuck down firmly.

I wanted to fill up some of the white space, so I took my Mini Sketch Grid stencil and used Pumpkin Soup to fill in that area. I overlapped the stencil just slightly over the edge of the tape at the right and bottom.

After the paint had dried, I put a piece of double sided tape just on the back of trunk of the tree image and positioned it centered over the stenciled area of the card. I purposely didn’t glue the entire tree down by adding adhesive all over the back because I wanted the tree to have a 3D effect. By not sticking the branches down, they just naturally sit above the background and give the piece some depth.

Finally, I used PolyShrink to create a shrink charm with the words “Happy Hallowe’en” from HPHW04 set of stamps. I shrunk the Polyshrink using my heat gun and Teflon sheet. (Remember to remove your cutting mat from your work surface so it doesn't get warped when you're using your heat gun!) When the charm was cool, I used double sided tape to adhere the charm to the card. Finally, I trimmed a bit of the excess white border around the 3 sides of the card with my paper trimmer.

Easy-peasy! It was great fun creating my own decorative tapes and definitely something I will be doing again. They’d look great in my art journals or on mail art! Again I hope you have been inspired to go create art and join in with the monthly challenge. Until next time!

~Lelainia~

A huge thanks from all at PA HQ ... Great use of the tape/stencil to create such a funky backdrop for the tree, love the added depth to the tree and the warm/bold colours are visually striking. Thanks Lelainia for sharing your creative process once more.

We would love you to join in with our monthly challenge. If you are inspired by any of this month's guests who have blogged between Oct 1st 2014 and Oct 31st 2014 then join in and link up your creativity HERE. You will go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. You need to add your link by 19:00 (London time) Oct 31st 2014.