Saturday, August 27, 2022

Trick or Treat Halloween

 Hey there! Hope all are well and enjoying the weekend. I'm determined to keep crafting through my latest rain-triggered Arthurs flare and I actually think it's helping me cope a lot...this time. Each flare is different, but I'm thankful to have this creativity edge right now. We've gotten so many days of rain that mushrooms are sprouting all over our front and back yards. I don't remember seeing that in many years. The cloud cover takes the edge off the temps, though. I do not remember an August this cool, either. I feel for you guys living in hot and dry places. I've been reading about the artifacts of history around the world that have surfaced because of lower river/lake levels caused by drought.

I always try to make something for the Halloween challenges every month. I missed last month, so I 've worked hard to fit something in this month.
One of the things I've wanted to do this year was to get more practice with my colored pencils. I thought a silly whimsical Halloween card image would be a good choice. I'm not a coloring book person and as long as I don't mess things up too badly I'm going to use what I color. 😊 So, while this is decent enough for its purpose, I was really kind of blown away by how hard it is for me to do. It never used to be this hard...probably the effects of aging and my Arthurs. And of course I made it more difficult because I lost my focus and began coloring way too hard in order to get it done. I also just grabbed my motley crew of different cheapo brands of pencils instead of breaking out the new ones I bought this year. It's all a real test of my patience right now anyway, because the closer to September we get, the greater my annual Hurricane High Alert nature kicks into gear. Which is why I need to add pencils to my colorants and try to get a decent technique going with them - it does zen me out to color with them. I just need to build in more break times and/or mix them with my markers. Keep trying out ideas and practicing until something clicks that I am happy with. 😉
 
I used the current Creative Sketchy Girls Challenge #75 sketch for my 6x6" layout design. 
In PSE I combined 2 Sheepski Designs black and white digis, arranging on a 5-inch square background and printing out on Springhill Digital card. The background is a freebie in owner Andrea's Facebook group (I think you may have to join). The gnome mummy is an image called Trick or Treat. It's sold with a .png file, so I could layer it onto the haunted house background. I used 2 different washi tapes (Scor-taped down to my waxy card) and various elements I found in my Halloween scraps box to make a little collage at the top corner: Quickutz bat die cuts, Avery Elle seal die cut, a round Happy Halloween stamped and inked scrap sentiment, a Making Memories trick or treat tag and an Art Impressions spider die cut. 
 
Inside I stamped a Third Coast Stamps sentiment with Versafine Clair. On back, I adhered scrap stash strips onto a piece of recycled white card that was once the back of a store bought card I received. (I used recycled white card on the front as well.) I added a stamped and punched siggie that I daubed with some Cobalt Blue Archival ink. I probably should have white heat-embossed the stamping to use such a dark blue but oh well.
And final view. Thanks for visiting and stay well! XXO

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
Use more than one stamp or die: I used 2 different digi stamps and 3 different dies (one is AI Halloween Mini Dies spider)

13 comments:

Michelle Lupton said...

Fab square card! Thanks so much for playing along with the Stay Crafty with A Blog Named Hero challenge :)

Vickie Y said...

Cute Halloween image and card! Thank you for sharing with us at Two Old Bats!

Bonnie Lynn said...

This turned out amazing! I had to go check and make sure I had that Sheepski background image. I do! Now I need to get the Halloween gnome. Thanks for the inspiration my friend.

Becca Sadler said...

What a great idea for a whimsical card to do something with Halloween!!! Terrific results with your coloring! Thanks for participating at MTTC! --Becca/DT

Faith A at Daffodil Cards said...

Love how this has been put together and admire your patience when not well and Arfur around. Your card is fun and beautiful Aimes. AND with your attention to so many details, a winner.
Faith x

Ginger said...

So cute and spooky! Thanks for joining us at Creatalicious Challenges.

ahlers5 said...

That's so funny that you mentioned mushrooms. We live in the desert. The other day I went outside and saw these pretty large very white things growing under one of my lilac bushes. I was pretty far from them so I couldn't see them clearly. I asked my husband what the heck they were. Mushrooms! We have been here for over thirty years and I have never seen mushrooms growing. So weird. Very cute card. That was a lot of coloring.

Beverley said...

Great Halloween card, I love the gnome image. Thanks for joining in our August 'Anything Goes' challenge over at Crafty Calendar.
Hugs
Bev x

My name is Erika. said...

You can send some rain our way. WE're pretty dry, which is very unusual for us. And today it was 97 degrees, and they say that is the 14th day this month over 90 for us, which is also unusual. What a playful Halloween card. When my hives flare art helps take my mind off the itchies. Art can be a good thing, can't it? You do well with colored pencils. When I used them, they come out so streaky, but I would never have guessed you used colored pencils. Great work. Have a great middle of the week. Hugs-Erika

Crafty Pink Pixie said...

Super cute card! I love the little scene you created! Thanks for joining the Ai Challenge! -Tasha

MagsB said...

This is such a cute Halloween card, Aimeslee, the 'Mummy' gnome is adorable! I have to admit, I find colouring with pencils really difficult - I watch videos by Marker Geek on Youtube, she often uses pencils, check her out! Her skillz are amazing and I have picked up several tips. I still need a lot of practice, though! Your colouring is massively better than mine!! I hope you're feeling better. Thanks for joining in at My Time to Craft!

love Mags B x

Tone K. said...

Great card! :)
Thanks a lot for joining us at Creatalicious! :)

Josje said...

Cute card! Thank you for joining the creative sketchy girls
groetjes Josje DT