Out of My Comfort Zone for a Spooky Card

 

The theme for the current Paper Players Challenge is Spooky with this mood board for inspiration:

 

Anyone who knows me will know I zeroed in on the cat.  I was also attracted to the greenish sky and the moon.  This was my cue to leave my usually fairly clean, smoothly blended ink with die cuts style and go out of my comfort zone.  I love the look of layers and layers of ink and images but am intimidated by the idea of creating it, so I took a leap of faith!

I started with a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor paper, masked off a circle for the moon with masking paper and positioned a deckled rectangle stencil from A Colorful Life Designs over the smooth side.  I used a blending brush to apply areas of Bundled Sage, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Antique Linen and Speckled Egg Distress inks.  Next I used a fan brush to flick mostly small drops of water on the panel, let them air dry, and reapplied more ink to soften the effect.  Next I brushed Speckled Egg in random spots though the Starry Night stencil from Hero Arts to give some subtle texture.  Then I used a small acrylic script stamp without a block, inked it with Vintage Photo Distress ink, stamped off on scratch paper, and then pressed parts of it randomly along the left side.  I stamped along the bottom with Frayed Burlap and Ground Espresso using a stamp from Stampin' Up's Timeless Textures set.  I removed the circle mask and lightly brushed on Antique Linen and Old Paper to give the moon some texture.  I used too heavy a hand and had to lighten it with a bit of Hero Arts Unicorn White pigment ink.  Now I could finally remove the stencil to admire my handiwork.  For a first attempt I was pretty pleased with it.  I stamped the Tree of Courage from Lavinia Stamps in Ground Espresso Archival ink from Ranger and Mooch the Cat from Lavinia Stamps and a Sentiment from Close to My Heart's Purr-fect Halloween set in Black Archival ink.  By the way, smooth is relative.  I had to stamp Mooch four times and the sentiment three to get a solid impression on the "smooth" side of the paper.  I used dark brown and black Prismacolor pencils to create a shadow under Mooch to ground him and a Gelly Roll #700 pen to outline the moon and add some reflected moonlight to Mooch's head and left side.  I used foam tape to attach the panel to a card base made with Always Artichoke cardstock from Stampin' Up.

Here is the inside using the same materials and techniques featuring Mooch's sister, Mimsey, from Lavinia.

I also plan to enter this in the Stamping Sensations October - Animals, Birds and Bugs, Watercooler Wednesday All About Occasions, and Show Us Your Pussy Cats Furrything Goes/Meowloween challenges.  Was there any question that I would use a cat for the Stamping Sensations challenge?

One thing I have learned about going out of my comfort zone with this is that the key is to apply lots of layers of ink using different methods.  I have a friend who does mixed media and is encouraging me to give it a try.  Hmmm.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time,  Hansi