Steampunk Halloween Card

Hello! Hostess Tami here to show you a steampunk-style halloween card and a few techniques that were used to create it...

The background was made by stamping the same image in each quadrant of a 3 3/4 X 5 3/4 piece of kraft cardstock using 4 different colors of ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink. The images overlap each other a bit to add some color variation. To give the ink a slightly softer look, the stamp pad was VERY lightly misted with water after inking...

A Spellbinders die was then used to cut out an area towards the lower right of the stamped piece. After the inside and outside edges were distressed using a Blackbird Cat's Eye Chalk Ink, the background piece was adhered to a 4 X 6 card made from black cardstock.

The piece that was cut out, was rotated 180 degrees and then stamped and embossed with the "headless" dress form image using Mix'd Media Inx and Embossing Powder in Black.

Embossing Powder doesn't usually stick to Chalk Ink as it dries very quickly. But since I misted the ink a bit, it was still slightly wet when I applied the embossing powder. Normally that would require a redo, but I thought the scattered areas where the powder stuck added to the distressed look. A happy little accident and a new technique discovered! But if you don't want that look, be sure to let the background dry completely, or speed up dry time with a heat gun BEFORE you stamp and apply the embossing powder...

The diecut piece was distressed around the edges using a Blackbird Cat's Eye Chalk Ink. And then adhered slightly down and to the right of the opening cut in the background using 3D Foam Squares to create a "shadow".

And although the dress form is headless, I decided to add a nod to Victorian millinery in the form of a feather and bow embellishment at the upper left of the card...

SUPPLIES:

Clearsnap Products:

• ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink: Blackbird, Pumpkin Pie, Lime Pastel, Warm Violet and Yellow Citrus
• Mix'd Media Inx: Black
• Mix'd Media Embossing Powder: Black

Other Products:

• Hampton Art: Steam Punk Dress Form and Scroll Background 
• Spellbinders: Nestabilities - Labels Four
• Bazzill: Black and Kraft Cardstocks
• Beacon Adhesives: Zip Dry
• 3D Foam Squares
• Black Feather
• Vintage Black Seam Binding
• Pearl Head Corsage Pin

Tools:

• Trimmer, Scissors and Heat Gun