Whimsy Stamps ~ Scarecrow Nightmares

Hey crafty friends, I had a really interesting and fun creative journey with this latest piece. I started just wanting to have a play with my Halloween Mica Sprays, I'd not pulled them out for while and I ended up making lots of panels in lots of different colourways ready for some Halloween fun! You may have seen my previous post which was one of those mica adventures. They are so shiny and shimmery when the light hits them. I've just not had the best light here lately to capture that well (I'm a natural light photographer with my creations, so good light makes a big difference.) But I am keen to share this make with you and will keep chasing the light, hoping for that better shot!

The way the light hit the cardstock above makes it look like the black is dirty, I promise it's not, it's a stark black cardstock with none of that 'just added anti-static powder' look. All the black cardstock for this make is from Gina K and is a really lovely heavy weight substantial true black cardstock. I matted the design with a copper coloured matte metallic cardstock. It gave the perfect bead of colour around the edge of the design. I then matted it onto a final layer of black cardstock but not onto a card base, as this design is huge, 6 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches. So it will be a Halloween décor piece, not a card.

This creation started with a fun Mica Spray Stain adventure. I used Crooked Broomstick and Fallen Acorn Mica Sprays with Black Soot Distress Stain on White Mixed Media Cardstock from Scrapbook.com. How delish are these Distress Mica Stains?! I think it's a divine combo! I masked the moon in the top right corner with a mask I created by diecutting one of the larger circles from the Boho Circles Die Set out of some lightweight mylar. This gave a fun, not quite symmetrical moon silhouette in that corner. I sprayed all the stains over this until I was happy with how the panel looked. The mix of the Black Distress Spray Stain and the Mica Spray Stains just gave such a lovely play of copper colours. I loved it immediately and didn't want to alter it much, if at all. So I didn't splash lots of water over it as I might otherwise have been inclined to do to add texture and interest. I just loved the way it moved and landed on the page. I let these layers of spray dry and carefully pulled up the mask once it had dried a little bit. 

Next I used the technique to make the moon look spooky, that I learnt originally from Stacy Hutchinson back in 2019 as part of the Simon Says Stamp Stamptember adventures that year. I have seen Amy Rysavy use and share this technique so many times since, she's put such a fun spin on this technique with her own amazing style, always honouring Stacy as the originator of this idea though and as both these ladies continually inspire me, I'm referencing them both! Did you spot the little 'bat like' inky tendril across the moon? This was what first made me think of adding bats to this design and as I didn't have a stencil that would do what I wanted it to from Whimsy, I decided to make my own with the awesome range of bat dies Whimsy has. 

So I grabbed a few sets of Whimsy Stamps Dies that had bats in them. All the bats were cut from Whimsy die sets. The sets I used are the Build-a-Graveyard Die Set for the tiny bats right at the top, then I used the seperate bats from the Bat Reveals Die Set to add a central cluster of bats near the top and finally I added a selection of bats from the Dracula Going Batty Die Set, scattered around and repeated several of those bats to fill out the stencil design I wanted to create. I used a thin sheet of mylar to diecut them on. I happened upon this idea when I accidentally diecut the wrong way around through a mylar shim I had from Spellbinders. This resulted in a bit of an 'aha' moment, realising I could actually do this 'on purpose'! So the idea to create this stencil flowed from that. I used Distress Black Opaque Paste to add the bats to this Mica Sprayed panel. The paste stuck really well, which was excellent, because Mica can be tricky with inks, but the paste clung just fine and the stencilled bats looked fab!

I wanted a few of the bats to have wings loose as if they are in full flight, so I diecut extra bats from black cardstock and added them dotted around the stencilled bats to fill out the scene. I have to say, this make came together kind of organically, one choice bringing rise to the next as if this piece knew where it was going independent from me and I absolutely love how it came together. Isn't it fun when you get lost in a crafty adventure and enjoy the whole process?!

I wanted to add a little dimension to the scarecrow before adding him to the panel, so I diecut three extra layers of the scarecrow die from Spellbinders foam. I recently got their 'warm tones' set of foam and there was a nutmeg brown in there, perfect for this make, as the colour just blends into the background. I glued all the layers down and then added the final mica stained kraft layer, but I left the hands of this layer unglued, so they could rise a little from the sides, making it look as though the scarecrow was reaching out towards you, as you look at the piece. It's creepy cool! The final touch for this piece was to add a diecut strip of black cardstock using the Bat Reveals Die Set again, so I could also add a little sentiment to complete the design. I took the sentiment 'Batty for You' which I stamped from the Going Batty Clear Stamp Set and heat embossed it with copper coloured embossing powder. It tied all the colourways together so nicely and nodded to the batman theme. I'd love to know what you think of this Batman inspired creation. 

The banner above is linked to the New Release at Whimsy so you can click through quickly for a peek. They released so many fun and fabulous Halloween elements this month, plus a few cute everyday stamps sets too. I'll be back before long with another crafty adventure in the meantime, thanks for popping in to visit today and I will see you again very soon with the next sleuky instalment of my Halloween adventures. Hugs, Wends xoxo

(I share thumbnails to the elements I design with in order to make your search for them easier, in case you like something I've used. I do use affiliate links where possible, which gives me a tiny commission but costs you no extra whatsoever. It helps the companies I design for to improve their marketing practice and track my contributions. I am deeply grateful if you use them for these reasons. I am proud to design for the companies I do and always feel happy to share where my inspiration and where my crafty stash comes from. I am occasionally gifted products to use, but I only design for companies whose products I absolutely love and buy for myself. My opinions are always my own.)

Challenge Entries:

Crafty Chicks: #730 ~ All Occasions

Gem of A Challenge: #17 ~ Anything Goes 

Little Red Wagon: #770 ~ Put it in Neutral (Blacks and Coppery Browns)

Allsorts Challenge: #795 ~ Anything Goes (I hope my bats are acceptable?! Perhaps not delightful for many, but there are some who do love them! More of a Halloween make, so perhaps under your Anything Goes umbrella? xoxo)