Whimsy Stamps ~ Trick or Treat Photo Book

Hey crafty pals, I'm back today with a super cute creation I made for my wee niece to store her lovely Trick or Treat memories with her cousin in. Their daddies are brothers, and both moved from England and married Kiwi girls, my sis being one of them. The wee girls are quite close in age and adore each other and have had a few years of Trick or Treating together and had such fun, so this year, I wanted to give my little niece something to chronicle those memories in. I gave it to her the other day when I was visiting and she absolutely loved it, which was so sweet. I also gave her the little card I made with the wicked cute witch on it, to give to her cousin, which she was so excited to do.

I created this little photo album from scratch, by cutting some thicker kraft board into 6x6 sized squares. I think from memory I added about 12 pages, which double sided gives 23 pages for photos and memories. I used my Mini Cinch Tool to create the spiral bound book and then decorated the front cover with a fabulous harlequin paper from Whimsy's Licorice Paper Pack. I distressed the edges of the paper with some Walnut Stain Distress Ink, which I thought would tone better with the Kraft pages than Black Soot would have. I love how that turned out too. 

The adorable Trick or Treat characters are from a cute Whimsy Stamps Set by Krista Heij-Barber called Trick or Treat Kids. I coloured the images with Copic markers, this cute Candy Corn character, I took artistic license with and made one of the layers pink, rather than yellow, but I love how that turned out.

The next character is just the cutest wee Dracula I think I've ever seen! I coloured him up in purple tones and gave him very pale skin and accents of blue in his hair for a bit of fun. All of the characters have been popped up on little foam dots for a bit of dimension and interest.

This final character in her pumpkin dress up outfit, just is so cute and smiley! I gave her a bright orange pumpkin because I wanted their outfit colours to really pop and be really fun and happy images for my niece.

I added a sentiment from the more recent Wicked Cute Stamp Set in the top left, as I felt it needed something up there to balance the page and that was a fun extra. I also added some charms from my stash to complete the look. That touch of ribbon and a few charms really did add a nice finish to the album I think.

The main sentiment was taken from the I Want Candy Stamp Set also by Krista Heij-Barber. I really loved the bold font on this set and wanted to make that the feature sentiment above the images. I stamped it simply in VersaFine Clair Nocturne Ink. Before adding the images I splattered the page with a couple of metallic Mica inks for some shimmer and interest in the background. 

I stencilled the flying bats from Whimsy's Halloween Creatures Stencil onto the paper with Marcasite Stardust Butter from The Crafter's Workshop. A tiny bit of the paste bled under the stencil, but this is only obvious on close inspection and I didn't try to 'rescue' it for fear I'd make it worse. Just holding it at the usual ready distance, it looks fine. So I figure this is part of 'hand made'! I will try a different paste next time to see if I can get a crisper image. I've got some on order, so fingers crossed can give it another go before Halloween making season is done, as I really like this stencil! 

Thanks for popping in to visit today, I hope you've enjoyed this crafty Halloween adventure, let me know if you're someone who makes little books and keepsakes like this. The Cinch machine is a newer tool to me and I've wanted one for so long, I was pleased to get it. I know it's not something I'll use all the time, but it's so nice to have the option to create something with a bound edge that I can custom make to whatever idea I have at the time. This is my very first creation made with my new machine, so I'd love to know your thoughts, advice, alternate takes on this crafty adventure. Hugs and happy crafting, Wends xoxo

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