Sweet Stampin ~ My Whimsy Stamps Halloween Poem ~ Z Fold Card

Hey crafty friends, we have a new challenge going live today at Sweet Stampin' Challenge and this week to my great joy, it's a 'Halloween or Colours of Halloween' challenge! I've had a super cute little image from Lili of the Valley coloured up and waiting to share on a card for a little while, so I whipped that up and will share that also, but in a different post. For this post, I'm sharing the card I started last year with the Stamp Whimsy had made from my Halloween Poem. I was so excited when this stamp was released and I created a pretty fun creation with it last Halloween, which you can visit here if you missed it. I started this card after completing that make, but never got it completed in time to share last Halloween. So I tucked it away and pulled it out to continue working with it this Halloween. I'm pretty pleased to have in finished because I really liked the card design. 

I had most of this make completed last Halloween, I just needed to add a few extra details including the haunted house on the top. This was quite an undertaking and there are quite a few pics, so maybe grab a cuppa if you're keen to have a read. You get a sneaky peek of all the layers from this first shot and my poem is right there, front and centre (is it wrong that I'm quite so chuffed they made a stamp from my poem?!) I used a Whimsy Stamps Notched Corner Rectangle Die to cut the windown in that front panel. I used a fun Quick Card panel to set the scene, with some haunting characters. I stamped the poem on the kraft card base with VersaFine Clair Pinecone Ink and I ink blended a light vignette to draw the eye to the centre of that panel. The actual kraft card base I cut on an angle to create a fun Z Fold card design for this make. I wanted several pages and layers to build the theme of this make and love how it turned out.

On opening the first flap, we are greeted with the village scene, which I created with a page from one of Whimsy Stamps gorgeous Halloween Paper Packs. It had several houses which made it look like a village from somewhere spooky like Sleepy Hollow, so I added that with just a little inking of the edges for a nice finished look. The top section I trimmed from that paper, I turned upside down and used to adhere to the top on the facing page. I used a grey page beneath it, which I placed the Slimline Decrepit Grave from the Whimsy Die Set. I used the RIP texture stamp to add the debossed detail to the grave and a very cool styalised skull stamp from their Exquisite Beauty Rubber Cling Stamp. I also took the name from the Grave Epitaphs Clear Stamp Set. This set cracks me up, it has some really funny and clever epitaphs! I thought this could fit nicely for our Witch from the Poem, so this is supposed to represent her grave, probably in the grounds of the old Haunted Mansion.

The card opens like a concertina fold, one layer one way, the next back on itself. Just a bit of fun and something a little different. This pair of panels has some fun features. The page on the right has an old book page I bought from a crafter that was selling some pages from damaged books. The selection is really eclectic but has included some really cool pages, perfect to work with for these types of makes. I couldn't believe my eyes when the page was titled The Ghost! It was a perfect touch to add to this make and added so nicely to my story panels. I treated the page with real tea to get the tea dyed finish. 

The next panel represents the 'Keep Out' sign, warning of the haunting. What doesn't show now so well, are the cool ghostly figures in the background behind the planks of wood. When I first created this panel, I had ink smooshed the leather textured paper with brown Distress inks and then I'd come back with some Distress Lost Shadow Ink and added some spooky ghosts (just lightly for a really ghostly feel) from the Ghostly Greetings Clear Stamps. They've obviously oxidised and now just look like grey smudges! But I found some photos from last year that show them before I added the wood planks.

I wish now I'd stamped them a little more definitely. I was going for that barely there ethereal feel, but the ink just didn't stay! Lessen learned. Still I know they were there! I covered up the little seam in the book page, with a white stitch that comes from the Primitive Candy Corn Die Set. I can see myself using those little stitches for other things to, a really fun die to have! 

I like to decorate every panel, so even the back has a bit of interest to it. I added a white page for the message, but I ink blended the edges to grunge it up a bit and of course, you can see the Haunted House from the back, which I left black, as none of the ink had transferred there during the spritzing of the front, so I thought the back in black was quite a cool finish. 

I'd love to know what you think of my Haunted House creation. Thanks for popping in today, I'll be back again very soon with the other card I'm sharing for this challenge, but that'll be tomorrow for me. Hugs and happy crafting, Wends xoxo

My Halloween Poem

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(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, and so appreciate if you use these when shopping. They cost you no extra whatsoever. 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.)

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