Carta Bella All Hallows Eve - Spooky & some New Arrivals

Hi there, Michele here again, this time with a Halloween Layout featuring All Hallows Eve - a deliciously spooky collection from Carta Bella.

I love the thickness and generosity of Carta Bella papers. Being a bit more on the solid side. they are perfect for mixed media and misting, holding their shape pretty well when wet and dried a couple of times. My layout, called Spooky, features both of these techniques and more.

The base paper, Marshmallow/Kraft,  has been given lots of different treatments and it held up really well. I sanded and scraped the edges and inked them with Black Soot Distress Ink, painted the area under my photo with white Gesso and then sprayed with both Starfish and Black Magic Glimmer Mist, letting the mist pool and run down to the bottom of the page. Then I made a few white splatters using Picket Fence Distress Stain, before finally stamping at the bottom and on the right hand side. Using Tim Holtz' Maple Leaf Blueprint Stamp (both the large and the mini versions. PLUS Tracy can order it in for you, she can do anything that girl!) I stamped with Embossing Ink and embossed with Zing Clear Embossing Powder. This adds a subtle pattern to the background, but doesn't crowd it, because there is no colour change, just a little extra texture.

There are several layers of paper under my photo. All of them have had their edges distressed (as has the photo itself. Some I have left white and some I have inked with Black Soot Distress Ink. The first is a square of the reverse of Zig Zag Bats, then there is a smaller piece of the reverse of Poisoned. On top of that I layered a square of muslin and then the photo. When it was all stuck down, I trimmed and teased the edge of the muslin until I got the effect I was looking for.

Tucked in on either side and at the top of the photo are some strips of Scary Stripe and two of the patterned strips from Borders - the Spiders and the Skulls & Skeletons words. Finally, the title is cut from Halloween Words. The letters have been given a bit of extra dimension with Glossy Accents. A Red Copper Skeleton Charm is leaning on the front of the 'S'.

Up in the top corner I have an embellishment cluster which features one of Tracy's new Antique Bronze Filigree Flowers. Inspired by Tracy's use of Liquid Pearls in the centre of her flower, I accented the centre of mine with red rhinestones (the larger one is one of these) and paired it with a small Antique Bronze clock. The chipboard Fish Net underneath is coloured with Black Soot Distress Stain, as is the small bird. The bird has the addition of a thin layer of Black Stickles, which gives it a bit of a sparkle. I added another red rhinestone for the bird's eye. The cluster is finished off using red and white roses and a Red Rose Bud.



 Next to the photo on the left there is a bit more chipboard, another small piece of Fish Net and a larger Scrapware Haunted House. As you can see from the photo, the Haunted House has a thin layer of Black Stickles, giving it a bit of sparkle. I added a die cut branch near the top and have two Red Copper Skeletons sitting on it. Three more roses add a bit of continuity between the embellishment cluster at the top and the one at the bottom of the page.



The main feature of this small cluster is the Antique Bronze Flower Filigree Flourish, with small red rhinestones in its centre. Added to it are a little bit more of that chipboard Fish Net, a tiny piece of muslin, another chipboard bird with a red rhinestone eye and a few roses - and a Red Rose Bud.

As a final touch, I added a larger bird ... this one sitting in a Scrapware nest on a couple more of the die cut branches - which I placed so that the black one is acting as a shadow to the brown. The nest is inked with Black Soot and Vintage Photo Distress Inks, and the bird, like the others, is a combination of Black Soot Distress Stain and Black Stickles.

Better hurry up and get your All Hallows Eve before I go back for a re-stock :)

Michele

New in Store now ...

Restock of mega popular the In Progress Folders
Tim Holtz Kraft No 24 (The blackest cardstock around, I reckon anyhow!)

and new Couture Creations Embossing Folders
available here in the embossing section
(There are 2 different sizes of the Present Folder)