i don't bite...usually.

Happy Monday everyone and welcome to the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge! This week our theme is called STITCH IT and we hope you will join us and have some fun featuring some stitching within your projects, whether that be hand or machine stitching, rubber stamps or any other kind of stitches that you would love to use!

For my project, I created a Halloween menu card, using one of my favourite stamp sets from the recent Tim Holtz release ~ Monster Reunion but I didn't stop there and I decided to combine it with a couple of older faves, Mr Bones and Tangled Webs to make this spooky scene! Also, what is fun about this card is that the actual scene is all created on one panel of watercolour card ~ so, if you wanted to post this card, just remove the Mummy Cloth wrap and it's perfectly flat to fit inside an envelope but by using inks, together with the different stamps and by adding light and shade to the images, this combines to give a wonderful depth and dimension.

So, let's get started and here's how I made this project...

To begin with I created a black tent fold card blank, measuring 15 x 19cm.

I then cut a panel of watercolour card which is going to be my 12.5 x 16.5cm. To start with I inked up the Count Dracula stamp from the Monster Reunion set with Black Soot Archival Ink and stamped it directly onto the smooth side of the watercolour card. I then watercolored the image with Distress Marker Pens before stamping the image a second time onto a post it note, fussy cutting it and then placing it over the top of the coloured image to form a mask.

Now that I have the mask in place, I can move on to making that background and eerie night sky and for this, I began by inking the entire card panel with Antique Linen Distress Ink. I then cut a circle to create the moon, approx 6cm in diameter and placed this directly onto my inked card panel, slightly overlapping the image of Count Dracula.

Taking a second Distress Ink Applicator Tool, I applied the second layer of colour, Hickory Smoke and again inked the entire background.

Remove the moon mask but keeping the image mask in place, I spritzed the background with a light misting of water which blended my inks together and then immediately heat dried the panel.

After smooshing some Old Paper Oxide Ink onto my glass mat and spritzing the ink with water, I then dipped my card panel into the inks, picking up the colour. Heat dry between layers, but keep dipping in and out to build up the intensity and create those small puddles of ink that you can see on the background. Repeat this process, but this time using Pumice Stone Distress Ink, followed by Black Soot ~ always remembering to dry the inks between layers.

Remove the mask from the image and then using Pumice Stone Distress Marker Pen and a water brush, just created a shadow around the outline of the image and beneath his feet.

For the tree branch that goes across the moon, I used the stamp from the Mr Bones stamp set and inked it with Black Soot Distress Ink, stamping it directly onto the panel.

I then added some Tangled Webs in the top right hand corner.

The little spider that hangs down from the branch is taken from the Halloween Remnant Rubs set and is just applied to the card panel.

Now to create the stitching for this challenge theme and for this I machine stitched a border around the outside of the card panel using straight stitching and zig zag stitching but leaving the ends of the thread to hang loose.

I matted the artwork onto black card, followed by a layer silver metallic kraft card before cutting a final layer of black card, applying some Old Silver Alchemy Wax around the edges and then matching stitching a border around this panel, again allowing the loose ends of the thread to hang...

For the Mummy Cloth wrap, I cut a strip of cloth and then dyed it with Iced Spruce and Peeled Paint Distress Spray Stains. Once it was dry, I wrapped it around my card layers and tied it into a knot, arranging the ends so that they don't just hang and attaching them to the background with a dab of Matte Collage Medium.

I then attached a Mini Pin on the left hand side. 

Mount the layered artwork onto the black card blank.

Taking a Halloween Token, I applied a small amount of Rusty Hinge and Black Soot Distress Paints to create a rusty effect. After heat drying the paint, I used the Picket Fence Distress Crayon to accentuate the wording by rubbing the crayon over the lettering and then gently wiping away the excess.

I attach the token over the top of the knot on the Mummy Cloth wrap and added a Hardware Head, again rusted with some Distress Paint.

To complete the scene, I used some die cut bats, which I cut from black card using the Bat Crazy die set and the Ghoulish die set. I then added some Antique Linen Oxide Inks to my mat, spritzed it with water and dipped the die cut bats into the ink. After drying them, it leaves a chalky residue on the card which looks perfect for my scene and after adding some highlights with a white pen and shaping the wings of the larger bat, I attached them to my panel, together with a gold die cut star.

Finally, the quote from the Monster Reunion stamp....this was just stamped onto a scrap of card that I'd cut from another project and then cut down to size. I then shaped it to create a slight curve to the card banner and attached it to the background, adding a couple of drops of Nuvo Stone Drops on either side. As the finishing touch, I cut the dates from the Halloween Remnant Rub Set and applied them below the quote banner.

So, I hope you've enjoyed the creative process behind this card and it's given you some ideas of how you can make these eerie halloween scenes that can then be used from invitations, menus or even just panels to display for halloween ~ the choice is up to you but hope you have fun creating them!

Have fun creating your projects and don't forget, you can find more inspiration from my talented teamies over on the challenge blog and every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today and hope to see you again soon, love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Monster Reunion, Mr Bones, Tangled Webs
Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Bat Crazy, Ghoulish
Distress Ink: Frayed Burlap, Antique Linen, Old Paper, Pumice Stone, Black Soot
Distress Oxide Inks: Old Paper, Antique Linen

Distress Spray Stain: Iced Spruce, Peeled Paint
Distress Marker Pens

Idea-ology: Mummy Cloth, halloween Tokens, Halloween Remnant Rubs, Hardware Heads, Mini Pins

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Archival Ink Set 3
Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock, Distress Watercolour Card, Black Card, Metallic Kraft Stash
Prima Marketing Alchemy Wax: Old Silver
Nuvo Stone Drops ~ Chalk White
Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat
Tim Holtz Watercolour Brush
Sakura Gelly Roll Pen

Heat Gun
Big Shot
Stamp Platform