Michael Strong Card of the Day - Fermented Friday

Here is my final card of the week.  It is a center step card and totally out of bounds for mailing.  I just gave up at the end.  Anyhow she can hand this one to someone.  So much more personal.

The ghosts are punched out of vellum so they are transparent -- just like real ghosts.

Hope everyone has a terrifically terrifying Halloween!

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes)

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Tenebrous Technique Thursday

My technique for this Thursday is "Ghosting".  I stamped a word script stamp with Versamark onto some glossy paper and then rubbed some black ink over top.  The ink resisted where the Versamark was stamped onto it for a ghostly look.  Then I stamped Mike's spooky tree on top.

Alas this card also did not go through the card slot and extra postage was needed.  Again I probably should have seen it coming but I honestly thought all the dimensionals I used to pop up the image would just squish flat.  Oh well.  I was still trying at this point.

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes)

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Wayward Wednesday

My card of the day finds me finally stepping over to the dark side of embellishments with that "Boo!" sticker.  It was plastic and therefore didn't squish down so it pushed the postage machine over the edge and into extra postage.  My sister was not happy.  On a brighter note, once I finally became corrupt I was free to let my creative juices loose and do whatever kind of card I wanted.  (Yes, I noted that it didn't take me long...)

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes)

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Turbulent Tuesday

Here is my card for today.  Notice I have a bit of an embellishment here (even though I was told not to).  I justified it at the time by saying that it would lie flat through the mail however looking back I realize that this was my first step towards open rebellion...

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes)

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Murky Monday

This card is a pretty simple one.  I give these to my sister who has forbidden me from adding on embellishments because they cost more for her to mail.  The sky is sponged in Broken China and the spiderweb in the corner is embossed in white.

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes)

Blog Hop!

Hopefully you came here from Hetty's blog but if not you can start the blog hop here at Michael Strong's blog.

I made a Halloween card for the blog hop.  For this spooky card I took 3 squares of cardstock (3x3, 4x4, 5x5) and layered them on top of one another.  Then I randomly stamped Mike's cat and a spiderweb stamp in black craft ink on top.  When the ink was still wet I sprayed on some Dylusions sprays (Lemon Zest and Squeezed Orange) and then splattered with some black ink.  The ink ran a bit to get a cool, spooky effect.  After the pieces were dry I pulled the pieces apart and matted them with some black cardstock.  I then put on some clear embossing paste with a small circle stencil in some places and let dry.  I added some black ribbon and some orange fiber and added a tag with the sentiment.  Hope you like!

There will be a name drawn from all the people who comment on the blogs and the winner will get Mike's new Pumpkin Harvest stamp set! 

Next up on the Blog Hop is Peg:

http://stampinwiththescottishlass.blogspot.ca/

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes)

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Fiendish Friday

First I used a Tim Holtz stencil and sponged a bit in black.  Then I embossed the cat with black embossing powder.

 Next I sprayed on a bit of homemade green Bister spray.

 Then I sponged around all but the bottom right corner with Ripe Persimmon.

 Then I used another Tim Holtz stencil and some black distress paint and sponged on some dots.

Finally I added some yellow paint onto the eyes and nose and cut it out and mounted it on black cardstock.

I had this weeks Sweet Sunday sketch (#241) in mind for this and here's how it turned out:

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Toxiferous Technique Thursday

First I want to say that today's card REALLY shocked and horrified me!   Last week the Tim Holtz blog had some tutorial where they made the same tag with all different kinds of paper to show just how different a look each paper produced.  What a GREAT idea!  So I tried that and I must say I was VERY surprised about the results. 

Since it's Thursday I need to show a technique.  The technique I'm showing today is the Wrinkle Free Distress Technique.  I'm not really doing it exactly right though but there is a tutorial on SplitCoastStampers if you want to check it out.  Basically what I think is the whole point of this whole blog post is to show you how the different papers look.  The technique doesn't really count for anything so that's why I wasn't really concerned about doing it "properly".

So here goes:

The papers I used were Glossy paper, Watercolour paper and Stampin Up! Naturals White and Whisper White paper.  I kept them in the same place throughout this tutorial so you can tell which is which.  Now normally I would have just used Whisper White paper which is my normal paper to stamp with so I was expecting that to work out the best.  Here are the 4 tags.  See the glare on the Glossy paper?  Get used to that:

 For the Wrinkle Free Distress technique you are supposed to not get the colours mixed up but I didn't pay much attention to details when I was reading it so I kinda skipped over that one.  Anyhow I layered Seedless Preserves on top, Ripe Persimmon in the middle and Peeled Paint on the bottom then misted with water.  My mister is a bit funky so there are large drips on the bottom where I held the mister.

 Now I put the tags into the mess.  I didn't drag them or move them in any way.

 Here's the result when I flipped them over.  Right here I noticed a BIG difference in the papers.  The Glossy paper had the most vibrant colour while the Whisper White paper (far right) had the least.  Here's where I was shocked and horrified.  My go to paper worked BY FAR the worst! 

 Now I put some water in my hand and flung it on each of the tags.  The tutorial doesn't do that, but again I wasn't really paying too much attention to it.  Again my WW paper just doesn't look very good.  But I was loving the watercolour one...

 Here is the result when dry.  I did dry with a heat gun to make it quicker.  Here my favourite tag is the watercolour one with the glossy a very close second.  Wasn't too crazy about the other ones but they do get better...

 So now I stamped on Mike's spooky tree.  The Glossy paper actually stuck to the stamp and I had to peel it off but the black ink (Black Soot) covered the entire stamped area on this tag and not on the rest.  You can see how the black is faded quite a bit on the rest.

 So I touched up the inking with a Black Soot marker (not the Glossy one -- it didn't need touching up).

 I sponged around the top with Seedless Preserves, Ripe Persimmon in the middle and Peeled Paint on the bottom. 

 Then I added some dots with Black Soot and a stencil.

At this point I had the cardstock ready that I wanted to add the tag onto but the tag didn't show up quite as much as I wanted so I added some Black Soot sponging around the edges of the tag.  Then I added some ribbon dyed with the Seam Binding Ribbon Dying technique from the Oct/Nov 2014 issue of Technique Junkies (I used the same 3 colours as in the tag) to get this:

 Then I added a couple of glitter stickers to get my 4 tags.  Now before this experiment I would have just used Whisper White because I always tend to use Whisper White but it was actually my least favourite tag.  The Watercolour one was my favourite and the Glossy one came in second because the colour was so vibrant.  Between the Naturals and the Whisper White I far preferred the Naturals just because I thought the colour worked better on it.  Anyhow definitely something to try to see what paper you like best.  I think Tim's point was that there is no right or wrong, good or bad just differences and some people like one paper better and some like another.  On the tutorial the lady didn't like her watercolour one at all but I liked mine best (and to be fair I liked her's the best also so I guess we just have different taste...)  So give it a try and see what YOU like!

 So here are the cards:

This is the card made with the watercolour paper and still my favourite on the cardstock (Rich Razzleberry and Lucky Limeade.)

This is the glossy one that I don't feel looks as good on the card because there is a big difference in the card paper look and the glossy tag look. 

This is the Naturals tag and I do like it much better now that it is complete and on some cardstock.

This is the Whisper White tag and again I do like it much better now that it is complete and on some cardstock.  There were some tense moments for it though...it almost didn't make it after that first dip.  I REALLY didn't like it at that point...  But I think it looks better on the card then the Glossy one just because it matches the whole subdued paper look.  (On it's own the Glossy totally wins out.)

Anyhow next time rather than reaching for your normal everyday paper try using a few more to see which YOU like best!

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes)

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Wrathful Wednesday

This card started out with me embossing Mike's spooky tree with black embossing powder on watercolour paper and then sprinkling on some yellow Bister and spraying with water to get this.

Next I sprayed with some handmade black Bister spray.

Then I sponged on some Gathered Twigs over a honeycomb stencil.

I cut out an oval shape and mounted on some Black paper and some Early Espresso textured paper that I ripped and sponged.  Then added some glitter bats and a glitter boo!

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes)

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Trepid Tuesday

This card only uses a tiny bit of this next piece.  It started to use the whole thing but then the card just went it's own way for some reason (okay, I messed up).  So it started with some black Bister that I sprayed with some Dylusions sprays (Lemon Zest, Squeezed Orange) and let dry.

From there I stamped Mike's witch on with black craft ink but I smeared the back of it with my hand accidentally.  So then I could either throw it away or only use the front part.  I had a film image in my head for some reason so decided to put her in film!  I sponged on some Brick Red ink through a stencil then cut out the thin strip I wanted and put the film die cut on top.  I cut out Mike's pumpkin and coloured with Ripe Persimmon and Gathered Twigs markers.  I added a few leaves that were cut out from some leftover Bister fun and then sponged with various inks and some linen string and a glitter bat.  The background was partially stamped in Canvas and then sponged around the edges.  Here's the result:

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes),  Stampin Up! (Canvas, House of Haunts)

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Miscreant Monday

This card started out with a Bister base.  I put a bit of natural Bister on some watercolour paper and sprayed with water.  I let dry and then sprayed with some home made green Bister spray.  Then I applied some Dusty Concord ink on with a diamond stencil and stamped the spooky tree from the Spooky Silhouettes set.  Here's what it looked like now:

I cut that out, sponged around the edges with Dusty Concord and matted with black.  I mounted on some Perfect Plum paper that I also added a bit of Dusty Concord on with the same diamond stencil.  I printed out Mike's digital pumpkin (I want a REAL pumpkin stamp please please Mike!) in a couple different sizes and coloured with Ripe Persimmon and Gathered Twigs markers.  Then I cut them out and applied some glossy accents all over the pumpkins and let dry.  I added a few bats, some orange brads and a glitter "Boo" sticker.

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes)

Eerily Batty

I LOVE Halloween!  Tomorrow I start my Halloween card countdown for the Michael Strong Yahoo Group.  Today will be a preview of the horrors to come!

First I stamped on the tree from the Spooky Silhouettes stamp set.

 Then I used the leftover paper from a Tim Holtz movers and shapers bat and used some embossing paste and added in a few bats.

 When the embossing paste was dry I sprayed on some home made mahogany Bister spray right in the middle of the tree.  It was pretty watered down so it came out kinda pink.  Then I sprayed on some Dylusions Crushed Grape aound the edges.

 The bats didn't stand out enough so I painted them with black distress paint.

When it was dry I added some crackle accents which made the pink come out even more. 

 I added a ribbon dyed using the Seam Binding Ribbon Dying technique from the Oct/Nov 2014 issue of Technique Junkies and added a pink and purple paper border. 

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes)

Bister Drips

I was playing around with my Bister again -- this time with a stencil.  So I put the stencil over the paper and sprinkled a bit of black Bister on top:

  Then I sprayed with some Dylusions spray (Crushed Grape):

 The result wasn't quite what I wanted so I decided to spray with another Dylusions spray (Fresh Lime).  This looked pretty cool and when it dried I got this:

 Perfect for a Halloween card!

I tried out the "Drips" technique from the Oct/Nov 2014 issue of Technique Junkies.  For this I used Fired Brick re-inker so it would look like blood dripping down the page.  I stamped on the spooky tree and added a glitter bat and some vellum with a sentiment.  The layout is based on this weeks MFT sketch.

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes)

Warty, Wild&Wacky Wednesday

Here's my last Halloween card!  The background was made using Distress Stains (Wild Honey, Ripe Persimmon and Rusty Hinge) and then Distress ink (Wild Honey) was blended around the edge.  I stamped a script stamp on the top right with Distress ink (Rusty Hinge) and then stained crinkle ribbon with the Distress Stains I used above.  Hope everyone has a GREAT Halloween and don't let the spooks get you!

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Torturous Tuesday

Some spooks stole all of Herma's Halloween cards so I decided to show some of my rejects from last week.  The only thing I need is a scary adjective that starts with "W" -- I used "wicked" last week for Wednesday.  Any ideas for tomorrow?

For this one I used some Distress stains (Wild Honey, Ripe Persimmon) and then stamped Mike's Spooky Cat in Black Soot Distress ink.  The leaves are a Tim Holtz die cut with matching embossing folder.  I think this one got rejected because it was a little bit boring.  Anyhow here it is: