September Stamp of the Month - THRILLER

This is the September Stamp of the Month.  It's different than my usual flower stamps, but I think it'll be fun to work with it.  I think it's kind of Tim Burton-ish...especially that Dracula n the upper right hand corner.  Most people think it looks like Ed Hardy's tatoo style.  (But not me, I'm a rebel.)

My friend, Jean, who loves the ghoulish stuff has a strange attraction to this stamp set.  I knew she would as soon as I saw it!  I was really excited that I got to see her briefly during my trip to China (with a stop over in Hawaii where she lives).  Here we are at the beach.  You'd never know she likes the evil-looking stamp sets!  (She looks like such a nice person!)

I wanted to do a variation of Jean's Thriller card, but I was having a mental block with it.  Here's my rejects -- lest you think that my cards "come easy."  Usually I don't have this hard of a time, but the creepy stamp sets just aren't my style!  Give me flowers any day of the week!

First I tried brayering black ink on white paper and stamping with bleach to fade the black ink.  As you can see, it looks kind of cool and spidery, but you can barely see the bleached out part.

THEN I tried white embossing powder on white paper.  Then I brayered black ink on it:

THEN I tried white embossing powder on white paper...with orangy and reddish ink swished on the background (instead of the black ink.)  I really didn't like that!

THEN I decided to stamp with black ink on the white paper with the orangy and reddish ink on top of that.  (I also sponged some black on top so that it was a little darker.  It looked OK, so the I could (FINALLY) focus on the skull.  I wanted the skull white, so I stamped the skull in black on white paper.  Then I stamped the skull on a piece of post-it paper and cut out the skull (to make a mask).  I then put the post-it skull over the stamped black skull and smeared ink on it (with a wadded up Kleenex tissue).  I used Sorbet, Autumn Terracotta and Tulip.  It doesn't look too bad...my daughter thinks this card is too scary and I should make it pink with glitter.  Clearly, she doesn't understand the concept of spooky.

Still, I'm not loving it...but it's a big improvement from the black cards...So now I'm getting tired of playing with this stamp set!  As much as I like the Kleenex-ink-smearing-technique, I'm thinking maybe a different technique would be better.  How about sandpapering?

So I stamped the skull in black and took the finest grit on the Close To My Heart sandpaper and ground off some of the face on the skull.  I've NEVER liked (or used) the finest grit, because I always thought the result was too wimpy looking...BUT it's great for rubbing off just a little color in an even fashion.  I used the roughest grit to distress the edges of the card.

I put a antiqued copper brad through his eye socket, for maximum creepiness.  I cut the "trick or treat" stamp set so the words were separated.  The tag is from the office supply store.  (It already looks like a tombstone!)

I think he kind of looks like the Wizard of Oz.  Maybe if I tilted the head a little bit next time, it would be better...

Supplies Used:

THRILLER - September Stamp of the Month (D1442, $22.95 - or you can get a discount on it or get it for free.  Email me for details)

Smokey Plum Card Stock (1291, $9.50 for 24 sheets)

Goldrush Card Stock (1243, $9.50 for 24 sheets)

Autumn Terracotta Ink (Z2101, $5.25)

Black Ink (Z2105, $5.25)

Grey Wool Ink (Z2125, $5.25)

Sponge (Z697, $1.25)

Sanding Kit (Z1294, $3.50)

Metal Brad Assortment (Z1217, $4.95 for 160 brads)

Clear Jelly-Roll Gel Pen