Thursday, September 22, 2011

Some creatures can't 'resist' temptation! ;o)

Once upon a time, there was a scary snarfy
little creature lurking in the shadows...



....sniffling & sneaking up on her prey...



...and she couldn't resist devouring it! ;o)




Here's what Miss Mouse has been eating
in her spare time:

Black cat lamp hanging mel stampz
(I guess there's only room for one spooky kitty around here!)

It's a Halloween decoration
("No Duh!" hey?)
It's the size of a standard A2 card: 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" +the border.


There are holes pierced right through it...

005

...so that the light
sparkles through like stars...

pin hole stars

...when you hang it on a lamp:

lamp hanging pin hole stars mel stampz
(I used chain to hang it, so there's no fire hazard
& just stuck the chain over the finial at the top of the lamp shade)

Wish you could see the sparkly star action in person;
it looks much better in real life.



It started out as these pieces:
All the main pieces for black cat lamp hanging

I made this thinger for the Simon Says Stamps
resist challenge at Lily Pad Cards here

and tried to come up with a new resist technique
for the background...

So next post here will be a tutorial on how to go from
this piece of patterned paper:

1) Pressure emboss a piece of patterned paper (or plain cardstock or stamped) in an embossing folder

to this texture:

.

The cat is an image from Claire Keay's Halloween extras.

Claire Keay cat with circle behind Scraped away shimmer paint from cat B4 scored fur texture

I pasted a circle behind it in photoshop & coloured it as a moon
with distress inks (Mustard Seed & Pumice Stone)
then painted over that with shimmer paint.

But the cat got covered in shimmer, which looked awfully schloppy
at first, then turned out to be a happy accident when I scratched off the
paint and made fur texture on him (using a paper piercer):

.

It left some shimmer so it looks like he's kind of sparking in the moonlight.

fur texture -Close
(It's goofy, but I'm obsessed with texture).

The Fence:

The fence was cut free-hand from a digi patterned paper that
I made using Hero Arts Woodgrain digital stamp printed in beige
on Kraft cardstock:

Fence cut from DIY digi patterned paper Hero Arts Woodgrain on Kraft

The fence posts have wavy cuts in them to make them look more spooky:

fence curvy edges

To give them more grainy texture, I score lines in them using a paper piercer
(following the lines of the printed woodgrain).

fence scratched texture

The Mini Banner:

BOO banner

The teeny "BOO" banner was made by:

1) Typing BOO in a word document in red leaving space around them "B O O"
2) Printing it out on watercolour paper.
3) drawing triangles around them in pencil, cutting them out & erasing the pencil.
4) Piercing around the edges & stitching with yellow thread (by hand).
5) Adhering the banner triangles to the fence.
6) Piercing & stitching around them to add the blue bow & banner thread.

The Spider Web Border:

Spider web EK success edge punch

The spider web border at the bottom was made using an EK Success
large spider web edger punch (that was sent to me by the lovely Megan)
Thanks Megan. I love it!

I especially like that the web is wide enough that you could add doodling,
or little spiders in the center like these gem guys:

gem & thread spiders

They are made of thread & black gems, like this...

1) Threading a needle so it has 4 'layers' of thread
2) Piercing two holes in the spider web center
3) Putting the needle through the front so it leaves the thread ends on the front
4) Holding the ends in place & bringing the needle back out front again
5) Adhering the thread at the back & trimming it at the front
6) It should look like 8 legs when you stick gems on
7) Adhere one black gem for the spider body & a smaller one for the head


And That's that!
Hope you're having a lovely day,


21 comments:

Michelle's Inky Fingers said...

I love the resist! Cannot wait to see how you did this!!! Post that tutorial soon!!! Great card - thanks for sharing your talent!!!

Crafty Loops said...

Brilliant, love the photos of your cat. Fab breakdown too on how you made it, thank you so much for sharing all those details. Lee (Ps. I have a big blog candy give away on my blog is you fancy a wee peep) xx

Holly Young said...

Oh gosh, I love the holes and can't wait to discover how you did that background piece. The little spiders in the web border reminds me of cat's noses with their little whiskers!

Jennifer said...

Hi Mel,

This Halloween decoration is absolutely EXQUISITE!!! :) I love it!

Thanks so much for sharing,

Jennifer
partridgelu at yahoo dot com

Chris said...

This is another one of those "stop me in my tracks" sorta post that you always throw out!! :) Love it - every single detail but especially how that DP went to a thing of beauty. I can't "resist" your work Mel!!

Rufus said...

WOW..can't wait to find out how you did that resist. Mouse obviously has good taste!
R/

sunghee said...

Teeheehee. I wouldn't been able to resist it either. Amazing creation, once again!

Sharon Field / Inky A*Muse-ment said...

LOL... what a cute cat! They do the funniest things don't they? Once we had one chew an antennae cord from a radio alarm clock... LOL the radio didn't work after that!
Loved today's card and details, great inspiration Margaret!

Sharon Field / Inky A*Muse-ment said...

OOps.. Mel!
Fabulous card!

Unknown said...

LOVE this project - am going to have a go later

Dawn said...

Cute,cute,cute!! Right down to the little spiders...the only way they can be cute!!
Looove the dp...creative you!
Hugs to Mouse and you too!!

Ruth S said...

Fab project Mel - I love all the details you always bring into your work ;)
Rx

liannallama said...

EXQUISITE! Every detail you do is amazing!

Erum Tasneem said...

Why are cats attracted to our craft stuff?? i dont get it!
Your boo boo with the cat actually looks like you did some extra hardwork to make her hair look shiny black! What a brilliant accident Mel! I wish i had brilliant accidents LOL
I love the texture you create with a piercer, it always looks different and unique.
I so wish I had that woodgrain digi!
I can see the holes and I can imagine how much more beautiful it must look in person.
I like that resist technique, did you ink up your folder?! will wait for the tutorial.
The moon looks beautiful. your stitching is as always fabulous. another brilliant work of art!

Tracey said...

Fantastic Halloween decoration Mel & wonderful instructions & photos as always :) I love to visit your blog for loads of inspiration (thank you).
Hugs
Tracey
xx

Meg@MegaCrafty said...

Super cute- I love how it turned out. And the cat eating is is really funny! lol.

Curt in Indy said...

Gosh, it's been so long since I've come for a visit! It sure is good to be here and see your wonderful Halloween decoration. After all this time, I see that not only have you not lost your creativity, you've only gotten better. I really love this project you have posted. As always, I adore the detail you put into your marvelous creations. I so hope you are doing well. . . Best, Curt

g said...

LOVE this Mel & oh that Mouse is a character LOL! i can't wait until you can share your resist technique- it's so gorgeous!!! this is just adorable & i love all the shimmer & 'stars'!

Lydia Fiedler said...

GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH - this is awesome!!!!!

And Mouse is quite possibly the cutest cat in the world!!! I LOVE HER!

Lisa said...

Love every single detail! Brilliant!

alexandra s.m. said...

This is incredible Mel!
Pure "black" Magic this time for sure ;o)

Love it!
Many many "merci" to you for sharing your art so generously with us!