Halloween Happiness!

Aloha, all!

     Halloween Happiness seemed to be the right title for this blog post as that's the name of the stamp set that I chose for today!   The Stamp Set, Halloween Happiness, is really just one stamp in the "set."  I love these single stamps because (1) they don't cost as much as sets with multiple stamps and (2) they're usually so much fun with which to be creative.  And I tried very hard to be creative with the way I put today's project together!

     Yes, all those pumpkins, their stems and the greeting are all on one stamp!  But I couldn't just stamp them all in one color.  And all lined up like that in their pumpkin patch, I couldn't just leave them lying flat on that Very Vanilla Card Stock. 

     To make up this image, I stamped the image 4 times, once each in Always Artichoke, Tangerine Tango, Pumpkie Pie, and Cajun Craze.  The Always Artichoke image became the main image on which I built the rest of the picture.  I cut out each individual pumpkin from their respective colored stamp, and then adhered each to the Always Artichoke layer.  I used SNAIL mono adhesive to adhere the tall pumpkin (2nd from right) directly onto the base image.  Then I used Mini Glue Dots to adhere the left and right images, to give them a bit of a lift from the base image.  And finally I used Stampin' Dimensionals to really give some dimension to the happy Jack-o-lantern, who really is the main focus of this image, after all!  To accent this image, I applied two rows of Washi Tape from the Witches' Brew collection just below the greeting.

     Now for the card base.  As I started this card, I planned to cut this image out with one of the Labels Collection Framelits and then mat it with a framelit a size larger.  But I'd done that a lot already, and started tapping my fingers on my work table trying to decide what to do with these cute little guys.  Aha!  Why not frame THEM!  So off I went to find some Pumpkin Pie Card Stock.  I made a standard 5-1/2" wide by 4-1/4" high card and used one of the framelits to cut an opening in the center.  Cute!  But not very creative, and I'm on a creative binge at the moment.  I glanced over at the framelits set, and that largest one almost reached up and grabbed me.  "Take me!" it called.

     So the largest framelit became the shape of the card itself.  I folded up another piece of Pumpkin Pie Card Stock and ran it through the Sizzix Big Shot with the largest frame, making sure that the fold was below the cutting line at the top of the framelit so that my card stayed intact.

     After that the ideas just fell into place.  I used two of the other framelits to cut a shape to frame the frame (can you do that?) from the Witches' Brew Designer Series Paper set and actually cut the stamped image layer with another of the framelits, too.  Then I adhered the stamped layer onto the inside of the card front using Stampin' Dimensionals.  With the stamped image cut with a framelit, even in the inside of the card looks decorative.  To allow the card to stand up the way I wanted it to, I snipped just a bit from the bottom front of the shaped card.

     This will definitely be a fun card to send out to one of my grandchildren for Halloween, maybe with a little treat inside!