Halloween | Hero Arts + Tim Holtz

Hi friends!  Today’s project is a fun Halloween card using the Hero Arts Beep Beep die set and some spooky characters from the Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Halloween Paper Dolls package.  Let’s get started!

The supplies used:

     Hero Arts – Beep Beep Die Set

     Sizzix/Tim Holtz – Moonlight Die Set

     Sizzix/Tim Holtz – Haunted House Die Set

     Waffle Flower – A6 Layers Die Set

     Trinity Stamps – October Night Sky Stencil Set

     Lawn Fawn – Hocus Purr-cus! Stamp Set

     Tim Holtz/Idea-ology – Halloween Paper Dolls

     Altenew – Cosmic Berry Cardstock

     Spellbinders – Royal Amethyst Cardstock

     Spellbinders – Raven Cardstock

     Spellbinders – Fog Cardstock

     Spellbinders – Sage Cardstock

     Impression Obsession – Bats for Halloween 6”x6” Paper Pack

     Altenew – Black Diamond Glitter Cardstock

     Gina K. Designs – Magic Masking Sheets

Ranger – Spun Sugar, Twisted Citron, Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord Distress Crayons

     Altenew – Grape Agate, Teal Tempest, Jet Black Fresh Dye Inks

     Ranger/Tim Holtz – Bundled Sage, Shabby Shutters, Forest Moss Distress Inks

     Ranger/Tim Holtz – Old Paper Distress Oxide Ink

     Hero Arts – Unicorn Pigment Ink

     Tsukineko - VersaFine Clair Nocturne Pigment Ink

     Altenew – Mini Blending Brushes

     Idea-ology/Tim Holtz – Distress Crayons:  Spun Sugar, Dusty Concord,

          Twisted Citron, Picked Raspberry

     Copic Sketch Alcohol Marker C4, Cool Grey No. 4

     Picket Fence Studios – Liquid Silver Locket Paper Splatter Watercolor

     Ranger Ink – Glossy Accents

     Altenew – 1” Black Double-Sided Adhesive Tape

     Scrapbook Adhesives – Black Thin 3D Foam Squares

     My Sweet Petunia – Original MISTI Stamping Tool

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Background Panel

I started the development of the background panel, by die cutting the smallest moon die outline and the smaller moon full die from the Sizzix/Tim Holtz Moonlight die set from a Gina K. Designs Magic Masking Sheet (for the full moon with detail die – keep the outside the moon scrap piece as well as the actual moon).  I die cut a piece of Spellbinders Sage cardstock using the second largest die from the Waffle Flower A6 Layers die set and die cut Spellbinders Raven cardstock using the largest die in this set.  I used a blending brush and inked the entire Sage panel using Distress Bundled Sage ink to give a darker tone than the Sage was presenting.  Once the ink dried, I added the moon mask that I die cut to the top center of the card so that the moon mask was only about 3/4” onto the card panel.  Next, I ink blended approximately an inch of Shabby Shutters Distress Ink around the edge of the moon.  I ink blended Forest Moss Distress Ink beginning at the edge of Shabby Shutters and continued the ink blending until the ink was blended about three fourths of the way down the cardstock panel.  For the bottom quarter of the ink blending, I used a very heavy layer of Altenew Teal Tempest Fresh Dye Ink since I was trying to come up with something more along the lines of a phthalo green and I didn’t own an ink color in that shade of green, then finished out the ink blending with Altenew Jet Black on the bottom edge.

Now back to the moon… I placed the “outside the moon” Masking Magic moon mask to protect the card’s background to mask off the moon.  I added a layer of Distress Old Paper Oxide Ink to serve as the surface of the moon.  Once the ink dried, I removed the outside the moon mask and added the mask that has the moon with the holes in it and inked the apertures with Distress Bundled Sage Ink.  Using the Trinity Stamps October Night Sky Stencil set, I used the stencil with the wispy clouds and inked them onto the upper portion of the background using Hero Arts Unicorn pigment ink and spattered the background with Picket Fence Liquid Silver Locket Paper Spatter and a small paint brush.  Alas, I could now set the background panel aside to fully dry.

Creating the Focal Point

Using the Hero Arts Beep Beep die set, I die cut the car twice from Spellbinders Purple Amethyst cardstock and glued the two car die cuts together, then partially cut it a third time from a patterned cardstock in the Impression Obsession “Bats for Halloween” paper pack so I could get the windshield negative piece to adhere behind the occupants of the vehicle.  Next, I used an Altenew Mini Blending Brush along with Altenew’s Grape Agate ink to add shading to the car die cut where I felt shading should be.  I die cut the other vehicle dies from these cardstocks:

     Side Mirrors, Metal Rings Around Lights, Front Bumper:  Brushed Silver Cardstock

     Tires:  Spellbinders Raven Cardstock

     Steering Wheel, License Plate:  Spellbinders Fog Cardstock

     Lights:  Spellbinders Sage Cardstock

Once the die cutting was completed, I glued all the car die cuts (except the license plate and negative, windshield piece) to their appropriate location onto the ink blended car die cut. 

After digging through the many options in the package of Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Halloween Paper Dolls package, I selected two of the paper dolls that made me giggle the most, positioned them behind the front window of the car, trimmed any excess that exceeded the edge of the car, and gave them a bit of color using Tim Holtz Distress Crayons before gluing them into place.  If you would like to use the same colors, I used:

     Cheeks:  Spun Sugar

     Dress:  Twisted Citron

     Suit Coat:  Picked Raspberry

     Suit Vest:  Dusty Concord

Of course, you don’t need to add color to the paper dolls, but I thought it added to the creepiness.  Once the people were glued behind the open windshield, I added the patterned paper windshield die cut and glued it in place behind the paper doll characters.  Next, I used a C4 Copic marker to add some dots to the steering wheel to give it some more interest and added Ranger’s Glossy Accents to the headlights and turn indicator lights then set the car aside to allow the Glossy Accents to dry.

Creating the Sentiment

For the sentiment, I placed the license plate die cut that was created using Fog cardstock during the Creating the Focal Point into my MISTI stamp positioner and used the HALLOWEEN sentiment from Lawn Fawn’s Hocus Purr-cus! stamp set along with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink to stamp the word onto the center of the license plate die cut.  Once the ink dried, I went around the edges of the Fog-colored license place with a black marker so it would stand out better against the brushed silver car bumper.

Assembling the Card

I added Altenew’s black Instant Dimension Foam Tape to the back side of the car of characters and adhered it to the lower front of the card’s background.  For the bats, I used the Sizzix/Tim Holtz Haunted House die set and Altenew’s Black Diamond Glitter Cardstock and die cut the little bat dies and used liquid glue to adhere them to the night sky.  I adhered the license plate onto the car’s bumper using black Instant Dimension Foam Tape.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really appreciate it.  Until next time, happy crafting!

2026 Holiday Card Series #1 | Merry Christmas Stitched Poinsettia

Hi friends!  Today marks the start of the 2026 Holiday Card Series where I try (LOL!) to have my holiday cards mostly completed before mid-November.  I’ve never tried stitching on cardstock before so I thought that would be a good start with attempting a technique I’m very new at… let’s make a card!

The supplies used:

Spellbinders – Stitched Poinsettia & Holly Die Set

     Taylored Expressions – Flickering Stencil

     Waffle Flower – A6 Piercing Layers Die Set

     Honey Bee Stamps – Simply Stated: Holiday Stamp and Die Set

     Spellbinders – Alabaster Cardstock

     Spellbinders – Merlot Colorwheel Cardstock

     Spellbinders – Poppy Field Color Essentials Cardstock

     Spellbinders – Sage Color Essentials Cardstock

     Concord & 9^th – Juniper Cardstock

     Anna Griffin – Gold Matte Foil Cardstock

     Simon Says Stamp – So Very Black Cardstock

     Tim Holtz/Idea-ology – Christmas Backdrops Patterned Paper Pack

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Old Paper Distress Oxide Ink Pad

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Lost Shadow Distress Oxide Ink Pad

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Black Soot Distress Oxide Ink Pad

     Simon Says Stamp – Sage Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad

     Simon Says Stamp – Eucalyptus Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad

     Simon Says Stamp – Sangria Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad

     Simon Says Stamp – Cabernet Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad

     Scrapbook.com – Foam Ink Blending Tool

     Scrapbook.com – All Purpose Craft Scraper Tool

     Altenew – Mixed Media Palette Knife

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Opaque Distress Texture Paste

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide Spray

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Shabby Shutters Distress Oxide Spray

     Iuile Watercolors – Gold (Q21)

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Distress Splatter Brush

     DMC – Gold Diamant Thread (D3852)

Embroidery Needle

     Honey Bee Stamps – Holiday Wishes Gems Stickers

     Tsukineko - VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad

     Ranger Ink – Super Fine Detail Black Embossing Powder

WOW! Heat Embossing Tool

     My Sweet Petunia – MISTI Original Stamping Tool

     Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

     Scrapbook Adhesives – Thin 3D Foam Squares

     Scor-Tape Double Sided Adhesive

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Background Panel

I started the background by using a foam ink blending tool and Tim Holtz’s Distress Oxide Ink Pads in the colors Lost Shadow and Old Paper.  I ink blended the two colors in random places on a 5”x7” piece of Spellbinders Alabaster cardstock then spattered clean water with my fingertips across the inky panel and picked up the excess water droplets with a paper towel.  Next, I applied a layer of Distress Opaque Texture Paste through the Taylored Expressions Flickering stencil to the background using an Altenew palette knife and my Scrapbook.com craft scraper tool.  Once completed, I set the panel aside to dry completely.

After the panel dried, I used my Tim Holtz Splatter Brush and spattered Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide Spray – heat dried the panel –Shabby Shutters Distress Oxide Spray – heat dried the panel - and lastly a heavy spattering of Iuile Watercolors’ Gold (Q21) watercolor paint then I set the background aside to dry again.  I die cut a piece of Simon Says Stamp So Very Black cardstock using the largest die in the Waffle Flower A6 Piercing Layers die set and die cut the inky, pasted background using the second largest die in the die set.  Using Scor-Tape, I adhered the two background layers together.

Creating the Focal Point

Using the Spellbinders Stitched Poinsettia and Holly stitching die set, I die cut more green and red leaves than I’ll ever need from the following cardstock colors:

     Red Leaves:  Spellbinders Merlot and Poppy Field

     Green Leaves:  Spellbinders Sage and Concord & 9^th Spruce

     Foil Centers:  Matte Gold Anna Griffin Foil Cardstock with

               Honey Bee Stamps Gold Gem Stickers at Center

Before stitching the elements, I added a bit of depth to each leaf by lightly ink blending the edges with Simon Says Stamp inks in the colors Eucalyptus (light green leaves), Sage (dark green leaves), Cabernet (Poppy Field leaves), and Sangria (Merlot leaves).  I used DMC Diamont gold thread and an embroidery needle to stitch the accents onto all the die cuts.  After the stitching was completed, I glued a Poppy Field stitched die cut on top of a Merlot stitched die cut then placed one of the matte gold foil die cuts that serve as the poinsettia center to the middle of the stacked poinsettia leaves.  Once the glue dried, I adhered three gems from the Honey Bee Stamps Holiday Wishes Gem Stickers to the center, matte gold foiled die cut piece – I repeated these steps a second time to create another poinsettia bloom.

I selected one of the backdrop sheets from the Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Christmas Backdrops patterned paper pack and trimmed the paper by first, die cutting it with the second largest die from the Waffle Flower A6 Piercing Layers die set so the edges of this panel would line up perfectly and have the paper piercing that the inky/texture paste covered background panel has, then I cut this height of the patterned paper to measure 2.25 inches.  Next, I die cut a 2.5” tall scrap of the Simon Says Stamp So Very Black cardstock with the same Waffle Flower die as the patterned paper (again, I’m trying to maintain the pierced edge as the other layers).  I used Scor-Tape to adhere the black cardstock panel to the card front and used glue to adhere the patterned paper on top of the black cardstock panel. 

I arranged the five green leaves and both poinsettia flowers to the card front and used liquid glue to adhere them to the card front once I was satisfied with the positioning.  I did have to add a few small foam squares to three of the top flower’s leaves to help level them out with the other elements.

Creating the Sentiment

For the sentiment, I used a scrap piece of the inked background (before I added the texture paste) and used the Honey Bee Stamps Simply Stated: Holiday stamp and die set to stamp “Merry Christmas in VersaMark embossing ink which I heat embossed with Ranger’s Super Fine Detail Black embossing powder.  I die cut the stamped sentiment and applied a very light amount of Distress Black Soot Oxide Ink to the edges to distress the look a bit and added small foam adhesive squares and liquid glue to adhere it to the card’s focal point. 

Assembling the Card

I added strips of Scor-Tape behind the background panel and adhered them to an A6, side-folding card base to help flatten the pasted background that can sometimes warp in the drying process.   My final touch was adding a few more of the Honey Bee Stamps Holiday Wishes gem stickers to the card front to complete the look. 

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really appreciate it.  Until next time, happy crafting!

Love You | Tim Holtz Idea-ology & Spellbinders

Hi friends!  Today’s project is a quick anniversary card that’s so easy to make using products from Tim Holtz’s Ranger and Idea-ology lines as well as a couple products from Spellbinders.  Let’s see how this goes!  

The supplies used were:

Spellbinders “Brushed Black” Cardstock

Spellbinders “Precision Layering A2 A” Dies

Tim Holtz / Idea-ology Paper Dolls

Spellbinders “Tiled Hearts” Embossing Folder

Spellbinders “Sneaking a Kiss” Die Set

Tim Holtz / Idea-ology Metallic Colors Kraft-Stock (Pink)

Tim Holtz / Idea-ology 8 x 8 Paper, “Limited Release from the Vault - Wallflower”

Tim Holtz / Ranger Distress Crayons – Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar

Tim Holtz / Idea-ology Paper Dolls

Q-Tips (for adding color to the paper dolls)

Paper Sanding Block

Scrapbook.com 1” Foam Adhesive Roll, 1mm

Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

I started the card by die cutting the Spellbinders Brushed Black cardstock and a piece of the metallic pink Kraft-Stock from Tim Holtz / Idea-ology using the Spellbinders “Precision Layering A2 A” dies – the black was cut using the largest die in the set and the pink metallic was cut using the second to largest die.  I then embossed the metallic pink Kraft-Stock panel using the Spellbinders “Tiled Hearts” embossing folder.  After embossing the metallic pink panel, I used a fine grit paper sanding block and scuffed up the edges of the panel and lightly sanded the surface of the panel to dull the finish and allow the paper’s core to be revealed… essentially, I distressed the panel a bit.  The last panel was diecut using the same Spellbinders A2 layering dies, but this time I used the third largest die and diecut a piece of the Tim Holtz / Idea-ology “Limited Release from the Vault – Wallflower” papers that I felt matched my theme the best.

Now for my focal point.  From the Tim Holtz / Idea-ology Paper Dolls pack, I selected a couple who appeared to be from a wedding photo and began to selectively colorize some of the paper doll’s features using my Tim Holtz / Ranger Distress Crayons.  I colored the bride’s flowers and groom’s boutonniere and pocket square using Picked Raspberry and used Spun Sugar for both of their cheeks.  Lastly, I added strips of 1mm foam tape to the back side of the bridal couple.

I added 1mm foam tape to the reverse side of my pink embossed panel and adhered it to the center of the brushed black cardstock panel.  I also added the same foam adhesive to the back side of the patterned paper and adhered it to the metallic pink panel.

For my sentiment and embellishments, I chose to use the Spellbinders “Sneaking a Kiss” die set from their December 2023 release and diecut the “love you” and string of hearts dies from the same metallic pink cardstock as the embossed panel.

I glued the love, you, and heart loop die cuts to the card front using my married couple as a guide on placement.  Then I used the negatives from the string of heart die cuts – which left me with three little pink hearts – to utilize as my only embellishments for the card front which I glued in place after adhering the lovely married couple onto the card.  And that’s a wrap!

I hope you enjoyed this quirky little anniversary card that was so much fun to make and possibly found inspiration for some of your own card making projects.   

Until next time… happy making!