A Haunting Sky Card

To begin with this card was easy to put together but some planning had to be in place for where to start - I used a couple of older Stampin Up stamp sets for this Halloween card:

The tree/owl stamp is from the SU stamp set House of Haunts with the holiday greeting from the SU Web Wishes stamp set. Now to black ink... it isn't always the ink that does not work out or the stamp you are using. Many times it is the card stock. This photo shows two stamped images using ColorBox black ink but the stamped images are different in shade:

The stamped image on the left is stamped on white/GP card stock. The stamped image on the right is stamped onto Whisper White card stock from Stampin Up.  With my image and card stock chosen I began making my card. #110 weight black card stock base is from Mikes and prints are from the stash. Cut and scored the black card stock base with the scored line at the top. Cut my two prints to the size I wanted for the card front. Set these all aside.

For the stamped image -- to begin with I decided I wanted to use a rectangle frame die for the black frame around the stamped image. Cut out a black frame using a rectangle frame die that would fit over the stamped tree/owl with the moon piece.  I cut a piece of Whisper White card stock larger than the black frame and I used a piece of white/GP for my masking piece:

This masking piece is wider and longer than the white piece I was using for the stamped card front piece.  First I punched out a circle for the mask for the moon on my stamped image. Using temporary adhesive I put the circle piece onto the Whisper White for the card front. Using the Stampin Up Detailed Floral die set once again I sponged clouds on my piece. Here is the template/stencil I had made before to make clouds on cards:

For this card I sponged SU Going Gray over the template/stencil piece moving it around and turning it over as I sponged so as not to have a striped cloud pattern across my card front. With the clouds all sponged on the piece I removed the circle for the moon. Put the masking piece over my sponged cloud piece and covered that with SU Daffodil Delight ink with a sponge, leaving a little white showing. With the mask still in place I went over that using SU Pumpkin Pie ink and a sponge. Removed the masking piece. Here is a photo to show the clouds:

I laid the black die cut frame piece over the clouds/moon piece being sure the full moon would be inside the frame piece. Using the black ColorBox ink I stamped my tree/owl stamp onto the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig clear sheet so I would be sure my image was inside the area my black frame die cut piece would be. Once I had the placement correct I removed the stamped clear sheet and the black frame die cut piece and stamped my tree/owl image onto the card front. With that stamped I put the black frame die cut piece over my stamped image and used a pencil to make light pencil lines so I would know where to trim off the stamped image piece to fit behind the frame piece. With that trimmed I used the ATG and put the black frame onto my stamped image. Cut  a black craft foam sheet to fit behind this piece for the card front. Put the stamped image onto the black craft foam piece using double sided tape. Cut a piece of light gray #110 weight card stock from Mikes to put the framed piece on.

With the card base cut and scored I used the ATG to put the dotted card stock and the candy corn printed card stock onto the black card stock base. Using the ATG I put the stamped image piece onto the black card stock base. For the greeting "Happy Halloween!" I used a stamp from the SU stamp set Web Wishes from 2004. That stamp reads:

Happy Halloween!
From our web to yours

I inked the "Happy Halloween!" part of the stamp using the black ColorBox ink and stamped that onto scrap Whisper White card stock. Used a ruler to mark my trimming lines and once trimmed I used the SU banner punch to punch the ends. Put a piece of SU Pumpkin Pie card stock behind my greeting banner. Used black crystals from the stash to add to the banner piece. Did not want the banner piece to be on pop dots but wanted some dimension with it so I layered three pieces of tear and tape on top of each other to 'clear' the level the black die cut frame gives the card front:

This is a simple card to put together but with me using the rectangle die for my black frame I had to be sure once that was cut out that the stamping and moon pieces would fit inside the frame. Once again a big thanks to Shelly Godby from Stampingsmiles.com who showed how easy it is to give the sky on your card dimension using the SU Detail Floral dies and sponging ink over it! Her tip is a keeper for sure. TFL