Cadaverous Anatomy 101 - Stampers Anonymous

Today's project for Halloween in July is a major Throwback! In fact, I had completely forgotten I even made this. LOL! But once I started looking at this long forgotten piece, it began to come back to me, 

So lets not waste any time and step back to August of 2019. It was the year that I made urns out of gears and thimbles, the year I made drippy candles, and the year I made some of my first stone mausoleums. It was a really fun, creative, challenging year and I can see why this blog post ended up falling by the wayside and never getting published.

I diodn't do a complete tutorial for this apparently, but I took a few pics of the beginning stages. I started by painting a large Etcetera Tag with H/ickory Smoke Distress Paint. Then I used the Decayed Layering Stencil to apply some Opaque Crackle Texture Paste to all the edges of the tag. Let it dry and crackle.

Then I did a rough sanding over the crackle paste to knock the high pices down and even chip off some of the bits to really amke it look decayed.

I added another layer of Hickory Smoke Distress Paint,

I also crackled the Bat Etcetera Trim and the tag Reinforcer, then painted them black. I added two legs to the Bat Trim as I wanted this to be a table in a creepy science classroom. 

Once all the paint was dry, I put some Distress rayon in Black Soot and Walnut Stain, but I think Scorched Timber would be better, all around the outside edges of the tag and rubbed it in with my fingers so it settled into the crackles and also aged the tag.

Stamp all the Cadaverous images onto some Mixed Media Heavystock in Back Soot Archival. Then carefully color the in with Distress Inks to look as Anatomy class posterish as possible, You can see that I roughed up the edges, and inked them to look like moisture and mold had aged them over the year. Attach them to the tag with Collage Medium on the back. Then poke a few holes and stick some of the Tiny Fasteners int the corners like tacks.

This area I was imagining to be the professor's desk where he lectures. I used images from the stamp set called The Chemist CMS172, such as the books and the bottles, to set on the table and the floor of the classroom. Cut them out and pop them up with chipboard or foam tape.

For the top of the desk and the chalkboard, I colored some Distress Woodgrain paper with Distress Inks and then cut it into strips. to make a frame around a piee of black cardstock that I had stamped an image from The Chemist onto in Picket Fence Distress Ink.I also added some wood grain to the desk top before adding the bottles. The bones are fro the skeleton diagram stamp that I fussy cut.

The legs of the table were also covered with woodgrain paper leaving only the bat with the black crackle texture. Color, distress and roll the edges of the ear and eye images before putting them on the florr with the books. I wanted these to look like they had been rolled up for storage and the crazy professor had pulled them out and shown them in class and they ended up falling to the ground. This central area will be sticking out fro the tag slightly and has the most dimension on the tag.

On the right side is the large skeleton diagram that takes up most of the space. Make it as you did the three smaller "posters" on the left side. below it are two more bones cut from that second diagram I stamped and just fussy cut the bones and put them on the floor and the table.

Well that is is for this long forgotten Halloween make from 2019. Going over this again reminded me what a fun and creative year that was and also how much I ended up liking this piece once it was finally finished and the story it tells of an anatomy class taught long, long ago.

 I hope you found something in this post that was helpful and inspiring. Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out this project. 

I hope you have a very creative day, 

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp, Ranger Ink, and Scrapbook.com. The links below send you to one of those stores. If you wish to purchase something and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you! 

Halloween Screams Boo Bus -Whimsy Stamps

This card from last year for Whimsy Stamps and it still makes me smile! It was inspired by Monsters University and is a different take on a card I made a few years ago with some monsters and a truck. These Monsters and the bus all have dies, so that makes it nice!

 

All the supplies I used to make this card are still available and linked below.  If you order from the Whimsy Stamps website using any of the links below, use my code PLAYSWELLWITHPAPER for 10% off at check out.

Here is the video tutorial I made for this card and I hope you enjoy it. 

I did hand cut the title that I stamped in black and orange.

This one with the eyes. hahaha! love her!

This dud with the horn ears is super cute.

Then there are these cuties with all theri teefs

I mean, these monsters are way too cute to scare! 

This guy looks like hes late and trying to get the bus to wait so he can get on.

Oh my, and this little one is way too adorable to spook anyone. It's like the little sibling monster wayving good bye to his monster siblings.
 

Thank you again for following along and I wish you a most creative day!

Tami

 

I am an affiliate with Whimsy Stamps, Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com. The links below send you to one of those stores. If you wish to purchase something and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this channel, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you! 

 

If you order from the Whimsy Stamps website using any of the links below, use my code PLAYSWELLWITHPAPER for 10% off at check out. 

Going Batty for Texture - Whimsy Stamps

Today's Halloween in July repost is a set of cards I made last October with this sneaky vampire die cut and flying bats stencil from Whimsy Stamps. This just screamed Scooby Doo to me. So much so that I couldn't stop hearing the do do do doooooooooo dododododo music from Scooby. I was in the midst of packing up my studio for the renovation and I got the video tutorial posted but not this blog. 

These are fun and simple cards to make that still pack texture and interest, so let’s get started! 

 

I just couldn't decide from the fabulous background in the Nevermore Paper Pack, so I chose three and made three versions of this card. 

I actually recommend this because if you have the Black Opaque texture paste out, you might as well make several backgrounds at one.

Compartmental making always saves time in the long run and you end up with more cards to share with friends and family.
 

Thank you again for following along and I wish you a most creative day!

Tami

 

I am an affiliate with Whimsy Stamps, Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com. The links below send you to one of those stores. If you wish to purchase something and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this channel, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you! 

 

 If you order from the Whimsy Stamps website using any of the links below, use my code PLAYSWELLWITHPAPER for 10% off at check out. 

1776 We the People - Stampers Anonymous

 As I was reflecting on the 249th birthday of the United States, I was remembering back to years of traveling. I have been to 17 different countries, but most were just quick visits for a day or three. However there were some trips where I spent months in other countries: Japan, Yugoslavia - the part that is now Croatia, Ukraine, Albania, and I lived for a year in Kenya. Usually I was gone over the 4th of July, so on my return, walking under the huge US flag at JFK, or LAX Tom Bradley, or even just driving by the giant US Flag at Camping World off the 5 freeway in Santa Clarita, always caused the gratitude and pride to well up within me. 

It has been many years since my world traveling days, but those experiences taught me so many valuable lessons that I haven't forgotten and they increased my love for my country each time I came home. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy my time away, but returning home to the US was always emotional. And for that reason I love to celebrate the land that I love.

So as I have said many times, I decorate my house in Americana decor from around Memorial Day through Patriot's Day on Sept. 11th. So this year I made another decor piece to add to it using supplies from the Stampers Anonymous Summer Curations 2025. 

To make something similar, either a US version, or changing it up for another country, gather your supplies. I have links to my supplies below.

Cut a piece of Mixed Media Heavystock in half.  

Spray each piece with Antique Linen Distress Stain. You can see I made one darker than the other one.

On the darker piece, stamp the text background around the edge. You can see I trimmed it roughly the same size as the Mini Etcetera tag so I could position words or images where I wanted. I stamped in clear embossing ink and then embossed it in Super Fine Gold Embossing Powder.

It will look like this. The center doesn't matter because only the top and bottom with show. It is very light here and I thought this would look good, but I ended up deciding that I wanted it darker. 

On the lighter piece of paper, stamp the lines on the bottom half and the star on the top half in Clear Embossing paper and Clear Embossing Powder.

 On a third half sheet of Mixed Media paper, color it with Antique Linen as well and stamp the Paint By Number stamps and emboss them in Gold. I used 1776 for this project. I also have the matching outline dies from Simon Says Stamp. All supplies are linked below. 

 Once all your stamping is finished you will have three pieces something like this.

 

For the tag, attach the text background piece to the Etcetera Tag with Distress Collage Medium.

 

 Put a nice layer of Collage Medium all over the tag, then press the paper into it, making sure there are no air bubbles and that it makes a good connection all over the tag. Let dry.

 

 I used Pixie Tape to mask across the top of the striped bottom part of the stars and stripes paper. With a blending tool I applied Lumberjack Plaid Distress Ink and sprayed it with Lumberjack Spritz to add a little shine. Then added some water drops to make it distressed. Let it dry naturally while you work on something else.

 

 Once the stripes are dry, do the same thing to the star part of the paper, but with Chipped Sapphire and Faded Jeans Spritz. Let dry naturally.

 

Once both sections are completely dry, heat up a craft iron. Put the stars and stripes paper on a clean cloth with the inked side facing up. Lay a clean piece of paper on top and iron to reheat the embossing powder so it will soak Into the top paper. This is the too often used Emboss Resist Technique that I love. 

The cream stars and stripes will be brighter once they are ironed as the clear embossing powder resists the ink. Outline the shield shape from the Etcetera Facades onto the stars and stripes paper. Keep the circle in the center. We are using the whole shield as one piece. Cut out the shape and then attach it to the shield with Distress Collage Medium just like you did the tag earlier.

While the tag and shield are drying, use the Paint by Number outline dies and cut the numbers out. Then using some Distress Kraft Heavystock, cut three more of each number to stack behind the stamped numbers and make them thicker. At this point I also realized that I didn't like the lighter color of the outline, so I went over them with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and that really made them stand out. 

 Once the shield and tag are dry, I always sand the edges to smooth them and to remove any paper that is hanging over the edges. Add two of each of the shim pieces from the facade to the back of the shield. Leave some room in the center for the Tiny Lights.

Using a Dremmel tool, drill a hole through the center of the tag, which you can see here is significantly darker than it was at the beginning. I went over it with Walnut Stain Distress Ink as well and love the vintage look to it! Thread the Tiny lights through the hole from the back.

Attach the lights at the top and bottom of the shield so that the light will shine up and below the shield. I attach them with hot glue on the wires, not on the light as it will melt them.

Here you can see the shield is placed at the top of the tag.

I added a 1/4" strip of a scrap from the 1776 paper to go across between the blue and red. It hid all of the imperfections where the two colors meet. Over that, add the 1776 pieces, which should stand out well not only with the darker edges, but also because they are 4 layers thick. The 1 and 6 will need to hang over the sides a little bit. 

I added a few bits of Idea-ology. First, I added a Small Talk sticker from the retired Occasions pack that says We the People. I also took three Stars Adornments and painted them with Tarnished Brass and attached them as well.

Even with the changes I made once I started making this. I love how it turned out and it goes perfectly with my Americana decor. The lights don't show up during the day, but they do look nice at night.

Thank you so much for reading through this, especially my lengthy intro! I hope you found something in this tutorial that inspired you or at least sparked an idea for your own makes.  Now let’s go have a creative day!

Tami  

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp, Ranger Ink, and Scrapbook.com. The links below send you to one of those stores. If you wish to purchase something and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!