When Hinges Creak...

It's no secret that I love Disneyland and get so much inspiration from the creative details the Imagineers include all throughout the park. So often, when I see a stamp, or die, or Scrapbook paper, my thoughts immediately go to, how can this be used for something Disney? That Disney inspiration is apparent through much of what I make, from Scrapbook Pages to home decor and even my card samples for Tim. I just can't help it!

Today's card has an "aura of foreboding" about it. It features the Ravens CMS310, Monstrous CMS307 and Skulls and Cobwebs CMS306 (with a little bit of Bird Feather CMS180) all combined to represent someplace that  is " delightfully unliveable...where every room has wall-to-wall creeps, and hot and cold running chills!"

I started by coloring a piece of Distress Mixed Media Hardstock with Wilted Violet Distress Oxide. Then I stamped the Skulls damask background stamp onto it in Iced Spruce, spritzed it lightly with water, and dried it thoroughly."

Using the Tim Holtz Stamp Platform, I place one of the Raven stamps in the top left corner and stamped it with Black Soot Distress Oxide a couple of times to get good coverage. Then immediately removed it, sprinkled it with Ranger Frosted Crystal Antiquities embossing powder, and heat embossed it. Don't over heat the embossing powder or it will melt down into the paper and disappear.

Then do the same procedure in the bottom right corner with the nest from the Bird Feather stamps. If you want to see around the outside edge, now would be the time to do so.

For the main bird, I used the stamp platform again and secured a piece of water color paper, rough side up. Then stamped the image several times with Black Soot Distress Oxide to get good coverage. You will have a little white still showing in the depressed areas but don't worry. Remove it and heat emboss like the others. Then for the white areas, just watercolor in with some Black Soot Distress Ink. Cut the bird out, Ink the edges, I use the side of the brush end of the Black Soot Distress Marker and just run it carefully along the edge of the raven. The tip allows me to get into the corners and tight places where the blending tool can't reach. Add some dimensional adhesive and prepare for assembly.

One last step is to color a little piece of Hardstock with some Iced Spruce Distress Oxide. Cut one of the small rectangles from the Stitched Rectangles die set and edge it with Black Soot Distress Oxide. Then stamp the When hinges creak in doorless chambers sentiment in the center with Black Soot Distress Oxide and heat emboss. Add dimensional adhesive.

You want to attach the sentiment high enough that the cut out raven's head doesn't cover any words, but low enough that it does cover part of the bottom edge. Attach both the sentiment and the raven. Attach the background to the card base. Tie some black Crafter's Thread around the left side of the card.