A Little Bit Spooky...

Hello everyone!
Can you believe it, we are nearly at the end of October and Halloween is just around the corner.
Well, my project today is not strictly a Halloween project, but it has a sort of halloweeny, spooky feel to it, at least I think so.

It's a collage made out of 4 ATCs.
I started by taking 4 ATC (2.5 by 3.5") sized bits of smooth stamping card and blended 4 colours of Distress Inks over them with my Ink Blending Tools. I then added some stamping using the Distress Inks and the Chicken Wire and Regency Background stamps  and then, while the ink was still wet, sprinkled some Perfect Pearls powder over them. Once dry I brushed off the excess. The next step was to do some more stamping, this time I used black Archival Ink and  stamps from the set: Architecture A 4. Two more bits of stamping followed, this time using Gesso and the Swirls, Splats & Dots stamp

Stamping with Gesso is great fun. You spread out a thin layer on your craft mat and then use that like an ink pad. Just make sure you clean your stamps straight away with some running water, as Gesso dries fast. I added a second layer, this time using a stamp from Tim Holtz's Attic Treasures set. I also added some strips of paper from an old book page.

Now for the final touches. For my vocal image I stamped one of the new Donna Rodgers stamps "Age" with Black Archival ink onto white card. I cut it out and coloured lightly with some Distress inks.I now mounted my 4 ATCs on a piece of black card and glued the Donna image in front. I also added the Word Carpe Diem from the  Journaling Words 3 set. I added some embellishments from my stash and gave it some spritzes of Perfect Pearls Mists to tie it all together. I also did a bit of shading with a charcoal pencil around the main images..
I'll leave you with a few detailed pictures, until next time!