Waltzingmouse Stamps November Friends Blog Waltz

This is my card for the November Waltzingmouse Stamps Friends Blog Waltz, where the theme is Christmas.  I used one of my favourite stamps, St Nicholas from their Nutcracker Sweet set.  Aiming to make a clean and simple card I stamped the image with Versamark and heat embossed it silver.  The peace sentiment and tiny snowflakes are from the same stamp set.  To make the dove I used a stamp from the Text It set, heat embossed with a shimmery blue powder on white card then and ran it through the Cuttlebug with a Sizzix die.  I cut a second dove from pale blue vellum, layered both together and attached them to the top of my card using foam pads.  I used a pale blue Sakura gel pen to colour in a couple of sections of the image and finished the card off with 3 clear and 2 blue faux gems.

September Bog Waltz - Friends of Waltzingmouse Stamps - Halloween

Here is my entry for the Friends of Waltzingmouse Stamps September Waltz, where the theme is, as you can see, Halloween!  I have spent hours trying to photograph my card and although not entirely happy with this particular photo, it is the best of the bunch. 

Unfortunately, I don't have any of the WM Halloween stamp sets so I had to improvise.  I used the tree from the Asian Gardens set as the main image, stamped with brown ink onto a brayered landscape background.  I created the lined effect on the tree trunk by pressing the inked up stamp onto the Cuttlebug branches folder, then heat embossed the image with clear powder.  

As I don't have a bat stamp either, I made the bat by turning the owls ears/head feather die cut upside down and adding a punched cat head!  (maybe I should have stuck the decapitated cat on there somehow as it is Halloween after all?)  The haunted house stamp at the bottom of my card is from the Waltzing Mouse Blessed by You set.  I just drew a little ghost, cut him out and added him to the roof.

The skull was made by adapting the owl die cut (bought the die at a craft show last year and only just used it) then shading with Promarkers, the pumpkin was hand drawn and cut out of a card scrap, as was the bloodshot eyeball and witches hat.  The letters on the tag were made with Cuttlebug alphabet dies and I cut a simple shape from foam to make my spider.    His body was covered with brown eyelash fibre to make him nice and hairy and his legs are inked raffia. 

The tag is hanging from a Tim Holtz swivel clasp and the leaves and candy corn papers are by DCWV.  I think that's everything described...oh, I also used two sets of nestabilities and the large label behind the tree was run through the branches embossing folder to add texture.