It’s that time of year again for all the ghosts and goblins to appear…where you least expect them!  My card today features a Stamping Bella stamp, Trick or Treataritas.  I finally started my Halloween cards!  Yikes..I’m running out of time!  Before you know it, I will need to get my Thanksgiving Day cards and then Christmas cards.  Time sure flies.  I always say I’m going to start early, but…

I used my Prismacolor Colored Pencils to color the image.  I had watched a video (actually several) on how to blend colored pencils.  I have tried just using my pencils, and also a blending pencil.  They turned out okay, but I wanted to see how some other methods worked.  There are several different ways, but one that I had never seen before was using baby oil.  I thought I would give it a try.  After laying down all of my color, I used a blending stump that I dipped in some baby oil.  The video cautioned on using too much, so I was very timid with my dipping.  I also didn’t want to drown my image in oil…afraid it was going to float away.  As I got used to it, I found that I needed a little more of the oil, so I gradually added more oil to my stump.  I used a different stump for each color.  The video also cautioned on blending too much as it would remove some of the color…which I found out was true.  As I was going over a couple of the areas, I found that it was removing color.  Luckily, I had blended too much in areas that really should have highlights, so it worked out okay.  I was afraid to add more color over the blended areas, so I just left it.

My sentiment came from another Stamping Bella stamp set, Tiny Towne Willow the Witch.  I thought it went perfect with this image.  

I had received some Nuvo Crystal Drops in a Simon Says Stamp card kit a couple of months ago.  I had tried them and liked them.  I had used them directly on my card and they formed little pearls of color.  I liked them, but was hoping that they would appear a little more like enamel dots.  I tried using small amounts, but they always seemed to be rounded.  I have mailed them on cards that way, but was looking for a way to get them flatter.  Well, I received an email from Simon Says Stamp that was showcasing the Nuvo products and they had “how to” videos!  It really pays to read your emails and not just skim them.  LOL!  If you want to see how it is done, you can see the video here.  It works and it was so easy!  Now why didn’t I figure that out by myself?   Hmmm.  Not a lot of patience when I have too much to do!  Hah!  The video also gave me some other ideas on using the drops, but that is another card.

My patterned paper in the background (that you can’t really see) is from Hobby Lobby.

Well, I have to get back to card making!

Happy Crafting!

Nancee