Happy Scrappy Halloween

Hello Stamping Friends and Happy Monday!

Wasn't yesterday a glorious fall day?  After several days of hosting our daughter Katie and granddaughter Allie while husband/daddy Tim was out of town for a conference,  we decided to take the day off and get out into the sunshine.  We enjoyed a nice sunny drive to McMinnville and had a yummy lunch at the rooftop bar of McMenamins Hotel Oregon.  We had a beautiful view of pretty fall trees against a blue, blue sky!  I wish this fabulous weather could go on forever, but I guess what makes it so special is that it is so rare to be having a fall like this.

The October days are zipping by and soon it will be Halloween, so today I've got a fun Halloween card for you.... one that uses an easy technique.  One of my demonstrator friends, Shannon Carrier, brought this to one of our demonstrator meetings to showcase this "herringbone" technique. 
Check it out...

 

 

This is a great way to use up small scraps of designer paper and create an interesting background for a card.  First, cut strips of designer paper about 3/8 inch wide. Cut a piece of neutral cardstock for your base (I used white but it doesn't really matter, as it will be completely covered when you are finished).  Next, apply glue stick over the entire base.

Then start adding the strips of paper.  The first one you add will go across part of the base diagonally and the second strip is added at a right angle to the first strip.  Butt each strip up against its neighbor, so that none of the base card stock shows.  Just keep adding strips, letting the ends hang over the base. 

When the whole piece is covered, take it to your paper cutter, turn it over, and trim all of the excess strips off.  Then go ahead and finish the card with a stamped focal image.  Here I used the cute Halloween set called Tricky Treats on page 28 of the annual catalog.  I punched out the little ghost using the Curly Label punch, then adhered it to a scalloped circle punched from Tangerine Tango card stock with the 2 3/8 inch Scallop Circle Punch ( page 184 of the annual catalog).  To make the Tangerine Tango circle "pop" against that busy background, I adhered it to a larger Basic Black circle cut with the 2 1/2 inch Circle Punch (page 185 of the annual catalog). 

The Designer Series Paper I used is called Howlstooth and Scaringbone and you can find it on page 24 of the Holiday catalog, but this technique will work with just about any of Stampin'Up!'s Designer Series Paper.  For added texture, you can even run the whole base through your Big Shot, using the Square Lattice Embossing Folder, which will give it a quilted look. 
I'm planning on being back to my regular Monday-Wednesday-Friday blogging schedule, so please come back and visit again on Wednesday!

Make the world a prettier place... stamp!
Susan