October, 2014 - Happy Halloween

This project was just plain fun.  I wanted to create Halloween cards for my best friends and my two sisters.  The easiest way was to duplicate the design but I ended up tweaking every card.

The inspiration was a wonderful photograph of early silent film star, Gloria Swanson.  The photo already has two layers; Gloria's face and an overlay of lace.  I added a Halloween-themed film, bordered it with lace, yarn, feathers, and flowers, and added embellishments.

I found these great black lace chokers on eBay for between $1 and $2 a piece with free shipping.  Coming from China I had to order early but you can't beat the price.  They were also adorned with various colored stones.  I wrapped them around the top of card using a tiny black clothespin to attach so card could not be opened until it was removed.  On back of card I tied a black lacy bag filled with a little present.  This one has a piece of Howlite ... attributed to bringing a sense of calmness and to strengthening positive traits.

Inside the card is (yes AGAIN) a vintage Halloween costume collage on the left, bordered with washi tape and a cute metal owl pendant in the corner.  Right side starts with four different photos; 1) a full moon with image of a woman's face stamped on top, 2)an old haunted house, 3) cutout photo of eight witches having tea, 4) Eat, Drink & Be Scary words and pictures created with PowerPoint.  I took a white, plastic  stencil, tinted it and applied silver glitter, preferring the actual stencil to the image the stencil created.

Back of card is a stamp of Edgar Allen Poe's poem, "The Raven" ... a large black raven sits on top of the poem.  The was stamped on tissue paper, giving me a clear image (for once).