Saturday, October 29, 2011

A Dimensional Moon Tutorial for Halloween Projects

Hi All!

I can't believe that the month of October is almost behind us.  I also can't believe that the Snowman that my girls made yesterday from a few inches of 'rare October snow' is now buried under a new load of 'rare October snow'.  As I type, we are in the midst of a Nor' Easter that promises to drop at least 10 inches of snow on our home in Southwestern NH!  We are expecting our power to go out, because most of the leaves are still on the trees, and the heavy wet snow will bring down trees and branches.  The lights have been flickering off and on for about an hour now. 


It has been a busy month, filled with lots of fun and projects(and very few blog posts!) .  One of the best things that happened this month was the arrival of a lovely batch of Artist Trading Cards from some terrific ladies over at the Black Cat US forum.  The swap was organized by Linda V, and had a Fall/Halloween theme.  The cards I received are just amazing!  Here is a photo of them.


I have been asked to share how I made the dimensional moon, which is the highlight of my Fall AT card.  It is a bit hard to photograph, but here is the finished project, along with some photos of the steps I used to recreate the moon for a different project.





I start with a background piece that has a circle the same size as the moon cut out in the appropriate place.



The moon is cut from white cardstock.  Here it is, along with 3 yellow pastels, which I will use to color it.



Here is the moon with the 3 colors applied.  I just roughly applied the pastels in rings, with the lightest color closest to the center, which I leave white, followed by the middle hue, and then the darkest on the outermost ring. 



This is the moon after I blended the colors with a tissue.  If the center picks up too much color, I use an eraser to lighten it up.  Having a very light center enhances the dimensional look of the moon.



The next step is to use a large round embossing tool to “round” the moon.  I just go around and around, starting at the center of the back of the moon, using a piece of craft foam as a mat.  I do this until the moon has enough dimension.  It does not necessarily look even at this point, but the center of the moon is “popped” in comparison to the edges. 






I had fun choosing graphics for the spooky tree and pumpkin scene.  The tree and bat are from graphics I found on-line and traced to make svgs for cutting with my Black Cat Cougar.  The pumpkins were purchased from Papyrus Jungle.  I just love the files that Suzan has digitized from RJ’s artwork.  These jack-o-lanterns are so darn cute!  They look like they are afraid of one another.  They make me smile.  The svg cut files from Papyrus Jungle cut beautifully on my machine.     You can check the site out for yourself here:  http://www.papyrusjungle.com/ 

I adhered my “sky” background to a print background, using my ATG (all terrain tape gun!), and spritzed it with some Maya Mist to give it some sparkle.  Then I ran a bead of Scotch brand quick dry paper glue around the inside of the moon shape on the background.


The crucial step in keeping the moon dimensional is to place a piece of foam tape in the center of the background moon. 

I carefully placed the moon into the background circle, matching the edges, and pressing down on them very lightly. 


Here is a picture of the project from the side.  I wish it showed the moon a bit better.



And here is the completed project.  I am going to use it to jazz up my desk at work for Halloween on Monday. 

Many thanks to Penny Duncan, whose flower tutorials gave me the idea for making my moon dimensional,  to Linda V. for organizing this swap, and to all of the artists who shared their talents in making these cards.  They are all my favorite!  I am so happy to have these mini inspirations in my craft room. 

And finally, because I will probably never have the opportunity to post October snowman photos ever again, here are two photos of the snowman that is peeking into the family room from our back deck.

Here he is at 1:00 PM:

And here he is at 6:30PM.

It is now 7:45, and all that is showing is the tip of his nose.
Happy Halloween to everyone!
























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