Who’s a Witch?

Double, double, toil and trouble…but wait…seriously? It would be a stretch for the witches in the Witch Please Stamp Set to be taken seriously as characters from Shakespeare. The four witches in the Brutus Monroe set are a hoot — each with her own unique facial expression. I knew exactly who in my circle was going to get a “not every witch lives in Salem” sentiment! I’ll not say her name…just in case she’s reading; but you know who you are!!

I started with the free digital cut file download from the Brutus Monroe site. Yes…free! Using my Silhouette and a heavyweight white cardstock, I cut a full page of the pieces. Best news is that all witch stamps are the same size so I didn’t have to scramble to match stamps to cut outs. Side note: I have a very old-school Silhouette Portrait, so I have to perform a bit of wizardry to get the cut outs the right size. But, not to worry, It only takes a few minutes to create a new png file that can be uploaded to the old Silhouette. 

I stamped the witches using Brutus Monroe Detail Ink in Raven.  I love this ink because, along with the great impression, once the ink is dry it is permanent. This is a good thing because I usually fly by the seat of my pants without a specific plan for how I’ll color the stamp. For these I used basic color pencils in a few shades of green and purple. Not sure I’ve ever seen a purple witch; but it sounded like fun at the time! So why not! Nothing fancy…just some basic coloring stuff with a few deeper colors where shadows would normally be.

For the patterned paper, I used the flying bats page from the Spooky Nights Digital Paper Pad available on the Brutus Monroe site. I did scale the page to 75% before printing. I think that size pattern works well with the smaller 4.25” x 5.50” card I was using. I cut a strip that was a wee bit narrower than the witch stamped piece since I wanted the stamp to extend top and bottom off the strip. I used double-sided tape to attach the witches to the strips. The next time around I will use a bit of foam tape to add a bit of dimension to the overall design. I stamped the sentiments included in the set on the same white cardstock and trimmed them into narrow strips. I used teensy-tiny pieces of that darn double-sided tape and my jewelry tweezers to put them in place.

I lightly spritzed a white card back with Liquid Elements in Sterling. I went in with a second layer and then added a third this time using the Guilded. You know, going with the mixed metals trend this season!! I taped the witch components to the card back with sticky tape and popped it all on the actual card. A few rounds of black and white twisted cord finished it off. I was going to attach a tiny piece of candy corn but figured that might be problematic when going through the mail; and, honestly, who wants ants in their mailbox? So I am still on the hunt for some little thing to tie on the ribbon. Ideas?

For the planner clip I cut two 3.25 scalloped circles from the flying bats paper and taped three in a group at the top of the circle leaving the hats extending a bit. I trimmed the bottom of both circles making a straight line and then sandwiched a big paper clip between the two circles and taped it all together. Since I had printed only one side of the digital paper, when cutting the circles, I mirrored the images so the scallops would match up when I put them together. (Saves a lot of crazy-making!) For the bottom corner of my Erin Condren planner I trimmed one witch, stamped a sentiment and then taped it all in place. I think they are cute with either one of the fall sticker collections from my Etsy Shop (trlplansandprints). Yes, I said my Etsy shop!

As a stamping newbie of sorts, I love that the Brutus Monroe inks can be used on any surface and, once they are dry, they are permanent. That fact takes all the craziness out of choosing the best ink for the project. When one ink makes great impressions and works with a variety of mediums — I’m in for the win! And, as a small card and planner goodies designer and maker, I love the digital paper pads since I can scale the pattern to fit the specific piece. Now, my final question for you —how many witch references did you count in this post?