A Season of Samplers

Over the years, I have made a lot of samplers. My youngest daughter and I have even collaborated on a few. Some of my favourites have been the ones we crafted for Christmas. This year, I figured it was time to expand on the seasonal pieces and get into Fall and Halloween!

Most of the supplies that I used for the Halloween samplers are retired. That's one way I am different than a lot of demonstrators. I don't get rid of everything as it retires. I actually even watch for specific retired sets to add to my collection. Hoarder traits developing, ya think? 

I started with a colour palette, my daughter and her gothy Halloween vibes in my head. I wanted it to be a dark yet elegant Halloween sampler. Bokeh Dots, From the Crypt, In This World, and Dark and Dreary were all featured stamp sets in this one. I tried to go with dark, antique or rustic looks. My colour palette included Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy, Wild Wheat (retired), and a few others. Wink of Stella  gave pieces some sparkle and shine (I know, not really dark or gothy lol). 

I used up some embellishments from my stash, and some lacy black trim too. My blending brushes got a workout as I used them to give more depth and take away the harshness of the white paper and make them look older, and give them depth. 

My next sampler started with colours as well. I wanted this one to be full of life and more of the fun, kid friendly side of Halloween. It reminds me of all my years teaching elementary, and raising three kids too. Retired supplies were the stars here as well. Tricks & Treats, Harvest Hellos, Cookie Cutter Halloween, along with the matching punch, and some retired ribbons and gems too. Them Bones DSP and Halloween Spells DSP have supporting roles in the ensemble in the panels and base paper, along with coordinating cardstock layers and a bunch of dimensionals. 

I think the middle panel turned out great. I used a ton of colours to punch out a bunch of Boos, and glued them randomly onto Basic White paper. I trimmed off the edges, then used some of those to fill in the blank spaces. You can also make your own backgrounds with stamped images. I have seen lots do an entire sheet of cardstock and then cut it up just like patterned paper.

I love the little creature costumes, and the stamp set even included little trick or treat bags. So cute! I think the combination of colours combined with the fun and cute images is a win. (It is now Nov. 12 and I still have this piece up in my kitchen - it stays until Christmas things replace it!)

I know that 2 for Halloween seems like enough, but I didn't stop there. I also made a Fall sampler inspired completely by the Autumn Toile DSP. Did I mention that I did all three of these in a week? Lots of time, but totally lots of fun!

The Autumn Toile DSP truly is amazing. I have so many leaf stamps an tree things, but I don't use them often enough that I wanted to buy the new sets. The paper? No brainer. I love the colours, the patterns, and I could see so much in them that worked for a sampler of fall scenes. 

This sampler truly came together with the paper and nothing else. Other than a little bit of card stock, the paper that I used in this is all from the Autumn Toile DSP. I fussy cut out images, more than I needed, but chose the images I liked. I used some dies to create leaf sprigs and stamps from the new release Creative Haven bundle, as well as the Modern Oval punch. I assembled the panels, and then started to place the images I cut out on top, sorting and sifting to be able to figure out how they worked best together. 

The two tall panels used a busier background, and the wide ones a bit more simple and neutral. Using all of the same DSP suite for the paper, colour coordination was not a worry. I kept adding until I felt that there was enough variety and depth to the pictures. I used A LOT of dimensionals to give the layers depth. My retired Stamparatus also came in handy when i stamped the middle panel. Stamp positioners are a great tool (I wish we still had one in our line up) to help make sure that your image is crisp, clear and the colour is vibrant. I have the retired one, as well as a Stamp Wheel from Alta New. I honestly love both, one for its ability to repeat images vertically and horizontally, and the other for rotational. (Maybe I will have to do a tool demo sometime!)

If you want to see other samplers, look on my blog for more inspiration. I love to make them, and am thinking seasonal is a good way to keep going. Stay tuned, as there are undoubtedly going to be more!