It’s October! Time for costumes, candy corn and apple cider! I love the fall and I think October is my favorite month of all! I created a fun Halloween card inspired by stencil TCW653 Sugar Skull and I can’t wait to share it with you check out the supply list and tutorial below!

Supplies:
TCW653 (small) Sugar Skull
TCW Black Gesso
Vintage book page
Washi Tape
X-acto knife
Orange Acrylic Ink or Paint
Small round paintbrush
Stencil Paint Applicator
Micron 03 marker
White Gel Pen
Glue Stick
Blank Strathmore Printmaking Card

For this project I am using FW Fluorescent Orange acrylic ink and TCW Black Gesso along with a white card and the vintage book page these colors and the vintage nature of an old book page will help this project feel like Halloween. To start I lay out all of my supplies and pick a page from my old book to use in this project.

Supplies for the Vintage Book Halloween Card

Once I choose my page I trim it to fit the card and I use my X-Acto knife to cut out a few words to add interest and allow me to write some of my own words in later!

Selected book page with extra holes.

Next I selected a roll of black and white text washi tape from Tim Holtz and apply it at the top and bottom of the book page as an accent.

Washi Tape accents

Now its time to apply the Black Gesso! I look at how I want the sugar skull to line up and dip my applicator into the gesso and start fro the center of the stencil and work my way out.

Applying gesso to the card

I only dip my applicator once and then dab the excess on a separate sheet to get consistent coverage. This also gives me a broken down feathered look as I move outward on the stencil. Since I am going for a vintage and spooky feel allowing the paint to become more sparse as I move to the edges gives it a weathered look and feel.

Apply paint from the center outward

Next I added a bit of definition to the stenciled areas with a white gel pen.

Add a bit of white gell pen for definition

After the gesso was completely dry I added the FW Fluorescent Orange acrylic ink for a pop of color. This also helped to define the stenciled flowers a bit further and added some visual interest and fun!

Apply the Orange Ink for a pop of color

After the Orange Acrylic Ink dried I used my Micron 03 marker and hand wrote Boo, Halloween and Spooky into 3 of the cut holes in the book page. This adds a bit of detail and whimsy to the card.

Adding back in some text

To finish the card up and give it an extra personal touch I used my Micron 03 Marker to add a bit of pattered doodle to the top and bottom of the washi tape. I doodles bumps, dots and lines to mimmic some of the same shapes in the stencil this helps to create pattern and harmony.

Finished Vintage Book Halloween Card

This was such a fun project and everyone loves to get handmade cards and notes in the mail! I would love to see your Halloween inspired cards so be sure to share your creations on The Crafter’s Workshop Facebook page or by tagging The Crafter’s Workshop on Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest! Also tag me @Drawriot if you share on Instagram! Until next time, keep creating! ?

The Crafter’s Workshop provided me with some product to create this project. This post also contains affiliate links. The opinions I share are solely my own.

Tori Weyers
The Crafter’s Workshop Design Team Member