Love this little black cat three-layer stamp by Kat Scrapiness that comes with some great sentiments like the Toil and Trouble one that gives it, its name. I had purchased the Pop-Out die and the Gina Marie Designs Mosaic Triangle Edge Circle dies along with The Toil & Trouble stamp and matching die set all during Kat Scrapiness’ Labor Day sale. I hadn’t planned on combining them, but the more I looked and dreamed about the “Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble” I saw a bubbling, steaming cauldron with the steam opening up into an aerial view of a shaker card showing of the cauldron’s contents.

I found in my stash the fabulous Buttons Galore & More’s Creepy Sparkleletz shaker elements to which I added some green and iridescent sequins and the tiny black and green triangles off-cuts from the mosaic circle frames I cut for the cauldron.

The background of the shaker cauldron is a lime green square of cardstock that I daubed Cracked Pistachio and Fired Brick Distress inks and then spritzed with water to blend. I dried and stamped with Versamark Watermark ink an older bubble background stamp by Hunkydory. The final touch to the background was to stamp “BOO” in the center of the square.

To create the white steam of the cauldron, I took cream cardstock and stamped in grey ink the same bubble background mentioned earlier. Next, I embossed the cardstock using an older Darice embossing folder. (I may have used one too many shims when I embossed, as it almost cut through the card in places.) I centered and taped the Pop-Out die inside the circle die and then die-cut, in one pass, the circle of steam that opens in six triangles to reveal the cauldron’s shaker contents. I free-hand cut a spoon handle that is used to open-up the steam or “stir the pot.”

I tried several inks to stamp the cat but ended up using the cat with just black ink – having lightly stamped each layer to create the shadows. The sentiments, both inside and on the front, are first stamped with the bubble stamp in grey ink then the sentiment in black Memento ink. (I was not paying attention to which ink I was putting on the inside as I moved the background stamp around and inadvertently used the black Memento at the bottom section.)

To finish off the card front, I used a retired Taylored Expressions “Little Bits” spider web die set to cut from vellum the corner decorations including a tiny black spider. I found a bit of spider ribbon that leads the reader to the sentiment.

As it is my style to stamp an image or sentiment that hints at what’s inside, I stamped a witches’ hat (because I have no cauldron stamp) and the phrase “The most Spooktacular night of the year” on the envelope flap. These stamps are from My Mind’s Eye.

To send the card, I will add a hand-written note instructing the recipient “To stir the cauldron using the black handled sticking out of the steam to find out what’s shake’n.”

Supplies:

Dies/Embossing Folders

• Kat Scrappiness – Toil & Trouble Layered Stamp Set with Matching Dies
• Kat Scrappiness – Pop-Out Die
• Scrapbook.com – Nested Circles Wafer Thin Metal Die Set
• Gina Marie Designs – Mosaic Triangle Edge Circle Dies
• Taylored Expressions – Spider & Web Die Set – TE911
• Darice – Swirls Emboss Folder

Stamps

• Kat Scrappiness – Toil & Trouble Layered Stamp Set
• Hunkydory – For the Love of Stamps- Back to Nature Background Stamps-FTLS429
• My Minds Eye -Happy Haunting by Janet Hopkins – Decorative Stamps – HAH215

Papers

• Scraps of card stock from stash
• Vellum Paper – 8 1/2″ x 11″
• Dura-Lar .0005 Clear Film Acetate
• Recollections Value Pack of Cards & Envelopes 6 ½ x 5 inches

Inks

• Hampton Art – Pigment Ink Cube – Black and Grey
• VersaMark Dazzle – Watermark Stamp Pad – Frost
• Memento – Fad Resistant Dye ink – Tuxedo Black
• Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink – Cracked Pistachio
• Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink – Fired Brick

Miscellaneous

• Foam squares
• Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Glue/PVA Glue
• Sequins from stash
• Buttons Galore & More – Sparkleletz Embellishments – Creepy
• Spider ribbon scrap from stash