Cozy Spooky Teacups

Hello and Welcome!

Well, hello there, crafty friends!

I’m back today with a card that proves you really can’t judge a stamp set by its intended holiday! Today I’m taking Dare 2B Artzy’s adorable Cozy Teacups stamp set and giving it a little Halloween mischief.

This sweet set was clearly designed with Christmas in mind. It has a large focal image featuring a stack of cozy teacups decorated with festive lights and greenery. There’s also a single teacup, a little mouse holding a Christmas ornament, a second ornament, and eight sentiments.

But here’s the thing…

I am NOT ready for Christmas yet!

As they say, color changes everything, so I decided to give these Christmas teacups a spooky little makeover. And honestly, I think they look terribly cute!

I started by coloring the stacked teacup image with a combination of Copic and OLO markers.

Since we’re heading to a Halloween party instead of a Christmas gathering, I swapped out the traditional Christmas colors for a fun Halloween palette of purple, green, and orange. I used these colors on the teacups, lights, and candy pieces.

But then I came to the poinsettias and greenery.

How exactly was I supposed to make those look Halloween-ish when they are very obviously Christmas flowers?

After a little pondering, I decided to go in a completely different direction. I colored the poinsettias a muted moss green with darker orange centers and berries. Then I colored the additional greenery in a deep blue-violet. I LOVE how they turned out!

The colors worked so much better than I expected. And I’m especially happy about that because I saved all of the greenery for last. There was absolutely NO WAY I wanted to start over at that point!

Of course, the teacup house needed some party guests, so I also colored the raccoon, owl, and bunny from the Woodland Teapot Cottage set.

In my head, I created a whole little story for this card. There’s a Halloween party happening at the Teacup House, and Mr. Mouse has invited all of his woodland friends over for some spooky fun!

Once all of my little critters were colored, I used the coordinating dies to cut everything out and set my party guests aside.

Now it was time to build their spooky little neighborhood!

For my background, I used the new Side Step Fun Fold Die. This die was perfect for creating lots of different levels for my teacups and critters, which makes the whole scene feel much more dimensional.

I cut the Side Step Fun Fold Die from cream cardstock, but I left the fold lines uncreased for now. I needed that cardstock nice and flat while I worked on my ink blending.

I used one of the Double Dot Circle Dies to cut a circle from some scrap cardstock. I positioned the circle over the corner of the large section of my Side Step Fun Fold die cut.

I held my little moon mask in place with magnets and blended Scattered Straw and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxide inks to create my moon.

Once I was happy with it, I used the circle I had cut out to cover the moon and protect it from the rest of my ink blending.

And then the fun really began!

For my spooky night sky, I started with:

• Dusty Concord
• Wilted Violet
• Villainous Potion
• Blueprint Sketch
• Chipped Sapphire
• Black Soot

I kept blending and layering those colors until I had a nice, dark, spooky-looking sky.

Once the sky was finished, I went back over the moon one last time, blending from the outside inward to create a soft little halo around it.

I think that extra bit of glow really makes the moon pop!

Next, I cut the layering pieces for the back and middle sections from gray cardstock. I added some Villainous Potion and Chipped Sapphire, along with a touch of Black Soot, to give them the same nighttime feel as the main background.

Then I decided my background needed a little something extra.

Because, obviously, everything is better with sparkle!

I grabbed my Distress Spritz and added Fossilized Amber to the main background and Wilted Violet to the layering pieces.

I set everything aside to dry while I moved on to the grass.

I cut several strips of dark green cardstock and used the Land & Clouds Die from Dare 2B Artzy to create my grass.

To get the grass to fit my layering panels just right, I used the layering dies from the Side Step Fun Fold Die set. I positioned them along the bottom edge of my grass strips, making sure none of the taller blades of grass were sitting directly against the cutting edge.

After running everything through my die-cut machine, I had two strips of grass that fit my layering panels perfectly.

I also cut a second piece from a wider strip of green cardstock for the back section.

Once the grass was cut, I added Chipped Sapphire ink and then Black Soot around the edges.

And because I apparently wasn’t done making a mess yet…

It was splatter time!

I tossed all of my grass pieces into my official spatter box — also known as a leftover Amazon box and gave them a good spritzing with Rustic Wilderness Distress Spritz.

That dark green cardstock with the Rustic Wilderness splatters is SO pretty!

Actually, the whole background makes me pretty happy. The combination of the gold, purple, and green splatters against all that dark ink blending is just gorgeous.

Once everything was dry, it was finally time to assemble my card.

I started by adding a long strip of grass along the bottom front of the card. Then I placed my stacked teacups on the right side of the largest section and popped them up with a little dimensional foam.

Next, I added the layering panels to the back and middle sections and attached grass to each one.

For the back section, I used two layers of grass, with the front layer popped up with dimensional foam. This gave me some fun depth for all of my little party guests.

I placed the owl in the back, the raccoon in the middle, and the bunny down in front.

I love how it looks like they’re all making their way to the Halloween party at the Teacup House!

For the sentiment, I stamped Happy Halloween from the Trick or Treat stamp set using white pigment ink onto violet cardstock. I sprinkled it with Fine Detail White Embossing Powder, heat set it, and then cut it out with the coordinating die.

I gave the edges a very light touch of Black Soot Distress Ink and then added some Wilted Violet Distress Spritz so the sentiment would match the rest of the card.

I didn’t want to put the sentiment down in front because I thought that area was already getting a little crowded with the bunny and the focal image.

So I decided to make it float! I cut a thin strip of acetate and added 1/8-inch Score Tape to the bottom on both the front and back. I also added a small piece of Score Tape to the top and attached my sentiment.

Then I carefully tucked the sentiment between the layers of grass in the back section.

I added the owl in front of it with a little liquid glue to keep everything where I wanted it.

Of course, I couldn’t possibly call the card finished without adding a little more sparkle.

I scattered some iridescent stars around the entire panel, and that was the final touch this spooky little scene needed.

Who Says Christmas Stamps Are Just for Christmas?

I absolutely LOVE how this card turned out!

It’s always fun to look at a stamp set and think beyond what it was originally designed for. By changing the colors, background, and story, I was able to take a very Christmasy stamp set and turn it into a fun Halloween scene.

And honestly, I think Mr. Mouse and his woodland friends are having a much better time at this Halloween party anyway!

So the next time you’re looking through your stamps and thinking, “Oh, I can only use that for Christmas…”, take another look.

Try changing the colors.

Change the setting.

Mix it with another stamp set.

And most importantly, have some fun with it!

You might just discover a whole new way to use something you already have in your stash.

I hope this inspires you to dig through your stamps and see what other seasonal surprises you can create!

As always, I will have all of the supplies I used listed and linked below for your convenience.

Thanks so much for stopping by and spending a little crafty time with me today!

Until next time…

Happy crafting and big crafty hugs!

Tonya