First off, this card was inspired by the super cute Christmas door with critters stamp set recently released by Mama Elephant, called Meowy Woofmas (which is sadly sold out). But I knew I could alter an old Katy Sue Designs The Door Stamp Collection that I had picked up in a clearance sale for $1 for the scene I wanted to create for a Halloween card.
I decided I would make a tall easel card so I stamped out the door with a bit of space above and below it and doodled on rows of bricks above the arched door and drew front steps (taking care to try to keep the depth perspective with the angles) below.  To make it more Halloweeny, I used a Copic Multi-Liner Pen in 0.05 pt to draw in cracks, spider webs, spiders, and cracks in the windows. For some fun details, I used the little fence and the bats from the Lawn Fawn Happy Haunting to add some details to the doorway. Then I used an X-Acto blade to hand cut the door so that it could be swung open. For even more realism, I stamped the door stamp on the inside of the door too so that when it is opened it has all the details that the outside image has. To create the “screen door,” I took a polka dot scrap of vellum, colored the back side of it with a Copic purple in V06 for a nice touch of color, and glued it to the door opening. When the battery operated tea light is turned on behind this, there is a beautiful glow. The rest of the mansion entry is lightly colored with Copic greys in N1, 2, and 3 with hints of luminescence in the transom window and stairs with V91.
For the ghostly couple residing in the haunted mansion, I used the Lawn Fawn Booyah stamp and die set to make up a Mr. Batty Ghost and a Mrs. Frankenstein Ghost. The coloring was simple with a bit of Copic V91 for a pale purpley ghostly hue and C7 for a black, but not solid black look. The Mrs is peering out from the doorway, as if to say, “Welcome!” and the Mr. is attached to the front door with a strip of clear plastic that I salvaged from some packaging so that he swings out to say “Booyah.”  To maintain the “realism” of the couple (LOL), I stamped and die cut out the Mr Batty Ghost two times and sandwiched the plastic strip between so that from whichever direction you see him (front or back), he looks complete. I stamped out “Happy Haunting” from the stamp set, matted it (doodling some jaggedy lines for some detail with a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen), and popped it up on double sided foam adhesive to create the stopper for the easel mechanism.
Then Copic colored up a three of the Lawn Fawn Critters in Costume and die cut and fussy cut them out (two were masked and combined — I didn’t want the white space between them — so using the matching dies wasn’t possible). The following are the Copic colors I used:
Bumble bee dog: Y15, YR24, W0, W3, W7, E50, E11 and V91
Pumpkin dog: E21, E11, E33, YR12, YR24, YR04, YR07, G24 and G94
Angel squirrel: E70, 71 and V91
I also added clear Wink of Stella on all the wings as well as on the Mr. and Mrs. Ghost for a little magical sparkle.
To match the walkway with the steps of the mansion, I blended on Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Milled Lavender for the ground where the trick-or-treating critters were coming up. To have the costumed critters propped up, I simply cut up and folded scrap card stock that I also inked to match/disappear into the walkway and glued them to their backs.
The following is a video share of this card:
This card/tea light holder is being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Autumn Challenge – WINNER
MarkerPOP Halloween Challenge
Addicted to Stamps and More Anything Goes Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Card Mania Let It Shine Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes Challenge with Optional Halloween
Craft Your Passion Anything Goes Challenge
Crafty Gals Corner Be Fa-BOO-Lous Challenge
Penny Black and More Autumn Challenge
What a cool project!! Love how you open the door and light shines through — fabulous, Thanks so much for joining us this time at the Creatalicious challenge, Elizabeth (DT)
Awww thanks so much Elizabeth! This card/tea light holder was really fun to design and create. 🙂
Great project! Love all of your added detail! Thanks for joining us at Crafty Gals Corner!
Thanks so much Judy! It’s all those details that make crafting fun, right?! 🙂 TFStopping by and leaving such sweet crafty love! xoxo, Kristina
A super fun creation for our Autumn theme this month, many thanks for joining us at Penny Black and More challenges.
B x
Thanks so much Brenda! I loved thinking up and crafting this card. 🙂 TFStopping by and taking the time to leave a sweet comment! Hugs, Kristina
Ooh! What a fabulous card and Halloween decoration! The critters coming out of the door are so cute! Thanks for sharing this wonderful card with us at ATSM blog this week!
🙂 Marie–ATSM DT
Thank you so very much Marie! It was truly a pleasure to craft this card for my friend. 🙂
This is so cute and such a clever idea.What a wonderful scene with all those Halloween cuties.Thanks for joining us at Craft Your Passion.Hope to see you again next week.
Lisa x
Oh my goodness, thanks so much Lisa! I had so much fun creating this card/tea light holder. 🙂
Wonderful creation, brrrrr what fear!!! Thanks for joining us at Craft Your Passion.Hope to see you again next week.
dt Veronica
LOL! Yes, spooky cute, right?! 🙂 TFStopping by and leaving such a wonderful comment! Big hugs, Kristina
Aaaah lovely and thanks for joining us at Penny Black & More this month, Luv Sam x
Thanks so very much Sam! This was really fun to design and create this card/decor piece. 🙂
Ohh, so fun, great idea with the light, lovely! Thanks for joining us at Addicetd to Stamps and More!
Martina
Thanks so much Martina! I figured this would be a fun card/decor piece to have on a counter or shelf with the tea light. 🙂
A wonderful card!
Thank you soo much for taking part in our “anything goes with optional Halloween” challenge over at Creatalicious & good luck in the draw.
Hope to see you again in our new challenge as well…
Hugs,
Melanie
(DT-Coordinator Creatalicious Challenges)
(DT Crafty Friends)
(DT The Sketchy Challenges)
Thanks so much Melanie! I love Halloween–as you might guess. LOL This was super fun to design and craft. 🙂
Thank you so very much for your incredibly kind and encouraging comment! I had so much fun designing and creating this card/tealight holder. 🙂 Big hugs, Kristina