Boo!

 

 

Hi Everyone,

 

Well, in  my effort to mix things up so as not to bore anyone (particularly me!) I am sharing a Halloween card today.  Yes, it's a bit early for Halloween, but it was what I was inspired to create, deep in this midwinter.

 



I think this purple DCWV paper is really fun!  The dots are silver, and the distressed areas are orange.  Definitely a bit more subtle and elegant than most Halloween papers.  I paired it with black, using the stashed spider web border that was my inspiration for creating this out of season card.  I cut the spider (and all of the card pieces) with my Silver Bullet Professional Digital Die Cutter. I am loving the cleaner, smoother, faster cuts!  My trim is from Really Reasonable Ribbon, and is a super cute, miniature pom-pom trim.  It came in a really fun sample pack I picked up a few months ago. Now I need to go see if I can pick up some more. 

Here is a peek at the inside:

I used the Print and Cut feature of my Sure Cuts a Lot software for my sentiment (a quote from a super cute Kindergartener I knew years ago).  The ease of setting this up with my Silver Bullet was such a pleasant surprise!  I had done it with my previous cutter, but had forgotten (How is it that I can remember kid quotes from 15 years ago, but not things I did in the past few months? ) the wonderful simplicity! 

Hope you have enjoyed my little foray into fall.  Thanks for stopping by!

Elizabeth

Products and tools used to make this project include:
DCWV paper
Really Reasonable Ribbon trim
Glossy Accents
Silver Bullet Professional Digital Cutter
Sure Cuts a Lot Software

The one with the Steampumpkin and a card....

Happy Saturday, Everyone!

Here is a pumpkin that I made earlier this fall:

It started as a dollar store pumpkin.  I ran pieces of 4 inch foil tape through my Sizzix Big Kick, with various embossing folders, and then cut each piece into smaller pieces.  I removed the backing paper and applied the foil pieces to the pumpkin. After the entire pumpkin was covered, I dabbed on alcohol inks.  To finish it, I simply added the clock key and gear to the hole left by the original stem. 

This was a surprisingly easy project. I don't know where to purchase the foil tape, as my DH gave me a roll from his stash of "man stuff".  I'm pretty sure you could use regular aluminium foil and adhere it with Yes paste or another adhesive.

And for my final Halloween project of the year, here is a card I made using a file from the SVG Cuts Elmhurst Hollow kit.  Nobody does Halloween SVGs like SVG Cuts! 

I think this is the cutest!  I love a full moon, and I jazzed up this one with a Tim Holtz text stamp.  The bat in the foreground is attached with a pop dot. 

I love the dimension on this card.  It folds flat to fit in a standard envelope, too. (Secret... I made this one for myself!  Not gonna mail it!)

  I love how all the different layers work together, and how unexpected a cheery flower is on a Halloween card.  I added Distress Paint to a large brad for the center, and Distress inks to some of the different layers.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look! Hope you all have a terrific weekend!

Elizabeth

The one with my Halloween Decorations(Part Four)

Happy Day, Everyone!

I am back with what will probably be the last installment of my Halloween house tour.  Today, I amsharing my mantel décor. 

This was a really simple project to throw together.  Some thrift store candlesticks, Tim Holtz Configurations boxes spray painted black, and a nice bold black font printed on some Sassy Designs digital papers. 

 

On the other side of the mantel are some more TH configuration boxes that I spritzed with spray inks, and stamped, and/or covered with washi tape.  I printed and cut to size some really awesome vintage skeleton prints.  These are displayed on a couple of bud vases from Goodwill. 

 



This mantel clock has to be one of my best antique scores of the entire year.  I purchased it for $20.00 at a local group shop.  I had lots of fun disassembling the innards, with a bit of help from DH.  I printed the witch image on a sheet of acetate, applied some Ranger Alcohol Inks and cut it to fit the clock.  I stuck it in with poster tack, which is concealed behind the brass fitting.  I didn't want to use glue, as I am certain that this piece will be used for every season.  It looks so cool with the lights out and a candle flickering behind it!

 

I stamped the domino with a Tim Holtz stamp and black Archival ink.  I rubbed on some Coffee Archival with a sponge as well.  I also used a black Archival and a TH stamp on the little poison bottle.  I have a ton of these tiny vaccination bottles that DD brought home to me when she worked for a vet.  I filled the bottle with some of my self made paint spray, and stuck a label and game piece into the cork using a label pin. 

 

 

The seasonal rosette features some acetate bats, a dollar store crow, and a cool skull button that I made using an image from the The Graphics Fairy, and my button machine. 

 

Here is the final result:

 

 

 

Because I am linking up to the The Grapics Fairy Brag Monday Party, I wanted show you a close up of another cool thing I did recently:

 

 

 This really cool spider is hanging on the antique window in my game room.  I printed it on acetate, cut it to fit, and stuck it on with some of that clear gluey stuff that sometimes comes on plastic packaging.  Believe it or not, I peel that good stuff off and save it in a milk jug lid on my craft table.  It really comes in handy sometimes.  It's very hard to deny my New England Yankee roots when I share stuff like that, LOL! 

 

 

Today, I am linking to the http://thegraphicsfairy.com/ Brag Monday Party. 

 

Have a terrific today!

 

Elizabeth

 

 

 



 

 



 







The one with my Halloween Decorations (Part 3)....

Happy Day, Everyone!

Welcome to day three of my Halloween house tour.  Today I am sharing one of my new favorite spaces to decorate.  It is a corner of our mudroom, which until this summer, housed a large, unattractive basket full of hats and mittens.  I found a terrific little dresser at a shop in my neighborhood, and used it to spiffy up that eyesore. 

This display includes apothecary bottles from the SVG Cuts Toil and Trouble kit.  I posted deets on the shoe a few weeks ago.  It is also from SVG Cuts.  I will be sharing more about the pumpkin a bit later. In the frame is one of my favorite projects of this season:

 

This is a photo of my mom and my aunt, circa 1938.  I Photo Shopped jack o lantern heads onto their little bodies, and added top hats.  I think it is adorable.  I haven't showed it to them yet, but I'm pretty sure they will love it, too.  The frame is another thrift store find.  I paid 99 cents for it.  I covered up the silver marker text that someone else had added to it with black Distress Paint.  Then I very lightly dry brushed on Distress paints in Rusty Hinge, Ripe Persimmon, and Wild Honey with a fan brush. 

 

Above the dresser are three of my recent altered art pieces:

 

 

You might remember them from earlier posts.  All of these frames are from the local thrift store.

 

That's it for today!

 

I will be back with one more installment of the house tour, in which I will showcase my mantel.  I may be adding one more item to it between now and then, if I can fit it in.  I have roughly ten different projects on my desktop ready to be cut and assembled.   

 

Until next time, I wish you a very happy weekend!

 

Elizabeth

The one with my Halloween Decorations (Part One)....

Happy Day, Everyone!

Today's post is going to be heavy on pictures, and  light on paper crafting.  I am going to be showing you my game room sideboard, in all of its Halloween glory.  This sideboard is one of my favorite pieces to decorate.  I picked it up about 10 years ago at a thrift store, and have been thrilled with it ever since.  It didn't require any refinishing, and it has tons of really good storage.  Best of all, this piece is big enough to fit the space perfectly. 

 

The whole shebang

 

I recently purchased a bottle cutter, and have enjoyed making wine bottle "bell jars".  You will be seeing more of these.

 

 

I filled this antique store bargain bottle with various sizes of skull beads.  I made a cone and glued dollar store skelly parts to it for one of the bell jars.  The other has a thrift store china doll head floating in cheese cloth.  The grungy brass pill box matches the candlesticks I have been purchasing all fall, some from antique stores, and some from the thrift store.

 

 

I purchased a ton of plastic and foam skulls this year!  I found the terrific wire and metal cloche on clearance at Michael's.  I will be using it over and over.  It is the perfect size for this large sideboard, and can be filled with just about anything. The spiders are another Dollar Store find. The small antique bottle has more tiny skull beads.  The box and loving cup are antique store finds, and the architectural print was a gift from a neighbor many years ago.  The label on the wine bottle is from SVG Cuts.  (I did sneak in a little paper crafting here and there!) 

 

 

I paid just $5.00 for this awesome little camera.  It is not particularly Halloween-ish, but I really likes how it balances out the creepiness. 

 

 

I love this super rusty Rumford Baking Powder tin.  I still use Rumford Baking Powder, and have a Rumford cookbook from the 30's that belonged to my Grandmother. 

 

 

This tin was purchased specifically for this project.  My daughter joined me in a search for things that would look good on candlesticks with skulls.  Bet not everyone gets to go on that kind of treasure hunt! LOL 

 

 

That's it for today.  I will be back soon with photos of some of the other vignettes I have put together recently. 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Elizabeth

 

 

 

 

 

The one with the skull mirror...

Hi Everyone,

Here is another Halloween project:

 

 

I stamped the Tim Holtz skull stamp (love this stamp!) on a thrift store mirror with Black Staz-On ink.  I dabbed silver alcohol ink lightly over the top.  I dry brushed black Distress Paint over the brown frame, for a quick and easy finish.  To complete my project, I made a paper banner using Tim's Happy Halloween stamp, Archival black and Distress Inks in various orange colors. 

 

Hope you are all having a delightful day!

 

Elizabeth

The one for DD's Boy Friend...

Hello All,

Today I am going to begin sharing all of my recent Halloween projects.  I will also be sharing some photos of the various ways that I have displayed them around my house. 

Today's project is a shadow box that I put together for DD's BF's dorm room.  He asked for (or said ok, when I asked if I could make... something like that... LOL) a creepy decoration.  This is what I came up with:

 

The frame is from the thrift store, and the skeletons and spider are from the dollar store.  In the background is a creepy castle photo that I printed.  I cut the spider web with my Black Cat Cougar from Sherri at That's Scrap Inc.   This was pretty difficult to photograph, especially since it was dark and dreary this weekend.  With the shorter days limiting my photo opportunities, I have finally decided to order a little photo booth. 

 

 

Hopefully this photo shows the background and additional skeleton parts a bit better:

 

 

 

I left the white over spray on the glass, after painting the frame, because I think it gives a bit of a dusty effect.  Sure doesn't help with the photography though!  It does show the black and white background better.  The first photo looks very blue.  Probably the aqua walls of my studio interfering. 

 

This project is now on the way to college with Sean, so I won't be able to show you how it looks hanging on the wall. 

 

Until later,

 

Elizabeth

 





The one with the Halloween inspiration board....

Hi Everyone!

I'm back a few hours early with my October inspiration board.  I have been a little obsessed with Halloween lately ( I'll be sharing LOTS of projects in the next couple of weeks!) and I have also been having a bit of a flirtation with Steampunk style.  I haven't done any major projects yet, but there may be a disassembled antique clock or two in my studio.   October's inspiration board is a Steampunk Halloween mash-up. 

 

 

Instead of vintage pieces, this time I perused the internet for fun images.  I just printed them out and added them in, with some creepy Halloween parts like skull beads and dismembered doll parts.  The black necklace is a vintage family piece.  I took it out of a half completed configurations display, because I thought it would work perfectly here for now. 

 

Pulling my display together this evening has inspired another Halloween project idea.  My Christmas cards may never get done! 

 

Happy October to one and all!

 

Elizabeth

 

 

 

 

The one with the Dominos....

Hi Everyone!

Today I am posting a project that I have been working on for a few weeks.  I used a cool image transfer technique to add graphics to some plain old dominos.

 

I printed my graphics in black on with regular printer paper and my laser printer.  I covered the dominos with gel medium, and placed the graphics upside down on top of the gel.  I pressed to make sure it was adhered well, and waited for it to dry.  Then I spritzed on water, and worked at rubbing off the paper leaving just the dried gel and the image on the domino. 

 

The bat, skelly, key and spooky chandelier were all done using this method.  The label and clock face were stamped using Tim Holtz stamps and Black Ranger Archival Ink.  The flowers are white paper flowers that I inked with Distress Inks, and the orange domino was simply covered with a spare piece of my self made "washi" tape. 

 

For the background, I inked up some cardstock with lots of Distress Inks in orange and gold tones, and splattered on some water.  I mounted this on a piece of cereal box to give it some heft, and then adhered the dominos with E6000.  The frame was coated in a few layers of gesso, rubbed with an old candle, and the spray painted black.  When the paint was dry, I rubbed off the waxy bits, and then sanded a bit to reveal some of the wood in places. 

 

All in all, it was an easy project, and if I can grab some more  square frames from the thrift store, I will be making some more with Thanksgiving and Christmas themes.

 

Have a fantastic day, everyone!

 

Elizabeth

The one with Mrs. Malfoy's shoe.....

Happy Saturday, Everyone!

I hope you day is going wonderfully.  Today I worked on another Halloween project. Leo and Mary over at  SVG Cuts have issued another challenge that I can't resist.  Not only are they giving away the free shoe file, completing the challenge earns a $6.99 gift card.  Thanks, Leo and Mary for the chance to participate!   I downloaded their free shoe file, and made this Harry  Potter inspired shoe.  As I was making it, I was envisioning Draco Malfoy's creepily elegant mother wearing it to a celebration of the Dark Arts.

 I cut the shoe and the accent panels from black cardstock.

 

I cut the inner and outer sole and the bow, which is also an SVG Cuts file, from grey cardstock.  I made the skull "flair" with my button maker.  (Had to make a matching one for my bracelet.  It will be fun to wear a bracelet with spiders. bats and skulls!)

 



 

I used a chipboard template that I cut last year with my Black Cat Cougar from Sherri at That's Scrap, Inc. to emboss the toe and heel.  I highlighted the spider web by rubbing on some white chalk ink. 

To use the chipboard template with my Sizzix Big Kick, I made a "sandwich" of
Plate A
A rubber mat (by Spellbinders)
Cardstock
my chipboard template
Plate B
4 index cards from my Recollections storage boxes.  (I wrote the "recipe" on one of the index cards, because I keep forgetting it.)

I really need to remember to make more of these.  Free is always doable in my budget!

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend! 

Elizabeth

PS:   Here are a couple of links to other shoes made for this challenge.

Diane's Shoe  (Thanks to Diane for alerting me to this challenge!)

Whizzy's Shoe

 

The one with the serious creep factor.....

Happy Thursday, Peeps!

Today, I am sharing photos of a project that totally creeps out my children!   In the past couple of years, I have developed a penchant for more adult (creepy) Halloween décor.  I think it may be the influence of the Harry Potter movies.  I love the shabby-elegant dark props in those movies! 

Recently, I was intrigued by a post by Roni at Inkstains.  Her blog is on my list of favorites, and I check it out regularly.  She wrote about a mold for "Frozen Charlotte" dolls.  I immediately thought Halloween, and spent my July craft budget on the mold and some other cool mixed media goodies from Articus Studio Design. 

Here is what I made with my first batch of Frozen Charlottes:

 

 

 

The dolls were made with flesh colored polymer clay, and baked according to the directions on the box.  I added a coat of Gesso, let it dry, and added Distress Inks in Vintage photo, Antique Linen and Old Paper. 

 

 

 

I added some tin wings to the largest doll.  They were hanging around in my mixed media box, just waiting for the right project.  I stamped them with Ranger Archival Ink and  a Tim Holtz stamp, and swiped on some Distress Paint in Antique Linen with my finger. 

 

For the background, I used the corrugated cardboard that was on the background of the original piece, ripped some of the top layer off, painted it with Distress paints, stamped it with a Tim Holtz background stamp and Distress Ink in Walnut,  and attached some black paper lace.  These pieces were cut with my Black Cat Cougar from Sherri at That's Scrap, Inc.  I added some of the metallic Distress Inks and Picket Fence  Distress Stain to to age them a bit. 

 

I covered the mat with a photo copy of some vintage newsprint.  I couldn't resist adding a bit of Distress Inks to this element, too.  I finished off the  mat with some skeleton keys. 

 

 

One of my favorite details are these chips of "lead paint".  They are the gesso I scraped off my non stick mat after painting the frame.  I didn't know what I was going to use them for at the time, but I'm glad I was inspired to save them.  

 



 

 

After putting a couple of layers of gesso on the frame, I rubbed on some candle wax from an old taper, spray painted it with flat black paint, let it dry, and rubbed off the areas where the wax was.  You can easily see these places, as they are shiny when the rest of the paint is dry.  My final step was sanding the some of the edges and corners to give the frame a more antique look. 

 

And finally, here is a photo of where this piece started.  It was a $2.99 piece of "art" from the thrift store.  I sure like it better now!

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

Elizabeth

 



Spooky Display

 

 

Hi Everyone!

 

I have been in full-on Fall mode in my Craft Room lateley.  Yesterday, I made this Halloween display.  This little shelf is in my dining room, and usually houses a cozy collection of mini pitchers and creamers, as well as the glass bottle you see here.  My family's usual Halloween decorations are more cutesy than creepy, but this year, I decided to take a turn toward the dark side for a more sophisticated display. 

 

The two potions bottles on the top of the shelf , and the label on the glass bottle were made using SVG Cuts Toil and Trouble set. I love these "bottles".  I almost can't believe that they are made from paper, even though I cut them out and assembled them! I made some vintage labels from online images, and as usual inked everything up with Distress Inks, even the skulls that I found at Target and the Dollar Tree. 

 

The background behind the tall glass bottle is the front page of the Daily Prophet, from the Harry Potter movies.  I used double sided tape to attach the spider web to the middle of the shelf, in front of a graveyard background, which is an online photo that I altered in PSE.  I printed the skeleton on acetate, gave it a light spray of adhesive and stuck it in the web.  The  "creepy fabric", and the spider web are also from the dollar store.  The spiders were packaged with the webbing.