Friday, November 5, 2010

Halloween Crafts in November

Of course I am late...........did you expect any less?

Here are two projects that I completed for Halloween. They were both fairly simple in design and once I made up my mind, they were quick to put together.

These were both for swaps hosted by the wonderfully creative Kellylo. They both had a bit of a twist and I enjoyed the challenge.

The first was for a set of ATC's that needed to use canvas as the main element and Halloween as the theme.

I decided that I wanted to try and use a beeswax technique on this one in addition to the canvas requirement. Now mind you, I have never used beeswax before. I had once received a very nice tag that was coated with it and liked the finish. Of course, planning is not my forte, so instead of reading up on the technique, I just decided to buy me a big block and dive in!

I didn't use a melting pot, instead, I thought I would just hit it with my heat gun. It does melt really, really quickly. Turns out, it firms up just as fast. More about that later.

I originally tried to put some alcohol inks in it to add a bit of shimmer. Not surprisingly, that failed. It just balls up and can not be used, which anyone with any knowledge of science would have probably guessed in advance. Oh well, it's not brain surgery, it's paper crafts, so what do you expect from me?? Once I fished through the wax and picked out all of the unusable globs of hardened ink, I switched it to Perfect Pearls powder and that was.....well......perfect!


After picking a picture of an old Victorian style mansion, I copied it over to Photoshop, cropped it up a bit; changed to to black and white and finally, recolored it in shades of blue. Now for the wax. Once I brushed it on, (which by the way, took about five re-heating sessions to keep that crap slightly liquid enough to even apply) it definitely didn't have the look that I was trying to achieve. It was lumpy and thick, not at all shiny and antique like I had expected. Again, had I read up on the technique that might have helped. Also, I was using it on canvas, not on paper. I am pretty sure that made a difference as well. Now I just needed to find a way to fix it.


Thank you, heat gun. I blasted it for a few seconds and it melted down in to the canvas quite nicely. It is a subtle change, but I really like it. It adds a richer dimension than just adding some distressing or ink. I am definitely going to try this again on all types of fabric, wood and paper. I think it will be one of those things that turns out a bit different each time. Besides, I have this big ass block of wax and I need to justify the purchase, you know?


Gasp! I use spray paint, hot glue, wax and all sorts of crap that is not archival. I guess I should apologize, but really, I don't. I guess I just find it hard to believe that of all of the things that get passed on to future generations, this card is going to make the cut. Anyway, back to crafting. I used this great Martha Stewart punch for the fence. I had liked it, but could not justify the $15 cost when it was first released. Found it on sale for $7 and that was about all the justification I needed, so it is MINE. I really do love it and can see using it for other things. Just a snip of the scissors and the bats will be gone and it can be used for any season. After punching it out on scraps of cardstock, I hit it with some paint. I love Hammered spray paint. Actually, I love all spray paints, but not has much as the Hammered ones. I own it in every color and if we go to a store that sells Hammer paint, I am checking to see that they haven't slipped in a new finish without notifying me.

Is it just me or does the mere mention of the word Hammer start
the mindless humming of that damn "ooh ooh..you can't touch this." Or maybe the huffing of all these paint fumes is one of those things that leads to the repetitive singing of MC Hammer tunes?


I don't know if I am in a rut or if I just like what I like.......... I used my favorite image, printed on cardstock, inked the edges and tucked her behind the fence, which was pop-dotted for a bit of dimension.


I added 2 of my beloved, vintage bat rhinestones and called them done.


The second swap was for altered Halloween coffins. Isn't that just the best idea? How could I resist a coffin? I was paired up with one of my favorite peas, Lisa (JoyNewYork) and was a bit nervous to start. She is an amazing swapper and I have always admired (okay, coveted) her talent.


The swap started with these small wooden coffins that were purchased at Michael's for $1.99.


Of course, I had to pull out my beloved spray cans. I removed all of the hardware and gave it a blast with some black textured paint.


I can't sew. I will do lots and lots to avoid pulling out a sewing machine and even attempting to sew. So, I made a template of the inside of the coffin. I cut the fabric slightly larger than the templates, turned over the edges and hot glued the hell out of it. I was really drawn to the velvet with the touch of gold glitter, so I was glad to finally have a reason to use it.


Once it was lined, I added a bit of moss, a few coffin flowers and a skull with glittery, Stickled eyes.


For the outside, I used a Tim Holtz bookplate, which I just adore. The picture is a fairly famous print "All is Vanity" and I changed the colors to antique before printing it on fabric-textured paper. I added some more moss, a small skeleton hand and another paper flower.


Adding more didn't seem to help the overall look in this case, so I kept it a bit simpler than I normally do. All and all, very fun swaps.

Now, on to Christmas crafts...............

1 comment:

Rachel said...

Oh Stephie- I love it! But you knew I would! Halloween crafts are good ANY time of year! Keep rocking them out, girlie!!!!!!!!