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Welcome

I love answering your questions. If you ask them in the comment section, I have no way to answer you (if you haven't heard from me, that is why). If you use the "EMAIL ME" in the left column of this page, I will be able to respond to you. You can also use it if you want to be added to my newsletter. Laura

Friday, October 31, 2014

EDGAR ALLEN POE ART & WINNER OF THE HALLOWEEN 13th HOUR CLOCK

I’m wrapping up Halloween 2014 with another Edgar Allen Poe piece.  The background is made up of words from his books glued in strips to heavy cardstock.  I soaked the garland in diluted black acrylic paint to give it the dark look. 

Saturday, October 25, 2014

HALLOWEEN BLOG PARTY – 13th HOUR CLOCK GIVEAWAY, FREE TREAT BOX TEMPLATE & HALLOWEEN IMAGES

It’s all treats today and no tricks!  For my contribution to the Halloween Blog Party hosted by Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist, I have all kinds of goodies for you. 

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

First, is a giveaway of a 13th Hour Halloween altered clock.  To enter in the drawing just leave a comment on this post or email me using the Email Me button in the right-hand column of the blog.  On the morning of Halloween October 31st, I’ll use Random.org to select a winner.

VINTAGE HALLOWEEN TREAT BOX TEMPLATE
How about making your own vintage treat boxes.  These can be used for a party or for special tricker treaters.  They are super simple to make.  Below is the template.
I glued decorative paper to the back of the template before assembling.
The template fits on on 8 1/2" x 11" paper (of course you can always re-size it).  To download the template, click on the image to expand it, right-click and select Save As.

FREE VINTAGE HALLOWEEN IMAGES FOR YOUR ART
To download an image, click on the image to expand it, right-click and select Save As.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


Thursday, October 23, 2014

GOBLIN ATCS

The goblins are coming.  Be careful not to enter the Dark Forest or Goblins Hollow as you don't want to meet the goblin king.

GOBLIN HOLLOW

GOBLIN KING

The spikey things you see on his crown are sticks.

BEWARE THE DARK FOREST

I thought sticks made a perfect frame for this piece.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

HOCUS POCUS INSPIRED BOOK APOTHECARY - VIDEO TUTORIAL

“Boooooook come home or make thyself known” cries Winnie in the movie Hocus Pocus.  This movie is a must-see for me every Halloween season.  It’s the only one of my spooky movies that I can get my husband to watch with me.  He loves the “I put a spell on you” scene when the Sanderson sisters sing.  You can tell by the eye on the book that this apothecary draws inspiration from the Hocus Pocus spellbook. 
Unlike the book in Hocus Pocus, which is filled with spells; this one opens to reveal an apothecary.
The book is constructed from two Tim Holtz Mini Configuration Books hinged together.

The texture and patina on the covers is achieved with tissue paper, stamped paper clay and Modern Masters Metal Effects Iron Paint and Rust Activator.  I've been working with these products for years, and love them so much, I rusted an entire wall in my house.


WHERE TO FIND MODERN MASTERS PRODUCTS

You can find Modern Masters products on Amazon.com, online paint stores, and some neighborhood paint shops.  Their products are easiest to find in the US & Canada.  For those in the UK, you can find them on Amazon.co.uk.  For other countries, the best thing is to Google the product name to see if anyone in your country carries it.

Notice how the middle of the book looks like pages - it’s really just an image, which you’ll find for download further down in this post.

By using two of the configuration books, you’ll have lots of room to display all kinds of cool bits and bobs.


VIDEO TUTORIAL
In the video tutorial below, I’ll step you through making the covers and assembling the book.  If Halloween or this particular project is not your thing, you might still want to watch the video as the techniques to create the cover can easily translate into other projects and themes.



EYE & BOOK PAGES IMAGES
To download the eye and book page images that I used in the tutorial, click on the image to expand it, right-click and select Save As.







Wednesday, October 1, 2014

HOUSE OF POE - TUTORIAL

The "House of Poe" is my ode to Edgar Allen Poe the master of the macabre.  I love all of his stories and if you are a fan too, I hope you like this project.  Within the larger piece are smaller items that could be stand-alone pieces or part of a larger project.  In the tutorial below, I'll show you how to make a clock from a matchbox, a table & desk from an Altoids tin, a bookcase coffin, a working hourglass, and other bits and bobs.


MAIN STRUCTURE

I started with the leftover section of the paper mache house accordion shrine. This is the piece leftover from the Little Red Riding Hood project.  You could certainly use the entire shire to make your own House of Poe.

I started by cutting out a section of the house to create a niche.  To make a larger house, I cut two 6” x 4” panels from heavy chipboard and painted all of the pieces back.
Next, I papered the pieces front and back.
In the meantime, while I was working on the bits and bobs for the house, I realized that the house was not big enough to accommodate all the stuff I had planned (yikes!).  The solution was to cut a second set of 5” x 3”.panels.

 
To create dimension, the curtains are popped up from the panels (using double-stick foam tape) and the corners are popped from the curtains.  In the center section, the orange curtain is popped up inside the niche and the grey curtain is popped up in front of the niche.  The corners are also popped up from the grey curtain.

The window is made from a die-set and is flanked by two pieces of Dresden that look like shutters.  I glued the Dresden on with a hinge, so that I could bend the shutters forward.  In the background is a skeleton specter.


I used double-stick foam tape to attach the chair and to pop it up from the wall.


DESK & TABLES
The room needed surfaces to display cool stuff so I decided to create a desk out of the bottom of an Altoids tin and a table out of the top.

I covered the bottom of the tin with paper and Dresden.  To darken the gold Dresden, I first painted it black and then rubbed on Inca Gold Gilders paste.  The feet of the table are made from resin gables.  

I glued the gables together to create a corner with the long gables in the front, painted them black and rubbed them with the Gilders paste.  I only made feet for the front as the back is attached to the chair.  

The last step was to add decorative swirls and a brass bat with a cat-eye.
To make an inkwell and quill, I used a rondelle, bead cap, and feather from my stash.
Other decorative items on the table are books, a candelabra, papers, a letter, and a key.

To make the table, I covered the Altoids tin top with paper and trimmed it with lace and black sweeper fringe.
The legs are made from a wooden chess piece (turned upside down) and a cup (all painted black and rubbed with Inca Gold Gilder paste.

On the table, you’ll find a candelabra, open book (supported by other books in the back), an Ouija board, a rather large spider in a glass dome and a working hourglass.

To make the working hourglass, I used two tiny round bottles and two rondelles.  I filled one of the bottles with sand and glued the rims of the bottles together with Glossy Accents.  I added the rondelles to the ends and a bat serves as decoration.

 
The base of the small round table is made of the same chest piece as the legs on the Altoids tin table.  I glued a rondelle to the top of the chest piece as without it, the top of the chest piece would stick up through the hole in the tabletop (Santos Doll Halos) making the surface of the table uneven.
On the top of the table, I glued a talon holding an eyeball bead.  I painted the red veins on the eye with acrylic paint giving the eye a bloodshot appearance.


MATCHBOX CLOCK

To make the matchbox clock, I started by papering the matchbox case.  I used a black marker to color the ends of the matchbox drawer.  Next using chain and eye pins, I attached spiders for weights and a scull bead for the pendulum. 
I cut a Dresden scroll in half and glued the halves to the top and bottom of the case.
COFFIN BOOKCASE
I used the template from the previous Coffin Apothecary project to create the bookcases.  Click here if you missed the template and tutorial. 
http://artfullymusing.blogspot.com/2014/09/coffin-apothecary-with-raven-wings-new.html
I reduced the size of the template to fit on the wall.

The bookcase is filled with books and other creepy decor.  The books are just a facade. I backed them with cardstock and used layers of double-stick foam tape to attach them to the back of the bookcase.
I added the gargoyle bead to the top the globe using a toothpick, which is glued to the back and runs through the hole in the bead. The final touch is the bat on the bottom.
The base for the house is made from thick chipboard that in the back, matches the angles of the walls and is straight in the front.  Once I glued the walls together I used them to trace the angles on the base.
I covered the base with decorative paper.
The Front
The tombstones are first painted black.  Next, I stippled them in dark grey and then in a lighter grey to give them the appearance of stone.
The trees are made from real tree branches that are painted black.
I used decorative paper to cover the front and then the same architectural pieces as I used in the inside of the house.  For the front door, I used the entire architectural piece and cut out layers and attached them with double-stick foam tape to make the front door pop.

I used black wrought iron Dresden Scrolls and brass winged griffins to create sconces on the sides of the door.   The knocker on the door is a lion head handle.
I used a stitched leaf ribbon for vines.  A raven bead guards the entrance.
Alpha Stamps Supplies Used for this Project