Till Death Do We Part...

I have always loved October.
Number one reason - It is the nicest time of year on the Central Coast.
Number two - I love Halloween.  I think it stems from the fact that my mom always made us Halloween costumes.  Seriously, who doesn't like to dress up?

I thought I would start out Oct with a Haloween project I have been waiting all year to do.  Read on and I will tell you why.

I used the new Distress Spray Stains to color cheesecloth (it's a Halloween staple).  Black Soot, Crushed Olive and Dusty Concord are my colors of choice.

I stared with the Black Soot, spraying over the cheesecloth then adding the other colors over the top.  I turned the piece over (since my piece had multiple layers) and repeated the spraying on the back until the cheesecloth was saturated.  My piece looked much darker than the camera is capturing here.  I dried mine with a heat tool but you can easily let it air dry.

Once dry, you can see the variances in color over the fabric.  Again, the camera does not capture the darkness of the cloth here.

I am using two Cabinet Cards for the foundation of the project.  They come in a pack of 5 and have different centers - oval, rectangle, etc.  I chose two ovals but any shape will work for the project (and they do not need to be matching).

I painted the Cabinet Card Frame with 2 coats of Distress Paint in Black Soot.  The middle will be covered so it does not matter if the paint gets on the white center.

Rough cut one layer of cheesecloth for each frame.  Yes, those big red handled Tonic scissors cut the fabric like butter, just saying.

Use a Collage Glue Stick to add a nice thick layer of glue over the black surface.  You might ask why I didn't use Multi Medium for this part.  One reason - the glue stick does not soak through the cheesecloth like the Multi Medium will, which can leave the cheesecloth with blotchy, very stiff looking spots.

Press into place.

Trim edges,leaving about a 1/8 - 1/4" border edge.

 Cut out the center and discard.

Use a Craft Scratcher Tool to fray all the edges.

Stamp the large background image of poison labels from the Stamper Anonymous - Poisonous Stamp Set onto TWO pieces of Specialty Stamping Paper with Archival Ink (must be waterproof).

I spritzed WATER over the surface... then sprayed the surface with Ripe Persimmon, Crushed Olive, and Dusty Concord.  I began drying the surface right away so some of the puddles would remain dark.  I was really amazed at how tough the Specialty Stamping Paper was, it did not warp at all.

 I did dab up the last remaining wet spots.

And look at the results...

LOVE IT.

Now some cobwebs...I used the Decorative Strip - Cobwebs and a Metal Foil Tape Sheet.  The sheets come in two sizes - I picked the 6 x 12" size so I could cut one long strip to fit over the Decorative Strip then ran it through the Vagabond Machine.

Some Mushroom Alcohol Ink to tone down the silver just a bit.

Peel off the backing and lay it over the card.

Now that the basic part of the front of the structure is done, turn the two cards over and lay them next to each other, about 1/8" apart.  Use packing tape to secure the two pieces together.

Cover the back with black cardstock.

 

Now the Cabinet Card Frames should stand up.

Transforming the Embellishments -
First, cut the number 31 from the Alpha Parts - Numeric sheet.  These are black hard plastic, but I need them purple to match glitter.  Purple Twilight Alcohol Ink will do the trick.

Once dry, add a THIN coat of Glossy Accents and a layer of Seedless Preserves Distress Glitter.  Remember to resist the urge the press the Distress Glitter down!  Now just set it aside to dry.

 Once dry, the Glitter can be inked with Black Soot Distress Ink on the edges. 

Paint a keyhole from the Idea-ology Locket Keys set.  Pounce the Tarnished Brass over the surface.  Wait for the paint to well up in the recessed parts, then dry with heat tool.

Once dry, pounce Black Distress paint over the raised surface.

And now some roses that were brown have been sprayed black, with a light silver spray over the top.  Not really sure how I'm going to use these yet but I wanted to try the spray stains to see how it would perform.  I think the answer is - perfectly.

And finally the reason I wanted to create this today - the Found Relative bride and groom.  I have been waiting to create a Halloween project with them since they were release back in January!  I love them because they can either look really nostalgic (like I did here) or really creepy!  This is one of my favorite cards in the deck!
I cut them out and hand tinted them with Distress Markers.

So how do you make them look really creepy?  How about a skull?
I added a white skull to a Monocle (the Remnant Rubs - Apothecary comes with one black sheet and one white sheet).

Then attached the Monocle to a few links of chain with a Jump Ring at the top.  The Jump Ring was opened to allow it to slip over a Hitch Fastener.

I painted the metal with black Distress Paint just to age it a bit.

Then I poked a hole through the Cabinet Card Frame with a Craft Pick to allow the screw bottom of the Hitch Fastener to come through.  Can you see it?

Now just screw on the top portion of the hitch.  Super easy.

It's like something right out of the Haunted Mansion.  Is he dead? or isn't he?

 

 The keyhole and one flower were added to the Frame with Multi Medium.

Left Side:

I cut black cardstock with the Spooktacular Decorative Strip - the PERFECT Halloween font!

Then glittered them with Black Diamond glitter (it's fine black glitter with purple/green mixed in)

I adhered the Spooktacular word along with Label Letters that I sanded and inked.
(I did the sanding and inking before I placed the Label Letters on the project)

I added Multi Medium over the Label Letters and the surrounding area.  Once it was dry, I went around the edges of each word with a Black Soot Distress Marker, then smudged in the color with my fingertip so the small words would stand out.

That small step makes such a difference.

I put a piece of foam tape under the TOP of each number so the top portion would not slump down into the oval center.

And there you go - a fun Halloween Display!

click on photo to enlarge

I hope this inspires you to start creating your own Halloween display!  The basic Cabinet Card Frame structure is so simple and could really be translated to any holiday or theme.  So if Halloween is not your thing, then maybe it's Christmas!  Plenty of time to get started on either!

Have a great weekend...
Now carry on,
paula

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