Totally Frightful!

Hi Everyone. Today I would like to share with you a project I completed for the latest Cuttlebug Blog Spot challenge. If you popped on over to the Cuttlebug Blog Spot site last week and saw all the other DT members creations you would have seen some amazing and inspirational ideas. All completely different and creative in their own right. I suspect this weeks challenge will be equally as spectacular! or seeing as it's another Halloween theme, maybe that should be as equally SPOOKtacular!!
We were asked to create something under the theme "Totally Frightful!!" A difficult concept to create with paper and embossing folders perhaps,but here is what I came up with..
And here's a step by step how it was made...I cut out some leaves using the Tim Holtz cutting die called Tattered Leaves in some Onyx coloured Glitter Card stock from Best Creations. I always thought Onyx was Black! Shows what I know eh!Now, although this die is from Sizziz and is one of their Bigz dies, all you Cuttlebug owners out there, don't think you can't use these dies in your machines. Just take away your Cuttlebug "A" plate and use the die as your base.Adding your card stock and then your two "B" plates on top.Once the leaves were cut out I popped them into one of the Embossing Folders from the Halloween & Poison Embossing Folder sets and passed them through the Cuttlebug.Close up, I can see the impression on the leaves, although it has proved difficult for me to get a decent picture to show you on here! Wheres David Baily when you need him? As previously stated, Photography is not my strong point!I cut out a ring from my Cricut Machine using the Roly Poly function on the Plantin Schoolbook Cartridge in the same "Onyx" Glitter Card stock.I teased the leaves over the edge of my craft desk to give them some dimensionand applied them to the ring with some Pinflair Silicone Glue. The card stock I used was coated on the back, so no other adhesive I had at hand would stick to it, so therefore the Silicone Glue was my best option for this project.I then set about cutting out my shapes for the Roses. I used the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.I cut my Black Glitter card to 4" x 4" as I only wanted to cut out one of the flower shapes which is on this die, therefore saving card stock.. wooohoooo!!Again, this was cut out using the Cuttlebugwith the die and plates positioned as before..I then popped each flower shape into one of the Embossing Folders from the Halloween Words & Cobwebs sets and passed it through the bugto add texture to each shape.
Each Rose consists of 3 flower shapes. There are 8 Roses on this project so you will need 24 flower shapes if my maths is correct!On one of the sets of 3 shapes, cut from the base of one of the petals to the middle of the flower. On the second, cut off one of the petals and on the last flower shape, cut off two petals.Then, on the largest shapes fold the layers on each flower back over themselves to form a cone sort of shape. I stuck these down with some High Tac double sided tape. Again, because this was coated card, my Glue of choice, Glossy Accents was too wet to hold the shapes in place.You'll notice the rolled up shape at the front of the picture.This is the cut off 2 petals rolled into a cigar shape, this will form the centre of your Rose and is attached to the single petal that you cut off.Stack the 3 large layers together, using some of the Pinflair Silicone Glue to hold them in place.Adding the centre piece to complete the Rose.Repeat this process for all of your Roses.Then add them to your wreath. Again, gluing them into place with the Silicone.
This is going to make such a great Christmas wreath I think, but using more traditional colours though!! I'll have to make some time to get that one done! Anyway, back to Halloween!
Now, what to put the wreath on?! The wreath itself is quite flimsy, it is only lightweight card stock after all. So it really won't stand up to being hung on a door or wall by itself. I was going to back it onto some chip board (grey board) but I was wandering around Asda (Wallmart) last weekand came across this in their Halloween Isle. It's a polystyrene (Styrofoam) Tomb Stone. And at £5 for 3 they were a bargain and I totally stocked up. They will be great for decorating the shop if nothing else... But also had the potential for displaying my wreath. I love it when a plan comes together!!However, when I placed the wreath on the front of the tomb stone it covered up the wording.So, I turned it over to reveal the plain back which would be perfect.. whoopp, whoopp..So, before adding the wreath, I cut out some letters from The Happy Hauntings Cricut Cartridge in both Silver and Gun Metal Mirror card.I embossed the Gun Metal images using the Distressed Stripes Cuttlebug Embossing Folder.Mounted the images on top of each other to give shadow and dimensionand then applied then to the tomb stone,before adding the wreath...A long project, but totally worth it I think and something you could use year after year.
I hope you like it and it gives you some ideas for your Halloween decorations?
Don't forget to pop on over to the Cuttlebug Blog Spot to see what the other DT Members have come up with when they are posted, or why not even take part in the challenge yorself.
Thanks for checking us out, see you soon.
Andy.

Halloween Treat Holder

Hi Blogland. With Halloween just around the corner, I wanted to share with you a project I have been working on. Over at the Cuttlebug Blog Spot we were asked to come up with a project for holding your Halloween Treats!!! Here in the UK we don't really celebrate Halloween as such, although it is getting bigger and bigger!! We even have a Spooky Night here at Barleylands where all the kids dress up and play trick or treat around the craft village in a safe and fun environment.So here is my project for handing out our candy treats.The idea being that the bowl is held up by somesevered, blood dripping, green glowing monsters hands!! ggggrrrrrr.
So here's how it was made......
And can you guess what the bowl was made out of??It was actually an old Cricut cutting mat!!..I cut the mat with a craft knife and ruler half way down the centre line,folded it back over itself to give a definite crease,and then folded the flaps over each other to form the bowl shape. At this point it was not stuck down as the mat needed to be coloured first..
This is the fun, if slightly messy part.I took some Orange Acrylic paintand applied it to the Cricut Mat.It will air dry quite naturally but I encouraged it to dry with my heat gun, don't put your heat gun too near the mat as the heat can warp the plastic mat..You may need a couple of layers of the Orange paint to cover the mat.Next, take some PVA Glueand cover the whole mat with a layer of the glue. You could apply this with a paint brush, but you are probably better off using the best tools you have.. Your HANDS!!!!Whilst the Glue is still wet, paint over a layer of Black Acrylic paint, trying not to mix it too much with the glue, you want the Black Paint on top of the Glue, not in it!What you will notice straight away is that the Black paint starts to split, revealing the dry Orange paint underneath.. This happens because the Acrylic paint dries quicker than the PVA Glue, so therefore it stretches forming a distressed, aged, vintage look otherwise known as crackle..Effective don't you think?! The crackle effect will happen quite naturally as the paint air dries, but you can encourage it to dry by using your heat gun. Again, don't get too close with the gun as you can cause the paint to blister.Once dry, turn the mat overand repeat the process on this side. Put the mat to one side to dry completely over night.
Once the mat was dry it was time to form the bowl shape again and hold it together. When you feel the crackle effect it feels sort of leathery! You could describe this to your Halloween guest as a human skin bowl!!!Now, I don't think I have any adhesive strong enough to hold this shape together, so I decided to use Black Eyelets. I punched holes over the flaps of the mat where they would over lap and also holes around the top, and set my eyelets.I then took some plain ribbon and sprayed it with some Cosmic Shimmer Mists. I used Red Firefly as this has a deep Red colour with Gold Mica powder in it.The idea being that I would stain the ribbon and thread it through the eyelet holes to make sure the whole thing stayed together. I even had the idea to describe the stained ribbon to your guests as intestines... But this might put them off your candy treats.. Who knew I had such a macabre imagination!!Next I made the monster hands to hold the bowl. I cut out some hand shapes from the Sentimentals Cricut Cartridgeand embossed them through the Cuttlebug Machine using the Drip Drop Embossing Folder.I made a ring with some extra thick Acetate and applied the 3 hands to it.I mixed together some PVA Glue and some Red Pepper Alcohol ink and allowed it to drop down each hand as blood!!!Before popping the bowl in placeand filling with some sweet treats..
Don't forget to pop on over to the Cuttlebug Blog Spot to see what all the other DT members have come up with...
Thanks for checking us out, see you soon.
Andy.