12 Tags of 2012 - October

It is still October (just) and I have 2 days to spare before Tim posts his November tag!  That is not like me at all so I really must have been busy.  I am normally champing at the bit to get playing with the featured techniques each month but I have had to prioritise - what is that all about?

So with Halloween just around the corner here is my suitably macabre tag inspired by Mr Holtz's October Tag.

This tag was designed when I saw the tissue technique as I knew as soon as I saw it it would make fab texture for old stone and with Halloween just around the corner it just had to be a tombstone of course.    

First I layered up 4 chipboard tags with recesses cut into each to get the depth I needed and then I covered my tag with sewing pattern tissue using PVA that gave me a great textured base to begin painting my tag to look like old weathered stone.

I love stippling on the different shades of acrylic paint to get this effect.  It is so easy but so effective.  Now for the embellishing!

The candle stick was made by layering chipboard half circles in different sizes and a couple of grunge paper rolls.  I painted the candle stick to look a bit like marble (I hope!) and then the waxy candle was created by painting and dripping on PVA that dries white.  I discovered this when I made another candlestick for my Tag Tuesday project earlier this week.  It even has that waxy sheen which I was really pleased with so I am doing it again here!

Next I used glitter - I had no suitable glitter to try Tim's colouring technique but I will definitely give that a go one day soon.  It saves buying a whole range of glitters - just colour them to match your project.  I wanted my glitter to to look a little like blood dripping out of the recess (never seen glittery blood before?  No one would faint at the sight of it if it looked all twinkly like this!)

Next up I used Black Soot Distress Stains to colour pretty paper roses.  This works really well but be careful not to soak the roses too much or you they will collapse and loose their shape.  I dried mine with a heat gun.

I have had some great use from a few ASDA halloween decoration purchases this year and I added one of the skulls from a chain decoration I bought to sit spookily in the tombstone recess and I gave him two black jewel eyes.

I made a vase from another roll of grunge paper and a couple of semi circles of chipboard - I coloured it with Distress Stains and sparkled with more glitter.  I hot glued the black rose flower arrangement in place and it was then that I got pesky glue strands and instead of stressing about picking them off I decided to add more and got this fab cobweb result.

Final touches were the plastic chain from the decoration added to the top of the tag, an over sized spider (no need for proportion - It's Halloween!), I lit the candle with a dried blob of hot glue that I covered with orange Stickles........and then all there was left to do was add more hot glue cobwebs!

Don't they look cool?  I am not sure how long they will last but if they collapse in a heap I will just pick them off like I normally do when using hot glue on a project!!

 Happy Halloween everyone!  So how long have I got until the next Tim tag's due?????

Thank you for popping by X.