More Spookiness…..

Hi Everyone

Is more spookiness a word?  I have another video tutorial for you today and this time I show you how to create a ghoulish scene inside a Tim Holtz Assemblage Clock!

I do love these clocks and I have been meaning to do this one for some time.  I managed to break the glass of the first clock I bought when I was making the Christmas Clock (see below) I made a couple of years ago.  I kept it as I knew I could still use it but I had to use a new one for the Christmas version. Today, as you can see, I have finally used it!!!

So if you want to turn a clock to stone - make mini grave stones, make glittery blood trails or glue cobwebs then this is the tutorial for you!

I hope to get at least one more halloween project up before the witching hour is upon us but we will see….I seem to need all my time management skills lately :-)

Here is the link to the Christmas Clock if you like creating worlds in miniature then these clocks are the perfect frame for them.  Just let your imagination take over and make it small!

Have fun creating in miniature.  Thank you for popping by x

Something Spooky This Way Comes……..

Hi everyone

I have been a little absent from my Videos and Blog recently.  Summer holidays which was a well deserved break after the stress of a teen taking exams!

I have also been busy on a secret project which you will hear all about in November!!!

I am behind with my 12 Tags so I am going to make an effort to get that sorted in November - I don't think there have been many months where I was not down to the wire posting.  I am still loving making and sharing my tags but they have taken a bit of a back seat this year.

So that little round up brings me to todays share.  Halloween will soon be upon us and if you have been here before you know I love Halloween!  Every year I try to make a little something and I do have a Halloween playlist on my YouTube Channel which you might want to take a look at.

Do you remember this little cutie!  It has my Mummies eyes LOL!  This was such a fun make and was one of the first video tutorial that I ever made - it will make you giggle!

Today I am sharing the first of a couple of Halloween projects and I am going to show you how to turn glass to stone for this skull potion bottle.

This is quite easy to do.  Just take an unusual shaped bottle and a little tissue and glue and a lot of imagination!  I really hope you like this tutorial if you are looking for a Halloween project that you give it a go.

Wishing you lots of spooky creativity this week!  I will be back very soon with another ghostly offering!  Thank you for popping by x

12 Tags of 2014 - October

Hi everyone

Just a quick post to show you my latest tag.  I always love Tim's October tag because it is always deliciously spooky!

Of course that was the perfect excuse to do likewise!!!

I didn't' have many of the items Tim used this month but luckily for me I had the perfect chipboard elements from Tando!  Check out my video to see all the techniques that went into the creation of this tag.  I used my distress inks, distress paints and delusions sprays on this one!!!

I had a brainwave right at the end of the video and added a hot glue web onto the legs of the spider!  Genius!………...she says with a devilish cackle!!! ;-)

We are thinking of going to watch a scary movie a the cinema on Halloween …..if you like to join in with the spooky fun then I wish you a spooktacular Halloween.

If it not your thing I wish you a quiet night in where nothing goes bump!

Don't forget to pop along to Tim's blog (click on this link) to see what spooky creativity he has sparked with this month's tag…..is it really three years of this challenge almost?

Until my next post thank you for popping by X

12 Tags of 2013 - October

Following Tim's lead I kept the Halloween theme for my October tag as you can see.  I had lots of glittery fun and even had a go at colouring my own Distress glitter as you can see in the video.  It worked a treat so I will definitely be trying that technique again.

This tag definitely has the fun factor.  Even the scary spiders look cute all dressed in glitter!!!  Here is the link to the video that shows you how I got from Tim's inspiration to my interpretation.

Today will be filled with creating my final tag of the year which just happens to be the one I missed right at the beginning of it. It is a great way to mark the ending of 2013 and the beginning of 2014.  Watch this space to see if I manage to get it in on time.  It is going to be tight.

Thank you for popping by X

Halloween Tutorial - Is this late or incredibly early????

Morning everyone.  It is a misty, damp autumnal morning outside my window today.  I am sharing a video I didn't quite get finished in time for Halloween!  Proceedings were interrupted by a family break in Cornwall and because I didn't have any corks to finish off my spooky creations!  I had to buy them with no wine attached......who would believe that!!!!!? ;-) Actually hubby went out an bought them for me so big kiss to him X

I had such fun making these I am going to be collecting a few more unusual shaped bottles this year to make another little display for the other side of my fireplace.  They look fab when the fire is lit.  Here is the tutorial to get you thinking of spooky potion looks of your own.

I am off to have my breakfast before I leave for my crop with friends.  We will be cozy and warm surrounded by our stash.  How much of it will be used I am not sure.  But I know for sure calories will be consumed, coffee will be drunk and there will be laughter ;-) ........layouts mmmmmm......can't guarantee it ha ha!

I will post again tonight and move on to Christmas with my next tutorial.  See you later and thank you for popping by X

Review of Spooky Tags

Halloween is fast approaching and I am working on a couple of home decor projects to share.  It occurred to me as I was unwrapping something I made last year it might be fun to share a couple of spooky tags I made and that a quick video was in order to see all the 3D details.

Some of you may remember these two tags.......yes they both definitely started out lives as tags!

Here is the link to a video where I give you the grand 3D spook-tagular tour (see what I did there!!!?)

I wonder if my inky fingers give anything away!!!  They should remind me to wear gloves when using spray paint!!!

If you just want to see the actual posts that I shared last year with photo tutorials then click on the links for more spooky inspiration.....

To learn how I made this 3D tombstone tag follow this link.

For all the tips on the latest in des res coffins for the best dressed skeleton in town please click on this link!

I have a halloween category in the labels section (left hand side bar) if you want to see a few more hauntingly fabulous creations ;-)

If you like me love all the fun of Halloween I hope you are having ghoulish fun making things ready for the witching hour.  If you are not a fan then I hope you are enjoying a fabulous Autumn (or Spring....) with leaves as lovely as the ones I have dried and laid out before you for my photo shoot.  Ignore the skulls and focus on the leaves!!!!!

Thank you for popping by X

Spooky Art Journal Page

After quite a long time spent uploading to YouTube here is my third Art Journal page video.  I love making these and this one was particularly fab to do as it started life as a lovely autumnal scene and ended as..........

......something altogether more sinister and spooky!  I had great fun trying to make the music build to a spooky climax and I hope I managed it.  I also learnt a new trick of linking a video to the end of the tutorial.  So I have linked a Halloween Mummy Wreath tutorial I uploaded last year for even more Halloween crafting viewing.

Hope you like the video.  I am off to edit another one which is a card with an autumnal feel and a romantic message.  I learnt how to dry leaves and flowers after watching a fab tutorial by Lindsay the Frugal Crafter and I just knew I wanted to try it out.  It really is quick and easy and preserved the gorgeous autumnal colours of the leaves.  I want to create a home decor piece with my leaves so that is something mulling away in my brain at the moment!

See you soon with the next video tutorial.  Hope you are having a fab day.

Thank you for popping by X

Spooky Tags

Is it Monday afternoon already?!!!!  I thought I would post this before I get videoing - it has been a while since I posted on You Tube so I thought I might warm up with a spooky art journal page........or maybe a card......or maybe a spooktacular home decor item........I guess you will have to tune in to find out what I eventually get up too!!!!

I have had a lovely weekend with my crafting friends and I actually did some work.  But don't worry I did fit in plenty of chat and coffee and cake too!!!!  So today I am sharing three Halloween tags that I made with some of my Lost and Found Halloween papers (My Minds Eye).

All the tags have been made with elements from the papers and die cut sheets so they were quick to make and fun to put together.  Today I have added a little glossy accents to the bottles which is still drying as you can see from this photo.  I have added ribbon and some cute halloween pumpkin buttons from my stash.  

This one also has glossy accents drying!  I love all the yummy orange glitter elements in this paper collection.

....and last but not least.....

I think this is my favourite from my trio of tags.  I fussy cut the pumpkins from one of the papers and layered them up for this 3D look.  I painted the images with my Distress Inks.  I am thinking of incorporating my tags in Halloween layouts as I have lots of lovely papers still left to work with.

Hope your Monday is a little brighter than the one we are having here today - it is wet and grey out there......crafting weather ;-)  'Every cloud has a crafty lining!!!!!'

Thank you for popping by X

WOYWW 177

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

There isn't anything going on on my desk today as we are having a party tonight so it is full steam ahead with the spooky bakes - vampire cakes and severed finger cookies!  So I left out my final two halloween makes this year to 'vamp' up my desk a bit!!

You see before you the two photo shoots I laid out for my latest 12 tags of 2012 and Tag Tuesday and of course as you can see they both had a Halloween theme.

Now don't be afraid as you take a peek as it is all an illusion of scary and underneath the macabre facade are all are the yummy things we love to play with, chipboard, glue, ink, paint, tissue and glitter!  I have had such fun with these miniature ghoulish tags.  This one used Tim's tissue covering technique to good effect to make the texture of weathered stone.

Although this project is second in this post I made it first and it was a bit of a labour of love!  Took me back to playing with dolls houses and dressing up Cindy dolls - as you can see this gentleman is definitely a size zero!  Ken would kill for a pad like this one day!!  I can almost hear you saying - 'that's not a tag'..... but if you don't believe it then you will have to scroll down my blog a bit to see for yourself!  It was one of those ideas that just grew!

I am looking forward to showing these to my two nephews who are visiting tonight along with lots of other little terrors I hope!!  I will be busy today so I hope you don't mind that I will be doing my desk hopping tomorrow but I just had to join in on one of my favourite holidays.

Wishing you all a spooktacular day ....... and night and for those of you who don't celebrate halloween I wish you a quiet night!

Fangs for visiting me!

To find out more about WOYWW follow this link!  You know you want to ;-)

Tag Tuesday - Halloween Tag

Happy Halloween!

I promise this started out life tag shaped!  As usual it measures 3" x 6".

But I think you know me by now - it kind of took on a life of its own - or should I say death of its own!!!!

I made this 'Tag' the night the clocks went back and you can be sure I needed the extra hour in bed by the time I got there!  I just could not stop with the details - It took me back to playing with my dolls house only this one is definitely haunted!

I started by making my coffin out of card.

Testing for fit!  Have to make sure it is comfortable for my prospective tenant.  As you can see this is a bachelor pad.

The top proved to be a little tricky and is not as neat as I would like but as I intend to paint it.  I think I can live with the imperfections.

As I was going out to wash my paint brushes to get ready to paint the outside of my coffin I espied this - My eldest tried his hand as a spot of marquetry and this roll of veneer was waiting to find a storage spot.  Could I cover my coffin in real wood I wonder?????

Some bits were easy.  The veneer has a tendency to split so you have to be careful.  But so far so good.

Still fits and is looking much more upmarket!!

Now for the impossible!  As you can see I used my hot glue gun to stick each piece in place and I trimmed to fit with my scissors as I worked.  You have to remember on the arched sections to make sure the grain allows you to carefully glue the curve shape in place.

Once again not quite as neat as I would like but I have a plan!  All crafters develop the skill of developing a Plan B and passing it off as Plan A!!!  So keep watching!

Coffin covered and looking rather splendid I decided that my skeleton really would need to look dapper too.....so I added diamond jewels for eyes, a ribbon cravat and cuffs and more gems for that opulent look I am going with.

It was at this point in the wee small hours that I forgot to take photos but I can talk you through what I did.  The bottle of strong spirits is courtesy of a Tim Holtz bottle and some water tinted with distress stain.  I sealed the cork in place with hot glue to prevent any escaping spirits as we wouldn't want that!  Tiny label finished it off.  I made books from scraps of grunge paper coloured to look like old leather this time with distress inks and a Pilot gold leaf pen for the gilding.  As you can see from this photo I have added hinges to the top of the coffin and the lid has become a bedside table!  I varnished my coffin by rubbing in Glossy Accents which bought out the woodgrain a treat!  I felt quite the carpenter at this point.

I made the candlestick by gluing together various sizes of buttons and a couple of rolls of grunge paper.  The base of the candlestick was gilded with the Pilot pen again and a little gold Stickles  and the candle was covered and dripped in PVA that dries white!  It was my little brainwave.  Initially I was going to paint it and as I reached for the white paint I spotted the white glue I had bought in error actually - well now I am glad I did as it looks fab and I recommend it.  It dries with a waxy sheen and was perfect to bring my candle to life.  I made a flame from a drip of hardened hot glue and some orange Stickles.  You can see in this photo that I upholstered this swanky pad with black satin ribbon and even made a cushion for comfort!  I really got carried away by all the details and had such fun.  I made a vase from a pen lid and button which I coloured with black permanent marker and added Stickles to glam it up a bit.  The paper roses were coloured with Black Soot distress stains.  This works well but just be careful not to saturate the flowers too much or they will loose their shape.

I was thinking of adding a flat screen TV but it was an after thought and I didn't leave myself enough room so my Skeleton Gent will have to make do with a good book by candle light!

Zooming in for the details!  You can see I had a whole heap of fun with this.  I love halloween and am looking forward to decorating my house - adding the cobwebs rather than hoovering them up and some spooky baking on the cards too.  Cookie severed fingers, cheese string witches brooms, and mummy wrapped hotdogs!

Oh.... I almost forgot - the Plan B I mentioned earlier.

A couple of gorgeous metal corners from Creative Expressions and a cross charm and some red bling later and all hints of bad finishing banished by the fabulous filigree details!  Success!

Have a Spooktacular time tomorrow!  If you are not a Halloween fan then I wish you a quiet night!!

If you want to see more Halloween inspired tags then follow the link to Tag Tuesday.

BOO!

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.

Spooky Iphone Cover

This is just a quick idea I thought you might like to see.  This would work with any kind of see through gel phone cover, I happen to have an iPhone.  It may work with a hard cover but I couldn't promise.  You are adding a layer of paper to a product designed to fit and I am not sure how much tolerance a hard cover would have - it is worth a try though as the effect is spookylicious!

I had my favourite Graphic 45 paper already in my phone cover so I thought I would like to go spooky this week.  Trace around your phone cover to get the original shape including the hole for the camera.  You need to make sure that you do not obscure the camera in anyway.  Other makes of phone may have other issues like this to look out for.  After you cut out the basic shape you will needed to trim to fit because you have used the outside of your phone cover as a template and you want it to fit snugly on the inside.  Take a bit of time and slowly take a thin strip from around the shape until you get it right.  Once you have got it right then this will act as a template for any other covers you want to make in the future.  Seasonal ideas, wardrobe matching or just a paper you love......so many possibilities!

My papers and bits and pieces are all from My Minds Eye - Lost and Found Halloween collection with the addition of two tiny strips of haunted house ribbon.  Remember keep your layering to a minimum as you don't want to add too much bulk.  Hold everything in place with a touch of glue (allow to dry) or double sided tape.

Have fun with your stash - it takes so very little!

Pop it inside the phone cover and put the unique designer cover on your phone for an instant make over - this took me about 10 minutes so spookily fast, spookily easy and spookylicious!  If you make one send me a link so I can take a peek!

Took me a while to work out how to get a photo of the phone I take all my photos with!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Mummy Wreath - Video Tutorial

I have been having a spooktacular time this weekend!!!!  I have long wanted to make some Halloween Door Decor and this year I may actually get around to it.  It was the perfect excuse to share what I did with you on a You Tube video too.  I recently learned how to do voiceovers which helps edit out all the ummmmms and pauses for thinking that seem to happen when I try to talk as I make on video!!!

So first up - my inspiration - I love looking at all those pictures of homes with owners that seem to be able to get their act together, whatever the season, and dress up their doorways to welcome visitors.  I just about manage it a Christmas and in past years I have been adding to my collection of Halloween decor.  I was flicking through a scrap book of mine and came across this layout and I knew what I wanted to make.

I created the Mummy flap on my layout to bring a fun element to my layout.  My little spook is not so little anymore!  He is thirteen now and taller than me.  I wanted to make a Mummy wreath and here she is in all her ghoulish loveliness!  I had a great time coming up with this as you can imagine.  I can't wait for the Trick or Treat visitors to start arriving!

If you fancy having a go at this I have put together an edited highlights video of its construction.  Please please let me see if you decide make her (or it could be a him if you take off the bow, spider lashes and glitter lippy!)

I will be slowly adding to my newly created You Tube Channel so if you want to be sure not to miss anything then please follow the link and subscribe.

I have decided to enter this glamorous lady into a beauty contest (challenge) over at the Inspiration Emporium.  Spider lashes, Stickles lippy and faint odour of eau d'crypt and all!

Happy Halloween x