"Mr. Skeleton in his Parlor" Halloween Shadowbox

Hello crafty friends! About two weeks ago, I walked into my local craft store to purchase some ribbon ( like I don't have enough, already) and witnessed the employees stocking the shelves with, with.. .(wait for it)....Halloween merchandise!!! Yes, you read that right! I literally let out a little shriek when I saw this beautiful sight. In case, you haven't guessed it yet, I really, really LOVE Halloween!
Halloween is  such a fun time of year for me and brings me  back to my childhood. Growing up, I was that shy little kid who wasn't afraid of creepy crawlies and made up games about monsters and ghouls . I loved a good scare( although nothing ever scared me) and I favored dark colored clothes over bright and cheery colors. I would often wear my hair in braids like my idol Wednesday Addams.Sure, people made fun of me but I loved that I was different. Fast forward 30 years later and my love for Halloween hasn't wavered one bit. My taste in clothes and color schemes sure has, and you couldn't pay me to pick up a spider or worm. But every Halloween season, that little girl gets to come back and live on in the spooky crafts and decor that now, bring a smile to my little girl's face. So for my first Halloween project of the 2015 season, I bring you "Mr. Skeleton in his Parlor"...

*WARNING, lots of pictures*

This is a GDT for Sacrafter's shop. I used her House Shadowbox #2 as well as her wood street light pieces to create this spooktacular shadowbox scene.

 I wanted a "shingled" roof so I cut small pieces of pattern paper, inked the edges with Black Soot and adhered them to both sides of the roof.

 I used Tim Holtz's Brick embossing folder on black card stock for the sides of the house. After embossing the paper I rubbed a metallic gunmetal paint on top to pick up the details of the bricks.

I made a little window out of pattern paper and the Movers and Shapers Openings dies.

I added little "rose bushes" on each side of the house. Love the way that gunmetal paint looks on the brick embossed papers.

For the floor, I used the  TH  Wood Grain embossing folder and created "planks" with my MS scoring board. Can you see Mr. Skeleton's scaredy cat by his side?

I love this cute little wreath! It's one of Tim's and I colored it with LSG in Passionate Plum, then sprayed it with adhesive before sprinkling with purple glitter. Then, I added the little orange stickers and the skull and crossbones Idea-ology piece.

The moon is made out of chipboard and colored with orange and yellow acrylic paint. I, then die cut the bats with the Movers and Shapers die and black, flocked paper.They're popped up on foam squares for dimension.

This is the back of the house and you can really see the details in the brick embossed paper.

Here's a closer look at the inside of the shadowbox. You can see Mr. Skeleton reading his newspaper in the comfort of his parlor. The frame in the background was fussy cut from the patterned paper then I stamped and embossed the skull image in the center. I found the little wooden chair, book and lamp in the miniature section of my local craft store. The small side table is actually a wooden spool, painted black and distressed with sandpaper.

Love how Mr. Skeleton is crossing his legs!

Phew, that was a lot of pictures but there were so many cute details I just didn't want you to miss. This piece was so fun to create and it's both creepy and fun. My daughter got a kick out of it and can't wait for me to create more Halloween pieces. Neither can I, bwahahaha!

Hope you liked my little project and thank you so much for stopping by.

I'll be seeing you...(insert maniacal laugh here).

12 Tags of 2014, October

Hi guys! Got a real short post for you today. Just wanted to share my take on Tim's tag for the month of October. I wasn't able to participate in August and September because of my move, but I just couldn't pass up on October's Tag!

Halloween Tag 

I loved Tim's tag from the moment I saw it but was a little disappointed that I didn't have most of the products he used. So I had to improvise quite a bit. First, I  made my own homemade texture paste and used a tree stencil on my background. I had this cute little owl stamp and I wanted it to look as if the owl were perched on one of the branches.As for the color sprays, I had to use some Tattered Angels sprays I had on hand. I must say I was a bit disappointed with the colors and just know Tim's Distress Sprays would have looked so much better! Definitely have to add those to my wish list.

The little jack-O-lantern is an old Sizzix die, I die

cut out of chipboard. I inked it with Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge, and Vintage Photo. Then I covered it with clear embossing powder. The letter squares are stickers I had in my stash and I added tiny little half back pearls painted in gunmetal to mimic the look of nail heads.

I added the monocle and wishbone and tied some black tulle at the top to finish my tag.
So there it is, my take on Tim's October tag. Can't wait to see what he comes up with for November.
Have a great day everyone!