Black and White Horror Show

Here it is the day before Halloween and I was finally able to

complete my project for the final Haunted Design House theme,

and the October 12 Tags of 2015, for Tim Holtz.

Now, I pre-ordered this awesome die set back in August. Pretty much the

very second I saw it. I mean, c'mon! It's a Zombie! 

And I loves me some undead corpses. 

BTW. I ordered this die set from The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

They are offering this die, and many others at half the price of

most every other retailer I have seen. They have the best every day 

prices for all of your funkie and junkie makes. Just so ya know.   

Zombies are my all time favorite monsters. 

After The Creature and Frankenstein's Monster, mind you. 

I am a bit of a purist, so the classic monsters do come first. 

But I have loved Zombies since I saw "Night of the Living Dead".

Well, actually my love really started with "TarMan", from "Return of the Living Dead".

He was the coolest, and still is the coolest on screen Zombie ever.

And then it seemed only fitting to really familiarize myself with the 

original "Night of the Living Dead". And that is where I got my inspiration

for this tag.   

My usual Zombie color of choice is green, but I wanted to make

this guy really stand out without the use of bright colors.

I thought an old black and white, silver screen zombie was fitting. 

I began by die cutting various shades of gray and black card stock.

I inked the edges using Black Soot and Hickory Smoke distress inks

to give some shading on all of the pieces.     

After adhering the designer paper to a tag, I speckled it with silver, black 

and white distress stains. I also sanded the edges of the tag, too.

Then, I added the number 31 enameled tag after giving it some Brushed Pewter

and black distress paints. I even got to use my TH distress hammer on the brads.

I love the aged effect on this tag.

I tried to keep this guy as dimensional as I could.

So cool to have dimension like this. The key really is to use a wet glue,

as opposed to a tape runner or other dry adhesive.  

I added some stained seam binding and silver tinsel twine

to keep in the black and white theme.

I also used one of my coveted "Zombie" charms.

I have a few different design charms, but felt this one worked the best.

And I still have another one of these in my stash.         

As cool as everything on this tag was turning out, I felt he needed something 

else to make him really creepy. Drippy goo! No real zombie would be seen

shambling along with a clean mouth and chin! I added some black goo to his

mouth and covered it in Glossy Accents to really make it look awful.

Something really disturbing about that dark black drool coming out of him.

I love it!! 

 I am so happy with how this tag tuned out.

I am thinking of making a canvas out of him in the 

very near future. I'll be pumping out Halloween projects

until Thanksgiving (and beyond) so stay tuned.

I'd like to enter this tag in the following challenges:

Tim Holtz - 12 Tags of 2015 October

Crafty Catz - Tag It

Frilly and Funkie - Something Wicked

Little Red Wagon - Ghosts, Goblins, other Halloween Creatures

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Anything Goes

Die Cutting Divas - Happy Halloween

Use Your Stuff - Die cuts and punches

  

   

My very first tag for TH

I have finally mustered up the courage to enter the

12 Tags of 2015, by Tim Holtz.

I have seen so many brilliant entries for this challenge over

the past few years, and I felt as though I didn't have the talent,

or the necessary supplies to play along. Mainly the talent part.

Over the years I have acquired more TH inventory, and maybe a smidgen

more self confidence in my own abilities. 

The current tag for August is to use your die cuts in a mixed media

project. Something I rarely consider when creating mixed media is to

incorporate my die cuts. Why? I have no idea. But this particular tag

and technique really sparked my interest and mojo.

I began with two manila tags, per Tim's instruction.

One tag for the die cuts, and one with designer paper with words.

  

I layered the tags, gessoed, and sealed them, and then

the real fun started. I added Peeled Paint, Seedless Preserves, 

and Spiced Marmalade distress inks directly from the pad to the

tag in a random fashion. Then I sealed those colors and blended them 

at the same time with more matte medium. Very cool effect.  

It was at this point that I became so engrossed in this project

that I forgot to take any more step by step photos. 

I was having THAT much fun. 

I fussy cut a Found Relative lady, but since I was going for a 

Halloween/Haunted feel, I gave her a skeleton head. 

Ahhh, that's more like it. 

I added some ephemera stash of my own, but was still

unhappy with how my die cuts were showing up. I decided to add 

some distress ink in black soot with an aqua painter to the inside

of the die cuts for more contrast. Much better.

I really love how the colors came out all muddy and moody

after adding some black soot distress paint with my finger.

I attached the vial label with one of my favorite TH tools,

the tiny attacher. Such an indispensable tool!!

I scuffed the label up a bit with a nail file, and then started

splattering copper metallic and black soot paints for a speckled

effect. I love the speckled effect on nearly everything. 

Lastly, I wrapped a skull and crossbones to a metal tag

using some black wire. I used some rub-ons on the tag

before adding the charm for added interest. 

Again, I never think to use wire as a way of attaching stuff 

to my projects. So clever, and it adds so much interest to your project.  

A little warped, but here it is, my very first

tag project for the 12 Tags of 2015.

I enjoyed the challenge and the techniques immensely.  

I'm sure I'll be back next month. I'm thinking how cool an 

entire book of these tags would be to create and show off

to all my friends. Or maybe just to use in my art journal.

The possibilities are endless.    

I'd like to enter this tag in the following challenges:

12 Tags of 2015 - August

Clear it Out challenge - Anything goes stash/theme

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes mixed media only

Smudgy Antics - Anything Goes

Gettin' my Chunk on!

I had never heard of a Chunky ATC until a few months ago,

when fellow Minion Sistah, Donna, suggested it as one of our

upcoming challenges for HDH.

Once I googled it, I was blown away by all of the awesome

options this opened up for the pretty much one dimensional, ATC.

The basic measurements are 2.5" x 3.5" x 1.5". There is some

question as to the actual or official dimensions, but this will do for now.

Once I got my husband to cut some wood down for me, I just sat and looked at

the wood blocks for a few weeks. So many options can really be a 

stumbling block, artistically, sometimes.

I settled for a relatively flat CATC to begin with. 

Might as well cool my jets and see how this works first.

I broke out one of my favorite and probably one of my first 

wood mounted rubber stamp from Silver Crow Creations.

I love a laughing Devil! I mounted him onto a distressed

dictionary page, a Poison label, and an online find. 

Another online find (cutaway of skull) mounted onto

a MS Hallowe'en scrap of paper.

Tim Holtz Hallowe'en kraft card stock with a cracked glass

vintage rat poison label.

MS Hallowe'en paper with some creepy bottles from Itkupilli,

and a jar of money paws from my (imaginary) boyfriend, Ryan's personal

collection. Ryan is on the show "Oddities" on the Science channel, and he is

a master of the "exploding skull" displays. He has an incredible personal

collection of wet and dry specimens, plus all kinds of other cool schtuff.

I'd love to spend a weekend perusing his "collectibles".    

Close up of creepiness.

Another Itkupilli cut out for the top of the ATC.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed my CATC, and maybe

was even inspired enough to try your hand at making your own to enter

in our challenge at Haunted Design House.

Keep it creepy!!!