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Saturday 18 October 2014

Spooky Crackle Skull Tag

Servus and welcome to my first Halloween share of the year!


I fell in love with the new "Carved Halloween" stamp set from Tim Holtz the very first moment I saw it. And especially with the skull from that set as to me it is the most spooky skull stamp I own...well, maybe it depends on the colouring...



So I decided to have that skull image play the main role on a Halloween tag and go for a rather simple composition and lots of yummy texture (instead of overloading my tag by adding too much detail or embellishments). Sometimes the clean and simple...erm...the simple makes are the best.




I die cut a large #8 size tag from heavy black cardstock and gave it a coat of black acrylic paint. When that had dried I applied a layer of DecoArt Weathered Wood to it and left it until it was touch dry.

As I love to experiment with media of all kinds, I found that the wonderful DecoArt Americana Chalky Finish paints work over the Weathered Wood as well and create awesome crackled surfaces....with a chalky finish! Yay!




So I applied a coat of DecoArt Americana "heritage" chalky finish paint over the touch dry Weathered Wood and watched the crackle magic happen.




To darken the edges (which helps draw the focus towards the center of the tag) I applied some black DecoArt Texture Fierro with a palette knife:






After I had stamped my skull in black archival ink, coloured it using some Distress markers and cut it out, I found that I needed a panel to mount it onto. So I created a panel in rather the same way as I did the tag's background. But this time I used a mix of  DecoArt Americana "refreshing" Chalky Finish paint with some drops of DecoArt media "Green Gold" fluid acrylic to achieve the ghoulish green I had in mind...voila:




And it had to match the colours from my markers of course:




The edges of the green panel (which I die cut with one of the dies from the new Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations "Labels" die set) received a treatment with Texture Fierro too - but I dabbed it onto the edges using my fingertip.




The cut out and coloured skull was then mounted to that panel with a sticky foam pad ....and that again was mounted to the tag with sticky foam pads too...to add some depth and dimension:




I had a neon green lace ribbon which I toned down using black soot Distress ink and water from a spray bottle. I fixed it to my tag with a stapler and covered the staples with an idea-ology skull:




At that point I was already very content with the outcome of my chalky finish crackle tag and the skull in its center. But I needed some more elements to finish it off. So I die cut another (thin) label to which I added the "spooky" word and fixed it to the bottom section of my tag alongside some ribbons.



You can see all the layers of my tag in this picture:


I really like how the metal bling of the Texture Fierro yet adds another aspect to the tag and contrasts the chalky finish of the paints used.


I hope you like my rather simple (but definitely NOT clean) tag! ;) I had a lot of fun stamping, colouring and experimenting with the media and creating layers and textures!










I hope you like my 


tag!

Happy Halloween!
And hugs and happy crafting of course!

Claudia 
xxx


http://decoart.com/cgi-bin/mivavm/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=D


I have used some long hoarded items on this tag (the green lace ribbon, the stamp with which I created the quote, the idea-ology skull embellishment), so I dare enter it to Craft Hoarders Anonymous' "Happy Fall, Y'all" challenge.

I also enter it to the second challenge at Artist Trading Post Exchange - "Halloween",  to Simon Says Monday Challenge "O is for..." (which would be October in my case...my favourite time of the year - not just because of Halloween) and to "The Male Room" - "Halloween" challenge. 

And having been inspired by Tim's October tag (and his really fab "Carved Halloween" stamp set and new label dies) too, I also enter it to the 12 tags of 2014 October tags. 

31 comments:

  1. Ooohh this is wonderfully spooky Claudia. Just love all that texture,there's no way you should cover that up,it's superbly done :)

    Hugs
    Donna xxx

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  2. Fabulous texture Claudia, love the colours, spookily perfect! Ruth x

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  3. love your tag and all the fun paint texture!!! Thanks for sharing with us at Craft Hoarders Anon :)

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  4. Your spooky tag is incredible! I love much this crackle! Wonderful work! BArbarayayal

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  5. Back again forgot to say thanks so much for joining in at ATP exchange! Ruth x

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  6. What a brilliant tag! I love that crackle - and am seriously envious you have that Tim stamp set.

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  7. Die passenden Halloweenfarben und ein starker Crackle -Effekt, that's cool!! LG Kerstin xx

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  8. Very cool crackle effects and the colouring on the skull is spooky. Thank you so much for sharing with us at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog!!

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  9. I love your tag. Amazing crackle and those colors are wonderful! Thanks for sharing with us at Craft Hoarders Anonymous!

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  10. I love the spooky skull on this tag. The crackle and the colors are superbe.
    Happy Halloween!

    gr.Yvonne

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  11. Great Halloween tag!!! I love the crackle finish with the chalk paints.

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  12. Great tag! The texture us fabulous, you are right it would have been a shame to cover it up, glad you've just let it speak!!
    Love
    Amanda x

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  13. Awesome tag, love the textures and the fantastic skull image.
    Yvonne

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  14. Hi Claudia.............love your tag :-) Great crackle and the texture created using the ferro is wonderful....now on my wish list. Its lovely to have you join in with our Halloween challenge at ATP Exchange. Hope to see you again

    TFS and best wishes
    Annie x

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  15. I saw this on Pinterest yesterday and drooled! WOW I LOVE IT. The crackle is amazing and I am loving the colours you went with. Don't you just love Halloween!!!

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  16. Ein absolut cooles Tag, liebe Claudia

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  17. Brilliant! I think the texture on your tag is stunning. Great colours and I agree that the skull is fantastic! Thanks so much for playing along with The Male Room!

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  18. In love with the texture and the colours... spooky indeed. ;)

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  19. Hi Claudia, Wow that crackle effect is amazing, you make it look so easy. Thank you for sharing your tag with us at TMR.

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  20. Amazing work, love all the crackle and layers! Thanks for joining us at Craft Hoarders Anonymous!

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  21. Very cool. You got a great crackle background going on here. Thanks for sharing with us at Craft Hoarders Anon :)

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  22. The crackle alone is fantastic, but the addition of that paste stuff...oh my word! Wonderful. Thanks for playing along with us at Craft Hoarders Anonymous!

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  23. Nun gut, ich bin nicht so ein Fan von Skull and Bones, aber dieses Tag ist einfach wunderbar. Wobei am Besten finde ich diese Ferro Texture - sieht einfach klasse aus! Gibt es einen Shop in Österreich oder Europa wo ich diese wunderbaren Dinge auch bekomme. Ich finde das Porto aus den USA ist bei Warenlieferungen immer recht hoch.
    Alles Liebe, Manuela

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  24. This tag looks amazing! Love all the crackle on it, and that metallic texture paste is awesome - never saw that before!

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  25. So fabulously dramatic and of course crammed with texture. Love this! Jenny x

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  26. Fabulous tag Claudia ! Love the crackled background and the skull really finishes it off perfectly ! Thanks for joining us at ATP Exchange. Sue C x

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  27. Großartiger Tag - und tolles Tut (wieder mal ;), danke)!

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  28. Servus! (haha I'm learning some words - well one anyway!) Wonderful tag Claudia!! I love all the texture you've created and the chalky paint on the weathered wood is right up my street. I'm glad you didn't overload your tag with 'stuff' - for me it works perfectly just as it is!
    Thanks so much for sharing with us at the Artist Trading Post Exchange.
    Julia xx

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  29. Love this tag! Fantastic crackles. Your shading on the skull just makes this tag. Love the border. Unexpectedly soft but really complements the rustic tag. Hugs to you Claudia! -- Mary Elizabeth

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  30. WOW the texture on this is amazing and I adore the colour choice, fabulous!

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