Booo...?

Just a quick share today of an art journal page I did inspired by the whimsical characters of Tim Burton and my Dreamweavers forest stencil.

I had bought this stencil two years ago and never used it....don't ask me why. Now I can't stop. There will be another project and tutorial on October 7th using this stencil and some more (selfmade ones using some of Tim Holtz' fabulous Halloween dies) , where I have taken the theme and background technique a bit further...but for now it is just a little share of a bit of spooky fun.

Obviously one of the little ghosts is scared....aw! Poor little guy!

You may already have spotted some of the dies I have used on this journal page....yes, they are the Sizzix Decorative Strip die "Halloween Shadows" (the two little dudes and the owl) and On the Edge die "Graveyard". In this case I made die cuts from white cardstock and drew on them with a fine tip black Faber Castell PITT artist pen before I glued them in place with matte medium.

The forest background was done by first covering the journal page with black and dark grey acrylic paint (which I applied with wide rough brush strokes) and later stencilling on some medium white, beige and orange paint with a stipple brush - creating the "space in between the trees" and the sun.  I also painted on some additional trees and the arch shape on top with a soft brush and black acrylic paint.

Once they were glued in place the tombstones' and ghosts' edges that face the sun's spot were given some shades of the same orange to help blend them in with the scenery (using a fine tip soft brush and diluted paint).

For a finishing touch I  stamped a quote onto a piece of grey-ish card with black archival ink, cut it out and glued it on with matte medium. Then I shaded around the outlines with a black soot Distress marker while the medium was still a bit tacky to the touch so I could smudge the drawn lines with my fingertip.

Hope you like it and are having a great Halloween-ish crafty time too!
Hugs,
Claudia xxx