Rest in Peace, Myrtle Mulgrave! - Halloween Fun with Tim Holtz Dies and Bubbalux Craft Board

Hi, servus and welcome to another fun Halloween project today! It seems I am on a real roll this year with Halloween projects. Obviously reducing my design team commitments has been the right thing to do. With more time for projects that are just for fun (and just for me. myself and I) inspiration finds me more often and faster. And with all the awesome Halloween projects out there you just can't help being infected with the Halloween crafting virus, can you?

I have once more used the cool Bubbalux Craft Board (as in this project over HERE) - the white and yellow one this time - and once more I just loved the many different possibilities being given by this product and especially its sturdiness - it's perfect to create 3D projects that stay in shape AND are light weight at the same time.

I was inspired by some fabulous projects from some talented ladies that I recently saw (on the inspiring Tim Holtz Addicts facebook group), on which they were using the new Tim Holtz Tombstone Overlays (for the Etcetera Tags) to create the most fantastic tombstone projects.
Being in Austria, getting one of these is not only a matter of good luck but also of a long waiting time (due to shipping times from outside of Austria) - so mostly I am late to the party with latest releases...so I decided to find a way around that and create my own "tombstone overlays" using some of Tim's fab products from my stash - mainly his Alterations Halloween dies. That was great fun! And using his dies to cut the shapes from Bubbalux Craft Board just worked wonderfully!

So I have come up with this own version of a Tim Holtz Tombstone project. I hope you like it!

I have also done a how-to for you.

And here's the list of Tim dies and die sets I have used:

- Headstone (Alterations)
- Iron Gate (On the Edge Alterations)
- Pediments (Alterations)
- Trophy Antlers (Alterations)
- Labels (Thinlits)
- Garden Greens (Thinlits)
- Feather & Ravens (Thinlits)


I started with cutting out the needed pieces from white Bubbalux. As you can see I cut out some more pieces so I could try out different designs.

I removed the protective foil AFTER die cutting the Bubbalux pieces. This way any black foam residue from the dies was removed as well.

Then I sanded all the edges and cut off the top of the headstone shape (as that was going to be replaced by a pediment piece). I also die cut another bottom part of the Headstone shape so I could layer pieces to create the impression of the tombstone sitting on a wider stone base.

I added some lines and other detail to the pieces with hand embossing.

To bend the iron gate shape to create a little fence for the grave, I heated the Bubbalux with my heat tool and quickly bent it into shape around a jar. I held the piece in place with my fingers until it had cooled down.

Then I placed the shaped fence piece onto a flat piece of yellow Bubbalux and traced along the curved outside with a ball point pen. Using large scissors I cut out the drawn shape to create my base. I left an overlap at the back for the tombstone to sit on and even added another half inch to the base's depth for a better stand.

Using some of the lovely Tim Holtz Thinlits dies sets I die cut some twigs from sturdy white cardstock to decorate the tombstone with.

The little plate shape from the Trophy Antlers die was the perfect shape to put the portrait of Myrtle Mulgrave on. (May she rest in peace!)

I used black DecoArt media Gesso to prime all the die cut pieces. I stippled the Gesso on with an old and worn bristle brush. This way I already created some rough texture with my base layer. I let everything dry naturally (as heating the Bubbalux will make the pieces warp a little).

Once dry I stippled on some DecoArt media Texture Sand Paste and let that dry naturally as well.

In the meantime I heat embossed my smaller cardstock shapes and the Bubbalux base plate using Emerald Creek embossing powders Hammered Metal, Moss Stone Green, Clear Chunk Gloss and Vintage Ivy.

The hand punched portrait got three layers of the Clear Chunk Gloss embossing powder for a dimensional look.

Using a wide soft flat brush I dry brushed DecoArt premium Warm Grey acrylic paint onto the tombstone pieces. First I had glued the pieces together using superglue.

I also used superglue to assemble all the finished pieces.

The iron fence was loosely painted using DecoArt media Silver Metallic paint and Lamp Black Americana paint. I also added touches of the Silver Metallic paint to other parts of the tombstone to visually fuse all the elements. Et voilá!

Some detail shots:

...and once more the finished piece:

Thanks for stopping by, dear crafty friends! I hope you like my self made "Tombstone Overlay". ;)

And thank you, Floortex, for generously letting me have some Bubbalux to play with for free! 

Hugs and happy crafting! 

Claudia

xxx

Anything Goes at Emerald Creek Dares

"Merry Christmas", "Joyeux Noel" and  "frohes Fest", dear crafty friends! This month's challenge is all about winter and holidays of course - and as always you can win a $50 voucher to spend at the Emerald Creek online shop or - as a follower up - a 20% coupon code, which is worth playing along too.

Since the start of November Emerald Creek and Altered Pages have been teaming up to share projects created by their design teams using products from both shops. Today is my turn to share an all Emerald Creek - Altered Pages make.

I made two Christmas cards using some of Altered Pages' lovely digital images and other products from their store alongside some of my favourite Emerald Creek embossing powders!

Here's the list of the products I used:

Emerald Creek products used:

EC embossing powder Fractured Ice

EC embossing powder Chinese New Year

EC embossing powder Ultra Puff White

EC embossing powder Clear Chunk Gloss

Ranger - Emboss it Dabber 

Altered Pages products used:

Memento Dew Drops - Love Letter

1043 Christmas Vignettes Digital

Adhesive Corrugated Kraft Paper

DecoArt Americana Chalky Finish Paint - timeless

DecoArt Americana Chalky Finish Paint - rouge

3D Foam mounting squares

Tacky Glue

I don't use digis a lot, but what I like about digital images is that you can make them every size you need them on your projects or even mirror the image (as long as there's no text...lol) if you want to. I did that with the gorgeous Santa's sleigh image as I wanted the horses to look to the right instead of left...ready to continue their ride through the winter forest to your doorstep to deliver your Christmas presents.  

For my cards I used two squares torn from dictionary pages as backgrounds and glued them to two kraft card blanks. I also die cut an oval from adhesive corrugated kraft paper and tore a rectangle shape (that I had planned on using as a back panel for the sleigh image, but I changed my mind later during the process). 

I painted the die cut oval (and rectangle) with DecoArt Americana "rouge" Chalky Finish paint.

Once the paint had dried, I used an embossing ink dabber to generously apply embossing ink to the raised areas of the corrugated card. This way the Emerald Creek Chinese New Year embossing powder created a lovely stripe pattern with a bit of festive bling. 

One of the dictionary page backgrounds on my cards got a layer of scraped on DecoArt Americana  "rouge" Chalky Finish paint. Once that was dry, I sprinkled on diluted "timeless" Chalky Finish paint with a splatter brush. 

I  heat embossed a die cut Christmas word with Emerald Creek Ultra Puff White embossing powder. 

I did the same with a cut to size strip of manila cardstock.

Another die cut element for my card was given a coat of "timeless" Chalky Finish paint...

...before I added a layer of Emerald Creek "Fractured Ice" embossing crystals to it. 

The printed out and fussy cut images were given two coats of Emerald Creek "Clear Chunky Gloss" embossing enamel to turn them into shiny Christmas image plaques as the focal pieces.

All my prepared and die cut elements were glued to the cards using tacky glue and/or sticky foam pads. 

I stamped holiday wishes to the insides of the cards using Memento "Love Letter" Dew Drop stamping ink. 

Et voilá!

There are plenty of other gorgeous Christmas digis to find at the Altered Pages store! I am sure you will find your personal favourites there too! And combined with Emerald Creek's awesome embossing powders these will make for the most amazing Christmas cards! I can't wait to see yours! 

Merry Christmas!

Claudia

xxx

 

12 Tags of 2014 - July Tag

Yay! My pre-ordered Sizzix dies arrived just in time to create my July tag for Tim Holtz'  12 tags of 2014!

I really love these new dies! They have captured all I love about spending time at the sea!

I made some slight alterations to Tim's tutorial - so I used UTEE to create dimensional bubbles instead of embossing acetate. I also used part of the "Festive Greenery" Sizzlits die to create some seaweed (which I covered with Distress paints and clear UTEE).

The background was done with Distress Inks and the Wrinkle Free Distress technique. I also added some sprinkles of Distress stains using a fine detail brush which I tapped with my finger.

The big sand dollar was cut from a piece of greyboard and covered with Distress stain "picket fence". The edges were blended with Distress ink "gathered twigs".

I also used Distress paints to customize the "Observations" tag. The seahorse was painted with Distress paints "Wild Honey" and "Barn Door" and then given a coat of Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint. To highlight the creases I let some Distress stain "Brushed Corduroy" seep into the cracks.

I dry embossed the "explore" using the new Tim Holtz embossing folders. I love how the word looks as if it was underwater - so the silhouette is a bit blurred.

The sea star was painted with Distress paints and then sprinkled with Ranger "brown puffs" and "old paper" Distress embossing powders. As both melt to a non-glossy surface the add wonderful texture.

I added some Idea-ology "linen ribbon" and rough ribbons to the bottom of the tag which are meant to resemble fishing nets and rigging.

I had a lot of fun creating this summer tag and playing with the lovely new dies! I hope you like my tag and have fun creating your own!

Hugs and happy crafting,

Claudia x