This vine arch by Oak Lane Cemetery is a work of art. Hard to believe it’s pool noodles and milk jug skulls!
The video below is just an overview. Here are details on forming the roots. There are about a thousand milk jug skull tutorials out there. Here’s one I grabbed from the side bar.
It’s that time of year when we are farthest from our favorite holiday–which means it’s Secret Pumpkin time!
This year I got to make something for Pixel Pixie, who I actually know IRL. I have always wanted to spookify a box, but I was especially inspired by the work of Jamie Moore.
Of course, my stuff looks nothing like hers, but hey, that’s how inspiration works for me.
I didn’t take a picture, but this was originally a vintage Christmas box with kind of a weird Santa painting.
I gave it a fresh coat of paint, then I hand-painted the front and sides. The back and inside (except for the starry sky) are lined with pretty paper, and the whole thing got some satin lacquer. This was a blast to do, and I’ve been collecting jewelry boxes from thrift stores so I can do more makeovers.
It’s Secret Pumpkin time again, and this year my giftee was the Mistress herself, Jenna of Shadow Manor. Boy howdy did I have fun with this one.
It started with a board from Laser Lizard. I didn’t take a picture, but you’ll see the whole thing later. I wanted to make stencils for the elements that repeated, so I started sketching flourishes on the edges of the board. Afterward, they were traced and imported to my Silhouette Cameo, then cut from Contact paper. After the board was stained, the stencils were carefully applied and painted in.
You can’t see them here, but the stencils included extra little circles for registration marks, so I could get everything where I wanted it. I cut the stencil from clear plastic, laid that down, then filled in the registration marks. Then I could line up the Contact paper stencil with the marks.
Here is the finished border.
Next, even more pencil guidelines, and out came the Montana Marker. I did some preliminary sketching, then went for it. NOTE: Do not use brush varnish with Montana Markers. Trust me on this. Spray is your friend.
Some of my favorite bits from the alphabet:
Oh, and the HALLOIUJA in the first picture is a nod to the font from the original Oiuja board.
The main art pieces were a haunted house and a cemetery. Note how I snuck my signature on to one of the tombstones.
The planchette was a triangular wood piece that I trimmed down with a Dremel. I cut a hole and use a router bit to make a shelf to hold the lens.
Feet were glued on, and felt added to the bottom of them. Then it got a candy-corn paint job.
Here’s the whole shebang, with about a million coats of varnish. I didn’t take a pic, but I also made bags for the board and planchette using an extra vampire cape I had hanging around. Because doesn’t everybody have one of those?
This was massively fun, and it turned out pretty much exactly as I pictured it in my head. Sure, it may summon a demon, but it will be a very silly demon.
I’ve been wanting to play with my Gelli Plate for ages, so I finally got it out. Then I remembered why it had been a while. For some reason, I get stuck when I’m trying to use it. I’m rarely happy with my results, and just feel like I’m burning through prodigious amounts of paper. So I did what I often do when I’m stuck: follow directions. Gelli Arts is one of my favorite Youtube channels. They have a hell of a designer, and I always find their videos inspiring. I decided this video on making transfer film with packing tape looked like fun (seriously, go watch–it’s cool), so I followed along, copying as closely as I could. I loved the results, so naturally, I had to do it again–with skulls.
I used my Dyan Reavely Skulls stencil, and followed the video again. I used all mica powder on the background of these. You can’t see it well here, but they have a great shimmer. I think the bottom strip is my favorite–the yellow bits are the mica powder.
So what to do with this sparkly largesse? Just so happens, I have a ton of pre-cut ATC paper. I even have some that is leftover from other sets, so it already has pretty backing.
I started by cutting the strips and attaching them with some gel medium. Of course I goobed–see that one with the smudge? I actually put that on sticky-side UP. Which is the wrong way. So I had to cover it with gel so I wouldn’t get mica powder everywhere. We’ll see how it turns out.
Next, I used light molding paste to apply a spooky stencil.
The paste and paper areas get a light wash of color. I love how this brings out the texture of the paste.
Shimmery paint, either Lumiere or Silks, is added just to the stenciled shapes. Because I didn’t want to lose the texture, I blotted the paint back.
Here’s the set, and I’m pretty pleased with them! I like the contrast of the slick Gelli Plate art and the organic molding paste.
