Haunted House and Halloween Mini Album Sneak Peek

Okay, this is totally a sneak peek because I am not finished with this yet.  I have a skeleton to go in the balcony of the haunted house and my album is near complete.  What do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know.  I started with a plain paper mache house from Hobby Lobby like this one:

 

I gave it a few coats of paint (okay, I painstakingly applied layer after layer until I got it just right lol), a balcony made from chipboard scraps, ragged cloth curtains in all windows, a chipboard door with real metal hinges and a door pull, not to mention spider webs and tombstones and voila!  You have a haunted mansion perfect for housing my Halloween Mini Album.  Here are a couple more pictures:

 

Close-up

 

 

The one below shows the inside.  I put "wallpaper" and a hanging picture on the back wall because with a couple of battery operated tea lights you can see through the windows.  I painted the entire inside black before installing the curtains and adding "wallpaper."

 

Now for a sneak peek at the album . . .wait  . . . for . . . it . . .

 

 

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So . . . what do you think?  I totally love it.  Of course I agonized over the cover like I always do, layering things on top trying to figure out if I was going to like it, because the minute you glue it down there's no turning back.  But I really do like how it turned out.  So here's what's piled on . . . 

 

 The two metal corners are die cut from metal tape and dry embossed using my sizzix.  After that I added layers of emboss enamel and paint and then chipped some off to look really worn.  The skeleton hand has been painted and distressed and wiped off again.  I added three layers of lace to look like a vintage sleeve.  I also added a jump ring with a rhinestone to create a ring.  The skeleton is cut from design paper and embossed using an embossing stylus to give it some depth (of course I also adhered it with pop up tape for more height).Under the hand and skeleton is a black rose trim with a bit of black crocheted lace peeking out from just under the edge.  I have added two stick pins I created using various beads from my stash, a teeny tiny glass vial with green "poison" in it (the lid is glued in) a frame I created with Amazing Mold Putty and Resin with a glitter spider from design paper, I Am Roses flowers and skeleton leaves colored with Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst sprays, some bones and a tiny skull from my stash, a title tag from design paper, and to finish it off, a Tim Holtz door knob. 

 

Whew!  I think that about does it for the cover.  Since I didn't show the spine, I don't have to tell you about that yet lol.  I will be selling this house/album on Etsy or Ebay so when I show the finished product I will give all of these details again for anyone who is interested.  Wait until you see how chunky this album is . . . I think the spine is 5" wide (I need to measure).

 

Well, there's the sneak peek, thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to comment and let me know what you think.

 

~ Make Today Count

 

Wendy

 

Skull Embellishment for Tag Mini Album ~ Amazing Mold Putty DT Post

I was trying to find an embellishment for a Halloween mini tag album I was making for a class at my local scrapbook store and was having no luck at all. I could find stickers (ugh, no please) and skulls that were too large to use for an album, and then it struck me . . . I can make my own! With Amazing Mold Putty, you are not limited to what you can find in a store to use in your scrapbooking, you can totally create an embellishment the exact size you need.

For this skull embellishment, I started with a rather large (and bulbous) skull head from my local craft store. As you can see from the picture, it way too large to use as an embellishment on a scrapbook.

So I just made a mold of the face portion - start by mixing your Amazing Mold Putty (equal parts A and B) and kneading it like play-doh until it is a solid medium yellow color.

Apply your putty to the item you want to mold (my skull face) . . .

Allow the putty to set (if this is your first time using Amazing Mold Putty, please refer to their website for detailed instructions) - click here.

Next, You will mix your Casting Resin (use the link above for detailed instructions) - equal parts A and B. As soon as parts A and B are thoroughly mixed you can begin pouring into your mold (I'm still playing with the other project you see so ignore that one -lol). It will turn an opaque milky white when it is completely hardened (unless you are using the clear resin of course).

Once the resin is completely hardened, pop it out of the mold.

Voila! I now have a flat backed embellishment that can go in a tag or any mini album and won't create too much bulk. Don't you love that you can create something so totally different from what you started with using Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin? I know I do.

Add a little paint and who would ever know you created this little gem yourself?

So have some fun and create something new and unusual for your next scrapbook! Make sure to check out the Amazing Mold Putty website to sample (or replenish) these Amazing products. Visit their blog for more Amazing projects.

Thanks for stopping in to check out my project.

~ Make Today Count

Wendy

This Treat's a "Shoe In" Halloween Teacher's Gift Robin's Nest DT Post

Hold on to your hat . . . no your broom, or er um I mean your shoes . . . your witchy shoes that is! Take a look at this fabulous teacher gift (or friend gift, or neighbor gift or co-worker gift - you get the picture)

I can't take credit for the idea for this uber cute witch's shoe, I scraplifted this from Carlene the Pink Scrapper - her video tutorial is here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHAeeM30sU0&feature=plcp  and the template can be found here:  http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/10/28/paper-witch-shoes/ (another great blog).

So I started with a template that looks like the one below (a little further down below) and used an embossing stylus to transfer the image onto my paper. But let's back-up a step. As always, the first thing I did was go through my Robin's Nest paper stash and found the PERFECT paper for this project! This paper is called Halloween Swirl. Click on the paper to fly right over the website and pick some up.

After cutting out the template from plain white copy paper and folding it to see how it came together, I new how I wanted to lay it out on my paper. I knew I wanted the top of the shoe (part where toes stick out) to have the swirl with some of the swirl going up the side of the shoe. So I decided to use the corner with the most dense amount of swirls (bottom right in the picture above). I turned my paper upside down and positioned my template so that the tip of the toe went as close to the corner point as I could and taped it down. I then put the two papers on a 12x12 paper pad (bottom side) for my inexpensive embossing table. I traced over the entire template, pressing pretty hard.

When I lifted the template off the paper the lines were visible for cutting out the shoe (just be careful not to cut the score marks (those are the dotted lines). The great thing about doing it this way is that you have already scored every line that you need to fold, making it super easy for this shoe to go together fast! And, on the plus side, Robin's Nest papers are such a nice heavy quality and this one is double sided so you don't even have to line your shoe (the template comes with a liner that I didn't bother with) and talk about saving time . . .whew! I plan to make these for a number of the teacher's at school so the less time involved the better.

Once I glued the shoe together (again, you can access the video tutorial through the link above - but really you won't need it - it's so easy) I knew it needed something more. I played with the idea of a buckle but decided on a rosette like the ones you can buy a die and run through your die cut machine; really, these are soooo simple you don't need the die to make them (and this way they are the exact size you want). What you will need is a score board of some kind (or a lot of patience). Decide first the diameter of the flower you desire, then cut that in half and cut a strip of paper that size (but trim just a bit more off (maybe a 16th of an inch to allow for the hole in the center which takes up space as well - I had to make mine over because the first one was a little too large because I didn't count the hole in the middle). I scored mine every quarter inch all the way down.

Once you've done this, you can bring it around and attach the two ends together.

Next, you will put your thumbs on the top and push down and in towards the middle while allowing the bottom to flatten and flare out (you can find many youtube videos showing how to do this if the written instructions are confusing - if you've never seen it done it can sound daunting).

I use just a small piece of scrap from the paper (oh yeah, for this rosette I used a scrap strip of the back side of the paper I was already using - no waste!) and glue it right to the back. And, since we are not worrying about acid free for this project . . . break out the glue gun - yay!

I added a small glitter circle which I cut from scraps of black Glittered Chipboard and an orange dew drop to give my rosette a finished look (click on pictures below to get some). When it was complete I just added my "treat" for the teacher with a tag and coordinating ribbon and . . . voila . . . teacher gift for Halloween!

So. . . what do you think? Leave a comment and let us know what you think. Be sure to check out the Robin's Next website for these and other really fun products.

You can check out the Robin's Nest blog at http://chatteringrobins.blogspot.com/  Thanks for looking at my project.

~ Make Today Count
Wendy