A Sugar Skull House for Halloween

I know it's only June, but I am all about Halloween lately, and most everybody knows how much I love doing houses, so here is a Sugar Skull in a house.
With bats.
And some scary tree bits.
Here it is lit up with glowing eyes.

 And unlit, but still looks pretty cool in the daylight.

  I started out with the Mini House Room Box 4x4 Open. I took away the attic floor to make room for the Sugar Skull 1.

I laid the skull on top of the large center piece and marked where I wanted to drill holes for my glowing eyes.

I drilled the holes to the size of the tea light flames, NOT the whole tea light. I'm going to glue the body of the tea light in place on the back of the house, but we'll do that in a later step. For now, I dry fit the tea light to make sure the flame fits through the holes I drilled.

I cut papers for the main body of the house, back, front and sides (outside only). I glued the sides and the roof on, painted the inside of the house walls, ceiling and floor and then glued all the papers on.

 Next, I painted almost everything else black. Sugar Skull, Creepy Tree (I used bits and  pieces of the 8-inch Creepy Tree and the 5-inch Creepy Tree) Chipboard Bats Set (you can get them HERE) and the ridge ornament, which is the Chipboard Fleur Border. (Get it HERE)

I shingled the roof and painted most of it brown, adding a few rows of black to accent the pattern. I glued the ridge ornament on as well. You can see some of the roof and ridge in the picture below. I apologize for not getting a WIP shot. I was all into the groove and forgot.

when all the glue and paint dried, I added the trees and the bats on the back. I used black double stick foam tape to stick the trees on and mounted the bats on wires and then glued them on to the tree and added some black roses to pretty up the joined bits. I got the roses from Alpha Stamps, the same place I got the bats and the ridge ornament and the Dresden trim, which I glued on to the base of the ridge ornament and the gable edge of the house front.

Last but not least, I added some corks to the sugar skull and glued into place and turned on the lights!

That's a good start on Halloween!

SUPPLIES:
Mini House Room Box 4x4 Open
Sugar Skull 1
Creepy Tree (8inch)
Creepy Tree 5inch
Chipboard Shingles-Pointed

From Alpha Stamps:
Chipboard Bat Set
Black Zig Zag Dresden Borders
Chipboard Fleur Border

Additional:
BoBunny Double Dot Vintage Chiffon
Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe Genuine Article
Two tea lights
Black Paint
Thank you for stopping by!

Retro Kitty Cat Mini Halloween Bunting

There is something so charming about bygone Halloween images. I love all of them, but I especially like the cats. They are cute as can be, but I like that some of them are a little mischievous and edgy. And maybe a wee bit scritchy-scratchy. It's wise to give cats a wide birth on Halloween. Even the cute ones!
Here is a cute (and scratchy) Halloween Bunting complete with sweet little black bows and of course, sparkly green bats!

Cute.....

Definitely scritchy-scratchy........

This one could go either way. Best not interrupt her whilst she's playing her virtuoso!

This was a fun, easy project that I enjoyed putting together. Lots of bold color and good contrast. It's small, (the cards are sized for Altoid tins) but they pack a colorful punch!
I began with three kinds of Altoid Tins Insert Frames-Wrought Iron.
I used the frames as a template to cut my papers from the Bewitched 6x6 Paper Pad and
cut out my kitty images from Halloween Clock Spinners Collage Sheet. I painted all the frames black.

I glued the papers on to the back cards and then glued my pom pom fringe (I think the black fringe would look awesome on this as well!) on the BACK of the cards, letting the round  bits show on the front.

I glued the front frames in place on the outside thicker edge only, and then played with my images, placing them behind the fencing. I then glued all my kitties on to the Ric Rac (from the back) for hanging on display. After they are glued in and dry, I added bows, embellished with Stickles (both Lime Green and Diamond Black).

And last but not least, I added some awesome Mini Chipboard Bats that I painted black and added Lime Green Stickles to give them some stand-out glitter.

Because glitter!
And because I can.
Happy Halloween!!

All of these great supplies came from the wonderful Alpha Stamps and here's the list!
SUPPLIES LIST
Mini Chipboard Bats
Wrought Iron Altoid Tin Insert Frames
3/8 Inch Ric Rac Ribbon-Black
Stickles: Lime Green, Black Diamond
Mini Pom Pom Fringe-Orange
Halloween Clock Spinners Collage Sheet
Bewitched 6x6 Paper Pad

Other:
Black Bows 

Thank you very much for dropping by!

The Strange Kidlets Halloween Fold-out Book

I cannot get enough of Halloween. I have been having fun with these little fold-out books and here's another one...this time it's strangely gifted children. Or maybe gifted kidlets who are strange. Whatever. They are all a bit peculiar in one way or another and that makes them interesting.

This little girl, let's call her Wilhelmina, shall we? Some children have lemonade stands or sell cookies. Little Willa looks like she could whip you up a good old repel spell or a homework charm faster than you can cackle.

And this kidlet, James-Luce has got himself a rather interesting sidekick. Both styling with their green top hats. I wonder which one of them is reading that stack of books?

James-Luce has informed me that Hodge (the cat) is currently reading "Anthropology and Mythical Creatures, a Study of Synchronistic World Tales" aloud at tea time. So there we have it.

And these two, Tyburn and Thalia have scarpered off to a large pumpkin patch where they have release the flying pumpkins and plan on joining them for a wild flight across the river and on to the local pub for some fish and chips and a fizzy lemonade. They look a bit guilty, but I don't think anyone has noticed that the flying pumpkins have gone missing again.

So yes, they are all a bit strange, but I certainly will not be pointing any fingers. Heh.

And  now, a quick little tutorial on how I did the letters on the back of the book.
Since I had already painted the backs of the book pages, I decided to attach the letters to some card stock for contrast and easier reading.

After edging the card stock with ink, I glued the letters down and let them dry. I glued them down to the page backs and gave them a coat of matte medium to take the shine off of them.

Once everything was dry, I used a fine tip Sharpie Paint Marker to outline the letters, and then filled them in with a broader tipped marker. Then added a couple of dots to each page for a little extra detail. Super easy and very effective!

Here you can see, using a larger marker, I filled in the letters to give them a bit more punch.

 If you would like to see a tutorial on how the book was constructed, click this LINK.

For a complete list of supplies from the wonderful Alpha Stamps click HERE.
Supplies:
Arch Top House Silhouette
Dresden Trim:
Black Zig Zag Dresden Borders
Tiny Dot Dresden Borders
Little Sweeties Collage Sheet
Halloween Dress Up Collage Sheet
I've been Mooned Collage Sheet (the peeking eyes at the bottom of the far right house)
Creepy Tree-8 Inch
Stickles: Lime and Black Diamond
various scrap bits from both G45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe and And Eerie Tale from the 8x8 paper pad.

Black acrylic paint
White acrylic paint 

Thank you for stopping by!