Monster Reunion Class of 1818

I had a ball making cards and tags with the Monster Reunion stamp set from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous. The monsters are endearing and their humorous little sentiments will make you smile. I thought it would be fun to actually make a reunion for them, so I built them a Haunted little venue for their class of 1818 reunion (the year Mary Shelley first published Frankenstein.)

Fair warning -- I have been breaking my posts up for most techniques, but this is really just one long technique of building a house, so settle in with a cup of tea or something before you get started.  I'll try to let all the step-out photos do the talking.

To begin, you need the following supplies: the two largest vignette boxes, two of the web Etcetera Trims and the Pinked Etcetera trims, black and Antique linen Distress Paint and Collage Medium.

You will also need some chipboard that you will need to kind of fiddle with using your own measurements. I measured the top of both vignette boxes and then made some triangle shapes from the chipboard that will fit on the top of the boxes to shape the roof.

Here you can see how I painted the boxes black and the straight part of the trim black (as well as the Pinked trim that isn't pictured as it was a late addition) and two of the four roof triangles.

Assemble the boxes, trim and roof triangles in this manner. I adhered everything with Distress Collage Medium and held it in place until it as dry. This takes a little patience as it doesn't dry immediately.  NOTE - there should be two or three more triangles on the top of the upper box for the roof as well.  I was winging it and snapping pictures as I went and changed things along the way, so some of my pictures don't show bit I added later.

Next, cut two pieces of the Alcohol Ink Black Cardstock to fit both boxes. Stamp the new, gorgeous cobweb onto it with some Distress Oxide in Pumice Stone. It stamps beautifully, but you need to let it dry or dry it with a heat tool so that it doesn't smudge.

I love how Oxides stamp on this Alcohol Ink Black Cardstock! And you will be using the two together for much of this project.

Next we are going to put wood siding all along the sides, back and trim of the piece. Stamp the planks onto the black cardstock with Walnut Stain Distress Oxide. Then cut the planks into strips just wide enough for the sides of the box.

Once you have the width cut, then use scissors to cut the planks.

Ink the edges with Distress Oxide and then adhere the planks onto the sides of the boxes.

The boxes are different widths so keep this in mind.

You also need to put planks on the sides of the roof peaks.

I put the planks on the sides and then trimmed them with scissors once they were dry.

Both sides should be completely covered as shown here. You will want to do the same thing to the back of the boxes. I attached pieces of different lengths all across the back so it purposefully looks like the lumber was pieced together.

I wanted it raised just a little bit off the ground, so I added some of the Pinked Etcetera Trim with Distress Collage Medium.

I cut the pieces to fit with my Tim Holtz Scissors.

It takes some effort to get them to fit and then I touched up the paint once it was dry.

There were little bits of places on the front that needed covered, so I cut some of the planks in thin strips and then attached them on the front edges of the boxes and the trims.

Now on to the roof. The new Scallop Shifter Stencil can be used for many things, but I thought it might make a cute roof.

 I again used the Alcohol Ink Black Cardstock with Distress Oxide

 Attach the paper onto the Media Mat with some Sizzix Sticky Grid underneath.

 Put the small Scallop stencil on the paper, and hold it down on top with some tape so you can easily lift it without moving it too much to check your progress.

 Load some Distress Oxide in Hickory Smoke or Pumice Stone onto a Distress Brush.

 Once you are happy with the coverage, you need to cover the stenciled pattern with the stencil so that clean cardstock shows through. You can see above how it is covered by the stencil. Then using the brush, add more oxide through the stencil.

When you are finished it should look something like this, very roof tilish. Be sure and dry it.

You will need to trim the bottom edges of the scallops. Then cut a piece to fit over those triangles we attached at the beginning. I cut the front pieces and then cut the back pieces and adhered them.

There will be edges and some gaps, so I covered those with some moss.

I let the roof hand over the edges on the sides just a tiny bit.

Stamp the Monsters in Black Archival Ink on Distress Mixed Media Heavystock, and then color them with Distress Inks and a Waterbrush. You will need to stamp several pumpkins and several tombstones.

I made a little scene on the back of the building with Dracula and tombstones.

As you can see, I cut up one of the tombstones so it looks like it is sinking. I also cut up bits of the soil and added it here and there.

It is important to add some pieces of chipboard here and there to add dimension. There is more moss added as well to cover any unsightly edges.

In the top box, I added some pumpkins. and then Mummy.  Start with the pumpkins.

Put some moss on the bottom of the box, then cut out some pumpkins and cut two pumpkins apart. Glue the pumpkin parts around the whole pumpkin. Then attach the mummy to the front of the box.

Again, add moss to the bottom of the box. Add in most of the remaining tombstones, again cutting some so that they look like they are broken and sinking into the ground.

On the bottom front of the box, adhere the skeleton lady and add a tombstone with some chipboard for dimension as well as some of the soil from some of the broken tombstones in the box,

I added some extra flowers here and there as well.

Here you can see some of the broken tombstones in the box.

There is a pumpkin and some pumpkin pieces in the corner behind Frankenstein's Monster.

I added a few pieces of chipboard behind him and then hid some thick black foam behind him to keep him stable as he stands up.

As you can see I had some things that worked, somethings I needed to add later, and some things that didn't work and I scrapped it or adjusted as need be. Have fun experimenting and making your own Monster Reunion.
Tami

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