Finial Graveyard Statuaries - Halloween Idea-ology

  Graveyard monuments fascinate me. I spent some time in some pretty old and pretty spectacular cemeteries. So this year I wanted to make a mini graveyard I could display in my home, and that needed to start with some ornamental statues.

 I had a couple of packages of these Finial Sets from Tim Holtz Idea-ology, so I figured that was a good place to start.

 There are two finial toppers and two finial bases. for today's projects we will be using numbers 1 and 2.

 The Idea-ology Salvaged Dolls are pretty tiny, so I needed a smaller base than 2. That led to me altering the 1 finial top.

 Being VERY careful and using my tonic scissors, I carefully cut into the wood and cut off the top knob of the finial. This would be much easier if I had a dremmel or another type of saw, but I didn't and there was no way I was going to attempt to locate one in the garage. That is my husband's "studio" and I couldn't find an item any easier than he would be able to find something in MY studio. So tonic scissors were my ticket for this technique.

 I slowly cut and rotated the finial and it eventually cut all the way through.

 Eventually it came off. I did this same technique with the 3 finial. Save the knobs. I did end up using them as a base with some of the smallest Bitty Bats. (Seen Here)

 I sanded the base to make it a little more flat and to make sure the doll could stand up.

 Adhere the doll to the top of the finial and when dry, put some Grit Paste on your finger and tap the Grit Paste onto the base and the doll so they have a similar texture.

 Once the entire piece is covered, let it dry.

 When it is dry, paint it with a coat of Hickory Smoke Distress Paint. Then cover it with a thing layer of Vintage Distress Collage Medium.

 That will seal it and you could stop here and add a few bits of color with Distress Crayons if you want. But I wanted to do something else first.

 I painted some watered down brown Distress Paint onto the whole piece.

 Then spray it with water from above like it is raining, and let the color settle into the nooks and crannies. Then dry with a heat tool

This is what it will look like. I ended up adding some additional color by scribbling some Distress Crayons here and there and rubbing the color in with my fingers.

 As you can see there are some spots with Peeled Paint Distress Crayon that make it look like it has moss on it.

Now on the the little bat in the bottom right corner.

 I cut a small piece of heavy wire for another 1 finial piece.

 I poked a hole in the top of the finial and then glued the small piece of wire in it.

 As you can see here I glued the back of one of the Bitty Bats to the wire, then colored the entire piece black.

 Here is what it looks like from the front.

 I originally went over the whole piece lightly with some Tarnished Brass Distress Paint because I wanted it to look like the bat rope holders in the hallway of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion.

 But then decided I wanted to use this piece in my graveyard, so I added some grit paste, grey paint and Distress Crayons.

 The last piece uses the stick that comes out of the Broomstick, the 2 finial and the owl adorenment.

 Pull the stick out of the brown. Poke a hole in the back half of the finial. The hole must be large enough the stick can fit into it.

 Once you have a nice sized hole, attach it with Collage Medium.

 Then using foam adhesive, buld it up so it is flush with the back of the owl and adhere it using Distress Collage Mdium.

 Here you can see that step a little loser in this picture.

 Paint the stick and the finial.

 Following it with a little bit of Grit Paste, and some Hickory Smoke paint.

Additional color can be added by rubbing some crayon here and there to add age.

Thank you so much to those who stopped by for a look and also for those who took the time and effort to leave a comment. I read them all and greatly appreciate it even though I can't comment back.

If you have any questions, please use the comment option in the column at the right.
Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Tis the Season to be Jolly - Sizzix Ch 4 and Distress Oxide Sprays

Isn't this Pine Bough die set from Tim Holtz and Sizzix just amazing?  Oh I do love it and have so many plans to use it. One of the first applications I used was this jolly Etcetera tag inspired by the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Cut some pine boughs and pine cones from the die set out of kraft cardstock.

I love the open feel of the pinecones, but I needed to have them backed with paper for this tag. So I adhered them to some kraft cardstock using Distress Collage Medium.

Once they were dry I trimmed around the outside of the pinecones.

Next I tore some Idea-ology Christmas Collage paper and adhered it to some places here and there on the tag using Distress Collage Medium. Then I adhered a couple of pine boughs and a pinecone in one corner.

I did the same thing in the bottom corner, making sure the Collage Paper was adhered before the pine bough die cuts. In addition, I cut a festive saying out of Metallic Gold Kraftstock using both the upper and lowercase Classic Alpha die sets. Once the letters are in place, cover the entire tag, including all the die cuts, with a layer of Distress Collage Medium.

Once the tag is complete and the entire tag and all the Collage Medium are dry, you want to create some magic with Distress Oxide Sprays. I used some of the most recently released colors on this tag.

To do this technique, lay the tag on some paper towels and then shake the Distress Oxide Sprays really well. Then spray them on the tag as seen above.

I sprayed Chipped Sapphire across the main center of the tag.

Then I added Evergreen Bough on the pine boughs, and some Brushed Corduroy in a few places on the tag and also on the pinecones.

Here you can see how the green in mostly on the pine boughs and the brown is on the pine cone. You might also note a few red splatters. I sprayed the Barn Door Oxide Spray into a plastic cup and then dipped the Distress Splatter Brush into the spray and splattered it over the tag. Don't be too heavy handed with this color but add a few splatters for interest later.

The lighter speckles is the Antique Linen that I sprayed in a small plastic cup, dipped the Distress Splatter Brush into it and then splattered all over the tag.  It looks totally cool when it is wet but I really am not sure that this color actually did anything to the overall look. LOL! These are the things you discover when you are experimenting.

Let it sit until it is dry. It was about 30 minutes for me, so I worked on something else during this time. Once it is dry you want to wipe off most of the Oxide Spray.  It will be dry but it won't be permanent. It will wipe off easily. Take a damp rag or wet wipe and start wiping.

You can start seeing here that as you wipe the color underneath, including some of the kraft color, will begin to show through.

Once you have wiped away most of the oxide on the surface, you will still have some of the oxide that sticks down in the recessed areas of the dies and next to the edges of the dies. That is perfect!

I love how the Evergreen Bough Oxide leaves green between the needles on the boughs and the Brushed Corduroy colored the pinecones.

And how the Chipped Sapphire Oxide stayed around the gold letters giving them definition.

 Isn't it fascinating how the dark ink portion of the oxides soaked through the Collage Medium and gave the tag some vibrant color? I really wasn't expecting the deep plum colors with the warm golden brown. But what a fabulous surprise!

If you look closely you can see where a few of the bits of Barn Door showed up here and there adding a bit of interest as well as how the bits of collage paper show through the color as well.

The finishing touch was to spray some Distress Resist Spray over the entire piece and then lightly dust it with Platinum Distress Glitter Dust to add a little Sugar Plum Fairy sparkle.

Thank you for sticking with me to the end of this post. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask by using the contact form at the side of this post. And thank you for all of you that visit and leave comments. I read them all and truly appreciate when you take the time to leave them!
Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of theYear - Scenic Holiday

 I just can't get over the beauty of these Scenic Holiday stamps from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous.  They are so beautiful just stamped. You don't even need to do anything and they are perfect.  But you know me, I did need to do just a little bit.

 First I wanted a background to frame the gorgeous scene. For this one I reached for the new Snowflake Shifter Stencil. I stenciled the snowflakes with a Distress Brush and Iced Spruce and Stormy Sky Distress Inks. When that was done I added some of the music from the Music and Advert Stamp set. I inked the music stamp with Pumice Stone Distress Ink and then used my hand to press it onto the paper in places so it was light and very uneven.

 In other spots I did the same type of stamping but I used the new plaid stamp from the Lumberjack set. And then I sprinkled some drops of Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain across the whole background piece.

 I stamped the Scenic Holiday image on a piece of Distress Mixed Media Heavystock in Ground Espresso and Black Soot Archival. Then I cut it out using one of the Stacked Postage dies from Tim Holtz and Sizzix.

 Once it was cut out I used a VERY fine detail brush to watercolor the image. I used the brush end of my Distress Markers, scribbled some color in a small spot on my Glass Media Mat. I dipped the tip of a very fine detail brush in water, wiped it through the marker ink to pick up just enough ink, and colored in tiny spots here and there.

 Below the image I stamped the sentiment on the background.

 As you can see I machine stitched around the image on the stamp and the edge of the background. I also added mat to the postage piece and a 4.25x5.5" card base. The finishing touch was the was the bit of Crafters Thread wound around an Index Clip and then tied to the Idea-ology snowflake.

As it turns out, this is a card that isn't technique heavy, it just takes a little patience coloring in the beautifully detailed scene.
Thank you so much for stopping by.
Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!