Liz Borer Project #2 Haunted House ....

"I really like making things with lots of little spaces in them to put small items and treasures in and a Haunted house seemed ideal for all the little bits that signify Autumn and Halloween".

I started with a Wooden House shaped box but decided that I wanted more space. I always have boxes left over from Tim Holtz Configurations Boxes and was pleased to find that they were the same depth as the house, so I stuck two onto each side.

 I cut a piece of Grey Board to fit the back of the house. This neatened it and added strength.

 I added Grey Board to the sides and base for the same reason.

 Now I wanted a colour for the insides of the spaces to tone in with the colours I was going to use. It had to tone with orange and purple! I’m not quite sure how I got to this colour but I found that mixing Vintage Lace and Irish Cream made an odd sort of pink that was just what I wanted. I painted the insides of all the boxes with this and the outside of the house with Little Black Dress.

I had some Ten Second Studio brown metal which I embossed and then attached to the roof and the tops of the side boxes.

 I used the same pink paint to paint two sheets of Smoothy White Stamping Card so that I could stamp the backgrounds of the boxes but keep the colours of the backgrounds the same. I stamped the web from HPHW03 and cut the card to fit the top triangle of the house. A few of the lines need to be drawn to the edge of the card. I created a slightly mottled effect by picking up a little Eggplant on a wet wipe and dabbing it onto the card, I decided to finish the colouring to match the other stamped backgrounds shown in the next

pictures . 

HPHW03

Here I have stamped the haunted house from HPHW02 and using a circle cut out of paper as a mask for the moon I have started painting with Pumpkin Soup. Once dry the moon is painted in with Snowflake.

 HPHW02

 

I continued painting the background moving onto Autumn Fire then Claret and finally Eggplant . These are all translucent colours so allow the stamping to show through but I needed to add layers of colour to make it darker.

 Here I stamped the poison bottle from HPHW04 then masked it and stamped a line of bottles from HP1109, a little Eggplant paint created shadows.

HPHW04

 HP1109

Here are all the backgrounds painted with the same colours with the exception of the castle. The Castle is from LPC006, Minaret  LPC018 , Tree HPHW04.

I used four pieces of embossed metal to make the other backgrounds .

 Finally all the backgrounds are stuck in place. I didn’t want to put too many items in front of the stamped backgrounds  because they would have been obscured and they are part of the design.

I painted some glass bottles black and white {I love Fresco Paint it sticks to glass}. I then stamped and embossed with white and black embossing powders onto tissue paper using images from HPHW03. The designs can then be cut out of the paper and attached to the bottles using Matte Medium underneath and the over the top.

I stamped the oak leaves from HP1105 onto Shrink Plastic then coloured the backs with toning colours and shrunk them.

HP1105

 

To make the ghost I cut out a ragged circle from white fabric and soaked it in something called Paverpol which, when it dries makes the fabric hard. I put it over the little wooden shape and tied the neck with cotton. When dry I painted it white and then added a little shading with a grey colour.

 Other metal pieces were painted with Little Black Dress and then rubbed with a little Treasure Gold selection of colours - Amethyst, Copper and White Fire.

 I had a small wooden pot in my stash which I painted black.The snake was a ring from Primark ( their jewellery section often has cheap pieces which can be used for embellishments ) which I pulled apart.

 I painted a small wooden plaque with the pink paint and stamped and embossed the verse  from HPHW03. I added a bit of Treasure Gold around the edges and stuck a piece of beaded ribbon at the back before attaching the whole thing to the house.

 The pumpkins were made from dried poppy seed heads, painted with Pumpkin Soup and then Autumn Fire.

 I forgot to photograph the broom or the cat (sorry). The broom was made using a twig and bristles from an old brush bound with copper wire. The cat is from HPHW04 was stamped and coloured with mica flakes and cut out. I drew round the edge with a gold pen to make it stand out and stuck a crown on its head. I used some legs from the Tim Holtz range which I painted black and then rubbed with Copper Treasure Gold to finish the project.

 Lots of pictures of the finished project.

 I’ve had fun making this and I hope you have enjoyed it too. More tomorrow .

Leandra Says: That is one spooky house Liz! Love your colour palette, and the embellishments are first class! Great use of Treasure gold, and love your house extensions!

Gillian Says: Stunning Liz, the attention to detail is first class as always. Those "poppy seed" pumpkins are too cute, love the highlighted metal embellies too.