Grunge and Ghouls Haunted House

 Hello Again Crafty Friends!!

I am super excited to share todays post with you. This is my inspiration for the new Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge "Grunge, Ghouls, or Giggles". 

I am so excited to share this little haunted house box. I have been having so much fun with the new Tim Holtz village dies. Years ago, I has the original dwelling die, and one of the add-ons. Ironically I had been playing with the old ones a few weeks before the new release! I had been looking for some of the older retired ones, so I'm thrilled to have them now as thinlits!!! Be prepared for a photo heavy post.  

I started by cutting out all of the pieces I thought I would use from heavy weight cardstock.

I used the brick mini 3D embossing folder to emboss the base pieces, then distressed with picket fence distress ink. 

I put all of the base together, then I added vellum behind the windows. 

(Yes I forgot to put it in the roof one before gluing the roof on. I should have glued them all in before gluing things together).

Using a craft blade I cut out some bricks, then glued in some wood strips. 

(I also snuck in the upper window with some long tweezers...haha that was a struggle!)

Next, I used the halloween "crypt" grit paste on the roofs. 

You can see it wet, where I started to place it on the house. (It drys clear with a sort of sandy color 

After the grit paste dried, I added on my roof tiles, doors, window frames, and roof spikes.

(I used a silver ink on the roof tiles and spikes. Then I used a gold distress crayon on all the window frames)

Side view

Back view

Other side

The base box was first painted with hickory smoke distress paint, then messily layered with a thick layer of crackle texture paste.

When dried and cracked I used the walnut stain distress crayon to highlight all the cracks.

To finish everything off I added twisted citron paint with a dry brush. I used the new holiday icicle crackle paste to all of the windows. The 2 labels were distressed with brushed corduroy distress ink. (they were from the Halloween ephemera pack). The pumpkins were added from the skulls and pumpkins Halloween pack. The skull and crossbones was an old one i had from my stash. 

I used the vault series dies for the ghosts, and some of the bats. 

The tree was from a die cut my friend sent me. 

I added the purple tiny lights, to give that perfect haunted creepiness.

Detail shots

More close ups

More details

Details again

Supplies Used:

Village Die

Vault series Halloween die

Toil and Trouble die (used for bats)

IO fence die

Hardware heads

Ideaology skulls and pumpkins

Skulls and spiders

Distress paint- twisted citron and hickory smoke

Distress ink- Brushed corduroy 

Silver ink

Halloween Tiny lights

Halloween Ephemera Pack

Distress crayons- Gold and walnut stain

Collage Meduim

Hot Glue

Texture paste crackle

Crackle accents (could be used for the windows)

Icicle crackle paste

Halloween grit paste

3D mini brickwork embossing folder

Die-na-mite Halloween card

  Hello Again Crafty Friends!!!

It's that time again!!! Today starts the new challenge with the Funkie Junkie Boutique and I'm the Host!

Join us over on the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog HERE.

The Theme is "Die-na-mite" 

Dies can make a simple or boring project extra mighty... I want you to use your dies to make a project! They can be your main focus, or work in the background to make your project a little extra mighty.  

For my project, I chose to make a Halloween card. This year I am going to try really hard to get a few out to some family and a few special mail art friends I have been super neglecting for a while. 

To start I cut out the small pumpkin from the new Tim Holtz- "Pumpkin Patch, Colorize" die set. I added some of the new mica sprays to my black layer, and my top orange layer. I also lightly inked with vintage photo distress ink on the edges of each piece. To glue everything together I used collage medium (my go to matte glue).

Next, I went through my background box, and found a leafy background I had created using various distress inks and oxides with a Dylusions stencil (and water flicks of course).  I also had this wood frame sitting on my desk from another Idea that hadn't worked out like I wanted. I thought it looked so perfect with the leaves so I decided to add it (It was created using a 3D wood grain embossing folder on brown cardstock, then using a rectangle nesting die to cut out the center to create a frame). 

From here, I got in the groove, and totally forgot to take progress photos, but I stamped the "wishing you a spooky Halloween" from the "Monstrous" stamp set by Tim Holtz in black soot- Archival ink (since I am stamping over oxides I used my stamping tool to stamp it several times so that the color would really pop).

I also used white heat embossing with a spider web stamp from the "Tangled Webs" stamp set by Tim Holtz. 

The tiny bats I added were from the die set "Vault series: Halloween 2021" (Yes the pumpkin patch set comes with bats, but for whatever reason I liked these tiny bats better. lol).

To add to the look of the frame I added the screw heads to the corners of the frame. I thought this gave a little extra something to the look. I also added grit paste to the screws and the area around them for a worn texture (I used the new Halloween grit paste, but since I ended up covering it up any of the translucent grit paste would have worked). 

Once that was dry, I used distress crayons to make the wood grain pop more, and to add a bit of rusty/grunginess around the screws.  

Last to finish off the pumpkins, I used a white gel pen to add random highlights to the pumpkin so that it would really pop off of the card (which was adhered with pop-dots to give it dimension).

Products Used:

Dies: Pumpkin Patch, Vault series: Halloween 2021, Rectangle nesting die (I used an old retired set, but any would work).

Grit Paste (I used Tombstone, but THIS will work too)

Tim Holtz 3D wood grain embossing folder

Stamps: Tangled Webs, Monstrous

Inks: Distress inks, Distress Oxides, Black Soot Archival, Embossing ink pad

Prima Junk Yard Findings (these are old so not sure if they still make them) You can also use Hardware Heads by Tim Holtz (my usual go to)

White Embossing powder

Distress Crayons (sets 7 & 10 are perfect for rust, and #3 is of course needed for the white highlights)

Tim Holtz Halloween Mica Sprays -Set 1

Collage Medium

Dylusions Stencil - Leaves 

Witchy Halloween Mail Art Video Tutorial

Hello again! 

Today I'm here with another fun installment of Mail Art Monday!!!

Here in Ohio the air is getting crisper, leaves are falling and I'm loving my spiced tea and coffees... Fall is such a fun time!

 So today's tutorial is a fun Halloween themed envelope and postcard. 

(Stamp links at the bottom of this post)

And speaking of fall themed postcards don't forget to stop by the Viva Las VegaStamp! Groupies on Facebook to join our swap!!!  I know I was so excited for this swap! I'm mailing my 4 out this week (don't worry they are still taking sign ups and they aren't due to be sent for quite a while).

Stamps Used:

Jack o' Lanterns Along Fence 3 x 2 3/4

Moon Circle 1 3/4 x 1 1/2

Witch Holding Broom 2 1/4 x 3 3/4

Fright Post 1 1/2 x 2 

Thank you for visiting! I hope you are feeling inspired.  Stay inky!