Halloween Cats Scratching At The Window

 Hi Everyone, 

I have a spooky Halloween project for you today!

I am using two chipboard sets - Cat Shape Set D69B  and Dimensional Window Kit D174WD.

The Dimensional Window Kit comes with the four pieces shown below (two window frames, a mylar square and the back piece) but I am only using the two frames today and will find another use for the remaining pieces.

The cat shape set has six cat shapes and I will be using four of them for this project.

Here's my idea for the spooky window, showing the placement of the four cats.

First things first, let's paint the cats black because we can't have Halloween without some black cats!  I used black fluid acrylic paint to paint mine but any black paint will do.

Next I painted the frames.  I couldn't decide which colour to choose so I decided to paint one lime green and one purple, using metallic acrylic paints.

So the usual way of constructing this dimensional window is to use it to make a shaker style window and stack one frame on top of the other to make a deeper frame.  The way I am using this dimensional window is a little different.  :)

Here are some gel prints I made on deli paper a while ago.  They were not made for Halloween but they have the perfect Halloween colours so I wanted to use a piece of it in my window.  

I cut a square to fit my frame.  If you don't happen to have Halloween-coloured gel prints to hand, you can of course use any other paper, so long as there is some transparency to it ie deli paper, tissue paper, tracing paper, layout paper etc.  You can then paint or ink on it or leave it plain.

Next glue the deli paper square to the unpainted side of one of the frames, in my case, the green one.  Then repeat the process to sandwich the deli paper between the two frames but first add a little cord or ribbon in the middle which will allow you to hang it up later.

Once you have your frame complete and dried, add two of the cats to one side...

... and two of the cats to the other side, so that all four window panes have a cat in them.

Here is the finished project.  It looks cute don't you think?  Just two cute little cats playing in the window...

But if you hang it up in front of a window...

...the light shines through the deli paper and you can see their spooky little friends on the other side of the window, just waiting to come in!

I hope you enjoyed this little Halloween project and that you will try making your own spooky Halloween cat window!

Til next time,

Elle

Empire of the Cat


Project Recipe:

Cat Shape Set D69B  and Dimensional Window Kit D174WD.
black fluid acrylic paint
lime green and purple metallic acrylic paint
PVA glue
From stash:  gel printed deli paper (you can use any paper you can see through) paper cord (you can use any type of cord or ribbon)

Fly Away Art Journal Cover

Today I have an altered book cover or in my case, an altered art journal cover, as this particular book is one that I am going to use for that purpose, but first I wanted to decorate the cover!

I'll be using this hardback sketchbook.  I think it might be a Derwent sketchbook but there is no label on it any more so I can't be sure.  It is also approx A4 size (21.0 x 29.7cm, 8.27 x 11.69 inches).

I will also be using this chipboard set - Collage Frame Birds & Ivy - which I had originally thought of using on something else (a tag) but then decided to make it the focal point of this cover instead.  I cleaned off the edges and then painted it with white gesso.

Once it was dry, I painted it with Paperartsy Fresco Chalk Paints in purples and greens.  Here's how it looks against the sketch cover - just a final check of the position to make sure it fits the way I want it to.

Then I painted the sketchbook cover with white gesso and left it to dry.

My plan for this cover was to use some of my gelli prints as the backgrounds.  I have two full A4 size prints that I can fit one on the front (shown below) and one on the back cover.  They are not the same colour, but they are in the same colour family, and the technique used creates a wood plank background. 

I glued them both on to the sketchbook cover using collage medium.

To add more interest to the background, I added some texture paste through two different stencils from Finnabair's collection.  A text stencil in the centre and a wild berries stencil around the outside.

Here's a closer look at the scripty word stencil.

And here's how it will look with the chipboard frame over the top

I decided I didn't like the white edges, so I painted around the edges with more Fresco paint in a combination of purple shades, just using my fingers instead of a paintbrush.

Here's a look at both the front and back covers - I did have to use a small paintbrush to touch up the edges under the spiral binding since my fingers are not that small!

Here's a closer look at the spine, looking very gritty and textural, just the way I like it.

It was now time to adhere the chipboard to the cover and I did this using soft gel and to ensure that it stayed in place while it was drying, I put some heavy objects on top to hold everything down.

This little frame comes with extra birds and extra ivy, both of which I wanted to add on top once the frame was attached to the cover.

Once the frame was attached it looked like this, so now all I needed to do was plan out where to put the extra bird and ivy pieces that I wanted to use.

I positioned the bird in the middle and added the ivy pieces on top and bottom, with the two single leaves in front of the two lower birds, as though they were perched on the leaves.

I glued them down using more soft gel and some heavy weights to hold them in place while they dried.

Make sure to leave plenty of time for the glue to dry and it will hold everything in place beautifully, but until it is dry, be careful not to move anything accidentally!  Here's my finished frame layout.

I felt like my cover could use some words so I used some of these Finnabair word stickers and stuck them on the frame.  These stickers were originally a cream colour so I painted them with the same paint as I used on the frame, only diluted a little with some water to allow the text to show through.

And that was my art journal cover finished and ready to use!

I hope that you found this tutorial useful and inspiring, if you are looking for ideas for your own book covers.

Elle

Empire of the Cat

PROJECT RECIPE:

Collage Frame Birds & Ivy
A4 notebook (or book of similar dimensions)
White gesso
Collage Medium
Soft Matte Gel
Fresco Chalk Paints
Texture paste
Gelli print backgrounds (already made)
Finnabair word stickers, stencils