Vampire Mini House

Happy Saturday, everyone. Halloween is fast approaching and I am in full spooky crafting mode. Today I am sharing a vampire-themed project I made using the GSL Mini House Room Box with 4 Cubbies.

Here are the bits all laid out.  If you take the time to do this with 3D structures, assembly goes very quickly.  The adhesive I used is tacky glue.

I painted the walls and ceiling of the cubby rooms with black acrylic paint. The attic space was covered with Paper Studio wood grain paper for the ceiling and Paper Studio brick paper for the back wall. The bats in the attic are puffy stickers from Paper House (love them!).

I chose four different papers for the back walls of each cubby from my stash of scraps. The floors were covered with a black and white dot paper from Echo Park's Chillingsworth Manor. I chose a Vlad Dracula image for one cubby, backed with a bit of foam tape to bring the image a bit forward. 

 

With Vlad already in place, I added a Bela Lugosi Count Dracula image adhered to an oval glass cabochon with Diamond Glaze, a cross charm set off with a small brad, and a small framed mirror.

 

The other elements I used for this vampire-related piece include a vampire skull (skull bead embellished with polymer clay fangs on top a spool of silver chain), wooden stakes (toothpicks painted brown), a small bottle of holy water (resin) embellished with a scrapbook paper cross, a dollhouse brick decorated as a box of wooden bullets and a rope of polymer clay garlic. 

 

For the roof, I painted GSL Chipboard Shingles - Pointed – Painted in the same black paint and cut them to size. They were then glued to the roof in a staggered pattern. 

 Thanks for stopping by!

GSL Products Used

Mini House Room Box 4 Cubbies

Chipboard Shingles – Pointed

Other Supplies Used

Tacky glue

Black acrylic paint

Printed vampire images

Diamond Glaze

Paper House puffy bat stickers

Paper Studio wood grain and brick wall scrapbook papers

Echo Park Chillingsworth Manor paper

Cross charm 

Mirror

Various vampire-related doo dads

faerie hollow

Recently, my morning walks have left little doubt about the arrival of fall. Sightings of acorns and numerous pinecones littered across the path, falling leaves of varying colors, and the crisp air have me thinking about the creatures and faeries settling in for the coming winter. It inspired me to create something a little whimsical. Today I am sharing faerie hollow, a little place to store some of my natural treasures found during my walks.

I begin with a Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts ATC sized faux book box. This box arrives flat, in 7 pieces. Whenever I create a three dimensional piece, I like to first put the pieces together without glue. This gives me an idea of what will go where, as well as a visual from which I can begin to imagine ways that I would like to decorate the piece. Once I have completed my "pre-assembly" I select a patterned paper that will be attached to the interior of the book.

I use the chipboard pieces as a template then cut the paper to the appropriate size. During this process, I always like to cut all my papers first. Then, once all of the cutting is complete, I adhere them. To keep track of which piece goes where, I label the back sides of the paper pieces with a letter or number and write that same letter/number on the corresponding chipboard. All of the writing ends up being covered when the papers are attached, it simply makes everything much easier when you are at the gluing stage. [Note: the insides of the box pieces will need to be sized to fit within the tabs, while the coverings for the outside edges of the box will need to extend to cover the interlocking tabs.] All of the edges of my cut papers are inked with gathered twigs distress ink. 

With all of the papers cut to size, the next step is to add paint to the chipboard. I paint all the edges of the chipboard pieces with brown paint. This piece is made of heavyweight chipboard so it doesn't warp when you add a thin coat of paint. I already know that I will be covering the book box with papers , so I do not bother to cover the entire pieces with paint, only the edges where my papers will end. The paint will give all the edges a more finished look.

When assembling the faux book box, I use a linen hinging tape along the spine where it attaches to the covers, this allows the "book" to open and close freely, without the worry of paper ripping or wearing out over time. If you don't have any hinging/binding tape, a piece of medical tape will also do the trick. Allow a gap between the spine and each cover. I cover the inside (gap) exposed portion of hinging tape with a piece of thin washi tape. This serves two purposes: covering any sticky portion of tape as well as presenting a clean and coordinating finished gap between the pieces. 

All of the cut papers are attached to the box with collage medium. If necessary, weight down the pieces while they dry to keep them from curling. For my purposes, I adhered the inside paper pieces then secured the box into the back cover piece, before I added the outside box covering (wood grained paper). You can work however you are most comfortable; however, if you would like to cut long strips of paper and wrap the outside corners of your box, it would be best to work like I have described. Be sure to cut out the slots from the base paper that will be attached to the back cover so that the box sides can easily fit into the openings.

When all of the interior papers are in place, I attach a faux wood-grained paper to the outside of the box portion of the book, as well as the back cover and spine. 

The "wood" is created with distress watercolor cardstock and the Sizzix Lumber 3D texture fades embossing folder. Once the grained pattern is embossed, I use a combination of inks, paints and mediums to create an authentic wood appearance. The papers are then cut and attached to the book box with collage medium. 

For the front cover, I cut a piece of Bristol to fit. I stamp some toadstools onto the lower section in archival ink, and color them with distress inks, using a water brush. The garden fairies small are the perfect scale for the stamped mushrooms. The set comes with six different fairies; for this piece, I am only using two of them. The rest will be used on a future piece.

I carefully remove the pieces and cover each one with Versamark embossing ink, then coat with a layer of mirror platinum embossing powder. The powder is heat set, then the fairies are set aside. Once cool, the fairies are attached to the cover paper with collage medium. Using a swirling stars stencil and perfect pearls, I add a bit of magic to the scene, which is completed by stamping the word "believe" in the upper left corner. 

When the book box is opened there is a small die cut mushroom in the corner of the box. I can't wait to begin filling this with small treasures found along my morning walks. 

I hope that you are inspired to create something of your own to keep your found treasures.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, 

I truly appreciate you taking the time. 

~Ann

 xxx 

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts used:
ATC Sized Faux Book Box
Garden Fairies Small  

Haunted House Halloween Card

Hi crafty friends!  Leigh Ann here on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts blog today with a not too spooky Haunted House Halloween card. 

I picked a house from the Haunted Houses Set and gave it a coat of black gesso. 

While the gesso dried I created two alcohol ink backgrounds on Yupo paper.  I made a small piece with 2 yellow alcohol inks and the yellow alcohol pearls.  I adhered that behind the window cutouts in the chipboard piece.  The other background I made with purples and blues starting with the lightest in the center and working out to the darkest in a circular shape. 

I used a silver wax by Prima to give the chipboard a distressed look.  

I adhered the chipboard haunted house to the larger purple alcohol ink background and then adhered it to a card base.  Finally I embellished the card using an assortment of flowers, twine, and ephemera.

And there you have it- A cute and not too creepy card perfect for everyone this Halloween.  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!  I used the following set from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts to create this card:
Haunted Houses Set

Oh Baby Baby by Betsy Skagen

There's a baby arriving in my family next month. Shhh....don't tell, but I am making a little book for the mother-to-be to keep memories of those precious first months.

The book will feature all sorts of pockets, fold-outs and teeny little spaces to store precious mementos and tags to record different milestones and memories. I am using some of Gypsy Soul's wonderful chipboard to add some fun elements.

Right now I am just putting together the individual pages. Once they are done, I will reassemble them back into book form.

Tutorial--How to Make a Baby Book

Begin by gently bending the wire binding and remove the chipboard pages.

Cover the pages with black gesso.

Dry with a heat gun.

Cut a pocket from black cardstock.

Adhere decorative paper to the page.

Glue the bottom flap and right side flap to the back of the page. Because of the binding on the left side, instead of adhering the left pocket flap to the back side of the page, you need to adhere it directly to the decorative paper beneath the pocket.  

Place decorative paper on the front of the pocket. 

Paint the Special Delivery chipboard element and dry with heat gun.

Cover the element with embossing ink, coat with ultra thick clear embossing powder and activate with heat gun. When cool, adhere the element to the front of the pocket.

Cut tags that fit into the pocket from decorative paper. Glue paper on the back that is conducive to journaling.

Adhere decorative papers and a tiny pink vellum envelope to the back side of the page.

To finish your page, use sandpaper to sand down all the edges and rub black ink around the edges. 

So sweet! Now I have to get busy and make many more pages before the stork brings a tiny bundle of joy. -Betsy

Great Stuff

Special Delivery chipboard element

Chipboard album

Black gesso

Authentique Paper

Assorted paper

Black cardstock

Black ink

Pink paint pen

Embossing ink

Ultra thick clear embossing powder

Pink vellum envelope

Haunted House Halloween Shaker Card

Hi there Crafty Friends!

I'm back today with a colourful Halloween card for you using these fab chipboard pieces, embossing powder and Distress Oxides.

Let's Get Started!

Here are the chipboard pieces you will need - Haunted House Oval and Halloween Word Set.

I chose to use the "Haunted" word to go with my haunted house but "wicked" and "frightful" would also fit on a 5.5 inch wide card front.

Making a cool background using Distress Oxide sprays is really easy and this technique gives you two backgrounds for the price of one!

Cut two pieces of identically sized cardstock, then spray one of them with Distress Oxide Sprays of your choice - I used Mustard Seed, Abandoned Coral and Seedless Preserves - and a quick spritz or two of water.  Then press the second piece of cardstock on top of the other, and smooth them out with your fingers, before peeling them apart.  You should have two similar backgrounds but they will not be exactly the same!  Choose your favourite of the two, and carry on.

At this point I wanted to chose the cardstock for my card base, and I went with this Plum Punch cardstock from Gina K which looks nice against the Seedless Preserves.  I'm making quite a large card here, which takes one full piece of cardstock folded in half to make a 5.5 x 8.5 inch card. What can I say - I like big cards and I cannot lie!  I cut my Oxide background down to 5.25 x 8.25 inches, just enough to leave a small border around the outside.

Next, as we are making a shaker card, cut a piece of acetate to fit behind the Haunted House chippie.  You can use a circle die for this or you can just draw around the Haunted House shape and cut it out with scissors.  This is an oval shape not a circle, so it's just as easy to do it by hand with scissors than use a circle die and then have to cut it to an oval anyway.  But I like options so I'm giving you two :)

At this point, I gathered all my pieces together ready for heat embossing.  I also added some Tim Holtz die cut bats but they missed out on the above photo opportunity.  I used this shiny but not too shiny Black Glint embossing powder by Wow on the house and bats, and this chunky Rocky Road embossing powder by Emerald Creek on the Haunted word chippie.

Time to make the shaker!  Carefully glue the House chippie to the acetate around the oval shape and several places on the house shape, the moon, the bat, the little trees etc, making sure not to overdo the glue as you don't want it showing on the front!

Then take some foam tape and use it to edge around the entire oval shape making sure not to leave any spaces where your shaker materials could escape!  I am using black foam tape here so that it blends in better but you could use white and just paint the edges before you stick it on the card.  My tape is 0.5 inch wide so I cut it in thin strips the same thickness as the oval shape and then added thicker parts at the bottom where the house is.  I used two layers of foam tape one on top of the other, as it can be helpful to give whatever you put inside your shaker, more room to move about.  Also important is to use an anti-static tool on all the foam edges to make sure that the shaker materials don't stick to it or you won't get anything to shake!

Time to assemble the card!  I distressed the edges of both the card base and the background and inked them with Black Soot Archival ink.  Then adhere the Oxide background to the card base.

Decide where on your card you want to place your Haunted House and make sure you have it centred.  I used a T-Ruler and an acrylic block to mark where I wanted to put it, and then put the little bundle of sequins and stars in the middle of where the Haunted House would be stuck.  I peeled off the backing tape and lined up the house with the blocks I had placed on the card to ensure it was centred and level, and stuck it down.  It can be helpful just to place something like an acrylic block on top just to hold it down for a few minutes.

Then I adhered the Haunted word chippie and three additional little die cut bats to the card and it was complete!

...Or was it?

There was one more step I wanted to add, and that was some yellow Nuvo drops to the centre of the moon which would otherwise be clear.  It's perfectly fine to leave it clear but I really wanted that yellow moon.  You could also add colour behind the house windows with Nuvo drops or coloured paper (more options!) but I wanted the colour of the Oxides to show through. And now the card was complete!

Hope you enjoyed this Halloween card tutorial!

Till next time,

Elle
Empire Of The Cat



PROJECT RECIPE for Haunted House Halloween Shaker Card:

GSL Cuts Haunted House Oval - Model D12K, Halloween Word Set D81F
Wow Embossing ink, Black Glint embossing powder
Emerald Creek - Rocky Road embossing powder
Heat gun for melting embossing powder
Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive, Nuvo Drops - Dandelion Yellow
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Sprays - Mustard Seed, Abandoned Coral, Seedless Preserves, Distress Archival in Black Soot,
Tim Holtz Bat Crazy Sizzix dies
Gina K - Plum Punch Cardstock
From Stash:  scrap of acetate, double sided tape, black foam tape, green sequins, silver stars, black stars