31 Spook Street

Spooky season is here! Let's visit one of the houses on Spook Street, number 31. I love the new Houses and Tombstones set from Alpha Stamps; they inspired me to make this tin. The houses are perfect for a scary facade on an Altoid's sized tin, especially if you add in some Tiny Scalloped Shingles and the Mini Window for Haunted Houses (for this project, I trimmed the six pane windows down to 4 panes). I cut a door out of the "Signage & Doors for Tin Covers" collage sheet, and used some foam tape raise it up a bit from the house. The stones on the house are made from a cardboard egg carton, painted and cut up, then glued down individually onto the house facade. A full tutorial for this technique can be found here. 

 

 

It's obvious that the spooky family in this house has been getting ready for Halloween: they have carved some jack o'lanterns, and invited a little rat friend to come visit. A skeleton waves from the roofline, and a bat has fluttered by to check out the fun. Inside, a friendly ghost announces a fun spook party, and you're invited! Hooray for Halloween!

Let's trick or treat! While the ghost on the left is glued to the top of the inside of the tin and is flat, the elements on the right are layered with different heights of foam tape, giving lots of dimension, which unfortunately does not show well in photographs. 

When I went to attach the facade to the front of the tin, I had to have the tin lean a little in order for it to stand up on its own. From the side, it looks like this:

 

I hope you enjoy this spooky little tin. New to altering tins? Here's a tutorial on how I do mine. Happy Halloween! For a complete list of supplies, click here!

 

Spookytown, USA

I recently received a set of Cabana Row Mini Houses from Alpha Stamps, and I knew right away that a Halloween village was in order. Hello, Spookytown! Kids are frolicking, cats are guarding pumpkins, and someone has used a skull as a seasonal decoration.

Here are some closeups:

I started out by covering each chipboard house with scrapbook paper; one type for the house itself, and a contrasting paper for the roof. Each got a Halloween motif on the front, and all but one got Halloween "windows" on the sides.

Spookytown needed a home base, so I made one out of foam core. It's covered with black tissue paper; I just wrapped it like a present and glued it down. Orange ric rac helps finish off the edge.  

 After the foam core was covered and the ric rac was applied, I wanted to add some texture on the ground. This would have been best to do before the ric rac was glued on, but sometimes I do like a challenge. The only way I could think of to apply the "grass" was to use spray mount, but I definitely didn't want to get that grass all over the sides and into the ric rac, so I made a cardboard template to protect those areas. I measured the base, and cut the template 1/8" less on all sides, so there's a little black edge around the border.

I drew crop marks so I could position the base in the center of the template. Once the template is ready, tape the base on face down, so you can spray the top and apply the ground cover. Make sure you do this part outside! I used washi tape because it's easy to remove.

The great thing about using foam core is that it's easy to construct a scene. To attach the tree silhouette and the fence posts, I glued thin wire to the back of each element. Once the glue is dry, I used a straight pin to make a little hole in the foam core and then inserted each piece.

It's so easy to build a fence this way. I also used wire to allow some Halloween figures (a black cat, a couple of pumpkin heads, and a boy with a jack o'lantern) to stand. Wire allows the bats to fly, and holds up the skull bead so it doesn't topple down. I chose not to attach the houses or the pumpkins or fall leaves. Maybe I'll want to rearrange things some time.

I hope you enjoyed Spookytown! For a complete list of supplies, click here.

Ghosts in the Graveyard Altered Tin

Watch out for ghosts in the graveyard! I used an Altoids-sized tin with the lid removed to make some tiny Halloween fun. An insert from Alpha Stamps' new Halloween Altoids Tin Inserts set makes a rustic fence and black cat in the foreground of the tin. I painted the insert orange, black and grey, and then added texture to the fence with colored pencils. I used a white colored pencil to outline the edges of the cat to make it pop a bit. The seated cat, front right, is acrylic.

 

 

So many ghosts! This paper, from the Halloween Market 6x6 pad, makes the perfect background. After I glued the paper to the inside of the tin, I cut a couple of the ghosts out of the remaining paper and attached them with some foam tape to add some dimension. The tombstones were painted (tutorial at the bottom of the post here; I love painting tombstones!) In checking to see how the tombstones looked behind the insert, I realized that the two shorter tombstones were getting a little lost behind the fence. I set those two stones up on some foam core (painted black) to make them tall enough to be seen.

 

Some curious ghosts were added to the border of the insert, and a small ghost was added with foam tape to the front of the tombstone you see on the right. Some lichen was pushed through the "ground" between the slats of the fence and glued behind. When I tried that smiling jack o'lantern on the top, I knew he would have to stay. This needs a little more orange at the bottom, don't you think? A couple of pumpkins there should do the trick. In this photo, the cat on the fence is not outlined yet, so he's a little hard to see.

Here's that cat with a little white pencil outline; now you see him. A black ribbon trim along the opening of the tin adds texture. Skeleton arms for that Jack; why not?

 

Happy Halloween! For a list of supplies, click here.

Haunted Duplex

Double your fun! I took two Alpha Stamps chipboard haunted houses and put them together to create a haunted duplex. These houses were identical, so I cut out one of the towers on the house on the left to create a different roof line. Then, I had a great time mixing and matching Halloween papers and adding spooky accessories. Chipboard gates, doors, and window frames, along with Dresden trim and flying bats, give the duplex dimension. The houses are attached at the back with a strip of washi tape.

Every year the residents of the duplex try to outdo each other in decorating. They do love Halloween! The skeletons, who live on the left, enjoy a nice banquet on the big day. Looks like their youngest has been out trick or treating.

Witches reside in the other half of this duplex. Most of them are probably out on their broomsticks, but someone has to stay home and watch for trick or treaters. I believe they'd rather be out riding.

Some of my favorite details on the skeleton house: a flag made from a small image. The flag pole is some thin wire with a seed bead at the top. The bats are attached with foam tape so they almost look like they're flying. A couple of skeletons peer out of the attic window.

Also at the skeleton house, a brad makes the perfect doorknob. The smallest skeleton inspects the candy in his trick or treat bucket. Striped paper helps create the illusion of stairs.

Over at the witches: more bats, and a friendly ghost. The ghost's head is glued behind the tower, but the hands are glued in front, giving him a nice 3D look. The pointy spire has an orange bead at the point.  To attach it, I used wire clippers to shorten a straight pin, then put a dab of glue on the tip and carefully pushed it into the cardboard.

More striped paper for the steps, and bat decor on the doorway. That poor witch looks like she's so bored.

The bat on the door is a charm. Usually when I use a charm like this, I clip the ring off. I was just about to clip this one off when I noticed it was in the perfect place for a peephole. I found a tiny eye on a collage sheet image, and glued it behind the charm. Someone is watching you!

These houses look great with all my Halloween decor. For a complete list of supplies, click here. Happy Halloween!

Tiny Haunted House, with Tombstone Tutorial

I love the new Tealight Haunted House Kit from Alpha Stamps, and am really excited about how my final project turned out. The kit comes with a chipboard house, a 6"x 6" base, four tombstones, and a run of rickety fencing. It's so fun to construct and decorate. Beware! I took a ton of pictures.

I covered the sides of the house with a wood plank scrapbook paper, and the roofs with spiderwebs. Dresden trim accents the roof lines. 

The "stone" path in the front is cut from a cardboard egg carton. It's got the perfect texture for pavers.

Tombstones litter the front yard. The kit comes with four; I chose to use three. Buried in the front yard are "Al B. Bach" and "Ima Goner". Sadly, no one knows who lies beneath the cross. I have created a tutorial for how I made the tombstones, and you can find it at the bottom of this post.

The windows in this little house are actually thin sheets of mica. Here in the front,  I put the image of the child behind the mica, so it looks like she's inside. The pumpkin is in front of the mica so it looks like it's outside, sitting on the windowsill.

I used mica in the window because the house is designed to accommodate a tea light. When it's dark, you can light it up and it looks so spooky!

Here you can see the back of the house. I wanted the inside to be as light as possible when the tea light is lit, so I did not paint the walls or floor. You can also see all the mica in the windows. Believe it or not, it's really easy to cut the mica to size with just a regular pair of scissors. (But not your good paper cutting scissors; use the cheap pair!) I used a little white glue to adhere the mica to the back of the house.

The tree is made from a branch of an azalea bush. Perfect! I punched a little hole in the base and just fed the bottom of the branch in. The crow sitting in that tree used to be a bluejay. I filed down the tuft on his head and painted him black. He prefers life as a crow.

Next to the door are a couple of tiny pumpkins and a skull.  Although the house is designed with three windows across the front, I decided to include a door. It's just a piece of painted cardboard, with a window cut into it so the light can shine through. The doorknob is a brad.

The sides of the house are solid. I used some window frames backed with mica to make it look like there were windows there.

I had so much fun making this haunted house! I love that it looks good both in the daytime and at night.

For a complete list of supplies I used, click here! And now, the tombstone tutorial:

(I put together this tutorial after this house was complete, so these are not the tombstones seen above. The tombstones shown here are larger and from another set, but the same process was used.)

Items needed:
Chipboard tombstones
Ratty old paintbrush
Black, white, and grey paint
Straight edge (optional)
Very fine black pen. I used .1 and .05 Copic Multiliner pens (above)
N4 Grey Copic Marker (not shown above)

Dip your paintbrush into each of your three colors and dab it onto the tombstone at random. It's best to use an old stiff brush that's pretty wrecked already.

Keep dabbing on the mixed paints until you are happy with the results. Once I get the mottled look I like, I often dip the brush in just the white paint for some contrast.

Make sure you also paint the back and sides of each piece. If you're making a little graveyard, it's nice if some of the stones are lighter than the others.

Using a straight edge and a .1 black pen, draw thin lines to give the tombstone a 3D effect. If you have a steady hand (or you need to go around a curve, like the stone at top below, just freehand it.)

Use the .05 pen to draw tiny cracks in the tombstones. I also used a grey Copic marker (N4) to give some shadows and dimension. For the tombstones in the haunted house project above, I hand lettered the gravestones, but for these two, I found some odd bits of rub on type that added detail. Either way works great. Now that I've got some new tombstones to play with, I need to do another Halloween project. Hmm....

For a complete list of supplies I used in the Haunted house, click here, and for the set of tombstones used in the tutorial, click here. Happy haunting!