Witch, Please!

I was poking around an antique mall with friends a few weekends ago, when I came upon an old photo that just spoke to me. It was a photo of four women, and the two ladies on the ends happened to have pretty creepy eyes. With Halloween approaching, I knew I just had to make them into a small coven of witches. I trimmed the cardboard the photo was mounted on and added a border made from Dazzles thin line stickers.  The two creepiest ladies each received a nice broomstick, and all were adorned with witch hats. I added a few dark black "buttons", and one skully badge.

Usually, I would scan a photo like this and use the reproduction, but I do feel that using the original photo makes a much better result. It's a little scary gluing things down when it's a one of a kind, but the result is definitely worth it. Here, I enlarged it for you so you can see those eyes, especially on that witch on the left. She's definitely working on a spell.

Stay spooky!

Flashback: A Little Halloween

Thanks to Photobucket's new policy on 3rd party hosting, I'm cleaning out there and moving my photos here. Here are a few Halloween items not previously published here.

1. A set of Halloween matchboxes, shown here in super size.

And, when open.

  

2. A polymer clay witch, ready for trick or treating:

 

Face:

A grinning happy jack pumpkin with a painted candlestick stand. I love painting those faux pumpkins from Michaels.

Fall was in the air this morning. More Halloween will be on the way!

Night Witch

It's never too early for Halloween, and who better to announce its imminent arrival than the Night Witch? I was inspired by this cobweb chipboard insert and a lovely deep blue sky scrapbook paper to make (yet another) altered Altoids tin. Plus, I can't get enough of those tiny stars that I used in my "Lucky Stars" shrine last month, so they also play a starring role. (See what I did there?)

I painted the spider web insert to match the background paper. Normally, I would insert it behind the rolled lip of the tin, but on this project, I liked it sitting on top. While I had my colors mixed, I also painted the wooden stand, and then distressed it with some ink to darken it up a bit. The bat is a plastic cupcake pick with the "pick" part cut off. He's attached to the top of the tin with a little Apoxie Sculpt. I used a toothpick and some red paint to give him some glowing eyes.

I altered the witch image a bit: the hat was given a stripey band and a gold star, and outlined slightly with a gold Sharpie to make it stand out from the background. Then, to make the image more dimensional, I cut out the witch's arms and the cat from a second, identical image. I attached her left arm flush at the shoulder, and used a foam glue dot to elevate the cat and her right arm. The cat's eyes are highlighted with a little green paint and a dot of ink for pupils.

Here's a shot of the back. I'm sure you can see why I love that rich blue paper so much! The star medallion on the foot not only ties in with the rest of the gold in the stars above, but makes the stand super sturdy.

Happy haunting! For a list of supplies I used on this project, click here.

Tin of the Month Club: October

Wow, here it is the fourth quarter of the year already! Only two more tins to go. Here's the October tin. I have to admit that this is actually the first tin I did last January. I was originally going to do several Halloween tins, but then decided to do one for each month of the year. It's been a fun challenge.

For a recap of the year's tins so far, click here. 

Tiny Halloween Friends

Halloween in July? Of course! Halloween is perfect for all seasons. I don't know why I have been so enamored of peg dolls lately, but I just have so much fun with them. A few days ago, I made this little 1 3/4" tall witch. Isn't she cute with that little trick or treat bucket? The brim of her hat is cut from black cardstock, and the remainder of the hat is Apoxie Sculpt clay. I really like using Apoxie Sculpt because not only can you sculpt with it, it's an adhesive as well, so once you get the shape you like, you just plop it on and it sticks - no glue necessary.

Anyway, after I made the witch, I remembered that I had several different sizes of Bagatelle Boxes
from Alpha Stamps, and looked through them to find one to hold my little witch and her pumpkin.

The 2" by 2" box was the perfect size, with plenty of room for a flying bat in the background. I decorated it with some Halloween paper, and then added a vintage pumpkin cupcake pick, some tinsel, and half of a medallion on top. Voila! My little witch has a cozy place to hang out. Watch out for spiders!

Look how tiny!

She looks a bit lonely, no? I decided to make a few friends for her; little trick or treaters. A cat:

A little devil:

And a crazy bat:

Other than the bat wings, which are actually a chipboard bat glued to his back, all the ears, horns and tails on the pegs are made from Apoxie Sculpt clay.

Friends in the pumpkin patch!

And in the palm of my hand- I love these little pegs.

Need supplies? Click here!