A Vintage Journey - Guest Creative Guide

Hello Everyone!

This is a very special day for me today and a special post. I am completely thrilled to tell you that I am the Guest Creative Guide at A VINTAGE JOURNEY for their current challenge HALLOWEEN - TO DIE FOR. Our lovely hostess Anne (Redanne) has chosen our challenge and I highly recommend everyone skip on over there and check out the wonderful projects that the talented design team has come up with. What an honour to work along side such amazing talent!

This is the biggest project I have ever worked on, taking me almost two weeks to finish. It is a very photo heavy post, but I will try to keep the talking to a minimum (except the tutorial). I sure hope you will hang in there and have a looksie at all the different elements of my HALLOWEEN HOUSE!

My Halloween House started as some scrap paper, which I used to build the template. Once I fine tuned the measurements, I made the final version out of pizza boxes.

I gave both sides a couple coats of beige paint to cover the printing and flaws of the boxes. Then I used a hand cut brick stencil and some home-made texture paste to give the walls some dimension. I smooshed some texture paste here and there, then added some bits of cheesecloth. Another coat of beige paint, and then Tim Holtz took over!

I rubbed Gathered Twigs distress stain over some of the areas and then spritzed it with water to make spots and drips. I did the same process with Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo. Then I took some of the brand new product Tim Holtz Walnut Stain distress spray and gave it a few squirts. Lastly, a bit of diluted Picket Fence paint washed over a few areas to mute the colours.

THE HOUSE

My house stands about 10 inches tall from the ground to the tip of the roof. The base is 2 inches tall, making the whole thing only 1 foot tall.

I hung this creepy little Blair Witch stick doll because this house is definitely cursed! It's made out of twigs from the yard, which I just carved grooves into and glued together. Eeeeek!

The clock was stamped and then covered with Rock Candy crackle paint and rubbed with Black Soot and Walnut Stain. The windows were done using Tim Holtz's cracked glass technique. Behind the acetate, I put sheets of vellum coloured with Sunset Orange and Sunshine Yellow alcohol inks so they wouldn't be too transparent and they give off a nice glow at night.

THE PORCH

For the rusted tin roof, I used Tim Holtz's effect powder technique. The drain pipe is just some bendy straws that I painted with black and silver paint. The porch railing is cut from Tim Holtz On the Fence and antiqued with a home-made crackle paint. For the porch floor I used my texture paste bark technique.

The flower and leaves in the little pot are from Spellbinders. The lattice is Spellbinders, the twigs are Nellie Snellen and the tiny leaves are Impression Obsession. The chair and table were cut out by hand and antiqued using Ranger Picket Fence crackle paint and some Tim Holtz distress stains. The 'ZOMBIES WELCOME' mat was made from a Ranger Inkssentials Canvas ATC.

If I didn't know better, I would swear this next shot was straight out of one of those horror movies where a group of teenagers is being chased by some crazy, inbred, cannibalistic, backwoods hillbillies!!

YIPES!

THE BALCONY

Does everything look a little crooked to you?? Yeah...GOOD! It's not easy making everything unsymmetrical and uneven on purpose, especially for a perfectionist with a slight case of OCD!!

I have included a ladder made of bones, just in case any zombies need a quick escape! Ha ha, fooled you! It's not really made of bones, just some waxed cord tied in knots. lol

THE FAMILY OF SPIDERS

Anybody with a weak heart or a sensitive stomach should turn back now, this is about to get super creepy!!

Up on the roof is where Mama Spider and all her babies live...but some of the little ones are starting to venture out on their own to explore their surroundings.

This little guy seems to have wandered off on his own, where could he possibly be going?

Is that a fresh grave? Oh no, I think something bad happened to Papa Spider! That's where the babies are going...to visit daddy and put fresh flowers on his grave.

That might actually be sad if it wasn't giving me the freaking heebie jeebies!!

AFTER DARK

A little set of battery operated lights, so my Haunted House can sit in the middle of the table.
NOT WHILE I EAT, OF COURSE...EEEEEWWW!

I won the following awards for my Halloween House:

Rhedd's Creative Spirit - October challenge - Halloween or Not

Artist Trading Post - Halloween

Shopping Our Stash - #174 - Halloween

Make My Monday - Halloween

Our Creative Corner - October challenge - Go Rust-ic

Eclectic Ellapu - November Purple Team - Texture

That's Crafty Challenge Blog - Spooky

The Male Room - Challenge #21 - Halloween

Eileen Hull's Art with Heart - October challenge - Trick or Treat

    

   

  

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That's it for today. Thanks for hanging in for the longest post EVER and thank you for all the amazing comments. I read and appreciate every single one! If you have any questions, please let me know.