The Undertaker Ornament

Hello everyone!  Thanks so much for stopping by!  I feel so lucky and honoured to be asked, along with a group of extremely talented crafters, to showcase the Summer 2015 release from Tim Holtz.  It's always so exciting to receive that wonderful box of goodies.

This month we are all sharing our Halloween projects, so keep checking Tim's blog for lots of inspiration!  Last year I created a Christmas Ornament for the Tim Holtz Media Team and had so much fun creating it, I decided to do something similar but with a Halloween theme.  Here's my Undertaker's Poison Shadowbox Ornament:

Love this Tim Holtz Undertaker's stamp set(CMS240) from Stamper's Anonymous! This large image was the starting inspiration for my ornament.

I started by die-cutting my Tim Holtz Cameo Frame (Sizzix 658570) with Little Sizzles Black Mat Board (Sizzix 656852).  This die is a Movers & Shapers die which means a small magnetic die can be placed in the center opening to cut out a shape inside the die-cut.  I used the smallest rectangle from the Set of Three Rectangle set (Sizzix 658568) and placed this in the center.  I first cut it out in mat board and then patterned paper from the new Tim Holtz Halloween paper stash called, Regions Beyond.  This paper pad comes in an 8 x 8" size with 24 papers.  I wasn't sure what paper I wanted to use (there's so many good ones!), that's why I did them separately, you could always adhere the paper to the board first and then die-cut.

Next, I die-cut the box piece of the Sizzix Matchbox(659447) with Ranger's black cardstock.  This fits perfectly behind the rectangle opening.  I folded up the two shorter ends to the inside, but the longer ones, I creased the outer one(theres two fold lines) to the outside.  This is what I glued to my backside of the frame.

For the inside of the shadowbox, I adhered a small card from the Frightful Ephemera Pack.  I also used  some "Regions Beyond" Design Tape along the inside edges.

This is how the back of my frame looks with the small box adhered to it.

The edges were inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and then Tim Holtz clear Rock Candy Crackle paint was applied all over the frame.  Let this dry, and then ink Walnut stain and Frayed Burlap Distress ink over the cracked frame.  I lightly wipe with a baby wipe, so the ink just stays in the cracks.

I needed a small base to glue my leaves and Undertaker to, so I used small pieces of foam.  I save these small pieces from Sizzix's embossing folder packages, they come in handy for extra thick pop dots.  I adhered one on the top and bottom with a hot glue gun.  I also coloured the outside with a permanent black marker so it blended in with the black frame.  Now onto the embellishments!

I stamped three images on Ranger's Speciality Stamping paper, one with black, the others with Walnut Stain ink.  These were all embossed with clear embossing powder.  

The black image is the bottom layer.  The middle layer is the whole image, but I cut out the eyes and nose part with a craft knife.  This was pop-dotted on top.  For the third image, I cut off the hat, which is pop-dotted on the previous layer.  I used a Black Soot Distress pen for the edges and Hickory Smoke, along with a water pen to shade in the images.

Here's a close up of my Undertaker.

I wanted some larger leaves to hold  all the smaller ones, so I used the Tim Holtz Layered Leaf Bigz Die(660039) and it's matching embossing folder.  Mat board, Regions Beyond patterned paper, and Tim's Metallic Core-diations paper were used for my four large leaves. These were lightly sanded and inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

All my smaller leaves were die-cut with the new Tim Holtz Fall Foliage Thinlits 14 pce. die set (660955).  Look at all those wonderful leaves!  The edges were also inked.

I used a hot glue gun to adhere the larger leaves first.  I made a slit in the top of the foam (about 1/2" deep) in the middle, and inserted a bit of one leaf.  Next came all the smaller leaves.  The larger spider and cobweb is part of the Gothic Industrious Stickers pkg(TH93236).  The web sticker was stuck to some Tim Holtz Wallflower vellum, then trimmed along the outer edge and a few inside parts with a craft knife.

My Undertaker was adhered last.  The word "Poison" and small spider is part of the "Wicked" Alpha Parts (TH93233), which was lightly painted with Ripe Persimmon Distress Paint.

My small shadowbox is filled with a Tim Holtz Apothecary vial (TH93231), die-cut leaves, a resin Skull from the Boneyard pkg.(TH93229) and a spider from the Oddities Adornments (TH93230)pkg.

Around the edge of the rectangle opening is tape from the "Regions Beyond" Designer Tape pkg.(TH93228).

There's six great ribbons in the Halloween Trimmings package (TH92328).  Love this stitched orange and black one!  I think these Crypt Cameos(TH93232) are my favourite embellishment in this release.

I finished off my ornament by hot gluing a ribbon hanger to the back.

Hope you enjoyed my tutorial and it inspires you to create your own Halloween ornaments!  Check out Tim's blog  for more inspiration and take a look at his new Stamper's Anonymous Stamps, Sizzix Dies, and Idea-ology new releases.

Thanks so much for visiting and see you soon!

Jan