DAY OF THE DEAD SHRINE - TIM HOLTZ SIZZIX CHAPTER 4 RELEASE

Hello friends!  I'm sharing with you today, a project created for Tim's Sizzix Chapter 4 Facebook release.  You can find links to everyone's projects that were created for this, on his blog here.

Love, love this Day of the Dead Colorize set!  I think I am quite taken with the guitar player!  I decided he should be serenading his love, but I really don't know how he ended up in a tree!

Here is my Vignette Shrine without the Tiny Lights on.  I am going to show you how I created this project!

First I drilled a hole in the corner of my Vignette Shrine(TH94034) and pulled a set of Tiny Lights through.  I wanted them to be evenly spread out and flat so I used a glue gun to anchor them down in a few places.

I covered the back and the sides on the inside of the shrine with paper from the Departed Mini Stash(TH94054).  Adhere the battery pack of the Tiny Lights to the back.  I should let you know here, that there are two wood base pieces to the Shrine, which I had full intentions of using, but I have no idea what happened to them and after searching everywhere, gave up. Actually, I still haven't found them, even after I cleaned up my disaster of a room! Distress and ink the edges.  I also decided to use Ranger's Crackle paste on the front edges of the box a little later, but I would do it now.  After the crackle dried, I used a Distress crayon to colour the cracks.

Next, I cut a piece of acrylic (doesn't matter what kind, it will be covered) that fits inside the shrine.  This lays on top of the Tiny Lights. I die-cut two sets of the Gate Keeper from black cardstock and glued them together like the above photo.  These are adhered to the acrylic.

This is what the gates look like with the acrylic adhered behind. You're only going to see the shadow of these when the lights are turned on.

I cut out a piece of Yupo paper to fit inside the Shrine, and coloured it with various alcohol inks, darker on the bottom.  This is adhered on top of the acrylic, along the edges. 

This is what it looks like lit up.

Next, I built my tree. I cut a few branches from a backyard tree.  I hot glued a few extra pieces to make it a bit more dense and easier for my guitar player to sit on.  Add some dried moss (from the craft store) to the branches and the bottom of the Shrine.  It also covers up where I added more branch pieces. Adhere this to the one side of the box inside.  

Build your Colorize Day of the Dead characters.  I used Mixed Media Heavystock that was coloured with Oxide inks and sprays.  The black is cardstock.  If you're unsure how to create your Colorize pieces, Sizzix has a video for every one of them.  So helpful! They are all on YouTube.  It does take a bit of patience with the small pieces.  I use Sizzix adhesive sheets on the back of my paper before cutting out.  I also use reverse action tweezers from my Sizzix Paper Sculpting kit to pick up and hold these small pieces.  These are the best tweezers!  You squeeze them to open, so you don't have to hold them closed (does that make sense?) and they grip those tiny pieces so well! You don't have to worry about dropping and losing those little bits while building your pieces.

Here is the one for this set.

After you have created your skeletons, adhere them to the inside of the box.  I used a mini action wobble on the back of my lady(for a bit of fun and she dances) and adhered that to a piece of about 1/2-3/4" thick foam so it was near the front of my structure.  The foam was also slightly slanted, higher closer to the side, so she faces a bit towards the man.

Here's how the lady looks after she was adhered.  She sticks out a bit past the edge.  I dyed some small flowers (Bouquet TH93569) with Distress Spray and adhered those into my moss.

Here's the guitar player sitting in the tree. Don't you love how his hand fits around the guitar?  I decided to put him up in there, as there wasn't a lot of room for them to be side by side and because there was a lot of height inside the shrine.  It filled that upper space also. 

I added a tombstone (TH93980-Cryptic) with a Halloween Rubs (TH93972) and a bit of moss.

I even made a very short video of my Skeleton lady dancing to the music!

Here's another look at my project!  Hope I've inspired you to create your own Day of the Dead Shrine!

Hope you visit again,

Jan

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THE GATE KEEPER - TIM HOLTZ SIZZIX CHAPTER 3 RELEASE

Hello friends!   I'm sharing another Halloween project created for the Tim Holtz Sizzix Chapter 3 release.  

The main attraction is the Gate Keeper Thinlits set for this Halloween Vignette.  I have also used in the background, Haunted which is a fantastic Spooky house.  Here's how I created my Halloween Vignette:

I covered the outside of a vignette box (TH93279- 3.875 x 5.5) with Halloween Worn Wallpaper(last year'sTH93974), sanded the edges, then applied Tim Holtz Distress Texture Crackle Paste (TDA71303).  I let this air dry, then applied Distress Crayons (brown tones) in the cracks.  Slightly dampen your finger and rub it in.

I painted a 3.875 x 5.5 Vignette Frame(TH93694) with Ground Espresso Paint, let it dry.  Dry brush lighter colours on top to get into the grooves.  I think this green was Peeled Paint.

I die-cut two sets of gates twice, for front and back (8 pieces total) from Blackout Kraft Stock(TH94020).  This was so the gate reached closer  to the middle of the vignette box. I wanted my gate to be sturdier as it is not laying flat.  The outer gate pieces were flipped so the gate posts were adhered together.  You will be trimming the outer gate pieces(the higher side) to fit the box and they look more like a fence.

There are some thin accent pieces for the gate bars, which I die-cut just for the centre front gates.  Once these were adhered onto the gate fronts and the gate pieces adhered front to back, I lightly sanded the kraft stock.  I also applied some embossing glaze to the fronts (Rusty Hinge) to give them more of a rusty metal look.  The bats were die-cut from black cardstock and the moon from Distress Oxide coloured Mixed Media Heavy Stock.

On a piece of Distress Watercolour cardstock, colour your background with Distress Ink and Sprays, Distress Oxide Inks and Sprays.  I first used a small amount of yellow (Squeezed Lemon) sprayed in the area I wanted my moon die-cut.  A moon shape mask larger than my moon die-cut was placed on this area, and then the rest of my background was coloured. Remove the mask and lightly spritz with water to make the edges of the moon blurry. The width of the watercolour cardstock is wider than the inside back and sides of my vignette box.  You can always trim it to size after.  This is adhered to the back and sides in one piece.  Adhere the moon and bats to the background and your painted frame to the outside of the vignette box.

I die-cut my house from Blackout Kraft Stock and the accent pieces from Mixed Media Heavy Stock coloured with Distress Oxides.  I didn't have room for the whole house, so I cut it in half where the orange line is.  This was adhered in the corner of the vignette box.  Also adhere the gates to each side, having them bent out over the frame.  They are slightly longer in length.  Using a hot glue gun, attach some spanish moss on the floor of the box and a spooky Tim Holtz Halloween Paper Doll (this one was from an older set that had very small ones).  I also die-cut a spooky tree from an older Sizzix Halloween set, Ghost Town from blackout cardstock and added that to my scene.

My base for the box is created from a Vignette panel(TH93295).  I adhered two Stampers Anonymous webs and 4 stacking ledges from the Etcetera Bat and Web Trims set (THETC-014).  Paint the entire surface lightly with a brown (Ground Espresso, I think) Distress paint.  If it's too thick, dilute with a touch of water, so you can still see the woodgrain.

After this had dried, I dry brushed over the base with a lighter distress paint.  I believe it was Old Paper.  I like that you can still see the wood texture through the paint.  My vignette box was adhered on top of this base in the middle.  All the ledges are covered, but the web trim is visible.

I die-cut various foliage from the Sizzix Thinlits set, Funky Foliage and Mixed Media Heavy Stock coloured with Distress Oxides.This was arranged at the bottom with Tim Holtz Idea-ology pumpkins(painted), bones, and a bit of spanish moss.  Also the foliage and moss were added to the top and  top corner of the box.

Here's a closer look at the moon and background.

  Your project is complete, here's another look!  Hope you are inspired to created your own Halloween Vignette box!  Love this Gatekeeper set, I can see this gate used on so many different projects, and not just Halloween.  

I think I've shared all of my Halloween Sizzix Chapter 3 release projects, now onto Christmas, then Chapter 4, plus my Christmas Idea-ology projects!  

Until next time,

Jan

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