TOIL & TROUBLE VIGNETTE - TIM HOLTZ SIZZIX HALLOWEEN 2021 RELEASE

Hello my friends! It's officially fall and the leaves have turned into all sorts of gorgeous colours, it's my favourite time of year. You also know what that means...Halloween will soon be here! I created this little vignette box for the Tim Holtz Sizzix Halloween YouTube live.  

How cute and whimsical is this witch? I decided to have her taking a rest from flying on this leaf (in my world, it's either a giant one or she has shrunk herself to fit on top!) There are two different ones in the set, along with a broom, bats, cats, mouse and a cauldron.

                Toil & Trouble 665651                                                       Leaf Fragments 665559

 

                  Of course, you have to add tiny lights when there is a moon and dark sky involved!  

I covered my vignette box (5 1/2" x 4") with Tim Holtz Backdrops paper and the edges were covered with Design Tape TH94107 from last year's Christmas Idea-ology collection.  Love this tape, it has a pinked edge, and is very thin so it works well on the edges of wood vignette pieces.  I drilled a hole in the back of my vignette box, near the top where my moon was going to go.  The wood pieces are pretty soft, so I have sometimes just pushed an old Sizzix pick (the kind that pick out die-cuts from dies) through to start it off and then I have a long rounded file I use to enlarge it. Don't stab yourself!  I may have done that a few times. lol!  I made a circle of the tiny lights where my moon was going to be first then glued the remaining bits as in the photo.  I usually use masking tape ( I have found really narrow masking tape from an art store, 1/8" to 1/4" wide, which I use a lot in my projects to temporarily hold down things) to hold where i want my lights, then carefully hot glue in areas.  Don't go too close to any of the lights, as you can ruin the whole strand!

Using Tim Holtz Distress Watercolour Cardstock, and Distress Sprays, Oxides and a bit of Distress Halloween Mica Sprays, I created my background.  This was created before the Moon Masks  by Stamper's Anonymous came out, so I just cut out a circle for a mask.  Start by using the lightest colour, yellow (I think I used Squeezed Lemon first, then a little darker spritz of Mustard Seed before placing the mask down. Then you add in your lighter night sky colours near the top, working to the purple darker colours in the bottom.  A bit of experimenting, trial and error to get it how you want. The Halloween Mica Sprays give it a wonderful shimmer! Mark out and crease your paper to fit the back of the box, cut the corners to fit it in, and adhere to your inside vignette box.  I didn't use glue on the back, just adhesive tape on the edges.  It just rests on top of the mini lights.

This is how it looks with the Tiny Lights(th94019) turned on.

Now onto the bottom of the scene.  I used this Countryside die for my little houses and trees.  They were the perfect size to create a little village far below the flying witch. These were die-cut from coloured Mixed Media Heavystock (same paper as the leaf).  I hot glued moss from the craft store, and my houses to the bottom of my vignette box.

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Using pieces of Distress Mixed Media Heavystock that I had coloured in Autumn shades, with Distress Sprays, Oxide Sprays and Halloween Mica Sprays, I die-cut my leaf using the Leaf Fragment Thinlits.

To adhere my leaf so it looks dimensional, I used a thick piece of foam (I have save pieces of this thick foam from packaging and this one was black) that I cut small but it's about 5/8" thick, hot gluing it to the box, where the witch on the leaf will be. Around where that solid part of the leaf starts.

The witch was die-cut from Distress Heavystock, coloured with Black Soot Distress Sprays, Oxides and a little bit of Empty Tomb Mica Spray (from the Halloween Limited release).  For the small die-cut pieces, I have started using Tim Holtz Substrate sheets (TH93291), which have been discontinued, but if you're like me, I have a stash, or Sizzix carries their Surfacez Texture Rolls.  This durable paper can be sewn, washed,  bent, die-cut, stained, painted, inked and it doesn't tear.  Those tiny pieces can come apart, or break off, so this is a sturdier substrate.  You can even use this paper for hinges!  I've used this on my broom, mouse and I should have used it on my cats (skinny necks).

 

My sticks were cut from a tree in my yard, then craft moss adhered.  I nailed(TH93668 Hardware Findings) them to the edge of the box to hold.  You can also use hot glue.

My die-cut cat with moss, Tim Holtz Idea-ology bones, pumpkin, a small spider charm and mummy cloth.  The spider is hung from the top with a bit of gold crinkle wire.

This is what the metallic Christmas pinked tape looks like. I've also added a Halloween Clippings sticker to the top front (something wicked comes this way).

A small Vignette Base (TH93709) was painted  lightly with Black Soot and Hickory Smoke Distress paint.  A bit of the Halloween Distress Crypt Grit Paste (TSHK77428) and moss was added also.

Here's another look at my project.  Hope you are inspired to create your own Halloween Vignette.  Vignettes are a great way to use your stash, plus you have a keepsake to bring out every Halloween season.

Until next time,

Jan