MARRIAGES & DEATHS ARCHED SHRINE - TIM HOLTZ IDEA-OLOGY HALLOWEEN 2022

Hello everyone!  Halloween is almost here, and I’m sure there’s a lot of you still creating for this spooky holiday. Usually I’m in full Halloween mood, decorating  and still creating, but I’ve been visiting our new granddaughter and her big sister, so I’m missing out a bit this year.  Plus, my husband and I unfortunately came down with Covid, so I haven’t had much energy. So, sorry this post is a little late, I had planned to get it done sooner! Here’s how I created my Vignette Arched Shrine!

I covered my entire shrine in the Halloween Collage paper with Collage Medium. I wanted the Woodgrain to show through, so I applied directly over top of the shrine. I also applied Collage Medium over the paper to seal it. 

A narrow Design Tape was added to the edges. 

Two narrow wood pieces come with the Shrine for the base. I covered the larger one with the wider Design Tape around the edge. The middle of the piece will be covered.

The top base piece was covered with Halloween Worn Wallpaper.  Lightly sand and ink the edges to give it a worn and distressed  look.   Glue the two pieces together with Collage Medium. 

I wanted an even bigger base, so I could create more dimension with my embellishments. I had an older Idea-ology baseboard (it was a cigarbox top looking baseboard) that I covered with Worn Wallpaper also. 

The smaller original  shrine base was adhered to this, towards the back. 

I’ve drilled a hole in the shrine for my tiny lights. This is near the bottom edge. 

I love this scenic card in the Halloween Layers pkg, which was the inspiration for this make. It was adhered in the middle to my shrine. It’s wider than the box, but instead of trimming. I left the sides curved. 

I’ve left some tiny lights at the bottom coming out from under the scenic card and the rest are going above. 

This is the Spiderweb transparency from the Halloween Transparency pkg.  

it’s cut up to fit in the upper shrine part. 

I’ve used the smallest Vignette box and a Vignette Frame for my small scene. 

Both wood pieces are painted with Black Soot paint. I measured and made a paper template first and used it as a pattern to cut out the transparency.  This transparency fits the outside of the wood box.  The inside rectangle is cut out slightly smaller than the box, so it rests on top. If it’s not exactly the same shape, don’t worry, the frame covers any imperfections. I’ve cut out the transparency square whole so it fits inside. Make sure you leave extra around the edges, so they can be folded underneath. 

It will look like this with the transparency sandwiched in between the box and frame. I’ve drilled a small hole in the vignette box for a few lights to go inside also.  The box will be glued first onto the shrine, before the frame and transparency. 

The box is glued just above the scenic card. The lights are arranged around and inside the vignette box. 

I lightly sanded with steel wool, the transparencies, the pattern is on the back side, so don’t sand the back or it will come off.  This was just to give the surface a duller finish so the Distress Translucent Crackle paint stuck on better.  If you want a cleaner look, just skip this. Gently rub in black soot crayon to accent the cracks. 

Place the inside transparency piece inside the box and adhere the edges. It just rests against the tiny lights. 

Next, adhered the larger transparency piece. The bottom of this will be covered with floral pieces, so don’t worry if it’s crooked. You can see where my transparency is slightly off around the box, but it doesn’t matter as the frame covers it. 

Adhere the frame on top. I’ve added crypt paste to the frame also. 

All of my embellishments were aged with Distress Crypt paste. I’ve used one section of the ornate gates. My Halloween Tombstone has Halloween Rubs on the front and back, then it also has Crypt Grit paste on it. 

I’ve also used Drippy Candles, a skull, mummy cloth, an urn, Halloween Fringe, and Bouquet tiny flowers. The mummy cloth was coloured with distress sprays and the candles, skull were tinted with distress crayons (Decayed pearl Mica (Halloween Seasonal) and Walnut Stain. I’ve kept everything neutral in this project, except for the Bouquet flowers and the Wedding flowers on my paper doll. These were coloured with purple/violet sprays and Distress Crayons. 

My Halloween paper doll is slightly shaded with a neutral distress crayon and the flowers in purple/violet shades. 

This is the back of my tombstone.  Remnant Rubs were also added before the Crypt Paste. After the paste had dried, I highlighted the raised areas with a dab of Distress paint. 

Once you have all your embellishments tinted, coloured and crypt paste added, adhere with Distress Collage Medium to your small vignette framed box. I added the small piece of tinted mummy cloth first, then the candles, skull and flowers. The urn, which also has Crypt Paste added, is filled with a small piece of Halloween Fringe and tinted tiny bouquet flowers.  This is glued to the bottom corner of the Shrine. My gate piece is also adhered with Collage Medium to the edge of the Shrine. I also reinforced it to the edge with a small piece of thin wire that I bent over the gate post and poked into the wood. The paper doll is glued to the front, her elbow looks like it’s resting on the gate. 

I added patches of Crypt paste to the base. I chose some book clippings from the Halloween Sticker book and placed these so it looks like they are sunken into the paste. There’s two ways to do this. One, is to cut out a thick piece of cardboard the same size as your clipping piece, place it on the base, apply the paste, then lift up the cardboard piece. Once the paste has dried, stick down the book clipping. Or, place your clipping lightly on the base, then apply your paste, lifting the clipping immediately after, wiping off the paste on the clipping (with a craft knife or craft pic so you get a nice clean impression left). Stick it back down after the paste is dry. 

Glue down the tombstone in front of the paper doll, and apply Crypt Paste around, and in front. 

I’ve added flowers from the Halloween Layers pkg. and Worn Wallpaper pkg.  I like to give paper flowers a bit more dimension, so I curve the edges with a stylus. These are placed along the bottom of the frame and sides of the shrine. A small book clipping (marriages & deaths) is placed at the top of the shrine and a  pearl droplet on each end. I also added a hanging bat from the Halloween Ephemera pkg.(it’s hanging from the flowers)

My Vignette story is told with book clippings all around the back edge. I removed a bunch from my sticker book that I thought would work, placed them on my craft mat, to figure out which ones I wanted to use for my story.  It was fun trying to figure out a bit of a story using the available stickers. These are all inked lightly on the edges. 

Here in the darkened house of weeping - Rosalie ultimately lost her mind - watching and waiting - in the dead of night -

For the - ghost of the departed. - an unfortunate ending,

As when the howling of the wolf is heard - 

Embodied spirits, haunted him by night - then suddenly, a strange thing happened. - horrible sight!

A Halloween Shape Seal was added to the top, with Crypt Paste added around the edges. A bit of craft moss added around the base and a couple of tiny flowers to finish it off. 

Here’s a look at the back. 

This is what it looks like light up. Most of the lights are around and in the small vignette box, but the few that I left at the bottom behind the paper doll are just enough to light that area up. 

Here’s another look at my finished project. 

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

Until next time, 

Jan 

Supplies

Vignette Arched ShrineTH94273

Halloween Collage Paper TH94254

Tombstones TH94173

Halloween Ornate Gates TH94159

Halloween Paper Dolls TH94266

Curiosities Sticker Book TH94271

Halloween Layers Th94264

Halloween Fringe TH94262

Halloween Design Tape TH94259

Urns TH94174

Drippy Candles TH94260

Halloween Worn Wallpaper Scraps TH94147

Halloween Remnant Rubs TH94268

Mummy Cloth Trimmings TH94155

Skulls TH94270

Halloween Transparencies TH94272

Pearl Droplets TH94265

Halloween Ephemera Pack TH94261

Halloween Shape Seals TH94269

Bouquet TH93569

Vignette Frames TH93694

Vignette box TH93279

Halloween Tiny Lights TH94157

Craft moss