Thursday, February 11, 2016

Pirate Zombie Tutorial

Hello friends! I always try to get the most out of my dies and to use them in sometimes unexpected ways. Anton is soon turning six, and I can hardly believe that he is already so big. He is going to have a pirate party and I wanted to make him something as a memory, which he can hang on his wall. This is a Sizzix tutorial.

Layers of ink - Pirate Zombie Tutorial by Anna-Karin
One way of getting the most out of your dies, is to use seasonal dies all year around and last week when I was thinking of Anton's party, I got the idea of turning Tim Holtz Zombie die into a pirate. Doesn't he make a cool pirate? I love the fun Zombie die and I was happy to use it again. Anton loves it too - you can see some of his own zombies in this post. This was lots of fun to make and I was particularly pleased with my idea for the pirate hat. 

These are the pieces you need to make the pirate - or if you rather want to - a zombie. I later changed a few of the smaller pieces to other colours. Use this sandwich: Sizzix Magnetic Platform, Cutting Pad, paper, die facing down, second Cutting Pad. 

Ink the edges of the pieces. I used the Pumice Stone on the white pieces (eye, teeth) and Ground Espresso on everything else.

Assemble the zombie using foam adhesive and Glossy Accents. The dies make faint imprints in the paper where the smaller pieces should be, so it is easy to assemble. Anton and his friends loves to assemble zombies and monsters. I die cut pieces in lots of colours for them and they make their own zombies. One of his friends recently visited after not having been here for quite some time and immediately talked about the crafting they did last time. 

As I was thinking of how to do the hat, I remembered Tim Holtz Pediments die and thought it had a good shape. And I was happy to see that I remembered correctly, it has a perfect pirate hat shape! Black kraft-core cardstock was glued to grungeboard

Sand to reveal those cool lines.

Finally, I added a remnant rub to the hat, and sanded it slightly to make it look like it was part of the background. The hat was shaped a bit to make it look more dimensional.

The base of the wall-hanger is a canvas board, painted with Distress Paints. On top, I layered map patterned paper, crumbled up kraft glassine paper, sanded gold Metallic Kraft-Core cardstock, cardboard and burlap. I also dyed some cheese cloth with Distress Spray Stains.

The trophy is meant to be both a treasure and a prize trophy. I coloured it with alcohol inks and used blending solution to tone down the colours a little.

The trophy was filled, first with some filler in the form of paper, and then with a piece of cheese cloth. I used Glossy Accents to glue Prima gold mica flakes and two colours beads into the trophy.

Die cut a number from gold Metallic kraft-core and sand it slightly.

Layers of ink - Pirate Zombie Tutorial by Anna-Karin
After I took the photos, I fixed the left eye, because I glued it a little weirdly at first. I decided that he had to wear an eye-patch, and die cut a new eye from black kraft-core and glued it down with some twine going across. It is best to do this before adhering the head to the background.

Here you can better see the dimension of the pirate and his hat. The pirate has a piece of cheese cloth tied around his neck as a scarf.

At the top of the wall hanger, there is a Crypt Cameo, tied with twine to look as if the pirate left his necklace hanging there. The idea was partly Anton's (although he hasn't seen this yet) because he made me a necklace with one of these cameos.

Glue the number to the trophy.

I found a Small Talk sentiment that I thought fit with the wall-hanger, and as a birthday message.

There is also a letter 'A', which he will enjoy discovering.

And of course he has a golden tooth.

Here's a closer look at the eye patch. It would also look nice if it had been a thin piece of leather or faux leather.

If you don't have a rub-on, you could also white emboss a stamp on the hat, for a similar effect.

Here you can see the layers a little better, most of these pieces were in my scrap box.

I am looking forward to seeing Anton's reactions to this wall hanging. He is going to love it, I think.

Thank you so much for looking! I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and that it inspired you to look at your dies in new ways.

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:





9 comments:

  1. Love your pirate Anna-Karin, I love how,you used the pediment die for his hat, very clever. Tracy x

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  2. what a great idea Anna-Karin!! Love the pirate hat - so perfect!!!

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  3. This is adorable! The hat is brilliant, the eyepatch, too. How fun for your son's birthday!

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  4. I love the cool things you devise for your son - and the peidmont pirate hat - so cool!!!

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  5. What a lucky boy Anton is to be getting something so wonderful!

    Sally

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  6. Absolutely brilliant! Love this to bits! TFS! Claudia x

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  7. Tee hee - he's hilarious - and the whole piece is just packed with fantastic details - brilliant!
    Alison x

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  8. An amazing card and the right for a little boy. Wonderful creation!Makes me smile.
    Happy Birthday for your son!
    Greetings
    Sabine

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  9. I'm in love! brilliant project! i love so much every little detail! Barbara

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Thank you so much for leaving a comment! Happy Crafting!