Monday, October 21, 2013

A Spooky Night Shadow Box

Hello everyone!! This week we have a spooky theme at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog, anything spooky, it doesn't have to be Halloween at all. We don't celebrate Halloween, but my son now thinks spooky stuff is lots of fun so I have made some projects for him this year.
 
I had a Tim Holtz Configurations shadow box at home that was waiting to be decorated and thought it was a perfect home to a spooky project, full of scary creatures and things hiding in the dark corners (if you dare to look for them). I used the Retro Halloween stamp and die combo for some of the embellishments, shrink plastic, grungeboard, corked vials and more. This is a pretty long post, because there are many details.
 

For the background paper, I coloured manila cardstock with Distress Ink and water (Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Rusty Hinge and Peeled Paint) and stamped with two different Tim Holtz Halloween background stamps. I used Archival Watering Can for the stamping instead of black ink, because I wanted a softer look on the background. The paper was splattered with Walnut Stain and a paint brush. I measured the boxes and scored and cut the papers accordingly. The papers were glued to the boxes with multi-medium.
 
Many of the stamps and dies I wanted to use were too large, so I turned to shrink plastic, which is a favourite surface of mine. The pieces were die cut from shrink plastic, or stamped on shrink plastic and cut out.
 
When I made my Autumn Luminary two weeks ago, I had left over UTEE in my melting pot. To use it up, I die cut shapes from shrink plastic, tossed them in the UTEE, where they shrunk and were covered with UTEE at the same time. Since the leaves I had dipped in the UTEE had been inked, the UTEE was slightly coloured and looked almost like honey. This technique was especially perfect for the bottles.
 
I coloured the non-UTEE shrink plastic pieces with alcohol ink at the back and then painted most of them at the back with Distress Paint, and some of the UTEE dipped ones too. These bottles look pretty cool. The non-UTEE pieces were coated with Glossy Accents, which gives them a great finished look.
 
These are more of the pieces I used; stamped, die cut from grungeboard and Core'dinations paper and metallic Idea-ology embellishments.
 
I have a thing for owls and I love this one. It was die cut from grungeboard and painted with Distress Paints. I stamped it with a crackle stamp for texture, placed orange paper behind the eyes and coated with Glossy Accents. The bottles were also painted with Distress Paints, sanded, inked with Black Soot, stamped with the crackle stamp and coated with Glossy Accents (except for the top).
 
I wanted to do something different with the corked vials and remembered a post by Wendy Vecchi where she had figured out that painting glass with Glue 'n Seal first, would make it possible for Distress Crackle paint to stick to the glass. This is such a cool technique, I love the results. After letting the Glue 'n Seal dry, I painted two of the bottles with Brushed Pewter Distress Crackle paint and the other three with Rock Candy Crackle. When the crackle paint was dry, I rubbed some watered down Distress Paint into the cracks, except for on the bottle to the left which was left as is. The bottles were filled with mica flakes and Distress Glitter.  
 
 These are so cool, I'll certainly do this technique again. 
 
The bottles were embellished with chit chat stickers and rub-ons. I inked the cork with Walnut Stain. I love these three bottles standing on top of the shadow box.
 
I hung some of the stars and the moon from the roof of the shadow box with jump rings and screw eyes. This is a hard project to photograph because of the dimension. The stamped bat is so cute and the title was done with chit chat stickers.  
 
At the back of this box there is a game piece painted black, bats, more chit chat stickers.

 At the bottom there are some UTEE shrink plastic leaves.

The owl was glued to the joints between the boxes. All the edges of the shadow box were painted with Black Soot Distress Paint.

The spider web was die cut from Core'dinations kraft-core cardstock, sanding the cardstock before die cutting.

In the box behind the spider web, a green bottle was placed, with a bunch of grungeboard scraps behind it for dimension. There is also a shrink plastic skeleton and a gear.

In the box to the left, there is another grungeboard bottle, an ink pot and more UTEE pieces. The fence has also been dipped in leftover UTEE, giving it a gooey appearance.
 
I had fun picking contents for the bottles. The clear cracked bottle with mica flakes inside (and screams) is my favourite.
 
In the last box there is a word stick, painted black and more shrink plastic bottles.

A shrink plastic witch, more spider web and a gear painted black.

The images were stamped on Neenah cardstock and die cut with the coordinating dies. The edges were inked with Gathered Twigs.

On the sides of the box I used leftover embellishments, a cat, a spooky tree with an UTEE owl and a smaller shrink plastic moon.
 
On this side there is a larger version of the witch and another UTEE bottle.

At the top I used the pharmacist label from the Poisonous set and of course the three bottles.

Make a spooky project this week and join us in the challenge. As always, one random participant wins a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp.

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Thank you for looking!! Happy crafting!!

Anna-Karin
 
Supplies:
Surfaces: Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Configurations Shadow Box 5.5 x 5.5, Grungeboard; Ranger: Manila Cardstock, Shrink Plastic; Tim Holtz Core'dinations Kraft-Core cardstock; Neenah Smooth Cream cardstock
Dies: Sizzix: Mini Apothecary Bottles, Apothecary Bottles, Crescent Moon & Stars, Cobwebs, Mini Owl and Crescent Shaped Moon, Halloween ShadowsWriting Desk, Mini Tattered Leaves, Trick or Treat; Sizzix/Stampers Anonymous: Retro Halloween stamp and die set
Stamps: Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz: Seasonal Catalogue 1, Poisonous, Ultimate Grunge,
Ink: Ranger Archival Ink: Watering Can, Jet Black; Distress Ink: Rusty Hinge, Peeled Paint, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Gathered Twigs, Walnut Stain
Alcohol Ink: Butterscotch, Sunset OrangePitch Black
Paint: Distress Paint: Antique Linen, Walnut Stain, Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge, Black Soot; Ranger Distress Crackle Paint: Rock Candy, Brushed Pewter
Embossing Powder: Ranger: UTEE
Glitter: Distress Glitter: Spiced Marmalade, Black Soot; Stampendous: Pearlized Mica Fragments
Embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Seasonal Chit Chat Stickers, Corked Vials, Words Remnant Rubs, Game Pieces, Pen Nibs, Sprocket Gears, Mini Sprocket Gears, Screw Eyes, Word Sticks, Jump Rings
Adhesive: Ranger: Glue 'n Seal, Glossy Accents; Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Medium Matte

32 comments:

  1. Configuration loveliness! I bet your son has a lot of envious friends when they see this wonderful creation :-)

    Sally

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  2. Fabulous Project ! We to don't celebrate Halloween....but I love to see spooky projects displayed on various blogs :) !! The bottle with shrink plastic,UTEE n then crackled effect are Superb !!

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  3. Amazing shadow box, full of deliciously spooky details on every corner. And I love the altered vials! !! xxx

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  4. Wow Anna-Karin! This is really pretty! Love all the little elements! So gorgeous, so much to see! Hugs, Sandra

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  5. absolutely stunning anna karin - love the shrink plastic in the meltpot idea - will be trying that! Hugs Rachel x

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  6. so many awesome details!

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  7. AMAZING!!! Love all the details! Magda :)

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  8. This project knocked my striped socks off lol. You are beyond amazing and I'm very inspired TFS

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  9. Absolutely fantastic configuration , I love your altered bottles and the shrink plastic pieces are just perfect. Imlove the owl and added webbing . Wonderful detail. Tracy x

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  10. Very cool shadow box, Anna-Karin! I love all the detail and embellishing that you put into this :)

    *mwah*
    Steph
    Simon Says Stamp!

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  11. Love the idea of the shrink plastic! This is amazing!!

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  12. Wow Anna-Karin! You certainly have out done yourself on this fabulous project! I love all the fun Halloween spooky details! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  13. Love your configuration box! What great details you put into it. Love the bottles and the crackle and all the images. I rec'd a box from my husband as a gift, and haven't used it yet. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  14. Wow! I absolutely love what you did with the configuration box! The attention to details is amazing - great job!!
    Christina

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  15. Wow! Such detail and creativeness! I love this project, you made it one of a kind. Amazing.

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  16. Wow... this is so cool. Anna Karin. The shrink plastic embellishments are fantastic. I love all the beautiful and spooky details, too. :)

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  17. Now that is a cool decoration! I love all the little bottles & that owl is adorable!

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  18. You do the most incredible projects. Your detail and composition is perfection.
    All I can say is, you have this Halloween shadowbox thing going on, girlfriend. WOW!!!
    Keep smiling,
    Your blogging sister, Connie :)

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  19. this project is absolutely AMAZING!!!! awesome finished project. each and every detail is awesome!! thank you for the inspiration :)

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  20. Hi Anna-Karin, just stopping by to say how delightful your blog is. Thanks so much for sharing. I have recently found your blog and am now following you, and will visit often. Please stop by my blog and perhaps you would like to follow me also. Have a wonderful day. Hugs, Chris
    http://chelencarter-retiredandlovingit.blogspot.ca/

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  21. Wow. Love this. How inspiring! Can't wait to try the glue & seal with crackle to do those bottles!

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  22. Anna-Karin...once again, you've knocked it out of the park with this really fabulous Halloween Configuration box. I totally love your idea of using the shrink plastic to create the spooky smaller bottles and all of the other items you used inside each of your spooky compartments. The way you finished off each of those bottles; the colors, the dimension, the detail...well, just amazing and so true to your work. I love the little hanging stars, too. It's little touches like that the separate really good work from GREAT work! Well done, Anna-Karin! <3 Candy

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  23. This is a positive feast for the eyes. I love your attention to detail and those bottles are perfect. Jenny x

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  24. Anne-KARin your configuration is absolutely WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!! your shadow box is so full off details.... Fantastic work and fantastic tutorial!!!! Barbarayaya

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  25. WOW!!! what a great project. Love the bottles!! superb additional to the blog hop...thanks for sharing

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  26. This is gorgeous! I am awed by all of the little details. The bottles are my favorites. I love that you labeled one of them "screams". So clever! Another fantastic project!

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  27. Holy flippin' amazing! I have been starting at your page for a good 30 minutes with my mouth hanging open in awe! So many brilliant things to look at and I am stunned at the massive amount of techniques you incorporated. Shrink plastic? Using crackle paint on the vials?? You have taken Halloween brilliance to a whole new level with this one! Phenomenal!

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  28. The details are fantastic! The shrinky dink images are so cool. Loved seeing all the tiny pieces you put together! This is a fabulous Halloween project!

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  29. Simply stunning, Anna-Karin - amazing detailing in every square centimetre... those bottles are glorious!! A huge WOW from me!
    Alison xx

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  30. Awesome. Thanks for sharing all the details.

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