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.

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.

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:

Tim Holtz Sizzix ZOMBIE Thinlits	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 9PK - Zombie	Sizzix Bigz Die - Pediments	Tim Holtz Sizzix PEDIMENTS	Tim Holtz Sizzix VINTAGE MARKET Bigz XL
Sizzix Bigz XL Vintage Market	Tim Holtz TEXTURED SURFACES	Tim Holtz Core'dinations KRAFT CORE METALLIC 12 x 12	Tim Holtz Idea-ology DECO SHEETS	Tim Holtz Core'dinations KRAFT CORE NOSTALGIC
Tim Holtz FRENCH INDUSTRIAL	Neenah Classic Crest 80 LB SUPER SMOOTH SOLAR WHITE	Tim Holtz GRUNGEBOARD BASICS PLAIN	Tim Holtz KRAFT GLASSINE PAPER	Tim Holtz Idea-ology 2015 TROPHY CUPS TH93217
Tim Holtz CRYPT CAMEOS	Tim Holtz Idea-ology BIG CHAT Stickers	Tim Holtz Idea-ology SMALL TALK Stickers	Tim Holtz CURIOSITIES Remnant Rubs	Tim Holtz Idea-ology PAPER STRING SOLIDS
Tim Holtz Distress Ink GROUND ESPRESSO	Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD PUMICE STONE	Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink TEAKWOOD Adirondack	Tim Holtz Ranger ALCOHOL BLENDING SOLUTION	Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink PITCH BLACK
Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink STREAM	Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain GROUND ESPRESSO	Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain PUMICE STONE	Tim Holtz Distress Paint GROUND ESPRESSO	Tim Holtz Distress Paint MERMAID LAGOON
Tim Holtz Distress Paint PEACOCK FEATHERS	Ranger 4 Oz. MULTI MEDIUM MATTE	Prima ZINC Art Ingredients Glass Beads	Ranger ADHESIVE FOAM BLACK	Ranger Inkssentials Non Stick CRAFT SHEET
Ranger Inkssentials GLOSSY ACCENTS	Tim Holtz Tonic PAPER DISTRESSER	Sizzix BIG SHOT MACHINE Gray And White	Big Shot Machine	Standard Magnetic Platform for Wafer-Thin Dies
Sizzix MAGNETIC PLATFORM	Ranger Inkssentials INK BLENDING TOOL	Cutting Pads, Standard, 1 Pair (Grape)	Tim Holtz SANDING GRIP	Tim Holtz Tonic Craft SCISSORS
Tim Holtz Tonic CRAFT KNIFE

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