Mixed Media: Halloween Home Decor

Hey there chippie fans!  Can you believe it is October already?  Oh my gosh, it is already cooling down here in the mid-south, and Halloween is just around the corner.  I love making Halloween themed projects, and today, I want to share this removable piece that allows you to use the memory tray frame over and over.  This will come in handy when you want to change out the artwork for Fall, Thanksgiving, and/or Christmas, holidays that are approaching soon.

Directions:

Paint Spooky Tree with black gesso. 

Glue crinkled pieces of tissue paper (any color) to tree for texture, following along branches, and let dry. 

I used my Sand-its tool to remove any excess tissue paper in the tiny crevices.

Sandits Tool 

Paint textured tree with black gesso.

Add brown paint to high spots, and darken openings around eyes, nose and mouth with black.

Trace eye, nose, and mouth holes onto a scrap piece of paper. 

Paint spooky eyes, and dark nose and mouth, painting beyond traced lines to ensure openings are filled with color.

Adhere behind tree openings.  Paint medium size spider web with black gesso, then with metallic silver and adhere between tree between branches.

Trim mat board slightly smaller than inside of tray.  Trim Halloween paper to the same size, and heavily distress the edges.  (I used my Distress-It-All tool for this because it works fast, but you can use any tool you have.) (TIP:  By adhering your project to mat board that fits snugly into the frame, this piece can be removed and the memory tray can be used for other seasonal decor projects in the same way.)

Tear two small distressed openings on the left and right side of the paper and ink edges with the Gathered Twigs distress stain.  Adhere paper to mat board.

Paint the two smallest spiderwebs from the Spiderwebs Shape Set with Seedless Preserves Distress Paint.  Insert spiderwebs beneath the torn openings.

Adhere tree to base with foam dots for dimension, and a close-up of the spiderweb beneath the torn paper.

Paint Halloween border with black gesso and color individual shapes, as shown.  I was going to string the border along the tree limbs, but decided to cut the shapes apart and use them individually.  I had already used two of the shapes in my previous post.

These are two bats cut from the Halloween Border, painted with silver metallic and detailed with black paint.  Lime Green Stickles added to the eyes for spookiness.

The Raven is from the Tree Shape set, and was painted with dark blue, then a mixture of white gesso added to the dark blue to detail wings.  Dip end of paint brush into white paint and make dot for eye, adding tiny dot of black in the center.  Behind the Raven is one of the spider web cut from the Halloween Border, painted with a mix of yellow and green.

The pumpkin is also cut from the Halloween border, painted with a mix of red and yellow, brown for the stem and green for the leaf.  

The medium size skeleton is from the Skeleton Shapes set, painted with white gesso, then antiqued with Raw Umber to age it.  Gently shape the arms, legs, and head before adhering to page.

Here is a close up of the shaping of the skeleton and the dimension obtained by adhering the tree with foam dots.

Supplies:
Gina's Designs Lasercuts
Spooky Tree (coming soon)
Ravens (coming soon)
Skeleton Shape Set
Border Halloween
Spiderweb Shape Set
Sandits Tool
12x12 Halloween paper
12x12 matboard 
12x12 Black Memory Tray
White Gesso
Black Gesso
Acrylic paints
Tim Holtz Seedless Preserves Distress Paint
Tim Holtz Gathered Twigs Distress Stain
Ranger Lime Green Stickles

I hope you enjoyed my project today.  Stay tuned for more home decor pieces to make and change out in this single memory tray frame.  And as always, check out Gina's Designs Lasercuts online store for all of your chipboard needs to make these fabulous holiday decorations.  And for getting into those tiny places, check out the Sandits website.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful and creative weekend!

Barbara