Progress on the abandoned house...

This morning I've been making dollhouse kit furniture with Big D. It's all a big ugly but that's ok because it'll be going in the abandoned house.

Here's some progress from the last day or so...

Inside, the floors have been worked on a bit more and the walls have been given a thin layer of messy plaster. The walls will probably have stains and potion splatter eventually. At this point I start shoving things inside to see if they fit and to wrap my head around what will be going where and to generate ideas.

I covered the exterior of the house in a layer of sewing paper tissue. I really like the look that it gives... a sort of wrinkly, crinkly skin.

 

When that set I applied layers of paint and wiped them off to gunge up the joint. This will be refined as I continue to work on the place.

It's coming along quite spookily!

Spooky Moon Shrines

I was sent this fantastic set of coffin boxes from and came up with these...

The boxes were faboo to work with. They're big, super sturdy and do come with lids (but I'm using those on a separate project).

The Abandoned House

I've started work on my next little house. This one isn't so little. At around 20 x 21 x 10 it's a monster compared to my other wee places. This one also differs in that it's a reno.

This house was salvaged from the side of the road by my mum and granny. My (almost) 80 year old gran was kicked out of the van to scoop it up before the garbage men sentenced it to certain doom. Part of me wonders how on earth people discard things like this, as though they've got no worth. I can't imagine anyone would deny most little girls would jump at the chance to love on a nice big doll house. Heck, most of the grown women I know would kick me in the shin to get at this house!

This one also differs in that I've only got two weeks to get it ready for showing off! Eek! Thankfully I'll be going for a sort of Halloweeny look so wobbles and imperfection will be just fine.

I've started by ripping out the interior. Notice that blue carpet in the upper right room? When pulled up it revealed a red carpet which had been installed by Satan's minions, flying monkeys and Voldemort because the damned thing would not come up.

After hacking,  pulling, blowing up my hair drier and very nearly breaking the whole damned thing this was the best I could manage. What to do with a lumpy floor? Egg carton stones!

I know a stone floor on the second floor of a cottage doesn't exactly make sense but sense is highly over-rated... especially when you've got a two week deadline.

I'm waiting for it to dry up a bit before I go any further with the inside but I'm pretty pleased with the transformation so far :)

Now if I can just figure out what the heck to do with the exterior....

E is for Edward

That's Edward Gorey not the sparkly fellow.

Here's a wee Ghastly I created for the Wicked Children Altoid Swap on craftster.org.

The bed is made from an Altoid tin, little Edward is paperclay with wool hair, the foot and head boards are coffee stir sticks.

The little guy is surrounded with his sketchy pencil and Ghastlycrumb drawings. There's also a skeletal hand reaching from beneath the covers (who needs a teddy bear?!)

I'm not ashamed to say I was sad to see this one go. I am very happy to say that he's found a nice home.

Witch Portrait Wips

I was asked if I'd like to have a show at Impresario Artisan Market in Cobourg. Specifically, would I like to have one in October. Heck yeah! Are you kidding me? A chance to celebrate Halloween, art and craft all in one kaboodle. Wheee!

One of the projects I'm working on for the show is a series of witch portraits. A coven of 13 ladies, mixed media collages, 5 x 7 on canvas. Here's half the brood.

I've still got a few to go but I'm pretty happy with how they are coming along *knocks on wood*.

Will post the whole lot when they're framed and gussied up :)

Happy mess making!

Kinda Creepy Cabinet Cards

This month the Alpha Stamps design team was challenged to make a cabinet card with a bit of a twist. Keeping a traditional colour pallet but adding a bit-o-quirk. So here's the results...

Card one with a cute wee lass, glitter and butterflies....

... and a third leg.

Again, a sort of traditional, conservative exterior....

... and inside a little bit of madness, devils peeking over shoulders, headless bodies and a helpless little victim.


Hop over to Alpha Stamps to check out the nifty stuff on sale for the Cab Card Curiosity swap. The Cab Card frames that are on sale now are really, really faboo!

A Purple Brooch and Coffin's

I'm having a grand time making these brooches. The base of my latest are these Square Tins from Alpha Stamps. I really like them because I can punch out the acrylic window quite easily and, in this case, hide the edging using this dreamy Rhinestone Chain (seriously, this chain is absolutely yummy!)

I know, I know, I've been harping on about all the Halloweeny stuff I should be doing and I pinky swear that I have started the spooky mess making. It's all slowly (very slowly) coming around but I've got to wait for glue to dry and papery bits to arrive in the mailbox. Here's an 'in-progress' sneak peek at one of the projects I've got on the go.

Hopefully I'll have something to show off tomorrow that's mostly done.

xoxo