Happy Halloween! - by Claudia

Hi, servus and happy Halloween, dear Calico Craft Parts friends!!!
I hope you are all enjoying this holiday as much as I am and are having a lot of fun!

This last Halloween-ish project of mine can also be seen as a celebration of late fall - with fog blurring one's vision, the first bit of snow in higher regions, with crows in the bare trees's branches and spiders looking for a cosy place inside the house and with darkness already setting in in the afternoon. Which makes me want to look for a warm and cosy place inside too and light some candles.

I have created a shadow frame - using one of Calico Craft Parts' alterable printers trays and some of their wonderful (and wide range of) autumnal and/or Halloween MDF pieces - and tried to capture what I love most about this time of the year.

Calico Craft Parts used: 

- MDF Printers Tray Kit - Style 4
- Gothic Mansion Haunted House MDF Wood Shape - Style 4
- Flying Barn Owl MDF Wood Shape - Style 4
- Pair of Ravens on Branch MDF Wood Shape 
- Sheet of Mini MDF Wood Birds - Crows & Ravens 
- Spider MDF Wood Shape - Style 7


I kept the number of parts used and background techniques quite small so the lovely wood shapes and the papers and crackle of the background would be the stars of my make.



The printers tray was glued together using DecoArt matte Decou-page and then I added torn dictionary page pieces to it quite randomly. I tried not to work too neatly so the edges would still look torn and worn. I also added a thin coat of matte Decou-Page on top to seal the surface.

The wood shapes were dry brushed with DecoArt media black Gesso, so none of the beautiful detail would get lost!

Next I scraped on some white DecoArt media Crackle Paste here and there using a palette knife. I left it to air dry.

In the meantime I took a worn bristle brush and added strokes of a mix of black and white DecoArt media Gesso in some spots.

Once the white Crackle Paste had dried I applied a thin coat of DecoArt media carbon black Antiquing Cream. I heat dried the Antiquing Cream and then wiped off the excess using a damp soft cloth.

This way the cracks became more visible, the whole project was toned down and the black that had seaped into the tray's corners and edges formed a visual frame too.

I used the left over parts from the MDF plate the printers tray came in to stack all my wood shapes.

For my hanging device I drilled two holes into the tray's frame and fixed some rough string to it.

Done!

Thanks for stopping by 

and 

hugs and happy shopping and crafting 

with Calico Craft Parts!

Claudia 

xxx