Monday 22 August 2016

Hocus Pocus! by Claudia

Halloween is still some weeks from now but usually I am always late with starting Halloween projects and run out of time - so this year I decided to be an early bird and create my first little witch house already at the end of August.


The yellow paint, the green door and window shatters, ivy climbing the building - they are all typical elements of houses as we have them in the beautiful Salzkammergut region in Austria - mainly the region around Bad Ischl (where Emperor Franz Joseph used to spend his summers).

But the tiny second door.....and the gigantic mushrooms? So maybe it is a Salzkammergut witch who lives here. Who knows. (and maybe she is looking unhappy because it has been raining on and on for the last days. If you know the typcial Salzkammergut rain, you will know why she is in a bad mood...lol).

Calico Craft Parts used:

- Block Style MDF House Kit - Wide
- Sheet of Mini MDF Door Wood Shapes
- Sheet of Tiny MDF Door and Window Wood Shapes
- Sheet of Mini MDF Wood Lamp Posts - Style 3
- Mushrooms - Funghi MDF Wood Shape - Style 9
- Ivy Leaf Garland MDF Wood Shape - Style 2
- Stars - Mini Greyboard Shapes

The house kit was assembled using matte DecoArt Decou-Page (I love it as it dries so incredibly fast).


Then I glued on some dictionnary pages and also covered them with the matte Decou-Page.


I played around with all my Calico Craft Parts until they had all found their perfect positions. Then I put them aside and painted them with DecoArt media fluid acrylics. I have no images of this part of the process this time - simply because you are meant to choose whatever colours you like best. (I used two greens (a darker and a lighter one), Raw Umber, Quinacridone Gold, Titan Buff and Gold Green).


But before I started painting my little pieces to decorate the house with, I applied a very thin coat of DecoArt media white Modelling Paste with a palette knife and engraved a roof tiles pattern into it using a fine tip embossing tool. I let the modelled roof dry naturally.


The house was painted with a light wash of Gold Green and Transparent Red Iron Oxide afterwards to tone everything down. For more texture I added some stamped on crackle on the house's front, the star and the mushrooms. A copy of a vintage potrait was cut to size and glued in place. Then I painted around and over it and added the pointy witches hat.


I made a wash from DecoArt media Quinacridone Gold fluid acrylic paint and added it to the roof.
This way the texture became more visible and the tiles' shapes were accentuated.


Then I dabbed a frame around the house's edges using my fingertip and the same colour as before.


The cat was hand drawn using Faber Castell PITT Artist Pens.


I shaded the mushrooms using Raw Umber. Highlights were added using a very fine tip soft brush and Titan Buff.


I also added a lighter green to some of the edges on the window shatters and door to create more of a 3D impression.


Sancho, the wise raven, was added...


...and a word sticker finished it all off.


So here it is -  my little Salzkammergut style house! 
Thank you for stopping by today and I hope you have enjoyed your visit! See you in two weeks!

Hugs and happy crafting!
Claudia
xxx



15 comments:

  1. I love your little haunted house Claudia, the colours are beautiful and the witch and raven are wonderful touches. x

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  2. How delightful this is Claudia - you always come up with the really unusual! I really love this one! It really is magical ... Carol x

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  3. Brilliant, imaginative little house, Claudia! I'm a little nervous, but I'm very tempted to tap on that door and meet your witch! xx

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    1. Oh, I am sure she is a nice witch and will be glad to have some company to share her Austrian cake recipes and a nice cuppa with! xxx ;)

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  4. Ein richtig schönes Halloween-Dekohaus was du da geschaffen hast, wieder mit viel Fantasie und Geschick. Gefällt mir sehr, auch farblich.
    Ganz liebe Grüße
    Sabine

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  5. Thank you all so very much, ladies, for your kind words! You know that your comments are what fuels my creative energy, don't you? ;) XXX

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  6. This is fabulous Claudia, loving and pinning this, so fantastic 'Hocus Pocus' piece!!!
    And oh... I adore the muhsrooms! :D But all the pieces are really fab all together, what a great project again, congratulations! xx

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  7. Claudia,
    Any time I see little houses, I am excited. And when it's a little house that you've made I know it's going to be good. All of the details are wonderful - the hand drawn cat, Sancho, the wise raven, the windows and doors, and the roof. I never thought to do details like that on the roof - great idea. I will be using that on some of my houses. Thank you for the inspiration. I hope you are getting well from the flu. It's still hot here, very much summertime in the Southeastern US. Lucy

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    1. Thank you so very much, Lucy! :))
      It's hot over here too but at least the nights have started to get cooler again ;)
      Thanks for the good wishes - I am well again now. So they seem to have done their job. ;)
      Can't wait to see what you will create with my "roof technique" and thanks for the lovely laud!

      Claudia xxx

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  8. What a fabulous haunted house - great colours and crackle - I love it! Like Coco, the mushrooms may be my favourite bit.
    Alison x

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    1. Thank you, Alison!
      Yes, the mushrooms are my favourite bit too. ;)
      Hope you are doing well overseas! xxx

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