Ghosts in the Graveyard

 Here's a favorite project of mine this year! My original idea, the first idea, was to make Edgar Allan Poe's gravesite atop a stack of books. Poe may or may not be buried in this little graveyard but I kept the idea of using a stack of books. It's the closest I've gotten to doing another altered book in a long time so I'm counting it as a goal accomplished! 

Ghosts in the Graveyard:  A couple years ago I set up a party scape with a stack of books with titles that I thought reflected the Halloween mood. I had about 5 or 6 of them and I thought at the time of attaching them all together to make a permanent arrangement. Since I never got around to it, I decided to take from that stack and use a few for this display.

I won't take you through every little step but I'll try to point out a few things through the photos of the finished project. I relied heavily on items from Tim Holtz's Halloween lines of Ideaology. These are a variety of items some from my stash; some I bought brand new this year. My vision for the graveyard really took off when I realized the Metal Fence fit "just so" on the top book I was using for my base.

This photo gives a good depiction of the graveyard. I covered the book with a sheet of  paper from Tim Holtz's Abandoned stash. (So happy that I finally got my hands on this paper stash! It is mesmerizing how much pattern and color is in it. Truly a sheet for any project.) Those rocks are some kind of foam bead that I had in my stash and never used. Its a good filler when you're attaching large items with texture paste as it fills in the gaps. I just spread on the texture paste and lightly pressed these into it. Mummy cloth adds a bit of light fog around the edges and the brush bottle trees in the back were sprayed with several different shades of ink to fit my color palette. While I used some Evergreen Bough, Shaded Lilac, and Gathered Twigs (Distress stain), my main color was Whale Watch Blue from Lindy's. This cold blue-gray color was exactly what I wanted to reflect a foggy chilly Halloween night. I sprayed the texture paste and foam beads with this color and the mummy cloth to match.

I added details to the tombstones in the front. I placed a creepy eye on one and set a skull beside the other. I added small ruby rhinestones into the skulls eyes, the only deviation from my washed out color palette. If you look closely at the gravestones in the back row, just before the trees, they may seem familiar. I used old chess pieces. I took the black ones and gave them a little coat of gray paint then added little splotches of black to make them seem old and weathered. I colored a pearl with purple alcohol ink to set atop the rook to resemble a gazing ball.

I added the ghosts after staring at it awhile and deciding I wanted a vertical element. It was feeling very "horizontal"...your eye tracked left and right but not up and down. The ghosts helped with that and I LOVE these ghosts. They remind me of the ones in The Nightmare Before Christmas that fly over during the Pumpkin Song.

The advantage of using a stack of books is that books can be carved out. So I carved out the bottom book just enough to fit in the smallest of vignette boxes. Now because no one was going to be opening this book, I could make the cuts sloppy and just hide the edge with paper. The zombie hand (that I had to buy as it came in the pack with the tombstones) made a perfect drawer pull. (Though I admit that at a distance, this zombie hand looks like it's giving me the finger!) The items in the drawer are all that remains of the Edgar Allan Poe idea. I thought, "if I went through a secret drawer in Poe's office, what might I find?" None of these items are glued down so they can be removed from the drawer and examined. I wonder what the skeleton key unlocks?

So what's the best part about this project? It lights up!

I hid a string of purple tiny lights around the perimeter of the graveyard. That was the point of the mummy cloth, really, to hide the lights. While the cloth didn't diffuse the lights as much as I would have liked, it looks way better in person that it does in these photos. I love how the ghosts practically disappear in the darkness.

 Let's talk about those lights for a minute. When I saw that these colored lights were available, I immediately bought 2 sets. I had not invested in the regular tiny lights because I thought they'd be hard to incorporate into vignette boxes...you'd have to drill a hole in the back to put the wire through...I'm not that handy. But knowing that there was no "back" to this project...no walls so to speak; it would be relatively easy to rig the string of lights. The battery pack sits in it's own little paper box that is attached to the top book as shown. I used a whole strand of lights and taped it down with some washi tape that was reinforced with collage medium. That held the wire down so that I could then cover them with the stained mummy cloth and glue the cloth down around the lights to also keep them in place. I think I now want to add lights to everything!

I have added this scene to my newly created "Halloween nook" in my craft space and it will stay up year round along with many of my other altered projects. 

Thanks for hanging with me to the end!

Stay safe out there! Wear your mask, wash your hands, social distance! Yes, it's important.

-Wy

Dearly Departed

 

It seems almost fitting that I begin my October posts with this shadowbox of a graveyard scene. I recently lost my cat friend of 3 years and I see that this project I made has a cat in it. sigh.

Anyway...I decided that this year was the year to use the stash of vignette boxes and shadowboxes I have accumulated. It's only around Halloween and Christmas that I am inspired to make anything of them so I wanted to use as many as possible. I tried not to buy too many new things for them but I couldn't help myself with a few elements that just added to my ideas. 

The bottom half of the box depicts a small graveyard scene with tombstones, an urn, and black cat. The upper half of the box has a baseboard frame with a vellum scene inside it. I used collage elements to add a bit of detail to the frame as it seemed rather empty on it's own.

I was greatly inspired to add lights to things this year. So that was the main purpose of this project. I was experimenting with working with the tiny lights (Tim Holtz; Ideaology). When adding lights to things, you need to plan ahead if you want to conceal the "wiring" and have a place for the battery compartment. Sometimes, it's too much planning for me when I just want to sit down and make a project.

I selected this shadowbox to use because it already had some open tabs in it. (From Alpha Stamps, the tabs are meant to hold shelves within the box. I left the shelves out to utilize the holes.) This allowed me to put the battery box on the back without having to worry about drilling a hole or something. I made the little holder for the battery out of thick cardstock.

 It's hard for me to get a good photo of it all lit up as when I dim the lights, you can't really see the elements. (I'll try to improve for future projects. Hint, hint.) The purple tiny lights are much more diffuse and light up the vellum scene with a wonderfully eerie glow.

I'm not sure I'm "in love" with this piece but it was fun to make. I do like the vellum scene, not so much the collage I did on the frame. Certainly it's a cool display on my book shelves. 

I will be posting inconsistently this year. No set structure or dates for new posts. I'm winging it as we all have during 2020; why should October be different? Follow my Facebook page to keep abreast of new posts and projects. I will also be sharing any Inktober(TM) prompts that I attempt. (Just a note that I don't plan on completing it this year. I'm already off to a bad start on Day One and it's a prompt I don't consider too challenging. Ugh.)

So the word for this October will be Inconsistent. 

Hang in there wherever you are. Wear your mask, social distance, and vote!

-Wy

"Here in the silence, dark and deep, I offer you eternal sleep." Love ya, Cloudy. RIP 9/27/2020

The New Normal: Phase 2: Day 9

Whew! What a week.

I have been staying away from the news once again but I still don't consider the week a good one for me personally. If I had to classify it, I'd say it was frustrating and annoying.

But I tried to get it out of my system with an art journal page.

You know the drill: Color Palette Journal, Pinterest Board inspiration.

Here's the Palette I tentatively called "Purple Mountain Majesty".

When I see a palette with black in it, I immediately think that black will be my background. I do like to work on black paper and substrates. However, I decided to keep the black to a bit of splatter and focus on the delightful combination of teal and purple.

I thought I'd do purple flowers on a teal background but as my need to scream grew in intensity, I changed my plan to go with bugs. Bugs, those little devilish ingrates that get under your skin and burrow into your thoughts to cause that frustrating itch that you cannot scratch. It was the heart of my mood.

The page seemed a bit empty after I had all my bugs in place but a bit of washi tape solved that problem. I framed the opposite corners with some phrases found in a Tim Holtz stamp set (along with the bugs). 

Despite the negative mood in which this was conceived, I am rather enamored with the page. I love the touches of washi.

Time to choose another palette. This journal is beyond it's halfway point, certainly not enough to finish the 250 odd pins on the board, so expect to see another Color Palette Journal after this one.

Black Lives Matter

Wear Your Mask

Save lives.

Be Kind.

-Wy

Global Pandemic: Day 8

Not much to report today.
I was comforted by the Governor's candid manners today. So unlike the President whose assurances do not seem sincere. It may just be me. But the President seems out of touch with this crisis; more concerned with the economy and business. I understand that's important but right now, I want to hear that the Feds are doing something to help our healthcare system weather this storm. The curve hasn't peaked and we haven't been very successful in flattening it. I want the President to be a little more sympathetic to the majority of Americans he serves; you know us poor ones.

It was nice to hear him call for unity and say that Asian Americans need to be treated like Americans. Good to hear him stop calling it the "Chinese" virus. Now if we could just get Congress to act like mature adults, the federal government might accomplish something during this crisis.

Anyway, I made a couple more snarky cards. My other projects are in various stages and none are complete. Remember that like government, Art is a process. Sometimes, your vision bursts out onto a page and sometimes, it just waffles around in your brain waiting for support. Just because you can't see the end, doesn't mean you shouldn't start the journey.

Cross your fingers.
Wash your hands.
Social Distance.
Support my Facebook Page.
Follow me on Instagram.
Stay well.
Don't panic.
-Wy

Global Pandemic: Day 4

An overall uneventful day.

I didn't watch any news and stayed away from Facebook for the most of the day. Last night, I got a call from the Credit Card Company to tell me it had been used fraudulently. Ugh. Now I've got to change all the shopping sites that have that card attached to them. Should probably change passwords, too. Pain.

But other than that, it was a pretty non-stressed day. Even saw a robin and some chipmunks on the lawn to announce that Spring has indeed arrived.

So I made some more snarky cat cards. I hope to mail a lot of these.

Toilet paper, anyone?

Let's hang in there, people!
Wash your hands.
Social distancing.
Just stay home.
-Wy
"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate....
Hate leads to suffering."  --Master Yoda

Global Pandemic: Day 3

So my Dad decided to go to the bank. He took my Mom for a little drive and they used the drive up ATM. Thank goodness.

I checked in at Apothecary Chocolates to be sure everything was put away, pick up my paycheck, and reassure the owner that I would be back when the all-clear sounded. I felt very fortunate today to have such supportive "bosses" at both my work spaces.

Though I am in no way financially prepared for something like this. (My small emergency fund is maybe good for a couple months worth of bills.) I simply cannot bring myself to step out into public unless necessity arises. If I were to get my Mom or Dad sick, that would be far more devastating to me than going broke.

My Mom doesn't quite remember why we need to stay at home or why I shouldn't go to work but she seems neither worried nor excited about me hanging around the house for a couple weeks. My Dad while understanding the need to stay home, almost seems surprised that I am staying home. My job is not essential in times of crisis. (Though some would agree with me when I say, in an emergency, chocolate is always essential.) They together sort of understand but also forget that this is a new normal for now. I reminded them when they came home from the ATM to wash their hands. My Mom, no big deal as she sat in the passenger seat of the car the whole time. My Dad, however, was the one to touch all those buttons. As I told my Mom, "if you go out and touch things, when you come home, you gotta wash your hands." Dad kinda chuckled and went to the kitchen to wash up.

Our lesson for tomorrow may be singing Happy Birthday twice as I know my Dad didn't wash his hands for 20 seconds.

Today, the coronavirus made me talk to my Mom and Dad like they were in kindergarten. Trying to tell your parents what to do is difficult to say the least!

Anyway, here's what I made today because I just had to have a laugh.

I shared this one on Instagram earlier.
And here's another that I shared a few days ago.

I will be making more of the first one just because it's so laughable. That stamp and snarkiness is from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous. I love this set of cats.

Go with the flow.
Wash your hands!
-Wy
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#wereinthistogether

Display Case

I'm not sure what this is called, a display case, a shadow box, an ATC holder. The panels are a bit larger than ATC size and I'm not even sure if these things are still made. I have a few kicking around that I've been meaning to decorate but you know how that goes.

Anyway, I wasn't sure this project would even get done for this October as it was sort of a last minute addition to my line-up. But once I pulled out all the vintage Halloween postcard ephemera, I knew I had to get this done. My brother collects vintage Halloween postcards. He has a fascinating collection. The actual postcards are pretty valuable and I remember the weird and spooky images that were associated with them.

So this project is an ode to those old postcards that creeped me out with all those "vegetable people".
OMG! The potatoes have eyes!

(I apologize for the shoddy photos. It's very difficult for me to get a good shot of all the little boxes. But you get the idea.)

I tried to stick to my Witch theme but not all my ephemera had a witch. But black cats are often the witch's trusted familiar so I figured I was ok with these two. The pumpkins are those Tim Holtz Ideaology pumpkins that came out a couple years ago. These are foam so they can be cut and that's how I got them to stick into the boxes. I shaved off the back to make it flat and glued them in.

I was also (again) trying to use up little scraps and the "last ones" of things like rhinestone stars, flowers, brads, buttons, and that strip of ribbon along the bottom.

Naturally, one of my boxes had to have some potion ingredients!

My "bone collector" may not fit into the witch theme so that's why he's has that funky green background.

The Tim Holtz chipboard words and phrases came in very handy. They are sturdy enough to be glued to the outer edges of some boxes that needed an extra touch.

Again, apologies on the photo quality. There's always that one project where I just can't get any good light or angle. sigh.

Hope you enjoyed this little project!
See you on the 30th and 31st for the last of the Halloween posts!
-Wy