The Writing on the Wall....

Hi everyone and lovely to have you drop by! Welcome to all followers,  old and new.

Today I am sharing my final Halloween piece for this year:

I created this piece just for fun and to participate the the latest challenge over on the Ranger Blog.
I used a chipboard photo frame for my piece and started by adding texture to the frame with bits of tissue paper. I also added some hot glue squiggles, something that a few people have been using lately and is inspired by the work of the amazing Contadina K. It's not a new technique really, but it was great to re-visit it..

After the tissue had dried and the glue hardened, I gave it a coat of Gesso and when that was dry painted it with Antique Linen, Weathered Wood, Peeled Paint and Frayed Burlap Distress Paints, Spritzing with water to get the marbled effect we all love so much.

Next I added some  Distress Crackle Paint in Clear Rock Candy and then put the whole thing aside to air dry while working on the central panel.
I cut a piece of 5 x 7 Kraft Card and covered it with pre-crinkled Kraft Glassine paper. I then painted that with Antique Linen, Ripe Persimmon and Aged Mahogany Distress Paint, deepened it with the same colours of Distress Ink and added some Walnut Stain Distress Ink around the edges. When it had dried I stamped a script stamp in Vintage Linen DP.

I also prepared the other elements I wanted to add to my piece. Sadly I don't actually own the fabulous skull stamp by Tim Holtz, but my lovely friend Annie let me stamp it while visiting her recently, so I fussy cut that stamped image and coloured it with some Pumice Stone Distress Ink, to make it look more 3D.

I also die cut the bottle and feather with  the Tim Holtz Alterations Writing Desk set, first in white card and then the bottle again out of some acrylic packaging. This last piece was treated with some Rock Candy Crackle again, using a fabulous technique Tim shows in Creative Chemistry 102. I gave it a greenish tone with some alcohol ink. I added the little poison label, also stamped while I was with Annie and then adhered that coloured bottle to the white card one to make it more visible.

I love how it pretty much looks like old glass now.
Time to return to the frame. I deepened the colours with some home made sprays, made with Distress Ink re-inkers. I used a whole mix of colours, Pine Needle, Chipped Sapphire, a bit of Peacock Feathers and some Walnut Stain.

Here are a couple of close ups of the crackle and texture

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Time to put the whole thing together: I  stamped and cut a couple of leaves out of Kraft Glassine paper with the Leaf Blueprint stamp and dies set by Sizzix and coloured them with Aged Mahogany, Rusty Hinge and Walnut Stain Distress Stains. I also added a stamped Halloween ticket and a flower cluster and then computer generated the sentiment. The final bits were to colour the feather with some Pumice Stone, to add a few bits of tissue tape to the frame and a few highlights with some inevitable Treasure Gold White Fire.

Oh, I also added some shadow with a black charcoal pencil still, to give a bit more depth to it all.
As the theme over at Simon Says Stamp and Show Monday challenge is anything goes, I will add this there also.

Hope you like it, I had great fun making it and thank you so much for visiting once again. I really, really appreciate the lovely comments you always leave me!
Hope everyone will have a creative week and look after yourselves!