Altered Christmas Cards

 These are the few Christmas Cards I altered the last couple of weeks.  Much too late to get them sent out to family or friends this year, but I will have a head start for next season.  Quite simple in the construction, but, fun.  The green one and the one with the snowman background and button ornaments are my favorites.  I had a hard time getting "into" creating for Christmas this year.  I'm still stuck in the Halloween "mode" !!  Merry Christmas, everyone !!

Grapevine Wreath

My awesome grand-daughter made this grapevine wreath for me when when she cut her vines back this month.  I have a "bin" of Christmas ephemera out  in the garage - you know, those things that you think you "might need" - someday !!  Sure enough, I found just the right things to add to the wreath and hung it on my front door.   The poinsettias and pine cones are a candle ring that was perfect to use.  The little Santa Claus figure -- I have no idea where he came from, but, a little hot glue came in handy there.  A large zip lock bag of Christmas themed ribbon unearthed lots of red stuff to make a fluffy bow.  Zip ties added to the back of the wreath made good hangers.  YES, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus !!!

Apothecary Add-ons

I finished a few additional items for my apothecary cabinet, yesterday. A few days ago, I shopped at a Dollar General store that I had never been in before.    At the front door, there was a table full of Halloween "goodies" at big discounts. Lo and behold, a package of 4  little black plastic cauldrons for 50 cents !!  I didn't need four, but will be sharing, of course.  I used a little gold rub and buff on it, then added the dyed green webbing, eyeballs and gargoyle.  My black widow venom is rubbing alcohol colored with red alcohol ink.  I had downsized all of my labels, therefore, the labels for the books were also smaller.  The larger one

here measures 2 1/2" tall and 2" wide.  Actually, having the smaller books works for me since my cabinet is not as large as Laura's tutorial shows.  I made the tassel for the bookmark on the Cauldron Favorites with embroidery threads -- both are faux books, one filled with chipboard, the other with scrap card stock.  There are still more things I want to make and add, but, it is time to pack Halloween away for awhile and start on a couple of Christmas projects.  Thankfully, Laura will have her tutorials available for whenever I want to get back to them.

Coffin for a Swap

     This little 5" wood coffin was an impulse buy at Micheal's when I was shopping for items for my apothecary cabinet project.  I opened the lid and out came a ghoulish laugh -- I had to have it !!  I had already decorated the paper mache one, what did I need another one for ??  I am sending it to my daughter along with the bottle I made for her for our swap.  I used the tissue paper and glue technique for texture on the top, then painted it black with the glittery orange paint overcoat.  The skeleton  I had that would fit inside was stark white -- I toned it down with Micheal DeMeng's Uugh mixture of acrylic paints.  A little moss, a few spiders and a tombstone inside, a clay skull and a spider and web from an earring on top -- off to No. Carolina he goes !!

Ether Bottle for Halloween

My daughter and I decided early into our Apothecary Cabinet project, we would do a swap with each other.  Halloween is past, but, I am still having fun with it.  I created this bottle for Tammy for our swap, along with a coffin.  They will be good "go-withs" for her cabinet creation.  This was an aqua colored plastic decorative bottle that I picked up at a garage sale for a dime.  I knew it had possibilities "someday" !!  I textured it with crunched up paper towels and Mod-Podge, then painted it black with an overcoat of orange glitter paint. Most of my original ideas went out the window, as they usually do once I start altering something !!  I didn't leave a space for the label when I was texturing - what was I thinking ??  The X-acto knife worked fine to cut out the textured space.  I added the chain, charms, and leaf ribbon around the neck and used black alcohol ink on some wired crystals to stick into the purchased cork.   I love Ace Hardware for those corks - they have every size imaginable and I can buy just the exact one I need by taking a bottle with me.  I added a few spiders here and there crawling up the side of the bottle.  They started out life as plastic "spider rings" on the aisle of Halloween goodies at the 99 Cent store.  Hope she likes it !!

For the Apothecary

 Here are two additions to my Apothecary Cabinet display - - a cauldron and a tin.   The cauldron is a glass votive candle holder picked up at the 99 cent store. (an idea from my daughter)  I used black alcohol ink and gold Rub and Buff to color it and added gold stickers.  I dyed spider webbing with green alcohol ink as Laura did in her tutorial.  Glued some wobbly eyeballs to it and    a black bird to the rim.  This one started out life as a cardinal.   I should have bought more of the little black crows when I first started this project.  The Deadly Nightshade tin was one out of my "collection" of tins.  Glad I have a couple of cans of spray paints out in the garage.  The tin was blue - I sprayed it with gold, then slightly distressed it with a red ink pad.  I used some of the flowers and leaves on the top that I had painted earlier -- added a dot of orange to the centers and a coat of orange glitter acrylic.  This bird was originally a white dove from the wedding aisle at Micheal's.  I tried NOT to buy more "stuff", but, ended up ordering a few things from Alpha Stamps -- I just did not have anything to duplicate the leafy ribbon or some of the neat papers. I know this is going to be an ongoing project for some time to come !!!!!

Poisons and Potions

These are the remainder of bottles and boxes I created for my Apothecary Cabinet.  Some of them are too tall for the shelves, plus, my cabinet is small and won't hold all of them.  The larger bottles are perfect to add around the outside along with some cute things I picked up at Micheal's and the 99 cent store.  There are still more bottles, books and boxes on Laura's tutorials that I want to make.  I just can't seem to get enough of Halloween creations these days !!  I really like the way the "Black Cat Luck" turned out.  It was a small vial of gold flakes, a memento gift from my friend who just returned from an Alaskan cruise.  What could be luckier than a vial of gold flakes ??  The black bat stickers seemed to be the right thing to add to the back of the vial.  The flying ghosts on the back of  the  "Bottled Ghost" were corner stickers that I painted silver and drew the eyes and mouth on.   I used gesso to coat the inside of the bottle.  I had fun creating "frog slime" with hand sanitizer and green food coloring.  Again, I apologize for the placement of the photos.  One of these days, I will get it figured out.

Apothecary Cabinet Close-ups

 These are a few close-up photos of the top and back of my apothecary cabinet.  All of the jars, candles, etc. are glued down with E-6000.  I had thought about permanently gluing all of the bottles, boxes, bits and bobs to the shelves also -- BUT -- then, we couldn't take them out and look at all of the fun things on the insides and backsides !!!  I am thinking of adding a bit more cheesecloth and webbing.  OH MY, is that spider webbing "stuff" fun to work with !!  Adding to this cabinet and all of the things to go with it will be an ongoing process -- I may be done by Christmas !!! OR NOT !!! OOPS, better start thinking about the next holiday season !

Bottles and Boxes for Apothecary

 These are a few of my favorite bottles and boxes created for my Witches Apothecary Cabinet.  I love the "musty bones" and the "flying bats" the most.  The "Dragon Fire"  is a red mini perfume bottle from my collection of small perfumes. The only addition is the label and a chain with a dragon charm found at Hobby Lobby.  The bat fangs is an eye concealer jar that I painted the worn gold edge with black acrylic, added rhinestones, then glued a pendant to the bottom for added interest.  There are black fang looking beads inside from a collection of "things" my daughter sent me when we started following Laura's tutorial at artfullymusing.   I used green alcohol ink and green rhinestones into clay for the "old crone" beauty cream.  I "dismembered" a plastic skeleton for the musty bones square plastic container that my grand-daughter gave me.  The "arsenic" is a small bottle with green glass chips that I found in my "hoarders" collection.  I used black alcohol ink on the cork, added the label, the flying bats and a chain with a dragon fly charm.  These and more have been so much fun to create to add to the shelves of the cabinet.  Thank you, Laura, for all of the ideas, directions AND inspiration !!

Transylvanian Bat Fangs

The back of the Gravedigger's Musty Bones

Dismembered plastic skeleton for Gravedigger's
Musty Bones 

Flying Bats on an Arsenic Poison Bottle

Old Crone Beauty Cream

Red mini-perfume bottle, transformed into "Dragon's Fire

A Halloween Project

How did this ?

And this?

Become this ??

The next several posts will show how I converted this 8" x 11" game box into this beautiful and fun apothecary cabinet.  Laura Carson at Artfully Musing provides detailed tutorials where she creates her cabinet, bottles, books and other Halloween projects.  Anyone can create something for Halloween and enter her give-away.  In the past, Halloween has never inspired me to create - THEN - I saw this tutorial and now, my every waking moment (almost) is spent thinking about what I can put together next !!!

Halloween Project Completed

 This is the paper mache coffin finished !!  After the crumpled tissue paper texturing dried, I painted the entire box with acrylic black paint, then dry brushed gold over it. At that time I thought, "Oh, this is pretty"   Well, it's supposed to be "creepy" and  "spooky"  for Halloween !!  While I had the black and gold paints open,  I painted some swirly paper clips, silver metal stars and the latch. ( I never thought of painting metal with acrylics until being in Micheal DeMeng's  Navigator workshop in Portugal last year. With a bit of water added, it gives these metal pieces a bit of an aged look.)  The thin strips of cardboard forming the cross got a layer of gold paint, some black rhinestones and brass wings.  I used the packing tape transfer technique for the "bat, moon, cloud" image used on the inside of the top of the casket.  The image was a background in an Avon Halloween catalog ad. The "pillow" for the skeleton (another piece of ephemera that I've had for awhile) is leopard print "fur" fabric filled with quilt batting.  The skeleton received a crown and a hangman's noose and is holding some silk flowers I have painted black.  The creepy, crawly spiders were some I punched a couple of years ago when I was visiting my daughter. She has some of the neatest punches -- I need to visit her studio more often !!  I embellished them with black rhinestones and a bit of diamond glaze on their legs.  In the end, a little bit creepy, a little bit spooky, and a little bit pretty !!  Have yet to find a deep dark side to get any creepier !!