Halloween Skull Home Decor Wall Plaque with Tutorial Instructions

 

Spooky Home Decor

The spooky month is upon us.  Time to get out the Halloween home decor - or make new decorations.  

Today I'm sharing a DIY home decor piece made for October's Creative Embellishments Challenge of the Month.  

Each month comes with a new vision board and a new twist.  This month, the twist is to add wings and it so happens that Creative Embellishment has some rockin' chipboard bat wings.    

so I added Creative Embellishments - Bat Wings Set 2 .  I also feature  Creative Embellishments - Mini Gears 3 4 Set Of 12 and Creative Embellishments - Steampunk Skulls.  

  

Creative Embellishments - Bat Wings Set 2	Creative Embellishments - Mini Gears 3 4 Set Of 12	Creative Embellishments - Steampunk Skulls

The chipboard treatments were kept super simple - with acrylic paint washes.  The bat wings were painted with a black acrylic paint wash (water mixed with paint).  The steampunk skull and gears  were painted with a white wash - you guessed it, acrylic white paint mixed with water.  

So the real question is why bother adding water to the paint to thin it?  Why not just "go for it" and use full strength acrylic paint?  Great question, Grasshopper.  The details on the chipboard skull and bat wings are pretty crucial to the chipboard design.   If I cover those up, I lose the integrity of the pieces, in my opinion.  The paint washes thin out the paint and do not clog up the fine details like paint would.  

Now the amount of water you add is all up to you.  No magic recipe - but more a matter of satisfaction level and end results.  I always test my washes on the back of the chipboard first before applying.  This way, no tears are shed.  

There's NO crying in crafting and paper play.   Shouldn't be tears at least. 

I added a some finishing accents from Buttons Galore as well.  Of course we all know shaker sequin mixes are essential in making fabulous shaker cards and crafts.  But they are also perfect for adding accents on any project.   

The wall hanging uses Buttons Galore's Haunted House Sequin Mix (Tin) , here and there to dot the piece with a touch of texture.   Haunted House Sequin Mix  is a cool mix of sequins in a variety of shapes and sizes.  This particular mix includes a bit of purple and I left the purple sequins off this project.  My vision was a monochromatic spooky piece.  

3D Buttons are another fabulous addition to any project.  Buttons Galore has a spooktacular selection of Halloween 3D buttons for all your Halloween creations.  I used the TombStone 3D button from

 Buttons Galore 3D Buttons - Spooky Carded Buttons at the top of the plaque as a center for the bow. 

Thank you for stopping and happy crafting. 

 

  Shop Here: 

Creative Embellishments - Bat Wings Set 2	Creative Embellishments - Mini Gears 3 4 Set Of 12	Creative Embellishments - Steampunk Skulls

  

Buttons Galore - Haunted House Sequin Tin Ll322	Buttons Galore - Spooky Hh126

Skull Shaker Canvas Mixed Media - Home Decor for Halloween

Create Your Own Spooky Home Decor for Halloween

 Today I am showcasing how cool shakers can be when added to a canvas. It's simple to make your own home decor mixed media piece.  

While this looks complex and difficult,  I think the hardest part was letting the pieces dry. 

Scroll down and I'll tell you how easy this was to make using Creative Embellishments shakers and chipboard designs, and  Buttons Galore shaker mix. 

Here are the chipboard pieces I used for this 8x8 canvas board.  

Creative Embellishments  - Skull Shaker

Creative Embellishments - Gears 1 in - Set of 12

Creative Embellishments - Steampunk Skulls

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Creative Embellishments  - Skull Shaker

Creative Embellishments - Gears 1 in - Set of 12

Creative Embellishments - Steampunk Skulls

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The Chipboard Treatment

The chipboard pieces, including all the layers of the shaker, were painted with vanilla colored acrylic paint using a dry natural sea sponge.  I like using a dry sea sponge to dab paint onto the chipboard for a  sort of dappled , uneven effect.  I didn't want complete coverage  from a paintbrush.  

After the vanilla acrylic paint dried, I added a little silver paint to the gears and the steampunk skull.  Nothing fancy - just touches here and there.

Let's Talk Shaker Mix

The shaker mix selected is from Buttons Galore/28 Lilac Lane, called Marshmallow Sequin Mix.  This particular mix was chosen because it was the most impressive in person for the skull.  Unfortunately it's not too prevalent in the images, because of the tone on tone (white on white). 

Finishing The Canvas Board

The canvas board used is a simple 8inx8in white canvas board. Nothing fancy was done - just spray mist and then heat dry with my heat gun. 

Once the canvas was thoroughly dry, I attached the shaker and the additional chipboard gears and Steampunk Skulls and placed the canvas into a picture frame with the glass removed. 

The last finishing touches were to glue some black cheese cloth to the picture frame and accent the canvas with various sequins from 

 Buttons Galore - Haunted House Sequin Tin.  This mix is a blend of black, purple and silver sequins - which added a subtle but intriguing pop of color to the finished canvas. 

Thanks for visiting and spending time with me. 

Happy crafting.  

Shop here: 

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Creative Embellishments  - Skull Shaker

Creative Embellishments - Gears 1 in - Set of 12

Creative Embellishments - Steampunk Skulls

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28 Lilac Lane - Marshmallow Sequin Mix

Buttons Galore - Haunted House Sequin Tin 28LL

Creative Embellishments - Shaker Set

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Spooky Halloween - DIY Cards

Hello and welcome to October.  

The month where the spooky festivities begin.  Such a unique month - one of transition from warm to cool, lawn mowing to leaf raking, whimsical carefree summer to spooky autumn. 

So that can only mean one thing.........crack out those Creative Embellishments  Halloween chippies and dive right into DIY Halloween cards.   

My cards were created for the October challenge at Creative Embellishments which focuses on the image below.     I took my inspiration from the skull on the black image. 

Creative Embellishments chipboard helps make DIY cards simple and quick because the designs are clever and outstanding.  

I made two cards using chipboard from Creative Embellishments:

Steampunk Skulls

Trick or Treaters

Mini Gears 3/4in

The Trick or Treaters are painted with black /white acrylic paint in silhouette style and placed on bold papers to make the silhouettes pop.  Noting too fancy here.   

My second card incorporates Steampunk Skulls accented with Mini Gears 3/4in .

While this looks fancy, it's still quite simple.

The Steampunk Skulls and Mini Gears 3/4in were painted with acrylic paints.  Once dried, I added some Stickles glitter glue to the gears.  

Stickles Glitter Glue - Lime Green

Stickles Glitter Glue - Crystal

Stickles Glitter Glue - Lavender

Next I coated with Skull with Ranger Crackle Accents  - Crackle Medium

and accented with gears and gems. 

Your inspiration for the Creative Embellishments monthly challenges can be interpreted as you please but it must have a piece of Creative Embellishments chipboard on it.  

Enter the Creative Embellishments Challenge here.  

Where to shop? 

Shop for chipboard, wood and flair buttons from Creative Embellishments here.  

These are the products used:

Steampunk Skulls

Creative Embellishments Steampunk Skulls

Trick or Treaters

Creative Embellishments Trick or Treaters

Mini Gears 3/4in

Ranger Crackle Accents  - Crackle Medium