The Laboratory

Hello friends!

Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting my second post of the day, which I'm so excited to be sharing!

Last month, I was honoured to be asked to work on some of Tim Holtz's brand new seasonal products and create a few projects using them. When my box of goodies arrived, it felt like Christmas had come early and I actually squealed with delight as I looked inside to see all the wonderful new dies and embossing folders from Sizzix and all the fabulous idea-ology products ~ believe me, you are going to need them ALL, they are that good!!

So, welcome to the first of my projects, a configuration book focusing on Halloween and the fabulous Monster die from Sizzix (you can see the whole Sizzix release HERE on Tim's blog)...

Step inside and visit my Monstrous Laboratory....

There is so much packed into this project and I've taken lots of photos of all the details...so, here we go and I hope you enjoy this post!

To begin with I painted the inside and outside of the Configurations Book with Black Soot Distress Paint, adding a couple of coats to give a really nice finish. Once the paint was dry, I then started to create a vintage, worn feel to the edges and applied Picket Fence and Hickory Smoke Distress Paint using my fingertip. Once I was happy and that had dried thoroughly, I dabbed the edges of the book, again inside and out, with clear embossing powder before applying Ranger Sticky Embossing Powder over the top, heating the powder until it becomes tacky and then applying Ranger Vintage Transfer Foil Sheets to the sticky areas to add gold around the edges. I now had my basic book cover, ready to decorate...

Firstly, I cut a piece of paper from the brand new Regions Beyond paper stash, distressed and inked the edges and then machine stitched around the edge before matting it onto old gold coloured card and mounting it to the front of my book.

I used the Ornate Frame to die cut a piece of chipboard and painted this black before dry brushing a small amount of Brushed Pewter over the top. Once that was dry, I dabbed the surface with clear embossing powder and heat embossed the entire frame using clear embossing powder. I then added a small amount of gold foil to the frame.

For the mirror, I cut an oval from the mirrored sheets and I wanted to create an image in the mirror, so added a small amount of Glue N' Seal over the top of the mirror and applied this in the shape of a crescent moon with a face.

When the Glue N' Seal is dry, I added a coat of Rock Candy Crackle Paint over the top and watched those crackles appear! To add even more authenticity to my antique mirror, I used alcohol ink around the edges and then mounted the frame over the top and attached it to the front of my book.

As a finishing touch I added the word Frightful from the new Wicked Alpha Parts and coloured this with Distress Paints. I also used one of the spiders from the pack and glittered it with Distress Glitter before popping him onto the front....

Now for the fun part of decorating the inside and I'll let you take a look around as it's packed full of Tim's goodies including a lot of new products from the idea-ology range...

But first meet the Monster...

These dies are amazing and create dimensional masks for any of your Halloween projects. Look how awesome he looks mounted on some of the Regions Beyond paper on the inside of my cover!! I just love it and I couldn't resist giving him some bolts through his neck using Hitch Fasteners! I also added a Word Band which had alcohol ink applied over the surface for a rusty appearance!

I crackled some of the new Apothecary vials using Rock Candy Crackle Paint and added the vintage themed labels to each bottle.

You can also see some of the new Ephemera pieces from the Frightful pack.

I also used some of the tiny vials in this project, all crackled and coloured with alcohol ink.

Below you can see the new resin skulls ~ I LOVE these, they're just so much fun and the spiders that you can see, those come from the Gothic Industrious Sticker pack!

I also added one of the new Remnant Rubs to a Label Clip and attached it to the shelf with some metal chains.

On this box I used a Foundry Frame to frame the image which is taken from the paper stash and you can also see die cut cobwebs and some more of those creepy spiders...

...and look at that cool spider charm hanging down on his web!!

Some tiny Tattered Florals and more of the tiny vials, crackled and coloured complete the last of the boxes!

As a finishing touch to my box, I added a hinge clip to hold a set of keys and one of the Crypt Cameos securely in place!

I really hope you've enjoyed this project because I had so much fun creating it!

Thank you so much to Tim, Paula and Mario for asking me along on this creative journey and I am truly honoured and thrilled to be working alongside you all and so many other talented designers!

Thanks for stopping by today and see you soon!

Emma x