In Memory Of Lost Souls....

Happy Monday friends and welcome to another week here on my blog and a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week the DT are showcasing Tim Holtz products and combining them with our Autumn/Fall challenge theme. So, if you love all things Autumn as much as I do, then this is the challenge for you and we hope you'll join us and play along.

When I think of autumn, which is my favourite time of year, my thoughts turned to walks in my local park, bundled up against the chill in the air and watching how the leaves start changing colour from their vibrant green to a gorgeous, burnt orange and I was going to do a something to celebrate this but then I started thinking, and my second favourite thing about this time of year is Halloween. So, with this in mind, I combined the two things and created a Halloween home decor piece, complete with die cut leaves as decoration and voilà, my Lost Souls wreath was created.

So, let's get started and here's how I made this Halloween Home Decor project...

To begin with I wanted to create a base and originally, I did think about using a twisted willow wreath but then remembered I had some embroidery hoops in my stash and decided to use these instead ~ an 8" and 5" hoop.

I applied a layer of black gesso to the surface of both hoops, back and front and allowed this to dry.

Once they were both completely dry, I added some Grit Paste ~ I usually apply it with my finger to ensure I get a really good application of the paste but you can use a palette knife and apply the it directly to both hoops, inside and outside, back and front, placing it at random intervals on the surface and varying the thicknesses.

The paste will take a little time to dry, so be patient as it really does need to be rock hard before adding the paint over the top. Once it is, I began with a layer of Black Soot, heat dried the painted surface and then using a clean paint brush, I dipped the brush into Brushed Pewter Distress Paint but brushed away the excess onto a towel, leaving a minimal amount of paint on the brush. I then dry brushed this over the surface of the textured hoop. The paint will accentuate the raised areas of grit paste. If you need to add more, just repeat and if you feel you've added too much silver, then pick up a second brush and repeat the dry brush technique using Black Soot Distress Paint.

Once I was happy and the painted hoops were thoroughly dry, I attached the smaller hoop inside the larger one, using Matte Collage Medium as my chosen adhesive, slightly offsetting it and placing it in the bottom left hand corner of the large hoop.

I left the hoops overnight to dry but if you don't want to ~ just lay them down on a flat surface and be careful when you begin to decorate.

...and for these decorations I began by creating the gorgeous webs that sit behind the frames.

I used a combination of old and new Tim Holtz dies for this, which I'm sure many TH addicts will own. The larger die that sits at the back of the small hoop is cut from black card using the older Cobweb die. I cut the image and then embossed it by pouncing clear embossing powder over the top and sprinkling with Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder. Heat emboss the powder until molten.

I then attached this large cobweb behind my smaller hoop, placing the Matte Collage Medium along the edge of the hoop to adhere it.

The smaller webs that sit around the top of the small hoop are taken from the Frightful Things die set and cut from black card. I spritzed the two die cut webs with Antique Linen Oxide Ink and allowed it to dry before attaching these two pieces to my hoop.

Now to add even more spookiness to this piece and add some more webs and for this I used black cotton thread and wrapped the thread around the hoop to give the effect of cobwebs that have been spun all over the surface.

We now have the hoops ready for my autumn leaves...

...and for these, I used the Tim Holtz Skeleton Leaves Die from Sizzix to cut Mixed Media Heavyweight card. To create the colour on this card I began by inking with Pumice Stone Distress Ink, then misted the inked card with a light spray of water. I then spritzed the card with a combination of Crushed Olive and Frayed Burlap Distress Ink before heat drying the inky surface. To add even more depth of colour to the card, I applied some Pumice Stone Distress Ink to my glass mat, spritzed with water and dipped the coloured card into the inks. Heat dry between layers and repeat this process by using Walnut Stain,  Forest Moss and Wild Honey Distress Inks, in that order.

I now have my perfectly coloured card and cut a selection of skeleton leaves from it ~ I used 9 in total for this project.

I adhered my leaves using hot glue and placed some Spanish Moss from my stash amongst them, arranging the flourish on the left hand side of the embroidery hoop wreath.

You can see how much dimension there is to the leaves in the photo below.

I then created a bow and for this I used Mummy Cloth, dyed with Peeled Paint and Iced Spruce Distress Spray Stains. Just spritz the stains directly onto a strip of the cloth and heat it gently to dry before tying the cloth into a bow.

Attach the bow to the leaf arrangement before adding some Boneyard Findings to stick out of the centre.

To complete the arrangement, I used three Baubles, coloured with Cranberry and Pitch Black Alcohol Inks and just adhered these in the centre of the cluster of bones...

I attached a Halloween Token, Lost Souls the bow using a loop pin.

Now we move onto the right hand side of the wreath and those creepy hands...

I stamped a pair of hands onto Mixed Media Heavystock card using the image from Tim's Cadaverous stamp set and fussy cut both hands before colouring them with Distress Marker Pens. I then attached these to either side of a Halloween Quote Chip before I adhered the chip and hands onto the right hand side of my hoops, carefully balancing the arrangement between the hoops.

I added some moss around the hands and then placed a skull fragment, again carefully balanced on top of the quote chip, stuck into place using Matte Collage Medium.

For the final touch, I used the spider from the Frightful Things die set to die cut 5 spiders. I coloured the bodies of each one very lightly with a white pencil before attaching them to my project, placing them on the hands and webs.

To complete my wreath I added a hanger and used a mini book ring and some chain which I attached at the top of the hoop.

So, that's it for today and hope you've enjoyed the creative process behind this piece and loved and been inspired by all the techniques I've used to create it.

Have fun creating your projects and don't forget, if you would like to see more inspiration from my talented teamies over on the challenge blog and every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today and hope to see you again soon, love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Cadaverous

Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Frightful Things, Skeleton Leaves, Cobwebs from my own stash
Distress Paint: Black Soot, Brushed Pewter
Distress Inks: Pumice Stone, Walnut Stain, Forest Moss and Wild Honey
Distress Oxide Sprays: Crushed Olive, Frayed Burlap

Distress Spray Stain: Iced Spruce, Peeled Paint

Idea-ology:Mummy Cloth, Bauble Findings, Halloween Tokens, Halloween Quote Chips, Boneyard Findings, Loop Pins, Mini book Rings, Skull Fragments

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Grit Paste, black Gesso, Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder, Clear Embossing Ink
Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock Card, Black Card
Alcohol Inks: Pitch Black, Cranberry
Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat

Heat Gun
Big Shot
Moss

Spanish Moss, chain and hoops from my own stash