Hello friends and happy Monday!
It's time for the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge to begin and this week we hope you'll join us because we're inviting you to create anything but NOT A CARD! So, whether you choose to create tags, gift bags, scrapbook layouts or home decor pieces, we can't wait to see what you'll be making and hope you'll play along!
For my project, I chose to make a home decor piece that will be ready to add to my Halloween display and for those of you who popped by last week, you might remember that I created a spooky apothecary box using bottles to bring the piece to life. So, with this in mind, and together with my current addiction of altering bottles, I decided to carry on and make what I think could be my final halloween project of 2020 (but never say never), using the same techniques as I used to create the larger bottles, but this time scaling down and using the process on the smaller corked vials to create a miniature display and this is the project I created....
It's time to get started and here's how I created my Vignette Coffin Apothecary Cabinet!
I started by creating a selection of corked vial bottles, apothecary bottles and tiny vials ~ 9 in total and all various sizes and shapes. If you click....HERE, you can read all about how I do this in my previous post but in this piece, I chose to use different colours of alcohol inks to the bottles.
On each bottle I added twine around the necks and some tiny labels that I collected from the Halloween Snippets Ephemera!
Moving on to the vignette coffin, which unfortunately has now sold out at SSS but if you can't find this, or you don't already have it in your collection, then you can still create this project ~ just use one of Tim's other Vignette Boxes, all of which can be found here!
Back to this and taking the coffin, I decided to turn it upside down so that the narrowest point would be at the top and the shelf nearer the bottom. I started by painting the outside of the coffin with Walnut Stain Distress Paint. Allow the paint to dry before adding the next layers, Antiqued Bronze and Black Soot, using the dry brushing technique and letting the paint dry between applications.
Once I was happy with the colour, I applied the neutral pinked edge tape trim, from the some Halloween set and added this to the raw edge around the front of the coffin...
...before covering the inside of the coffin using papers from the Departed Paper Stash, adhered into place with Matte Collage Medium. Whilst the papers were still damp from the medium, I made small tears, to look as if the paper is peeling on the inside of the box.
To complete the coffin, I added some Crackle Paste on the outside and also over the top of the tears before leaving this to dry and crackle. Once that's happened, I accentuated the texture with a little Walnut Stain Distress Crayon, applied directly over the crackle paste and then blending out the colour using a damp paint brush.
Where the shelf sits across the coffin, I added a Web Trim, adding some Translucent Grit Paste to the surface to create a more aged feel.
...and then, using the Pinked Etcetera Trim, I attached this directly along the edge of the shelf that is already inside the box, and this will extend the depth of the original shelf so that I can fit more bottles inside. I painted both of these pieces using the same colours of Distress Paint as I used on the outside of the box.
On the back wall of the upper section of the coffin, I used one of the Halloween Layers and attached this to the inside using foam pads.
Okay so, leaving the coffin to one side to dry so everything becomes securely attached, we can move onto the next stage....the Entomology beetle that sits in pride of place....
....and for this I used the base of a Corked Dome, an Entomology Adornment and a Vignette Finial piece, which once again was painted using the same colours as on the outside of the coffin.
I altered and coloured the Entomology piece using alcohol inks, choosing Envy and Mushroom and painting them directly onto the metal. I then attached the adornment onto a Memo Pin using Matte Collage Medium handset this to one side to dry ~ preferably overnight.
Once it is dry, I stuck the pin into the corked section of the dome and added some moss around the base before wrapping some twine around the corked base.
Now for the fun part and to add some lights and for this I actually used two sets ~ adding the purple lights from the Halloween set to the bottom section and the clear lights into the top section. I drilled two small holes in the back of the coffin, ensuring that the holes would be in the right place for each set of lights to illuminate the top and bottom sections.
I then threaded through the purple lights, and attached them underneath the shelf using hot glue.
The clear lights were threaded through the top section, and glued along the base of the shelf, so that these will sit behind the bottles once they are added.
So with all the lights in place, I adhered the battery compartments onto the back of the box and then, attached all the bottles and the corked dome onto the shelf using Matte Collage Medium.
I also added a couple of Resin Skulls altered with Gilded Alcohol Ink to give them a metallic finish and inside one of the bottles, I placed some boneyard findings, spilling out of the corked vial.
To add some texture, I dyed a strip of Mummy Cloth using Pumice Stone and Frayed Burlap Distress Spray Stain and then placed the dried cloth in and around the base of each bottle, together with some floristry fibres. To complete the shelf, I added some moss.
In the bottom section, I used one of my favourite pieces from the halloween Baseboard set ~ the poison label.
What is so cool about these pieces is that they are really thick and solid, so this means you won't need to back them to make them substantial when using them on these kind of project and all I did was add a small wooden block behind the piece and then use a line of Matte Collage Medium along the bottom before placing it inside the coffin, surrounding it with some more of the dyed Mummy Cloth.
I completed this section by adding a small label from the Field Notes snippets Ephemera set, which I slightly crumpled before inking around the edges and then attaching it with more collage medium. I also hammered a couple of nails into the base of the coffin, and these are from the Vignette Hardware set.
We're nearly there and just need to add the finishing details...
I placed a Hardware Knob on the top of the box, altered with a little Black Soot, Ground Espresso and Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint and attached the remaining Mummy cloth around the knob and the top of the box.
I hung a Halloween Word Token, altered with the same paint colours...
...and finally added some hinges and hardware heads to the sides of the coffin.
As my finishing touch, I added the Established 1876 sticker along the bottom edge of the coffin.
So, that completes this week's project and I really hope you love what I've made and might be inspired by some of my ideas to create some Halloween home decor pieces of your own and if you do share them on your social media platforms, don't forget to tag me so that I can pop by to take a look!
Don't forget that every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $25 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp and you can join in up to 5 times, which means you could have 5 chances to win. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....
Distress Paint: Black Soot, Antiqued Bronze, Walnut Stain, Ground Espresso
