Halloween Matchbox Shrines

Virginia is so beautiful this time of year. The leaves are really beginning to change now, and should be at their peak in a week or so. I like to change the inside of the house, too.

Here is the table inside my front door. The gargoyle on the left came from the dollar store. He looks more menacing when perched on a vintage candy dish under a dome. I change the items under the dome from season to season.

Last Saturday, Terry Pitzel showed our FCCA Altered Arts group how to make Halloween matchbox shrines. I couldn't stop with just one! All my nieces and nephews are getting these from me this year. The older kids will get confetti, and little pins and rings in their matchboxes. The little ones will get stickers.I wanted to make a more durable one to use as a decoration. I used Claudine Hellmuth's sticky-back canvas to wrap the matchbox. I cut a strip and painted it with "dab of yellow" and stamped the fence image.

Then I scrubbed on some "altered orange" with a dry brush. The canvas picks up the brush strokes really nicely. I mixed some "classic teal" with the "dab of yellow" and put in highlights around the fence and at the bottom.

I used the "altered orange" on a circle stamp for the moon image. Then, I used multi-medium to glue on a piece of bat-shaped confetti. I painted the inside of the box, and used an extra piece of the canvas for lining. The sticker inside says, "Happy Halloween".

I punched two small holes in the top of the inside of the box. and threaded some copper wire through the holes for a handle. Then, I added ribbon scraps to the handle.

Halloween Altered Frame

October is here, and I'm ready for it. I lthink I like my Halloween decorations even more than the Christmas decorations that I have. This year I decided to make a decoration of my own, by altering a cabinet card and a picture frame. Here is the "before" photo:

I found this at a yard sale for $1.00. My husband couldn't believe that I wanted it. I added a few embellishments from the Halloween aisle at the drug store, and filled in the areas underneath to blend everything together.

Once I had everything in position, I painted everything with black gesso and then with black acrylic paint to unify the elements.

It was looking a little creepy, but not believable enough, so I went over all the high spots with interference gold to make them stand out.

I used Photoshopto altere an image from a Victorian cabinet card, adding in a bat brooch, and emphasizing the bat-like collar that the woman in the picture was wearing.

I removed the original velvet from the frame and replaced it with a collage of antique onion-skin paper that had spider webs embossed in it. This is the final result. Woo! Scary kids!