Creative Artist October - Witches lair

 Good Morning everyone

Its the first Friday of the month so time for a new challenge over at Creative Artiste where the theme is anything MIXED MEDIA goes, using at least 3 different mediums.

I decided to go for a Halloween make using a coffin shaped box as the base for a Witch themed assemblage

Approx size 

closed 3x6" / 7.5x15cm

open 6x6" /  15x15cm

See lots of photos below for how i decorated the wooden box and more detailed photos of each section.

I then had fun raiding my stash of trinkets collected over the years to build up each shelf section

The lady in the mirror (see pic below)  I added the paper element and tim holtz chat stickers and mod podged to seal.  Added a broomstick and skull and propped a plastic witches hat on the skull.  As a witch you just drop your broom and hat just as you get home beside the door ready to go again

I added some fibrous 'stuff' 😂 No idea what its made from - man made material but boy did i get in a mess trying to glue the stuff into place, once it touched the small dabs of glue Id added in place it wanted to stick to everything but where i wanted it🤣.....i might have had less trouble using real cobwebs.....

For my birthday I was treated to a couple of junk journal kits by Ciao Bella.  I thought this image in the frame looked a bit spooky and added a Tim Holtz chit chat sticker reach says 'look in your mirror for the other one' as I thought the lady could be looking out of a mirror.  

In hindsight with the shelves I would do differently next time so that the supports are hidden more - one of those live and learn moments.

The top shelf is the book shelf, as you can see its very higgledy-piggledy and this witch just throws them back after use.  I used some thin tubular wooden beads which i thought looked like scrolls side on, just added some dark acrylic paint to take away the wood look.  I made up some tiny books using a script print paper and aged the edges with brown acrylic paint and ruffed them up to look like thumb pages.  More cobwebs added

2nd Shelf is for potion bottles, I added printed bottles at the back to make a fuller looking shelf then added 3 real glass mini bottles in the front.  The green one on the left i filled with holographic glitter flakes, middle one was clear and i added red alcohol ink and a clear one of the right I added dandelion seeds to.  Adding chat stickers and ages with touches of brown paint.  More cobweb added with a plastic spider, small skull and bone.  Chat sticker adhered to the back which reads 'a small grinning skull'

and the base layer

I took a small plastic cauldron and coated with acrylic paint to take away the plastic look and then filled with a teal metallic texture paste and had it spilling over the side.  I cut a Tim Holtz bone in half and added into the cauldron before the texture paste cured - this is the other half of the bone i used in the 2nd section with the potions.

2 pumpkins added to the back, with some cobwebby stuff and a 'genie' lamp at the front, this is plastic which i aged it with acrylic paints. I added some moss and a paper eye to the back panel which is keeping an eye on things

I gave 2 Tim Holtz pumpkins a make over with acrylic paint so a bit more realistic 

I wanted to use a witches hat on the skull but it wouldn't fit nicely in the space or on the head/skull so i cut the back off with scissors so it would fit better.  I also added a little gold paint to bring out the texture more.

I added a 'hocus pocus' chipboard sticker to the front and a door handle/knocker.

There is a big design flaw with this coffin, its upside down, the feet are on the shallow part which in real life would not be good as the occupant would fall out on opening......😂

I first coated the wooden box with bright acrylic paints in a random way and then added texture paste through a foliage stencil which of course was the wrong way around! lol   Didn't think ahead here - of course when you do it, add the texture paste first and then your paint as i needed to add the paint again to cover the texture paste😩

I removed the hinges and closure from the coffin to make painting easier, they just need my mini screwdriver and were easy to take off and put back on once it was all finished

Dry brushed on navy and dark purple paint over the outside so its not as bright and picks out the texture paste.

I added shelves to the deep side of the coffin using 450gsm cardstock and then dry brushed over all the inside with vintage white to soften the brightness so that my elements don't get lost.

I then added gilding to the outside using my trusty Cadence Dora paints, these are my go to for any kind of gilding as find them way easier to use than waxes but get the same effect but being a paint makes them so much more versatile as well.  I first went over with light coats of a blue and green dora paint and then finished with a very light coat of the gold which is definitely my fav colour in the range as you only need the smallest touch and it shimmers like crazy.  

Items Used:

Wooden coffin from 'The Works'

Various Tim Holtz ideology pieces

Other assemblage items collected over the years

Ciao Bella junk journal 'The witch's grimoire'

Folkart matt acrylic paints

Cadence Dora paints

Texture paste

Foliage Stencils

Do hop over to Creative Artiste to see what the rest of the DT have created and to join in with your mixed media makes - anything goes from a small ATC upto a large canvas and everything inbetween as long as you use 3 or more different mediums.

Id love to enter the following:

https://craftingfromtheartchallenge.blogspot.com/2026/09/september-challenge-2026-august-winners.html

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https://halloweencraftsallyearround.blogspot.com/2026/10/spooktacular-october-challenge-1.html

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https://twooldbatshalloweenchallenge.blogspot.com/

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https://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com/2026/09/crafty-catz-720-atg.html

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http://craftrocketchallenges.blogspot.com/2026/10/challenge-141-autumn-andor-halloween.html

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https://creativeinspirationchallenges.blogspot.com/2026/10/creative-inspiration-challenges-43.html

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https://tolanythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-outlawz-anything-but-card-october.html

Key to my heart

Good Morning everyone

Gosh the weeks are flying by and now its June - scary and time for a new challenge over at Creative Artiste Mixed Media where the theme is always anything goes as long as you mix those medias!

This year Im trying to use old stash and I found these greyboard hearts in the back of my craftdrobe while looking for something else - I also dug out my box of very old tim holtz grunge board shapes and came up with this wall hanging. 

Sizes approx - biggest heart is 5.5x5"  Med 3x2.5"  Small 1.75x1"

See below for full details.  Once finished I punched holes in the hearts and connected together using metal jump rings.  

Large Heart - after doing backgound (details below) - I took some grungeboard & metal keys - the grungeboard ones I first covered with black gesso, stippling it on so some areas are thicker than others thus giving a more rusty old appearance and then added the same paints used in the background so orange, greens and blues. To the metal keys I added some of the same colours of paint to tie them together, then arranged them all the on background. I found some old plastic alpha's which I black gesso'd and added touches of paint and adhered to say 'key'

Medium heart - I added a grungeboard lock which id black gesso'd and painted the same as the keys.  I added screw top brads through the holes and added to the heart.  I took 2 kraft chit chat sticker saying 'to' & 'my', added to black card and covered with glossy accents for an enamel look.

Small heart - I found a really small grungeboard heart, covered with the orange paint used on the other elements and covered with glossy accents.  Chit chat sticker reads 'heart'

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See below for how I did backgrounds

I first adhered flowers I had die cut from grunge paper eons ago and covered it all in black gesso.  I added crackle paste in areas and then added blue, green, orange & yellow acrylic paints. once dry I knocked back the vibrancy by dry brushing on antique white chalk paint. 

 I then added torn pieces of script printed tissue paper in areas and added orange paint through a script stencil.  I then dry brushed on gold & orange dora cadence paints which is beautifully shimmery when the light hits it. 

I finished by sealing it all with mod podge

I edged all the hearts with black gesso to help frame them and draw the eye inwards, for neatness I also covered the back of the hearts with black gesso.  

You can see the crackle paste better here....this is an old jar i found lurking in the back of the craftdrobe and it was nearly set solid ....I added a little warm water to the jar, let that sit a while and then gave it a good mixing with a stick which seemed to resurrect it and Im pleasantly surprised that it still works so that was worth doing...now i must use it more often!

Items Used:

Tim Holtz grungeboard & paper, chit chat stickers, metal keys, alpha stickers

Tim Holtz tattered flowers bigz die

Metal keys

Papermania Screw top brads

Acrylic paints - pebeo, plaid folk art

Cadence Dora paint - gold & orange

Daler rowney black gesso

Ranger glossy accents

Mod podge - matt

Papermania script tissue paper

Crackle Paste

Please do hop over to Creative Artiste Mixed Media to see what the rest of the DT have created and to join in - remember anything goes as long as you use at least 3 different medias. 

I hope you all have a good weekend. Emma

Id love to enter the following:

https://neglectedstuff.blogspot.com/2025/06/neglected-stuff-625-challenge.html - greyboard hearts and grungeboard elements 12+ yrs old, crackle paste? (don't even remember buying that so years ago) found lurking at back of cupboard and nearly dried up, plastic alpha's 6yrs old...

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https://theoutlawzchallenges-saturday.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-outlawz-anything-goes-in-card-free.html

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https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2025/06/ellibelles-crafty-wednesday-june-and.html

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https://cardsgalorechallenges.blogspot.com/2025/06/june-2025-crafts-galore-encore.html

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https://craftrocketchallenges.blogspot.com/2025/06/challenge-126-no-designpaper.html

 

Creative Artiste...

Good Morning everyone, welcome to October.

I was honoured to be offered a guest designer spot for Creative artiste Mixed Media for this month.  As it was for october my first thought was maybe a halloween mixed media project but then i saw this bone shaped mdf and thought it would be ideal for those Crazy dog stamps from Tim Holtz

Mdf bone size 12x7"....  after doing the background (see last photo below) I stamped the tim holtz crazy dogs and a couple of zinksi art dogs, coloured them with inktense pencils and cut out.  I covered them all with mod podge to give them a bit of protection.  

From an empty pet food box i die cut my alpha's with a sizzix bigz die, covered with black paint and then glossy accents to give them an enamelled look.  I die cut some circles from card, painted with yellow paint, drew on lines to make them look more like tennis balls and again covered with glossy accents. 

 I then got arranging it all - this took longer than you might think getting the dogs in an order that i felt worked best and actually i didnt glue them down for a couple days to make sure i was happy with this finished arrangement!  I added a few Tim Holtz ideology bones, a couple of them i cut in half as you wouldn't see the whole bone anyway and made them go further. 

A metal tag added above the be happy to finish which reads 'live in the moment' which i think alot of dogs do.

After a few days i felt it needed something to balance the heavy black letters so i stencilled some black paw prints around the edge to look like one of the dogs had been off for a wonder following a scent trail as they do😁.....and it made all the difference.

Of course i had to add glossy accents to the dogs eyes and noses too

and onto my background

 I stencilled texture paste through a paw print & diamond stencils and once dry covered it all with black gesso.  I then added patches of crackle paste and once all was dry i built it up by dry brushing on white and cream acrylic paints adding a touch of diamond to the top layer that twinkles in the light.  I found an old tim holtz grungeboard heart in my stash which i again added texture paste paw prints to, covered in red paint and then again dry brushed on the white and cream acrylic.  I then added that to the bone and edged the bone with black paint.  This bone came with a stand but i wanted to hang it so just cut off the tabs and sanded back and punched some holes in the top with my crop o'dile.

Items Used:

MDF Bone  'dog bone on stand' from Craftshapes.co.uk

Stencils - paw print, diamond

Golden texture paste

Crackle paste

Tim Holtz crazy dog stamps

Paperartsy Zinkski art dog stamps

Derwent inktense pencils

Tim Holtz ideaology - bones, metal tag, grungeboard shapes

Sizzix Tim Holtz word play bigz die

Various acrylic paints

Thank you all for stopping by and to everyone at creative artiste mixed media.blogspot for welcoming me to join them this month.  I hope you all have a good weekend.  Hugs Emmaxx