Halloween Wall Decoration: A Raven, A Witch, and a Wardrobe

I have been working on Halloween projects since early September.  I have so much to share and I want to start with a cute little piece I call “A Witch’s Wardrobe”.   This is both a charming piece and a very simple piece to make.  My inspiration came from a Tim Holtz die from his Alterations line with Sizzix called “Sewing Room” .  This die cuts a fun little dress form.  From the moment I got the die, I  have wanted to make some sort of  little dress to put on the dress form.  Maybe I have been watching too much Project Runway this season….

Halloween seemed like a perfect time to finally make my little wardrobe because now I can make a  little witch hat to coordinate with each dress.  This project was really super easy.  I started with a shadow box.  The back panel was covered with fabric intended to be used to pin the display items onto.  I simply flipped the entire back piece over and used the smooth cardboard side (the e dress form using the Sewing Room die 4 times from chipboard and then painted them with Martha Stewarts new line of paints in a Metallic Sterling. 

MS New Paint line

I free-hand cut each dress and hat from a variety of Halloween papers and added bling….er….embellishments….blingy embellishments.  You know that I love to embellish, right?  I think I may have mentioned it once, twice, three hundred times…. It probably won't come as a shock to know that embellishing is by far my favorite part of any project.  Oh, and that I NEVER, ever met a bling-y, sparkle-y, gild-y, metallic-y thing-y that I didn't fall Head. Over. Heels. In. LOVE.  My witchy dresses (and hats) are decorated with rhinestones, pearls, rub-ons, tinsel ribbon, tulle, and rik-rac.  


Every fabulous closet has a gold birdcage, right?  My witchy bird cage was die cut from chipboard using Caged Bird, another Tim Holtz Sizzix die,  This time, instead of paint, I actually gilded the cage with variegated gold leaf.  There is nothing as beautiful as leafing, whether gold, silver, or variegated.  Because genuine gold leaf is fairly expensive at $65-80/25 sheets, I always use composition gold leaf.  Frankly, to my uneducated eye, I can't tell the leaf is not real gold and at $7/25 sheets it is much more affordable.  At $15/25 sheets, genuine silver leaf is more affordable than genuine gold but composition silver is available as well.   There is a technique to leafing.  The sheets are pounded very very thin so you can't just pick one up and slap it down.  There are tutorials available here.  In order to get the best result it is important to use products developed to use with leaf.  The most readily available are made by Mona Lisa.  I got mine at Michaels.  

variety pack of composition leaf

Leaf Sealant

leaf adhesive size

I brushed on the size, waited for it to turn clear and tacky, applies the leaf, burnished it to remove the extra flakes and to bring out the sheen.  When I was finished I applied the sealant and wa-la….. a beautiful gilded cage.  I finished the cage of with black rhinestones.  The raven is an old Making Memories acrylic piece.  The cage is resting on chipboard "3" and "1" painted with black paint and finished off with Martha Stewart Silver Glitter Paint which I applied with my fingers.      

I hope you are having fun and making creative time this fall and Halloween season.  Be sure to check back ….future posts include:
Wreath tutorials
Halloween decorations
Mixed-media  ”Happy Haunting” banner
Tutorial on making your own mercury glass pumpkins

Halloween cards

Happy crafting….
Laters