Witch Wonders Tim Holtz Sizzix Vault

Hello friends! Whew…it’s been a bit, I’m hoping that this blog post finds you well and that you’ve been enjoying your summer. Life got really hectic this year for our family, but things are finally calming down and getting back to “regular”, so I am hoping that my blog will be able to be updated more often. I apologize for my disappearance, but you know how life goes.

I have been busily making for Tim behind the scenes though and have LOTS of things to share with you as the holidays are fast approaching and with that comes all the goodies and fun projects we love to make for them!

Anyways, let’s get to one of my newest projects that I made for the Tim Holtz Sizzix Halloween release…can you believe that I made this way back in May??? Wowza…being a creative in the paper crafting industry means we make REALLY early in the year so that everything is ready to go in time before the season hits. It’s both fun and a bit maddening as when everyone else is prepping for spring, we are knee-deep in fall leaves, jack-o-lanterns and Christmas trees. But alas, that is what it is and I do LOVE every moment of making, even if it is months and months ahead of the real world. LOL!

This project was inspired by the new Tim Holtz Vault Halloween release…it is full of classic Tim Holtz designs that have been reimagined to give a new spin to many of our old favorites. They have been resized and mixed in with bits and pieces from other sets, which makes things really FUN and a great way to add them to your collection if you missed them in the past…and have I mentioned the price? Tim negotiated with Sizzix to keep each set at a low price point… only $20.99. Woohoo! Doesn’t get much better than that!

Witch Wonders is a combination of several of the new sets because once I got started, I just couldn’t help grabbing this and that to create a vignette with a collection of goodies a little witch might have to create her potions and keep all her witchy supplies at hand. I started with the Vault Wicked Thinlet Set which included the Witch, Broom, Rat, Crow, & Potion Bottles. Then I added the Vault Fall Wreath Set that is behind her along with several of the leaves. The Bones and Skull came from the Vault Coffin Set, and the Spiderweb and tree limbs came from the Vault Fright Night Thinlet Set. I know this is a lot of dies, but if you are like me and were to recreate this project, you might be able to draw from those sets of dies that you already own.

I started by creating a few backgrounds to get my Halloween creative juices flowing… then grabbed a stack of backgrounds to use to cut out several pieces and parts for the vignette.

Using a palette knife and a couple sheets of Distress Watercolor Paper, I applied Black Opaque Texture Paste through some stencils and set the aside to dry. Once dry, I spritzed the backgrounds with water then spritzed them with a variety of Distress Mica Sprays to create a mystic look. Then I dried them with a heat tool.

Using my Sidekick and the scraps of paper, I cut out pieces and parts that included leaves, skulls, bones, the crow, rat, broom pieces, potion bottles and more to get lots of pieces for my scene. The sidekick is a great tool to cut all sorts of small pieces very quickly! I cut several pieces for the witch, broom, rat, crow and wreaths so that they could be layered layered to give the pieces more stability and depth. You’ll notice in the photo below that the witches layers were cut from brown cardstock then layered together using collage medium.

I embossed a piece of Distress Leather paper using the Tapestry 3D Embossing Folder and spritzed and sprayed the paper using Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo and Scorched Timber Spray Stains, then dried with a heat tool. Then I spritzed the background with some Empty Tomb Mica Spray. Any good witch has an apron that she wears while creating potions…so I cut out a scrap of black inky paper to create the shape of an apron, then stitched the bottom edge using my sewing machine. I adhered the apron piece to her front using foam tabs, then tied a small piece of cotton string around her waist to create the apron strings, and tied a very tiny bow. Her hat was create by cutting off the hat silhouette and applying it to her head using foam tabs. The band of her hat was a small piece of scrap fabric that had been stitched using my sewing machine.

This became the backdrop of the piece and was adhered to a #8 Etcetera Tag. But, before adhering it to the Etcetera Tag, I roughed up the edges here and there to create tears and layers to tuck in all the little pieces for my story. I placed another tag cut from idea-ology Backdrop paper, behind the 3D embossed tag (this created the layers) then, using my distress edge tool, distressed the edges. You can see in the photo below how I rolled some of the torn edges of the 3D embossed tag and began tucking little pieces in the torn areas. I then went to my sewing machine and stitched random areas to create a shabby look. I adhered the stitched tags to the front of the #8 Etcetera Tag.

I cut several wreaths from various pieces of paper, then arranged them together to create a layered wreath. I placed a piece of Mica Tile behind the wreath and added a couple spiderwebs cut from scraps of vintage typewriter paper. I left the raw edges of the mica tile around the wreath to create more creepy interest. I cut a piece of the inky texture pasted paper that I created at the beginning of the project and placed it just behind the wreath. The wreath pieces were then stitched in random areas together, then adhered to the front of the tag. I hammered in a couple random vintage nails to the front of the wreath, both to hold the wreath in place while it dried and for looks!

I tucked in the tiny branch with the crow, the witch and rat, the skull, bones and bat and all the tiny diecut pieces in here and there and adhered them with collage medium. The leaves, moss and pieces of idea-ology mummy cloth were tucked in and added within the wreath, then I set the piece aside to dry overnight. I topped the tag with an Etcetera washer that was covered in a piece of matching inky paper and then tied on some bits of spooky ribbon. The “Witch Wonders” was cut out from a phrase that I found in the idea-ology Clipping Sticker pack and adhered with a little collage medium.

With that, my project was complete! Thanks so much for stopping by and following along!

The products used to create this project are listed below with links to Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com. Thank you so much for supporting me through shopping through them. I appreciate it so much! – Creatively yours, Stacy

To shop at SIMON SAYS STAMP click HERE. To shop at SCRAPBOOK.COM click HERE.

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