Leslie Rayhe's Very Spooky Halloween Steampunk Blog Hop and the Smeared and Smudged 31 Days of Halloween 2014 Blog Hop- Day 25

Hello everyone, and welcome to today's blog hops!!!  Yes, I said blog hops, plural.  My project today is doing a bit of double duty again.  As you know by now, I am participating in the 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop.  The complete list of Wicked Bloggers (that's what we are called) are in my side bar.  There are lots of prizes in the daily scavenger hunt, and a Grand Prize worth over $300.

To see all of the rules and regulations for 31 Days of Halloween 2014, please visit THIS POST.
To see Scavenger Hunt winners from previous days, please visit THIS PAGE
The second blog hop is Leslie Rayhe's Very Spooky Halloween Steampunk Blog Hop, and I get to play along with them, too!  A complete list of these very talented artists are listed for you below.  I hope you will visit everyone from both blog hops and leave comments, as there are prizes to be won from both.

Here is my finished piece!  It is a wall plaque that can either be hung on the wall, or free-standing.  I call it "The Gear-m Reaper Goes Mobile!"  (I can't believe I said that, but in actuality, my goofy husband came up with it, and I kinda' like it.  What does that say about me?).  I recon he needs that bike to get around faster on All Hallows' Eve!

I purchased this plastic Halloween tombstone wall plaque from my local dollar store.

I left the plastic hanger on the top so I could hang it on the wall later, but I covered it with some frog tape to keep it clear before I brushed on one coat of white gesso.

When that dried, I sponged on a very heavy coat of white gesso,  thicker in some areas than others to simulate rough, weathered stone.  I let it dry overnight because the thicker areas needed more time and it had been raining.

Next, I applied a coat of Moss Granite Stone that I've had in my stash forever.  Was I surprised when I found it was still useable.  I love the grainy look it gave my tombstone, though.

After that coat dried, I sprayed the whole piece first with Dylusions Black Marble ink spray in spots, then filled in with Black Magic Glimmer Mist.  To spread and dilute it all, I spritzed everything with water, let it run a bit, then dabbed some of it off with a paper towel.

When the tombstone was dry, I randomly stamped some gears with Wedding White ink.  I used an unmounted stamp so I could curve it over rounded edges, etc.  They are quite subtle in the photo, but more readily visible in person.  

While all of these coats were drying, I got out my Silhouette and started cutting out Halloween images. I cut the grim reaper from several pieces of card stock and layered everything together, as you see here.

I spritzed a piece of creepy cloth with Black Magic glimmer mist and some water.

I stamped Steampunk Owl onto a piece of white card stock with StazOn black and colored with various distress ink colors, blending some with a water brush.  I also used the water brush to lift color in some areas, as distress inks will allow you to do that.

I next gave shape to my owl by my go to dry embossing technique.  I use a large ball stylus to stretch the paper gently to "puff" the owl's body, chest, and head, and shaping his hat a bit. 

I'm not sure you can tell in this photo, but this is how he looks all "puffed up" and ready for perching himself in that tree.  I wanted to bring out some of the owl's features, so I used the black Pico embellisher around his eyes and the silver Pico embellisher around the pocket watch and buckles on his hat.  I love these Pico embellishers.  They are awesome!

I added Orange Zest directly from the ink pad to the chipboard key.  When dry, I used my Fantastix to control the application of my Delicata Golden Glitz.

I used my ink pads from IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko to color my Leaky Shed chipboard pieces, and when I wanted to color the details, I used my Fantastix brush (pictured) to pick color up from the Delicata Golden Glitz ink pad.  

Now for the fun part .... putting it all together.  I added all of my pieces to my tombstone base, as shown in the finished photo above.  Here are a few close-ups to help you see some of the details a little better.

Creepy cloth was added along the left side, with bits of black glittered branches for trees and bushes, my "Gear-m Reaper", his trusty bicycle, and a couple of evil eye gears.

Can you see the animal eyes I added to the centers of each chipboard gear?  I love it!  They are looking at you from behind everything!

I used an awl to punch holes through the plastic base and added these chains by attaching them with brads.  It's funny how things come to you as you work, but I had this distinct feeling that I heard chains rattling, so .....

And here is my "skeleton" key, all inked up with a Tim Holtz skull and crossbones metal embellishment added to the top.

And here is my "punky" owl all dressed up, perched high up in the tree branches above.

And isn't there always a black cat wandering around graveyards?  Well, if there isn't, there should be, and here is my black scaredy cat, green eyes glowing in the dark as he stealths along the top of the tombstone, trying to keep one step ahead of the Reaper!

He was cut from a piece of chipboard, inked with Black, then Midnight Blue StazOn, and edged with the Black Faber-Castell big brush pen.

Finally, I found these awesome light bulbs on a necklace in the jewelry section of Hobby Lobby.  Well... needless to say, I saw a use for them in this piece.  And here they are!  There were three holes in the plastic for "periods" between the "R.I.P." and my tiny bulbs fit perfectly.

And here is another pic of them at an angle, showing the metal holding the bulbs.  

Supplies used:

Sin City Stamps:  Steampunk'd Christmas stamp set (gears); 

Stampendous Steampunk Owl rubber stamp

Altered Pages:  White gesso; gel medium;  water brush; Leaky Shed chipboard (bike, key, gears); Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells paper; Dylusions Black spray ink; Faber-Castell Big Brush Pen (black)

IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko:  StazOn  midi ink pad - Jet Black, Orange Zest, Midnight Blue; Radiant Neon Electric Blue, Electric Green, Electric Yellow, Electric Orange, Electric Purple; Delicata Golden Glitz; Delicata Silvery Shimmer; Fantastix

Sizzix Bigz die:  Raven & Scaredy Cat 

Distress ink:  Dusty Concord; Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Tea Dye, Frayed Burlap, Forest Moss, Scattered Straw, Wild Honey

Dew Drops (The Robin's Nest)

Tattered Angels Black Magic Glimmer Mist

Silhouette machine and cut files (Grim Reaper)

Miscellaneous:  Plastic Halloween tombstone plaque; DecoArt Moss Granite Stone; Creepy Cloth (Michaels); Glue Gun; Animal Eyes (Owl, Scaredy Cat); Black glittered branches (Michaels); Glittered Spider in Web (Michaels); black chain; jump rings, brads, animal eyes (my stash); metal gears; tiny light bulbs (Hobby Lobby)

I hope you were able to stick with me through this long post, but there were a lot of steps.  Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win prizes.

Here is the list of bloggers for Leslie Rayhe's Very Spooky Halloween Steampunk Blog Hop so you don't get lost!



Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful weekend!!!

Barbara