Each year I dress my home up as a Dead & Breakfast and love making decor vignettes. In the past I've made several Edgar Allen Poe inspired vignettes including a tombstone as well as a Horror D'Oeuvre tray complete with poisoned apple and bleeding heart. 

I'm excited that Tim has already shown off his Halloween die release with Sizzix and can't wait for the Idea∙ology Halloween release. I'm so ready for Halloween, but not before I make some more cool stuff!

I recently created this witch cottage using a ton of Tim Holtz Halloween goodies from last year. I started off with the Tim Holtz divided vignette tray as the base for the home, then built an attic out of chipboard to create the A-line roof. Let's go for a little tour of this witchy cottage. This won't be in the order of how I made things, but more in the order of a house tour. 

We'll start with the back so you can see the mechanics of how this thing is lit up with a set of tiny lights. You can see the pop out on the back is home to the battery pack. From there, I drilled holes throughout the piece to string it through the bottom two levels then out to the back where some extra lights travel up the stove pipe I made with metallic kraft cardstock. I take the lights up the roof, around the moon and then back inside to the attic. 

Below you can see the pop out opened up with the battery pack inside as well as more of the detail. I used a clock hand to hold the pop out door closed and it can swing back and forth on a brad. I also created a weathered wood look to the exterior of the cottage using the lumber 3D texture fade and black cardstock. I rubbed the embossed paper with Distress Oxide in vintage photo. What was cool is that it started out really brown and then faded to a taupe. Then I cut that into strips and glued those down to the outside of the house. I also created a scalloped shingle for the roof and upper back part of the house.

I covered all of the walls inside the house with the Halloween worn wallpaper, adding additional Distress Ink grunge and even tearing it to look like the wallpaper had suffered some abuse over the years. I used the two witches from the paper dolls pack, popping them out with some foam mounting squares. 

In the right corner is a broom and a tiny table I made by gluing together layers of cardstock. On the table are a few witchy items: some crystals, a bone and a brown and dead flower.

In the left corner is a tombstone (because why not) with a remnant rub on it. There is of course some moss, a skull and another bone.

On either side of the witches are some skeleton cameos and a bat. No good witches cottage is complete without a bat or two!

I used one of the round tiny vials to create a bulb. I covered it in clear crazing paste and then used butterscotch alcohol ink to color it yellow. In the photo below you can see the hole I drilled to insert the tiny lights, placing one light inside the bulb and sticking the cork in with a little glue to keep it all together. 

Moving upstairs you can see I just placed some tiny light behind all of my items, just to light the scene from behind a bit. I have a stack of green pumpkins with moss and a bit of a leftover broom handle from another project as the stem. I didn't have the perfect green-blue Distress Paint so I mixed broken china, mowed lawn and picket fence together until I got the shade I wanted. I used crazing paste on another tiny vial and this time used stream alcohol ink to color it. I added a tiny label, twine and sealed it with wax I dripped on from a candle. And of course there is another bat!

But I think what I love most about this whole witch cottage is my skull with butterflies. I was inspired by an image I found on Pinterest. I started with the matte black alcohol ink cardstock from Ranger and used tranquil and celestial alcohol pearl inks to create a gorgeous blue background. I then cut some teeny tiny butterflies with a Spellbinders die and my Vagabond. I purchased a set of 1:24 scale dollhouse candlestick holders and painted one with black gesso. I used some super glue to glue a skull to the top of the candlestick holder then glued some tiny butterflies onto the skull and one to a tiny piece of wire that I glued to the bottom of a decorative dome. I glued the skill on the candlestick in place and then glued the lid in place, adding another butterfly to the lid. 

In the other "room" upstairs I created another potion bottle, added some rocks (one which I lit up with a light) and a bone. There is a cat and a spider remnant rub as a backdrop in this room, plus a corked dome with eyeballs on gears and a bit of mummy cloth. I also added a quote chip below this room.

The attic has the mandatory ghost that I covered with clear embossing powder for texture and then inked so the grey ink would stain the paper where there was no embossing powder. There is also a jack-o-lantern with some moss, dead flowers, a window with a tree outside (I used the branch die from the Feathers and Ravens die set), mummy cloth and another light bulb. The ceiling is covered in a tin tile made with an embossing folder. 

Below you can see a close up of the spider on the web. I added two small red gems to the back to make it look like a black widow. I also added clear embossing powder to the web. And you can see the moon rising over the cottage. 

Check out that roof!

 

And I added a house number to one side of the cottage. It had to be lucky number 13!

And on the other side is a skull and crossbones for good measure. 

I'm excited to display this little witch cottage this Halloween season! Because the back is finished, this piece doesn't have to go up against a wall--I could sit it on a table if I want. But the nice thing is, the lights on the backside of the moon and the cottage are designed to bounce off of the wall and bathe the house in "moonlight" if I do decide to place it up against a wall. 

I hope this project inspired you and that you are ready to make your own crafts for the upcoming fall and Halloween season. It's coming quicker than you think!

Happy Haunting!

Adrienne