Halloween doesn't have to be scary. In fact, it can be pretty! 

It's time to celebrate, crafty friends, because Sizzix's Chapter 3 release is here! There are some amazing new dies and embossing folders in this release but I knew that the first one I needed to create with was the Spooky Icons die. If you have followed more for a while, you know that my favorite holiday is Halloween!

Normally I have two modes: shabby chic Adrienne, and goth Adrienne, with the latter mode usually making an appearance leading up to Spooky Season. That's because I have a tendency to create very gothic styled projects in darker colors for Halloween. But this time, I wanted to creates something super girly and pretty!

The Spooky Icons die set is just so cute that I wanted to first showcase it in my usual shabby chic style. The cute little bats in the set caught my eye first (Stellaluna is one of my favorite childhood books) and I wanted to add them to a bat mixed media panel. 

To create this project, I used an MDF bat shape I picked up from my friend Nicole's shop, The Mixed Palette. I traced the shape of the bat onto a pretty gray paper from Prima's Aquarelle Dreams collection, cut it out and distressed all of the edges with Sizzix's Surfacez Multi-Tool. 

I glued the patterned paper to the MDF bat with Express Glue and used the brayer on the Effectz Multi-Tool to smooth the glue out underneath and create good adhesion between the base and the paper. I then painted the edges of the MDF shape with white gesso. I also added just a hint of texture by applying some Dimensional Paste through a mini hearts stencil. 

The bottom center of the bat was the perfect size for the macrame shape from the Aquarelle Dreams mould. I painted the mould with a bit of gesso, then sprayed Distress Spray Stain in Lost Shadow on it, letting it pool into the recesses. Before it fully dried, I wiped any excess spray off of the raised areas to bring back the highlights. 

Believe it or not, I only used two floral elements on this project. The first was the purple floral sprig. I cut the flower from the center of the sprig to accommodate the large gray flower and moved it to the left side of the sprig, gluing it down with heavy body gel.

But I knew this sprig was perfect for displaying some of the die cut bats from the Spooky Icons die set. I pulled at and loosened the tendrils of green on the sprig. Before attaching the bats with some Express Glue, I pained the green parts of the sprig with white gesso to make it more cohesive. 

Then the gray flower got added to the center. I die cut a flower, leaf sprig and little potion bottle from the same die set. The potion bottle's liquid got a little bit of clear glitter marker brush on it to make it more magical. 

Before glueing these dies to the gray flower, I added a little bit of Sizzix's Prism Paste here and there on the flowers. This has little bits of iridescent cellophane floating in a clear gel base, which I think is so magical. I applied this paste with a palette knife and a paintbrush. I found that both worked well for this. 

Then the other dies got glued on and I added some purple and black sparkly gems, including two for the bat's eyes! This bat turned out so adorable and like previous projects intended for Halloween, I totally want to leave this one out year-round! If you put it next to an Edgar Allen Poe book, would that be oaky? Asking for a friend!

Until next time, happy crafting!

Adrienne

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