Nevermore! A Poe Themed Altered Shadowbox

I love books and when it comes to spooky tales, Edgar Allen Poe's tales and poems are my go-to read.  

My most favorite poem by Poe is The Raven.  Each Halloween, we dress our house up as The Raven Talon Dead & Breakfast.  Each year we add more decor along that theme, so of course when I craft my own decor, it is Poe themed!

I wanted to create something that would fit on our mantle, which isn't very wide, and a little shadowbox was the perfect thing to alter and decorate for the mantle. 

The box was actually something from Prima that held little resin embellishments. I started by painting the shadowbox and a set of Tim Holtz finials with black gesso.  Next I cut out some Tim Holtz Materialize papers for the background and glued them in place.  I also fussy cut a few poison labels from the Materialize papers.

Next I cut out my raven, gravestone and moon shapes.  I lettered the headstone by hand, adding a raven on a branch.  Then I inked the moon and gravestone with Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  After that, I glittered my raven die cut and set it aside to dry.

I rubbed distress ink over a doily and then spritzed it with water to give it a blood red color.  I also dry brushed some black gesso over a resin feather then added some glimmery acrylic paint to highlight it.  Next, I filled a few corked bottles with glitter and microbeads, adding some Liquid Pearls and sequins to the top of one bottle and some sparkly black trim to the other.

Then I began arranging and gluing all of my embellishments down, including weaving my own spider web with white thread.  To finish it all off, I added a Nevermore banner with a mini pearl and then glued the finials on to the center of the shadowbox.

Products Used
Prima: recycled embellishments wooden box; Art Basics - heavy gesso black | Tim Holtz: Idea-ology - materialize 8x8 paper stash, vignette finial set, tiny vials, corked vials, thrift shop vellum ephemera; Distress Ink - fired brick, fossilized amber, tea dye, ground espresso, hickory smoke | Ranger Ink: Glossy Accents; Liquid Pearls - key lime | Nuvo: Crystal Drops - dandelion yellow, morning dew | DoodleBug: Mini Pearls - beetle black, ladybug red | KaiserCraft: Paper Blooms - black; Mini Paper Blooms - black | Lindy's Stamp Gang: Moon Shadow Mist - incandescent copper | Silks: Acrylic Glaze - black emerald | Making Memories: Toil and Trouble - trim | 7 Gypsies: Display Trim - pyramid studs antique brass | Craft Medley: Cup Sequins - go green | Bazzill: Cardstock - zinc prismatic, honey swiss dot, battle black | The Paper Studio: Alphabet Stickers - alphabet bubble | Recollections: Extra Fine Glitter - ebony; MicroBeads - antique copper | Celebrate It: Halloween Tiny Treasures - mini pumpkins | Golden: Gel - gloss heavy | Other: moss, mini skull

All month long I'll be sharing some of my favorite Halloween projects on ASW.  Also, make sure to check out my family's blog, This Bittersweet Life, for a full house tour of our Halloween decor!

Happy Crafting!
Adrienne