Coffin Deluxe

"Little coffins on the hillside.  Little coffins made of ticky tacky and they all look just the same..."

La la la la la --theme song from original "Weeds" with a Halloween twist?

Halloween is THE BOMB at my house!

I turn into Igor, my craft room becomes a lab, and I have an excuse for all the spider webs in the dormers!

Found some plain old wooden coffins (miniature) at Michaels last year.

I noticed they're selling them this year too, but I got them for 30 cents each on super sale in December.

Of course, plain old pine simply won't do for corpses in MY house!

Only Deluxe will do, so I started with a coat of black acrylic paint.

Then I drew some fun designs on top with chalk and then went over them with black dimensional fabric paint to raise the design.  Tacky glue works too, but tends to run a bit.

After the raised design was dry I applied another coat of black acrylic to the top.  The black was better than pine, but still unrealistic and boring.

UNTIL...

I found these awesome little metallic rub-ons in my stash!  I bought them at a thrift store, but here's what I can tell you about them...they're about the consistency of gel eyeshadow and you need to apply some spray fixative after applying so they don't rub off.

Perfect for highlighting the raised design and bringing out the wood grain.

Coffin Lining!  (Corpses like that extra somethin' inside too)

Decoupage to the rescue.

(For general instructions check out Mod Podge Rocks!)

Paper/Design resource...

This gorgeous little Physiology book from the early 1900s

I don't usually tear apart books, but the pages were rotting and falling out already and someone had already used them as notebook paper.

The images are FABULOUS!

So I got out my scissors, mod podge, and some distress ink for antiquing...

Now for some embellishment!

For embellishment I decided to add a little BOO from the graphics fairy. To cut the circles out perfectly I used my circle punch rather than trust my cutting skills.

First, I reduced the letters to the size of my circle punch (5/8") and added an orange boarder. and printed out onto cardstock.

Here's a tip to help you punch perfectly...

1.  Attach a small piece of double sided foam tape to the top of your punch

2.  Now tape the entire punch, upside down, onto your work top

3.  Cut images into workable strips, feed through punch and line up the image with the punch space. Now press on the side of the punch.  The image should pop right out onto your workspace.

Now isn't that a happy little corpse!

Perfect for filling with a treat or two and gift giving.

I did put aside my favorite coffin for an extra special project.

I'll fill you in on the gory details later this week! 

Edit 10/10:  This project featured at...

Thank You!

Linking To:

        
Brag Monday at Graphics Fairy

Craft-O-Maniac Mondays

Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Making Mondays Marvelous #74 at C.R.A.F.T.

Fall Fever at Every Creative Endeavor

Whatever Goes Wednesday #86 at Someday Crafts

Show & Tell at Blue Cricket