Saturday Step by Step - Haunted Tiny Houses

Welcome friends! It's Sara Emily here bringing you today's Step By Step. Since our current challenge is 'Tis Near Halloween, I decided to make some Haunted Tiny Houses. I'll be sharing what I call my Smokey Mercury Glass technique that I've used on these three houses and my journal  covers HERE. This is a pretty lengthy post, so pull up a chair and sit a 'spell'! Click on any photo to make it larger.

These Tiny Houses are so fun to make, and I can see them as a must have for any holiday's decor project. How about tucking in a gift card to give as a house warming gift? I had so much fun decorating them for Halloween after assembling them. TIP: A quick drying, strong adhesive such as Glossy Accents or Multi Medium Matte is a must have for getting those roofs installed. Links to both are below.

If I get bored looking at one side of my houses, I can always turn them around!

I've used a trio of Linda's spooky charms for my houses, and I finished them in no time with a dab of Antique Linen Distress paint, followed by a quick heat gun blast for an enameled look. I added some Distress crayon to the spider web while it was still hot, and it melts right on. Need to stock up on charms? Now's a great time, since Linda has all of her Filigree Metals and Charms in the shop on sale for an ADDITIONAL 15% off until October 26.

Here are the steps I took to make my background papers for one larger Tiny House and the small Tiny House.

1. Die cut Tiny Houses from silver Kraft Metallic card stock.

2. Scuff metallic surface using steel wool pad and wipe off dust residue. I found this to be a very important step to get the results I like. It helps the paint to grab just enough.

3. Sponge or paint Distress Ground Espresso paint over entire metallic surface. Dry partially and wipe with clean cloth. This will leave you with very subtle color. You can choose how much color to leave, and every one of my projects came out differently.

4. Sponge or paint Black Soot Distress paint over the entire metallic surface. Again you can go heavy or light, depending on your preference. While the paint is still wet, spritz with water either lightly or heavily depending on how much 'swirling' you want to see.

5. Dry with a heat tool, chasing around the watery paint for more swirls.

6. Assemble house.

For this house, I added a few steps before assembling.

1. Die cut the aperture.  Most unfortunately, I placed my card the wrong side down while I was cutting. Too late to turn back now!

2. Smudge crayon around the opening.

3. On a separate 'wall' die cut, heat emboss stamped image repeatedly  in white on kraft side. (For each house you need two walls and one roof.)

4. Blend with Wilted Violet Distress Oxide, splash with water and let dry. Wipe embossed image carefully with clean damp cloth to remove ink.

5. Glue layers of corrugate board behind stamped and heat embossed skull and adhere to back wall. Be sure to do this before assembling the house.

6. After assembling, I realized you could see through the bottom, because of the aperture. Duh! I made a 'floor' for this one by cutting a rectangle shape from my 'test' piece of card. I was pleased I could get it to fit so well and that the pattern lined up nicely with the pattern on the 'wall'. (see photo above) I painted the bottom black to finish.

For the third house, I heat embossed my metallic card prior to applying paint. This is the same technique I used for my JOURNAL COVERS. (On the journal covers I did my Archival stamping first, then heat embossed over them, applying paints, then crayons, last.)

1. Die cut as above.

2. Scuff surface with steel wool and remove dust as above.

3. Heat emboss stamped image using clear embossing powder; I used a border stamp, repeating the pattern.

4. When completely cooled, apply Ground Espresso paint, dry partially and wipe as above.

5. Apply Black Soot paint, then spritz and dry as above.

6. While card is still warm, scribble with Distress crayons--I used Black Soot and Seedless Preserves.

7. Smudge with finger to blend.

8. Splash with water drops and allow to dry or heat dry.

9. Stamp images with Archival ink and heat set.

10. Assemble house.

I haven't tried this with alcohol inks yet, but I think you could get some really cool results with them in place of paints.

Here's how I made my roofs.

1. Cut rooftops using die and chipboard. Apply brown rust paste; I used a brush.

2. Dry with a heat tool to get that bubbly texture.

3. Scribble with crayon and heat set. I also did the crack where the fold line is and the edges.

4. For the bat roof, I painted the chipboard die cut with Black Soot paint, dried and applied black crackle paint through the bat stencil. I did one 'side' of the roof first, dried, and did the other side, so the bats faced the right direction viewed from either side.

Here are the houses individually, so you can see the details. The cute/spooky cat is from my stash.

I don't usually cut off little boys heads, but I made a terrible coloring mistake, and it was either off with the heads or throw the ephemera in the trash.

I used Impasto paint to give texture to "boo" and the hand cut witch hat. Is it just my eyes playing tricks on me, or is that a ghostly figure behind the boys? Is that why they look so frightened?

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial. There's still time to get your craft on and play along with our current challenge 'Tis Near Halloween. You have until this Tuesday, October 24th to wow us with your Halloween or orange, black and purple inspired vintage or shabby project. YOU may be our lucky or chosen winner or one of three Top Picks, so come play along! It would be a grave  mistake to miss this challenge!

Thank you for stopping by Frilly and Funkie today!

Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily

The following products used on this project can be found at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 10PK - Handwritten Halloween by Tim Holtz	Tim Holtz Sized Arches Sizzix Alterations Movers and Shapers Dies	(February Pre-order) Sizzix Bigz L Die - Tiny Houses by Tim Holtz	Halloween Mixed Media die	Core′dinations - Tim Holtz Ranger- Metallic Kraft Core - 6 x 6 Kraft Core Cardstock Pack
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Undertaker	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #3 TDBK47926 (February Pre-order)	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #2 TDBK47919 (February Pre-order)	(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Wilted Violet	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Dusty Concord
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Weathered Wood	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Black Soot	Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Paint	VersaMark Watermark Ink Stamp Pad	(Late May Pre-order) Prima Art Extravagance - Rust Paste - Brown Rust 8.45 oz
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Linen Ribbon	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Watering Can	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Embossing Powder - Watering Can	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Ledger Script	Stampers Anonymous Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamps - Art and You
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Batground	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Alpha Parts Wicked	(February Pre-order) Graphic 45 - Midnight Masquerade Stamp Set 3	Ranger Multi Medium Matte 1 oz.	Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents
(JULY PRE-ORDER) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Wild Honey	Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Ink Pad	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Antique Linen	Charm Pendant - Set of 5 Silvertone Skeletons	Charm Pendant - Set of 3 Silvertone Spider Web & Skull
Charm Pendant - Set of 5 Silverstone Spiders	Ranger Embossing Powder CLEAR	Tim-Holtz-Idea-ology-HALLOWEEN-Ephemera-Pack