My Spooky Haunted House

I make at least one 3D project every Halloween and this is one of this year's creations.  I actually put the house together last year, but I made it after Halloween.  I simply set it up on my bookcase and waited not so patiently for this year to roll around.  I did add all the little embellishments to the house this year, I guess I needed a break after making it! This post is wordy, so grab a snack; you just might get stuck in the Haunted House!

What I Used to Make my Haunted House:
Black Cardstock 
Tim Holtz/Sizzx Village Dwelling, #660992
Tim Holtz/Sizzx Village Manor, #661591
Tim Holtz/Idea-o-logy Paper Dolls, Ancestors, #TH93723
Acetate
Alcohol Ink in Butterscotch, #TIM21964 {any antique looking color would work}
Grey Card
Silver Brads {small}
Assorted Spooky Stuff from My Stash {pumpkin, ghost}
The bat & the black cat were gifts 

I love little houses!  I remember as a child we used to have a entire village set

Top of the House - the bat has
sparkly eyes

up at Christmas time on top of television set - yes, back in the day when you actually could put stuff on your television!  I enjoy Halloween much more than any holiday, so instead of making another Putz house, I made this house.  And I am not giving this one away!

Front of the House

I didn't take any pictures during the construction of my house, mostly because I honestly wasn't sure it would even be blog worthy.  Thank goodness I didn't try to make a video - it would have been full of beeps!  I admire people who can craft something like this without a bump in the road; my road was so bumpy I could barely stay on it!  But, all the work, aggravation, irritation, and swearing was worth it. I also knew that the lovely and talented Tim Holtz had put out videos on making these houses, so why duplicate efforts?  

Here is the video that Tim put out to make the initial Village Dwelling - if you don't have these dies and want to get them, watch this video first {plus, do a Google search on both of them; there are multiple places to purchase them much more cheaply than the above link to Sizzix.}  I went & bought the extender pads before I watched this video {I didn't know that much about die cutting and I knew I wanted these dies to work perfectly} because it turns out you don't need to spend the extra money - I honestly don't even know where mine are.  Also, here's the video Tim did using the Village Manor, which is much better than any pictures I could have taken.  

Poor guy!

Once the house was constructed, I used the alcohol ink to age some acetate, cut it up into squares, and taped it behind all the windows.  I was initially going to put a battery tea light inside, but the way the house is made doesn't allow for one where I wanted to put it.  When the light was at the bottom, you could barely see it, so that idea was out.  Instead, I put a man in one window and some feisty looking witches on the side of the house.  I found the brads, black cat, pumpkin, and ghost figure in my stash. I suspect the pumpkin is a Tim Holtz/Idea-o-logy product from a bit back.  I LOVE Halloween so much, I buy a ton of little embellishments and then pack them away.  I have the "I don't want to use this in case I can never find it

again" syndrome when I try to use any of them.  So, they sit, year after year, packed up so nicely.  And every year I swear I'm going to use them.  Ha ha ha - I lie to myself too much!  In any case, once the last details were adhered to the house, I was done.  

I thank you for stopping by to read my post.  I can't really call this a tutorial as I didn't really tell you how to make anything but, at the very least, you got to see that the house can be made! Have a wonderful day ~ fondly, Christi

I am entering my Spooky Haunted House in the following challenges:
Die Cut Diva's - M, Autumn and Halloween
Dream in Darkness - M, HALLOWEEN!!!
Scrap from Your Heart - M, #26, Use Dies
Dies R Us - #107. Anything Fall 
Crop Stop - M, Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything But a Card {entry 2}
Frilly and Funkie - Haunted Halloween

I Love You Easel Card

I hate to admit it, but this is my very first easel card, ever.  I was never good with patterns {even though there have been many of them floating around the internet}, all that resizing and the need to cut a straight line was just too much for me.  However, when I was browsing my Silhouette files I saw I had purchased one that was an easel card and today was as good a day as ever to try one out! And, honestly, I had a new DCWV pad that needed to be broken in.

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card
Silhouette CAMEO Machine
Lori Whitlock's A2 Easel Card Be My Valentine, File #117356
Hero Arts Stamp & Cut, Hello, #DC151
Core'dinations Pastel Pink Paper {used as base}
DCWV Copper Luxury Paper Stack {hope they didn't close!}
Wink of Stella in Clear
White Brad

Yes, I'm spoiled.  All those complicated cards are a breeze now thanks to the

The card closed

electronic cutting machines and all the dies that can do the hard work for you.  I don't care; I think this is a beautiful card! There really is no tutorial because Lori Whitlock has put together a fabulous one; it's a generic tutorial for all of her easy easel cards.  If you happen to have any type of Silhouette machine, consider purchasing the file for this card.  It was super easy to make and lots of fun.  

In fact, the card was easy to see how to construct just by looking at the pieces.  The one thing I

Ah ha! It's a brad!

couldn't figure out {before I watched the tutorial} was how the cards stayed "up" like an easel.  I realized I'd never looked that hard at one of the cards to see the brad!  How ingenious, and frankly, since these cards are so striking, who's gonna be bothered looking for how it works {well, I did, but only because I was making one}? 

I did discover how to fix a mistake I make often - putting glue on the wrong side of the cardstock.  At

least in this case I quickly wiped the glue off with a baby wipe and then covered the heart in clear Wink of Stella - ta da! No glossy tell tale glue marks on this heart! If you look closely, you can see the wonderful Wink sparkle.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my short post and my lovely card.  The patterns and colors of the Copper Luxury stack are perfect for any cards or projects you might have on your 'to do' list.  Thanks so much for visiting ~ Christi


I would like to enter my Love You Easel Card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Layer it Up
Cardz for Galz - Anything but Square {I hope this qualifies!}
a2z Scrapbooking - M, New to Me {never made this type of card before}
Joy Clair - Dec/Jan, Make it Pop!
Wednesday's Creative Inspirations Challenge - M, Something New!
Die Cuttin' Divas - M, Something New {2}
Fussy and Fancy - #204, Fussy and Fancy
SumMoreFun Mood Board - #20