Dia de Muertos

I was overjoyed to be chosen as one of the 12 Tags of 2016 winners on Tim Holtz's blog.  I was absolutely over the moon when I got my prize!  It contained Tim's Day of the Dead #1 Stamps!!  These stamps were at the top of my "I want those!" list.  Although I have a million and one things going on in my life right now, I just had to stop and create a project that highlighted these amazing stamps.

I started with a 7 Gypsies Triptych that I had in my stash.  I covered the three panels with some printed paper from Tim's Idea-ology Materialize paper pad.  I added some extra detail to the left and right panels by stamping with one of Tim's great flourish stamps.  After I had colored my focal skeletal figures, I realized that those panels needed a little more black.  I grabbed some Gothic Remnant Rubs and randomly applied bits and pieces in "blank" spots around the flourish until I felt like I had enough black.   I used a great tip from Paula Cheney to "get rid of" the faint outlines that you can see on remnant rubs after you have applied them to a project.  I gave the panels a light coat of Distress Collage Medium (matte).  The stamped flourish and remnant rubs all have the same level of black luster on now.  Finally, the panels were embellished with Idea-ology tape, decorative ribbon, Carved Pumpkin Distress Stained flowers, and some Tattered Flower Garland die cut flowers.

I absolutely love these Tim Holtz hinges.  I added some Black Soot Distress Marker around the edges to look like they were tarnishing.

And now for the stars of this show.  I stamped each of my Day of the Dead images about three times on Glossy Cardstock.  For the suave señor above, I fussy cut the entire image out.  On one of the duplicate stamped images, I fussy cut the brim of the hat and the roses on the right side of the stamped image.  On a third copy of the stamped image, I cut out the just the skull.  I colored them with Distress Crayons and a Fine Tip Water Brush.  Wow!!!!  Love the vibrant colors.  I scribbled all of my crayons on my craft mat and used my water brush to add layers of color onto the stamped images.  When I finished coloring (oh ... I could seriously color these stamped images for hours), I layered all my pieces together using foam squares.  This gave me more of a 3-dimensional image.  For the long-stemmed rose in my Senor's teeth, I added some lime green wire for the stem.

I did the same treatment for the lovely Señorita (or señora) above.  Don't you love her trendy purple-streaked hair?  The layers I fussy cut for her were the garland of flowers at the bottom, her hands, the heart, and her skull. When you put them all together with foam squares, the effect is just too cool!!!

Last but now least is my Day of the Dead sign.  Once again, I used some of Tim's Halloween paper.  I used an On the Edge Bracket die to scallop the top and bottom of the sign.  A Black Soot Distress Marker along with Tarnished Silver and Seedless Preserves Distress Paints were used to age the edges.  The Dia de Muertos letters came from Tim's Sign Maker Alpha Parts.  I painted them with Seedless Preserves and Ripe Persimmon Distress Paint.  The painted letters were given a little "distress love" with a towel while the  paint was still tacky. After the letters were applied to the sign, I used a silver pen to add some "drop shadows". Some of Tim's Tattered Flower Garland flowers were layered (and edged with silver pen) to give the sign a focal point.  I added some Crypt Cameos from Tim Holtz's amazing Halloween line and the sign was complete.

I'm going to enter my Dia de Muertos triptych in

Emerald Creek Dares: Falling Into Celebration  for my Day of the Dead celebration piece
Country View Challenges: All Things Spooky
A Vintage Journey's Make It Spooky Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes
Frilly and Funkie's:  A Very Vintage Halloween Challenge
Anything But Cute Challenge:  An Autumn Day

Thanks for dropping by.   I hope you've found a fall season crafting muse as well!  Now if I can only get my work done :)  -- Mary Elizabeth