It is such a pleasure to once again welcome Susan Tierney Cockburn here to the CLASSroom! You can find Susan creating some of THE most delicious baked goods on her blog My Mother's Apron Strings, so if you are tempted by wonderful desserts and loving stories you will most definitely want to visit her blog and leave her a comment on one of her delicious creations there! Susan's fine eye for detail ALWAYS amazes me - I hope you enjoy taking in this beautiful haunted house. Yes, I have to laugh when I say it, but it IS beautiful, while still being haunting. Thank you Susan for sharing this marvelous creation and story with us! -Ellen
This is the second house I have made using Eileen Hull's house by Sizzix and I find so much inspiration evoking in this case, a childhood memory, into a project I can share.
I was almost eleven and a dear friend had decided to have a Halloween party at her grandparent's old house before the family had it torn down. I helped with re-creating a haunted feeling --- adding spider webs, vats of gelatin, wooden coffins, etc. It was as authentic as anyone our ages could make. We had a great time when the rest of our classmates came for the party and I really hated to see the house get demolished a month later.
After that occasion, I saw haunted houses differently, knowing the family that had actually resided there. This replication I did for my Halloween table centerpiece reflects that feeling --- a little spooky, but also joyful. The urns, lining the path to the front door, with its "Welcome" sign, are full of brightly colored chrysanthemums. The smiling Jack O' Lantern on the fence looks mischievous!
Jack the crow on the branch of a "Tim Burton-like" tree acts as the watch dog to anyone approaching, the pumpkin patches surrounding the house waiting for pies to be baked, and the graves with the familiar "pushing daisies" symbol, marks past ancestors --- Emma Gonner and Heidi Osamigo.
Kale, maple leaves, sunflowers and all things beautiful we find in the fall surround the decrepid structure.
All the colorful fall beauty down to the tiniest of lady bugs on one leaf in memory of my daughter, Kelly. When I showed the house to my 3-year old grandson, he asked "Where's the Ghosts, Mimi?" I said, "Ari, this is a Happy Haunted House!" and left it at that. -Susan
Eileen Hull's Sizzix 3-D House Die Cut, Precut 3-D House
Dreamweaver Translucent Embossing Paste
Ranger - Distress Ink -- Black Soot, Pumice Stone, Bundled Sage
Punch Bunch Punches: Medium Begonia Petals (Kale), Mini Sunflower (Chrysanthemums and Daisies), Mini Maple Leaf (pumpkin vines), Mini Oak Leaf (fall leaves), Mini Ivy (ivy trailing up house), Small Sunflower (sunflowers by the fence), Small Tri-leaf (side bushes)
Martha Stewart Punches: Spider Web border (shutters), Mice border (mice running across back of the house)
Neenah Paper for Chrysanthemums, Sunflowers, Daisies
Double-sided Mulberry Paper for leaves
Copic Markers: Chrysanthemums - YR09, Y19, V15, RV17; Flowering Green Kale - BG93, YG63; Purple Kale - V15, BV08
Copper Foil - "silver side" used to create smoke stack
Viva Pearl Pen - Red berries and ladybug, Black for ladybug
Flower Soft - Christmas Green and Sage for the landscape; Koala Grey, Sand and Earth for the path to the door and grave sites
Styrofoam sheet to cut tombstones, then wrapped in mulberry paper and colored with Distress Ink
Fantasy Film - Dandelion for the window panes
Sakura Gelly Roll Metallic Pen - Gold to make Jack O'Lantern face
Faber Castell - XS Black pen to outline the face
Sculpey Clay - to create flower urns/gray and crow?black (baked as directed 275 degrees for 15 minutes, then brushed with Sculpy's Satin glaze to seal)
Witch hat is a gold charm covered with mulberry paper, then sponged with Bundled Sage Distress Ink and finally Metallic Rub-ons in Olive
Glue - The Ultimate
Spider webbing stretched finely to recreate webbing around parts of the house
Floral Supplies: Sycamore pods for the tree, moss in lichen for roof, honeysuckle vine twisted to construct the tree trunk and branches, as well as small wreath above the front door, flower pods that resemble pumpkins
