Imaginarium Designs

October Spookiness 

By Sue Smyth 

I love decorating, whether it is for Halloween or Christmas 

so each year I make a spooky book to 

use in a Halloween display.

I have been experimenting with lashed binding

on the spine and wanted to incorporate it in this project.

This year I wanted to do Dracula's Diary and I had the

idea in my head for most of the year.

I wanted to use fangs and bats and trinkets along 

with a neat key or two.

Here I have embossed one of the chipboard swords with

Stampendous aged silver embossing powder, it is 

great for covering chipboard and is even better when 

done twice.

The fangs were painted black, then cut in half.

then rubbed over with gold paint, 

I have stuffed the top of them

with shredded muslin.

I have painted the trinket with black gesso, let sit

for a minute or two then wipe 90 percent of

it off with a baby wipe for a better

antiqued look.

My boys love dragons, and I found in Kmart

some plastic dragons and a mini castle play set(see below)

and thought this would make a great 3 D top for a box.

I love the texture of the castle, once you

paint it with black gesso and add colour over the top

the texture is enhanced.

I love the vibrant dragons eye, quite by

accident I put lots of black seed beads

around and they kinda covered the edges

like the eyelids of a dragon.

The head I cut off the toy and glued onto the

top of the castle.

I wrapped black fibre around the base and

pushed into the glue to add strength.

That lovely Dragon eye.

The wing I wanted to have a red tinge to it

so I have added red inka gold over the top of the blue and 

purple inka gold.

This is toy set I used...so cool

The base was a box from Couture Creations Seasons Greeting

set 

Add you layer of texture using chipboard and 

adhering it down with gel medium.

After adding a layer of texture paste with a stencil

that resembles scales, I added the Emma frame

but cut it up to fit.

Once you have all of your texture on,

paint with black gesso, I think

this is kind of nice even with out the 

next layer of paint.

Now dry brush with after midnight Dylusions paint. 

This gives the box a bright blue hum under the 

final layers.

Then dry brush cobalt inka gold over top with a fan

brush.

Then add spots of purple and green as desired.

Finish with a final layer of Art Alchemy Metallique gold wax.

I have included a few photos of my altered book display for 

Halloween.

This is why I do so many, they look cool on display dont you think?

Happy Crafting 

From Sue