Dia de Los Muertos...a Celebration of a Crafty Life with Stampendous, Dreamweaver, and Glue Dots

We've been busy little hoppers for most of this fall, and this week is no exception. This week we're sharing our creativity with Glue Dots...an industry staple! These little clear dots come on runners for super convenience, really stick to just about everything, and there are sizes to accommodate every project. They're kind of like "hidden gems". You may not always see them, but you can be confident in them being there! And, as with every hop, we have wonderful prizes as shown in the banner below. All rules and stipulations can be found on the Stampendous blog HERE, but basically...leave a comment for each post from the team and on the two companies posts for a chance to win.
 

Here's what I have to share today...

As the Stampendous team have been challenged to "Bring Out the Dead", I thought I'd post my box that celebrates the life of the dead. As a traditional celebration in Latino communities, this is an occasion to celebrate the lives of loved ones that are no longer with them. I created this box as a way to save treasures and photos of those that are loved and missed.

The base is simply a paper maché box from the local craft store. The box portion was painted with DecoArt Americana Chalky Finish white paint. When dry, the sides were ink-stenciled in Onyx Versafine using the Dreamweaver Damask stencil. I applied my heat tool to the sides to set the ink, before swiping turquoise dye inks across the surface. Then I used the Andy Skinner Industrial "Crackle" image with brown ink around the box, and smudged black as well.
For the lid, I taped the Dreamweaver Quatrafoil stencil on all four sides, and spread Matte Black Embossing Paste smoothly over the design. The stencil was removed to be cleaned immediately, and lid set aside to dry. When dry, I replaced the cleaned and dried stencil, and spread Crackle Embossing Paste over the surface, leaving it smooth and slightly thicker for a better crackle finish. Once again, removing the stencil to be cleaned, and setting the lid to dry. The Crackle Paste dries white, so more of the turquoise ink was worked into the surface with a dauber. The outside edge of the lid was inked in browns, smudged with black, and a bit of Stampendous Fran•tagé Aged Black and Aged Bronze enamels were heated on the corners, as well as the corners of the box.

Now comes the fun part. The Cling Sugar Skull image was stamped on ivory cardstock, colored with Copic markers, and cut to fit the opening of the frame, along with an extra bunch of the colored flowers. The frame itself was one of the inexpensive $1 frames from Michael's, which I daubed Matte Black Embossing Paste over the surface for texture. When dry, I daubed it with VersaMark ink and sprinkled it liberally with both of the Aged enamels, and a some broken up Teal and Caramel Color Fragments. When heated, it all melded together. I used the Glue Dots® Craft to adhere the frame to the box, and used the Glue Dots® Minis to adhere the extra flowers to the frame, and the pompom trim around the edge of the box. That was the simplest part of the whole project, and very necessary to the overall effect, don't you think?

Here is where you leave me a sweet comment, and move on to the rest of the links. Be sure to visit often...I like the company!

Stampendous Stamps Blog

Pam Bray

Jamie Martin

Louise Healy

Kristine Reynolds

Janelle Stollfus

Pam Hornschu

Wendy Price

Tenia Nelson

Lea Fritts

Glue Dots Blog