Return of the Birthday Zombie

DVD Gift Box

This is a polymer clay zombie that I made for my dear friend, Beth. She and her family love zombie movies, so I came up with an idea to make the gift as cheesy as a great zombie flick. I made the zombie using polymer clay. See the Polymer Clay Zombie blog entry from last week's Terrorific Tuesday post to learn how to make your own zombie. I made him one half of an Origami box to stand in, but you could use any box. I used some Photoshop techniques on a photo I'd taken of a graveyard for the background. I tore the edges and browned them up with a sienna stamp pad and glued the pieces to the back and sides of the box.

Next I composed the following letter to go with it. If you're a zombie officianado you'll see where this is going. If you're not, I'll say this: George Romero made the first zombie classic Night of the Living Dead - It takes place in a small town in western Pennsylvania - If you're bitten by a zombie, you become one (some consider this the Zombie Virus) - Where ever zombies go there is mayhem - The most famous line from the movie is "They're coming to get you, Barbara".

Here's the letter:
Dearest Beth,

I was looking on line and found this killer cake decorator, Barbara, who makes these fabulous cakes. She works at a place called Romero’s, in a small town in western Pennsylvania. I called her up and told her about you and the kind of things you like. I was so excited! She said she’d make something spectacular for you. So, yesterday I got this strange email from the owner of the bakery:

Dear Candace,
You should know there’s been a terrible virus going around our town. None of my staff showed up at all today. Barbara started your cake, but couldn't make it in either. There are several fires in town and things are a mess. I called my delivery guys, who said they could go pick her up. I called her and said “They’re coming to get you, Barbara”, and she screamed and hung up. She never showed and I can’t get hold of the delivery guys, either. I’ve finished the cake myself and will deliver it personally. I hope it will meet your approval.
Sincerely,
George

So, in the process of moving to Utah and, yes, that's my excuse - I missed Beth's birthday. As I was putting together ideas for Alexa Westerfield's Terrorific Tuesdays, I printed photos of the birthday zombie and made them into earrings. See the SugarSkull Bracelet & Bats in the Belfry Necklace, and Candy Corn Riot Earrings blog entries, if you want to use this idea. They have all the directions you might need for shrink plastic and earring making. With one exception - to make your earrings from a photo, you'll need the inkjet printable shrink plastic.
I figured I'd send along a note set up like a movie poster and title it:

RETURN OF THE BIRTHDAY ZOMBIE.

Now, I was looking around the house for a box to send the earrings in and then it hit me - I had some old DVD cases that I'd been saving for some scathingly brilliant idea, and finally I had one!
Here's what I ended up with...

The front cover says:

Return of the Birthday Zombie

Send in the Clones

The movie that no one wanted to see made

Has been Made!

See the zombie clones arrive late for Beth's Birthday!

Well, they had a really long way to walk and zombies are slow anyway!

You laugh! you’ll Cry! You’ll hurl!

The back cover says:

This film has not yet been rated

Void where prohibited by law

Do not put on these earrings while driving

No zombies were harmed in the making of these earrings

Do not wear these earrings while squeezing your head through your stair rails as they are large and might sustain damage Here's what you'll need to make your Zombie (or any kind of) Movie Gift Box.

A DVD case

A DVD
Photos that you can size appropriately

A heavy duty hole punch

Glue

Double sided craft tape

A scrap of card stock, any color

Scissors

If you don't have a printer at home, make copies at the library or neighborhood copy store. Make extras for good measure. Speaking of measuring, you'll need the measurements of the DVD case. This can be done easily by taking the paper out of the DVD cover and measuring it. Easy peasy!

I did mine with Photoshop, but I could just as easily done it as a collage. Just make sure that the collage will easily fold to slip into the DVD case, if you choose this option.

For the DVD, place a disc on your extra copy and trace around it. Cut the copy giving a bit of extra margin to trim. Now smear a thin coat of Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue on the disc and put your cut image on it. Trim the edges with a craft knife and cut out the center hole.

Punch two holes to put the earrings through (if you're doing that) and tape the backs, so the earrings won't slide out. Ohh, I just had an idea! Since the center of my DVD that got cut out was a cake, I decided to add it back.

I got another copy of the photo and cut loosely around the cake. Next I used a double sided craft tape to stick the cake to a piece of card stock. Then I cut the cake out and used a sticky craft dot to attach the cake to the image just below the hole. Since the earrings are taped on the back of the disc, I want Beth to be able to take the disc out of the case. She'll press on the cake to release the disc!
Now, go! Go make your DVD case gift box! You're welcome to use the zombie letter and figure ideas, if you like!