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It's all about whimsy, art and Halloween!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

31 Days of Halloween - Happy Halloween! Dia de los Muertos Shrine for Conan



Oh my heck!  It's Halloween on the Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop! Yea! What a fabulous month!  I love all the wonderful projects that I'm seeing on my daily hops!  Take a bow, Wicked Bloggers!

Below are all the fabulous bloggers:


Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a wonderful holiday that celebrates the lives of loved ones who have passed. One of the symbols of the holiday is the sugar skull, usually decorated in bright colors. I wanted to use the sugar skull icon in a shrine for our dog that we lost early in the year, but I did not want them to be the focus.
I punched out skulls from colorful card stock and glittered them in monotones. I started the shrine by covering Conan's bowls with handmade tiles, beads, baubles and all kinds of things that have meaning for our family.
It's not a traditional mosaic process. I glued everything on with hot glue and did not grout. I made a polymer clay sugar skull to add as a finishing touch.
Let's start with that tutorial and go from there.

Materials:
Polymer clay
Mark making tools - needle tool, pencil, craft knife
Glitter in several colors
Glue Black felt pen
Card stick in several bright colors
Skull shaped punch - I used Martha Stewart's Glitter glue in the colors of your card stock Silk flowers in bright colors
Hot glue
I was so happy to find Martha Stewart's Halloween glitter kit!  The little glue bottle has a tiny nozzle - perfect for delicate work.
To make the polymer clay skull - use my shape as a guide. Shape it on your work surface to keep the back flat.
Bake as directed.
Color in the eyes, nose and teeth with the felt pen.
Add tiny dots of glue where you want one color of glitter.
Sprinkle glitter. Tap off excess glitter. Repeat for each color.Allow to dry.
Now for the Dia de los Muertos border:Punch out the skulls.
Outline and make designs with glitter glue the same color as the paper. Allow to dry.
Here are the mosaiced bowls in a dimensional frame. Due to the heaviness of the bowls, I glued and screwed them on the backing.
Alternate silk flowers and skulls all the way around the inside edge.

And there's a rat!


16 comments:

  1. great technique! looks great!thank you for all the wonderful inspiration during the 31days! :) x

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  2. awww, what a sweet tribute! love the idea of turning his bowls into frames, and no-grout is right up my alley.

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  3. How very sweet this shrine to your dog is! We just love then so much, don't we? It has been very interesting to read your tutorials and get to know your thought process and your working process through them. I am so glad to have met you this way!

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  4. This is such a touching and heartwarming display! Thanks for all the inspiration this month as well as all the fabulous tutorials!

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  5. Looks great. I have loved seeing your projects this 31 Days
    Hugs xxx

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  6. Fantastic project and what a great way to memorialize your beloved pet. I know what it's like to lose them. Thank you for sharing all the work you did, it was inspirational and gave me some good ideas. Thank you for the fun and I hope you will visit my blog again as I will be visiting yours.

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  7. wow this is so very cool, love it

    thanks for sharing all your awesome projects in the 31 days

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  8. What a fabulous tribute to your precious doggie! So wonderful!

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  9. Beautiful project! Thanks for sharing your art work with us all month! Happy Halloween!
    Peace,
    Kristy

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  10. What a fabulous memorial to a loved one. Fabulous piece to end this magnificent month xxx

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  11. what a great project to celebrate his life...love it.

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  12. Such a fabulous make with so many wonderful intricate details, love it
    Lindsay xx

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  13. Wonderful project! Great details and colors.

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  14. Oh what a lovely shrine for Cononn! Kinda making me teary eyed. Obviously a labor of love. Thanks for sharing your wonderful creativity all month. Fabulous work. xxD

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