Instructions

1. Working on the Non-Stick Craft Sheet, use an Ink Blending tool with foam to distress #8 Manila Tag with Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge and Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.

2. Spray some water into your hand from the Mister Bottle and flick it onto the tag. Wait a few seconds for the water to react with the ink and blot with a paper towel to mottle the tag’s surface.

3. Lightly spray the tag with Biscotti Perfect Pearls Mist and heat set with Heat it Craft Tool.

4. Emboss the tag with Poison Texture Fade.

5. Take a small piece of Cut ‘N Dry Foam, add Black Soot Distress Ink then lightly rub over the raised areas of the embossed images on the tag.

6. Distress the edges of the tag with Black Soot Distress Ink.

7. Use a Black Soot Distress Marker to color in the indented areas of the tag: “Poison” and parts of the skull and poison.

8. Add a piece of vintage lace die cut from black cardstock to the bottom of the tag using 1/8” Wonder Tape.

9. Stamp the hanging spider from Mini Halloween 2 with Jet Black Archival Ink. Add Black Diamond Stickles to accent the spider. Also lightly go around the outside edge of the tag with Black Diamond Stickles. Set aside to dry.

10. Glue a piece of white cardstock together and stamp two skeletons. (This makes them more sturdy for the jointed mechanism). Cut out the body and head of one skeleton and just the arms and legs out of the other skeleton. Leave extra “tabs” of cardstock on the interior of the top of the arms and legs that you have cut out separately. These tabs should be located to the inside of where the current holes will be punched. This will create a jointed skeleton (tabs will all be hidden behind the body). I also left a slight white edge of cardstock all the way around the skeleton’s body when cutting all of the pieces out.

11. Edge all of the skeleton using a Black Soot Distress Marker and just running it around the edge of the cardstock.

12. Punch a MINI hole on the dots for holes that are already indicated on the arms and legs of the skeleton stamp. Then punch those same holes on the body where indicated.

13. Punch another set of little holes just to the INSIDE of the holes you’ve already punched on the arms and legs only. (These will be behind the body and not visible. This is where the string will later be attached to make the jointed skeleton move).

14. Cut pieces of string long enough to run through the arm holes and the leg holes and tie them together; approximately 6 – 8 inches. Start with the arms. Run the string through one of the INTERIOR holes on the arm. Then set that arm in place on the body by running a mini brad through both holes in the body and the hole in the arm that does not have the string running through it. LOOSELY fold down the prongs on the brad so that the arms can move freely.

15. Run the string through the INSIDE hold on the other arm. Attach that arm to the body in the same way you did the other arm. LOOSELY fold down the prongs so that you don’t restrict the movement of the arm. Don’t tie the string together yet; just lay it out flat.

16. Repeat this same method for attaching the legs to the body. At the end of this step, the arms and legs should have string running through the INSIDE holes and they should be LOOSELY attached to the body by mini brads. Strings should all be lying out to the sides.

17. Move the arms and legs out so that the interior holes (with the strings running through them) are at their furthest distance from each other. If you have excess cardstock on the tabs and it is hindering the movement of your arms or legs, clip it off now. With arms and legs still outstretched, tie the arm string together, joining the arms by a circle of string. Clip off excess string. With the legs still outstretched, tie the string together, joining the legs by a circle of string. Clip off excess string.

18. Now cut about 15” of black string and put a needle on one end of it. This will help you in guiding the string down the backside of the skeleton while you are joining the string attached to the arms and legs.

19. With arms and legs still outstretched, run the 15” string underneath the string tied at the arms. Run the 15” string completely around the little circle of string that you have tied at the arms. Now tie a couple of small knots in the center of the back to secure the 15” string to the arm string.

20. Run the 15” string down the center of the back and run it underneath the circle of string that you have tied at the legs. Run the 15” string completely around the little circle of string that you have tied at the legs. Be sure the string running between the arms and legs is taut. Tie a couple of knots in the center of the back to secure the 15” string to the leg string. This long string will become the “pull” string and will create the movement of the arms and legs when the string is pulled down.

21. You may need to adjust the tightness of your mini brads and the tightness of the strings for the movement to work properly.

22. Attach some orange and black beads to the bottom portion of the pull string. Then attach the bat from Tim Holtz’ Seasonal Adornments.

23. To attach the bat, use the larger hole of Tim’s Drill Punch. Center the bat’s head and start winding the punch down. You have to keep working at it because the metal on the bat is pretty thick at his head, but the punch will eventually get through it. Then run the string from the front to the back of the head and tie several knots on the back side of the head.

24. Stamp the witch’s hat from Halloween Minis 2 onto orange cardstock. No need to stamp the entire image, just the hat. Cut around it, leaving a slight orange edge. Run a Black Soot Distress Marker around all of the edges. Then lay the hat down and cut around it onto orange cardstock (to finish off the back of the hat). Make a slit in the stamped witch’s hat, using a Craft Knife. Be sure you have some sort of matting underneath the hat before you make your slit. This cut is where the skeleton’s head will slip into.

25. Glue JUST THE OUTSIDE EDGES OF THE HAT. Do NOT glue the slit area and DO NOT GLUE the upper point of the hat. You will slide ribbon in between the hat at the top and THEN glue it into place later.

26. Put a touch of glue on the front and back of the skeleton’s head and slide it into place.

27. Add a piece of narrow black ribbon, approximately 10” long to the top of the hat and glue into place. Add two more strips of ribbon approximately 5” long right above where it joins where the other ribbon is glued into the hat and tie them together. Slit the ribbons to create more little ribbons at the top of the tag. Cut off any excess length that you do not like.

28. Create the loop for the tag out of the remaining long piece of ribbon glued to the hat. Run the ribbon through the hole in the tag and tie it into place at the top of the tag with a couple of knots. Cut off the excess tail to blend in with the other smaller ribbons. Slit the remaining tail so that it blends in with the other pieces of ribbon at the top of the tag.

29. Accent the witch’s hat with Black Diamond Stickles and let dry.