Dia de Los Muertos Altered Doll ~ Creative Embellishments October Challenge

I can't believe its October already! My favourite time of year - beautiful Autumn weather and Halloween! The first of the month means a new challenge is up on the Creative Embellishments Blog. Here is October's inspiration photo and the twist for this month is to make a black & white project!

I was inspired by this month's challenge photo to create this Dia de Los Muertos Altered Doll. The project is mostly black & white (for this month's twist) - but I cheated a little with some neutral for the dress and, of course, the red roses on the Sugar Skull and in her hair.

I started off with a Barbie that I picked up from a local second hand store - I painted her white and braided and put her hair up in a style reminiscent of Frida Kahlo - I used Prima Art Extravagance Clear Sculpture Medium on her hair so that it would stay permanently styled. I made the dress in a flamenco style using tissue paper and patterned papers from Graphic 45's Curtain Call collection. All the papers are inked with Distress Ink in Black Soot. To complete the outfit, I added some handmade paper flowers, a black lace shawl and a white veil.

Nicolle (the owner of Creative Embellishments) is so awesome and cut me a smaller version of the Sugar Skulls just so I could do this project! I primed the small Sugar Skull with white gesso and used Fine Tip Sharpie to outline the details; next, I smudged the mouth with some Distress Ink in Black Soot and I used a thick black Sharpie to outline the outside of the skull and the eye/nose holes. Finally, I coated the sugar skull with a generous coat of Ranger Crackle Accents.

For the shadowbox component of the project, I used the Crackled Brick Stencil with some Liquitex Resin Sand Texture Gel - then painted the box with black gesso and sponged white gesso on to highlight the texture. I added the CE chipboard Wrought Iron Fence 4 and the hanging lamp from the Lamp Post Set. I wanted these two chipboard pieces to look light white-painted wrought iron, so I primed them with white gesso and then sponged on a mixture of White Gesso, Prima Art Alchemy Metallique Acrylic Paint in White Pearl and Prima Art Ingredients Texture Powder. Finally, I added a piece of vellum to the back of the street lamp.

The posters on the fence and wall are cut from the Curtain Call paper. I found the Dia de los Muertos poster online, converted it to black and white, printed it, and matted it on some of he Curtain Call paper.

Here are some close-ups so you can see all the details!

I hope you like my interpretation of this month's challenge - I can't wait to see what you create! Remember to follow the Rules for the Challenge so that you're eligible to win!

Challenge Rules:

• Create a NEW project (i.e., layout, mini album, tag, card, canvas, etc…) as of October 1st 2017.
• Please no back linking (meaning projects from previous months that may fit the challenge requirements). Please link only NEW projects.
• Combining the CE Challenge with other challenges is permitted.
• Please add your entry to the InLinkz box on the Challenge Post on the Creative Embellishments Blog to be eligible for the prize. You have until the last day of each month 11:55 pm eastern time to enter.
• It is required that you mention in your blog post that you are playing along at Creative Embellishments together with a link back to our blog. Please make sure to reference our challenge. 
• We would love to see you USE AT LEAST 1 OF CE products on your projects but it isn’t required to play along; however, everyone who does use CE product will get and extra chance at winning.
• WINNERS will have 2 weeks to claim their prize. The winner will be announced on the CE blog post the day after the challenge ends.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog!