My mansion is finished!

I was so opting for keeping a more steady flow of posting to my poor blog but every time I write that I seem to jinx it so today I won´t make any such promises.

In my previous post I showed you my little house that I started on and today and I can say that I´m finished with it!

I started out with some empty pizza boxes that I die cut. After assembling all the pieces - and there were a lot of pieces - I covered it up using white gesso. I tried to color it with distress markers but they took ages to dry (I had to use the heat embossing tool). After leaving it for about two weeks, totally frustrated on how to continue, I just decided that I would finish it today. So I picked up some basic water colors and added the gloomy details to the chimneys, door and window frames. 

Now I have to tell you about the structure of those roofs. That was such a happy accident. I had dugged out my Rock Candy crackled paint for them aiming for that look but since my colors where water soluble they just mixed together. So I used a rather hard brush and stippled the surface and vóila! 

Here is a close-up of my messy painted spooky mansion:

So what did I learn? Let´s see....

• If I (ever) wanna use plain cardboard again - decorate the pieces before assembling the house. The pieces are tiny and hard to paint when they´re in place.
• So opting for colored or structured cardstock the next time I´ll do it.
• Was I frustrated? Yes!
• Will I ever do one again? OH YES! Can´t wait to make a pretty one + some extra smaller ones for Christmas.

Now it sits in our living room on the sideboard and when you don´t look too close at it it´s looking spooky enough.

Hugs, Carina