Vintage Muffin Tins Become Halloween Treats

I purchased two vintage muffin tins to hold charms and beads at sales but don't really use them anymore. Rather than sell them off at a yard sale, I saw some inspiration on Pinterest so I made these two crusty, creepy Halloween decorations!

For the piece on the right, I didn't have step-by-step photos, but I'll list all the ingredients after the how-to for the one on the left.

Supplies:
Muffin tin
Distress Grit Paste
Distress Paint: Black Soot and Picket Fence
Distress Ink: Black Soot and Walnut Stain
Alcohol Ink: Mushroom, Gold Mixative and Pitch Black
Tim Holtz Transparent Tile (skulls only)
Tim Holtz Halloween paper stash (older version for cobweb designs and skeleton)
Tim Holtz Skulls
Tim Holtz Decorative Domes
Tim Holtz Word Key
Tim Holtz Tombstones
Glossy Accents
E6000
Foam dots
Moss
Plastic Spider
Vintage silver glass glitter
Cork vial of glitter
Twine

Tools:
Foam brush (small)
Cotton swabs
Scissors
Wire cutters (I use an old pair from jewelry-making)

First, I found a small glass that fit snugly in the bottom of a muffin cup. I traced it out and it became my template for the background of each muffin cup. I found light and dark cobweb paper from the stash and traced/cut out three of each design.

I edged each in Distress Ink Black Soot and set them aside.

Next, I added Grit Paste to the the muffin tin using my finger. I only used a thin layer and once I had good coverage, I used my finger to tap on the Grit Paste to make peaks and crevices. I didn't do all of the cups since the papers would be covering them up.

After letting the Grit Paste dry for a full day, I used the foam brush to add a layer of the Distress Paint Black Soot.

Next, I glued the paper circles to the muffin tins with Glossy Accents. For the transparent tiles, I added some Distress Paint in Picket Fence to the backs of the skulls so they stood out more on the paper.

To keep the transparent tiles in place, I used the E6000.

I used Glossy Accents to hold the skeleton scrap in place.

Now for the super messy parts I didn't get photos of! I used a few drops of Mushroom Alcohol Ink on the inside of the glass Decorative Dome and used a cotton swab to move it around. I then added it to the skull and the piece of cork that became the pedestal for the skull to rest on. It was too tall for the dome so I used the wire cutters to snip it down to size. I swabbed on a bit of the Gold Mixative to lighten it up a bit.

Once dry, I glued the skull to the cork with E6000 and then glued the cork to the base of the Decorative Dome. With everything dry, I added a pool of Glossy Accents and a few pinches of vintage silver glass glitter.

With that dry, I added dabs of of E6000 to lip of the dome and settled it into its base. Once it dried, I used E6000 to glue it to the paper in the muffin tin.

For the tombstone, I used the wire snips to remove the cross so it would fit in the tin. It seemed too 'new' for this piece so I added Mushroom alcohol ink to it to grunge it up. I glued a stack of foam dots together and then glued them to the back of the tombstone with Glossy Accents. To affix it all to the paper in the muffin tin, I added E6000 to the now super thick foam dot and the base of the tombstone and set it in place.

I added Glossy Accents to the remaining empty muffin cup and then put a chunk of moss inside. I added E6000 to the flat side of the plastic spider and set it on the moss.

I put Glossy Accents on the sides of the tin with the dome and tombstone and tucked in small bits of the moss to fill in the blank spots.

I added some Pitch Black alcohol ink to the key to make it look dingy and glued it in place with E6000.

For finishing touches, I added Distress Crayon in Hickory Smoke to the letters of the key to make them stand out more. I used a cotton swab to wipe the excess away.

I added the crayon in Cracked Pistachio, Hickory Smoke, Twisted Citron, and Forest Moss and blended it all with that same cotton swab. I love the crusty green it became!

As I let it sit, I may change the twine hanger or grunge it up a bit more.

As promised, for the original muffin tin, here are the supplies I used:

Distress Grit Paste
Distress Paint: Walnut Stain
Alcohol Ink: Mushroom
Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
Distress Stain: Walnut Stain
Tim Holtz Halloween Paper Stash (older version for backgrounds and photos)
Distress Glitter in Vintage Photo
Tim Holtz Boneyard (colored with Mushroom AI)
Tim Holtz Wishbones (colored with Mushroom AI)
Tim HoltzTiny Vials (colored with Mushroom AI)
Tim HoltzApothecary Bottle
Tim Holtz Halloween Word Band (colored with Mushroom AI)
Tim Holtz Key Adornment (colored with Mushroom AI)
Tim Holtz Vignette Frame (colored with Distress Stain in Walnut Stain)
Glossy Accents
E6000
Moss
Twine

Hope the directions are helpful and that you get inspired to grunge up something vintage in time for Halloween!