Macabre Monday #7 Menacing Moveables

When I first read Barb's HDH Macabre Monday challenge, I thought, maybe I'd skip this one, as I am not well versed in moveable paper crafts. I made a spinner card once at a workshop (and loved it!), but it was too labor intensive for me to make any more. Then, while I was conditioning clay, and planning my attack, I realized that I could submit a clay creation for the challenge!
So here is my ghostie and his little batt friend. The ghost glows-in-the-dark as do the flowers on the headstone. The little batt is on a spring so he really gets to moving when needed.  I kinda went nuts and created a whole town called "Creepeeville" and made a ton of Halloweenish characters who live there.
More to come....

Say Hello to my Little Friends

It has been killing me lately seeing all these fabulous creations for Halloween that everyone is making. There are so many blogs and websites entirely devoted to Halloween and the creations are wickedly amazing! I finally dug out my poly clay and accessories, and began creating. My mother-in-law is participating in a craft faire on Halloween, and when she asked me to come along I told her, "No, are you crazy?" She knows better, but I think she likes to yank my chain anyway. I decided to send some of my little friends from "Creepeeville" along to keep her company at the craft faire. Maybe some of them will find new homes.

Here are some batts. I have a tattoo that I drew up and that was the inspiration for these little guys.

That reminds me, I want more ink!

 Here is the "Creepeeville Punkin Posse". I never really sculpted mouths and eyesockets before. I usually just push beads in and not include mouths, but after being inspired by so much detailed and imaginative work, I had to make a better effort this time.

Stay tuned for more "Creepeeville" inhabitants.

Ouch!

Toot! Toot! That's me, tooting my own horn about this card and how super cute it is! I am beyond cuckoo for these Dustin Pike digital images. He was having a special "one night only" deal, and sold over 100 images for $25. I almost had a private moment, but focused and immediately made my purchase. Best $25 I spent that week!!

I have been wanting to color in this "Ouch Dragon", but no one was sick, so I colored it anyway. Then I got the most heart wrenching e-mail from my cousin(in-law) who was writing to tell of his mother's recent brain tumor diagnosis. What?! His step-father had just gone through brain surgery (for a tumor) not six months ago! Not to mention the fact that my cousin was the sole survivor of a Sheriff's helicopter crash a few years ago. It almost killed him (and his parents).

I believe it was Mother Theresa who said, "I know God won't give me anything I can't handle, I just wish he didn't trust me so much."

Well, my Aunt is already out of the hospital 4 days after surgery! She is doing fantastic and is home resting and getting better.

Sooooo, long story short (too late!), I sent her this card to perk her up and let her know we are thinking of her since she can't have any visitors yet .  There's just something "happy" about a pink dragon.

It's candy time again....

Heather has some blog-iversary candy she is giving away to one lucky follower.
She has some fantastic creations so check her out!

S.A.M.C.R.O.

The Sons of Anarchy has begun it's second season and my husband and I are fans of the show. We started watching it last season from the very beginning and have been recording it on the dvr ever since. I haven't met too many people really into the show, but my brother-in-law is a huge fan, and for his birthday, he got the first season on dvd and I made him this card to go with his "theme" and his bottle of wine.

I tried to make the logo look like an actual patch by distressing the edges of the image and then rubbing red ink over it to look like stitching. I think it kinda worked. These OOAK cards are really fun to make and even more neat is when the recipient just goes crazy over it. C'mon, where else can you find a Sons of Anarchy card? Thank Pan for Google images! 

The best of fiends

Here is my submission for Barb's Haunted Design House Macabre Monday Challenge. This week's challenge was to only use black, white, purple, orange,and chartreuse colors on your project.

                                                

I finally got my Penney-Torrente stamps and I couldn't get ink on them fast enough! It really didn't matter what the next challenge was, I was going to use these stamps no matter what!

Something made me see these two unique young ladies as best ghoul fiends. When you are a unique individual it is hard to find people who "get" you. When you finally see someone who looks like you, you usually bond instantly. That's how I made most of my friends in school. I wasn't as trendy as the ghouls here, rather I was a "Rocker" who wore only 501's, concert tees, and high tops. Some things never change save for the 501's(now stretchy waistbands, please), the hightops have been replaced with flip flops, and the concert tees of days gone by no longer fit and have been replaced with Toxic Toons shirts instead. Still unique and immature, just like high school. 

Macabre Monday #5 Movie Madness

This week's challenge over at Barb's Haunted Design House was to create something inspired by a horror movie. Here is what I came up with. Sorry Barb, but I just couldn't resist.

Whew!

Well, I did it. I turned 39 today. Nothing fell off when I got out of bed this morning. I didn't cry at all. I was able to function as my thirties slipped away like a one night stand at 3 a.m.. Quiet and guilty. If the old adage is true, that you are as young as you feel or in my case, act, then I'm about twelve.

I am always collecting things that make me happy like toys and stickers and patches (oh my!). This is my cork board, also known as creative chaos. The rest of my craft room pretty much looks similar. Lots of Living Dead dolls,Roman Dirge, SHAG, Disney, Edward Gorey, Jim Henson, and Where the Wild Things Are collectibles. Not to mention my extensive Hello Kitty/Kuromi, Peckle, and My Melody Sanrio collectibles. I also collect tattoos, and just cool schtuff in general. I don't think I'll ever act my age.

 Here is what my husband got me last year for my birthday. It's a cool-ass Creepy comic from 1970, the year I was born. I LOVE this kinda stuff! This year I got a new computer monitor. Not as cool, but I am so in love with my new monitor I could kiss it every time I fire it up. My old monitor was like three feet thick and ate up all of my desk space.

Oh yeah, the little ghostie at the top of the post was something I wanted to share that I made years ago out of GID poly clay. He still glows like no bodys business. I am much better at clay play now, but he was always one of my favorite little dudes.

More for the candy bowl

More Halloween candy up for grabs at Jennifer's blog. Check it out.
  Really good stuff. Really. It is.

And some more goodies here at Artistic halloween Queens blog.

New found respect

I dunno about anyone else, but back in the early nineties I worshipped Martha Stewart. I subscribed to her magazine, I watched her show, I even attempted a receipe or two. I'm not sure if it was purely oversaturation of her and her products, or the fact that I was a tad too bourgeois for her stylings. Either way, I have enjoyed the slanderous humor of her daughter's show, "Whatever Martha", but aside from that I really don't pay her much attention. Until this Halloween that is!
Martha has offered some of the most cool and original tools for use this holiday. I just got the "Drippy Goo" egde punch, along with the bats corner punch, the graveyard edge punch, and the skull and cross bones punch from last year. I got the paper pack and it rocks! All of her items are of great quality, hence the price, but I think you get what you pay for alot of the time in this industry. Anyhoo, I like Martha again, like she cares.
I used her punches and that embossed swirls again, for the moon. Easy card to make, and when you send out as many Halloween cards as I do, quick and easy makes it all the more enjoyable and less like a chore.    

Here kitty, kitty

I really like this image that I saved from some email I got a long time ago. I decided to "cheat" a little and use it for my card. I Stickled the bones and the pumpkin to make them stand out and apparently I am having a hard time using anything besides my Cuttlebug Swirls embossing folder, cause here it is, again.

I am still brainstorming for the Haunted Design House Macabre Monday challenge. Barb has challenged us to come up with a card/item based on a horror film. I guess I'm having a really hard time narrowing it down to just one. When horror films are something of a hobby and I watch at least two or three a week, it is hard to choose which one is to be my inspiration. Ugghh!!

More birthday blog candy

Seems like September is a big month for birthdays and blog candy. Check this one out
http://priscillastyles.blogspot.com/

Suckah!!!!

The perfect sentiment for the most adorable image! I think I'll make more of these since they were so easy to put together. The most time consuming part is all the coloring. It's very therapeutic, so I don't mind.

Another color combonation. I just love this ribbon I got from Michaels (I call Michaels my "boyfriend" when I talk about the store in front of my DH - we think it's funny). The ribbon is super shiny/metallic, but it doesn't show up that way in the picture.

LOTS of candy to color! This took what seemed like a week to color! I colored 4 of them in like, 20 minutes! Then I went over everything with a Versamark marker and clear embossed the image. Labor intensive, but cute. Seems a shame to hide it on the inside of the card.

Repulsive Riddle and Rhyme Challenge

Here is my submission for Barb's challenge over at Haunted Design House. She was looking for repulsive riddles and rhymes and immediately this little ditty popped into my mind.

I remember laughing like a lunatic when I found this at a stamp expo earlier this year. Not sure if it is an actual quote from something or just a funny little rhyme. I used to work at an elementary school cafeteria, so this really has meaning to me. I used to threaten to poison their (the kids) food if they didn't behave. I was smiling when  I said it so they thought I was just kidding.... 

Monster in the closet

I just couldn't resist getting in on the fantabulous deal Dustin Pike was offering today/tonight only. Almost all of his images (over 50 easy!) were for sale this evening for $25! That's right! Quite the bargain, and for me, that's all I need to rationalize this unplanned/unbudgeted purchase.

I adore this monster image and I think it goes pretty well with this sentiment from Hambo (I've got a better one for the next post though).

Halloween (blog)Candy

Halloween blog candy? Who could pass this up?
Lots of great goodies at http://threecloversdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/08/blog-yummies.html

Welcome to Frankensteiger Manor

Just a little sumptin' I made a few years ago for Halloween. I got the blank house at Michaels (my worst enabler) and painted it up to look "haunted". It looked a bit naked so I broke out with the polymer clay, and ....

a ghost was born, and .....

some little glow-in-the-dark skullies, and ...

the cutest little bat ever, flying over a g-i-d moon! That is my favorite part. I love the bat.
That is the best glow-in-the dark polyclay by Premo. That stuff is uber-glowy (I'm sure that is not a word, but it's kinda funny) and easy to work with. I dry brushed g-i-d paint on the house and when this baby gets under a black light, look out! You could probably read by the light this thing gives off. So much fun to make. Once I'm done with Halloween, I think I better get out the clay. It's time I got started on my salt and pepper shakers for Thanksgiving and Xmas.

Dem Bones

Did I ever mention how much I love skulls? I have quite few skull tattoos and when it come to decorating, skulls are the way to go. I must get it from my Grandparents who were magicians and were married on Halloween. They decorated with skulls and Halloween items since I can remember, and I have pretty much done the same with my home. I have quite an extensive collection of masks from around the world (thanks in part to Ross and Cost Plus, not to mention the occasional yard sale find), a large gargoyle/Gryphon collection and a really creepy death mask and some great Halloween pieces I have collected through the years. I fancy myself a rather "eclectic collector".

Oh, yeah, more emboss resist techniques on more cute cards next to more cool GID and glittery skulls I made. Ta-daa!

Trick or Treat

Here is another cute card to add to the sickly sweetness of Halloween. The image was too damn cute to pass up. I got these Little Lovins kiddos from Stamp Oasis at Rubberneckers, along with the tree and headstone images. I cut 'em apart to make the little scene.

I colored everyone (so much fun!) in with Copics and popped 'em up on pop dots for dimension.

Cute works too.

I usually prefer for my Halloween creations to be more on the creepy side as opposed to the cutsie stuff. That being said, when I saw this cute little guy at Hambo I just had to have him. I saw Mackenzie use this image on her blog with a great emboss resist technique. I LOVE this technique. It lends such a professional finish to the image and the project .

I really like to color backgrounds using those fingertip sponge applicators and inks from SU. I like the control they give me and the texture is nice for a soft blended look. I embossed some swirl images with Red Dragon Stampin' Stuff embossing powder, and used a Cuttlebug folder to emboss the swirls on the cardstock.

In Space No One Can Eat Ice Cream

My best friend, we'll call her "Curse", has a very strong aversion to clowns. So, needless to say, I go out of my way whenever possible to make the most atrocious clown cards for her. Here is my latest attempt at making her ill.

Great movie. I've seen it multiple times. Nothing like old B-horror movies to kick off the season!

Vintage Halloween

I am really diggin' this image. Don't remember where it's from, but I LOVE it! I got it unmounted from somewhere (Viva Las Vegas maybe?) I really like the vintage style.

I inked her onto white card stock and then sponged the color on it to look antique. I think it worked. I just kept this one simple with the image and some prism embossed swirls in the background.

Let the haunting begin....

Went to Michael's the other day and had to have these paper mache skulls (I got 4 of 'em!) and these wooden coffin boxes(4 more of those too!). I had such a blast painting them with the intention of possibly giving a few away. That idea passed and I have decorated my mantle with them for the time being (until I get the arsenal of loot out). LOVE them, and keeping them all!
What a greedy little monster I am.


I painted the skulls and coffins with acrylic paints(some mixed with glitter or mica powders), sanded them and dry brushed the coffins with GID paint and black paint for dimension. I used the heck out of Stickles for the glittery decoration on the coffins. I used Martha Stewart glitter for the skulls. She has the greatest Glow-in-the-Dark glitter EVER made! It is the "schiz-nit" of GID products.