Sanguine Serenade The Burtonesque Dolls Challenge #9

This is my first official challenge as a DT for the fabulous Burtonesque Dolls,

and I'm late!

Your challenge is to create a "Poster Board" to advertise a Tim Burton Vampire flick! Simply Betty Stamps is releasing this fun Burton like vampire line: The Victorian Vampires digis tomorrow Wednesday the 30th of June! It even coordinates with the Eclipse release... yep I know that it's not a burton film, but the line is all about vampires!

Head over to TBD blog and play along!

Well, I think it was worth waiting for....

I am rather pleased with the final outcome.

It was a hard time coming though.

I pondered, and brainstormed, and even hit up the kid and the DH for inspiration.

My son helped out a ton, and then the ol' thesaurus really drove it all home!!!

I loves me reference materials!

I ended up drawing the tree and the moon in, after noticing how

sparse my poster was compared to the other fabulous posters by the rest of the Dolls.

 

Here is the tag line.

(I had Jack posing with the poster originally, but he wouldn't hold

still and the pictures were all blurry.)

Better late than never.

I'm getting a jump on next week's challenge so I'll post on time! 

Punky Vixen

I have been a fan of Kenny Kiernan's art for some time now.

He has a great pin up style all his own.

I am a fan of the gothic girls he draws and thought they would make

a really cool tattoo someday.

Well, Barb over at HDH posted that Kenny K is having a DT call on his

CHALLENGE BLOG, to support his new line of

DIGITAL IMAGES!

Is this image not to die for?

She was bad ass when she was just black and white, but put some

color on this chicky and she really takes off!

She looks so cool and naughty. A look I try to master myself.

I kept it simple since the colors are so bright and I wanted her to really stand out.

I have been so busy lately, that I had to pass on the DT call, but I do want to wish

Barb good luck!! 

It takes a long time to grow old friends

When I was 16 years old I placed an ad for pen pals in "Metal Forces",

a heavy metal magazine (we're talkin' 1986) from Europe.

Well, that summer I got a TON of mail from all over the world from metal heads, punks, skinheads, straight edges, etc.

You name it, I got a letter from that country and a kid in a black concert tee.

Over the years I have stopped writing to all of these people, but there is this one kid that just wont go away. 

His name is Corey, and we have been corresponding for almost 25 years!

We have never met, but we are still close after all is time.

 

This week Corey is celebrating his 7 years of sobriety.

Over the years Corey has not treated his body as a temple, and abused it considerably with sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll.

He always said he was going to die before he was 30 and I think he really meant to make that prediction come true.

 

Now, he has 7 years of sobriety, a beautiful wife, 4 gorgeous kids, a career that he finds truly fulfilling, and a 39th birthday on the horizon next week.

He is truly an inspiration to me and all of the people who have had

the honor of knowing him.

I love you Corey!

Your Dad would be so proud of you and the man you are today.

In case you haven't noticed the trend, this card was made entirely of Hambo Stamps.

Well, and a little help from my MS iron gate punch and some yummy velvet ribbon.

Just bee-cause

How cute is this card?

I think it is really cute and fitting for a masculine card.

I used to have such a hard time making cards for boys.

I am rather proud of my tree.

I get a little intimidated when there is a large area to color,

and I decided to try this dot technique on the tree for texture and shading.

  

This is the inside sentiment.

I just LOVE this little fat bee!

All of the stamps I used on this project, including the sentiments, are from

those fine folks at Hambo Stamps.

Their shop is closed down for a few weeks for summer vacation, starting this Friday,

but feel free to peruse their wares and get inspired! 

Final Father's Day card

Here is the Father's Day card I made for my FIL.

He is a huge Beatles fan, and his favorite Beatles song is

"Do you want to know a secret".

He loved it, and I enjoyed making it for him.

He is a really cool dude, considering he is a Trekkie computer geek.

I love nerds, so geekery hate mail is not necessary.

I am thankful to have him in our family,

and I have adopted him as my Dad. 

Toe tag! You're it! The Burtonesque Dolls Challenge #8

The shock is just starting wear off regarding my recent invitation to

join the Burtonesque Dolls.

I am finally all set up and ready to play!

This week's challenge was to create a toe tag

inspired by Burton's "Beetlejuice".

I have some really cool images from a guy who calls his

company Meer Image. His last name is Meer. Cool huh?

I never think to use these stamps because they are so strange and not really

fitting for most 'greeting cards'.

I managed to work this cool "Return to Sender" image in for my toe tag.

   

And then there is Pearl.

She is one of my favorite Daniel Torrente images (thanx Barb!),

and something about her reminded me of the scene in Beetlejuice where the wedding couple is hovering over the dinning room table.

Must be the slack in her hands and the gaunt look on her face.

Okay, now let me 'splain the pearls on her neck.

I started off using Liquid Pearls on her necklace, but smeared them before they

were dry. This left a shiny, sparkle to her neck and I was unable to color it any further with Copics due to the finish the LP left.

Sooooooo, I added the over abundance of pearls to cover her

shiny decolletage.

I guess it works. It definitly looks better than before I added them. 

It's official...

Well, it's official!

I am the newest DT member of The Burtonesque Dolls!

I was kinda gobsmacked when Betty asked me to be a part of such a cool

collection of ladies and their talents.

Stay tuned for my Burton inspired creations!! 

I made this card using "Betty" from the My Emo Kids World line

of images at Simply Betty Stamps.

The Betty of Simply Betty Stamps is the same Betty Boo who

created the Burtonesque Dolls.

(just wanted to clarify why I included this card with this post)

If you haven't stopped by to check out these incredible images,

what are you waiting for?!

I used "Christian's" dragon pet with "Betty" because, A) I adore this little critter who resembles a tattoo on my back, and B) I needed to work green into this card, and Betty's chihuahua wouldn't work in green.

 

And this is why I needed to work some green into the project.

I used this handmade skully (that I made with my own little snausage fingers)

as the center of my fleur.

He glows in the dark too.

Cool huh?

Wanna touch me? 

3 down, 2 to go!

Here is the card I made for my husband for Father's Day.

I got this great image from Mo Manning's Digital Pencil. 

I thought it was perfect for my husband.

He likes to play video games with my son, and he likes to leave a mess around the bottom of his brown recliner in our living room too!

 

I knew I could go one better, and make it look like my husband.

I added glasses, tattoos, and some facial hair and sideburns to really make it resemble

my handsome husband of 14 years.

I kept the rest of the card really simple to show off the image.

I kept it simple because I still have two more Father's day cards to make!!

Adios 5th grade!

My son just competed his last day of the 5th grade on Thursday.

He just started a charter school this year, and it has been a big

adjustment for him.

The workload is quite daunting, and his overall morale is a bit low.

I keep telling him it's for the best, and they are preparing him for college, but with only 6 weeks off for the summer and then back to school on August 3rd,

he's not buying it. 

So, to let him know how much his Dad and I appreciate his efforts, and his good grades, I made him this little card.

This image from Dustin Pike was perfect!

I made a boo-boo on the upper left corner, so I embellished it

with some not-so-matching fibers.

It's all I had!

My kiddo loved the card and got the message

that we love him and are very proud of him. 

2 down, 3 to go

My friend, Dani, asked me to make her Dad

 and her brother, Father's Day cards. 

I made her Dad cards last year with the same Chicago Bears theme.

This time I went more with the animal aspects.

I also found a photo of the old Soldier Field, and I added a ton of

clear, thick, embossing powder to it, and cracked it up a bit.

Dani's brother, Robb, is a first-time Dad this Father's Day, and a huge Vikings fan, 

so hence, the purple and yellow color scheme.

I did find this vintage Viking mascot, which I thought was pretty cool.

I used the same cracked glass technique on this as well.

If I make cards for these guys next year, I'll have to come up

with something new and original.

I'm over the whole football thing.

Truebie or not truebie HDH043

This week's Macabre Monday over at Barb's is a True Blood challenge.

I have been a vampire fan since I first saw the original "Dracula", and then my 'thirst'

was further whetted with the wonderful ramblings of

Anne Rice and her fanged lovelies, Lestat and Louis. 

I used some red vellum and punched it with the MS drippy goo punch.

Then I added Stickles for some glimmer.

Nice bow.

Only took 1/2 yard of ribbon and 15 minutes!

*************WARNING*************

If you are easily offended by juvenile drawings and dirty words

DO NOT scroll down to the next card.

You have been warned!

  

I had some goodies left over from the first card,

so I decided a second card was in order.

Love the little mud puppy!!!!

This is the inside of the card.

It's the actual sign from the show, and I had to do some

hunting to find it unedited like this.

LOVE the show.

Lafayette is my favorite character and Eric and Pam are my

favorite vampires.

I decided not to read the books once I started watching the show.

Too many indiscrepancies, and the adaptations are never as good as the books.

Enough fun time. 

I'm off to work on Father's Day cards (still!). 

L-o-l-a, Lola!

This is Lola. How freakin' cute is she?

My new favorite stamp company, Simply Betty Stamps, has the coolest

"My Kids Emo World" images.

  

I had so much fun playing with her hair.

If I didn't have the untamed wilderness which is my hair, I would totally

be rockin the Terri Nunn hairdo. 

 

As much as I love the kids, I really adore their pets!

Each character (there are 6 in all) come with their own little pet.

I had the intention of mixing up the pets, but Lola's rat went best with her on this card.

  

I finally got to use this MS punch I bought on clearance after Halloween last year.

Perfecto!

 

Finished this beauty off with some Primas, and my own coordinating fleur punch and

handmade polyclay skullies.

Now, to get to those Father's Day cards.

All 5 of 'em!

Yeah me.

Chief Hambooli

My friend the witchdoctor, he taught me what to say

My friend the witchdoctor, he taught me what to do

I know that you'll be mine when I say this to you

Oh, baby

ooh eeh ooh ahah, ting tang wallawallabingbang

ooh eeh ooh ahah, ting tang wallawallabangbang (come on and)

ooh eeh ooh ahah, ting tang wallawallabingbang

ooh eeh ooh ahah, ting tang wallawallabangbang

This card was so much fun to make.

I decided to use some colors that I don't usually reach for, and I like the results. 

This is the inside sentiment.

Very cute for either gender of recipient too.

Lots of fun to color, and I added some green pearls for accent and texture.

 

I put this guy on the inside to add a pop of color.

I colored the totem in brighter colors just because I was going for a 

painted hot rod look. 

All of these great images and matching sentiments are only available

from Hambo Stamps.

Drop by and check out their wares. They have some newly added digital images too! 

Vile Vintage - HDH041

Just in under the wire!

Here is my entry in this week's Macabre Monday challenge.

The theme is "Vile Vintage", and when I started looking for images, I found some

slightly disturbing, old photos of kids(?) in their Halloween costumes.

  

I think the old masks were sooooo uber creepy!

My mom put on a bunny mask from circa  1975, and scared the bejesus outta me with the damn thing! Granted, I was 5 at the time, but I still carry the scar from it obviously.

This one definitely falls under the WTF?! category.

This was just too creepy not to use!

 

Purty fleur and a candy corn pin to finish it all off!

Gotta get this posted before the deadline! 

!@#%**Damn, damn, damn!#$@!

Why can't I ever remember the deadline time?!

Looks like I had better get an earlier start next week.

Bummer.  

Queen Bee

My MIL just turned 60 this week, and we have planned a suprise party for her on Saturday.

She is a really special lady who has always been there when I needed her, and when I didn't think I needed her.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 years ago, and is in full recovery. She is a fighter, and a nuturer. 

She rocks, and I am thankful for her everyday.

Here's her Birthday card.

Too cute!

LOVE that little bee!

I got him and all his accoutrements (i.e. sentiments, hive, etc..)

from none other than Hambo Stamps.

Inside sentiment.

Witty right?

Sayonara...

My good friend, MacKenzie, is leaving for Japan next week.

When I saw this image I knew it was a good excuse to make her a card and a good excuse to spend a couple bucks on the digi at TiddlyInks.

   

At first, I envisioned coloring her in like a spectre. Making her all transparent and

wispy. But, just because I like weird schtuff, doesn't mean everyone does, so I kept her more on the side of the living.

Okay, notice the fancy, schmancy, dotted background?

It's all the rage these days.

I just don't know where or when to stop! I feel like it's too much, or not enough.

Then I added the Stickles, and look out!

I still need some practice I guess.

It's the thought that counts right?