All about Betty Blog Hop!!

The gals from The Burtonesque Dolls, Simply Betty Stamps and Simply Betty Challenges blogs figured it was a good time to put together a blog hop of our very own:

SIMPLY BETTY.

This hop is ALLLLLLLLLLLLL about Betty and since October is Betty's favorite month and there are sooooo many exciting things happening, why not do it just before?!! This way we can get things warmed up for the whole October and Halloween theme. 

And since Halloween is her favorite time of year you will be seeing mostly, if not all Halloween cards and we have used only Betty Emo's images.

Betty is such a special friend. I really appreciate the friendship we have

fostered via blogger and I cherish Betty's presence in my life.

She approached me a few months back about starting my line of Glow Skullz

and selling them in her then, fledgling shop. She was instrumental in getting

me off of my lazy butt and getting the creative juices flowing.

She also asked me to be a part of her DT for the Burtonesque Dolls which I gladly accepted. Then when she started the Simply Betty Challenge blog I jumped ship and have been fortunate enough to create awesome stuff with her awesome images! 

Betty has created this unique niche for herself and has filled a void for those of us on the fringe of card making. 

She is a super sweet chica who always brings a smile to my face with her genuine

heart and comical words.

You ROCK Betty!

Here is my "Betty Appreciation" card using "Millerstein"

from the Emo Halloweenies line at Simply Betty Stamps.

He's so sweet and I picked him mainly because I was

determined to use this sentiment from SU.

So perfect for this occasion and this image.

Thanks again to Betty for lighting my creative fuse and for

inviting me to be a part of this awesome group of inspiring and 

hugely talented ladies. 

Without further ado, let's check out some more inspiring and creative cards from all the ladies. Please note because this is an appreciation blog hop there are no prizes. It's just for fun but the ladies wouldn't mind some luving from you anyway!!

So LET'S GET HOPPING!! Your next stop is the insanely talented Nicole!!!

"Who needs a Halloween ornament?"

... asked my husband when I showed him this.

Really?! Have we just met?

I made this with my own two little hands

and is for sale in my Etsy shoppe.

It's nice, right?

HDH058 Magical Mayhem

This week we have a "Magical Mayhem" challenge

for Haunted Design House's Macabre Monday.

Again, I assumed that my personal connection to the challenge would make 

this project a breeze.

Wrong!

Have you ever been so determined for a project and all of it's

elements to work that it ends up looking a bit forced or just not

even close to what you had hoped for?

Yeah, me too.

I have worked much harder on suckier cards, but I really had

high hopes for this one.

I broke out with my Witch board (like a Ouija board) image

and used Versamark and stardust embossing powder to give

it a magical glow.

Now I know the jury is still out on whether or not the Ouija board is

magical or not, but how can something mass produced by Parker Brothers

and sold at Toys R Us, have magical qualities?

Just a thought.

I have really been in to the cracked glass effect and wanted to use it on this image,

but the more I handled the embossed piece, the cloudier or less shiny it appeared.

The nice thing about embossing is that you can reheat it and start all over.

I ended up adding stardust powder to the image and then used clear thick embossing

powder to give it a final shiny finish.

I added one of my new frame nesties and some rhinestones to try to 

shine this turd.

Eh!

Please don't let this have a direct effect on your impression of the 

challenges at Haunted Design House.

The other gals on the DT are wonderful and pretty consistent with their

awesome projects.

Did I mention I don't feel well and have a TON of projects to be completed in the next two weeks? I'm a little overwhelmed.    

Zombie heads WIP

I was contacted through Etsy by a great lady

who was looking at the goods in my little shoppe

and requested a custom piece.

She was requesting a Zombie centerpiece

for a fundraising table for Shriner's Children's Hospital in Utah.

How could I say no?! 

Being a bit unsure of what exactly she was envisioning,

I made two sets of Zombie heads.

One set being more cartoonish and cute, the other more

realistic and gory.

Those were the "cartoony heads" using colored polymer clay.

I also added mica powders to the clay prior to baking for a cool

metallic or pearlized effect.

These are the more realistic ones.

They are just in white polymer clay which

I will paint with acrylics, once they are baked.

We decided on a Zombie couple on a date.    

I still have to add hair and more of a forehead and what not.

Oh, and bodies too.

This set will be for my own personal amusement or for an upcoming

craft fair, as my "client" chose the more cartoony vibe for the kids.

Go figure.

Nothing is baked yet, so any feed back or

honest criticism is greatly appreciated.

CHAPTER 32: Journey to the Center of the Earth...

Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end!

"I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?' she said aloud. `I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think--'"

(for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this was not a very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over)

"yes, that's about the right distance--but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.)...

The challenge this week at Oh Alice! is a window card.

I have never made a window card. Ever.

I am such a creature of habit, but when I do venture from my usual

regurgitation of the same card, I like the outcome.

Not feeling very well the past couple of days

has left me really wondering, "What if...".

I have never used this stamp (from a great set from SU) before but I felt

it was time to ask the question.

This is "3 in a round" from Daniel Torrente (Stampotique).

I love this image!!!

You can kinda see the window part of my card in this pic.

After seeing what the other fabulous ladies from the Oh Alice! DT have created using

windows, they have left me inspired.

Now I need those bat nesties.....

Please stop by the Oh Alice! blog to check out the other

projects and maybe find inspiration to play along.



Non-Traditional Halloween with Simply Betty

This marks our second challenge over at Simply Betty Stamps.

SO! This week we want you to create a new Halloween color combo, diverging from the traditional Black, Orange, Purple and Greens. Make a project, card or layout creating a new color combo using anything but these colors.

Well, I really tried to think outside of my box

and this is what I came up with.

Blue, or in this case teal, is not a color I regularly reach for

when creating anything, let alone a Halloween card.

I love teal, in fact, my MIL used to call teal, "Gloria Green", I used to wear it so often.

But those were the 80's, and now I opt for black. It goes with everything.

Oh! And it makes me look thinner. LOL! 

Totally diggin' "Gigi".

She is one of the awesome new images from

the Punky Teens line at Simply Betty Stamps.

So cool and a bit odd. My cuppa tea!

How's that for a non-traditional colored Halloween card?

I kinda love it.

Now go make something you love and please

join us over at Simply Betty for the challenge.

Don't for get to stop by the Simply Betty stamp shoppe and pick up some

of the new Emo Halloweenies in rubbah just in!

Stampotique Vintage Challenge

It has been quite a while since I have carved out some time to

just create whatever I want with whatever images I want.

Once I saw the current Stampotique challenge was "Vintage",

I decided to play along and maybe, just maybe I'll be

a randomly drawn winner of a $30 Stampotique gift certificate.

Mr. Torrente has come out with some new images that I cannot afford right now,

so a gift certificate would be nice. 

 

I have had these two Daniel Torrente images in my

possession for far too long without inking them up.

Well, actually they have been inked up, I just never

made anything with them.

I have had "BatBoy" for well over a year and the cat was

obtained this year.

I dunno what I was waiting for.

This challenge maybe?

I thought this was a fitting sentiment.

I typeset it myself and heat embossed it right

outta the printer.

I've never done this before with a digital image, but aside from

a big 'ol mess, it worked quite well.

Keep it creepy!!

Let's scream it from the rooftops!

Here is a fun card I made using another great

Hambo image and sentiment.

I clear embossed the Hambo ghosts after I colored them

with Copics and then cut them out with Nesties.

I used a transparent stardust embossing powder and a

Versamark pen to do this.

 

The sentiment ended up being my favorite part of the card.

Once I had it colored, I used thick embossing powder,

and added a couple of layers of it before I cracked it.

Then I added a bit more Versamark from the pad this time,

and added more transparent stardust to the edges.

Nice, right?

Stop by Hambo and check out their new Christmas images and

fabulous sentiments.

They are still running that insane ribbon sale too!!

Okay, totally random but....

So, the other day I drove by a neighbor's yard sale

at least 4 times throughout the day.

Finally, I decided to stop and limit any purchases to the $6 in

my car's ashtray, a.k.a. my coin purse.

I located a box of old books and camped out for a few.

Loved the spine and the cover on this one at once,

  

and then the copyright

Nice. And sold! 

Cute and small. Besides, I liked the way it felt in my hand.

 Oh, and the copyright.

 

1867. Sold!

"How much?", I asked the lady at the yard sale.

"Fifty cents each".

There is something comforting and sacred about a book

that  is well over 100 years old.

Kinda afraid to actually smell  them though. 

That was a good day.

HDH057 Horrific Haunts

This week's challenge at the Haunted Design House is

Horrific Haunts!

No scary monster is complete without a house to haunt.

This week Barb and her minions challenge you to show

us a truly heinous house, a decrepit domicile, a shelter for the shameless.

You get my drift.

 

Although the photo kinda sucks, I clear embossed the entire

house image on this card.

I have had this set from SU for some time now and finally inked it up.

I love the image and just wish it photographed better.

Anyhoo,

Join us at Haunted Design House for this week's Macabre Monday... 

if you dare! 

Oh Alice! Chapter 31: Fighting for the Crown

`Why the Lion and the Unicorn, of course,' said the King.

`Fighting for the crown?'

`Yes, to be sure,' said the King: `and the best of the joke is, that it's my crown all the while! Let's run and see them.' And they trotted off, Alice repeating to herself, as she ran, the words of the old song: --
`The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown:
The Lion beat the Unicorn all round the town.
Some gave them white bread, some gave them brown;
Some gave them plum-cake and drummed them out of town.'

This week's challenge at Oh Alice! is to incorporate

a mythical beast and/or a crown.

I found this gorgeous painting by googling images online.

I knew I had to use it even if it is a very

literal interpretation of the challenge.

It was just too perfect,  

I finally used a couple of these purdy brads I have

had stashed away for over a year.

I like the color blue, but I just don't create with it very often.

That's it for me today.

Please join us this week over at Oh Alice!

for a chance to win some great prizes.

The Mad Hatter herself, Jessica will be giving away an {Ippity} prize pack of stamps plus a nice array of 6x6 designer paper to ONE lucky winner this week who is "Crowned" by Random.org!



Simply Betty Challenge Numero Uno

         Welcome to the first challenge at
 Simply Betty Challenges.

Betty has just released some of the coolest and craziest Halloween

images I have seen. She has something for everyone. Cute and  scary!

I have been having a blast coloring and creating with her images.

The first challenge is a color/pattern challenge.

You can use the color or the pattern for inspiration, or both!

(Those are Betty's sox btw)

I chose to use the color for my inspiration.

   

I just adore this version of Lola.

I just kinda went with the vivid colors from the inspiration pic,

and emphasized the purples.

I found this killer, textured mummy paper in my stash that goes

pretty well with Lola.

 

I didn't want to cover up the DP, so I left off

a witty mummy sentiment.

Besides, I couldn't come up with anything

remotely original.

That's it for me today.

Please join us over at Simply Betty Challenges.

There are prizes to be won and fun to be had!



Happy Birthday Zombie

Double double toil and trouble...

Halloween has come to Hambo!

I had no problem using all three of these Hambo stamps

together. They all compliment each other so well, and

yet they can intermix with tons of my other Halloween images, 

not to mention other cool and cute Hambo stamps. 

Besides using the "Witches Brew" witch image,

I also used the "Witch Hats". That come all together

as one stamp, but I cut them apart for this card.

I also broke out with the Glossy Accents for her "brew".

Lastly, this cute sentiment.

I find I am usually late for at least one Birthday a month.

This is a great card to have on hand for just those occasions.

This would even be cute and fitting for a birthday in February.

Well, I think it would be funny.

Stop by Hambo and check out all of their Halloween images

and they are also having some great sales on summer images and

May Arts ribbon. 

Emo Halloweenie Release Blog Hop

Welcome to the hop!

If you have made your way here via the

always visually stunning Eulanda's blog, then you are in the right spot.

If not, please join us from the beginning at the  SBS blog.

Well, it's finally here!

The release of the newest images from Simply Betty Stamps

and a blog hop too!

This is Emo Halloweenie London.

I just adore her. She is my favorite of the new images.

Must be her glowing green eyes and her killer smile.

I colored her up with Copics and used some Stickles to give her hair some shine.

I used my favorite Halloween ribbon and popped a Glow Skull in the middle of the bow.

Glow Skullz are available at Simply Betty Stamps as well as all of the new Emos and older

SBS images. 

Well, that's it for me today.

Please head over to the incredibly talented Jennifer

and check out what she has to treat you with today.

   

HDH056 Monochrome Monstrosities

The Nosferatu vampyre is the one I consider to be the most

disturbing and haunting of all the vampyres

ever portrayed in the cinema.

I think it's those long ass creepy fingers! 

This week's Macabre Monday challenge is:

Monochrome Monstrosities.

Nice.

  

I finally used my Nosferatu stamp that I have had

for at least a year or two.

I think he kinda looks like the Willem Dafoe version

 from the fabulous, "Shadow of the Vampire".

That's a good movie. 

 

I got a graveyard cookie cutter from QuicKutz,

and couldn't wait to use it.

I added some silver tinsel embossing powder to the tops

 of the graves for that moonlight sparkle.

I couldn't resist using the hearse stamp.

How often do you get the chance to use your hearse stamp? 

  

Money well spent on my newest MS punch.

LOVE the bat!!!

 

Another stamp I had to use and just couldn't get it

squeezed onto my already overloaded card.

So, I put it on the inside.

Please join us this week at Haunted Design House for

Macabre Monday's challenge of Monochrome Monstrosities.