Fleurs at The Greeting Farm

Not sure if it's the sudden heat wave we're having here in California, 

or if I'm going soft in my old age, but I had the urge to 

make something adorable using Glimmer Bean from TGF.

The current challenge for Farm Fresh Friday is May Flowers.

I have a ton of paper flowers. I rarely use them, so this is a perfect

opportunity to break out the petals and get all flowery!!  

I have had this clear stamp from The Greeting Farm for so long, 

that they no longer even sell it. They do have a new line of  Alice in Wonderland Beans that are TDF!  

I fussy cut her out after coloring her with Copics.

I attached some flowers in her hair to go with the theme.  

Once the sentiment (from Dilly Beans) had been added, it was time for

the bling and more flowers.

I had a lot of fun playing with flowers and bling and Glimmer Bean.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Splendid Stamping with The Greeting Farm: May Flowers

The Cheerful Stamp Pad : April Showers/May Flowers

There She Goes challenge: April Showers/May Flowers 

   

  

Bat Boy and Cupcake Inspirations

I have a CAS card to share with you today.

I have been trying to play along with the Stampotique challenges 

each month. I'm cutting it pretty close this month, but I wanted 

to wait and see what all of the themes were before committing to one.

While waiting, I noticed that Stampotique are sponsoring over at

Cupcake Inspirations, and decided to play along over there, as well.

I went with the Birthday theme at Stampotique Designer's Challenge,

and used the colors from the yummy challenge photo at 

Cupcake Inspirations. 

I decided to use Bat Boy from Stampotique, since he was already

dressed for a Birthday party. I colored him and the background, with 

TH Distress Inks and an aqua painter. 

I added some highlights using colored pencils and a white gel pen.

I used this funny sentiment stamp that I received from a friend.

Seemed fitting for a birthday party. Especially a kid's party. 

And lastly, I water colored the inside of the card, and stamped it with

a Happy Bday stamp.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my make.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Stampotique Designer's Challenge: Birthday

Cupcake Inspirations: photo inspiration 

   

Dragon of Light for Wicked Wednesday

Okay today is a Wicked Wednesday reminder. 
Time to make some ATCs!!

The theme is Things with Wings. 

We are sponsored by A Day for Daisies this week. 

I simply adore this image. He is called, "Dragon of Light".

I went with the simple design (again) to allow this little guy to 

SPARKLE!! 

Be sure to drop by WW ATC challenges for more inspiration. 

Bat in the house!!

A really good friend of mine, and her family, 

just moved into a new home.

A 7000 square foot home. 

More along the lines of a compound, actually.

This is my son in front of their little fireplace. 

It is about 15' across, and it goes up three stories.

Just a dinky thing!

So after touring her new digs I thought she would appreciate a 

handmade card to congratulate her on  the new place. 

She is also (or used to be) a card maker, and she has said 

she never receives cards, so I make sure to send her one 

every chance I get.  

I decided to use this gorgeous image called, "Morgana's Castle" 

from Rick St. Dennis. I began coloring it in with Copics 

when I received a text from my friend telling me that every 

evening they watch the bats fly from their property to go hunting. 

"They're so cute!", she says in another text.

Then, I get a text a day later that reads: BAT IN HOUSE!

Not so cute when they're dropping guano in your living room, huh?

I decided right then, to modify the castle image slightly.

I inked up some random bat stamps and added them to castle.

Pretty clever, huh? My friend thought so! She loved her card.

Lastly, I used a Memory box die cut, and layered it with an oval punched sentiment from Stampin' Up.

You really should drop by Rick's Etsy shop, and take a look at all of

his amazing digital images. There is something for every taste and 

every occasion. It also pays to check out his blog as well. 

He has special offers that can only be  purchased exclusively

from his blog. 

Thangs with wangs

Tee hee! That title just cracks me up!

I meant it to sound like a southern drawl, 

but it ended up being a wiener joke. Ha!

Focus, Glo. Focus.

Okay today is Wicked Wednesday. Time for some ATCs!!

The theme is Things with Wings. 

We are sponsored by A Day for Daisies this week. 

I am fairly new to this line of images, but I have quite a 

little collection already.

I love the way these are drawn. So simple, yet beautiful.

  

This ATC uses the "Freehand Bird 1" image. So lovely.

I used a burlap ATC that I picked up at Hobby Lobby a while ago, 

and paired it with some vintage, velvet ribbon 

I found at a yard sale years ago.

This one uses the "Owl Nephew" image.

I kept it really simple, but had to add some Stickles bling 

for good measure.

Be sure to drop by WW ATC challenges for more inspiration. 

Altered notebook

Greetings! 

Today I would like to share a little project I made using

one of Rick St. Dennis' awesome digital images.

I began by coloring the versatile Skull with Roses image with Copics.

I cut it out using a circle Spellbinders die, and then I added some 

Crackle Accents, by Ranger. Once the crackle had cracked and dried, 

I added some walnut Distress Ink to help the crackle effect appear 

more aged. 

My unsuspecting victim, the notebook. 

It has post it notes and a blank note pad inside,along with a little pen. 

Perfect for a purse or book bag.

I adhered some diamond design paper to the front cover and to the pen.

I aged the paper with more walnut ink, but left the pen un-inked for fear 

that the ink would come off on your hands when using it. 

I tied some cool, barbed wire ribbon to the side and added the aged and crackled Skull with  Roses image in the center.

Easy peasy. Simple, yet effective.

Drop by Rick's Etsy shop to see all of the wonderfully wicked,

and beautifully mainstream images he has to choose from.

  

  

Handmade Mini Book of Ephemera

The challenge, should you choose to accept it:

Mini Books.

I should have ran when I had the chance....

Round three of the Smeared and Smudged DT Throwdown has begun!

This took me waaaaaay out of my usual discomfort zone, and forced me to

work on an incredibly labor intensive project. Something I usually don't even

consider doing. Like sewing. Or cooking.

So, after spending a week planning my attack in my head, 

and wasting quite a bit of time on Splitcoast tutorials, 

and then finding too much info on Youtube, I decided

to make my book from scratch. I'm a sucker for punishment.

I used corrugated cardboard for the covers, cut to 3.5" X 4", 

and covered them with a creepy dp, and then also added 

a spine like a real, live book. 

Not too bad for my first binding experience.

I may try this again. Maybe.

Notice the controlled chaos on my desk. It's the only way for me.

Completed front shot. I added a handmade (by me) polymer clay

skull, and a couple of grunge board straps with eyelets and snaps. 

I am a collector of many things. Vintage metal lunch boxes, $2 bills, 

weird action and vinyl figures, taxidermy, oddities, horror memorabilia, 

and other cool schtuff. I also love paper.

All kinds of vintage ephemera, tags and books from my childhood, 

cool or cute artwork, doodles, whatever. I thought that this mini book would allow me to save and use and organize some of my paper madness.

Gotta have some Zombies and a brain right out of the gate!

The stamped Zombies are from Doodle Factory, and the jarred brain

 cling stamp is from Inkadinkadoo. 

This is one of my oldest and most favorite rubber stamps! I picked it up at

a convention years ago, and am thrilled to add it to my mini book.

I usually pair it with a thought bubble that says, 

"Do I have something in my teeth?".

The jack-o stamps on the right are stamped onto acetate and then colored with fine glitter on the backsides. The jar of eyes is from the 

Inkadinka set, and the Mummy is rubber from Paper MakeUp stamps. 

The bp is digital from Susan's Crafty Chaos, the creepy bottles and jars are from Itkipilli, and the labels are from Mike's. 

More labels and dp and internet finds.

Got to use my Spellbinder Bat die, finally! I used some metal screen for texture.

Random.

More Crafty Chaos digital dp, and a cool ticket stub from the

Museum of Death in Hollywood. And a cemetery statue.

And the last page with more CC digital dp, another specimen stamp,

a wicked online find, and another label.

  

Fin!

Please take a moment to stop by the Smeared and Smudged ning

group tomorrow and Friday (only) to cast your vote for your favorite

teams projects. We all worked really hard on these mini books 

and would love for you see all of them and vote for your favorite. 

To see all of the Team HDH mini books, click here.

Macabre Monday Bare Bones/CAS

Well, it's been a while since I've posted on my blog.

Life ripped my heart out a couple of weeks ago, when my Mother

passed away rather unexpectedly. I'm still reeling, but I have to get

back to some semblance of normalcy. So I must create art!!

Here are my submissions for the Clean and Simple challenge at HDH.

CAS is quite hard for me, as I have a very loose understanding of the 

"less is more" concept. I decided to start with some cute jar dies

from Memory Box.

  

I cut the jars from vellum and then stamped the weird critters on the back.

I embossed them and colored them on the reverse side so they appear to 

be in the jar. Then I had to back them with white, so they'd show up better. 

I added various dots using my Copics, so it looked like the contents of the

jar were spilling, or floating out.

I couldn't stop myself from adding Stickles. It looked so much more

magical than just the dots.

CAS simple doesn't have to be just one layer, but the simpler, the better.

Like I said, I haven't quite grasped the concept.

Be sure to drop by HDH to play along, or at least peruse the Minion's work.

Since I've been rather down lately, my husband tried to cheer me up with some "gate art". 

He drilled holes in the top of the gate, and then inserted and glued colored marbles into the holes.

When the sun begins to set, the marbles look beautiful!

I'm a sucker for colored glass, so we're on the hunt for red and purple 

marbles to add to the gate.

Next stop: The back fence!!!!