Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Hallowe'en!!!!

Happy Hallowe'en!!!

Geesh! 
The day is almost over and I have barely even gotten started!
After getting my monster off to school this morning all decked out in his
finest Amanda Bynes costume and wig, I must have watched all of the 
Halloween movies back to back, starting at 7 AM. Nothing like a little
horror in the morning to get your day started off right!

  I did manage to complete a few Hallowe'en projects
that have been on my 'to do' list for quite a while.
Like this cute card featuring one of the sweetest Pumpkin Sprites ever,
and her kitty. The image is from Aurora Wings, by Mitzi Sato-Wiuff.
Mitzi is our sponsor this challenge at HDH, and she is also one of my favorite
artists. She has such a unique and beautiful style of artwork. I'm a huge fan.     

I have been trying my artistic hand at relief carving/sculpting.

This was my very first attempt. I thought I'd try to keep it
pretty simple. All made from white Sculpey polymer clay, painted in acrylics, 
and then some glitter and rhinestone bling was added. 

This is my second attempt at relief sculpting.
A little more involved this time around.

I'm still learning and acquiring the right tools, but overall,
I'm pretty pleased with this Lycanthrope.

This piece (and the other one, too) measure about 
2.5" x 3.5", like an ATC. I really like this type of sculpting quite a bit,
and I have some really cool ideas for lots more of these!

Thanks for dropping by, and 
Happy Hallowe'en!!! 

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Repurposed bottles for Hallowe'en

I am fortunate enough to have friends and family who enjoy
a stiff drink every so often (or every few minutes, as the case may be),
and are willing to save their empty liquor bottles for me.

They finally stopped asking me what I wanted them for, and
now they dutifully save them without questions.

These Makers Mark bottles are my favorite.
The dripping "wax" is perfect for Hallowe'en.
One less step for me.

I usually remove all of the labels, but thought this one might be used 
in the design somehow. I love these little Patron bottles. I got a whole set 
of Patron samplers for Xmas last year. The coffee liqueur is the only one left.

Due to time constraints, I opted to transform a couple of Starbucks bottles,
as opposed to my coveted  Patron and Makers Mark bottles.

After washing and drying the bottle(s) thoroughly, I added some drops
of alcohol ink to the insides of each bottle. I swished it and swirled it until
the entire inside was covered to my liking. Now I had one purple, and one
orange bottle. I also painted the lids with black gesso.    

Using the SBS image, Collette, I have made her into
a bottle label for what else? Morgue Body Lotion.
Not sure if it's intended for the living, or if it's just made out
of morgue bits. Either way, I'll pass on the moisturization.. 
The label stamp(s) is from Inkadinkado. 

There's our pretty lady, Collette, getting her fill of innards,
or unravelling brain matter.

And what is a creepy bottle without a brain accent?

The days of warty witches seems to be a thing of the past.
The dawn of the beautiful, and flawless witch is upon us!

Used another SBS image, Steampunk Jack and Jill,
for this bottle. I just colored her up, scanned and reduced her 
to make her the right size for the label/bottle. 

I just added some ribbon, cheesecloth (for the spider's web),
another Inkadinkado stamp for the label, and a plastic
spider with some pewter distress ink on it, to finish this bottle.
Oh, and glitter. Lots of glitter on the lids. And on my hands, and face,
and clothes, and floor. Good thing I love sparkly stuff.  

SBS is sponsoring us at HDH for the current challenge.
Drop by and check out what the other Minions have made
using SBS images for the theme of "Zombies and Classic Creeps".

Thanks for stopping by today.
Keep it creepy!!  



Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Got Goth?

This week we are celebrating all things Goth at 
Our sponsor is Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet.  

I colored up BBKakes "Skull Diva" for this ATC.
She has such a great face!
I kept her fairly simple and just matched her to the dp.
Designer paper I have had for YEARS!! I think I bought a freaking
ream of this stuff when I first saw it. 

Pop over to the Wicked Wednesday blog and see what 
the other DTs have cooked up using the great sponsored images.  

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

500 Sales in my Etsy shoppe!!

That's right! I have reached quite a personal milestone
by reaching 500 sales in my Etsy shoppe
I can't believe so many folks found my schtuff so purchasable.
As a way to say, "thank you", I'd am offering a discount code,
500SALES
good for 31% off your entire purchase, good until October 31st.

Friday, October 11, 2013

I'm on a roll!

What's this?! Two weeks in a row?
I must have that Hallowe'en fever that's going around!

This week's challenge theme at Dilly Beans challenges is....
Hallowe'en!!

Once again, I have chosen a witty word art from Ginger's House,
and paired it with probably my favorite and most used image from 
Dilly Beans called,  Monster Boy (#230).

After setting the usual color scheme with my Copics, I destashed this
cute skull border from Tim Coffey/K Designs. I also used some dp
that I could never figure out how or when to use previously.
Throw some rhinestones on it, and everything just kind of works.   

More destashing of glittered spider die cuts, and some awesome
and super cheap cheesecloth. Cheesecloth is perfect for conveying
a Hallowe'en, haunted feel to any project. You can bet you'll be seeing
more of it in the projects to come.  

Check out the other Dilly Beans Hallowe'en inspired projects 


Thursday, October 10, 2013

Spooky and beautiful dimensions

My creation is finally completed for the Tando Creative
sponsored challenge at Haunted Design House

I chose the webbed archway from Tando,
which came with four layers total. So many layers to play with!
I decided to use some of the balsa wood leftovers from my son's 
bridge project last year. The wood added a bit more depth and  
dimension to the original design.
I used my absolute favorite wet glue, Scotch Quicky-Dry Adhesive.
I highly recommend it for all your crafting needs. Just make sure 
everything is where you want it.This stuff works fast!  

The top three layers once they were glued together.

Dry run for the spider placement.

Lovely new Sweet Pea "Pumpkin Pixie" image. 
It's nice that it's a digi so I could size it to fit my project.

My beautifully different layers. 
Modeling paste, black gesso with matte medium, and lastly,
yummy purple glitter.

I used a coffin blank from my never ending stash, and painted it
with Black Soot Distress crackle paint. I went over it with some
purple metallic pigment ink, and then used clear embossing powder to
set the pigment ink. I also colored the roses to match my image, using Copics. 

Managed to get kitty peeking through the Icicled (Stickles) web.

Tried the same technique of Distress crackle and metallic ink.
No embossing powder this time, though. I found some metallic dye ink
that worked really well. 


I'd like to enter this project in the following challenges:



Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Creepy, but cute.

Hallowe'en has kicked into full gear!
The smell of pumpkin candles and wet paint permeates the air in my house.
The race is on to finish all of the Hallowe'en projects on my numerous lists. 
Some may, but most won't see completion this year, at least.

The current challenge at Wicked Wednesday ATC challenges is 

I have used #483 Monsters for my Cute and Creepy ATC.
I colored the trio with Copics, fussy cut, and popped them up
from the shoulders up, with foam dots. I added a small
premade tag and some rhinestones. Lastly, I added some white
accents with a gelly roll pen. 
Ta-dah!

Thanks for stopping by!  

Saturday, October 5, 2013

The House that Cthulhu Built


Autumn is upon us, and a chill is in the air.
The leaves are turning, and the smell of pumpkin candles
are permeating the funk of summer. Well, in my house anyway.
I am an Autumn People!!!

I have been busy getting my Etsy shop stocked with unique, and affordable
Hallowe'en themed goodies to bring the joy of the season to you.
Even though I set out to create items to sell, sometimes I fall in love with a 
particular piece, and it never sees the shop.
Here is my latest love affair.

This creepy abode started out as a "paint it yourself" wooden house
that my son slathered paint on when he was about three years old.
I hung onto for sentimental reasons, mainly because I didn't
want to hurt his feelings, and because I am a hoarder of  pretty much, everything

I sanded it, then painted it out in gesso, and added different texture mediums.
These steps killed two birds with one stone, as the gesso and textures
served to make the house look cool and cover the previous "artist's vision",
so I had something of a blank canvas once again. 

After painting the house in my favorite shades of  Hallowe'en colors,
I decided to make a bunch of leedle teeny punkins out of polymer clay
to embellish all of the openings of the house.
After making and baking about 25 punkins, I was struck with a vision. 

I saw tentacles coming out of all of the openings in the house.
LOTS of tentacles!
I wanted it to look as if Cthulhu himself, were trying to break free
of the confines of this haunted house.

Mission accomplished!
I am thrilled with the outcome of this piece. It's one of my favorites to date.
I have some similar plans for other houses I have in my stash, but unfortunately
I can only make so many pieces each year. I may have one in my shop before
Xmas, but I have some other holiday projects to complete before I can begin
on a new one.
Check out my Etsy shop and see if there is anything in there
that you can't live without.  
You can use the coupon code : CREEPYG for 15% off your purchase. 
Discount is good through 10/31/13. 

Thanks for stopping by!
Keep it Creepy!     
   

Friday, October 4, 2013

Let the holidaze begin!!

No surprise that I am giddy with the onset of the best
holiday ever. The countdown to Hallowe'en has begun!
Actually, the countdown begins over again on November 1st, but
you get the idea. I bleed orange and black all year long.

This card is for the current/new challenge at Dilly Beans challenges,
Hallowe'en
Sorry for the blurry picture. I already mailed the card, so this will have to do.

Once again, I have been inspired by the incredibly witty word art from 
Sometimes the word art is just what I need to get in gear and make something
out of nothing. Or at least find my mojo.

Since Megan doesn't really have a typical zombie image, I opted to 
bedeck Nutmeg (#533) in full Hallowe'en regalia.
I went for a dot coloring of her hair, as I am at a loss as to how
to color that awesome fro she's sporting.

I broke out with this cute tombstone brad although it had a big scratch
in the paint. I just got out my needle tool and added some more scratches
to give the idea of cracks rather than a scratched up, misfit brad.  
It's cute, right?

Thanks for dropping by! You should check out the other DT's 
Hallowe'en themed work on the Dilly Beans challenge site.
Maybe you'll even be inspired to play along!    
  

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Can't be two places at once...


I am appalled with myself for not pre scheduling my posts
for this glorious month of October. 
C'mon, what kind of Hallowe'enophile am I? 
Well, we (the Minions and I) are participating in the 
Countdown to Hallowe'en, along with 192 other bloggers.
That means that you can pop by the Haunted Design House blog
and see what we're up to this month.
In theory, we should have something new posted for you
every day or every other day, at least.

I will have postings on my blog also, so don't count me out just yet.