What an exquisitely creepy little girl!

I am almost unable to contain my sinister bubblings over the

new images from Vera Lane Studio Digi Stamps. I am always thrilled when

another artist (unwittingly, or not) caters to those of us who are

"less than normal crafters". And I mean that in the best way

possible.

This little zombified booger is named, "Rachael".

And she only resembles a booger because that is how I have

colored her. I usually like my zombies to be green and have 

varying spots of decay and discoloration. And then they 

should be wearing a pretty dress to show that they are still

a girl, after all. 

As a side note, the set this image is from also comes with a little

zombie boy named "Gage", and a kitty named "Meow". Anyone care to

connect the undead dots? What if the cat was named, "Church"?

Anyone?

  

The sentiment is from my favorite word artist, Ginger's House.

Not only are her sentiments funny, sweet, and even kinda naughty sometimes,

but they're FREE!! Yeah, I know. Cool, right?

I have a bunch more Vera Lane images to color and show off, 

so stay tuned...

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - June 2015 challenge
Crafty Time Challenges - Girls, Girls, Girls
Sugar and Betty - Anything Goes - June
The Sisters of Craft - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Anything Goes
Left of Center - Left of Center

Pocket Letter Newbie

I have officially participated in my very first Pocket Letter swap!!

I first heard about Pocket Letters via Serena Bee's YouTube channel.

I loved how fun and simple it looked, so I started collecting all of the

"ingredients" to begin making my own. But you really do need someone to

swap with to make it official. I happened to be chatting with my dear friend

(in real life), Dani, who stated that she has been trading pocket letters all

over the US and Internationally for a few months. What?! How did I not

know this?! I made sure she was my first PL swap, although I still haven't

received mine yet....

I went with a purple Goth theme which I chose myself. I guess you can

pick a theme between you and your trade partner, but Dani left it up to me

since it was my first time. I know she doesn't "do pink", so I went with

purple. Everyone loves purple, right? Well, they should!

I began by grabbing a stack of trading card sheets from my ATC stash,

and pulled out my ridiculous amount of ATCs that I have made, but never

gave away. I have a lot! What a great way to share them with new friends far and wide.

I was lucky enough to have won some Bugaboo images from a recent LOC challenge,

and really wanted to color them up. I love this spider hanging from the moon.

I colored it with Copics and then clear embossed a spider web over the entire card

before using Distress Inks to color the background. 

Then the fun really begins when you start adding goodies to every pocket. 

I added a bunch of paper punched spiders to this pocket.   

After filling the pockets with ATCs, and blank coordinating papers,

I added rhinestones, bows, glittery border strips, puffy bat ribbon, etc...

Basically, add fun crafty stuff to share. I guess the original idea is

to add a tea bag, a note about yourself, a fun quote, and all kinds of 

ephemera. There is a great introduction to Pocket Letters here,

by the lady who created them. 

This one was fun. I just added some Tim Burton-y paper clips, and

a bunch of punched bats, and teeny neon clips, too.

This image was fun to color and play with. I got a bit over zealous with the 

polka dot background, but it's very fancy now.

Dani loved her Pocket Letter. I am going to the post office to retrieve mine today.

And pay to get it out of hock. Make sure to add the correct postage, and that it's

packaged properly when you do your swaps. I'm sure Dani did as well, but 

apparently my local post office is super persnickety and wants special handling

fees or something.... Of all the swaps Dani has done, both in the US and Internationally,

this is the FIRST one to have issues. And we only live about 10 miles apart.

I am such a unique experience.  

Sprite Delight part deux

It has been a while since I've blogged. 

Too long, but I have been busy making schtuffs.

Today is the beginning of the new challenge at Aurora Wings.

The new theme is Sprite Delight Part II. 

When I first saw Mitzi's artwork years ago on Etsy, 

I fell madly in love with her sprites. 

This is one of my favorite Aurora Wings challenge themes.

  

I'm still chuggin' along on the wedding album I'm making for my Aunt and Uncle.

I'm hoping to have the entire album completed by their second Anniversary, 

this September. Good things are worth waiting for, right?

After using various inks, and distress sprays to achieve a sandy texture on

some kraft card stock, I began the layering of my 8" x 8" scrapbook page. 

I began by coloring up this gorgeous little 

Bird of Paradise Sprite.  

I thought he was perfect for a tropical beach themed wedding.

Just the right pop of color to set off the image against the 

washed out beach colored page.

I also thought it was a good idea to add some bling and fleurs 

that wouldn't compete with the little Sprite, but compliment it. 

More fleurs, die cuts, gumdrops, half pearls, and pearl sprays

to finish it off. I love the look of the frantage on the leaf die cuts. 

And here we are at the completed scrapbook page, once again.

I like to see the completed piece after all of the details have been

accounted for . I still have about 18 more pages to go before this

album is complete, but I am having a good time making sure each

page is perfect, and a good representation of their love. 

They are two very special people, and I want this book to reflect that.

Be sure to drop by the Aurora Wings challenge blog to see all of the

incredible inspiration pieces, and meet our newest DT member, too! 

Thanks for stopping by today.

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

That Craft Place - Anything Goes

Scrapper's Delights - Anything Goes 

Brown Sugar Challenge -  In the Garden

Craft for the Craic - The Big Occasion 

Fussy and Fancy - Use Aurora Wings image

Moving Along With the Times - To the Happy Couple 

       

Bug. Bugg. Buggs.

The new challenge over at Haunted Design House is a 

theme that is near and dear to my heart,

June-bugs, Gems, and Gewgaws.

I'm mainly partial to the bugs and the gems. Still not

quite sure what a "gewgaw" is, but I think it's a

non-essential embellishment. I've got those in spades, too.

I have quite a few framed insect/bug specimens in my collection,

so I figured it would be cool to make my very own specimens.

I got the idea from an episode of America's Next Top Model, where the 

models had to pose with hissing cockroaches that were on leashes 

and covered in jewels.

I used a rubber cockroach I picked up on clearance at Wally World

after Halloween. It comes with a small glow stick you can insert into the  

abdomen for a cool effect. Maybe I'll try and get pics of  that later.

I had a hell of a time getting the jewels to stick to the stretchy rubber 

the bug is made of, but Glossy Accents came through in the end.

I painted the frame with black paint, dry brushed red glitter paint on the edges

and sides, and then added a couple of stamped flourishes embossed 

with red foil embossing powder.  Lastly, I sealed it with a coat or two of

gloss medium.

   

This spider was hard plastic, with a hollow body on the back making

it difficult to glue into place. So, this guy is something of a wanderer. 

He goes very nicely with my spider web under glass, don't you think?

And he looks right at home among the other oddities and creepies

on my mantle.

Thanks for dropping by today.

Be sure to check out the other bugs, rhinestones, and fancy bits 

over at HDH!!