One Last Oddball

I just couldn't resist making one last Creepmas card.

And it seems fitting that it features an Oddball Art Stamp image.

This little cutie is one of the free images that Lizzy offers to the

subscribers of her 

Creepy Cute Chronicles newsletter.

I colored this little puppy/deer using Copic markers.

I used a die cut scalloped oval frame and popped it up

on foam dots to give some depth between the frame and the image.

Lastly, I used one of my favorite products of the year, Nuvo drops.

I don't know why, but I love this stuff. I only have 18 colors so far,

but that might be enough for  now.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenge:

December Oddball Challenge - anything goes 

This is going to do it for me for 2018.

This year has not been kind, but I have learned quite a bit,

so it's not a completely cruel joke. 

I am hopeful for the coming year, and will set my focus on making 

it the very best that I can. 

Wishing you all a great 2019! 

The Snowman from Hellgnome

I don't know about you, but that title sounds like a great

Christmas movie. 

And by great, I mean watchable since I will watch damn near

any scary movie that is on TV. Case in point, I just sat through

2 1/2 hours of 'The House That Jack Built', starring Matt Dillon as a serial killer.

BORING! There were a few scenes worth watching (see taxidermy scene), but

overall a total snooze fest. Then there's 'Mandy", starring Nicolas Cage. 

I was left thinking and audibly asking, "WTF did I just watch?".

Makes me give 'The Nun' another star. 

Which brings that total up to three stars now.

Okay, back to my card...

Doesn't this just make you all warm and fuzzy inside?

No? Just me then. 

I began my creative foray by coloring this killer Horned Snowman

image from Inked Artist/Hellgnome Death Digis . 

I used Copic markers for my coloring of the snowman.

I just can't seem to use anything else to color with these days.

My Zigs are missing me...

I took some designer paper that resembles wooden planks,

and used some Dylusions sprays in Cherry Pie and Post Box Red for 

blood splatter. This guy looks kind of messy, so I splattered him as well.  

I used a die cut from the same paper pad and splattered that with

Dylusions sprays also. These reds are perfect for blood splatter.

Just sayin'... 

I popped everything onto some black card stock using foam tape

on the snowman and his festive sign.

I managed to find some still intact Xmas candy to use as props

for my photo shoot. I like it.

Thanks for popping by today.

Hope everyone had a magnificent Creepmas!!  

And all the best for 2019!!  

   

Merry Oddball!

I'm back again with what will be my last post for 2018.

I can't think of a better way to go out than with an Oddball Xmas!!

I have had a great time guest designing for Lizzy at Oddball Art Co.

I couldn't resist playing with some of the CCC freebies, 

like this simple, yet perfect holiday image from CCC#27.  

Such a fun and easy gate fold card with a Stickled and stitched die cut, 

some snowflakes, and some white Nuvo drops.

This is one of two images in this set of versatile digis #339.

I paired this one with a simple gold embossed sentiment and gold pearls.

The vibrant Copic coloring really pops against the black.

Same thing for this one, but I used silver embossing with a different

sentiment, and silver pearls and rhinestones for accents. 

Another Copic colored image from CCC#27, stitched die cuts,

and some sequins.

I love this one! Image #137 colored with Copics, against stitched die cuts,

backed onto some very busy, yet complimentary paper. Black Nuvo drops

added for texture.

Lastly, I couldn't resist these wacky critters from CCC#14 that I merged with

the jar in digi set #447.  I added their names onto the tags as well.

I added some iridescent Nuvo drops on the fronts, backed the tags onto 

black cardstock for stability and contrast, and strung them with baker's twine.

I used a white gel pen to add the "To: and From:" on the back of each tag.

It is going to be an Oddball Xmas, indeed!

Thanks for stopping by today and all year long.

Hope to be a bit more present with my art in the new year.

Happy Holidaze and Happy New Year!!

  

Oddball Bottle Cap Owls

I'm back again guest designing for Oddball Art Stamps this month!

I'm sharing a project today that is totally new for me.

First off, it requires NO coloring. Yup, I said it. No coloring at all.

I have used the adorable and beautifully vibrant, pre-colored bottle cap art found here. 

I have had the bottle caps for quite some time, and in an attempt to destash a bit, 

and make a few Christmas gifts, I decided to give it a go.

I began by printing out the bottle cap art and punching out the owls with a 1" circle punch.

I used regular printer paper first, but found that photo paper works much better with the

lacquer as you will see in a minute.

I also had some tiny caps, so I punched those out with a 1/2" punch, 

only using the owls faces. 

I added holes to the small caps with my piercing tool and a hammer.

Now for some bling! 

I added various glitters and sparkly stuff to the images for sparkle and interest. 

Lots of tweezer action happening here.

Lastly, I added 3D laquer to the caps to seal in all that gorgeousness.

This was actually my first attempt at this project, and in my second attempt I used

much less laquer and got a smoother finish, which I prefer.

Once dry, I added some ridiculously strong magnets onto the backs. 

These could also be used a pendants, but I figured someone might get 

more use out of magnets. 

I attached the caps together to give them some movement,

and added a rhinestone charm. More bling never hurts, right?

Here is a good comparison on the difference between using photo paper

versus regular copy paper. The lacquer really bleaches out the image to the point

where it looks like a totally different image.

Left one is using photo paper, right one is copy paper. 

My son says the bleached ones look, "vintage". Let's go with that.

All the caps together for a group shot.

Thanks so much for visiting me this week.

I'll be back next Saturday with another concoction to share.

Happy Holidaze!

What the actual Hell Gnome?!

Back again with another make using some Hellgnome Death Digis.

This little dude is the Angry Hellgnome image. 

He reminds me of my father in law. 

Minus the peg leg. Although that would be cool...

I colored up the Angry Hellgnome and the Bone Cross images

using Copic markers. Always my coloring medium of choice.

I fussy cut out the little angry dude, and mounted him onto the Bone Cross background.

I added black mattes to everything, and popped on some black Nuvo drops.

The answer to the question posed on the front.

The sentiment is from Hambo stamps. I love their two part sentiments.

Okay, that's going to do it for me today.

Be sure to pop by the Hellgnome digi shop to grab some cool digis

of your very own!

Astroskeleton or just a dead spaceman

Greetings!
I have a cool CAS card to share today using two images from

the Hellgnome line of images at Inked Artist Avenue.

First off, I began by creating my own galaxy background using Distress Oxide inks.

Splashed some water drops on it, dried it, and splattered some white Dylusions spray

to create the idea of a galaxy. 

I layered the background onto some black card stock creating a framed look. 

I colored the Dead Spaceman image with Copics and then did the same

with the Rocket and Meteor image.

I fussy cut everybody out, and removed the meteor from the spaceship entirely.

The beauty of working with digis and fussy cutting. I can remove parts of

the image easily to help the flow or layout of my project. I'm not very good 

at using masks to do this with rubber stamps, but find it easy to do this way. 

I popped the space dude and his hose up a bit with foam tape. I also added some 

Nuvo glitter drops in silver moondust.

Kept it super simple this time.

That's it for me today.
I'll be back soon with another Hellgnome project to share.

Hellgnome!!!

Woo hoo! I'm back today to share a card I made using a digital

image from Hellgnome Death Digis.

My friend, Stephanie thought I'd dig these images for some strange reason.

And she was so right! These aren't your run of the mill all occasion images.

Unless you're like me and like to create weird stuff all of the time.

This image is called, Skull Monster.

If it's not in the shop, it will be very soon. 

I colored this bad boy up with Copics and matted it onto silver card stock.

I added a few more white dots, and tried my hand at using blending fluid

to add spots in the gray areas. That's kind of scary to do after you've colored

an entire image. Probably won't do that too often.

Finally, I added the word, 'SEEK' and this dog is ready to hunt. 

Check out the Hellgnome Death Digi shop, and both the facebook 

and Instagram pages for inspiration and group shenanigans.

Happy Halloween Eve!!

I have returned again to share my final guest DT projects with
Oddball Art Stamps for this glorious month of October.

I just had to use this adorable image #129 as my focal point.

After coloring her and her spider friend with Copics, she went perfectly 

with the digital paper from The Creepy Chronicles #20.

I couldn't resist layering some drippy die cuts to add to the gooey-ness 

of it all. I also added some more glitter die cuts for added bling. Perfection! 

I have a hairdresser friend who is going to love this card! 

I also had to make some cute ATCs with the yummy goodies of image #468.

Still on my die cutting kick, I thought the zombie hands would

be pretty cute. And I was right.

I popped the images and die cuts onto some Distress Oxide backgrounds.

They're so fun to create, and it's so fulfilling to use up some scraps.

 Lastly, is my favorite little lady...

She is my chosen favorite from the fabulous group of ladies in image #469.

Something about that far away look in her eyes...

Using another new die from Sizzix, I added this beauty onto a simple

die cut background with a Distress Oxide moon.

It has been so fun to be part of the Oddball Art Stamp team this month!

Thank you so much for having me, ladies. I've had a blast creating with 

you this month.

Happy Halloween!!

Who are you calling an Oddball?!

Man, it has been far too long since I've blogged about what I've been creating.

In a nutshell, I've spent the last few weeks preparing for my very first vendor

spot at a local horror convention. I've been painting my ass of and working with 

polymer clay again, in the hopes of selling everything and making a huge profit

on all of my hard work. These are my people, after all.

Well, I guess the people with money didn't get the memo.
There was a two day music festival in town that weekend. Most of the vendors
didn't do very well, and some of us chose to blame our lack of sales on this single fact.
And the fact that we as vendors are competing for sales against awesome celebrities
who charge a small fortune for their photos and autographs.
Sacramento isn't quite the financial mecca that can sustain both types of spenders.
Either, or folks.

Anyhoo, it was a great experience, and I met some of the most amazing creatives.

It is so nice to be surrounded by like minded people who speak my language of

art and horror. I may try my luck again in June. This time I'll spend more time on
my original pieces. Live and learn.

And as if that update wasn't enough, I have a couple of fun cards I made for my

guest DT gig over at Oddball Art Stamps.
Yep, always an oddball, now it's official.

  The current challenge theme is Happy Horrors.

First up is one of the gals from the #469 Creepy Cute Horror Girls set.

This is the Vampire girl complete with her bat companion from another 

Oddball Art image #282 Beautiful Monsters. 

   

Super fun and simple theme made almost entirely of 

hoarded die cuts.

Colored both images with Copics and fussy cut out to create the scene.

Love Lizzy's bats!!!

Next, I used an image and background paper that were freebies from 

the Creepy Chronicles newsletter. All the more reason to subscribe, I'd say! 

She's gorgeous and so fun to create with.

She is from the CCC#18 edition.

I added some more of my ancient die cuts. They went perfectly

with the creepy cute striped background paper from the CCC#20 edition.  

This is the final creation, complete with die cuts, Copic colored main image, 

Nuvo drops, and don't forget that fabulous background paper.

I'll be back in a few more days with some more of my creepy concoctions

for my last guest spot with the Oddballs.