Something in the Sky part deux

Today I have another submission for the current

Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge.

The image is the Aussie Bee Eater from 

By Miss Rach on Etsy. 

I felt the need to split this up from the ATC I made

yesterday of that adorable bee. Might be a bit of a 

melee between this guy and that bee. 

Not a fair fight either, I'm afraid. 

I wasn't familiar with this gorgeous little bird before 

getting the image. They are just stunning in their

color variations. Very fun to color up as well.

I had so much fun with this image. I backed him up on a complimentary

background paper and added some of my necessary bling by using some

sequins. I also stamped the word 'wings' for some more interest.

Be sure to check out miss rach's blog for new releases and some

fabulous freebies including the bee from yesterday.

I'm entering this ATC in the following challenges:

Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge - Something in the Sky

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

Critters and Creatures - Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - In the Garden

Hiding in my Craft Room - Summer Colors 

Just Us Girls - Birds

    

Something in the Sky ATC

The current challenge at Wicked Wednesday ATC is

Something in the Sky.

I just bought a bunch of super cute images from Miss Rach on Etsy

that are perfect for this theme.

My first ATC (another will follow tomorrow)

is featuring the adorable bumble bee image.

He is available on her blog as a FREE BEE (freebie) found here.
Be sure to check out all of her other adorable and very affordable
images she has to offer in her shop here. 

How stinkin' cute is this chubby little dude?!

I love him!! Super fun and easy to color up.

I love that. Sometimes a simple image to color

is just what I need on a day I'm not up for too

much planning or too many color choices. 

It's nice to have a lot of open space to blend as well.

I used my generic Dymo to add the Buzz Buzz sentiment that

I think plays really well with the cutesy paper. I popped it up on some

foam tape for more dimension. Added a little Stickles in Waterfall 

for my necessary bling, and we're done! 

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

Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge - Something in the Sky

  

Rudy makes an appearance

I just can't get enough of the Stampotique seahorses

from Daniel Torrente.

Today I am showing off Rudy.

He's awesome in a totally wonky way.

I love Daniel Torrente stamps from Stampotique for this very reason.

All of his drawings and characters are superbly WONKY.   

I made this ATC for the current challenge of Sea Creatures

at Wicked Wednesday ATC challenges.

I used a water colored background, and added Rudy hanging 

onto some plant die cut like he would be in the wild.

I sparkled it up a bit using some Lime Green Stickles and some

opalescent sequins to serve as bubbles.

He goes great with the ATC I made the other day using Reggie here.

WW Sea Creatures

I have been inspired yet again by

Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge 

to create an ATC featuring a Sea Creature this week.

I kind of adore Reggie the seahorse from Stampotique.

He has friend named Rudy who will make an appearance tomorrow.
I colored Reggie using my go-to coloring medium of Copics.

I colored the background using Distress Inks in Peacock Feather,

Shabby Shutters and Tumbled Glass on TH watercolor paper, hoping

for a underwater feel. I spritzed it with water and dabbed off the excess for those cool 

water drops everyone likes so much. I stamped some Seaweed onto the background

and colored in the dots with a white Posca paint pen, and then added Waterfall 

Stickles for some sparkle. I popped Reggie up with some foam tape, and then

glued some sequins on to emulate bubbles.

I am loving how this one turned out. I had so much fun I made another ATC,

but I'm saving it for tomorrow's post.

Thanks for stopping by!  

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

Wicked Wednesday ATC challege - Sea Creatures

Left of Center - Stripes and/or Dots  

Snarky Stampers - N is for Not a Card

Little Miss Muffet Challenges - Anything Goes

Star Stampz Challenge - Hand Colored Image

Through the Purple Haze - Under Water

Wee Batty Boos

I am back today with another Halloween themed project.

Today I have an ATC inspired by a Pinterest pin for the current

challenge at Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge.

 This is my pin from my Color Theory board on Pinterest.

I have a bunch of them (87 to be exact) saved on my board,

but this one really popped out at me for some reason.  

I have had this adorable image from Wee Stamps for quite some time and this is the

very first time I have colored these cuties up. I know, how lame, huh? 

I used the oranges, the blue violets, and the red violets from

the color theory palette. I added the yellow green to ground the image and provide

more contrast. I was trying to stay away from grays because the cool grays 

look very similar to the blue violets used on the bats.

I used an ombre effect to color the button stamp. Another virgin stamp

used finally. I also popped some yellow glitter in the pumpkin's eyes and

mouth for a bit of interest and sparkle.

Super sweet image I'm glad I finally colored.

I really like this challenge of Pinterest inspiration, but getting

to choose your own pin was really fun. I may have to make that a weekly

occurrence for my own personal challenge.

I'll be back tomorrow with yet another card for you to check out.

This one isn't Halloween in nature, but I hope you'll pop by and 

check it out anyway.

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

Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge - Inspired by Pinterest    

{Pin}spirational Challenges - Anything Goes

Shopping Our Stash - Anything but a Card

Punny Veggies ATC

I don't get to play along with Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge

very often. Nor do I get to use these super cute veggie digis very often either. 

So when I saw that the current theme at WW is "Fruits and Veggies",

I made it happen.

After coloring up both the radish and the carrot, I grabbed some

watercolor paper and laid down some TH Distress inks using my aqua brush.

I thought that wasn't enough interest, so I over did it with black and white 

Dylusions splatters and some Platinum Stickles. I kind of wish I had

stopped with just the watercolor background now, but oh well.

I hand wrote the punny sentiment, and edged the entire ATC with Crystal Stickles.

Pretty quick and very fun to make.  

The images are from The Doodle Garden, 

but I can't find a current shop for them anywhere.

I guess Jennifer Nilsson only creates images for licensing now. 

That's too bad for us crafters, since her images are so flippin' cute. 

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

Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge - Fruits and Veggies

Little Miss Muffet challenges - Anything Goes

Through the Purple Haze - Anything Goes

A Little FUN with an ATC

I really miss making ATCs. They are so fun and realativly quick

to whip up. They're a great way to use up those paper scraps, and a good

trial size way to try out new techniques or mediums.

A great ATC only challenge blog is Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge .

Jen always has a fun weekly challenge theme, 

and usually has a fabulous sponsor lined up as well.

This week's challenge theme is :

#194 (almost 200!) 'You Animal!'.

The awesome sponsor is Janet Klein from Vera Lane Studio.

She has some quirky and unusual images. I like that. A lot.

Here is my animal inspired ATC.

This guy is from Little Miss Muffet Stamps .

He is from a set of two unicorns called, 

Boon and Jitters. I'm not sure which one he is.

I'm going to assume this is Boon. But it doesn't

really matter since it appears the image is no longer available.

Yes, I've had him that long and just now got around to coloring

him in. One down, thousands more to go. As usual, I have colored this
image using Copic markers. 

Even though he has a horn that makes him a unicorn,

I decided to mix it up a bit and gave him a cool, sparkly, metal wing.

Let's just assume he actually has two wings. Otherwise he'd just

fly around in circles and that's not cool. 

I backed him onto some OLD dp scrap and an even older rhinestone

flourish. Overall, this is quite a destash heavy project. I like that.

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

Wicked Wednesday ATC - You Animal!

Get Creative Challenges - Fantasy/Mythological  

MarkerPop - Anything Goes

Simon Says Wednesday challenge - Anything Goes

    

   

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

I guess I have succumbed to the fact that spring is

in full bloom. Early, but blooming none the less.

I seem to keep reaching for bright, girly colors to

use on my projects. It's like Mother Nature is sending

me subliminal messages or something. I wish she'd quit

doing that.

I do have to admit that when I saw the freebie image for

the Smeared and Smudged Freaky Freebie facebook challenge,

I was hit right away with this idea.  

I immediately knew I wanted to make her gas mask

into a watering can to water the blooms of the apocalypse.

I dotted the background  using Copics to look like falling ash, 

ala Silent Hill.  

This ended up way prettier than I had imagined, 

but it is nice to see what's in my head come to

fruition.

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

Left of Center - LOC Anything Goes

Shopping Our Stash - I Made This - make your own background

Marker Pop - Anything Goes #64

Monday Morning Challenge - Think Spring

Smeared Ink Facebook challenge - Freaky Freebie

Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge - Spring is in the Air 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Little Green Oddball

Westmoreland nesting Lion

Okay, it's taken me a good solid week to recover from my Dad's visit.

The visit itself was actually quite nice. It was the week before that really

effed me up. My Dad was a first sergeant in the Air Force. One of his weekly

duties was to inspect the barracks for cleanliness. He pretty much white gloved

every one's room in search of an infraction. And usually found at least one.

Welcome to my world. 

Imagine growing up in a household with a weekly inspection of sorts. 

Inspections I usually always failed. Always.

Scratching Dog Stone Animal

Fast forward some 25 years later, and after seven years apart he decides to come

visit. He hasn't seen me or my family in seven years. We left Texas on bad terms,

and it wasn't until the death of my Mother almost two years ago, that we began 

speaking again, and healing our fractured relationship. My Dad and I are 

ridiculously alike. Hence the wedges we both drive...

So to say I gave my house a thorough cleaning would be overstating

an insurmountable task. But I did do a pretty good job of making everything

appear to be tidy and dusted. I have a shit ton of chotchkies and dust collecting

collectibles, and crap, so dusting in itself is quite a chore. Plus, we have

three dogs, and two long haired cats, who produce their own miniature 

replicas out of shed hair every other day. Makes ya wanna come and visit my

hairy dust bowl of a curio shoppe doesn't it?

My Mom's wedding ring and everyday ring

Anyhoo, after a nice 4 day visit, good food, and an expected apology, I had to 

take a few days off to rest my aching back, and start going through all 

of the treasures my Dad brought me that belonged to my Mom. He was quite

generous with this delivery. I got all of her jewelry, her stone animal collection,

photo albums and scrapbooks that she made, a couple of pieces from her 

Westmorland Nesting animals collection, and various other cherished items.

 My Dad's stuffed animals from his childhood.

I think we're in a good place now. Finally.

Now I'm ready to get back into create mode and make some art!

I am a new fan of Oddball Art Stamps. I have a few of their images,

but haven't played with most of them yet. This little guy came with

a cool demon girl, but I wanted to use him all by himself for this ATC.

How cay-oot is he? Soooo cute! I have a thing for voodoo dolls.

Always have, just ask my husband...

"Can I have a lock of your hair?"

"What for?"

*snip!*

I popped this guy up on foam for dimension, after coloring him with Copics.

I used some Halloween paper scraps and skull glitter tape from

Recollections at Mike's. I found two punched hearts in black and 

added Firefly Stickles to make them sparkle. Added the "love me"

from Smeared Ink's Love Li'l Grumpies rubber set, 

and this ATC is fini.  

I'd like to enter this ATC in the following challenges:
Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge - #149 Going Green

Oddball Art Challenge - Love

Naughty Or Nice challenges - It Aint Easy Being Green

Left of Center challenges - Good/Bad Luck or LOC

(I think this might qualify for both, depending on how ya look at it)

Look who's on a roll!

Not bad. Five posts already this month.

So far so good with keeping up with posts,

despite the fact that no one hardly seems to stop by

very much anymore. That's cool though, as I look at this

blog as an indelible record of my thoughts and artwork from 

this point in my life. More for me and my kid than anyone else.

But it's still nice to think folks will drop by and enjoy what they see

and read here.

And as usual, I digress...

I made another ATC. I really enjoy making these things.

The current theme over at Wicked Wednesday is

Pink, Black, and White.

Pretty sure that I nailed it. 

Definitely one of  my favorite color schemes.

In keeping with another want for the new year, I am using 

a previously unused digi image. This one is from the now defunct,

Birdie Brown. I adore Torico's simplistic, and sweet style.

I'm sure you'll be seeing more of her art, as I have amassed quite a collection.

Yes, another "collection".

I kinda panicked when she announced she was closing her shop...

After coloring this sweet image with Copics, I added some

white highlights with a Gelly Roll pen, and some Fruit Punch 

Stickles for sparkle. I also added a couple of steampunk corner

accents, complete with rhinestone centers.

Thanks for stopping by today.

I really do appreciate those of you who stop by, and especially

when you take the time to leave me a comment.

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

Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge - black, pink, and white

Creative Corner Challenges - Wonderland

Check out some of my schtuff Day 27

Welcome to the final week of the Halloween Countdown blog hops.

Today, I'd like to share a tiny bit of my humble abode and some of

my holiday decorating. 

Artsy shot of my mantle. I love that mercury glass pumpkin.

It is one of my new additions this year.

I love color! Bright, bold color. If it's sparkly, even better!

Kudos to my husband for picking this up for me this weekend.

He rocks and so does this wicked ram's skull!

It's just a resin replica, but it's still super cool. 

These are a couple of jars I made a few years ago.

I added bbq ashes to the 'Corpse Dust' bottle, and the other

bottle is a Maker's Mark bottle which comes with the melted red wax (?).

Oh! And here is my ATC for today's crafty project.

I used this sweet little Frank from Make it Crafty.

He is from the Mini Monzta Boys set of digis.

Since his bolts are rather large, it left little room to do much

else, but I did add some MS washi tape to the bottom.

And now we resume our tour...

One of my favorite candle holders is this glass cauldron. 

It came as a set from Partylite years ago, but I just got 

some 'Hocus Pocus' votives for them the other day.

When the wax melts it turns into a wicked toxic yellow liquid.

I love these candles.

Another favorite from Michael's. Such a nice thrill to catch something

like this on clearance after the holiday.  

Here is another vignette on the left side of the mantle.

I am all about collecting cloches for my captured treasures. 

And the right side of the mantle. Another Michael's clearance jar with the purple

ribbon, alongside my new snow globe of the headless dude. I did score a mercury

glass cloche from a wonderful shop called, Insomniac's Attic. It's keeping my

bunny eared Stitchling in check. He likes to poke the kittehs with his pointy

stick if I don't lock him up at night.

Okay, folks. Thanks for stopping by today.

I'll be back tomorrow with the names of the giveaway winners.

Be sure to check out all the wonderful work and interesting posts

being offered on these glorious month long Halloween hops.

 31 Days of Halloween 

Countdown to Halloween  

Almost in the single digits Day 21

10 more days until Halloween!!

How do ya like my countdown thingie?

I forgot I had purchased this in early September, but only

unearthed it yesterday while trying to finish off the decorating.

I now remember I had set it aside with the intention of painting

up the Reaper since he's looking a bit rough. 

Glad I remembered to get this out and use it before it was too late.

Gotta love those Michael's discounts and coupons. 

I got a wicked good deal in this thing. 

 For my artsy offering I have made another ATC.

I have quite a few Meljen's images, but rarely have the time

to color them up. I did manage to get this lovely lady colored

up for the 31 Days of Halloween celebration.

Her name is Zombie Stella and she can be found here. 

I added some lightning bolts and a sentiment from a There She Goes 

Halloween tag set. I colored the edges using TH Distress Inks and the mini

blending tool. I really like the way that tool works. 

I usually use a sponge dauber on my finger for this type of effect, 

but I like the new tool better.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Hope I'm not boring you all with my Halloween papercrafts.

I hope to have my house ready to photograph this week so I can

show and tell you all about my cool decorations and stuff.

Short and Sweet Day 14

I want to say thank you to everyone who has stopped by 

this month, and especially thank you to everyone who has left 

a thoughtful comment and words of encouragement.

I still feel like c-rap, but I have promised myself

that I'd keep going even though my reserve projects ran out

three days ago. So much for trying to plan ahead.

Anyhoo,

Here's another ATC (Artist Trading Card) using that

cool technique found here. I used watercolor paper and

I really like the texture it provides.

This cutie (yes, I can do creepy cute, too) is from Kraftin' Kimmie,

and she's called, 'Happy Vampy', but I don't think she's available

any longer. She's not listed on the website anywhere that I could find.

The sentiment says, "Paranormal Princess", and it's from Stamp Insanity.

Also now discontinued and defunct. Sorry.

I'm gonna call it a night and try and get some sleep.

I am now entering the coughing stage(s) of my illness.

Try not to be jealous.

Remember to check out all of the talented crafters participating in

the 31 Days of Halloween, and all of the Halloween themed bloggers

participating in the Countdown to Halloween. There is so much creativity

and information being shard, it's nearly impossible to not be inspired in some way.