DT Throwdown: Old and Grey

It's time again for the monthly, DT Throwdown challenge!!

What is a "throwdown challenge", you may ask?

Well, Smeared Ink has put out a challenge to all Design Teams

to make up a team of three, and compete (for bragging rights and a cool badge)

against other DTs by creating something magical (or not) from the monthly prompt.

The one main rule besides following the theme is to use a stamped image somewhere

on their project. Seems simple enough, doesn't it? If nothing else, it's loads of

fun and a great way to step out of your creative comfort zone.

Stop by the new Throwdown blog and vote for your favorite team's projects,

and maybe even get inspired to play along with us all next month. 

This month's theme was chosen by last month's winners,

Quoth the Raven.

They have decided to go "Old and Grey" for the new challenge.    

Here is what I came up with for the theme.

After much brainstorming and deliberation, I kept coming back to coffins.

I bought a bunch of paper mache coffin boxes last year on clearance,

thinking I could use them to send my little Halloween sculptures out in them

this year. I made a few using decoupage and Halloween napkins, but 

I wanted to try some new techniques this time around.

I love this little fat coffin shape!

I got out the modeling paste and covered the entire box and lid. 

I used a metal wings embellishment behind a cool polyclay

skull gifted to me from my buddy, Kristy. I painted the entire coffin

and embellishments in gray, and then proceeded to dry brush the 

lighter shades onto the rock-like texture.    

Quite happy with the outcome.

Inside the box, I have adhered a little Vampire from RSD.

What's a coffin without it's Vampire?

The inside of the lid got some special attention as well.

I added a cute skull stamp, and then some sparkly curly q's

for more interest. 

Ta-dah!

I tried some crackle paste on this coffin.

Similar results as the modeling paste, but with some real cracks.

Nice. 

I was lucky enough to win last month's Stampotique giveaway,

and this is one of the awesome new stamps I received.

It's called, "Lovelyarethesound".  

Lastly, I added a metal skull brad and a rhinestone to bling things up a bit.

That's it for my DT Throwdown entry.

Please drop by the HDH blog and check out what the rest of my teamies made for 

the Throwdown.

Then, please stop by the new Throwdown blog to vote for your favorite

team's projects. Voting begins today, and ends Friday. 

Danse Macabre Throwdown

Well, skeleton crew that we are, we made it!

Haunted Design House is back in the 

Smeared and Smudged DT Throwdown!

Just me and  fellow Minion, Donna this time around though.

The chosen theme for this month's challenge is 

"Danse Macabre" or the "Dance of  Death".

Last month's throwdown winners, Airless Chambers  chose the theme.

And what a wicked theme it is!!

Growing up and listening to metal bands, I immediately thought of

a song by "Celtic Frost", aptly named, "Danse Macabre". 

Well, it was sort of a song. More like track from a

creepy, Satanic movie soundtrack.
Here is the YouTube link, incase you're feeling inquisitive.

But, that was my inspiration for my throwdown piece.  

I tell you this, thinking it might make some sense now, but it probably
just makes me seem that much more bizarre.

I have been collecting old baby dolls lately, when I visit the thrift shop.

I felt kinda embarrassed at first, with this filthy baby doll at the check out.

But now, I feel like I'm liberating these poor, neglected souls.

After apologetically removing his appendages and head, I gessoed, 

and then painted the head with various acrylic paints.

 

Made quite few rookie mistakes,but it all ended up working well in the end.

I applied TH Distress Crackle Paint in Rock Candy, (rather thickly at times)

for the final crackle effect. 

Rock Candy is now my "go to" crackle medium.  

Then, I got the bright idea to use old dictionary pages for some punches

later. I used some homemade Distress Ink sprays, but didn't factor in the

unexpected humidity and rain we were having. It took what seemed like

forever to dry, but the end result was awesome!

Still damp!!! I cannot punch damp paper!!!!

I decided that I needed a crown, so I fashioned one out of old jewelry and

some grungeboard.

Ah! The dictionary paper is finally dry, so I use a piece to add my  required, 

stamped image. I used this cool, Stamper's Anonymous stamp that was gifted to me. 

I also started punching stars for the baby's collar.

I hand wrote the quote, "The Dance of the Dead unites us all!" 

on an old dictionary page. Basically meaning, that we all are on the same level once we die.

No one cares who was rich or poor when the Reaper comes a callin".  

I wanted an old, corroded, gritty feel to this project. 

I feel that the use of resin sand achieved this effect quite well.

I mixed it with black acrylic paint to save myself the step of painting it

black later. This way, once it was dry I could go directly to the highlights. 

I used metallic acrylic paints to give it all a metal feel.

Here is my other stamp! I actually used two on this side, but the winged skeleton

under the Deceased stamp is super faded after all the painting and stuff.

I used my cherished, Meer Image stamps.  The very first scrapbook expo I ever

went to (ages ago), is when I found Meer Images and the talented artist behind them,

Steven Vander Meer.

My little baby head needed a collar, so I created one out of distress inked

dictionary pages, and a star punch. I felt that a circle or a scallop wasn't

going to be pointy enough for my little friend. The star gave the perfect

amount of sharpness needed.

 It kind of mimics the points of the crown.

I added some more resin sand to the crown, along with a

handmade polymer clay skull and more acrylic paint.

Well, here is my nut can, turned gritty commentary on Death.

Drop by HDH see what kind of wickedness Donna cooked up

for her entry. We kinda ROCKED it!!!

Voting starts on Thursday, and we'd really love it if you voted for

your favorite project from the team who deserves it the most.

Go to Smeared and Smudged ning group to see all of the entries

and to cast your vote. Voting ends Saturday at midnight.

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.

Round 2, ding ding!!!

The second round of the DT throwdown at 

Smeared and Smudged has begun.

This time the theme is Faux Finishes.

Here is my faux finished skull.

Paper Mache skull with bronze metallic paint and patina treatment.

I used the VerDay paint set from Retro Cafe Art to achieve this

awesome finish. Very realistic IRL. It looks like it should weigh quite

a bit, like solid cast bronze. 

All paper and card stock gears and cogs and such, 

given a faux rust technique using acrylic paints. 
I also used some navy blue rhinestones that weren't 
getting used very often, to act as faux rivets.

Stamped stylized steampunk gears onto tissue paper and adhered it 

over the bronze and patina. Next time, I think I'll apply it before 

the patina step. Might make it appear more realistic and less

sticker-ish.

Good shot of the bronze and patina, and a close up of the gears and 

stuff. I used some grunge board, but found the cardstock to work
better. Grunge board doesn't glue down very easily, either.

The Haunted Design House team won the first DT throw down, 

and we'd love to go two for two on this round as well.

We all worked really hard on our projects and we think it shows.

If you would like to see the entries from all of the teams

and cast your vote on Thursday or Friday, here is the link. 

You do have to be a Smeared and Smudged forum member

to participate and vote, but it's free and very worth signing up.

Check out our collective entry at Haunted Design House. 

Not one to back down...

...from a good challenge, 

I have completed my Smeared Ink DT Throwdown project.

What is the DT Throwdown you may be wondering? 

Well it is the cream of the crop in alternative crafting Design Teams, competing against each other for the badge, and more importantly, 

the bragging rights, of top voted DT Throwdown champions.

This is the chance for me to create something beautifully twisted, 

and then be voted on it by my peers.

The DT with the most votes, collectively, wins. 

If you are interested in checking out the competition, 

or in getting more info, go here. 

You must be a member of the Smeared Ink ning group to 

participate  in the challenges and/or the voting. 

Join up and vote for your favorite project!! 

I am honored to be participating alongside my fellow 

Haunted Design House Minions, Donna and Mark.  

Here is my project for the theme of 

Paint and Splatter

CAUTION: Lots of photos

Here is my before picture.

This is a small chest of drawers made out of chipboard and handmade

papers. It was originally sold through Hallmark, but I picked it up at my 

local thrift store for a low, low price.  

I began by removing the knobs and metal hardware, 

and then I painted it out in white acrylic paint for a good base coat. 

Then I painted it completely in a metallic champagne color.

I added gold highlights for an antique feel.  

While the paint was drying, I started stamping various Stampotique stamps

onto tissue paper. This would allow me to add the images directly to my 

piece without the risk of a bad image stamped onto the drawers forever.

Once the images were adhered to the drawers with decoupage and dry 

(with the help of Mister Hairdryer), I started coloring them with Copics. 

I really like the idea of brightly colored monsters and creeps (kinda like Monsters Inc.), so I kept the color palette rather bright and cheery. 

I also knew I was going to be antiquing the drawers later, 

if I needed to tame down any excessive fluorescence.

3 in a Round is one of my absolute favorite Stampotique images.

They had to be a part of this project. 

For the splatter portion of my project, I used an awesome

red glitter acrylic paint. Might have gotten a little carried away, but

you can never really have too much splatter.  

Lots of heads. Creepy, colorful, heads.

More excessive dripping.

Using a crackle with acrylic paints is a new technique for me.

I had to put on my reader glasses to see the teeny tiny crackles, but they 

showed up better once I applied the brown acrylic wash.

Stampotique skull image stamped multiple times and flipped over for a

mirror image. One of the perks of working on tissue paper. 

Weird little recessed top area.

Nice crackle finish and antiquing.

Well, there you have it. My DT Throwdown entry,

in all it's splattered and painted glory!

Thanks for the fun challenge.

You can see all of the entries and cast your vote for your favorite project

at the Smeared Ink ning group. 

I am also entering this in the very first challege at
Left of Center challenges