October 1, 2015: And the race is on!

Today is October first. The day I anticipate every year, yet I am 

never quite ready for it to begin. This year is no different, except I 

was smart enough to know I wasn't going to be able to participate in 

the usual October festivities like The Countdown to Halloween,

or the 31 Days of Halloween. I knew I didn't even want to try this year.

Last year the stress almost killed me...

Today being the first, is the start of the new challenge at Smudgy Antics.

The theme is always Anything Goes as long as you use a Smeared Ink image.

No other rules apply. 

I am working on my repurposed children's board book.

These are wonderful substrates for a multitude of mediums

and techniques. Not to mention, they are stupid cheap at thriftstores

and yard sales.

I decided to go in an unusual direction for me by using pretty much

only black, white, and silver for this layout. The dp set the stage being

gray and white. The vintage images lent themselves to a muted palette as well.

I used the Anatomy 101 Ribs by cutting them right down the middle. 

I used black soot distress ink and made it blend into the dp better.

Then I highlighted the ribs with a white Posca paint pen. 

I really like how this turned out.

How can you not love these guys?

They are only two of the fifteen bat images available in the

A Little Bit Batty set. It was hard to choose just two. 

Here's the other side of the rib cage, along with a TH rub-on.

The red, black, and  white splatter really sets these images off quite nicely.

Bat 1 from the A Little Bit Batty set, some more rub-ons,

and a small medical ephemera.

This made me giggle a bit. I used the Profile Head from the 

Gross Anatomy set, and matched it with a card meant for tasty

Halloween treats. I like it better used this way. 

That's it for me today.

Be sure to stop by the Smudgy Antics challenge blog and check

out all of the other inspiring projects to whet your October appetite. 

She gets me, and I get her

The week before last, I received a very disturbing phone 

call from a very dear friend. I could hardly recognize her voice.

But I did make out that she had had a stroke.

I was, and still am, floored by this news.

She is only in her late 30's, takes great care of herself, has been

Vegan for pretty much all of her life. WTF?!

She had a double aneurysm, which fortunately was only leaking, and 

didn't burst. And then she had to have emergency brain surgery to 

stop the aneurysms, which has a 50% mortality rate all it's own.

Now she has a pretty shaved head, 50 staples, and a huge scar on her 

head. But she's alive, and making a great comeback.

All that said, she has a strange sense of humor, which makes sense that

we "get" each other so well. So, being the card maker that I am, 

I made her a get well card.

I'm pretty sure she's going to love this!

I used a great image from Smeared Ink's "Gross Anatomy" set, 

appropriately called, "Lobotomy".

I also got to use my tattered banners die from Tim Holtz for the

first time. I think I need some practice folding them, and it is better

to use a thicker card stock, as opposed to the thin paper I used.  

I am always saving weird pictures off the net.

This one is pretty weird.

I always tell my son that we had his tail cut off at birth.  

  And my witty sentiment on the inside.

I had to get that picture of the nurse in there somehow.

I cropped out the ventriloquist dummy lying on the cot at her feet.

It killed me to do so, but I ran out of room.

Thanks for dropping by today.

I'll have a few more weird get well creations in the coming weeks.

She already got her stitches out, and should be coming home this week!

I like to think it's my inspirational cards that have helped her to heal so quickly.