Stampotique SDC254: Text Background

Welcome to my second Stampotique Designer's Challenge offering.

The new challenge theme is to use background text on your project.

I needed a new book mark for my summer reading. I just started a book by

Joe Hill, who happens to Stephen King's kid. The book is called, 'NOS4A2',

and it is really good. Way better than the other three books of his 

I have attempted to read. I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt 

based on his Dad's writings, but I can't always finish Stephen's books either. 

I usually like the subject matter, but they're a bit too wordy for me... 

I tire of the superfluous content that really seems to make no difference 

to the actual storytelling.

But, I digress....

I used an old dictionary page from a dictionary from my high school days.

The copyright is 1956, so it was old when I acquired it back in 1987. The pages have a

nice vintage quality and a perfect yellowing that appeals to me. I chose the page that

has the definition of 'cadaver' and 'cadaverous' on it. I usually try to find a page 

with some sort of morbidity to it.

I colored up the Fruit Bat #4053 from Kira Nichols as my focal image.

I used some lovely gold iridescent paper gifted to me from a friend. Copics

color it quite nicely without losing any of the shine. I love it. 

I stamped the Owl Tree #4018, also from Kira's collection.

I heat embossed it for the fruit bat to hang from, and to add more 

interest.

And for even more interest and faux texture , I used the Cracks #10032 stamp. 

I stamped it randomly around the edges of the bookmark. I think I'll be getting

quite a bit of use out of this stamp. I don't always have good success with crackle 

mediums, so this will work well for most of my cracked needs.    

And here we have my new bookmark to keep my place in the

over 600 page book I am devouring this summer. I added some

decadent sheer purple ribbon to taunt my cats with for good measure.

All good bookmarks need a lovely tassel, don't they? 

I hope you'll join us over at the Stampotique Designer's Challenge

for our latest challenge. Drop by, get inspired,and play along, won't you? 

  

   

Showing Some Stampotique Love

I have been blessed with wonderful people in my life.

As I have gotten older, I have become more selective on

who I keep in my life, and more diligent on whom I kick

to the curb. Do you enlighten or enrich my life in any way?

Do I feel good about myself when I'm with you? Do I respect

the way you live your life, and how you treat the people in it?

If I answer "No", to any of those questions, out ya go!

No regrets, only lessons.

One of the most incredible people I know is a spunky chick, we'll

call, "Kenzie". I have always admired this lady for how she treats the 

people in her life. She is always thinking of others, and making

you feel like she loves you the best of all her friends. And she's good

at it, too. I always thought I was her special lady, 

until I met all of the others... 

Anyhoo, this chick has had some ailments and medical issues in the past,

at least we thought they were in the past. She never let how poorly she was feeling 

keep her from anything she wanted, or felt she had to do. 

But, back in June of last year, shit got real.

My Super Friend, Wonder Mom, Schmexy Lady, had had an aneurysm.  

Let's be clear though, she had the aneurysm, but waited an entire week to 

go to the hospital for emergency, life saving surgery! And she was only

37 years old at the time. Again, she was a wonder. A medical wonder once

she regained consciousness from her coma. Seriously, she had medical

staff peeking in on her just to see the wonder girl. 

I always knew she was bad ass. Just sayin'.

So, it's been over a year, and her recovery is not over yet, 

but this lady has grabbed  the bull by the horns and showed it how

to really live. She climbed a big volcano in Hawaii all by herself to

celebrate her "Aneur-versary". Yeah, did I mention she's pretty

bad ass? I admire her tenacity, her drive, and her heart.

I love this lady's guts. A lot.

In case you were wondering about the egg pictures, Kenzie always brings

me fresh eggs from her chickens, and they always have faces on them.

She rocks. 

So I made her something to hang on her wall to remember me

among all of her other conquests...

I really wanted to play along in the Stampotique Designer challenge,

to use "attachers" on your project. I knew I wanted to make a mash up

of a Kira critter with Torrente bat wings, so that was the easy part. 

I began with a 4" x 4" gray canvas panel from Mike's. It was 70% off,

so I grabbed a couple. I stenciled some black modeling paste onto

it with the TH Gothic stencil. I used Wisteria and Black Ice Silks

for the background color. I'm still learning how to use these gorgeous

paints. I also used my gel medium for the first time by using it to glue the

black May Arts webbed ribbon down on the bottom. Next time, I'll be sure 

to paint over it so it doesn't show as much. Still learning...     

I made sure his wings were movable. I usually don't make

cool, interactive projects like shaker cards or moving parts,

but this was super simple, and fun. 

I used teeny tiny Tim Holtz brad fasteners to hold the wings onto 

the Artichoke Monster's body. 

I chopped off his arms and shortened his feet, too. Sorry. But hey,

I did grant him the gift of flight in exchange for his appendages.

I grunged up a TH "'Salvaged" word band, and attached it to eyelets with

more TH doo-hickeys and jump rings. And, I finally managed to part with my 

very first button that my friend, Lynne sent me months/years ago. 

Thanks, Lynne! 

I also used my TH word dies for the first time, too! I cut it out a few times

with black card stock, which I glued together, and then a purple one on top.

I used some UTEE to give it a nice, glossy finish. 

I thought "Authentic" was a good word to describe my dear friend.

And now, Kenzie is really into brain themed schtuff. Go figure. 

I have had this brain charm for months and finally 

figured out just where it belongs.

Oh, and for some fun texture I used my Goosebumps spray, but I didn't

clean out the nozzle the last time I used it (which you MUST do), so
I improvised and spread it out with fingers. It gives a good bat wing texture.   

Thanks for sticking with me through this long winded post.

I had to gush about my friend who inspired this piece.

I hope she loves it.

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

Stampotique Designer's Challenge - SDC203 - Use Attachers  

Fantasy Stampers - Lots of Layers 

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge- ATG with a twist - use wings or feathers

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Anything Goes

Who are you calling, "Pugly"?

My son likes Pugs. 

So when I saw this Kira Nichols stamp at Stampotique, 

I knew I could use it in many different ways just for him. 

I thought that this sentiment from Ginger's House was perfect for

our sweet little Pug friend. Made me chuckle...

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

Stampotique Designer's Challenge - SDC179 Funny or Punny

That Craft Place - Anything Goes

Open-Minded Crafting - No red or pink

On a side note, I received a free 2015 calendar from the ASPCA.

I decided to just use the freebie as opposed to giving it to my son,

and then buying myself a ridiculously priced character calendar like usual.

Knowing that it's an animal shelter calendar I knew to expect some

sad stories and even some sad photos, but damn! 

Poor, sweet Ollie has no eyes. I had a cat with one eye years ago.

She was the softest, sweetest, kitty ever. I miss Nicki (Na-Na).

BUT, I just couldn't bare to see poor eyeless Ollie all month, 

so I fixed him!

Wonky googly eyes are better than  no eyes, right?

Now Ollie makes me smile everytime I see him.

Thanks for stopping by and tolerating me.

  

StaMpOtiQuE - Anything Goes!

I have to admit that when I first found Stampotique Stamps,

and Daniel Torrente in particular, it was LOVE!!

Such incredibly quirky and dark, and somewhat twisted, 

outsider imagery made me feel right at home. 

Always the outsider. Never conform.

After placing my first order of handmade to order stamps, 

and waiting eagerly for them to arrive, I never looked back.

I now have quite the collection of Stampotique stamps,

and really must put them to better use.

With that, I have decided to attempt at least one

Stampotique stamped project a month. That will then be entered in their

monthly challenge. The newest current theme is: Anything Goes.

I have completed two 2 1/2" X 2 1/2" mini canvasses.

I used Dylusions sprays and some acrylic paint 

to complete the backgrounds.

After rather (un)successfully adding an embossed sentiment, 

I used a great image by Kira Nichols called, "Line Up".

I fussy cut the critters after coloring them with Copics and then 

clear embossed them. 

Finally, I added some snaps and then when that was

 not satisfactory, I glued some silver dew drops on top

of the snaps.

Meh.

Maybe some Stickles will help. Yup! That was it! 

I glued corrugated cardboard on the back of the images

for dimension and then adhered them to the canvas. 

I used all of the same techniques for this canvas as well, but 

these two really crack me up!

I envision someone "floating an air biscuit". Classy!

I even got a little "fancy schmancy" with the edges of this one.

A stamp and Stickles!

Thanks for dropping by! 

I am entering this in the following challenge(s):

Stampotique - Anything Goes #100

The Artistic Stamper - Words

 

Baby Cthulhu

Have you ever seen a cuter Cthulhu?

No? I didn't think so.

I placed an order with Stampotique, and had hoped

to use this little guy for our Creepy Cryptids challenge at HDH. 

Due to the handmade quality of Stampotique stamps, they can take a while to

get to you. So worth the wait, but I missed my challenge.

I ended up making a Chupacabra instead.

The current challenge at Stampotique is to use stamps to make your

background.  This is a bit out of my crafting comfort zone, but it's a technique

I admire in other's projects.  I started off with a bunch of stamps,

and some heat embossing.

I even opened up a new jar of Tim Holtz distress crackle paint.

I am still getting the hang of it, but it is pretty cool.

I used my favorite Tattered Angels mist in "Dragonfly" to bring

some metallic opalescence to the whole tag.  And also used some

distress inks to color the background as well.

 

I have been wanting to try the "no lines" technique of coloring.

I stamped this Baby Cthulhu in pear tart Memento ink,

and colored him in with Copic YGs, with a touch of BG in his wings.

I highlighted him with a gel pen too. I really like how this turned out.

I have seen some really good examples of this technique, and some really

bad ones too. This one goes in the "good" pile. 

Here is my final tag with all the fibres and fanciness I could manage.

 

I would like to enter this tag in the following challenges:

Stampotique Designers challenge - backgrounds 

Craft Your Passion - fairies/fantasy

Lawnscaping challenge  - try a new technique