Vibrant Day of the Dead

Do you ever complete a project and look at it,

and instantly fall in love with your own work?

It doesn't happen to me that often, but when it does, it's so nice.

The new month long challenge at Aurora Wings Challenge blog is

Day of the Dead.

I knew pretty much immediately what image I wanted to use

and got her all colored up with my favorite medium, Copics.
Day of the Dead Marie is one of my favorite Aurora Wings images.

Then, as has become my apparent Halloween tradition, I came 

down with a terrible bugg of some sort, and was completely out 

of commission for a week. Never got to get her finished, but was trying

despite my ailments, to work on a project fitting of this gorgeous image.

I love making cards, but this lady deserved something a bit more 

permanent than a greeting card, so I made her into a 5" X 7" panel

fit for framing.

I began with a flat canvas panel I picked up in a 10 pack at Ross.
I find some really cool craft supplies at Ross and TJ Maxx sometimes.
Who knew? Now we all do.
I gessoed, and then painted the panel with magenta acrylic paint.
Then I added some black paint to the edges to grunge it up a bit.

I mounted some black cheesecloth to the panel to serve as my background.
I was going to use some gray flocked baroque patterned acetate, but it
just wasn't working well with the magenta. And I really tried to force the
use of that acetate, but no dice. I like the cheesecloth better, anyway.

I glued on some lush black lace and trim to give everything a fancy flair.

I envisioned the rest of her dress as being quite ornate with lace and trims.

After adhering the image panel, I started the time consuming
(for me, anyway) process of adding embellishments.

I decided on the neon green rose to match her eyes, and then

a feather, some pearl fancies, mini roses, and a cool spider

to finish it all off.

I must say that I am pretty chuffed as to how this turned out.

I wasn't so sure it was ever going to be done, but now that it is

I will be searching for the perfect frame to display her properly.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Be sure to check out all the inspiring projects on the challenge blog, too.

The DT really went all out this month. Tons of gorgeous eye candy to be seen.

I'd love to show her off in the following challenges:

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - Pink Halloween

The Pencil Case - Eerie colors

As You Like It - Favorite Brights or Pastels 

Brights all the way! I love vibrant, saturated colors!! 

The Unicorn Challenge - Think Pink 

Crafty Boots - Pink challenge

CCK Digi Stamps challenge - Halloween/Something Spooky 

Craft and Smash - Skulls

Digi Galore - Think Pink

Through the Purple Haze - Halloween/Magical

  

  

I feel like a cheat Day 24

I am still unwilling to throw in the towel on these 31 day long

blog hops. Although I did grapple with the idea more than once.

A friend kindly reminded me that I was sick this time last year.

Hmmm, maybe the stress is more than this old demon can handle anymore.

I guess I had better make the best of it then, huh?    

This is a beautiful  new image from Aurora Wings called, 

Day of the Dead Marie.

With my puppy troubles I was unable to take part in the

release showcase, but I did have her colored, just not  made

into an actual 'thing'.  

So, I scanned the colored image, even though I would lose all

the sparkle from the Stickles and the Perfect Pearls that were on

the original.   

I reduced it down to approximately 3.5" x 2.5"-ish, 

which is much smaller than I can possibly color an image

of this kind of detail. 

I popped her into a sweet little fancy frame, and viola!

Gorgeous!

Thanks again for all of your wonderfully sweet and thoughtful 

comments regarding my sick furbabies. We're off the IVs for today,

but you never know what tomorrow will hold. So, I'll keep on

happily, and gratefully receiving all of those good vibes.

Be sure to take a stroll down the blog rolls for both the

31 Days of Halloween and the Countdown to Halloween.

It's a good way to kill a few hours on some great 

Halloween themed, and inspired schtuff.

    

Llorona in rubber

It's not a naughty as it may sound.

It's actually a new release in rubber

over at the Smeared Ink Rubber Club.

With the onslaught of digital images (which I also love, now),

it's nice to get inky with some new, exclusive designs in rubber.

The new set is called, "Llorona", and is 

only available through the rubber club. 

It is an exclusive to the club release, 

and will never be released as digital images. 

Got it? If you like these images, please sign up for the

Smeared Ink Rubber Club. You won't be disappointed.

I am quite pleased with  myself here. While this is a big departure from

my usual color scheme, and overall feel, it is still beautifully haunting and vintage.

I did hit all the edges with frayed burlap distress inks for a uniform color and 

aged effect.

I am getting so much use out of my new Bow-Easy.

I find myself adding bows to everything now. Well, almost everything.

My hand tied bows used to suck out loud, but now they turn out 

perfect, every time. Best $5 I ever spent. Just sayin'. 

I used papers from the "Lost & Found Two" pad from MME.

It is so much easier to use the papers from the same set, as opposed to 

trying to coordinate scraps, and misc. papers from my stash.

I'm learning. Slowly. But, I'm learning. 

I've got a couple more samples for this release coming soon. 

Be sure to stop back by to check 'em out.

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

Brown Sugar Challenge Blog - Dots and/or Stripes

Left of Center - Anything Goes

4Krafty Girlz - Anything Goes

Samhain Sunset Day of the Dead Sprite

Today marks the beginning of the last week of

official challenges at Haunted Design House.

The challenge is Samhain Sunset.

Our sponsor is Aurora Wings.

I chose to work with the Day of the Dead Marigold Sprite.

Such a wonderfully whimsical image. I love it!

I colored it up with Copics in reds, oranges, and yellows.

I also played with my new Rock Candy Stickles on the wings.

Used a shabby fabric rose and a red gem in the center for a

punch of color. 

I also stuck a graveyard die cut in the background,

with some black trim to lend to the cemetery vibe. 

I am just loving this little Sprite!

Check out the other Minion made creations over at HDH.

Thanks for dropping by.

Keep it creepy.

Pink and Black

This week's challenge over at

Dilly Beans Fridays Challenge

is Shades of Pink and Black.

As soon as I saw this painting

on Megan's Etsy site, I snatched it up

(along with a couple others), and the same goes

for when I saw the digital image for sale on her

digi site.

This is "Day of the Dead Frida" from

Dilly Beans Stamps.

I did give her a bit of a tweeze,

and removed her Frida unibrow. I guess I should have at

least left her eyebrows. Oh well.

I had no problem with the pink and black color scheme.

I used some RV02 on her face for shading, but

I wasn't able to pick it up on camera.

I really dig this card.

Thanks for the challenge Dilly Beans!

This card is also my third and final entry into the

Oozak challenge - Anything goes 

...scoopin' up the field mice and choppin' off their heads!

I can't believe it's Wednesday already!

This new year is just zippin' by.

My husband hooked me up with an awesome
new Canon printer and I have been printing digis onto
thick ass Papertrey Ink paper and kraft card stock all day.
Since I have been using digis for the past few years,
the only stock my old printer would feed was
 SU Whisper White.
That's right, I almost didn't know what I was missing.
Now I am a coloring fiend!

Next up, to figure out how to use the scanner and
maybe draw up a digi or two. The possibilities are
endless at this point.

I had such a blast working on this week's challenge at HDH.

Our sponsor is The Octopode Factory and we

got to use some new images from Lily.

I chose to play with the
Day of the Dead couple.

And I used the bodies of Tweedle Dee and Dum

from the Octopode's Alice in Wonderland line.

I kept the color scheme really simple with warm greys

and reds, with the thought that it conveyed the

feel of romance.

Plus, I spend way too much time choosing my colors,

so this ended up being a quicker process than usual.    

I glittered her veil and the accents around her eyes.

Everyone knows that a bride has to sparkle!

I used quite a bit of black Doodlebug fine glitter

on his moustache and goatee, and I added some

red Stickles around the eye for more sparkle. 

I added a couple of red half pearls for some interest.

It's rather simple, but I like it.

And I finally got to showcase this gorgeous tattered

rose ribbon I received from the Mistress herself.

I cut out a single red rosette and added it to the center

of the black ones with a snot dot.

Fabulous!!!

This is a really fun and creative challenge.

Just chop the head off of something and put it

on the body of something else!

You act like you've never done this before.

There is still lots of time to play along.

You have until this Sunday at 5PM CST.

And don't forget,

there is a $15 gift certificate from The Octopode Factory

for one lucky winner too!   

I'd like to enter this card in the

Anything Goes challenge at the Oozak challenge blog.