Honor thy Skull

It's that time of year again, when we celebrate the cranium!!

Yup, it's Skull Appreciation Day!!!

I love skulls. All kinds of skulls. I have armadillo skulls, skull tattoos, 

skull art, skull toys, skull kitchenware, barware, clothing, purses, shoes, 

bandanas, skull stamps, skull paper crafts, embellies, etc... 

You name it, my husband and I probably have it.

That being said, I have a few Skull Appreciation projects 

to share with you today on the Smeared and Smudged blog hop.

First up, is an older project that is finally (nearly) finished.

This is my sgraffito skull. I started working on it last year,

and am determined to finish it and have it glazed 

and fired before Hallowe'en. 

Once it's fired, it will be a high gloss black with white artwork. 

I am trying to keep it in a fairly Hallowe'en theme.

Gah! I hate what I did to the teeth, but with everything else going on, 

maybe they won't be too distracting.

Another jawline spiderweb. And more bad teeth....

Thirteen has been my lucky number for years, so it was a given that

it be represented on my skull.

Back of the skull.

I still want to do something to the sides of the skull, but I 

haven't decided on a design yet.

My next project is a papercraft. Had to be done, no way around it.

I present you with,

The Queen of Skulls.

She is a brilliant image drawn by Rick St. Dennis and available here.

She is fierce!

Colored with Copics, MS scarab border, and MS dp.

Done!

Lastly, is one of my favorite things to make out of polymer clay.

A wonky skull!

I created this background using some techniques I learned 

through an Andy Skinner workshop. Such a cool and fun texture.

Then, I artfully crafted this rather large skull out of polymer clay.

He's about 4 1/2" wide by 3 1/3" high. The backing plaque 

measures approximately 5" x 5". 

Overall, much larger than I usually make my skulls.

I used purple, black, and silver acrylic paints and washes to achieve

the color on the skull. I added a couple coats of satin sealer to finish it off.

Thanks so much for sticking around until the end.

There are a ton more blogs to visit on this killer, cranial themed, hop. 

Here is the list of Smeared and Smudged 
participants in order:

Terra
Tori
Laura
Kapree
Kristy
Sandy
Jacki
Rick St Dennis
Airless Chambers
Wendy
Julia
Susan
Lady Brayton
Black Dragon
Kay
Miko
Creepy Glowbugg
Aletha
Ike
Miranda
Hazel
Monique
Shoni
Suzi
Leigh S-B Designs
DominoART
Alison
Donna M
Donna W
Jane
De Stempelwinkel
Evil Edna
Jenn
Steph
Anna
Bombshell Stamps
Helen
Shell
Movie Magic Monthly Blog
Fiona
Serena
Little Black Kitten
Maureen
Karen
Milo
Teri

Dilly Beans tag challenge

Today's challenge theme at Dilly Beans Friday challenge is

tags.

I can count on one hand how many tags I have made

in my entire crafting career. Not that I have anything

against tags, I just don't use them much in my gift

giving. I usually just include a handmade card.

Until now.

I love making tags! So flippin' fun!!! And so much

faster to create than my marathon (2 hours minimum,

but usually even longer) cards. I am trying to work on

limiting my time spent on coloring to under 30 minutes,

but I can barely finish most images in less than an hour.

I'm kinda a slow sculptor too.

Anyhoo,

here's my tag.

I used my favorite Dilly Beans image (shhhh! don't tell the others),

Monster Boy

 He colors up like a dream and is so darn cute and versatile!

For a monster boy, anyway.

I used a coffin image from Tiddly Inks as my tag base,

and then just added a cool tombstone ad stamp,

and an all occasion rhinestone spider brad. 

This is not the last coffin shaped tag you will see from me!

Stop by Dilly Beans Friday challenge for some inspiration

and maybe get addicted to tags yourself. Even better, enter

the challenge and you could win not only the envy and accolades

of your peers, but you could win some free Dilly Beans images of

your very own!

Quick sgraffito update:

It's slow going, but this is the back of the skull.

I started this a few months ago, and I had hoped to have it

completed in time for National Skull Appreciation Day, but

that did not happen. I'm shooting for Hallowe'en at this point.

I kinda hated the bat when I first did it, but there is no going back

once you scratch into the skull. So, I figured by adding all the other

flourishy schtuff, the goofiness of the bat wouldn't be so pronounced

(to me anyway - a Virgo and an insecure artist! Egads!).

I'm having fun adding as many "S" shaped flourishes as possible.

My last name begins with an "S", so I think it's kinda cool. 

Overall, I'm likin' it.

Have a great weekend, and

Keep it Creepy!

  

Loaded to the Gunwalls!

I have done it. I have amazed myself at how

awesome this card turned out.

This week's Macabre Monday challenge is

Pirate's Booty.

We are sponsored by Delicious Doodles.

Teri has a bunch of awesome images to play with.

I wanted to use them all.

I also had a birthday card to make for a friend's

daughter who is into pirates, and skulls and stuff.

Perfect timing!

I needed a card design that would accommodate all of

images I so greedily wanted to use.

Step card, here I come! 

Not bad for a first try.

This is so easy to do, it's kinda stupid.

I messed it up once, despite how easy it is though.

The measurements make all of the difference. 

Kinda like baking, and I suck at that too!

I cut a piece of card stock to 10.5" x 5.25".

I scored it at 1.25", 2.5", 4.25", 6", and 8.25".

I used a MS scoreboard, which made all of the

scoring much easier and less intimidating.

I just folded each step in an accordian fashion,

and it nearly made itself! 

After coloring the wench, the map, and the zombie,

I fussy cut all of the images out, but the hardest to cut was

that ship silhouette. It was so worth it though.

I glittered it with black fine glitter, and added some chunkier

blue glitter beneath it like the deep blue sea. Backed with a big

vellum moon really finished it all off and added some

stability for the ship and it's delicate cuts.

My favorite image of all is this incredible

Zombie Pirate.

He's available today in Teri's shop,

Delicious Doodles.

Just a quick peek into my madness.

What ISN'T on my workdesk Wednesday is more like it!

When I tell people I am a stay at home Mom, they almost

always say, "How do you do it? Don't you get bored?"

Umm, no... I'm always making something.

Usually, many things at once. I am an artiste!

This is my first attempt at sgraffito. I plan to cover the entire

skull with flourishes and schtuff and then add neon accents

with 3D paints before firing. The skull will be all black.

Slow and steady, but it's coming along.