Oddball Halloween Trick or Treat

I've been busy with the chaos of life, but managed to find the time

to get some coloring done.

I was inspired by this Oddball Art Stamp, and then just went with it,

and actually produced a card for Halloween.

This adorable little rotten elephant is from the October Monthly Exclusive set.

All the more reason for you to pop for the $15 to join the member's club.  

I colored him using Copic Warm Grays, and added pops of Halloween type colors.

I managed to work in a cupcake liner and an old Glow Skull from back in the day. 

I finally figured out that if you cut into the cupcake liner like fringe, it will lay

flat. I've been struggling for far too long on that issue.

I also used some seriously vintage paper and adhesive border from my ridiculously

overstocked Halloween stash. And my new thing is to add Nuvo drops to everything.

I added the drops in White Blizzard, but they turned turquoise on the black liner. 

I like it. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

I'd like to enter this card in the current challenge at 

Oddball art Stamps.

Always ODD

I managed to find my way back to my blog!

And I made some cool schtuff, too!

I've been dying to play along in some swaps and challenges.

I miss participating in themed challenges. I find the prompts so helpful

when I don't know which way to go when crafting.

I finally played along with one of my favorite challenges at

Oddball Art Stamps. 

The theme this month is 

Goblins, Fairies, and Ghouls, Oh My! 

I love Lizzy's artistic take on fairies and zombies.

She has such a cute and adorable way of drawing weird shit.

I love it. 

This little rotting lass is called, Fiona Feary. 

I matched her up with a fun sentiment stamp from 

Viva Las Vegas stamps.

I'm always trying to use up paper scraps and projects left for dead.

This card base has been in a stack for months if not years.

I know, kinda gross that I have schtuff lying around for years, but

in my defense, it was chaotically organized and I always knew of it's presence.    

I added some die cut elements that were in keeping with her

color scheme. I love me some BG and BV Copic markers.

 Kept it really simple by cutting a black doilie in half,

and then cutting one of the halves in half. I layered it all

and glued them in three spots for a nice background.

My new thing is Nuvo drops. I just wish they dried faster.

I added a bunch for that sparkle element that I can't seem to

ever leave out of any fairy project. Dead or not, she's gotta have bling.  

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

Oddball Art Stamps - Goblins, Fairies, and Ghouls, Oh My!

Color Crazy Challenge - Anything Goes

Cardz 4 Galz - Mythical of Fantasy

Crafty Gals Corner Challenges - Anything Goes

Artistic Inspirations Challenges - Anything Goes 

Black and White Horror Show

Here it is the day before Halloween and I was finally able to

complete my project for the final Haunted Design House theme,

and the October 12 Tags of 2015, for Tim Holtz.

Now, I pre-ordered this awesome die set back in August. Pretty much the

very second I saw it. I mean, c'mon! It's a Zombie! 

And I loves me some undead corpses. 

BTW. I ordered this die set from The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

They are offering this die, and many others at half the price of

most every other retailer I have seen. They have the best every day 

prices for all of your funkie and junkie makes. Just so ya know.   

Zombies are my all time favorite monsters. 

After The Creature and Frankenstein's Monster, mind you. 

I am a bit of a purist, so the classic monsters do come first. 

But I have loved Zombies since I saw "Night of the Living Dead".

Well, actually my love really started with "TarMan", from "Return of the Living Dead".

He was the coolest, and still is the coolest on screen Zombie ever.

And then it seemed only fitting to really familiarize myself with the 

original "Night of the Living Dead". And that is where I got my inspiration

for this tag.   

My usual Zombie color of choice is green, but I wanted to make

this guy really stand out without the use of bright colors.

I thought an old black and white, silver screen zombie was fitting. 

I began by die cutting various shades of gray and black card stock.

I inked the edges using Black Soot and Hickory Smoke distress inks

to give some shading on all of the pieces.     

After adhering the designer paper to a tag, I speckled it with silver, black 

and white distress stains. I also sanded the edges of the tag, too.

Then, I added the number 31 enameled tag after giving it some Brushed Pewter

and black distress paints. I even got to use my TH distress hammer on the brads.

I love the aged effect on this tag.

I tried to keep this guy as dimensional as I could.

So cool to have dimension like this. The key really is to use a wet glue,

as opposed to a tape runner or other dry adhesive.  

I added some stained seam binding and silver tinsel twine

to keep in the black and white theme.

I also used one of my coveted "Zombie" charms.

I have a few different design charms, but felt this one worked the best.

And I still have another one of these in my stash.         

As cool as everything on this tag was turning out, I felt he needed something 

else to make him really creepy. Drippy goo! No real zombie would be seen

shambling along with a clean mouth and chin! I added some black goo to his

mouth and covered it in Glossy Accents to really make it look awful.

Something really disturbing about that dark black drool coming out of him.

I love it!! 

 I am so happy with how this tag tuned out.

I am thinking of making a canvas out of him in the 

very near future. I'll be pumping out Halloween projects

until Thanksgiving (and beyond) so stay tuned.

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

Tim Holtz - 12 Tags of 2015 October

Crafty Catz - Tag It

Frilly and Funkie - Something Wicked

Little Red Wagon - Ghosts, Goblins, other Halloween Creatures

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Anything Goes

Die Cutting Divas - Happy Halloween

Use Your Stuff - Die cuts and punches

  

   

The Inevitable Walking Dead Homage Day 28

Wow, we are really getting down to the wire here, aren't we?  

Just a few more days and we can take a collective sigh, pour a cup

of whatever makes you warm and toasty inside, and start planning

for next year. No rest for the wicked.

When I first considered entering these hops I thought I'd share my

extensive black t-shirt collection. Like one new shirt a day for 31 days.

I probably could do it for 60 days, but some shirts are navy....

Since I was impaired right from the start, that never happened.

So I figure, why not show some now anyway?

This is today's shirt. It's by Ben Von Strawn. Great retro monster artist.

Speaking of great artists, here's another Rick St. Dennis image, 

called, 'Zombie Time' and is sold exclusively through 

I Brake for Stamps. 

In honor of the last Walking Dead episode, I shall call him,

"Bob", a.k.a. 'Tainted Meat'.

Great rubber stamp I ordered from Viva Las Vegas Stamps. 

This is also my card for the final challenge of the year over at 

Haunted Design House.

The theme is Hellacious Hallowe'en - No cute stuff!

I think this will work.

Thanks for sticking with me on this Halloween inspired voyage.

 31 Days of Halloween 

Countdown to Halloween  

I never remembered to draw the names for the giveaways, 

but I will do it tomorrow. Sorry, I'm just too tired this evening.      

I just can't get enough of her!

I don't know what it is about her, but I just can't get enough of

Marie Antoinette!

Aurora Wings has a stunning Marie that I colored to resemble a zombie of

the highest regard. She was quite a remarkable result of Copics, a googly eye,

and a deviant mentality. All mine. You can see her for yourself right here. 

I have another Marie image that was drawn by one of my favorite artists,

Abigail Larson. She is quite a talented dark artist, who has done some

images for SBS, which is where I got the image. 

I have had her stashed away for months, and am thrilled to have finally

brought her to life....

Isn't she lovely? 

Oh, so tragically undead, and lovely.

  

I was inspired by the current Left Of Center challenge 

of black, white, and one other color.

I chose to use my (other) favorite color, yellow green. 

I used Lime Green Stickles for some sparkle on the oval frame,

and the die cut leaves. I managed to get a decent photo of the glitter.

It's harder to capture on film than you'd think. 

I used some definition dp (from parts unknown), and was able to arrange it

so that the word and definition for scar, is visible under her portrait.

I thought that was kind of cool.

She was a blast to color, and a challenge to keep her in shades of black

and yellow green. I used Warm Grays for her dress and facial shading, 

Toner Grays for her hair, and Neutral Grays for the background.

All of the greens are G09, YG17, YG25, YG03, YG01, YG00, and YG0000.   

I am rather proud of this one.

I'd like to show her off, and enter her in the following challenges:

Left of Center - Black, White, and one color 

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

A Step in the Darkness - Anything Goes

Craft-room Challenge - Green inspiration

Kraftin' Kimmie - Anything Goes

  

Zombie Kitteh

How sweet is this rotten kitteh? 

She is from Aurora Wings on Etsy.

I am a huge fan of Mitzi Sato-Wiuff's artwork, and her digi designs.

I haven't had a chance to do much else besides color them, so far.

Hallowe'en has made me her bitch, yet again, this year.

But now, the free wheeling fun can begin!    

I am poised to do an ACEO swap with Mitzi, but I can't 

send her my usual crap. I have been trying to make a 

zombie kitty out of clay for her, but I have had epic fail, after epic fail with that idea.

After seeing this kitty, I have been inspired, but I have to work on 

my sculpting skills a bit more before I can produce anything 

that can be considered a fair trade.   

I colored everything with Copics, and used a graveyard die from QuicKutz,

and a little Inkadinkado stamp, backed with black tulle.

I made this ATC for the current challenge at 

Wicked Wednesday ATC challenges - Creepy Hallowe'en

and I'd like to enter it in the following challenges as well:

Digi Haven - orange and black

Left of Center challenges - Hallowe'en/Creepy

Stampin' for the Weekend - Something Spooky

The Sisterhood of Crafters - Trick or Treat

Thanks for dropping by today.

Keep it creepy!!

    

A Queen and her rotting court

I made another ATC for the current challenge at WW ATC challenge. 
We're sponsored by my uber talented, Sister Minion, 
Teri of Delicious Doodles.

I immediately thought of this DD image called, Malice,

when I heard the theme was Tarot Symbols. 

She is G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S!

I colored her effortlessly, with Copics. And what I mean by effortlessly,
is that Teri's images have nice, thick lines, that make coloring much
simpler. Not to mention she provides the shading as well. Nice.
Too bad she didn't provide the writing too. I stamped each letter 
myself with various rubber alpha stamps. 
A little wonky, but it does the trick.

There is still time to enter over at Wicked Wednesday.
I see new Delicious Doodles images in your future.....

I'd also like to share a couple of masculine themed 

cards I made recently using images from Rick St. Dennis.

First up, is the rotting head image, "Going, Going, Gone".

I love this image, but after coloring it up with Copics, I was 

stumped as to how to use this image on a card. 

Rick to the rescue! 

It's amazing how one witty sentiment can bring everything together. 

Perfect!!!

The finished card using a MS iron fence punch, some MS paper 

tape, a Pink Paisley banner border, and some tapestry dp from 

unknown origins. An overall, masculine feel. 

I'm always at a loss for masculine cards.

Next I'd like to share my version of the current 

RSD Airless Chambers freebie, "Singing Zombie".

It was all I could do to not color him in my "go to" zombie colors.

I usually always color my zombies in YGs. Don't know why, 

other than they're my favorite color family, 

and zombies are my favorite monsters.

I used all Warm Grays for his flesh and a bit of RV25, 23, and 21

for the exposed bloody bits. I wanted the tongue to show up, and be somewhat realistic, so I colored it purple. I also chose my 

paper first, which is something I seldom do, but it helped 

tremendously when coloring the background. 

I found the musical note image on the web, half toned it, and 

added the Happy Birthday sentiment in Gimp.

Remember, the free Zombie image is still available here,

and you have until the 24th of May to enter the challenge 

using said zombie image.

More RSD images are up for grabs to the three winners, 

so why not play along? You'll find the place to add your entry 

along the top of the blog, marked May 2013 Freebie Contest.

   

Strega in the DICC

Today I'd like to share my card for the new 

Desert Islands Crafters Challenge.

Rick St. Dennis is sponsoring the challenge,

and I get to be a guest DT as a fringe benefit.

I jumped at the chance to color up, and create with 

one of Rick's newest "dark" images, Strega. 

Isn't she lovely? And oh, so deadly....

I liked the iris-less version 

(she comes with both versions when purchased here),

 since it played to my love of cartoons and comic style drawings.

I just went for it, as far as my color palette. 

She reminded me of an 80's style pop princess, 

hence the bright, bubble gum, color scheme. 

I used skulls-her earrings, hand colored satin roses, 

lots of Stickles glitter, and embossing, from the 

list of challenge choices. 

It was fun to create using set choices from the challenge.

I spend way too much time putting my creations together,

so it was nice to have only so many options to choose from.
I'll be playing along again, very soon.   

Please join us over at DICC, and play along to win some 

fabulous  Rick St. Dennis images. 

Drop Dead Gorgeous WIP

The second week of the Haunted Design House

Drop Dead Gorgeous challenge begins today.

As usual, I am running behind.

My nickname in high school was the "Lag Master".

My license plate frame read: The Lag Master has arrived.

Yeah, it was that bad.

Still kinda is apparently.

I am bit intimidated by the challenge of painting my project. 

But I want to try. That may have something to do with my slow going. 

Here is a peek at my current progress.

Sketched and background blocked out

Skin and hair roughly added, and my feeble attempt at blending

the skin tones. 

Smoothed out some of the skin tones, added some dimension to 

her wounds, and painted her top (what's left of it). 

Added some color highlights to the hair and lips.

So far so good.

I'll pop in with the finished painting sometime later today or tomorrow.

Keep it CREEPY!!