Grumpy Fae

Another adorable image available at

Aurora Wings.

This is the Grumpy Fae image.

I made this little darling for the November challenge on the 

Aurora Wings facebook page. 

Mitzi offers up $20 worth of digis to one chosen winner, 

and $10 worth of digis to one randomly drawn winner for each monthly challenge.

She has added so many new, wonderful images that I really hope to win so I can

do some more shopping. 

The theme was Thanksgiving or Autumn Bounty.

I got to use some skeleton leaves, a couple of cool chicken feathers,

and some nice fall colored gem brads from my stash.

I also slathered on the Rock Candy Distress Stickles on the large

mushroom, and both skeleton leaves.

The new challenge for December is

Holiday Spirit.

Bring it on!

The countdown to Hexmas has begun.

December first has come (and nearly) gone.

24 more days until the pressure is off. I can't wait.

I'm ready to see if 2014 is going to be a better year for me and my loved ones.

I'm hopeful, and am looking forward. That's it, just forward.

It's the best that I can do at the moment.

I have found some to time to be creative and get ready for 

Cyber Monday in my Etsy shop. 

If you use coupon code CYBERWEEK20

you can save 20% off your entire order from now until Sunday the 8th.

I'll be adding new items frequently, so keep checking back.

Keep it creepy!

Grown women do not smell doll baby heads

Dolls. 

Not really a fan, nor was I ever, even as a child.

But, I have found a way to make them cool, and fun to create with,
now that I am too old to actually play with them.

I like to alter dolls. Well, not the entire doll, but rather, just the head.

This one received some silver metallic paint, a wash of black paint,

 and a generous coating of Tim Holtz Rock Candy Crackle Paint.

This one got a cool mohawk made of nails.

Then he got a coat of black gesso and some dry brushing

with bronze, metallic paint.

I was invited to share my doll head tutorial with you on the 

Tuts and Comments technique tutorial blog today.  

I've missed playing with my former RSD teammates, that

make up part of the Tuts and Comments DT, as well.

Such an immensely talented bunch.

Would you like to make a cool doll head of your very own?

Ready? Let's begin.

First, choose your doll head.

I like to liberate mine from my local thrift store.

I usually choose the ones that no one would want, even if it was free.

I don't like to alter perfectly good dolls. The more damaged the doll, the better 

the altered creation/soul in the end.  

I am usually drawn to the eyes. Some dolls have beautiful eyes. 

I like the dolls with the "sleepy eyes". The kind that close when they lie down.

I try to stay away from dolls with synthetic hair. It's hard to remove entirely.

And then if and when, you do remove all of the hair, there are all the holes to deal with.

I prefer bald baby dolls.

After choosing your doll, begin the altering process.

This time around, I am going to alter the dolls using polymer clay.

I have sculpted a horn directly onto this doll.

This little guy is going to be a faun, complete with horns and ears. 

I even added a bit of a snout after this photo was taken.

Shhhhh! He's sleepin'.

And this doll is going to be a fine, Steampunk themed, gentleman.

I see a top hat and monocle in his future.

Once you have completed your clay accessories, you are ready to bake your polymer clay. 

I left these on the dolls in the hopes that they would bake right onto their heads, 

without melting their little faces. I popped the single horn off of the doll and baked it by itself.

For no particular reason, other than if it melted I'd be completely sunk with no doll heads

whatsoever, for this tutorial.

Luckily, no doll heads or eyes were melted in this project.

Everyone is baked, and I have glued the single horn onto the doll using Super Glue.

 I have also added glue to all of the pieces on the dolls just to be 

sure they aren't going anywhere.

Everyone receives a coat of gesso. This is also essential in painting
over the Super Glue. Otherwise, it tends to show even when painted.
Ask me how I know this.

I mixed some resin sand with some yellow ochre acrylic paint.

I like to add the base color to my mediums to save myself a step.

It's also helpful in getting the color into all the nooks and crannies. 

I added the resin sand in a specific pattern on my doll head.

Specific to me, and no one else. I wanted a two-toned head and this worked.

Once the resin sand is completely dry (best if left overnight), I start

painting the doll head using acrylic paints.

I love the contrast between the orange and the turquoise blue.

I added small dots to help blend the transition from the textured head,

to the smooth face. 

I added some burnt umber wash to the horn to tone down the brightness,

and to bring out the texture.

That's pretty much it. I will add a coat of sealer to protect the 

finish, and possibly fashion a collar of some sort for this guy.

Otherwise, it's on to the next doll head. 

Have fun, and remember to keep it creepy!

Zombies, zombies, and more zombies!!!!

Last week would have been my Mom's 66th Birthday.

Kinda screwed up my week. I didn't even buy milk last week

cause the expiration date was her birth date. I know, lame.

But it's getting really rough around the holidays. Xmas was her favorite holiday.

She used to bake dozens of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from scratch

every year. Besides her, I think I'll miss those cookies the most.

So to bring me out of my funkity funk, I have been coloring and trying

to create cool schtuffs. One of my recent highlights has been making a new

friend in Deb at Dragon Wings and Fairy Things. I have found a 

kindred spirit in Deb. She has been a stalker of mine for a while now,

so I felt it was safer to befriend her, rather than getting a restraining order. LOL!

We decided to swap some RAK, and Deb spoiled me with so many cool 

things, but the gem of the swap were some rubber stamps that I had been

coveting for over a year.  

Zombie Wedding

Zombie Birthday

Zombie sentiments

After receiving these insanely awesome stamps, I decided to try to track them down

here in the states (I thought they were only available in Canada). They are put out

by Art Gone Wild, and I found them available through Scrapbooking Warehouse.

They also had the best prices, too.

I just received the remaining four sets.

Zombie Graduation

Zombie Dance

Zombie Heads

Zombie Beach

Flippin' awesome, huh?

I love them!! And I can't wait to ink them all up.

So far, I have only made two cards using the sets that Deb sent me.

My FIL had a birthday on Sunday. 

I hope he didn't mind the RIP charm.

Argh! I just realized I forgot to add the pom pom 

onto the end of his hat! I hate it when I do that.

This is a total foreign color scheme for me, but I think it

conveys a masculine birthday feel. Kinda circus-y, but it works.

Out of all of the sets, this little lady is my absolute favorite!

I just love her under bite!!!

Of course I decked her out in pink and sparkles. She is a bride after all.

Well, the pink actually has more to do with the sentiment. 

Another great sentiment from Ginger's House.

I received some Frantage from Deb. I love the look of this stuff, but 

I just don't know when to stop! Does anyone else have issues with the 

paper/card stock warping from heat embossing? I had to mount this card

onto another card front, and weigh it down with heavy stuff to get it

to appear only slightly less wonky. This happens to me every time I heat emboss.

Any suggestions?

Anyway, hope you enjoyed my Zombie cards.

I had a blast making them. I hope to have more made very soon.

I'm seeing a Zombie in a Santa hat......

Keep it creepy!   

Stampotique realness

Our awesome sponsor this week at Wicked Wednesday is

Stampotique Stamps.

I have been a fan of their unique and fun stamps for quite a while.

I have also got a pretty good collection of their wood mounted stamps, as well.

This is "Snowy Fran", and the fun sentiment is also from Stampotique.  

I used some liquid applique for the snowy drifts on the sentiment and under Fran.

I also used another Stampotique stamp called, "Heads" in the background.  

I'd like to enter Snowy Fran in the following challenges:

A Gem of a Challenge - #106 Purple and Turquoise

2 Sisters - Uncommon Christmas

This is "Molly". Bless her heart. She is from the creative mind of Daniel Torrente. 

There is much more to Molly, but I trimmed off her bottom half to fit the ATC.

Molly wishes she's worn panties (also available from Stampotique),

and I wish I hadn't tried to double emboss black over white. What was I thinking?

I used the "Owl Tree" stamp by Kira Nichols, embossed it in white and then 

used Distress Inks to color the background.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep it creepy!

No lines seahorse art journal page

Greetings!

I am trying to get my depleted mojo back, and have found

that random art journaling and coloring tend to get the old

creative juices flowing again. 

I started off by coloring this adorable seahorse (from Dilly Beans)

using the "no-lines" coloring technique.

Even though this technique looks intimidating, it really isn't

any harder than coloring with full black lines. You just have to be

very careful not to go overboard, and respect your ghost lines.

I added the seahorse to my art journal background,

and used some old Distress technique samples as seaweed. 

I have tons of this paper and I always forget to use it.

Nice way to destash.

Here is my journal spread. I used various paints and sprays to 

 create the background. I actually covered up some heinous writing mistakes

using gesso and sprays. I thought these pages were going in the trash,

but happily, I managed to salvage them.  

"Sometimes in the waves of change we find our true direction."

Great quote I found online. No known author.

Here's a little close-up of the background.

I used layers of metallic acrylic paint, Dylusions and Perfect Pearls sprays,

gesso, stencils, and even some Distress Stickles on the seaweed.

Doesn't everything in the ocean sparkle? Well in my ocean, everything sparkles!

   

Would you like to see more inspiring projects using Dilly Bean images?

How about even playing along in our "Anything but a card" challenge this week?

Drop by and check out what we've been up to at 

Dilly Beans Friday challenges.

Wicked Stampotique

Today at Wicked Wednesday, we are sponsored by one of my absolute 

favorite rubber stamp companies, Stampotique.

I am a huge fan of the Daniel Torrente line in particular, but am finding

all of their selection to be unique and inspiring.

I chose to make my ATC using 

"Tinglyitchiness". 

I pretty much chose it based solely on the awesome name. 

And then I also chose this fitting sentiment (also from Stampotique).

I have more stamps to show off, so I'm sure there will be more ATCs to

see before this challenge is over.

Drop by Wicked Wednesday ATC challenges to see the other ATC eye candy,

and maybe even join in on the Anything Goes theme and win a gift cert for

Stampotique stamps!!