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.

    

I'm struggling to find the humor Day 23

I can usually make a joke, or find the joke in anything.

Totally inappropriate most times, but funny none the less.

I have to say it's been a few days since I've laughed. 

I've managed a smile, but no heartfelt guffaws have been released.

Today we found out that my baby, Gabbi also has the parvovirus

despite being fully vaccinated and receiving a booster on Monday.

I feel like such a failure as a pet parent. I let her get sick by not

being educated enough, or diligent enough in keeping her safe. 

But the option of having a vet care for her is completely out of the 

question. We thought it was $900 for  a week's stay at the vet.

More like $900 PER DAY!! We were seriously left with

no option but to care for the sick babies at home. So far we're about

$700 in for all the treatments and IVs, and pills. Too much money,

but far more palatable and reasonable than $900 per day.

Little Foxxi is starting to improve. She kept down water and food today

which is pretty huge. She only weighs 9 lbs to begin with, so keeping

her hydrated and fed proteins is a big step in the right direction.

Still lots of work ahead of us... 

So, if I suddenly stop posting for the hops, you'll know why.

Two sick pups is no fun. 

And leaves very little time to craft...   

Which brings me to my artsy fartsy for the day.

I made a quick ATC using some Martha Stewart paper, 

and a Kraftin' Kimmie image called, Mister Punkin Head.

I perched a glittery, puffy sticker raven on his hand (thanks, Deb),

and added a bat punch to the top for more dimension and interest.

Thanks so much for stopping by and listening to me whine.

I had such high hopes of making some incredible projects and posts 

for the 31 Days of Halloween and the Countdown to Halloween.

Being sick for the first half really set me back, and now with the 

furkids, it keeps getting harder to keep up.

I've come this far, so I'm really hoping to see this through.

See ya tomorrow??   

CAS Halloween Day 22

Only NINE more days!!!

Gotta get my money's worth out of this thing.

I am loving this image from Kraftin' Kimmie.

He's called, Kreepy Kitty.

It was nothing short of kismet for me to have this stamp.   

I chose to make a clean and simple card.

I always admire it when other crafters make this kind of

super white and minimal card. I'm not so sure I can pull

it off. I've always had a hard time with the "less is more" concept. 

I had to make this a super quick make today as I am home nursing

a parvo puppy. My husband rescued an abandoned puppy last week,

and we found out Sunday that she has the parvovirus. Since we don't have 

much money in our rainy day fund, we opted to nurse her back to health

at home. Man, that's a lot of work! Not to mention what it does to your

heartstrings. She already seems to have perked up a bit, but we still

have a long road ahead of us.

Thanks for stopping by again today.

I really enjoy your wonderful comments and just

knowing that you took a moment out of your busy day

to stop by and check out my schtuffs.

31 Days of Halloween month long blog hop 

Countdown to Halloween month long blog hop

Almost in the single digits Day 21

10 more days until Halloween!!

How do ya like my countdown thingie?

I forgot I had purchased this in early September, but only

unearthed it yesterday while trying to finish off the decorating.

I now remember I had set it aside with the intention of painting

up the Reaper since he's looking a bit rough. 

Glad I remembered to get this out and use it before it was too late.

Gotta love those Michael's discounts and coupons. 

I got a wicked good deal in this thing. 

 For my artsy offering I have made another ATC.

I have quite a few Meljen's images, but rarely have the time

to color them up. I did manage to get this lovely lady colored

up for the 31 Days of Halloween celebration.

Her name is Zombie Stella and she can be found here. 

I added some lightning bolts and a sentiment from a There She Goes 

Halloween tag set. I colored the edges using TH Distress Inks and the mini

blending tool. I really like the way that tool works. 

I usually use a sponge dauber on my finger for this type of effect, 

but I like the new tool better.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Hope I'm not boring you all with my Halloween papercrafts.

I hope to have my house ready to photograph this week so I can

show and tell you all about my cool decorations and stuff.

It's Time for Some Dead Day 20

Still trying play catch up from last week, so here's another

quick and deadly one for ya.

This is the Las Calaveras image from Aurora Wings.

Today is the launch of a new Aurora Wings challenge for the month,

Heartfelt Thanks.   

This lovely lady has been colored with Copics and mounted onto

a black card matte. The card base is Midnight Magic Halloween dp

from Recollections. The entire pad is black, gray, and purple. Love it! 

I totally forced that spider web die from La La Land Crafts

because I thought it mimicked the web on her forehead nicely.

Too bad the photo isn't clearer, but time was running out

and so was my camera battery.

I added a TH Movers and Shapers spider to accent the web

and to fill the void on the card. I painted him black with Distress Paint

and rubbed some Inka Gold in purple on him for shine.

I like the look of vellum, but am always stumped as to how to 

adhere it without the adhesive showing.

That's going to do it for me today.

Be sure to check out all of the fabulous projects on the 

31 Days of Halloween and all of the cool Halloween inspired

posts on the Countdown to Halloween hops running all this month.  

Magical Mathilda Day 19

Super quick post today featuring

Magical Mathilda from Kraftin' Kimmie.

Simple card using orange shimmer cardstock for the base,

and We Are Memory Keepers dp. Layered a K & Co.

glitter border of jack-o-lanterns to mimic the ones

coming out of the book.

Lovely Mathilda all colored up in my usual combos of
YR09, YR04, Y38, Y35, and Y18, for the oranges.
YG17, YG25, YG03, YG01, YG00n for the greens.

V09, V17, V15, V04, V012, V01, V000 for the purples.

E02, E01, E00, E000 for the skin and RV 10 for the cheeks.   

Finally used my La La Land banner die, but I covered up the 

heart cutouts with spider cuts instead. Then I Stickled it up a bit.

Thank you for stopping by today.

I really appreciate your visit and your thoughtful comments.

 Remember to check out all of the talented crafters participating in

the 31 Days of Halloween, and all of the Halloween themed bloggers

participating in the Countdown to Halloween. There is so much creativity

and information being shared, it's nearly impossible to not be inspired in some way.  

Can't Quit Coffin Day 18

As my cold/allergies run it's course, I am currently

in the coughing stage. The coughing really hard stage.

Like so hard you gag and nearly suffocate. Yeah, that's it.

So to make light of my current state, I have made a 

coffin themed project. Funny, right?  

I originally sculpted this for the WOOD themed challenge

at Haunted Design House. I used a coffin shaped cookie cutter

to cut the shape out of white polymer clay. It's a perfect size

for an ornament, so you may be seeing more of these in my Etsy

shop for Creepmas.  

After it was textured and detailed using a needle tool,

it was cooked at the manufacturer's suggested temp of 270 degrees, 

and then I painted it with a couple shades of brown acrylic paints.

To really bring out the details I added a black wash.

Lastly, a Tim Holtz skull and crossbones was added along with 

a jute with wooden bead hanger. 

Still following the coffin theme, I stamped two coffins

from Inkadinkado's Mindscape set onto shrink plastic.

Cut them out, and used the heat gun to shrink them down even

though I still have my trusty Shrinky Dink oven. 

This way is much faster.  

  How fun are these? Such a cool image.

I'll share a few more images from this set with you tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.

I hope you get a chance to check out all of the bloggers in these hops.

31 Days of Halloween

Countdown to Halloween