Check out my Smudgy Antics!

Creepy Glowbugg here to share my project for the current

Anything Goes (as long as you use a Smeared Ink image)
Smudgy Antics challenge.

I have finally decided to make some Creepmas/Hexmas cards.

I am using the wicked cool Dark Holidaze Entryway from Smeared Ink.

This is the digital version, but a rubber one also exists in a set of Holidaze rubber.

I even broke out with my new TH Bowties die for this card.

Way easier than trying to tie my own bows, even with the Bow Easy.

Yeah, I still have a hard time doing it right even after watching

countless videos. I've been having a Schleprock week, so it's just

par for the course at this point.  

Be sure to enter your Anything Goes (with Smeared Ink image) project here.

Check out my Smudgy Antics

So have you heard? Smudgy Antics is back!!!
We have a daily dose of DT inspiration for our new
Anything Goes challenge.  Pretty cool, right?

It's nice to keep the momentum going each week, throughout
the entire month of the challenge. The brilliant inspiration just never stops!

Even though I masquerade as Creepy Glowbugg, I do enjoy the

festivities of Creepmas. Especially the gift giving (and receiving).

Every year I find I am at a loss for gift tags. I don't know if maybe there

are gift tag eating rodents in the garage who dine exclusively on my

handmade tags and nothing else, but every year I have to make more tags. 

Way more tags than I have ever used in one holiday season.

I'm not really  a fan of the adhesive ones, although I usually end up using
them anyway with my constant shortage of homemade tags.

This year I have used Brass, the Steampunk Reindeer for a set of tags.

Please feel free to overlook my poor frantage application. I was hoping 

for a snowy effect, but it just kinda looks messy to me. Practice makes perfect,

but those big chunks just fly right off the paper before I can get them melted.

I even cheat and use some VersaMark to get it to stick. 

Whatever...   

He is just too stinkin' cute, and perfect for weirdos and norms, alike!

I ran across some new punches I forgot I bought at TJ Maxx. They were 

perfect for this project. I like the peek-a-boo effect they give the tags.

And you just can't go wrong with Stickles (in Platinum and Xmas Red)

for that festive feel.  

And then I had to make some homemade specimen jar tags.
Friends and family expect nothing less from me anymore.

I put this guy together using my favorite little weird bear from the 

Candy is Dandy rubber set, the empty specimen jar digi,  

and the jar label digi. Fussy cut them out, and punched a hole

at the top.

Stamped a simple, "to: and from:" on the backs,
added some baker's twine, and viola!
I'm ready to start wrapping some gifts!
These would even be cute as ornaments on a tree,
or strung together like garland with a different specimen
in each jar. Hmmm.... I really like that idea.

Be sure to stop by the Smudgy Antics blog everyday
for a fabulous gift of inspiration. And if you're feeling creative,
add your Anything Goes (using a Smeared Ink rubber or digi image)
creation here. 

   

You little Turkey!

Hi, remember me?

I posted daily for the entire month of October,

and then I fell off the face of the earth.

Actually, I took a small hiatus from crafting and it felt pretty good.

Sometimes you just have to recharge your creative battery.

I am back today with a new image and a new challenge from 

Aurora Wings.

Everyone loves an 'Anything Goes' challenge, right?

Well, you have an entire month to get something made

this new challenge.

I was inspired by this little guy from Aurora Wings.

He's a 'Turkey Sprite', and can be found here.

I usually pull up reference photos when coloring something

that is actually real. I like my images to look as realistic as possible, 

unless it's a fantasy image. While looking for cool turkey feather coloring

I noticed that some turkeys have a vibrant blue head. And since I like

my sprites to be anything but flesh toned, I went with the bright blue

coloring. I really like the pop of cool color in this earth toned card.    

This is from Stampin' Up. Never ever used before today.

I outlined the sentiment with Cinnamon and Paprika Stickles.

Pretty simple layout, but it sure is sparkly.

Be sure to stop by the Aurora Wings challenge blog to see all 

of the talented design team's projects and maybe be inspired to 

play along with us this month.

Yesterday afternoon the power went out, so instead of being cold

and bored at home, we went as a family to Old Sacramento.

It's a local rustic tourist trap, full of high priced specialty shops

along the Sacramento River. We usually go a few times a year

for special events and our new holiday tradition of choosing

a new ornament for each year's Xmas tree.

There is a year around Xmas shop there, that is just magical.

I try to go close to Halloween and before Thanksgiving so I can

catch the Hallowe'en Day of the Dead themed goodies they carry. 

I fell for this glass bat ornament right off the ...

bat. 

Had to have him. So sparkly!!

And then I saw this guy!

Ack! It's like he was made for me.

Gorgeous mercury glass like effect. 

The ornament is actually clear glass, and you can see through it.

I also inherited about 20 Dr. Seuss Hallmark ornaments from my Mom,

so it's a toss up as to what kind of themed tree to have this year.

Maybe I can find a black artificial tree for my Hallowe'en themed tree.

I'll be on the look out...    

Happy Hallowe'en!!!! Day 31

Today's the day!

I can't believe we made it!

I feel good that I pushed myself to finish, even though

I really wanted to just quit and sleep. A few times. 

Glad I made it to the end.

I wanted to share a smattering of my actual Halloween-type shirts.

The three are from Toxic Toons/Eric Pigors, and the Jack Shinnington

shirt is from Fright Rags. The chick in the coffin glows in the dark. Bonus! 

I had been dying to make these pumpkin spice cupcakes. 

That is until I was halfway through making the buttercream frosting by hand,

and realized that this was way too labor intensive for me! But I was almost

done and wanted to try the pumpkin spice frosting and the cupcake together. 

So here is a great shot of my crappy piping skills.

Good thing this isn't chocolate frosting....

Despite their slightly 'rustic' appearance, they were/are delicious!

And they photograph pretty well, also. 

Have you heard of the "Busy Mockingbird"? She is an artist

who draws gorgeous faces and heads of people or whatever,

and then she lets her young daughter 'finish' the drawing in her 

own style. They both are some amazing ladies. 

As if that weren't enough, she has begun to sculpt these adorably

creepy, and kinda fugly, Monster Puppies!! 

I chose this one to come and live with me. Isn't he sweet?

This one is actually a brooch, but she makes necklaces and actual

plushies with these kinds of faces.   

I just wanted to share this photo because it is beyond

cool! And beautifully shot.

Here is the final page of that Halloween themed paper bag album

I have been working on all month. I still have some fine tuning to do,

but pretty much like Halloween, this thing is done. I just need to add covers

and add ribbons to the binding edge. 

I used a cool raven image (from parts unknown) and a Happy Halloween

image from Stampin' Up. I clear embossed the 31 after I colored it orange

using Copics. Then I used some distress inks to finish off the background.

I'm happy it's done, and I'm proud of the work I put into it. I couldn't have

done it without these Halloween hops. Lots of work, but great fun.

I hope to see you guys lurking and whatnot in the future.

I'm going to go hibernate for a week or two....  

I will leave you with a couple of snapshots of my squirrel baby, 

Foxxi.

I'd say she is feeling 100% better than two weeks ago.

Gabbi is 100% as well, but declined to have her photo taken. 

Diva.  

Thank you again, for all of your kind words and prayers.

I am positive it made a huge difference for me, which in turn,

helped my babies.

You guys ROCK! 

   

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!!! 

Happy Hunting? Day 30

Woo hoo! Almost there! 

I can smell burnt pumpkins and rain

in the cool autumn air.

Quick shot of my Halloween tree. I can't find my

ornament hangers so I don't have all the ornies on yet.

I did get those cool green cricket lights at the Dollar Store.

Wish I had bought more sets. They always sell out of the cool

stuff really fast. 

These are Puff Monsters by Bianca Roman-Stumpff. 

This is my personal collection. I love them.

The Frankie one in the front left, is my newest acquisition.

Here are a few of my black t-shirts.

I have always been a girl of epic proportions, so finding cool t-shirts 

was quite a struggle. Then I found places like teeVillain, Fright Rags, 

Eric Pigors, and TeeFury who offered limited run, unique t-shirt designs 

for all sizes. Score.

The OBEY shirt has got to be my favorite.

I love 'They Live'.

  

And here we have 'Fofe' from Stampotique Stamps.  

I colored him with Copics, and splattered some red on his shirt

to go with the altered sentiment.

I used a mini sponge blending tool from TH to blend the

background using distress inks.

Don't forget to check out the awesome blog hops going on

all month. 

 31 Days of Halloween 

Countdown to Halloween  

Lastly, I have the winners of my two giveaways.

Betcha thought I forgot, huh?

Congratulations

Oddworldian (crafty prize)

and 

Matney (non-crafty prize) 

Please email me at 

with your mailing info so I can get

your winnings out to you ASAP. 

Thanks for stopping by to check out my wares.

I'm gonna miss you on November 1st.

That's a big pumpkin! Day 29

Two days to go!

I am so ready for Friday!!

In more ways than one...

Here is a snippet of today's shirt, complete with dog and cat hair.

The perils of wearing black all the time. That's what lint brushes 

are made for, right? I'll try to get a group shot of multiple shirts tomorrow

in the daylight.  

My card today features a gorgeous image directly from 

Ching-Chou Kuik's Etsy shop.

I kept the card fairly simple to keep all of the focus on this

little witch and her fiery wings and lavender familiar.

 The image is called, Big Pumpkin, and can be found here.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:
Scrap Creations - Halloween
Party Time Tuesdays - Anything Goes 
Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes/Spooky
Digi Makeover Challenge - Pumpkins
Dream Valley Challenges - Halloween
ppinkydolls - Anything Goes/Halloween
Through the Purple Haze - Halloween
Open Minded Crafting - Halloween/Dressing Up

So I never managed to choose the winners for the giveaways yet.

I'll do it tomorrow for sure! Just not enough hours in the day lately. 

Be sure to check out both of the hops as they begin to gear up for Friday.

 31 Days of Halloween 

Countdown to Halloween  

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.