What an exquisitely creepy little girl!

I am almost unable to contain my sinister bubblings over the

new images from Vera Lane Studio Digi Stamps. I am always thrilled when

another artist (unwittingly, or not) caters to those of us who are

"less than normal crafters". And I mean that in the best way

possible.

This little zombified booger is named, "Rachael".

And she only resembles a booger because that is how I have

colored her. I usually like my zombies to be green and have 

varying spots of decay and discoloration. And then they 

should be wearing a pretty dress to show that they are still

a girl, after all. 

As a side note, the set this image is from also comes with a little

zombie boy named "Gage", and a kitty named "Meow". Anyone care to

connect the undead dots? What if the cat was named, "Church"?

Anyone?

  

The sentiment is from my favorite word artist, Ginger's House.

Not only are her sentiments funny, sweet, and even kinda naughty sometimes,

but they're FREE!! Yeah, I know. Cool, right?

I have a bunch more Vera Lane images to color and show off, 

so stay tuned...

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - June 2015 challenge
Crafty Time Challenges - Girls, Girls, Girls
Sugar and Betty - Anything Goes - June
The Sisters of Craft - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Anything Goes
Left of Center - Left of Center

Pocket Letter Newbie

I have officially participated in my very first Pocket Letter swap!!

I first heard about Pocket Letters via Serena Bee's YouTube channel.

I loved how fun and simple it looked, so I started collecting all of the

"ingredients" to begin making my own. But you really do need someone to

swap with to make it official. I happened to be chatting with my dear friend

(in real life), Dani, who stated that she has been trading pocket letters all

over the US and Internationally for a few months. What?! How did I not

know this?! I made sure she was my first PL swap, although I still haven't

received mine yet....

I went with a purple Goth theme which I chose myself. I guess you can

pick a theme between you and your trade partner, but Dani left it up to me

since it was my first time. I know she doesn't "do pink", so I went with

purple. Everyone loves purple, right? Well, they should!

I began by grabbing a stack of trading card sheets from my ATC stash,

and pulled out my ridiculous amount of ATCs that I have made, but never

gave away. I have a lot! What a great way to share them with new friends far and wide.

I was lucky enough to have won some Bugaboo images from a recent LOC challenge,

and really wanted to color them up. I love this spider hanging from the moon.

I colored it with Copics and then clear embossed a spider web over the entire card

before using Distress Inks to color the background. 

Then the fun really begins when you start adding goodies to every pocket. 

I added a bunch of paper punched spiders to this pocket.   

After filling the pockets with ATCs, and blank coordinating papers,

I added rhinestones, bows, glittery border strips, puffy bat ribbon, etc...

Basically, add fun crafty stuff to share. I guess the original idea is

to add a tea bag, a note about yourself, a fun quote, and all kinds of 

ephemera. There is a great introduction to Pocket Letters here,

by the lady who created them. 

This one was fun. I just added some Tim Burton-y paper clips, and

a bunch of punched bats, and teeny neon clips, too.

This image was fun to color and play with. I got a bit over zealous with the 

polka dot background, but it's very fancy now.

Dani loved her Pocket Letter. I am going to the post office to retrieve mine today.

And pay to get it out of hock. Make sure to add the correct postage, and that it's

packaged properly when you do your swaps. I'm sure Dani did as well, but 

apparently my local post office is super persnickety and wants special handling

fees or something.... Of all the swaps Dani has done, both in the US and Internationally,

this is the FIRST one to have issues. And we only live about 10 miles apart.

I am such a unique experience.  

Sprite Delight part deux

It has been a while since I've blogged. 

Too long, but I have been busy making schtuffs.

Today is the beginning of the new challenge at Aurora Wings.

The new theme is Sprite Delight Part II. 

When I first saw Mitzi's artwork years ago on Etsy, 

I fell madly in love with her sprites. 

This is one of my favorite Aurora Wings challenge themes.

  

I'm still chuggin' along on the wedding album I'm making for my Aunt and Uncle.

I'm hoping to have the entire album completed by their second Anniversary, 

this September. Good things are worth waiting for, right?

After using various inks, and distress sprays to achieve a sandy texture on

some kraft card stock, I began the layering of my 8" x 8" scrapbook page. 

I began by coloring up this gorgeous little 

Bird of Paradise Sprite.  

I thought he was perfect for a tropical beach themed wedding.

Just the right pop of color to set off the image against the 

washed out beach colored page.

I also thought it was a good idea to add some bling and fleurs 

that wouldn't compete with the little Sprite, but compliment it. 

More fleurs, die cuts, gumdrops, half pearls, and pearl sprays

to finish it off. I love the look of the frantage on the leaf die cuts. 

And here we are at the completed scrapbook page, once again.

I like to see the completed piece after all of the details have been

accounted for . I still have about 18 more pages to go before this

album is complete, but I am having a good time making sure each

page is perfect, and a good representation of their love. 

They are two very special people, and I want this book to reflect that.

Be sure to drop by the Aurora Wings challenge blog to see all of the

incredible inspiration pieces, and meet our newest DT member, too! 

Thanks for stopping by today.

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

That Craft Place - Anything Goes

Scrapper's Delights - Anything Goes 

Brown Sugar Challenge -  In the Garden

Craft for the Craic - The Big Occasion 

Fussy and Fancy - Use Aurora Wings image

Moving Along With the Times - To the Happy Couple 

       

Bug. Bugg. Buggs.

The new challenge over at Haunted Design House is a 

theme that is near and dear to my heart,

June-bugs, Gems, and Gewgaws.

I'm mainly partial to the bugs and the gems. Still not

quite sure what a "gewgaw" is, but I think it's a

non-essential embellishment. I've got those in spades, too.

I have quite a few framed insect/bug specimens in my collection,

so I figured it would be cool to make my very own specimens.

I got the idea from an episode of America's Next Top Model, where the 

models had to pose with hissing cockroaches that were on leashes 

and covered in jewels.

I used a rubber cockroach I picked up on clearance at Wally World

after Halloween. It comes with a small glow stick you can insert into the  

abdomen for a cool effect. Maybe I'll try and get pics of  that later.

I had a hell of a time getting the jewels to stick to the stretchy rubber 

the bug is made of, but Glossy Accents came through in the end.

I painted the frame with black paint, dry brushed red glitter paint on the edges

and sides, and then added a couple of stamped flourishes embossed 

with red foil embossing powder.  Lastly, I sealed it with a coat or two of

gloss medium.

   

This spider was hard plastic, with a hollow body on the back making

it difficult to glue into place. So, this guy is something of a wanderer. 

He goes very nicely with my spider web under glass, don't you think?

And he looks right at home among the other oddities and creepies

on my mantle.

Thanks for dropping by today.

Be sure to check out the other bugs, rhinestones, and fancy bits 

over at HDH!!  

  

Under the Sea Dream Wedding

My Aunt and Uncle were married on the beach in Hawaii.

My Aunt had a hard bound book of their wedding photos created 

online from Walmart. While she was happily showing around her wedding book

it began to fall apart. She had only had it a few weeks. This made me sad.

So I immediately went on her face book page and started downloading

her wedding pictures. I ordered prints online from Costco, and am now

ready to begin creating their new wedding album. 

Now it just so happens to be the start of a new challenge at Aurora Wings,

and the theme is: Dream Wedding.

I'm pretty sure that a wedding on the beach in Hawaii is a dream wedding.

I'd like to have a vow renewal (next year is 20 years) on the beach somewhere.

Just me and my husband, and the officiant. No one else. No shoes either.

A girl can dream...   

I decided to use this adorable Aurora Wings image called,

"The Gift". Seems perfect for the very first page of the

wedding album. I colored the cute Mer-couple using Copics.

I went with vivid hues since I love using bright colors on

fantasy images. No rules. I love it. 

I've been collecting beach themed dies and embellishments for this project.

I used some TH distress inks and paint to color the TH sand dollar

and seahorse die cuts. I used Frantage on the "love" die cut to make 

it fancy, and stand out against the sand dollar. Added the starfish brad 

and the gold dew drops for more interest. And cheesecloth. Ya gotta have cheesecloth

for many uses, but especially for an ocean netting embellishment.    

I popped a teeny half pearl in the clam shell. It fit perfectly.

I also Stickled bubbles using crystal Stickles, along with punched circles of glittered

and pearlized papers to represent bubbles, too.

I think I got my point across. Gotta have lots of bubbles.

  

And here it is! I am liking where this is going. 

Mitzi has a bunch of other ocean/sea inspired images that will be just

perfect for the rest of this album. I'll be sure to share my progress.

I hope to have this done by their anniversary in September.

Thanks for dropping by. Be sure to check out all the other

wonderful inspiration samples on the Aurora Wings challenge blog.

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

    Going Grey with Scrap-Creations - Anything Goes

Inky Chicks - Pearls

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes 

All Crafts Challenge - Anything Goes

Not Just Cards - Anything Goes

A Quick Haunted Word

So I survived Mother's Day, and true to form,

I didn't do what my Dad told me to do. 

I still plan to write a letter to my Mom, 

but I just couldn't bring myself to do it on Mother's Day. 

I was already having a really hard time, and opted not to 

dive into the most painful part of my life. My fear was that

I may not come back. Ever been afraid to really feel the pain?

I am terrified, but know it will help me heal. All in good time.

I do have a really cool project to share with you today.

Been keeping busy creatively. Idle hands and all that... 

First up is the second half of the Haunted Design House challenge:

Can I Have a Quick Word?

I chose one of my favorite words that doesn't begin with an "F",

and used WEIRD.

 Weird on Google search comes up with a definition of:

suggesting something supernatural; uncanny.

Funny that some of the synonyms for weird are 

odd, bizarre, awful, creepy, spooky, ghastly, freaky, strange,

magical , haunting, grotesque, kooky, etc...

More of my favorite words.

I began with a box frame I have had for months (years?).

I knew it would be perfect for a cool shadowbox display, and as it

turns out, I was right!

I distressed the box with a cool TH hammer with various tips

to give cool textures for aging and distressing. 

 I painted the box red and then black, all the while distressing

as I went along to each layer. I painted some wooden feet

and then gave them a coat of Rock Candy crackle paint. 

I have had this clear embossing paste from Dreamweaver Stencils for a while,

 and was inspired to use it on all sides of this box as soon as my new 

Dyan Reaveley  skull stencil arrived. It goes on very well, and I was worried it

was going to remain kinda rubbery, but once it cured completely ( a couple of days)

it was fine. I am loving the new stencil, too. It comes in a larger size, but this

one will do for now...

One can never have too many doll heads...

I salvaged this one from my kid and chopped the back of

her head off to fit in the frame/box better. I painted her with black gesso

to give me a good base to work with. I used a crackle technique on her

to give a cracked porcelain doll feel.    

As I was waiting for the head to dry onto the frame backing,

I used some TH wood letters and some Scrabble tiles to spell, weird. 

I used the TH hammer to distress the "W" and added some black acrylic wash and 

lime green Inka Gold metallic rub. I used distress paint daubers on the "E',

and white distress paint on the "I" to make it stand out. The "R" got a

smattering of Diamond Dust, and the "D" got a coat of  

green antiquing cream from DecoArt's Media line. 

I really LOVE how the "D" turned out. That is a great product!  

Once I arranged everything the way I wanted, I glued everything

down using Glossy Accents. I usually never use GA as a glue,

but I wanted to make sure this thing wasn't going to fall apart

any time soon.

I used some Pork Chop Show wooden pieces, along with various TH bits

and bobs. I used some mirrors, too.

One of my favorite parts is the eyeball on the top. I used a plastic doll

eye I bought on ebay, and glued it onto one of those TH specimen pins.  

I love the way the plastic TH dolly looks almost like

a negative image in the face after distressing it with black soot

distress paint, and then rubbing some of it off. TH star, and skull and crossbones

made there way onto this, too. I added some Firefly Stickles to the little bottle

to help spread the green color around a bit.

I generously coated the inside walls of the box with

platinum glass glitter. Kinda reminds me of the

genie on Pee Wee's Playhouse, Jambi. 

Okay that's it for my weird HDH creation. 

I love it. How about you?

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

Pile it On - Not Cute

Mixed Media World - Vintage (it's weird, but it does look old)

Left of Center - Distress It

Inspiration Emporium - May challenge - Get Pasted

Such an oddball

I have been having a hard time dealing with Mother's Day this year.

I find myself crying at anything that has to do with mothers. Good or bad.

My Dad suggested I write my Mother a letter to tell her all of the things

that I wish I had, before she died. Looks like I'm going to be writing a letter

this Sunday....

To keep myself busy, and to keep my mind off of painful things,

I have been playing around with my new small format Dyan Reaveley  

art journal. I have the larger one, but find myself intimidated to work

in it as of yet. Maybe once I master some cool techniques I'll have the

courage to work bigger. 

I started off by coloring this adorable image from Oddball Art Stamps.

Her name is Sally Sadness. She reminds me of a character from The Oblongs. 

Man, I love that cartoon.

I colored her up with Copics, and did a bit of customizing on her appendages 

to go along with my sentiment. 

   

I used some swirly die cuts to give the appearance of tentacle-type arms.

Some may consider that a flaw, others may think it's pure awesomeness.

I fall into the category of the latter.   

The background was created with Dylusion spray inks, a hexagram stencil

with some crackle paste (which I sanded down afterwards to make it less

chunky and obvious), and a new TH crackle stencil with black soot distress ink.

I also worked in some skull and barbed wire die cuts, along with some

Firefly Stickles for that bling factor.

I added the other swirls in to make it cohesive with the other

page and Sally's tentacles.

And there it is. The first completed page in my new art journal.

I still have a ways to go before I feel really adept at this art journal thing,

but it's so fun to just play around and make fun art just for me.

I would like to enter this creation in the following challenges:

Oddball Art Art Stamps fb page - Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Let's Get Sentimental