Just a quickie or two

Since getting our new puppy, I have found it hard to locate

my mojo. I need to keep checking on him to make sure he isn't

getting into trouble or peeing in the house. He's pretty much potty trained, but

he still tries to eat everything he comes in contact with! 

That's another post, for another day... 

I have made a few things that haven't been posted yet, like

this cool, Steampunk-ish tag. This was so much fun to make! 

Got this great stamp from Pink Flamingo on Etsy.

It's called, "Otto's Sweet Ride", by  Brian Kesinger.

I added a few TH stamps and some random cling stamps. Then, I felt

the need for TH washi tape. Finished it off with the metal wings,

colored with alcohol inks, and the compass brad in the middle. 

I should totally do this more often. I really like the style of it. 

Whatever that style is.

I was also in the mood to alter something. I used this cardboard tray that 

our neighbor used to give us holiday cookies. 

Hope she wasn't expecting it to be returned to her.    

The first step was to get rid of this festive holiday brightness.

Only seemed like black gesso would do the trick. I love that it covers in

pretty much one coat. 

See? Looking better already! 

And now the decorating has begun!

I raided my collage scraps stash and came up with some cool bits.

I applied them with matte medium, and then used another coat to seal everything.

Here's a cute Nosferatu image from the interwebs, along with some die cuts and TH rub-ons.

I also added the nautical star brad for fun and a punch of color. 

Here's the matching version of The Creature from the Black Lagoon,

along with another rub-on and another Pink Flamingo stamp, stamped

onto an old dictionary page.

I have decided to use this to hold all the digis I currently am trying to color,

or want to color in the very near future. I always print out my new digis

right after I buy them, so I don't forget I have them. Lucky for me, my

husband's work printer uses the same inks as my home printer. I'm almost

guaranteed to never run out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Keep it Creepy!!!   

Anti-Valentine from Aurora Wings

So, I have some good news....

I have been asked to be a member of the design team for the new

Aurora Wings challenge blog!!! 

How cool is that?!

I love Mitzi's artwork, and her images are a dream to work with.

I am so honored to be invited to play alongside some incredibly

talented ladies. I mean, reeeeeeally talented.

Check out the new blog site and see who I'm talking about.

The challenges will fire up in March, so start practicing your coloring, now.

I got a chance to create a fun Anti-Valentine card, using one of Mitzi's

beautiful images called, "Anti-Valentine Girl with Nekomimi". 

She's a doll, isn't she? I just adore those rosebud lips!

And those eyes! Mitzi has such a way with eyes.

So feisty, and so gorgeous!!

And I got to use one of these cool girly skull brads I've been hoarding forever!

I used the Sweet and Toxic sentiment from the Greeting Farm set of the same name.

Thanks for dropping by! 

And remember: KEEP IT CREEPY!!!

Final Kick Start Your Art journal page Day 7

Today's final theme for the Smeared and Smudged 

art journal challenge is

Easy Water Blotting Background.

Since I love using my Dylusion Inks, this was a really fun and easy challenge.

I started off with red, yellow, and orange spray inks. 

I tried using a flame stencil with water to remove the inks,

but I guess the stencil was too detailed to show up very well.

Since the flames didn't really pan out, I just sprayed some 

water in my hand and then flicked it on the page.

After I flicked water, I used a roll of paper towels to blot up the excess

and remove the inks.

This is "Gobsmack" from Sweet November Stamps.

I LOVE this little guy!!! 

My son is currently dying a slow death in his Algebra class,

so I thought this was both, timely and fitting.

Well, that's it for me and my art journal this week.

Thanks for dropping by.

Keep it creepy!!!    

Rotten to the core

This week at Haunted Design House the theme is

ROTTEN ROMANCE.  

Been there, done that.

I decided to make a heart shaped ornament using burlap.

I cut heart shapes out of burlap and then "glued" them together

using pearl mica flake compound. It gave the heart a nice solid

center to adhere my goodies onto. Plus it made for a cool

glittery center when dry. Win, win!

I colored up this awesome Grotesque Cupid from 

Delicious Darkness.

I fussy cut him out and then I clear embossed him a couple of times

for added strength and shininess. 

After embossing and before gluing him and his polar opposite brother into place,

I added some chip board flourishes in the background for more interest and sparkle.

I added some red foil embossing powder onto the existing silver glitter to make it stand out. 

Lastly, I ran some TH tinsel twine through a eyelet, to hang my heart ornie.

Drop by HDH to check out the other Minion samples and 

enter to win some killer Delicious Darkness images of your

very own!  

Kick Start Your Art Day 6

Today's Smeared and Smudged Kick Start Your Art theme is:

TEXTURE.

I may have gone a little overboard here....

Not terribly cohesive, but it is highly textural.

I used Dylusions on the background, along with a few stencils that are

no longer visible. I finally used modeling paste and a stencil. I have been meaning

to try this technique, and now I love it! 

The poison ticket has been dipped in extra thick embossing powder for a slick finish.

Used this specimen tag left over from another project. 

More modeling paste and TH shattered stencil.

I attached some tulle to the back of the tag and then melted it

a bit with a heat gun. 

Attached a wooden key, and then splattered black, brown, and white

Dylusions inks everywhere to try and pull it all together. 

Added some TH tinsel twine for more texture and interest.

And finally, I attached a scrap of burlap to the bottom for one last blast of 

TEXTURE!!!

Tomorrow is the final day of this really fun, yet challenging art journal challenge.

I have really enjoyed myself, and feel as though my art journaling skills have been

stretched and improved through this process.

Thank you for stopping by, and see you tomorrow!  

Kick Start Your Art Day 5

The week long art journal challenge at 

Smeared and Smudged

is almost over, and I'm going to miss the daily process.

I'd like to think I can keep it up on my own, but the reality is that

I probably won't. Hopefully, I can keep up on my blogging at least.

Today's prompt for Day 5 is

SCRAP BACKGROUND.

Use up some of my scraps you say? Sounds like a plan!

I started off by choosing various scraps of paper and some washi tape.

I glued everything down and then proceeded to jack it up with a bunch

of black gesso and TH crackle paints. I really thought I had ruined the entire

page. Not a happy camper at this point, but I kept on adding schtuff until it

started to look right again. 

I added some MS bat fence border, and a Spellbinders die cut.

That gave me a chance to cover up the offending blotches and have a base

for my central pieces to rest on.  

I paired a headstone from Rick St. Dennis, with a cute

Mini Morticia from Make it Crafty. Popped them up on 

dimensional foam for a bit of layering and interest.

A close-up of what I had hoped all of the crackle would look like.

Not the case, so I covered a bunch of it up with MS paper tape.

I got lucky and managed to salvage this train wreck before it ran completely

off the rails. I am rather pleased with how it turned out in the end.

See you tomorrow for Day 6!!

Kick Start Your Art Day 4

Well, look at me!

Participating and posting for FOUR days in a row!

I am really enjoying this process. I need the creative outlet in this form.

It is working for me.

Today's prompt is

GROWTH.

Now I am not much for deep internal reflection.

I tend to revel in my own self deprecation, as opposed to

growing from my own revelations.

And I wasn't feeling the whole organic, literal growing, either.

This was going to take a minute or sixty to figure out.

I do love words. And word play. Hmmm....

After creating the background using those trusty Dylusions inks,

I used a spiderweb stencil to get the creepy vibe going.

Then, I used some rub on letters from my stash to spell out the word

GROWTH. I doodled around each letter to help it stand out against the

background more, and added some "growths" on each letter.

Some have hairs growing out of them, too!

I chose a word that started with each of the letters of the lovely prompt word.

Ghastly, Repugnant, Oddity, ...  

Witchy, Toxic, and Heathen, to round it out.

And then the real fun began. 

I started picking out some of my favorite (and oh, so dusty) rubber stamps.

Mister Stripes from Stampotique, and the Frieze Hippo from Gorey Details. 

Lovely are the Sound from Stampotique.

And lastly, Fofe from Stampotique 

and The Doubtful Guest from Gorey Details.

I just highlighted everyone with a white gel pen, to help them show up 

better on the busy background. 

Ta-dah!

See you again, tomorrow!!