2014: An Artsy Year in Review

2014 is soon to be a distant memory.
It's nice to look back at my body of work from the last twelve

months and pick out my favorites.
Enjoy!

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

Thanks so much for dropping by!
Have a wonderful 2015!!

Wednesday's child is full of ...

... poisonous gas and pirouettes. 

I never did care for that whole "Wednesday's child is full of woe" deal.
Since I was born on a Wednesday, I hated to think that my fate was sealed,
and I was doomed to walk the earth full of woe for all of my days, based solely
on the day of the week I was born. And yet, maybe I am rather woeful...
Whatevah!

I've kind of been on a corrugated cardboard kick lately, and I had a piece

already distressed and cut to the perfect ATC size lying around....

So I made an ornament or a hanging of sorts.

I used some new pearlized crackle paste, and some of my favorite mica flake medium.

I also added good ol' Stickles to the perimeter to match her glittery ensemble.

I like the contrast between all of the textures on this piece.

  Such a fun image!

I used the strange, yet delicate 'Ballerina' image from the 'Toxic Ballerinas' set.

She just adds more glittery texture and bizarre contrast to the entire piece.


Thanks for stopping by!
If you're in the mood for daily inspiration using Smeared Ink images,
be sure to check out the eye candy at Smudgy Antics.  

Christmas Cactus Love

Back in 1991 I was living in Sylmar, Ca., and I 

lived downstairs from an amazing woman named, Rusty LaCroix.

She was a red-headed, Irish spitfire who took no guff from anyone.

She had some health issues and spent quite a bit of time in her apartment.

She pretty much had a jungle growing in her living room window.

She shared many plant cuttings and growing tips with me, but the one thing

she shared with me that gave me the most joy was a Christmas Cactus cutting.

I have had the plant from that cutting for well over 20 years, so when Mitzi from

Aurora Wings drew up a Christmas Cactus Sprite I was immediately in love.

But then it hit me. My puppy Gabbi, had eaten that plant this summer. Damn!

I was now kinda sad, as that plant always reminded me of Rusty, and was the one

plant I had that bloomed so beautifully in December. Sad face.

And then I remembered that I did salvage some clippings from what

Gabbi didn't gobble.  

And to my surprise and sheer joy, they were blooming!!!

Yay!!

All is right with the world now. I'll get this beauty transplanted

and relocated to higher ground this coming spring.    

The gorgeous fuchsia color was my inspiration for this card.

This cutie is for the new challenge at Aurora Wings challenge blog,

"All That Glitters". 

I went with a Christmas theme, but any type of glittery creation is

welcome for this challenge.

I added Stickles to the background paper, the sentiment tag, and

I outlined the Sprite in it as well. It is a glittery challenge, right?

Thanks for stopping by today.

Be sure to check out all of the sparkly treasures the DT created over

at the Aurora Wings challenge blog.  

I'd like to enter this cutie in the following challenges:
Lacy Sunshine - Holiday Joy
That Craft Place - Christmas
Open Minded Crafting - Unusual Christmas
Simon Says Stamp - Bling it On

Farewell challenge for Delicious Darkness

Today marks the beginning of the end of the challenges,

and the stores known as Delicious Darkness, and Delicious Doodles.

Due to new tax laws going on the books in 2015, many UK digi shops will be 

closing down for good. Unfortunately, the Delicious shops are 

scheduled to do the same at the beginning of the new year.

Teri is offering generous discount codes for both of her shops.

Grab those images now, while they're offered at such a great discount!

If you can't take advantage of this fabulous sale and are

devastated like the rest of us that these shops are closing,

you will still be able to access Teri's darker art from 

Smeared Ink. Yep! The girls at SI have stepped up and are 

offering Teri's images in rubber and digi!! Nice, right?

Our final challenge theme for this month is 

Anything Goes. 

And if you're feeling extra adventurous, the twist is 

Creepy Crimbo.

I have been on a bit of a tag kick lately.

I'm trying to build up a reserve of them for next year. 

I used Teri's Skully Xmas Wreath for these tags.

I colored them with Copics in different color schemes,

added a gem to the center, and lots of Stickles for added

sparkle.

I just stamped "To: and From:" on the backs to make them gift tags.

I think these would be great as inexpensive Hexmas ornaments, too.

    

I went for a relatively CAS look for this card.

I really wanted that Ram's Skull image front and center.

Such a wicked image!

After coloring it in with Copics, I backed it onto some layered 

twig wreath die cuts, embellished with half pearls to look like

ornaments. I added the barbed wire die cut because it was looking

really bare. I like how this turned out. Not too fancy, so it's perfect

for a masculine friend or family member.

I added this festive sentiment to the inside to finish it all off.

That's it for me! 

Please drop by the Delicious Darkness blog to see 

all of the wonderful work the DT have created using Teri's incredible artwork. 

Maybe even have a play with us for our last hurrah!!    

    

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.