Little Kitsune, Anko

In retrospect, I guess I have always kind of had

a thing for foxes. I have a few different fox stamps, 

a paper mache fox I picked up at WallyWorld a while back,

a fox ornament for Xmas, and my leedle dog is named, Foxxi.

(Check out Miss Monster@ shopify. She is an incredible artist!) 

I really like the Japanese Kitsune with nine tails.

I like the version of a white fox with red details.

So, when Mitzi at Aurora Wings shared her newest image,

I was in lurve! 

She doesn't have nine tails, but I'll overlook that

trivial fact for this Little Kitsune, Anko.

I colored her with Copics and decided to go with a geisha

inspired make-up. I really love the the bold red eye makeup

against the white powdered face. I had to go with the red geisha lip, too.

Very dramatic. Love it!   

In keeping with my 'less is more' mantra (when using AW images),

I have kept this one pretty CAS only using two dps, some gold Stickles, and 

three red pearls to symbolize The Three Jewels: the Buddha (the enlightened one),

the Dhamma (the teachings), and the Sangha (the community of followers).

I really love the linen texture of this DCWV Far East paper pad.

It's always my 'go to' paper pad when doing anything remotely Asian themed.

I think I'm going to pop this little gem into a shadowbox frame

for a friend's birthday coming up. Or maybe she'll just reside in my

craft room for inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by today. Be sure to stop by the AW Showcase blog

to see all the different variations on this fabulous new image available today

at the Aurora Wings Etsy shop, here.  

Going to hell. Can I save you a seat?

DISCLAIMER: This is my blog. I am a person who fancies herself

pretty funny. Snarky. And even a flat out smart ass. What I create is

never intended to offend, but ultimately I have no control over

how you choose to interpret my art. Proceed with caution, 

and with your big girl/boy panties on.  

There, I said it. Or I wrote it. Whatever. It's out.

Yesterday was Easter, and in honor of the first zombie ever, 

I have created a small tribute in his likeness.

I was inspired to create said homage by the new challenge at

Haunted Design House - Going Green With Envy.

Yup. I went there.

It is no big secret that I don't lend much credence to organized religion.

I wasn't indoctrinated into a religion as child, and have never been able

to wrap my head around giving myself over to a higher power. 

 I do, however, consider myself somewhat spiritual.

And that works for me. 

Anyhoo, I found this guy at my local thrift store, and

after my giggles of insane inspiration subsided, I got to work

making him into the true zombie he was always meant to be. 

After several coats of various acrylic paints and washes,

he was complete. And far more interesting than the way

that I originally found him.

While straightening, and purging my workspace I happened

upon this tiny dancer. Also a thrift store find.  

After the official "Creepy Zombie Concoction" has been applied,

she is the star of the zombie ballerina recital.

Thanks to this challenge theme, I have been inspired to start painting the 

numerous statues and figurines I have been collecting. I have some cows,

a trio of babies, and even a Buddha that are all dying to be zombified and given

a new life. Most of which will end up in my Etsy shop by the end of the month.

Remember to stop by the HDH blog to check out all of the incredible art that

my fellow Minions have created for this inspiring challenge.

     

Check me out! I'm a snarky Princess!

Easter is fast approaching. Seems like it was just Christmas.

Although my yard is in full bloom, and I am well stocked

in allergy meds, it still seems too soon for spring.

Which officially begins on Friday. Yay.

I am thrilled to have been invited to play along with the 

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers this week.

I have snark in spades, so this should just be a weekly

event for me anyway.

Since the theme is Easter, I cooked up a lil' hasenpfeffer.

Or maybe he's not quite cooked thoroughly yet....

See? 

Even Easter can be adequately creeped up thanks to

Rick St. Dennis and his Creepster Bunny. 

   

Happy Creepster!!

I used one of my handmade zombie brains and made a fancy schmancy

embellishment with some black tulle and pearl thingies.

It's nice, right?

And no creepy make is complete without some MS drippy goo punch.

I layered it up in different colors for a festive feel. 

I typeset this sentiment myself using Gimp.

I thought I had a stamp of it somewhere, but must have just been

wishful thinking on my part.

Thanks so much to the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers for inviting me

to play along with them this week. Nothin' better than gettin' my snark on

with the sisters!!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

I guess I have succumbed to the fact that spring is

in full bloom. Early, but blooming none the less.

I seem to keep reaching for bright, girly colors to

use on my projects. It's like Mother Nature is sending

me subliminal messages or something. I wish she'd quit

doing that.

I do have to admit that when I saw the freebie image for

the Smeared and Smudged Freaky Freebie facebook challenge,

I was hit right away with this idea.  

I immediately knew I wanted to make her gas mask

into a watering can to water the blooms of the apocalypse.

I dotted the background  using Copics to look like falling ash, 

ala Silent Hill.  

This ended up way prettier than I had imagined, 

but it is nice to see what's in my head come to

fruition.

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

Left of Center - LOC Anything Goes

Shopping Our Stash - I Made This - make your own background

Marker Pop - Anything Goes #64

Monday Morning Challenge - Think Spring

Smeared Ink Facebook challenge - Freaky Freebie

Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge - Spring is in the Air 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Safely hiding in my comfort zone

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

I think the theme has to be pretty much everyone's favorite,

Anything Goes.

It's definitely one of my favorite themes.

I was having a hard time coming up with something new, 

and out of my comfort zone. Then it hit me. Pastels. I am not a fan of

pastel colors as a whole. I don't wear them, I don't use them in my art,

and I don't relish the pastel overload of Easter.

You could say that pastels are way out of comfort zone. Way out.

I love the artwork of the "White Lady" Aurora Wings image, and have

been wanting to use her for quite some time. The color scheme tried

to get away from me a few times, and I'm still not convinced this isn't 

a huge fail, but I am trying to stretch myself into new directions artistically. 

After clear embossing the beautiful face and shoulders, I colored the 

background using Distress Inks. This stopped my attempt at water coloring

from ruining the entire image. And since I chose such an odd color combo,

I colored my own paper roses to match using Copics and rubbing alcohol.

 

I added in some white glittered chipboard scrolls and some dew drops

to try and pull the colors around the page. And added some Stickles for more sparkle.

Overall, I am not upset with this card. It's not my usual jewel tones and massive 

color saturation, but I do like it.

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

Eclectic Ellapu - Anything Goes (Pink Team)

Fairytale Stampers - Anything Goes

Glitter 'n Sparkle - Glitter and Sparkle

Digi Galore challenge - It's All About Her/Mother's Day

Inkspirational challenges - She Art/ image of a woman

Thanks for stopping by today.

Little Green Oddball

Westmoreland nesting Lion

Okay, it's taken me a good solid week to recover from my Dad's visit.

The visit itself was actually quite nice. It was the week before that really

effed me up. My Dad was a first sergeant in the Air Force. One of his weekly

duties was to inspect the barracks for cleanliness. He pretty much white gloved

every one's room in search of an infraction. And usually found at least one.

Welcome to my world. 

Imagine growing up in a household with a weekly inspection of sorts. 

Inspections I usually always failed. Always.

Scratching Dog Stone Animal

Fast forward some 25 years later, and after seven years apart he decides to come

visit. He hasn't seen me or my family in seven years. We left Texas on bad terms,

and it wasn't until the death of my Mother almost two years ago, that we began 

speaking again, and healing our fractured relationship. My Dad and I are 

ridiculously alike. Hence the wedges we both drive...

So to say I gave my house a thorough cleaning would be overstating

an insurmountable task. But I did do a pretty good job of making everything

appear to be tidy and dusted. I have a shit ton of chotchkies and dust collecting

collectibles, and crap, so dusting in itself is quite a chore. Plus, we have

three dogs, and two long haired cats, who produce their own miniature 

replicas out of shed hair every other day. Makes ya wanna come and visit my

hairy dust bowl of a curio shoppe doesn't it?

My Mom's wedding ring and everyday ring

Anyhoo, after a nice 4 day visit, good food, and an expected apology, I had to 

take a few days off to rest my aching back, and start going through all 

of the treasures my Dad brought me that belonged to my Mom. He was quite

generous with this delivery. I got all of her jewelry, her stone animal collection,

photo albums and scrapbooks that she made, a couple of pieces from her 

Westmorland Nesting animals collection, and various other cherished items.

 My Dad's stuffed animals from his childhood.

I think we're in a good place now. Finally.

Now I'm ready to get back into create mode and make some art!

I am a new fan of Oddball Art Stamps. I have a few of their images,

but haven't played with most of them yet. This little guy came with

a cool demon girl, but I wanted to use him all by himself for this ATC.

How cay-oot is he? Soooo cute! I have a thing for voodoo dolls.

Always have, just ask my husband...

"Can I have a lock of your hair?"

"What for?"

*snip!*

I popped this guy up on foam for dimension, after coloring him with Copics.

I used some Halloween paper scraps and skull glitter tape from

Recollections at Mike's. I found two punched hearts in black and 

added Firefly Stickles to make them sparkle. Added the "love me"

from Smeared Ink's Love Li'l Grumpies rubber set, 

and this ATC is fini.  

I'd like to enter this ATC in the following challenges:
Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge - #149 Going Green

Oddball Art Challenge - Love

Naughty Or Nice challenges - It Aint Easy Being Green

Left of Center challenges - Good/Bad Luck or LOC

(I think this might qualify for both, depending on how ya look at it)

Always in the Naughty Corner

Growing up as an only child meant that I was

always in trouble because there was no one else around

 to blame shit on. I was easily bored, what can I say?

I was always on restriction or grounded. Most of my summers

and school vacations were spent with a chore list, and a

consequence if the list wasn't completed by end of day. Which actually

meant end of business day, so 4 PM when my Mom got home from work.

And even though I crossed stuff of the list as I went, I always

managed to miss something, or more often than not, I just

didn't do it right. Which makes sense in retrospect because

I didn't start doing stuff on the list until about 3:30PM.

Kids are so dumb. Or maybe it was just me... 

Which brings me to my card for today.

The new challenge at HDH is The Naughty Corner.

What's really nice about these challenge themes is that you can 

interpret them any way you'd like, as long as they're creepy,

risque, Gothic, Steampunk, or Hallowe'en inspired in some way.

No cute shit in the dungeon. That doesn't fly with the Minions. 

Anyhoo, this schmexy sistah is from a now defunct(or renamed?)

shop that is no longer carrying her, so I'm going to call her,

"Helllloooooo Nurse!". Any Animaniacs out there?

Nevermind... 

I am quite pleased with how her mask turned out. 

I made the mistake of coloring it with flesh tones first, but

after some colorless blender and blue greens, I think it 

gives the impression I was hoping for.

  

She works perfectly with this sentiment set from

Hambo Stamps. I just love their funny two part sentiments.

But, it looks as though they are selling off the last of their stock,

 so snatch 'em up while you still can.  

See? 

Perfect snark in all it's glory!

Say goodbye to the pretty lady....

I hope you'll join us over at Haunted Design House for some

naughty good times and play along in our month long challenge.

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

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - A is for Accident

Sir Stampalot challenge - One for the Guys