November Smeared & Smudged Forum Members' Blog Hop

Welcome to the November S&S Forum Blog Hop! You should have come here from Monique's blog, but if not there's a blog roll to your right so you won't miss a thing! Whoa! It's been awhile since I blogged, will post separately on those reasons. Anywho, am glad to be back and for my creation I made a Creepmas Candy Coffin.

Had to make the top a little flat so it could scan correctly since apparently my digital camera cord got lost during the move. The coffin is covered with green thick mulberry paper, supported by 3 black painted & glittered skulls. The main image is "Lonely Boy" from Smeared Ink (ain't he adorable?) colored with colored pencils, as well as watercolor pencils. The image was put on a piece of Christmas DP, outlined with white and gold trim, a white bow. There are also a few of Lonely Boy's fave Creepmas treats on top as well. Since scanning it I've covered the top w/chunky "rock candy style glitter. There's also a few "treats" for ghouls on the bottom half as well as inside for the little guy. Thanks for looking!

July Smeared & Smudged Forum Members' Blog Hop - Bring on the Heat

Welcome to the Smeared & Smudged Forum Members' July Blog Hop! This month's theme is Bring on the Heat, and what could be hotter than a busty, beautiful Zombie? When ZPOC happens, she will be the new centerfold hottie, to be sure.

The image is one of the Zombie Babe images from Simply Betty Stamps, colored with my usual combo of Derwent Inktense pencils, Prismacolor pencils & Tombow Markers. I wanted her hair to look similar to flames. The background paper is DCWV's "Street Lace", accented with red/purple markers. She will join my bevy of beautiful zombies all framed 5X7 for Halloween/Samhain which is only 103 days away - YIKES! Thanks for hopping today & the blog roll is to your right ----> in my sidebar.

Maybe I should just take my marbles and go home...

It's time for my annual birthday rant. Well, I'm a little late as always. I've been a member of a group online for close to two years, and have been as active as my health & living situation would allow. And, for the second year in a row, with only one exception, not one other person wished me a happy birthday last week, despite the birthdays being on the home page & my thanking the lone individual on the chit chat part of the group. Honestly, I've never really felt a part of the core inside group, just a vibe I get from several of them. Rather than dwell on it, I've decided to do a challenge once in awhile and forget the rest of the group dynamics. Besides I've a lot to do in the next few weeks; with packing up this house, becoming single after 22 years, moving to a new place, becoming a grandma and all that entails. I really need to concentrate on the RL world, not the OL world.

Who knows, I may start a new blog all together...

Skull Appreciation Day Blog Hop

Thank you for joining in on The 2nd Annual Skull Appreciation Day Blog Hop sponsored by Smeared Ink !!! This day was made special by Noah at Skull-A-Day blog, who has done exhibited his artwork for several years. During the past 12 months he has painted over 100 skull paintings! His blog is also a depository for others' artwork, skulls found in miscellaneous objects like toast aka simulacra, anything to do with the human skull. There's a link to his page on my sidebar.

To go along with this hop, Smeared Ink & the Smeared & Smudged Forum have many, many sponsors who have offered prizes (we all love prizes, right?). See listowner Terra's More Smeared Ink for the list of those generous sponsors.

Here is my paltry offering:



First of all, please forgive the poor quality of the scan. Had hoped to get my dd to take a pic, but she got home long after I went to bed, and if and when my dd rises, I'll get a proper pic of the entire coffin & the "goodies" inside. I painted a chipboard coffin black, put feet on the bottom using spools. I took black aluminum craft foil ran it thru with an Cuttlebug embossing folder of gears and clocks, then sanded it down to reveal the silver color. The skull image is from Smeared Ink's "Quoth the Raven" stamped & cut out 6 times, fussy cut, glued together w/silcone glue & dipped in clear UTEE. I also added an Idealogy metal plaque with the word Time stamped & used Crackle Accents. The insides will be revealed...

There is a blog hop list to your right -----> on my sidebar, in case you veer off the beaten path. I'll be entering this in Smudgy Antics Challenge Anything Goes.

**hope to have pics soon**

It's a Twofer! HDH135 & S&S Rock n Rolla Challenge for June

Here's my entry into Haunted Design House's Challenge #135 "Pass the Distressing Please", where we were to distress our project using distress inks, distressing tools, nails, scissors, whatever. I'm also using it for Smeared Ink's Smeared & Smudged Forum's Rock n Rolla Challenge for June, which is a project inspired by "Somebody that I used to Know" by Gotye. Most everyone knows that horrible feeling when someone we care about leaves our life, and for me I am cold as ice when that happens. To be totally honest, I had hoped to finish it last night in time for the Smudgy Antics weekly challenge so it could be a 3fer. But, the best laid plans... Anyway here it is:

The page background is from DCWV's Street Lace collection which I colored teal. The image is from Smeared Ink's Gothic Fairy digi collection (they're sponsoring HDH's challenge - woohoo!). I colored her with Derwent Inktense pencils, markers & colored pencils. The black paper behind her was given a deckle edge then distressed by curling the edges. The tag was done with various colors of Tim Holtz's Distress Inks & the blending tool. Scanning is horrible for dimensional projects, so it's hard to read the senti which I wrote/stamped in Archival Ink "When you left I froze the flowers like my (heart)" I then painted Rock Candy Crackle Paint over the entire tag, and when it dried took Pumice Stone & Denim Distress Stains and pounced, wiping the excess off with a paper towel. Then the edges of the tag were distressed with a distress tool. I'd made a heart out of foil, put a faux patina finish, and mounted it on top of a Vintaj butterfly menage in metal(please forgive the glare). I then dipped a few mini flowers in my Melting Pot w/clear UTEE, allowed them to dry, and put a black ribbon around the bunch.

Hope you liked it> (wow, look at that 1 hr. to spare entering ) Have a great day!

*** here's a better scan using my old scanner which is infinitely better than my all-in-one.

May Smeared & Smudged "Oh, the Horror" Challenge

Here's my entry for Smeared & Smudged Forum's "Oh! the Horror" Challenge, the movie chosen for inspiration was "Zombieland" Double Tap! One of the funniest movies, not alot of gore, and some super performances by the actors. Woody Harrelson's character was in search of Twinkies, of all things, while trying to stay alive. His Twinkie yearning was the inspiration for my project.

The background paper was from Club Scrap, "County Fair", one of the kits in 2005 or 04. The tickets came from the kit as well. The main image is the awesome Zombie digi from Rick St Denis sheet that I won during Smeared Ink's 31 Days of Halloween last year. He was colored using Derwent Inktense pencils, white gouache, and Prismacolor colored pencils. I cut a few twinkies from some patterned paper, stamped Twinkies using Staz-on Black. Added a flag & coin. Thanks for looking!

Smudgy Antics Challenge - Color Challenge

Over at Smudgy Antics, the challenge site sponsored by Smeared Ink, we had to use at least 3 out of 5 color swatches. Here's what I came up with:

I couldn't choose just 3 so I used all 5 . Anyway, the image is one of the Love Valentine Grumpies digis from Smeared Ink, colored using Derwent's Inktense pencils. The background paper is made from a piece of pale yellow shiny cs, with the polished stone technique using Alcohol Inks. The clock (the Tim Holtz die being a present from my elder dd - I love it (and her)) was cut from white cs colored with Dusty Concord Distress Ink. Took a punched circle colored with some homemade Perfect Pearl mist in lavendar, and added a funky spiral. Also added some Mickey Mouse ears cut from a Home Depot paint chip card & the metal word Happy from Making Memories. This was mounted on a piece of lavender cs & backed with a purple cs. The lighter has been hinged so I could do some journalling underneath.

This piece evolved from what was going to be a funny get well card to something more personal, actually a journal page. Last month, I had a mild heart attack, the dr wasn't in his office that week & I didn't go to the hospital. My blood pressure was like 198/117 most of the day, his nurse told me if I felt a tightness in my chest to go to the emergency room. My arm hurt, but there was no band tightening around my chest, so I went home and tried to "rest". A week later I was finally able to get in to see him. Long story short, there's some damage to the heart but my bp is manageable w/meds. This page is to remind myself to take the time to do what makes me happy, since no one knows how much time we have left. I'm lucky and each day is a present. Thanks for looking

Confessions Smeared in Ink - May Member Blog Hop

Welcome to Smeared & Smudged Forum's May Member Blog Hop. Our theme this month is "Confessions Smeared in Ink" where we were to confess something that our Mom's didn't know that we'd done. My own Mom knew all of my secrets & of my escapades in the past when I was young. Maybe not the details, but I was pretty much an open book to her, as she was much more than just my mother, she was my best friend, dating buddy (now that was weird - going on a double date with your mom ), travel companion, confidant. She passed away 9 long years ago. Rather than going with something that could potentially put me in the slammer, I went with something a little more mischievious & tame. She'd started working outside the home when I was about 8 or 9. I was a smart kid, pretty much bored at school, so I remember many times I'd stay home from school & just watch tv all day. She didn't know, I forged an excuse the next day. Or I'd get up at 2 or 3 in the morning, get myself a bowl of ice cream & watch tv. I LOVED those old movies they'd play in the middle of the night & I'd already gotten 6 hours of sleep (we had to be in bed by 8:00pm, with the lights out, until I was in middle school.

The base is a piece of 8X8 paper from DCWV's "Street Lace" pack, topped with a piece of Bazill CS that I deckled edged and aged w/Distress Inks. Back then, we only had about 4 channels and they were in black & white. So, I decided to keep the page fairly monochromatic. I stamped all the images in Black Staz-on, aging with Distress Inks. The images I used were from Smeared Ink's "Chicks Dig Guns" ( the tall flapper), the Wicked Witch of the East's feet were from Graphic 45's & Hampton Art's "Oz", the remainder were from Graphic 45 & Hampton Art's "Curtain Call" collection. I also used a piece from Curtain Call, some black webbing, and the letters T & V were grungeboard from Tim Holtz, to which I added a coat of Rock Candy Crackle Paint, swiped with Picket Fence Distress Stain, & various colors of Distress Inks. Some of the images were Pop Dotted, as well

Hope you enjoy the hop! My apologies for being late (I will be late to my own funeral someday). The blog list is to your right -------> I'm also entering this into Studio L3's Compendium of Curiosities vol 2 #5 challenge (the shattered Distress Stains). Thanks for looking!

Smudgy Antics Challenge - Rain Down on Me

I really have a thing for boxes. Years ago, I had a "money spell" box, but I have no clue where it disappeared to. Anyway, I made a new one and this is will be on the lid of it:

I used a piece of DCWV's Street Lace for the base. The background of white & blue was done using Distress Stains in Picket Fence and Denim, spritzed with water & dried. It kind of looked like clouds and rain. The stamped image is from Smeared Ink, a digi called "Fortune Teller", colored with colored pencils in shades of mostly green (for money, what else?). I added some gems falling from the sky, a sentiment handwritten, some mint green ribbon, a strip of printed gaffer tape from 7 Gypsies.
Thanks for looking.

Bunnicula Inspired Blog Hop

Today is Smeared & Smudged Forum's Bunnicula Inspired Blog Hop! The cool part about this hop is that we're swapping out our projects secretly to a secret sister. Awesome, huh? For my project, I chose to do an altered Altoid tin. I've been playing lately with a stash of tins & polymer clay. They make the perfect little shadow box.

I apologize for the crappy scans. My lovely dd inadvertently broke my digital camera removing the batteries awhile back. And, as soon as the princess gets her sweet you-know-what out of bed, I'll have her take a couple of photos with her phone/e-mail them to me & I'll let y'all know when better pics are up!

I covered the tin in greenish gold Premo polymer clay and used a Fiskars embossing plate for the texture. The moon was cast in a mold, glued to the baked tin, with some green angelina. Then I painted the inside of the tin black. Inside the lid, I glued a piece of Graphic 45's Haunted Alice in Wonderland pumpkin patch paper, with the pumpkins colored with white. You know who got ahold of each of them. I also added a watch face, showing the time as midnight, also adding a patina'd star, as well as stickers for Bunnicula's name. Then, I took some white polymer clay to make carrots. Little Bunnicula was stamped on heavy bristol paper in Black Staz-on, but I added some red to his eyes and two little vampire type fangs.

These books were some of my daughters' favorites over the years. Thanks for looking!

Liebster Blog Award News and Thank You, Alison!

I was totally blown away by a very good friend of mine, the awesome & talented Alison, of 21st Century Pillow Book by giving me the Liebster Blog Award Saturday. In doing a little research, I learned that the name means little darling in German and is given to as yet, undiscovered blogs who have less than 200 followers.

These awards give small bloggers with less than 200 followers some well deserved recognition for their creations. Here are the rules:
* Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
* Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
* Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
* Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed.
* Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

Here are my choices:

Helen

Susan

Sara

Jane

Fiona

Please check out their blogs, give them some bloggy love, and become a follower!

Like Alison, I've "met and hung out" with these wonderful artists on the Smeared & Smudged Forum (link on the right), which is sponsored by the awesome owner/sisters at Smeared Ink . Everyone on the forum has been so very welcoming & supportive over the past year that I've known most of them. Some of us are alittle quirky, and our art pushes the envelope at times, but you couldn't ask for a better or kinder group of people to be in your life.

Once again, Thank YOU Alison for giving me this award. Like you said sometimes we little bloggers don't know if people notice what we post (they usually do). You are a sweetheart & I'm so grateful that you came into my life. Mwah!

Smudgy Antics Challenge - Red Hot

For the Challenge sponsored by Smeared Ink this week, the theme was Red Hot. I chose to do a tag in honor of Valentine's Day, with a hot blooded twist.

I took a shipping tag, colored it with Fired Brick & Rusty Hinge Distress Inks along the edge, then cut a piece of DCWV's "Street Lace" paper slightly smaller. The image is from Smeared Ink's new My Bloody Valentine digi set & I just love the nails digging into the heart . I colored the hand & heart with Derwent Inktense pencils, then used Ranger's Glossy Accents on the heart & blood. I punched 2 hearts of different sizes from foil, as well as 2 from Tacky Tape. I embossed the foil hearts, and added red micro beads & glitter to the tape hearts. I also added some drippy blood punched using Martha Stewart's Drippy Goo punch at the bottom, and a piece of wordy ribbon at the top.

Thanks for looking.

Oh no, she didn't ...

If someone had told me I would be making roses out of bacon this year for Valentine's Day, I would have thought them absolutely insane. But, I did make some - 7 to be exact as that is how many silk roses were in the bunch from Family Dollar. Being financially strapped, I offered to make my daughter a card to give to her boyfriend of 7 months. Then I suggested the Bacon Roses she'd shown me earlier that week, found a couple of blogs with instructions and off we went. Had to sacrifice my mini-muffin pan by drilling holes in it so the grease drains out, but the look on his face was priceless. He loved them!

Here they are:

The saying goes: For the girl who loves flowers, and the guy who wants a snack.

I'll be posting my final valentine blog hop project in a few. Did you know that you can hit a computer & sometimes it will work? There's always something.

Bloody Valentine Blog Hop - Day Two

What an awesome hop this is so far! Had to work Friday, but will be making rounds today to comment on everyone's superb projects. The list is to your right --> and you don't want to miss a thing.

Today's project is a little something I made to hang on the wall. Loving zombies the way I do, I don't think they get enough lovin. The main image is the Zombie from the Rick St. Denis digi sheet that I'd won last Halloween, and the cool Winged Hearts are from Smeared Ink's Heart Wings digi set. Both were colored with Derwent Inktense pencils & I added a little glitter to the wings of the hearts. For those that are curious about the pencils, they are an ink in a pencil form, used like watercolor pencils, but the main difference is that they are permanent on paper as well as fabric. Love 'em! The background paper is from DCWV's Street Lace 8X8 pad, on top of a piece of black patterned paper. The sticky lace tape is from 7 Gypsies. I wrote the senti on a piece of white cs, added glittered lips. Hope you like it! Thanks for looking!

Bloody Valentine Blog Hop - Day One!

Today is the first day out of 3 of the Smeared & Smudged Forum's Bloody Valentine Blog Hop brought to you by the wonderful artists at Smeared Ink. You should have arrived here from Emjay's blog. If not, start at the beginning of the list to your right so you don't miss any of the awesomely quirky, not your usual Valentines.

My project is a card using two images from Smeared Ink's new Valentine digi set which were printed on watercolor paper, colored with Derwent Inktense pencils, Promarker flesh colors, and finessed with Prismacolor colored pencils. I punched Martha Stewart's Drippy Goo punch from red cardstock, inked with Distress Ink in Black, Fired Brick and Walnut stain, then used clear UTEE over that. The mini hearts were punched from Tacky tape & covered with tiny beads in red. All was mounted on a scrap of skull paper over black alligator skin paper & then attached to a dark pink piece of Bazill CS. I also added some heart clips from Making Memories.

Thanks for looking & hopping with us!!!!
Happy V-Day

Smudgy Antics Challenge - Wheelie

This week's Smudgy Antics Blog was to use wheels, and here's what I came up with:

This page is for my Major Arcana Tarot Study book that I made last year. I used Smeared Ink's "Fortune Teller" digi colored w/pencils/markers. Added a few embellishments & will put a tag with my notes on the right side in a pocket.
Thanks for looking!

Invisibility has its perks

Yes, it does. On the downside, nobody really gives a crap. On the upside, nobody expects anything either.

I've been in a very dark place for a few months, and have come to realize, with few exceptions, I could disappear forever and no one would notice or even care. Last year I was on a design team, and during the course of the summer didn't post for over a month after suffering a mild stroke. Not one person wrote to ask where I was, if I was ok, zippo, nada. Happened again in October, nothing. Then, last month after being excited that I'd still have internet, started a monthlong hop, became ill, the darkness took over, came back to wish everyone a Happy New Year, and only one person said "good to see you back".

I'm exhausted treading water, not getting anywhere and it would be much easier to just go under. Good thing the water's murky and I'm invisible...

Challenges - Smudgy Antics & Smeared Ink Funk Junk December

Last post for the year!
Sorry for the crappy glaring pic - scanning a round glass object is foolish at best, but will take a photo when the batteries are charged

I used one of Smeared Ink's stamps from Misty Benson's Skelly Christmas stamped on a transparency w/pigment ink, then colored with markers & paint. For the confetti, I cut up purple, red, green & white rubber bands (wanted something light, yet not glitter).

Am glad to see this year end. Thanks for looking