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