Carnival of Curiosities: Haunted Design House

Surely you could already hear me gleefully giggling at this week's Macabre Monday challenge at Haunted Design House!

Another chance to use one of my Whimsical Circus Octopodes! Woohoo!

Today's troop member is our fluffy-haired, big-nosed clown. You can see that she's terribly shocked to discover that so many of us find clowns terrifying.

In fact she's so shocked that her wee little brain is considering a bit of bloodshed with a nice big butcher knife *shudder*.

At my house we don't like clowns. Or any other animal or person in a mask or disguising makeup. That is what makes us shudder. Freaky flippin' fakers. I want to see your face people. If not ... please keep your distance.

As referred to in my previous post: Bats and rats good. Masks and clowns bad. And grasshoppers. Were I ever forced to be in a reality television program they could easily finish me with a handful of grasshoppers.

Or those damn living statues like the performers near Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. Super Freaky! The statues, not the Cafe. The Cafe is awesome.

... whew, see this is why you want me to keep the posts short ... so there's a chance in hell I'll stick to the point.

Back to our challenge: I used a background from DezinaWorld (this background is ONE DOLLAR ... and there's lots more great stuff for just a buck!).

I added some clear embossing with glitter around the edges, a drippy goo edge punch embellishment with red glitter and handwritten text "Everyone loves a clown."

Finally I get to show off the Tim Holtz small easel die cut attached to the back of this piece. My favorite part of the easel die is that I can make shelf or desktop art for friends that can be mailed in a regular envelope with a single first class stamp!

What can you create that costs only 44 cents to mail? Something for the Macabre Monday Carnival of Curiosities challenge perhaps?

Steampunk and feathers: The Octopode Factory Friday Challenge

Each week I see a few more of you at the The Octopode Factory Friday challenge, and it's so exciting!

After all, everyone knows how much I love Octopodes, so it's additionally wonderful to see in what way multiple artists envision Octopodes in the weekly challenge themes.

That doesn't mean I get myself on to TOFF every week though: Last week I got by to discover the challenge, and even created a challenge piece, but never found time to post.

So, my piece for last week's "Birds of a Feather" is posted here: It's an alcohol ink splatter on white gloss card stock with the remaining white smudged in sapphire Distress Ink.

The text is printed and inked with Distress Ink in various colors, and I added rhinestones to the word "Feathers" because what else would a bat's be full of than lovely shiny pink feathers?

I'm very fond of bats, and all other rodent-like animals. Can you tell?

My piece for this week's challenge, Steampunk, begins with a collage tag I found at DezinaWorld (six different printable tags for TWO BUCKS!).

Then I added some printed and inked text and the lovely Steampunk Mabel.

Since you asked, I'll tattle on myself: I've been enjoying the last week or so creating some very simple pieces. My goal lately has been to focus on color and style combinations instead of worrying about adding hewhaws and gewgaws.

Not to worry however since the concept of not including bits of this and that is too painful to maintain for any length of time.

OK friends, off to create your own Octopode Factory Friday challenge goodness!

Frosted Petunias Artful Bag Challenge: August

Happy summer Frosted Petunia Artful Baggers and loyal followers!

The unseasonably comfortable temperatures* we've had lately must have inspired my pink, vintage-look couture ATC bag.

*Normally our summertime temperatures run from holy crap it's hot to it's so hot I can't breathe ... this year, aside from one or two 100-plus F days, it's hovered consistently at What Lovely Weather ... just as I suppose always is the case in Paris ... in my fantasy Paris at any rate. 

Back in the real world: My ATC is inked with Distress Ink in worn lipstick, then embossed with clear embossing powder in the style of Tim Holtz's compendium technique page 41.

The stamps are from Stampin' Up sets and an ideaology hitch tops our stamped dress form that displays my bag for August.

This lovely paper purse has a magnetic closure, gusseted sides and a rhinestone closure cover.

As Anna at Frosted Petunias has noted: This is the final of the second group of Artful Bag challenges, so next up is the final set of four! I hope everyone finds time to join the challenges!

Queen of the Damned: Haunted Design House

You get another fantastically fast post since I'm so behind: Not just in creating this for a deadline that is now less than an hour away but also because I was supposed to make baked spinach dip stuff for lunch ... now it'll be for dinner.

Oh well. Crafting is always more important!

OK, this lovely girl is Prom Queen from Stampotique and is honestly one of my very favorite stamps it the world!

I've owned her for a couple of months, but until today didn't feel that I had just the right project. Thanks to Haunted Design House Macabre Monday for giving me a fabulous reason to use her!

She's black embossed on a cranberry color wash background that was allowed to drip down the face of a tag that had already been spritzed with butterscotch color wash.

The sentiment "All Ways Are My Way" is from the sadly defunct Scroll Works Stamps.

Our Prom Queen finds herself wearing an aluminum can crown that began life as a fleur de lis, and she is surrounded by fired brick Distress stickles that offer just a tiny bit of the glimmer you'd expect from a high school dance.

Thanks for dropping by everyone!

Crowns or hats: The Octopode Factory Friday Challenge

Thanks for visiting again! My recent posts have been unbelievably wordy so you get a gift today: Me getting to the point. Quickly.

My tag, for The Octopode Factory Friday challenge of crowns and hats, is sprayed with homemade glimmer mist ala Tim Holtz's Compendium instructions, and has two corners sprayed with lettuce Color Wash.

When I win the lottery I'm buying buckets of Color Wash. Maybe kegs.

Anyhow, I used a Stampin' Up roller stamp with perfect medium covered in white embossing powder.

The image is from the Octopode Steampunk Gents collage sheet. His name is either Cedric or Glaeken. I'm not sure. He sure is freakin' cool regardless of his name.

Finally we have "You are" stamped in black archival ink, then highlighted with dark red Sharpie and an ideaology must token "unique".

A few inches of Amercian Crafts ribbons tied on and wahlah! One tag and an entire blog post in only 159 words!

You're welcome.

Summer sparkle: KennyK Krafty Girlz Challenges

Welcome to another Monday post!

Not long ago I finished my Grungy Monday chatter, and now I'm here with a card that I created for the KennyK Krafty Girlz Challenge!

Since you're nice enough to put up with me posting so often ... and in many different styles ... this also is a blog candy post! Yay! More later ...

Returning to your regularly scheduled KennyK Krafty Girlz Challenge post we're looking at Summer sparkle!

That means I'm also looking at Summer birthday sparkle because who else would I think of when I see the gorgeous, modern bomber art from KennyK than My Guy?

My Guy who is today celebrating his birthday? Yeah, yeah ... I'm not being a bad girlfriend because I'm here instead of with him celebrating. He loves lots of space to mess about so aside from actual gifts his gift today is me Leaving Him Alone.

Plus I cooked three of his favorites today; when the temperatures in our region were well above 90F (our South-facing house is warm in January sans oven, let alone August).

Alright, no need to explain myself. He's happy. Partially because he received this card that is resplendent with fourteen rhinestones and multiple spots of glimmery ink such as our KennyK Delores D'ammage lips and boot buckles.

... also because upon seeing this card he asked "So ... are you going to wear that when I express my wish?"

Lots of giggles and raised eyebrows later ...

I should explain the "WISH" text is cut from Cricut cartridge Storybook (sort of ironic) and the "Make a" badge is created in Microsoft Publisher.

All other backgrounds and elements are cut from and with general stock and punches available at most chain craft and art retailers.

So, the Blog candy. Because this is a KennyK challenge I'm offering to buy a single KennyK image for the commenter who is chosen at random on August 21.

Prior followers, you know I appreciate you, if you have the random winning comment ... the prize is two KennyK images!

Finally, I enjoy creating many types of art using multiple techniques and styles, but I understand that others prefer more focused creating.

I hope that if you're in that category you'll still comment, but include the message "No Digi". I won't include you in this prize pull. But in a week or two when I post another project with a tiny non-digi blog candy prize I can give you an "extra" prize entry with your comment!

Or at the very least my friends ... I understand if you comment only on the creations that interest you ... I know ... all art doesn't speak to every artist!

Drop by with a KennyK image or not, at the KennyK Krafty Girlz Challenges. They only include in their prize drawings entries with KennyK images, but I know from the entries I see there ... they love all participants!

*Editor's note: The KennyK blog candy winner is Jingle!

Distress Stickles party: Grungy Monday

Welcome to the Not a Moment to Spare Grungy Monday post ... on Monday!

Today we've been asked by our Lovely Leader Linda to play along with a Distress Stickles party! Woohoo!

Aside from any kind of embossing, I'm pretty much all about the challenges that ask us, nay, require us to use glittering, shimmering, shining goodness!

You won't be surprised that next up in my world is a post for KennyK Krafty Girlz' Summer Sparkle challenge ... but that's a whole different post.

So, back to the original subject: Dig out your Distress Stickles people! Those little squirty bottles full of glitter glue ... but really, really fantastic glitter glue. With great big distressy glitter chunks ... in colors which conveniently match many other Distress colors! Woohoo again!

I started with a bit of last week's challenge which focused on a technique from the blog of Tim Holtz (the leafy vine is cut from an embossing folder package and inked with Citrus alcohol ink).

We see next a technique that's not technique so much as just stamping on a vintage letter background. Then I met this week's Grungy Monday challenge with the tea dye Distress Stickles on the grunge Regal Crest (also inked with tea dye).

You can see how that worked out in the second, closeup, photo. And isn't it completely freakin' awesome? If you think I'm nuts and it's not awesome ... you're correct that I'm nuts, but it is awesome! Erm ... was that phrase confusing? Being nuts isn't awesome: The art. The art is awesome.

Technically Linda and Tim's art is awesome since virtually everything here today is pretty much due to teachings I've received via Linda and Tim. Still. I take the credit because otherwise ... what the hell am I doing here?

OK, okay, really swinging back to the awesomeness you see: In the main photo of the entire card I created ... click on the photo to enlarge and note that the crest looks a lot like the outside border ... a lot like the outside border that is actual rusting cast iron.

Don't they really look so very similar? What the hell other reasonably-priced, easy-to-use, easy-to-clean products do you know of that can create a faux rusty cast iron? NONE!

I told you it's awesome!

And I'm telling you that you have got to, absolutely must participate in  the Studio L3 Grungy Monday post this week ... because it's also awesome!

And you want to be awesome. Don't you?

Guest designer project for The Altered Alice Chapter 6 Week 2: Painting the Roses Red

'A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden: the roses growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners at it, busily painting them red. Alice thought this a very curious thing, and she went nearer to watch them, and just as she came up to them she heard one of them say, `Look out now, Five! Don't go splashing paint over me like that!' -- Chapter 8, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 

The cards were painting the white roses red to avoid angering the Queen of Hearts, so your August The Altered Alice challenge is to use PAINT on your creation!

Of course you can paint it RED like the design team will be doing, but you can also use other colors. You need to tell us what item was painted, what technique you used, and give us a mention and a link of course!

We are sponsored this month by Creative Inspirations [Store | Blog], makers of wonderful shimmering paint which comes in almost 60 colors, including clear iridescent Fairy Dust.

http://www.creativeinspirationspaint.com/

They also carry hot fix Jeweled Inspirations and Metallic Inspirations; I am particularly intrigued by the latter as they look like brilliant nail heads. The Altered Alice design team will be using Garnet paint, a bright sparkling red, and I hope the Creative Inspirations design team might decide to play along! The winner of this month's challenge will receive five colors of their choice.

Enter by 11:59 p.m. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC -4:00) on Friday, August 26. The winner and honorable mentions will be announced on August 28, the last Sunday of the month.

My inspiration piece is a vase of metal roses with petals cut from yet more of the Guinness can flats I've mentioned here so often.

 

We don't drink cases of this stuff every day, by the way. We only enjoy celebrating St. Patrick's Day a lot. For the entire month of March. Sometimes we start early, say February.

Anyhow, the flowers are layers from the Holtz Alterations tattered florals die: I ran the die through six times to end up with really "thick" flowers with extra layers. Next the layers were bent and curled and punched through the center then spray painted with white high-gloss enamel paint.

The leaves, cut from the Holtz Alterations tattered leaves die, also were curled and bent before being painted with high-gloss enamel in green: Veins were added beforehand as well, by "drawing" them on with a piercing tool.

After the enamel dried the flowers were combined with craft wire attached to button centers. The wire is threaded into copper tubing from a toilet repair kit with a drop of glue at the top to steady the bud.

Wire also is wrapped around the leaf ends where they meet the copper tubing "stems."

Finally, and the best part, we have one rose painted with Creative Inspirations Garnet glimmer, and a few droplets left behind by that crazy Five card who can't seem to control his brush.

This glimmer paint is truly amazing in it's reflective nature that has a lavender-pink shimmer! Another fun aspect of this product is the viscosity: You won't have to worry about it dripping and dribbling and going everywhere you do not want it to go.

My creative "drips" were actually a tricky achievement; isn't that wonderful? I love paint that doesn't easily splatter and trickle here and there!

Though I did find it ironic that the one freakin' time I actually wanted paint to drip ... I had to work to fake the effect.

OK folks, it's still early in the month so no excuses for you not getting an Altered Alice piece finished and posted by August 26!

eclectic Paperie challenge and E-Team blog hop

Egg cartons, Tim Holtz distress inks and stains and die cuts: That's the challenge for the eclectic Paperie E-Team blog hop.

My piece has an egg carton base and egg carton bird, which I think are kind of cool, but if you want to see some unbelievably awesome egg carton art make sure you hop along with the E-Team!

The bird is colored with Distress Ink in tea stain and fired brick, and the red is covered in fired brick Distress Stickles. The cage is alcohol-ink coated aluminum with glass beads danging below and is hanging from craft wire that is tucked into the carton base.

The base is colored with dribbles of Distress Ink reinker, which thanks to my incredible imagination, reminds me of a lovely antique cast iron cage stand that has chipped white enamel paint flaking away.

And, ahm, I guess I don't have anything else to say. Can you imagine? Me either. I must be catching a bug ...

Kreepy Kids: Haunted Design House

I've been having a great time playing with three Burton-weenies stamps I won awhile back from Simply Betty Stamps, and this week one of them is even coming in handy for a new challenge!

Burton-weenie Pipper is the perfect player for this week's Haunted Design House Macabre Monday challenge which asks us to take a stab at Kreepy Kids!

Pipper is cute, but also has the appearance of being a bit aggressive and dangerous. So, I coupled her with some designer paper and a sentiment from Crafty Chaos Designs.

Now our Pipper is making herself clear: The demons have won.

Though that's not exactly a surprise. Don't all youngsters serve the dark side?

You know they do, and I know you can use that knowledge to great a fantastic entry for the Macabre Monday challenge!

12 Tags Christmas 2010 Day 10: Grungy Monday

Only yesterday I was telling you how cool the stuff is at StudioL3 Grungy Monday, and here I am to prove it again!

First, though, I'd like to thank Tim Holtz for sharing techniques that are designed, that almost require, we artists reuse and recycle. Everyone should do what they can to keep our planet as healthy as possible and in my opinion artists' responsibility in this area is even greater.

OK, so this week the project is based on Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas 2010 project for Day 10. It's a supremely fun concept for which you'll need some grunge board and a bit of leftover plastic packaging (among other neat stuff, of course).

You'll also need to drop by Linda's StudioL3 to see what she and her two designer of the week have come up with to emulate Dear Tim.

My tag uses some textured grunge board that I cut and others that came in a package of pre-cut pieces. It also includes silver acrylic paint dabber with broken china distress ink and actual honest to Jebus vintage watch parts.

The "ribbon" place on my tag is instead occupied by two game spinners attached to a swivel clasp, and the four corners of this tag are connected and spaced with four nuts under four long fasteners.

Why the mix of old watch bits and hardware store nuts and the numbers "3" and "7" you ask? Because this tag is for My Guy!

It's his 37th birthday on Monday! I know. He's old. But not as old as me. Which means I got for myself a younger man!

So, Happy Birthday to My Guy, forever my younger man. And thanks for understanding my craft and art addiction ... and even more thanks for not being too snarky in your teasing ... "Oh! Tim Holtz! It's made by Tim Holtz ... I have to have that."

KennyK's Crafty Girlz meets The Burtonesque Dolls

Last week I missed the KennyK Crafty Girlz challenge because I failed to correctly note the deadline requirement, but that's OK because the situation drove my determination to not miss this weeks' deadline.

Of course the real luck in this case is that I'd already planned a card for The Burtonesque Dolls, using a KennyK image, that I knew wouldn't get done until today.

So, tada, two challenges in one!

Our friends at KennyK are asking us to have some Fun in the Sun and at The Burtonesque Dolls the goal is to see the Lighter Side of Burton.

While it might not be Burton's headliner move, his hand certainly can be seen in Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and it's unquestionably a fun, summery sort of movie.

Enter KennyK's Bike Kid! He looks like a hipper version of Pee-wee from the movie's DVD cover!

I added another DVD cover-ish element with the Holtz embossed and inked background layered in with colored, scallop-edged stock. The text is printed and trimmed and set onto the embossed background that is popped.

Thanks for dropping by, and be sure to see what design team members are doing at KennyK's Crafty Girlz and at The Burtonesque Dolls: My stuff is OK ... theirs is amazing!

12 Tags Christmas 2009 Day 8: Grungy Monday

Grungy Monday is always the coolest stuff. Lots and lots of neat things. So many in fact that frequently I'm not sure about the challenge.

Drop in at StudioL3 to see what everyone has created this week: They know what's happening and it's awesome. I'm the only one who is confused.

Because this week focuses on Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas 2009 Day 8 there are three, erm four, techniques involved, but we're supposed to do it our way. So, well, I feel slogging though a muddy ditch stuck. How unique is something going to be if I have to do four things the same way as the first thing?

I'm not complaining: Linda is the nicest artist ever and Tim's ideas are fantastic. I'm only saying that I get bogged down trying to figure out what exactly is the challenge.

And all of that is stupendously stupid since I rarely attempt to emulate what's already been done, let alone actually understand how to follow freakin' rules or recipes in the first place.

Anyhow, in what is now more than a couple hundred words already, the point we were trying to get 'round to is that I first thought the technique was the vellum thing, here it's the poison label.

Then I figured it's the splotching, beat up background, see my grunged up drippy drop tag?

Oh! No! It's the black embossed stamp on grunge! That's the challenge: See my death guy there? Got that challenge nailed.

Oop. Hold on. Now Tim's teaching us how to attach a little something with a hitch fastener. Erm, grmph ... got it ... wee corked vial filled with glitter and flock ... ahm, I mean filled with poison.

So, whatever the challenge was I managed to create it. All in one weird, boring, but still sort of enjoyable tag.

Thanks for journeying with me through the strange thought processes that fill my addled brain and frequently cause horrible hiccups in the creation of art.

Don't forget to visit Linda at StudioL3, check out Tim's techniques that were used for this tag and then click around Tim's blog that has buckets of amazing ideas!

Girls, girls, girls: The Octopode Factory Friday Challenge

Today we have visiting a Whimsical Little Angel and Little Devil from the Octopode Factory!

They're here just in time, in fact, for The Octopode Factory Friday challenge of "Girls, girls, girls."

Aren't these two adorable? Aren't they wonderful with their hearts afire and zooming stars? Aren't they idyllic on a background land created with Tim Holtz's Compendium technique page 41?

Aren't they everything you'd expect from a little sugar and spice?

Of course they are ... if you are someone who actually knows a woman, a girl, a female. Because anyone who has knowledge of any woman, girl, female ... has the knowledge of sugar and spice.

We of the fairer sex, we of the good and the bad, the angelic and devilish. We possess both, at all times.

And frequently manage to use each, at the same time, no matter the goal.

Which is, of course, what makes us so much smarter, more creative and generally better than men.

Unless you're one of my male followers, in which case you should know that you're perfectly wonderful and amazing as well.

Just not quite as amazing as we women, girls, females.

No matter your gender you should trot along to The Octopode Factory Friday challenge and join in, I know you'll be welcome!

Vincent Price and the 100's: Haunted Design House

Haunted Design House is honoring their 100th Macabre Monday by celebrating Vincent Price's 100th birthday which would have been earlier this year!

Surely Price, a man who believed that creating, studying and enjoying art was one of the most important goals of life, would have been very pleased to be honored by the Haunted Design House crew.

He definitely would have been thrilled to see the giveaway the HDHers also are offering to one lucky winner who can gain entry by commenting on all of the design team blogs, by participating in the challenge, and by posting a little something about their 100th challenge celebration (I hope this counts for my own little something).

And, before I share the details about my own piece I have to point out that through no planning or on my part: This is my 100th post of 2011!

I realized that little tidbit when I signed on to write this post ... I hope it's a clue to good luck instead of a nasty omen. Though that would be even stranger since this is the Macabre Monday challenge.

OK, on to the art (I heard that sigh of relief).

My piece features handwritten text "Merchant of Menace" on a Holtz Bigz die banner and the word "revenge" cut with my Cricut. I accented the corners with three brads from unknown origin and one idea-ology photo corner.

The image, "Mercius," is from Simply Betty Stamps and is colored with Sharpies, colored pencils and random markers found in the nearest craft drawer. Doesn't Mercius remind you of Vincent? I bet they've got roughly the same waist size.

Finally, we have the background: Isn't it stupendous? I knew you'd love it. I received it as part of a blog prize in June from the Haunted Design House and sponsor Susan's Crafty Chaos (go check out her stuff, you'll love what she's created for paper and digital artists).

I know, after all of that it seems unfair for me to even hope I'd win yet another prize, doesn't it?

Maybe I'm selfish. Or maybe I'm goading you into doing your part to cut down my chances by getting over to the Haunted Design House and participating yourself!