12 Days of Creepmas..Christmas yet to come

Day 12 of the 12 Days of Creepmas, according to the Smeared and Smudged blog, and Santa (or the Hogfather, if you prefer) is limbering up.  If you're following the hop in order, (see here for more about how to play!) you've arrived here from Airless Chambers.  If you're lost, or have come in halfway, you can go back to the start, or work your way through in any order - the blog roll is over there on the right.

I have to be honest with you.  Once I'd finished playing about with the image on today's project, it did give me a case of the heebie-jeebies.  I've combined the skull from Smeared Ink's Anatomy 101 with an image of Santa and the result is very spooky!

You may know my love for printing on tissue paper by now, and of course, that's what I've done here.  Before I applied the tissue to the bauble with Mod Podge, I gave it a light coat of Judikins Micro Glaze, to help stop the ink from bleeding, but otherwise it's as it came out of the printer.

Quite a big bonus bit today.  It's an animated version of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol.  I have vivid memories of our teacher reading this to us in class when I was nine years old.  I'm not a big fan of Dickens , but this story I can read again and again.  Today's project made me think of the last of the ghosts that Scrooge meets - see what you think.

Thank you for visiting;  I hope you've enjoyed the hop, and that you have a wonderful festive season. I'm going to have a rest for a bit, and I hope to see you in 2015.
One last visit, now, to Sarah's blog.
Lots of crafty hugs,

Keren

12 days of Creepmas - Solstice

Day 11 of the 12 Days of Creepmas, according to the Smeared and Smudged blog.  If you're following the hop in order, (see here for more about how to play!) you've arrived here from Airless Chambers.  If you're lost, or have come in halfway, you can go back to the start, or work your way through in any order - the blog roll is over there on the right.

Today is Yule- the Winter Solstice.   I am pagan, and Yule is our midwinter celebration- (we keep Christmas as a secular festival in our house!).  After the solstice, the days begin getting longer and the Holly King, who rules the year from Midsummer to Midwinter, gives way to the Oak King, who is in charge until the summer solstice.  Today's Springer card honours the Oak King.  At this time of year, the oak leaves have fallen - but mistletoe grows on oak trees so we'll use that instead.

I've used a Green Man  digi from Delicious Doodles (the first one of Teri's digits that I bought!) coloured with alcohol markers and surrounded with mistletoe cut with my Cameo.  I've used self adhesive pearls to stand in for the berries.

If you need to know how to make a springer card, I've put some instructions here.

Today's bonus bit is my favourite seasonal song.  I hope you enjoy Solstice Bells.

I hope that you're enjoying the blog hop so far.  Off you go, now, to Sarah's blog. Thank you for visiting, and I'll see you on Dec 23 for the last day!

12 days of Creepmas- Oh the weather outside is - Frightful!

Day 10 of the 12 Days of Creepmas, according to the Smeared and Smudged blog, and Santa (or the Hogfather, if you prefer) is limbering up.  If you're following the hop in order, (see here for more about how to play!) you've arrived here from Airless Chambers.  If you're lost, or have come in halfway, you can go back to the start, or work your way through in any order - the blog roll is over there on the right.

Here's my snow globe.  I love these projects, they are quick and easy to do, and when you get tired of an image it's so easy to change!  I stamped the skull (it's from De Stempelwinkel) in Navy archival.  It was supposed to be black, but I picked up the wrong ink pad.  I masked it off, and then stamped the snowflakes in Versamark and embossed with Frosted Crystal embossing powder.  I blended Salty Ocean, Stormy Sky and Tattered Rose over the top.

If you want to see how I made the stand, it's back here.

Today's bonus bit is THE Christmas album song.  I saw Slade play live twice - once in 1971, when they were just getting well-known, and again a couple of years ago.  They were brilliant both times, and I'm making no apologies for sharing this.   Someone once asked Noddy Holder (lead singer of Slade) if he got tired of hearing "Merry Christmas Everybody" being played every year.  He replied, "Are you kidding?  That song's my pension!"

Off you go, now, to Sarah's blog. Thank you for visiting, and I'll see you on Dec 21, for Yule!

12 Days of Creepmas - Holly Jolly Christmas

Day 9 of the 12 Days of Creepmas, according to the Smeared and Smudged blog.  If you're following the hop in order, (see here for more about how to play!) you've arrived here from Airless Chambers.  If you're lost, or have come in halfway, you can go back to the start, or work your way through in any order - the blog roll is over there on the right.

A nice shiny bauble today, adorned with a skull digi from Smeared  Ink's Anatomy 101.  I've added a jolly hat (I used Photoshop) printed it onto tissue (sorry, it just wasn't possible to get through a blog hop without getting tissue paper in there somewhere) and applied it to the bauble with Mod Podge.  I gave it a coat of Judikins Micro Glaze before I podged it to stop the ink from bleeding.

Today's bonus bit is from a 1960's animated feature,  "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".  It used to be shown on TV at Christmas quite regularly when I was growing up.  When one of my nieces was quite small she burst into floods of tears while watching it because the other reindeer wouldn't play with Rudolph.  It took us some time to console her.

Anyway, this is "Holly Jolly Christmas", as sung by Burl Ives.  Hope you enjoy it.

Off you go, now, to Sarah's blog. Thank you for visiting, and I'll see you on Dec 19.

12 days of Creepmas - Boxing clever

We're up to day 8 of the 12 Days of Creepmas, according to the Smeared and Smudged blog.  If you're following the hop in order, (see here for more about how to play!) you've arrived here from Airless Chambers.  If you're lost, or have come in halfway, you can go back to the start, or work your way through in any order - the blog roll is over there on the right.

Today's project begins with a little wallet, decorated with a Tonic die-cut

Inside we have this pop-up cube-

You can get a better idea of the way it works in this Vine -


It features my favourite little season skull digi from Delicious Darkness (so happy Teri's digis will still be available from Smeared Ink after the end of the year!)    I made four identical toppers, one for each face of the cube (the top and bottom faces are split)

The pattern can be found on my Templates and Cutting files page. I made this example quite small, but if you wanted a bigger cube you could resize the pattern.  To make the box pop, you need to attach an elastic band between the small dots - sewing in place is recommended, but I've also been known to pull the elastic through to the outside and push a little bit of cocktail stick through the loop, then glue it down.  If you do that , you will need to raise the toppers up on some foam tape.

Today's bonus bit is a few years old now, so some of the topical references ..well, aren't... but it still makes me smile.

I hope that you're enjoying the blog hop so far.  Off you go, now, to Sarah's blog. Thank you for visiting, and I'll see you on Dec 17!

12 days of Creepmas - Ho Ho Poe

Day 7 of the 12 Days of Creepmas, and  the Smeared and Smudged blog hop.  If you're following the hop in order, (see here for more about how to play!) you've arrived here from Airless Chambers.  If you're lost, or have come in halfway, you can go back to the start, or work your way through in any order - the blog roll is over there on the right.

'Tis the time of year when we light candles, whether they are real or battery-powered, so for today's contribution I've chosen a pillar candle which I have adorned with the face of Edgar Allen Poe, master of the Tale of Mystery and Imagination.  It's a digi from Rick St Denis (and if you just came for Airless Chambers you're familiar with RSD!)  printed onto tissue paper and applied with a heat gun.

To add to the -er- festive mood, I've die-cut some poinsettias out of black card and dabbed on some gold paint.

This year is the centenary of the birth of Dylan Thomas.  Swansea, where I live, was his birthplace The park in the poem "The Hunchback in the Park" is just up the hill from us.  His short story " A child's Christmas in Wales" is a classic.  So here it is, as today's bonus bit.  (It's quite a long one so you might want to come back to it!)

So, on you go to Sarah's blog, and I'll see you for Day 8 on the 15th!

Keren

12 Days of Creepmas - Book him, Danno!

Well, here we are on day 6 of the 12 Days of Creepmas, according to the Smeared and Smudged blog - halfway there.  If you're following the Smeared and Smudged Blog Hop in order, (see here for more about how to play!) you've arrived here from Airless Chambers.  If you're lost, or have come in halfway, you can go work your way through in any order - the blog roll is over there on the right.

Today's project is a little box.  It features this GREAT stamp  - Gaudete - from Visible Image

It's a sizeable stamp - one of their background stamps - and much too big for the little fake book (which is made out of chipboard, a kitchen towel roll, string and faux leather -see the Snapguide for how it was constructed) - so I stamped it onto shrink plastic.  The frame is a Tonic die (one of the Keepsakes range).  I covered the sides of the book-box with modelling paste and ran an old bank card through it to make the "pages"

Inside it's lined with "William Morris" style paper.  You could put a Creepmas gift inside...something suitable..

Today's bonus bit is "Gaudete" from Steeleye Span - partly because the words are on the stamp, and partly because  the song was in the charts my first year in college - happy memories!  (The rather scratchy quality is deliberate!)

Onward, now, to Sarah's blog.  See you on Dec 13 for the next offering!

12 Days of Creepmas - Ho Ho Ho

Day 5 of the 12 Days of Creepmas, according to the Smeared and Smudged blog.  If you're following the hop in order, (see here for more about how to play!) you've arrived here from Airless Chambers.  If you're lost, or have come in halfway, you can go back to the start, or work your way through in any order - the blog roll is over there on the right.

If you've been playing along with the blog hop from the beginning, you may remember that on Day 2 I was inspired by Hogfather, a book by Terry Pratchett (which has also been made into a TV movie).  Today, we have the Hogfather himself (well, actually, it's the Death of the Discworld who is filling in for the Hogfather.

The plastic skull was antiqued for Halloween and never made the cut - but we don't throw good elements away, do we?  The beard and fur on his hat are Martha Stewart paper clay - there's an Amaco mould of faces (dolls, cherubs etc) and one of them is a Santa face.  While the clay was still soft I cut away the hat and beard (sorry Santa - hope I'm not on the naughty list as a result!)  and shaped them over the skull while they set, then glued them in place and added some red crepe paper to finish the hat.  The Death of the Discworld books has blue glowing eye sockets, so I stuck a couple of blue rhinestones in place.

Last month's Craft Stamper magazine cover mount stamp (by Visible Image) went to make the HO.  HO.  HO along the top of the bauble.  I stamped it onto cellophane (packaging material!)  and stuck it to the bauble with double-sided adhesive film scraps, left over from another project.  (I am not so much frugal as downright tight sometimes!)

I stuck the skull into the bauble with epoxy putty (the stuff they sell for mending pipes - I wanted a fast set, and Milliput takes a while to go off) which wasn't the most attractive look.  Once it was set I painted it white and stuck on some fake snow, as sold for decoration at Christmas.

It's now joined the Raven bauble and the Scary Fairy on my Christmas tree.

Today's bonus bit is from Hogfather.  Well, it had to be, didn't it?

I hope that you're enjoying the blog hop so far.  Off you go, now, to Sarah's blog. Thank you for visiting, and I'll see you on Dec 9!

Keren

12 Days of Creepmas - The Scary on the Christmas Tree

It's day 4 of the 12 Days of Creepmas, according to the Smeared and Smudged blog.  If you're following the hop in order, (see here for more about how to play!) you've arrived here from Airless Chambers.  If you're lost, or have come in halfway, you can go back to the start, or work your way through in any order - the blog roll is over there on the right.

Today I present - the Scary on the Christmas tree!

Well, it's more of a dark angel really...

I gave this Halloween decoration a coat of acrylic paint to use in a 31 days of Halloween project that never got made -  and then my husband said " You should make a Scary for the Christmas Tree..."

The wings are a stamp from Sheena Douglass - they're a good size and worked perfectly with the skelly.  The robe is just a bit of Angel hair (appropriately!) and the gold star is a bit left over from another project.

Today's bonus bit is a song from The Springfields - Bambino.  I loved this as a child - in fact, I was a big fan of the Springfields and was quite upset when they split up.  I hope you enjoy it too!

Thank you for visiting.  If you're working your way around the blog hop, please move on to Sarah's blog.  See you on Dec 9 for the next offering!

Bye for now!

Keren

12 days of Creepmas - Bearing gifts

Day 3 of the 12 Days of Creepmas, according to the Smeared and Smudged blog.  If you're following the hop in order, (see here for more about how to play!) you've arrived here from Airless Chambers.  If you're lost, or have come in halfway, you can go back to the start, or work your way through in any order - the blog roll is over there on the right.

 If you followed this blog during the 31 Days of Halloween, you might remember me mentioning a visit to the Harry Potter studios.  There's an awesome shop where you can buy almost everything Hogwarts (husband came away with a set of Slytherin robes and a wand...don't ask...) and I bought a chocolate frog, mainly because it came in a smashing five-sided box.  (The frog was a substantial piece of very nice chocolate.  I had to eat it...husband isn't keen on chocolate.)

Anyway, I deconstructed the box and made my own template - if you look on my Templates page you can find a PDF or SVG version.

The skull digi came from Delicious Darkness - I'm so happy that we'll still be able to get Teri's art next year.  For a while there it looked as if changes to the tax laws were going to force her to quit.  Luckily for us, she's joined the team of artists at Smeared Ink (whew!)  The colour in the photo has come out a bit wonky - in real life the yellow highlight on the skull are much more subtle.   The star on top of the box is die-cut from soft gold card, and the border around the base of the box is a bit of ribbon from the stash, which I'd totally forgotten about and found when I was looking for something else (which I still haven't found.  You win some and you lose some.)

As promised, every day I'm sharing something that I associate with Christmas or the festive season.  Today's bonus bit always makes me laugh.  Hope you enjoy as much as I do!

Onward, now, to Sarah's blog.  See you on Dec 7 for the next offering!

Bye for now!

Keren

12 Days of Creepmas - What's so special about Robins anyway?

It's the second day of Creepmas according to the  Smeared and Smudged blog hop. If you're following the hop in order, (see here for more about how to play!) you've arrived here from Airless Chambers.  If you're lost, or have come in halfway, you can go back to the start, or work your way through in any order - the blog roll is over there on the right.

Today's offering features a Smeared Ink digi.  The set is no longer available as a digi, which is sad, because it's just SOOO easy to flip an image so that the raven is double-sided.  He's stuck onto some acetate (cut from packaging - regular visitors to this blog may be aware of my penchant for making use of packaging material) and then glued inside a clear bauble with a bit of fake snow.  Yes, he will be going on the tree when it goes up!

The inspiration for this deccie came from a book by Terry Pratchett, Hogfather.  It was also made for TV a few years ago.  In the book, a raven is employed by the Death of Rats to act as interpreter - the Death of Rats communicates by saying SQUEAK, which the raven, being a naturally occult bird, can understand.  It is a bit resentful that robins get to appear on greetings cards and ravens - don't.  The raven was cut from the programme, but Rat Death made an appearance, so here he is in today's bonus bit.

Hope you enjoyed - now, if you're working your way around the hop, it's on to Sarah's blog.  See you on December 5th!

Bye for now!

12 days of Creepmas - Marley was dead

Hello everyone, and can you believe it?  It's December already, and here we go with the 12 days of Creepmas.

If you're following the Smeared and Smudged Blog Hop in order, (see here for more about how to play!) you've arrived here from Airless Chambers.  If you're lost, or have come in halfway, you can go work your way through in any order - the blog roll is over there on the right.

Today's project was inspired by the part in A Christmas Carol where Scrooge arrives at his front door to find the doorknocker has taken on the shape of his deceased partner, Jacob Marley.  I die- cut the door out of black woodgrain paper and rubbed a bit of pan pastel over the top to make the grain visible (black on black is not necessarily a good idea).  The wreath is made up from the Wondrous Wreath stamp set from Stampin' Up!   (I am  so pleased that it's now possible to shop online!) - and cut with the matching dies.  ( The magnetic platform for my Big Shot was worth every penny!) .  The skull is moulded out of Martha Stewart paper clay and the door knocker is a plastic curtain ring.  (I might as well say here and now I made a few copies of the skull while I was at it so you may be seeing it again as the month wears on!)

Because it's Christmas, as well as the usual crafty bloggingness, I'm including a "bonus bit" - something that I've enjoyed and want to share.  Today's bonus bit is from A Muppet Christmas Carol - it's Marley and Marley!

I hope you've been entertained!  If you're following the blog hop, please proceed in an orderly fashion to  Sarah's blog, and I'll see you here on December 3.

Bye for now,

Keren

I can see clearly now

Hello big friends, and thank you for stopping by.

After the fun and frolic of the 31 days of Halloween Blog Hop - wasn't it GREAT? - I have emerged from my darkened room just in time to take part in the November Smeared and Smudged blog hop.
Here's the blog roll -
Black Dragon
Evil Edna
Jessica
Karen
LeslieRahye
Nanette
Kim
Sarah N
Keren
Susan

If you're following  the hop in order, you've arrived here from Sarah's blog.

The theme is TRANSPARENT, and for my offering I've used a snow globe.

These things are ace.  They are designed with a void in the middle which you can fill with whatever image you choose (and there's enough space to allow for a quite lumpy image).  The best bit is that you can change the image as often as you like - so you may be seeing the globe quite often in the future!

Mine's more of a Poe globe, actually...

This was such a quick project, using the watch stamp from Creative Expressions (with a bit of masking and DI on the background) and the Poe digi by Rick St Denis.  I actually printed out Poe for another project, but he wasn't the right size when I came to use him....then I lost the bit of paper...

Anyway, it was so quick it seemed a pity not to do another insert for the other side of the globe...and it looked so GOOD all magnified by the globe...so I did another one.

So once I'd finished, I got to thinking that it was all too easy for a blog hop project, (I like to give value for money!)  so I decided to make a little stand for the globe to sit on.  

I started with a carton that came with cans of lager.  (Of course, someone had to drink the lager.  The sacrifices I make for my art...)  It's a good weight, cuts well, and the price is right.  I found that one of my Spellbinders circles was just the right size for the globe to sit on so I cut three circles and glued them together.    

While I had the Big Shot out, I also cut a length of card with the Iron Works On the Edge die and another strip of card.  See the jar lid in the picture?  The strip of card was the same depth as that. the lid is there to provide support as the globe is relatively heavy and I don't want the card to collapse under the weight.

While the glue was drying, I cut some construction strips out of lightweight card (cut a 1 inch wide strip of card, score in half, and apply strong double-sided tape to the sides.  I use Template Tape from BCE.  I notched one side of the construction strip ready for the next stage - 

I glued the construction strip to the underside of the card circles.  I used glue as well as tape- the tape gave a quick grab, the glue makes sure that the project won't come unstuck.  I clamped it (mini clamps came from the pound shop!)  while it was drying.

Then I glued the jar lid to the underside with glue gel.  After that, it was just a matter of sticking the edging onto the platform. painting it and giving it a coat of Decoart Metallic Lustre wax in black.

So, if you're working your way through the blog hop, you're nearly done. On to Susan's blog!

31 Days of Halloween - Day 31

And we've done it!  The last day of the Smeared and Smudged Blog hop, and Halloween - Samhain for me.  If you've been a Wicked Blogger or a Horrifying Hopper and have made it all the way through,  I would say you definitely deserve your badge of honour!

If you’re following the blog hop in order, you’ve arrived here from Teresa’s blog.    If you’ve arrived from elsewhere and you’d like to work your way through all the participating blogs, the blog roll is in the sidebar – just start at the beginning or wherever suits you best.

For the first time I've posted a project a day every day for a month and now I'm going to have a nice lie  down for a bit.  Before I do, here's my contribution for the hop.


I've always been fascinated by the word casket (I'm from the U.K. - it doesn't have quite the same meaning as it does in the U.S.A! )  It was the bit in Snow White where the wicked queen tells the huntsman to kill Snow White and bring back her heart in a casket...Anyway, this is definitely a casket.  As you can see,  I had lots of fun with the crackle and distressing because I wanted it to look like it had been dug up.

The gold wreath on the top of the box (sorry, casket) is a freebie from Craft Stamper magazine a couple of issues ago.  It's on tissue paper that I've adhered to the lid with my favourite clear floor polish.  One day someone is going to catch on to the fact that Pledge Multi-Surface wax(formerly known as Klear) is a very useful crafting product and start selling it in teeny tiny bottles and charge us lots of pennies for it...so grab it now, I say!  I brushed it all over the box and the skull cameo (the skull is moulded from white polymer clay and antiqued with paint, then stuck onto a bit of black polymer clay baked separately).

Hope you enjoyed your visits throughout the hop.  Don't forget that Scavenger Items are hidden randomly on the Wicked Blogs, and are not guaranteed to be available every day. You will have to visit blogs to find them - today's your last chance!   If you find one, you will email and let us know exactly where it was and your name will go into that scavenger item's drawing. Each person who finds the "hidden" picture will get one entry. The drawing for each scavenger prize will be the day after it was posted and winners will be chosen by random number based on who emailed. Thank you for visiting. and for all your lovely comments;  special thanks to those of you who  follow my blog ( I cherish each and every one of you, I really do.) 

Now, if you’re working your way through the roll, it’s on to Renee for the last time. Bye now -and hope to see you soon!

31 Days of Halloween - Day 30

Hello folks, and it’s day 30  of the Smeared and Smudged 31 days of Halloween Blog Hop.  All you have to do to take part is to hop through each of the Wicked Blogs that are participating and leave a comment on each project.  All Horrifying Hoppers will receive a Survival Button at the end of the month to proudly post on their blog.


If you’re following the blog hop in order, you’ve arrived here from Teresa’s blog.    If you’ve arrived from elsewhere and you’d like to work your way through all the participating blogs, the blog roll is in the sidebar – just start at the beginning or wherever suits you best.

Here's today's offering -

These little pop-up box cards are very popular at the moment.   I've covered the sides of the box with paper from Graphic 45's Steampunk Spells (my favourite collection - I bought three sets, one to use, one to cherish, and one just in case) The black cat is a Movers & Shapers die covered with black Distress glitter, the moon was painted yellow and covered with clear Distress glitter (I don't have any yellow) and the ghosts are cut out of white parchment.

Everything is stuck onto acetate (packaging material) using double-sided adhesive sheet.  I'd've used my Xyron if I'd remembered where I left it.  The spooky trees that you can just see in the background are the Clarity split tree (I get a lot of use out of that stamp) and the Happy Halloween is a very old All Night Media sentiment (coloured orange with alcohol markers as I didn't have any orange embossing powder).

Hope you are enjoying the hop.  Don't forget that Scavenger Items will be hidden randomly on the Wicked Blogs, and are not guaranteed to be available every day. You will have to visit blogs to find them. If you find one, you will email and let us know exactly where it was and your name will go into that scavenger item's drawing. Each person who finds the "hidden" picture will get one entry. The drawing for each scavenger prize will be the day after it was posted and winners will be chosen by random number based on who emailed. Thank you for visiting.  Now, if you’re working your way through the roll, it’s on to Renee.  Bye now!

31 Days of Halloween - Day 29

Hello folks, and it’s day 29 of the Smeared and Smudged 31 days of Halloween Blog Hop.  All you have to do to take part is to hop through each of the Wicked Blogs that are participating and leave a comment on each project.  All Horrifying Hoppers will receive a Survival Button at the end of the month to proudly post on their blog.

If you’re following the blog hop in order, you’ve arrived here from Teresa’s blog.    If you’ve arrived from elsewhere and you’d like to work your way through all the participating blogs, the blog roll is in the sidebar – just start at the beginning or wherever suits you best.

For once - an ordinary, plain card that doesn't do anything.  (It had to happen sooner or later!)  This one is assembled from pits and pieces that were made for other projects but weren't used.  The Docrafts Daisy & Dandelion cat is ready for Trick or Treating disguised as a skeleton this time.  The bats and pumpkins are part of the same set.

You've probably spotted that the background paper is more of the G45 Eerie Tale collection.   If you look very carefully you can see that the main part is two smaller bits joined together.  (I call it being thrifty!)  Way back at the beginning of the blog hop I made a card with the Rickety House die cut where I'd filled in the windows with the shapes from a second one?  This is the rest of it, painted black, and with a bit of leftover orange card behind it.  Actually, a couple of bits - you can't see the joins because I have hidden them at the back...cunning, eh?

Hope you are enjoying the hop.  Don't forget that Scavenger Items will be hidden randomly on the Wicked Blogs, and are not guaranteed to be available every day. You will have to visit blogs to find them. If you find one, you will email and let us know exactly where it was and your name will go into that scavenger item's drawing. Each person who finds the "hidden" picture will get one entry. The drawing for each scavenger prize will be the day after it was posted and winners will be chosen by random number based on who emailed. Thank you for visiting.  Now, if you’re working your way through the roll, it’s on to Renee.  Bye now!

31 Days of Halloween - Day 28

Hello folks, and it’s day 28 of the Smeared and Smudged 31 days of Halloween Blog Hop.  All you have to do to take part is to hop through each of the Wicked Blogs that are participating and leave a comment on each project.  All Horrifying Hoppers will receive a Survival Button at the end of the month to proudly post on their blog.

If you’re following the blog hop in order, you’ve arrived here from Teresa’s blog.    If you’ve arrived from elsewhere and you’d like to work your way through all the participating blogs, the blog roll is in the sidebar – just start at the beginning or wherever suits you best.

Not long left now.  You might have spotted this lurking in the corner of yesterday's post.

I've been resisting getting the Alterations Luminary die for ages.  You know when you see all the cool stuff that they show at CHA and you draw up your wish list?  Well, this was at the top of my wish list.  By the time it was on sale, though, I'd persuaded myself that I didn't NEED it..what would I use it for...and it's a big one so it's a lot of cash...I almost bought it a few times and talked myself out of it...and then I finally gave in when I found it on offer somewhere. 

You can just make out the stamping on this one (it is there, I promise).  It's my favourite De Stempelwinkel skull again, stamped onto tracing paper (yes, the thin stuff you used for, well, tracing) with clear embossing ink and embossed with clear detail embossing powder.  The luminary I covered with Viva Decor Rust paint.  I'm always looking for ways of making paper look like something else - I collect techniques, if truth be told! - and this stuff didn't look very promising in the pot.   I'm glad I overcame my prejudice, because it works really well, especially with a light touch of Pinflair glitter paste in rust and aqua colours (they came with the paint in a set I got from Create & Craft) here and there - I just rubbed it on with my fingers.

A battery taillight inside and it looks very impressive - well, I think so.

Hope you are enjoying the hop.  Don't forget that Scavenger Items will be hidden randomly on the Wicked Blogs, and are not guaranteed to be available every day. You will have to visit blogs to find them. If you find one, you will email and let us know exactly where it was and your name will go into that scavenger item's drawing. Each person who finds the "hidden" picture will get one entry. The drawing for each scavenger prize will be the day after it was posted and winners will be chosen by random number based on who emailed. Thank you for visiting.  Now, if you’re working your way through the roll, it’s on to Renee.  Bye now!

31 Days of Halloween - Day 27

Hello folks, and it’s day 27 of the Smeared and Smudged 31 days of Halloween Blog Hop.  All you have to do to take part is to hop through each of the Wicked Blogs that are participating and leave a comment on each project.  All Horrifying Hoppers will receive a Survival Button at the end of the month to proudly post on their blog.

If you’re following the blog hop in order, you’ve arrived here from Teresa’s blog.    If you’ve arrived from elsewhere and you’d like to work your way through all the participating blogs, the blog roll is in the sidebar – just start at the beginning or wherever suits you best.

Today's offering is a tag, using the fallen angel stamp from De Stempelwinkel .

This time I've surrounded her with flames from Sheena's  A Little Bit Magical - From the Ashes  set.  I stamped the flames in front first and masked them before I stamped the angel, masked her, and then stamped the rest of the flames.  Then I got on with  colouring the background of the tag with Distress inks.  It's really helpful that they now make Post-It notes that are sticky all over except for a little bit at the edge (or of opposite to the usual ones) - it's much easier to keep the mask in place!  Finally I got busy with the colouring pens.  (I accidentally used Archival ink to stamp the image (schoolgirl error) so couldn't use alcohol markers and had to resort to the water-based felt-tips)

Last of all I added the messages from a collage sheet I got from Etsy.

Being the organised sort of person I am (koff koff) I've been working on the projects for the hop since it was announced in August.  Just as well as I am still starry-eyed from the visit to the Harry Potter studios and now want to make all sorts of Potter-inspired stuff...

Here's a couple of pictures -

Anyway, back to normality...or what passes for it in my little world...

Hope you are enjoying the hop.  Don't forget that Scavenger Items will be hidden randomly on the Wicked Blogs, and are not guaranteed to be available every day. You will have to visit blogs to find them. If you find one, you will email and let us know exactly where it was and your name will go into that scavenger item's drawing. Each person who finds the "hidden" picture will get one entry. The drawing for each scavenger prize will be the day after it was posted and winners will be chosen by random number based on who emailed. Thank you for visiting.  Now, if you’re working your way through the roll, it’s on to Renee.  Bye now!

31 Days of Halloween - Day 26

Hello folks, and it’s day 26 of the Smeared and Smudged 31 days of Halloween Blog Hop.  All you have to do to take part is to hop through each of the Wicked Blogs that are participating and leave a comment on each project.  All Horrifying Hoppers will receive a Survival Button at the end of the month to proudly post on their blog.

If you’re following the blog hop in order, you’ve arrived here from Teresa’s blog.    If you’ve arrived from elsewhere and you’d like to work your way through all the participating blogs, the blog roll is in the sidebar – just start at the beginning or wherever suits you best.


If you're hoping for an update about the Harry Potter studios, I am recovering from yesterday's excursion and all I will say for now is that it is AMAZING and if you have a chance to go don't hesitate, just get there.  I want to watch all the films again!  

Can you believe that Halloween is on Friday - where does the time go to?   Earlier this year I was lucky enough to get to a workshop with the wonderful Hels Sheridan, who does wonderful stuff with Melt Pots and beeswax and tissues and stuff, and this canvas is based on what I learned.  (There's good stuff on YouTube by Suze Weinberg if you're interested in the technique.  I've used stamps from De Stempelwinkel again and the flowers and bat are moulded - the flowers are air-dry clay painted black and the bat is polymer clay.   Because the polymer clay is quite thin in places, I left the bat in the mould when I baked it- the silicon is quite happy in the oven. 

 I had a bit of black card that I'd die cut with an On The Edge die that looked as if it belonged on the canvas, so I added that as well.

I made the little spider dangler with a charm I got from Ebay. 

Hope you are enjoying the hop.  Don't forget that Scavenger Items will be hidden randomly on the Wicked Blogs, and are not guaranteed to be available every day. You will have to visit blogs to find them. If you find one, you will email and let us know exactly where it was and your name will go into that scavenger item's drawing. Each person who finds the "hidden" picture will get one entry. The drawing for each scavenger prize will be the day after it was posted and winners will be chosen by random number based on who emailed.  Thank you for visiting.  Now, if you’re working your way through the roll, it’s on to Renee.  Bye now!

31 Days of Halloween - Day 25

Hello folks, and it’s day 25 of the Smeared and Smudged 31 days of Halloween Blog Hop.  All you have to do to take part is to hop through each of the Wicked Blogs that are participating and leave a comment on each project.  All Horrifying Hoppers will receive a Survival Button at the end of the month to proudly post on their blog.

If you’re following the blog hop in order, you’ve arrived here from Teresa’s blog.    If you’ve arrived from elsewhere and you’d like to work your way through all the participating blogs, the blog roll is in the sidebar – just start at the beginning or wherever suits you best.

Today I've used one of the stamps from the Daisy & Dandelion range from Docrafts.  Today the little cat is dressed up as a vampire (he vants to suck your blood, bwa-hah-hah!)

It's an action card again.  Can you tell I've been having lots of fun with all the kinetics?

You can even make him stand on his head!

This is a very easy one to do - it's a variation of a penny slider card.  I punched a hole just a little bit bigger than a penny in the batty paper (G45's Eerie Tale again - left over from another project) and put a penny behind it, stuck a 3d foam circle to the middle of the penny and then stuck another penny to that, so that there's a penny on both sides of the paper.  Then I stuck the kitty onto the penny.
The bigger the hole you punch (or the smaller the foam pad) the greater the range of movement.  I wanted quite a limited range so I punched a small hole - about 3/4 of an inch.

For the mechanism to work properly, I used foam pads to stick it to the background card - Eerie Tale again.   Anyway, I'm off, because today's the day I'm going to visit the Harry Potter studios and I am Very Excited.  See you tomorrow!

Hope you are enjoying the hop.  Don't forget that Scavenger Items will be hidden randomly on the Wicked Blogs, and are not guaranteed to be available every day. You will have to visit blogs to find them. If you find one, you will email and let us know exactly where it was and your name will go into that scavenger item's drawing. Each person who finds the "hidden" picture will get one entry. The drawing for each scavenger prize will be the day after it was posted and winners will be chosen by random number based on who emailed. Thank you for visiting.  Now, if you’re working your way through the roll, it’s on to Renee.  Bye now!

31 Days of Halloween - Day 24

Hello folks, and it’s day 24 of the Smeared and Smudged 31 days of Halloween Blog Hop.  All you have to do to take part is to hop through each of the Wicked Blogs that are participating and leave a comment on each project.  All Horrifying Hoppers will receive a Survival Button at the end of the month to proudly post on their blog.

If you’re following the blog hop in order, you’ve arrived here from Teresa’s blog.    If you’ve arrived from elsewhere and you’d like to work your way through all the participating blogs, the blog roll is in the sidebar – just start at the beginning or wherever suits you best.

Today's card is  made with one of Karen Burniston's  pivot accordion dies for Elizabeth Crafts, papers from Graphic 45, and the spider stamp from Tim Holtz's Mini Halloween set.  It's the same shape as the Alterations spiders - which look really good covered in black Distress Glitter.

I cut the web from double-sided adhesive using my Cameo and sprinkled clear Distress glitter onto it.

Karen has a really good YouTube tutorial showing how to put the card together if you want to see how it's assembled.

Hope you are enjoying the hop.  Don't forget that Scavenger Items will be hidden randomly on the Wicked Blogs, and are not guaranteed to be available every day. You will have to visit blogs to find them. If you find one, you will email and let us know exactly where it was and your name will go into that scavenger item's drawing. Each person who finds the "hidden" picture will get one entry. The drawing for each scavenger prize will be the day after it was posted and winners will be chosen by random number based on who emailed. you for visiting.  Now, if you’re working your way through the roll, it’s on to Renee.  Bye now!