Bombshell's October Hump Day Hop!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Alison, Bombshell's Captain, agrees with me and set this month's theme accordingly.

October's Hump Day Hop theme is The Witching Hour! Here's what she had to say about the theme!

The witching hour is the time of night when witches, ghosts, and other supernatural creatures are said to appear. Make a project about those that may be lurking, during the witching hour.

You should have arrived at my blog from Kelli's blog, where you saw a wonderful treat!

If you have arrived here another way and want to check out the hop, the hop roster is below!

Here's my card:

Bombshell Pin-Up, from the Bombshell Angel rubber stamp set actually has a secret life as a witch.  Halloween has special significance to witches, so they often have swanky formal parties to celebrate. So Bombshell Pin-Up has dressed accordingly. She's wearing a fetching evening gown from the digital Evening Bombshell Digital set. However, no witch's outfit is complete without the witch hat, so she added a lovely rhinestone buckle to the witch hat from the Halloween Costume digital set.

Her outfit was colored with Copic markers. A red rhinestone heart was added to her evening gown and a clear Wink of Stella glitter pen was used to add sparkle to the buckle.

The venue of the party has some special features. Note the two cobwebbed portraits. The Waving Skeleton rubber stamp from the Calaveras Fiesta rubber stamp set was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink, die-cut with a Nestabilities Labels Eight die, and colored with Copic markers. Both portraits were adorned with a spider web, courtesy of the Small Spider Web Corner from the Dead Necessities rubber stamp set.  The portraits were then framed with the metallic copper Nestabilities Decorative Labels Eight die-cuts.

Cobwebs have spiders, so black cardstock was cut with Memory Box's Scary Spiders die, which is currently on sale! The spiders were adhered with dimensional adhesive.

Big bashes like this soirée generally serve drinks, so a bar was needed. Memory Box's Small Madison Window die was used to die-cut black cardstock. I cut two rectangles to make drawers for the bar. I cut a small piece of lace, used a Copic marker to change the color, and adhered it behind and draping the top of the "bar". Memory Box's Party Glasses die was used to die cut white cardstock, which was colored with Copic markers, and enhanced with Clear Gelly Glaze pen. The Vintage Bottles die was used to die cut copper metallic cardstock. This bottle holds the special red punch brewed for this festive occasion.

Witches do love their cats and there's no better accessory for a formal occasion than a black cat. Well, what's better is three of them! Black cardstock was die-cut with Impression Obsession's Cats set and the cats were molded a bit, then popped up with dimensionals.

The patterned paper is from the Midnight Magic 6x6 pad from Recollections' Haunted collection, which was matted with copper specialty paper from FiberMark. SCACD's Alice's Clock Statement Corner die was used to die-cut copper metallic cardstock, which reinforced the Witching Hour theme of the card. The last step was to adhere the Bombshell Pin-Up with dimensional foam adhesives.

Thanks for visiting today!

Here's the hop list!
Bombshell Blog
Alison
Glittery Katie
Stempelientje
Marnie
Kim
Alaine
Leslie
Monika
Kelli
Kathi

I shall enter this card in the following challenges:
• Simon Says Monday: Anything Goes
• Avenue 613 Challenge #43: Anything Goes
• Creative Moments Challenge #28: Use Lace

Relaxin' with Lace and Fabric!

Since I returned from vacation, I've been playing catch up with my dt responsibilities and other stuff, like cleaning my house.

I finally got a chance to play with my Stampotique stamps again (They missied me!) and participate in the current Stampotique Designers Challenge, which was to use lace or fabric.

You may or may not know, but I am sewing impaired and can barely hand-sew a button, let alone use a sewing machine. This stems from my days in Home Economics in seventh grade when I sewed my finger to a slip. Do you remember full slips and/or Home Economics? Suffice to say, sewing a line of stitches through my left index finger was fairly traumatic. It hurt. It bled, and it made my Home Ec teacher pass out. Big fun. The nurse had to attend to her before attending to me, so I was literally stuck to the sewing machine and bleeding all over the slip while they revived her and walked her out of the classroom. Then they had to get me off of the sewing machine. Not fun at all. And I failed the course.

So using fabric was a stretch for me. Fortunately, I had the Tiny Attacher, which allowed me to attach lace to my card. Incidentally,  I also recently used the Tiny Attacher to fix a hem, which had come undone.

Now that you're reeling from disgust from the blood, gore, pathos, and suchlike and are feeling sorry for my family because of my missing domestic skills, I'll bore you with my card.

Here it is! By the way, the red isn't as neon as below. I hate neon...

Stampotique's* Relaxin' was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and colored with Copic markers which I'll list below. I colored her to match the papers chosen from the 302 6x6 pad by Farmhouse (which is on sale!). I also used a sheet of patterned by from the Origins collection by Basic Grey. Pebbles Palette Chalk was used to add a touch of color to her cheeks.

Lace from my stash was left au naturel and attached to either side of the stamped panel using the aforementioned Tiny Attacher. Other lace, also from my stash, was colored with a BG marker to be all matchy-matchy with the patterned paper, then attached to the top and bottom using the ever-so-useful Tiny Attacher. Papers were edged with Distress ink, layered, and some red lace was adhered (guess how!).

A circle was punched from the yellow Origins paper and adhered to a clear button using Diamond Glaze adhesive by Judikins. I found a red heart button in my stash and stacked it onto the clear button with aqua-ish Scrapper's Floss. I curled the ends around a paintbrush.

Red canvas was die-cut using the Alterations Mini Tattered Florals die. The three red die-cuts were crushed, folded, and tortured 'til they cried for mercy. Um no. They were crushed to distress 'em and leave creases which were sponged with Gathered Twigs Distress ink. They were stacked with petals offset, and the heart/clear button was added to the center of the flower. The flower was in turn adhered to the top corner of the card front.

The card was finished with sparkly glitter sticker letters that spells out the sentiment.

Thanks for visiting today!

* Stampotique stamps are also available at SCACD and some are on sale! Sales are good. Saving money gives you more money to send to me.

Copic markers used:
Skin: E000, E00, E21, BV0000, BV00
Blouse: E81, E84
Tie, Hearts, Chair: R22, R24, R46
Hat, Skirt: BG11, BG23, BG34
Stockings, Shirt: Y02, Y04, Y06, Y18
Background:W00, W0, W1, W2, W4, W5

I shall be entering this card in the following challenges:
• Stampotique Designer Challenge #122: Fabric or Lace 
• Simon Says Monday: Anything Goes
• Avenue 613 Challenge #43: Anything Goes
• Creative Moments Challenge #28: Use Lace

Meet Ecto, the Chocolate Monster!

Ecto is one of the new digital stamps by Carmen Medlin for SCACD. Ecto was resized in Photo Elements then printed out onto Neenah cardstock using my laser printer.

Couture Avenue, a rubber stamp, was stamped below Ecto using Tuxedo Black Memento ink. It was also stamped a second time, so that I could change the names of the stores to work with my theme a bit better.

Both Ecto and Couture Avenue were colored with Copic markers. Couture Avenue was coated with a layer of Matte Glue and Seal and Ecto was coated with a layer of Glossy Glue and Seal. Both versions of Glue and Seal act as a resist.

Memory Box's Clouds dies and a circle punch were used to cut Eclipse Tape. The clouds and the moon (circle) were adhered to the sky portion of the scene.

Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink was sponged over the scene to create a night sky. The Eclipse Tape masks were lifted and an almost-dry baby wipe was used to remove the ink from the stamped, colored images. Some time had passed since I had coated the images with Glue and Seal, so some Chipped Sapphire ended up where it didn't belong! Distress Paint came to the rescue! I mixed Picket Fence and Spiced Marmalade Distress paint and fixed the stores' paint job. Antique Linen Distress paint was used on the stores' roofs. Picket Fence Distress paint was used on Ecto. 

Wink of Stella glitter pen was added to the windows. Silver Gel pen was added to the street lamps and yellow Glaze pen was added to the light portion of the street lamps.  

C00, C0, and C1 Copic markers were used to add definition to the clouds.

Picket Fence Distress paint was used on the other set of store signs, which were then fussy cut, and adhered to a piece of scrap paper, which was run through my printer, so that they'd have new names.

The sentiment "Give me the chocolate and no one gets hurt" was reduced slightly using Photo Elements, then printed out onto Neenah cardstock. The sentiment was cut apart and each word was edged with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink. Spellbinders' Nestabilities Petite Oval dies were used to die cut patterned white vellum and the sentiment words were adhered to the matted die-cut. Some small circles were punched from the same vellum and used to connote that the sentiment was in a thought bubble.

The stamped scene panel was matted with white cardstock and some road-patterned Washi tape was added to the bottom of the panel.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card in the following challenges:
• Quirky Crafts #22: Make us laugh!
• 365 Cards: Day 299: Setting the Scene
• Crafty Calendar Challenges: Halloween 
• Left of Center: Halloween
• Simon Says Wednesday Challenges: Halloween
• Simon Says Monday Challenges: Spooky 
• Ranger Ink's Blog: Halloween Crafting Contest

Sea You Soon!

Here's a card featuring  Jellyfish Dreams, one of the new stamps from SCACD's MechAnimals #2 set.

Jellyfish Dreams was stamped using Onyx Black VersaFine ink and heat embossed with Filigree Detail embossing powder. The image was colored using Copic markers. I chose the jellyfish' colors based on images of Man of War jellyfish that I found online. When I was done coloring the image, I airbrushed over the image and background using several BG markers and the Copic airbrush system to make it look as though the entire jellyfish were underwater. Some areas (the sails and the shells) got a bit more aqua-colored than I wanted, so I used the Blender pen to remove the aqua and recolored them again. When I was done, the jellyfish's body, including the ship's parts that were inside the jellyfish, was coated with Triple Thick Gloss Glaze by DecoArt, then left overnight to cure.

This morning it was fully dry, so I added some Clear Gelly Glaze pen to the shells and some Gold Spica glitter pen to the anchor.

 The underwater scene was still missing something, so I inked up the larger of the two Baobab tree from SCACD's Baobab Trees set with white ink and stamped the branches along the bottom of the image panel to look like white coral.

And here's a close-up that should show the "coral" and the dimension and color of the jellyfish and shells.

Patterned papers from Bo-Bunny's Double Dots Vintage were edged with Picket Fence Distress Stain and layered. Drywall Tape (from one of our many house renovations) was cut and layered across the patterned papers. A rub-on sentiment was added to a die cut and adhered to the card with a painted starfish charm and a mini-brad.

Thanks for visiting today!

Back from Vacation!

My husband and I took a short break and went to New Mexico on vacation. It was our first vacation alone together in ages and was absolutely wonderful. We both fell in love with New Mexico and now understand why it's called the Land of Enchantment.

We met an online crafting friend and her husband, who invited us to their house for dinner. Most people would think that they were insane for inviting strangers to their house. Others would think we were nutsoid for going into a stranger's home.

Both husbands were a bit nervous that they would have nothing to say to one another. Their fears were unfounded.

The food was fantastic, conversation flowed effortlessly, and the evening was absolutely wonderful. An added bonus was that my husband now really likes Día de los Muertos artwork due to my friends' great collection. In fact, we picked up some prints, tiles, and tee shirts!

We spent time shopping, visiting museums, took scenic drives and even took a private jeep tour of the desert, which was one of the high points of the vacation. Then there's the food and drink. All I can say is WOW!!!

There are still more museums, galleries, towns, and sites to visit, so we'll definitely be visiting New Mexico again!

By the way,  I brought half my Copic marker collection with me and a bunch of stamped artwork and did absolutely nothing! I also took a break from the internet, just checking my email in case something popped up that required my attention.

So, I'm relaxed, refreshed, and ready to get crafty!

New SCACD Digital Stamps!

Several of SCACD's designers and some guest are showcasing SCACD's Digital stamps! Check out  SCACD's Hearts and Hugs Blog for links to the participants' blogs!

SCACD's Digital stamps were created by Carmen Medlin and include a wide range of images. There are also some brand new winter digis that are fantastic!

I'm so excited that I got to use one of SCACD's brand new Digital stamps!

Meet Winter Friends!

Isn't she gorgeous? Don't you wish you had a cute little owl to perch on your hand? I know I do!

One of the things that I really like about digital images is that you can reduce or enlarge them, flip them, flop them, or rotate them. You can easily combine several digital stamps to create your own scene! 

I reduced Winter Friends slightly and used my laser printer to print onto Neenah cardstock. The fairy, owl, and icicle laden branch were colored using Copic markers. Pebbles palette chalk was used to add some blush to her cheeks. I used a Clear Stardust Glitter pen to add sparkle to the icicles and the branch, then coated them with a layer of Clear Glaze Gelly pen to give them a raised shiny look. The Clear Glaze Gelly pen pen was also added to the owls' eyes, beak, and talons.

The patterned papers are from Authentique's Autumn Bundle 6x6 pad. The sentiment was computer generated. Very old holographic shimmery stickers were used to add a bit more shimmer to the card.

And heeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnnie!!! Um Nope.

Here's Gothie Owl!

Gothie Owl was reduced and laser printed onto Neenah cardstock. He was colored with Copic markers and then coated with a layer of Matte Glue and Seal, which dries very quickly. When the glue is dry, it acts as a resist and protects what's underneath it, so you can attack it with ink. In this case, I sponged Wendy Vecchi's new Watering Can Archival ink, then added some Jet Black Archival ink around the edges. When the ink was dry, I added Glossy Accents to Gothie's eyes, but I was very gentle, so it didn't hurt him. I don't know if you can see it, but I added some red Glaze pen to the spider on Gothie's hat to make it look like a black widow. Clear Glaze Gelly pen pen was added to his beak and his talons. The stamped, colored, inked image panel was die-cut using a Nestabilities Labels #? die.

The patterned papers are from the Masquerade 6x6 pad by Teresa Collins. I thought the papers worked fabulously with Gothie.  He agreed. I layered the papers, added sheer ribbon from Mike's, and the popped the stamped, colored, inked, die-cut image panel onto dimensional foam adhesive over the patterned paper and ribbon.

I die-cut shimmery black vellum using the Creepy Spider die by Memory Box. The spider was adhered to the web on Gothie's tummy and dangles below the die cut. The spider's body is popped up on dimensionals and the front part of her legs are adhered to the patterned paper. Two Red Geo Sparkler stickers were added the spider's body.

Plastic web confetti was added to the corners of the patterned paper and Gold Kaisercraft Rhinestones were added to the webs to finish the card!

Thanks for visiting today! Be sure to visit SCACD's Hearts and Hugs Blog to see how the other SCACD Design Team members used the great new digis!

Bombshell Stamps Muse Monday!

Every month, a Bombshell Stamps set is chosen to be our Muse Monday set. Each Monday throughout the month, the Bombshell Girls share projects that showcase the set on Bombshell's Blog. Since we all have different styles, the set is used in many different ways which serves to show the versatility of the stamp set.

The featured set for October is Alter Skulls, which will be on sale throughout the month.

Here are photos of the set!

 

Here's my project!

 The Alter Skull, one of six stamps in the Alter Skulls set, was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and colored with Copic markers in muted shades (T0s, V90s, YG90s), with the exception of the flames (YR18, YR15, YR13). It was then fussy cut , edged with black marker, and put aside while I worked on the rest of the card. BTW,  my black marker slipped and I made an oopsy, which I camouflaged relatively successfully with acrylic paint! Can you find it?

The Copic marker colors I used were chosen to match the patterned papers from the Midnight Magic 6x6 pad from Recollections' Haunted collection. The papers were layered, Washi tape was added, and glittery alphabet stickers from Making Memories were used to spell out the sentiment. 

Black shimmery vellum was die-cut with  one of SCACD's Garden Corners dies. There are two in the set and they cut beautifully, especially for such intricate dies!

Thanks for visiting today!

Bombshell's October Sketch Challenge!

As you may know, I create the sketches for Bombshell Stamps monthly challenges.

Here's October's Sketch! Feel free to use it, but if you use Bombshell stamps with it, be sure to enter your project on Bombshell's Blog!

Here's my take on it, using the Bombshell Angel set with the witch costume from the Digital Halloween Costume set.

The witch was colored with Copic markers, which I'll list below. Gold Spica glitter pen was added to the buckle on her hat and she got some Lavender Spica glitter pen "eyeshadow".

The patterned papers are from the Midnight Magic 6x6 pad from Recollections' Haunted collection. The nifty skulls (behind the witch) were lightened with the White Picket Fence Distress marker, then coated with a few layers of Clear Gelly Glaze pen.

White paper was diecut with Alterations Cobwebs Decorative Strip die and added to the horizontal panel towards the bottom. The Scary Spiders die by Memory Box was used to die cut lavender cardstock. The spiders were adhered to the spiderweb using dimensional adhesive under their bodies and regular adhesive on their legs.

My witch was adhered to the cardfront using dimensional adhesive. Impression Obsessions Cats die-cut set was used to die cut black cardstock, then three of the black cats were added to the scene. After all, every witch must have her familiar and this witch is so powerful that she needs three!

Snow (white) pearls by Kaisercraft were colored with Copic markers then added to the card to finish it!

Thanks for visiting today!

Copic markers used:
Skin: E000, E00, E11, BV00
Hair: E08, E13, E18
Outfit: V20, V22, V25,V 93, N02, N03, N04, N06

ATC with a new-to-me technique!

Last week I was surfing around the Interwebs and came across a cool technique. I wish I could remember where I saw it so I could give credit where it's due, but being a me of little brain and less memory, I can't.

The technique showed me a new way to use Copics and Distress Ink together by using Matte Glue and Seal as a mask. Essentially, you stamp your image, color it with Copics, paint on a thin layer of Matte Glue and Seal, let it dry, then add Distress ink or what-have-you. The Glue and Seal acts as a resist.

Here's my first go at this technique!

Being me, I had to switch things up a tiny bit. I love Stampotique's Moon Girl, but like to give her different colored hair, dress, and wings, so I used my Distress markers on the rubber, huffed, and stamped the image. Then I went over the stamped image, coloring with Copic markers.

The next step was to take the Cornflowers stencil by The Crafter's Workshop and trace the flowers using Copic markers. I tried to make it look as though Moon Girl was sitting on one of the flowers. Three flowers were traced, then colored with Copic markers. When I was done, I added T grey shadows around Moon Girl so she'd stand out a bit and also added a layer of clear Wink of Stella glitter pen to her wings. 

Using a very thin paint brush, I added a thin coat of Matte  Glue and Seal over Moon Girl and the flowers. (BTW, you can see where I went outside the lines. I can't wait until I get my new glasses. This fading eyesight thing is the pits. I also took the photo inside, so the color cast is a bit off).

The Glue and Seal dries fairly quickly and you can hasten the process with a heat gun. When it was dry, I sponged Spun Sugar Distress ink onto the entire ATC, then sponged Fired Brick Distress ink through my brand new Tim Holtz Layered Dot Fade stencil. The entire range is in stock at SCACD, so you should get yours now. I bought mine set as a belated birthday gift to myself. :D

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card at the following challenges:
•  Stampotique Designer's Challenge #119: ATC
•  De Craftorji: Orange, Red, and one other color challenge
•  613 Avenue Create #40: Anything goes with no twist!
• Stampin' for the Weekend: Fairies and Fantasy
• Flutterby Wednesdays: Anything Goes

You can do it!

This card features Bombshell Stamps' Rosie the Riveter Digi stamp. I think that Rosie is perfect for encouragement cards and for Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Rosie was reduced and laser printed onto Neenah cardstock. Copic markers were used to color her.

My color scheme for this card is orange and red, per one of the challenges for Splitcoast Stampers'  Hope You Can Cling To Challenges, which is a month-long event. People will be making cards and sending them to a hospital that treats breast cancer patients and their families. It's a great cause and you should check it out using the link above. 

I didn't have patterned paper that matched the challenge color scheme and the way I colored Rosie, so I made my own by coloring black and white patterned paper! I use this trick often when I don't have patterned paper that works for me and I'm feeling particularly matchy-matchy.

I used white on black floral and music-printed heart patterned paper from the Irresistible 6x6 pad by Authentique. I colored the flowers and the hearts with Copic markers, as listed below.  Red and white polka dotted paper, from the Lovely 6x6 pad by Authentique. The dots were originally white and the red didn't quite match the red of Rosie's lips and nails. After coloring the red paper with YR02, the red matched and the polka dots were orange. Gotta love when the matchy matchy thing works out!

I also ended up coloring some musical notation patterned paper from theIrresistible 6x6 pad by Authentique before die-cutting it with Alterations flower dies. These four flowers were stacked, a clear button was adhered to a circle punched from my orange and red polka dot papers, and the flower embellishment was stitched onto my card front.

Thanks for visiting today!
Copic markers used:
Skin: E000, E00, E21, BV00
Lips: R27, R37, R56
Hair; N02, N04, N06
Shirt: YR00, YR02, YR04, YR16, YR18
Bandana: Ditto, except the dots are R37, R56
Flowers and hearts on patterned paper: YR00, YR02, YR04
Red dotted paper: YR02

I shall be entering this card in the following challenges:
• Splitcoast's Hope You Can Cling To Challenges:  Courage & Strength
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenges: We're Going Dotty
• ABC Challenge #47: Three or more  patterned papers

Successful Experiment: Crackled SCACD's Peaceful Warrior!

In my post from Friday, September 27th, I said,

I have lots of plans for Peaceful Warrior I'm going to try to color him and coat him with Crackle Accents to make him look like an antique jade sculpture! Wish me luck and check back to see if I'm successful!

Eureeka! It worked, though I didn't use Crackle Accents. I used Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle paint by Ranger!  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First, here is a close-up photo of crackled Peaceful Warrior!

 I stamped  Peaceful Warrior using Onyx Black VersaFine ink, then heat embossed with Filigree Clear Detail Embossing powder. I colored him using Copic markers, fussy cut him, then used a small fine brush to apply Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle paint to his horse parts (head, mane, body, legs, and tail). Then I put him aside until the next morning. The first thing I did after waking up, turning off my alarm, and putting on my glasses was to run and check to see how the crackling looked. I was beyond delighted that it worked, but the uncrackled parts looked really plain, so I coated them with a layer or two of Clear Gelly Glaze pen, which looked much better.

He looked really great in a small printers tray that I have, but I didn't have enough dimensional stuff to add to the cubbies. So I went with "Plan B".

I grabbed a piece of thick black cardstock, my Steampunk Lace stencil by ArtistCellar, and sponged Silks Acrylic Glazes by Luminarte over the stencil. The black cardstock was trimmed, matted onto textured gold specialty paper by FiberMark, and a gold border sticker was added to the base so that Peaceful Warrior had a surface to stand upon! Gold corner stickers were added to the upper corners, then purple rhinestones were added to finish the piece!

Here's the finished card!

Thanks for visiting today!