HDH179 - Samhain Sunset challenge

So how was everyone's Hallowe'en holiday?!  I hope it was delightfully dark and macabre ;)  Mine was pretty quiet... stayed home to hand out goodies to all of the little demons about.  I ran out of candy around 7:30pm... WTF?!  Didn't we used to stay out until like 9 or something?  They started around 5pm, which is way too early in my opinion.  What IS trick or treating etiquette?  Oh well.  

I watched a few scary movies while all of the candles in the house were lit... it was quite delightful.

I've got photos of the house, but that will be another post ;)

Sooooooooo, back to a little bit of papercrafting goodness... over at Haunted Design House, we are having our LAST challenge of the year, which expires this Sunday at 5pm CST.  The Minions are in need of a little yard time from the dungeon, but will pop in now and again to keep everyone on their toes.

So, what is the challenge?

Macabre Monday challenge,

"Samhain Sunset."

You are to create a dark, Gothic, or Hallowe'en

based art piece that represents a 
Samhain Sunset.

We're looking for the colors of a beautiful fall sunset.
Think purples, reds, oranges, and yellows.

Use them as you wish, just keep it within our guidelines.

We are sponsored by the incredibly talented Mitzi Sato-Wiuff, of 

Aurora Wings.

She has offered up a very generous prize of $15 worth of digis (digis ONLY)

to each of our GTs this challenge.

Enter your sunset project here.

Mitzi does some AMAZING artwork and digital stamps!  There are so many beautiful images with which to work, I had a reeeeeally hard time deciding!  I went with her

Shades of Blue Orchid Fairy with Detailed Butterfly Wings:  

Isn't she gorgeous?!  And I only used a portion of this beautiful image!  Be sure to check out the whole image... seriously awesome!

Shades of orange and copper have always been favorite colors of mine, so this challenge was right up my alley.  I tried to create an ombre effect with the tones in her hair and wings from dark to bright, but the photos look a bit washed out... sorry.

The patterned paper is from Memory Box (I think.... Nightfall or something?).  And I used a TON of different Copic colors on the hair and wings... seriously.  I think I'll be adding a bit o' Stickles to the dots and parts of her wings... she needs some glitz, me thinks :)

Don't forget to enter the challenge... who wouldn't want to win some of these amazing images?!

What do you think?

HDH178 - Zombies and Creeps

I've been gearing up for the season!  I've got the house cleaned, organized and decorated, the creepy black vines twisted about & the bats hung in the tree.  I'm even hosting a little Girls'-Night-In combination Halloween & jewelry party on Thursday :)  Complete with creepy snacks & libations... don't worry... I'll be posting pics later!  But for now, how about a little Halloweenie card creation?

This fortnight's challenge over at Haunted Design House is Zombies and Classic Creeps and is sponsored by Simply B Stamps.  The Minions & I are using the Limited Edition Zombies and Creeps digis, one of the newest of the Steampunk Collections drawn by the fabulous Abigail Larson.

I used SBS's Collette image that I colored with Copics & then fussy cut around the frame.  I used 13th Hour paper line from KaiserCraft, an ancient metal word plaque, paper flowers & black satin ribbon.  The die cut you see at the bottom is actually the negative cut from Memory Box's DeLacie Border die... me likey!

skin:  BG96, 93, 90

purple:  V28, 25, 22

black:  T8, 6, 4

brains:  R56, 27, 24

curtains:  YR27, YR24, E13, E55, E99 shadows

She came out pretty muted, but the paper line is very muted, so it matches well.  I probably should have reversed the curtain color with her dress, but too late now!

You've got a few days left to join us in the challenge, so pop on by!!

What do you think?

Helloooooooo!

Have you missed me?  I can NOT believe it's been, what, six months since I checked in with the ol' blog!  Well, I'll try to keep it short and sweet... but you KNOW how long-winded I get ;)  A few updates:

My new business, Foster Technical Services, LLC, is really starting to pick up... I have a few home builders that I steadily work with along with a few remodeling jobs, so all is well on that front!  I also still work at The Scrapbook Page two-to-four days a week... plus teaching the Copic classes there.  Still loving it... it really IS my fun job :)

http://thescrapbookpageonline.com

 

Thor is doing very well, though he is blind now.  You can't tell by looking at him... you just wait until he bumps into something or looks in a different direction than where your voice is coming from!  He's got the ol' grey muzzle now, but is still the CA-YOOTEST little redhead EVER!!  He is very happy, lazy, loves getting treats and REALLY loves his mommy & daddy :)

  

I have been having uncontrollable urges to de-clutter & Spring-clean!  I have a stock-pile of clothes, pillows, blankets & towels that I have washed and bagged up, ready for donating!  Not to mention many other household items, stuffed animals, crafty stuff... etc.  I have no patience for garage sales, so I'm going the donation route!  Poot FINALLY got rid of clothes that were too small for him, and I got rid of clothes that are now too big for me!  I have a deep-seeded wish for a kitchen similar to this:

And perhaps a living room like this:

 Ahhhhh... to dream.  Ok ok... how about a dose of reality:

Uber-good news:  I have lost well over 30 pounds!  I haven't owned a scale in many years, so I can't be sure how much I really got up to, so I calculated it from what I remember weighing a couple of years ago.  Yep... well over 30 pounds!  All from replacing Coke & sweet tea drinks with water!  Oh, and a couple of times a week I eat "Healthy Choice" frozen meals for lunch.  I still sugar my coffee & eat chocolate and all of that, but I have noticed that I have been eating smaller portions in general.  I will say that working at The Page helps with keeping active... just from walking around so much.  Yeay!

But you didn't tune in to talk about fur-babies & weight loss... you wanna see some papercraft action, yes?  I'll admit it... I have been so swamped that I really only create cards for my classes now... how sad is that?  The good news is that they turn out pretty awesome :)  I have so many that I haven't blogged, that I have no shortage of card creativity to show you.  Now to just magically create more hours in the day to do that!

ANYhoo, check out this bit of awesomeness for my upcoming Spring Copic 101 card class in mid-March:

Love love LOVE this new Authentique "Seasons: Summer" line of paper!  And I am NOT a fan of yellow... but along with shades of warm grey & blue-green...

{swoon!}

 

The stamp is from Hero Arts, which is from a clear set with several cute images, and I'm sure you recognize Memory Box clouds when you see them :)

I want to make an entire set of these bad boys!  There is just a slight difference between these two cards, but I can't tell which one I like better... I think maybe the one with the chevron on top.

Clean, simple, yet delightful :)

I've still got to figure out the other three cards for class, but I can tell you right now that this is my fave!

What do you think?

(I've missed you, too!)