HDH173 - Astrological Atrocities

It's getting ever closer to THAT time of year... and I am trying my hardest to get my creep on.

I am having an extremely hard time with my creativity as of late... well... for quite awhile now!  So, to ease on into it, I have created a couple of clean & simple cards for the

Macabre Monday Challenge over at HDH:

Astrological Atrocities

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

based art piece that is somehow directly and obviously inspired by
the signs of the Zodiac or  Astrology.

Teri over at Delicious Doodles is being so kind as to sponsor us for this challenge, and she has worked up some AWESOME astrological sign digi's!  She has done two versions of each sign... one line for the more mainstream, and the other for those of us that prefer the dark side called "Horrorscopes" >;)

My first offering is her Horrorscope Sagittarius:

What is great about this line is that Teri has completed most of the shading for you!

My second offering is her Horrorscope Leo:

And how appropriate that I pick this one... it just so happens to be the hubby's sign.  Poot's birthday was yesterday, so I guess I should give this to him... or maybe I'll just show it to him ;)

That's it.  

Told you... super simple cards today.

I hope you're not terribly disappointed...

What do you think?

Dude...

I've been needing to build up my "man card" stash as of late, but only have a few spare moments in any given day.  So here is a quickie for the man in your life... 

Well... not THAT kind of quickie ;)

 A few scraps of twill & thin cork held together with a few mini-staples (Tim Holtz) creates the super-simple base for this design.  A little Walnut Stain ink sponged around the card edge grunges it up a bit.

 

 Inside & out I used Paper Smooches' "Word Salad" sentiments.

What I love most?  The new Wood Veneers from Studio Calico... love love LOVE them!

 

 

What do you think?

Front-to-Backs...

Have you seen the Front-to-Back stamps from Art Impressions?  They are sooooo fun!  Here are three cards from a class I taught this spring at The Page:

LOVE the boy peeking over the fence... so cute!  And I did another one of Nellie, looking in a mirror, but you'll have to go to The Scrapbook Page to see that one... it turned out great!

What do you think?

America I Love

Check out this sweet new image from The Angel Company!  It's called "America I Love" and it is one of the new Rewards sets available only by having a TAC party or by being a member of my monthly Card Club.

 

(click for larger view)

I colored this cutie while I was at Seminar and finally had a chance to create a QUICK card.  I used one of the Tim Holtz texture plates that we now carry... LOVE it!

 

 

I'm so glad we were able to receive this as part of our swag this past weekend... it came in handy for THIS weekend :)

I hope you all have a safe and festive July 4th!

More Not-so-Emo cards...

I forgot to post the other two that go with my previous post!  One for the boys and one for the girls:

Such a cute image!  And now my FAVORITE of the three:

Is she not adorable?!  I know!  There's no more room in the class next week using the store Copic markers, but if you bring your own Copics, I can make you up a kit & you can attend the class!!

Just contact The Scrapbook Page  :)

What do you think?

More Steampunk class cards...

I don't know if there are any spots left still, but here are two more of the cards for my upcoming All Occasion Steampunk Copic card class on March 21st at The Scrapbook Page:

This is Mercius... don't you just love that name?!  The steampunk images are from a line of stamps from Simply Betty Stamps... I'm on her design team, too :)  This pic was done on the scanner, so the colors are really muted compared to the real thing.

And these other pictures are too green, but it shows depth better.

 

 

 

Yep... waaaay too green.  We'll be using papers from Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante line... LOVE it!

This is Annie... very muted color combo, but I really wanted to use both sides of this paper.  Annie may be my favorite image from this line so far.  Anyway, don't forget to sign up for the class!

That's it for today, kids.  I'm off to play and then go give a little talk about papercrafting to a local Girl Scout troop later :)

What do you think?

Deck the Halls Blog Hop

To get all the information on how YOU can play along with this hop, just head over to Mischelle's blog!

Well, I ran out of time to do something fabulous for this hop, so I'm just sharing a couple of no-frills Copic Christmas cards that we made in my Hostess Club & Creative Class Night this week :)

First up, super simple and all in pink & green... a little snowangel :)

Stamps:  Merriest Wishes, Cuddly Christmas, Ornamental Snowflakes

Paper:  Pop Rockz dp, Lily Anna, Mia's Cottage & Caboodles white cardstocks

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo, Palette Chartreuse

Other:  Crystal Stickles, misc. sheer ribbon, foam tape

Copic Markers:  0, B000, E55, E57, RV00, RV10, RV11, YG01, YG03, YR15, YR18

Next up, a Christmas Duck decked out in teal...

Photos aren't so hot... this looks waaaay better in person... trust me  >:)

What I was trying to show in class was different ways to color white... because white isn't really white.  The snowangel has a blue-white tone, however I wanted the duck to be a bit warmer but still look white.  Ta Da!  It worked, right?  :)

Stamps:  Cuddly Christmas

Paper:  Hemingway dp, Hemingway & Caboodles white cardstocks

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo

Other:  Amberly Grace ribbon, Scor-Bug, Signo white gel pen, misc. buttons

Copics:  0, BG0000, BG72, BG75, BG78, E53, YR0000, YR21, YR23, YR24

That's it for today, peeps.  Have fun hopping along!
What do you think?

Wow...

... just sayin'.  It's been a whole month since I've posted on this blog!  At least I have a good excuse... October is OBVIOUSLY reserved for all things creepy, and therefore I was posting more on my HauntedDesignHouse blog :)  But now that THE BEST HOLIDAY EVER is now over for the year, I guess it is time to start doing a little sumpin' sumpin' over here ;)

First up, since I am sooooooooo horrible at marketing my classes, I thought I'd share what we did on November 1st at The Scrapbook Page.  These are 4 of the 5 cards we made... I was an idiot and didn't get a photo of THE BEST ONE, which was a realistic looking candle lantern image by Stampendous.  But here are the rest (sorry about the sucky photos... it was at night for the first 3):

The leaves are Tim Holtz's & the snowman is also a Stampendous.  I wonder if I can con Cameron into giving me a pic of the lantern one?  It was on this heat-embossed glittery blue/violet damask paper from Bo Bunny.  

Anyhoo... I'm actually going to post a few pics from my upcoming multi-media mini album class for November 30th, so tune in to my next post :)  But in the meantime...

What do you think?

Not feelin' it...

... still.  What is up with me?  It's gotta be job stress... I don't know what else it could be.  I didn't even pick up the right cardstock to stamp & color this image, so it's notsogreat either.

Stamps:  Boys Will Be Boys, retired TAC sentiment

Paper:  Mia's Cottage, Mia's Cottage & white UltraSmooth cardstocks

Other:  Memento Tuxedo ink, WeRMK eyelets, star gems

Copics:  B12, B24, B32, E000, E00, E11, E57, R02, YG01, YG03, YG06, YR12, YR15, YR18, YR24

 

 I have been spoiled when it comes to cardstock for Copics.  So far, I'd have to say that Neenah 80# solar crescent white & TAC's White Caboodle Cardstock are my faves.  Though the coloring ends up nice, Gina K's & PTI's white are too thick for images that I want to cut out... just can't get a nice cut.

Anyway, that's it, folks.  I'm working tomorrow night & Sunday, so no creative time for me until Monday... only if the mojo shows up from it's looooooooooong hiatus.  :)

Finally a card to show on this blog...

... I know, right?  The best part about this one is that I've had the image colored up for about three months, so all I had to do was slap a couple of layers on and BOOM, done.  That's just how I roll.

Totally cute image... wish I could give this to my own kids, but they would just slobber all over it and then take it outside into the yard :)  Sooooo, this will be going into the slowly growing collection of cards for sale at The Blue Bow.  I haven't checked in with her for awhile, so I'm wondering how sales are doing :)

Stamps:  Outdoor Adventures, This Boy (retired)

Paper:  ivory ultrasmooth, Penelope, & brown cardstocks

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo & Rich Cocoa

Other:  Silver glitter pen, MS border punch, TH wood embossing folder

Copics:  0, B000, B00, B02, E000, E00, E11, E57, E59G21, G24,

G85, YG01, YG05, YR04, YR07, YR18, YR20, YR23, YR24

Can you believe it... no pop dots, foam tape or foofiness... what's wrong with me?!  I tried... really... but nothing was working, so I just left it as is.  At least I got the glitter pen out for the fishing pole and boat hooks :)

What do you think?

Happy (early) birthday to Poot...

Yep, Poot's birthday is this week... he's turning 35.  Why yes, I DID marry a younger man, thanks for noticing ;)  At least I look younger than he does... sucka!  Dang it, this isn't nearly as fun as it should be... he doesn't even know what my blog site address is.  But, I'll be sure to relay that bit of info to him in a few days anyway :)

ANYhoo, I decided that the babies should give Daddy a birthday card this year... it's been awhile since they've done that :)  For those of you new to my blog, allow me to introduce you to the babies, Heidi & Thor:

Heidi is the blonde & Thor is the redhead.  She's uber-hyper & a licker and he's totally laid back & only gives kisses on occasion.  She is a Daddy's girl, and he a definite Mama's boy.  This is where I typically find them... napping on our bed.  Heidi is obviously no lady.

Heidi usually wedges herself between Poot and I in the middle of the night, and we have to fight to get her back on the floor.  Both of the babies end up in bed with us in the morning, usually nosing us awake to get their breakfast... damn kids. :)  They NEVER let us sleep in.

As you can see, Heidi is a spread-eagle back sleeper, and Thor curls up in a tight ball... usually with his face covered with a blankie or his paw.

Now that you've seen the babies in real life, here they are in rubber stamp form :)  Aren't they the CA-YOOTIST BABIES EVER?!  I know, they are... both in real life AND on this card, right?!

I know... the colors are way brighter than they should be, but I'm still working on my Copic collection :)  But could those stamp images be ANY MORE PERFECT?!  I know!

The "We're" on the front is handwritten, as well as the sentiment on the inside.  I tried to make the signature look like child's handwriting... I know... I'm a goof.  But the paw prints really seal the deal, right?

 

Stamps:  Good Dog, paw print (unknown)

Paper:  kraft, black & Premium white cardstocks

Ink:  Burnt Sienna & Burnt Umber Palette, Memento Tuxedo

Other:  Juliette & Mimi hardware, PTI wood grain texture plate

Copics:  E09, E31, E35, V99, Y11, Y15, YR07, YR18, YR 23

So there it is.  All the cuteness that is my babies...

What do you think?

Undie Hero

LOL!  I totally giggle every time I see this :)  I don't have any kids of my own, but I can sooooooo see this scenerio playing out for a few friends of mine :)

Don't you love the imagination that kids have?  Ahh... to be young and worry free...

Stamps:  Boys Will Be Boys, This Boy and Spring Dream (both retired)

Paper:  Bazzill, scarlet, black & Neenah white cardstocks

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo, VersaMark

Other:  Transcendence EP, metal dots, MS border punch

Copics:  0, BV20, E000, E00, E11, E31, E35, E57, E59, RV14, R24, R29, R37, YR23

So much fun... 

What do you think?