Happy Hallowe'en!

It's here already! I can't believe how quickly October has flown by.  I've made another raven, to go with my raven for the Gingersnap Creations challenge in *this* post.  I actually have three of these chipboard ravens, and had really hoped to have them all done by today.  Oh well. ;)  I am entering this little guy into Inspiration Emporium's challenge (just under the wire) to make a creation using black, orange, and purple.  The perfect color challenge for October, if you ask me, LOL!  For this raven, I started with a layer of black Ranger crackle paint, then covered and dabbed Picket Fence Distress Stain over the top.  Next come die cuts, borders, inked German text, and a fabulous sticker of poor Lenore....

Here she is in life....

And here she is in death....

Love these stickers, I tell ya! 

The raven's ruffle is made by sewing four pieces of colored crepe paper together, then cutting them into a fringe and pinching and fluffing.  The Happy Halloween ticket greeting in his beak is a Tim Holtz stamp, of course. ;)

Here are the two dark birdies together -

Have a delightfully spooky, Poe-ful Hallowe'en!!

Rogue Redhead Peek: Scrappy Christmas Tags

Another peek for you today, of Rogue Redhead Designs' Candy Kisses plate, coming out November 1st.  For these tags, I used some of the fun winter icons in the set, colored with Copic markers.  I cut out each of the designs and glued them to some white corrugated cardboard that I had covered in clear glitter.  I put that on top of a torn piece of cardstock scrap.  The bases of the tags are stamped with the snowflake motif from the companion plate, Snow Hugs.  I added some scraps of trim and some fuzzy sparkly ribbon.  I wanted to make a set of pastel tags for the girlie girls in the family - they could just as easily be done in deep vintage colors, with a background of vintage sheet music or text.  Hmmmm... maybe I'll do that next. ;)

Okay, I'm back.... Yep, I was gone for sumthin' like 14 hours so that I could do another set of tags, LOL!!!  But due to the magic of blogland.... in an instant, here ya go:

My vintage heart prefers these, I think.  But the young ones in the family prefer the top set.  Regardless... these stamps are quite versatile, no?  And I'm happy to have 8 tags done, tee hee.  These are also colored with Copics, then layered on top of vintage hymnal music sheets, then on top of felt, then patterned paper.  I used the same trim for all of these, since it reminded me of snowflakes.  (For some reason, the red felt I used on these looks black in the picture.  A photographer, I am not!)  I hope you'll have a chance to check out Rogue Redhead over the coming weeks... lots of fun designs are coming your way.  Happy Monday. :)

Rogue Redhead Sneak Peek

A bit of a sneak peek for you today, of two new releases from Rogue Redhead Designs.  If that bundled beauty looks familiar, it's because she is the signature sweetie of the Rogue Redhead Designs logo.  Yep, she's a stamp now, and she has friends (hint, hint!).  I've paired her with a pretty poinsettia from another new set that is just perfect for the winter holidays (including Valentine's!), happy hellos, and even birthdays.  Look for more peeks on the Rogue Redhead Designs blog.... these sets will be released on November 1!

p.s.  There just might be some special fun coming in honor of Rogue Redhead Designs' 1st anniversary.  Just sayin'. ;)

More Halloween Banners

A few more of my swaps.  I used those twins again (I used an extra in my gluebook), and another spooky woman from The Sum of All Crafts (I decided she was some sort of medium with her ouija board.)

I also made a couple of less spooky ones for the less macabre-inclined (apparently there are lots of those kinda peeps, too, LOL!)

Still lovin' my Stampotique pumpkins!  And finally, in an abrupt change of holidays, some quickie collaged and glued tags (since I'm such a big fan of gluesticks these days, tee hee!), using office supply tags.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!  I will be crafting away in my car quite a bit... there are volleyball club tryouts this weekend for my daughter (at least 4 hours' worth!) and hockey practices for my son.  I should just convert my minivan into a studio.  Or maybe get a bigger van!

Spooky Gluing

Wow, the word "gluing" really doesn't look like a word if you stare at it too long, LOL!!  I've been making Halloween pennants for a local swap, and so I have some fun extra stuff to put in my train case and glue into my little book during my copious waiting-during-kids'-sports-practices time.  Don't ya just love these little twins?  They are freebies from The Sum of All Crafts - she has some marvelous Halloween images, and these gals were from a post of several spooky-looking people.  I added some vintage German text that had been colored with sumthin'..... distress inks, maybe?  And of course some random wordage from an old book I always have with me for just this purpose.  The hats are from a Lisa's Altered Art collage sheet.

Also finally had some material to put on the page opposite my "Poe" page:

This little gal is from Paper Whimsy, and the images (stamped and scrap) are from Crafty Secrets/Heartwarming Vintage.

I'll finish up posting my pennants tomorrow, once I get them photographed.  I'm off to watch my daughter's volleyball game. :)

Ravens with Gingersnap Creations

If you love all things Poe, all things Halloween, all things spooky.... check out the new Random Redhead challenge over at Gingersnap Creations - Ravens!  How fun is that?  Well, I can tell ya, I had tons of fun with this one.  I started with an extra large chipboard raven from Red Lead.  I painted him black, then went a little wild collaging all sorts of scraps to make him a party bird.  I had tested out my new Halloween stamps from Stampotique in the margins of some vintage sheet music.  I just couldn't part with that little scrap, so it became the bird's belly (my sick sense of humor... a cat in a bird's belly... yep, I'm losing it!).  There's some vintage German text, and scraps of old Halloween paper.

He's wearing a dapper hat that is actually a stamp from Red Lead (retired?), stamped in orange over patterned paper.  Also stamped some bats, added a rhinestone eye, and a beak from some scrapped alcohol-inked paper.  The ruffle is crepe paper edged with stickles.

Mmmmm, yummy kitty, LOL!  The "Nevermore" is made from stickers from the Apothecary Emporium line.

The bit from The Raven poem is from *this* stamp, stamped on an alcohol-inked background scrap.  (You can see some of my messy embossing... I just went with the grungy-ness of it all.)

And, if you need a bit more incentive to play along.. there's a wonderful Alpha Stamps giveaway to be had by one lucky participant in the Raven challenge.  Fun stuff, I tell ya.  I hope you'll check it out!

Vintage Gluebook Pages with Mary Green

Hello crafters!  Today I am taking inspiration from the Queen of Gluebooks herself, Mary Green of Green Paper, who is our Muse over at Gingersnap Creations this month.  Mary has shared with us a marvelous gluebook tutorial, complete with some wonderful images to get you started.  I've used the freebie images for these pages, along with some other wonderful images that Mary has graciously made available on her blog over the last several months.  I hope you'll have time to check out her post (click on the link above), as well as her beautiful blog.  All of the images here are courtesy of Green Paper - I just added a bit of vintage sheet music.  (Just noticed I forgot to clip a corner.... I'm off to snip.... ;)  Happy gluing!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Where does the time go???  I'm coming along slowly with my Halloween pennants for my swap... here are two that feature a Paper Whimsy image (the girl, along with a hat from Lisa's Altered Images), and stamps from Red Lead (the small ravens with Poe quotes) Oxford Impressions (large raven and ouija board), and Tim Holtz (Halloween ticket).

Lately I've pretty much had time to scrap only on the go, and even then, I haven't done much.  I mentioned in my last post that I was feeling mojo-less and wasn't even happy with my gluebook pages.  So I will share... the good, the bad, and the ugly.....

First up, the good.... those little cuties are my dad and his twin brother, and the sentiment is from a piece of vellum patterned paper that I've had in my stash for centuries....

Next up.... a Poe page that I am basically happy with.... it's just that I cannot for the life of me seem to complete the page next to it.  There are some scraps in the foreground that I'm trying to use... I think I just might have to actually stamp or go gather something "real" from my stash that will work.....

Okay, as promised, the ugly.... this is waaaay too busy.  It seemed a good idea as I was putting it together.  I closed it up, ran off to some school event or other... came back and opened it up again and really had to say "What was I thinking?!"  But that's what's so great about a gluebook - you can try things, experiment, and if it doesn't work out, it's no big deal.  All you've done is use up some scraps that weren't making it into anything else anyway!!  Totally forgiving, and really, a learning tool.... a record of what does and does not work.  (I'm trying really hard not to rip this out, LOL!!!)

Still hoping to find more time to visit all of your lovely blogs.  Unfortunately, today I have to go out and spend way to much money on a dishwasher... ours totally gave up the ghost (I had been making do with certain features not working, but now it's finally dead and not worth fixing).  I've been spending all of my time online trying to figure out which models are best, etc.  But I'm tired of doing dishes, so I'm buying today no matter what, LOL!  Have a happy Wednesday. 

Halloween Pennant Swap #1

My local mixed media group is swapping individual Halloween pennants this month... it's 10 for 10, so that in the end, we have a banner (bunting?) that will fit across a doorway or small mantel.  I wanted to use up bits and pieces of Halloween papers, stickers, images, etc., so I'm making them all different, so of course, it's taking me forever!  Normally I would probably fly right through this (I loooooove Halloween!), but I'm having a prolonged period of totally missing mojo.... I just can't seem to get out of it, everything is a huge challenge.  I don't even like what I did in my gluebook today... maybe I'll share that tomorrow, the good, the bad, and the ugly....  full disclosure, LOL!  Ah well, we've all been there, right?  I'll stop whining now. ;)

Here is the first installment of my swaps.  Collage and stamped images are from Red Lead, Crafty Secrets, Oxford Impressions, The Graphics Fairy, and Lisa's Altered Art.  If you have a question about a specific image, just email me, I'll let you know what's what.

I hope your week is going well.  The kids are back in school this week, trying to get back into the daily grind.  It means I have extra time to craft... just wish that ol' mojo would join me. ;)  'Til next time.... have a happy.

Gingersnap Creations "Horror Stories"

A new theme challenge has just begun over at Gingersnap Creations, and this month it is "Horror Stories."  Our inspiration for the entire month of October is Edgar Allan Poe... how fun is that?!?  I decided to use The Fall of the House of Usher as the inspiration for my piece - the poem within the story (from which the quote is taken); the narrator's vision of the fissure that extended from the top to the bottom of the house, with its "vacant eye-like windows"; the ghost of the sister, Madeline.  All of the stamps used are from Oxford Impressions - "Haunted" and "Trick or Treat."  All of the DT's projects are so wonderful, I hope you'll have time to go take a look.  There's so much cool stuff gong on over at Gingersnap Creations this month... with AlphaStamps is our sponsor, and Mary Green (of gluebook fame!) as our muse.... you won't want to miss it. ;)