Trick or Treat

Simple card today, with a Dollar store prop! ( A little photoshop elements brush action, too!) The stamps are all the mini Inkadinkadoo Stamps. Itty Bitty Backgrounds splatter stamp from Stampin'UP! is also included. I think I use that on every card I make. Of course some ribon and a moon charm. ( Moon charm is causing the ribbon to sag, oh well.) Oh yes, the stmaped images at the top portion of the card are silver embossed . They almost look white with the editing.

Be sure to check out the other Wicked Bloggers on the blog roll to the right. Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you tomorow!

Death by Candy Corn II - Mini tutorial

Death by Candy Corn II.
A tag, the swirls are See D's Rubber Stamps, Candy Corn is from the little mini two packs from Michaels. The Dancing Skeleton is from either Mrs. O'Leary's or Stamp Camp.

The rest of the post is a mini tutorial on what "brushes" are on PhotoShop Elements. ( Very BASIC!)






Open an image in your Photoshop Elements program. Add a new layer. ( You'll find "layer" on the tool bar at the top of the page. Click on it and a menu drops down, select NEW.) You don't have to do this, but adding the layer makes it easier to edit.
I took these with my iPhone, just wanted to get some images up so you could see what it's all about.

On the tool bar to your left you will see a picture of a paint brush, click on it.

Select the brush tool on the left

After selection brush tool, select the type of "brushes" you want to use, then select the specific brush. Your program comes with basic brushes, you can find free brushes online and pay a small fee for licensing.

Mark or brush hovering over the image. When you click the mouse it adds the color.

You can see the brush tool over to the right and the colored image it will leave when you click on the mouse.

another tool brush on the top tool bar allows you to change the angle and orientation of the tool brush, you can also change the size and color of your tool brush, as well as opacity.

You can find great "paint brushes" at http://www.obsidiandawn.com/ .
I took a couple of classes here http://www.shabbycottagestudio.com/store/WsDefault.asp?One=1420
Gail's classes are great! This one gives you the bascis of layers and shows you how to use a lot of different tools. It's a great jump start if you are trying to muddle through Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. I took another one of her digital classes as well. Worth the time and money.

Thanks for visiting. See you tomorrow!

Too Cute To Spook

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind. ~Dr. Seuss

Remember the photo booths from the 60s. Here I am with my best friend Monica. 1963? We were 10. ( And friends forever!)I made this collage with some quilt wrapping paper scraps, and other paper scraps, layered onto a piece of a game board.
 
The stars were from a purchased wreath that had seen better days. The photo had been scanned and printed onto copy paper, I think I would have had better results printing onto cardstock, but I was trying to use up "stuff" from the "stash". Notice the stamped spiders, from one of the Mini Inkadinkado sets. There are some punch out diecuts from "Authentique". I finished the collage with a layer of bees wax. Always and adventure.
 

Still studying the rat names.......will announce my prize winner soon! ( If you are like me you are desperately trying to keep posting, and commenting, crafting, creating and still carry on your real life! LOL and having fun, of course!)
 
Thanks for looking and be sure to check out the other 31 Days of Halloween Wicked Bloggers on the links listed on the right!

Smeared & Smudged

It's the 31 Days of Halloween at Smeared and Smudged and it's Smeared Ink day. It's optional to use a Smeared Ink rubber stamp in your project today. You can find the funky collection here http://www.smearedink.com/

I just got a stash of stamps from them this week! Time to play. So I doodled in my journal with some of the images and took a photo with my iPhone, uploaded to my computer and added some photoshop elements brush embellishments.



the top Photo is before the addition of the photoshop elements embellishments.

Usually I add background material to a page before working, but I wanted to get busy with the stamps to post in time for Friday. While the top page is ok, the white space is sometimes unappealing, and the addition of the 'brush' elements just adds interest to an otherwise ordinary page. I'm all about trying to make ordinary interesting.

Last but not least, a close up of the Smeared Ink image

Pretty much fun if you ask me! Check out the other Wicked Bloggers in the blog roll on the right!

And my rat friends are still accepting name suggestions! They'd love to share this prize with you!

"Hold on Man! We don't go anywhere with 'scary', 'spooky', 'haunted', or 'forbiddin' in the title.

Probably the wrong quote for Smeared & Smudged 31 Days of Halloween, 'cause everywhere you turn, it's "Scary", "Spooky", "Haunted" and "Forbidden". But that doesn't stop the Wicked Bloggers. Be sure you check out the other links in the blog roll to the right.

Scooby Doo's quote was perfect for this journal page. I painted this page with the acrylic green, and "collage pauged" ( Traci Bautista's gluing medium)the ghostly image. I use whatever I happen to find on sale or have a coupon or I am inspired to try. No real product loyalty here. ( However the Claudine Hellmuth Mixed Medium is especially nice, but pricey for the size.) Mod Pauge works nice, too as well as the assorted brands of gel mediums.

The image came from a vintage text from the books below, we had these when I was at home as a mere child. My folks bought them when my brother was little, in the late 40s. I came along in the early 50s. I ran across a set of these and had to pick up a couple of volumnes.

 

I used some more of those Inkadinkado Mini stamps I picked up at Joann's and my local scrapbook store. Don't you love that little row of tombstones. Add some shading with a graphite pencil and some highlights with a white gel pen. You're set.

 

Here's a few detail photos. I think the 3 and the 1 may be from Stampin'Up collage alphabet / numbers.



Now, the prize pack from my rat friends. They need a name, we had several suggestions yesterday, which were pretty good. The rats are androgynous, so they really don't care if it's a boy's name or a girl's name.

The prize pack includes 3 Men's Clothing Alteration Tags, 3 vintage and naturally aged Bingo cards, 3 tags, 3 special labels, and 3 pairs of Pince-Nez, never before worn by any human. The rats and blood splatter will stay here. Isn't this exciting!

So think of some names, and you can enter more than once.


I found
yesterday's cloaked kitty at http://www.stamplandchicago.com/  #3318-18

Every dog has his day - but nights are reserved for the cats.

I'm a dog person, I just like dogs. I never had a cat. I always feel guilty when I stamp with a cat. So this one is wearing a disguise. Don't tell my dogs! Maybe they won't notice the cat, or the rats for that matter.


This is embarrassing all around. I don't know the source of the cat stamp. I want to say it's Third Coast, it looks like her style. But I'm sure I got it at a stamp convention awhile back, and I don't think Third Coast has been out to any of them that I have been to locally.Have you been to one of those? A million and one stamp vendors. I lose track of what I buy where. When I was buying I don't think I had started blogging or submitting cards for publication, so I just bought and stamped. My friend has made a spread sheet of her stamps. (She's one of those logical/sequential people.) I just try to keep them in a box, and that takes a great deal of effort.

The rat kept sticking his/her nose into the photos. They need names. Any suggestions? A prize might be in order. I'll post a picture of the prize tomorrow. So post some name suggestions and we'll see what happens!

Oh....yeah the card. I stamped the kitty on a piece of scrap printer paper. Cut it out for a mask. Do the same with the Ghost ( $1 Michael's stamp). Stamp the kitty image on white cardstock, use your kitty and ghost mask as needed to stamp a gaggle of ghosts on your card. Stamp the word "friends" ( Stampin' UP!) and color in with black marker. Color the background with orange. ( Copic, I think, but any orange will do.) Add a little flourish of multi-color fiber.

It's day 5  - The 31 Days of Halloween. Check out the blogroll to the right for the next Wicked Blogger! Check back tomorrow for more Halloween fun.

Death By Candy Corn Part - 1

I started early making my 31 Days of Halloween projects. Mostly that meant I did a lot of shopping. I had plans for making a display with my "candy corn" pieces. I kept eating the props. (At least the candy corn and chocolate eyeballs.) I had every intention of using "stuff" I had at home. It worked for about 5 minutes. I hit the road and headed to the local Dollar Tree. Don't buy your candy corn there. It's "generic", and while many things generic aren't different, diet colas and candy corn seem to fall into that category where you need to buy name brand. Disappointing I know.

My skeleton prop came from Dollar Tree, as well as the martini glass.The candy corn, Brach's, came from the local grocer! Now I have all these bags of candy corn. ( Well, at least as I write this I do.) I found this recipe for Candy Corn Cordials from the food network. You'll find other Candy Corn recipes there as well!



I used some decorative paper for a background and an ATC sized black scrap. Stamp the candy corn images on scraps of white paper, color with your Copic markers, then stamp with the cute pumpkin face cut out from Third Coast Rubber Stamps. I found the cute candy corn stamp in the Michael's $1 bin. ( It's been lurking in my stash for awhile and is happy to be out and about!)

Check out the other 31 Days of Halloween bloggers in the blog roll on the right! Thanks for stopping by and come back again tomorrow!

Vampires!

Vampires, Bats and Ghosts OH MY!
I try to avoid vampire movies, like .....welll....like Vampires! I confess I enjoyed the Twlight Series ( Books and movies, anything to turn kids on to reading!)

I didn't find good vampire quotes, but I found some movies. Oh good :(

FW Murnau's German silent classic is the original and some say scariest Dracula adaptation. You can catch some of it here on you tube.
Nosferatu 1922 I am properly scared just by the trailers.

Or you can catch this version from 1996 From Dusk Till Dawn, with George Clooney. (How can you pass up anything with George Clooney) Dusk Till Dawn 1996

This card was kind of fun, I used some Basic Grey background paper. The cute vampire movie poster clip came from some fun scrapbooking paper I picked up at a local scrapbook store in St. Louis For Keeps Sake. The paper is from Karen Foster Designs. eek and the bats are Inkadinkado clear mini stamps. Both JoANN's and For Keeps Sake had a fun selection. ( However, they were $1 at JoAnn's and For Keep Sakes had them for $2.25, however, FKS had a larger selection....and I ended up buying from both. ( So I try to hit both the big box and local shops)

 I embossed the "eek" with some of Tim Holtz Distress embossing powder. I had gotten some at my favorite craft recycling shop ( she had bought out a local shop that was going out of business,) UpCycle Exchange. I had never used it, and had sort of expected it to work like regular embossing powder, but it works more like embossing powder that doesn't work right. You just need to be aware of it's effects before you stamp, you could be disappointed. Just be sure to use the right image and it will be great. I'm still glad I didn't pay the $4.99 that was marked on the container. At Upcycle, you pay what you want, and also trade. ( I have been weeding my fabric collection and have been getting some great deals!)

Of course, be sure to add a favorite smiggen of fiber to your piece, and be sure you check out the other 31 Days of Halloween participants listed in the sidebar!

See you tomorrow!

I'll bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween.

I have the honor of serving on the Third Coast Rubber Stamps Design Team. Each month we received a stash of "Challenge Stamps". The three nude women in the journal page above is one I recently received. I like it! But I was trying to figure out a way to use in for my 31 Days of Halloween entry and my Third Coast Blog day.

One of my many favorite things to do on the internet is search for quotes. I had searched for Halloween quotes when I first signed up for 31 Days. I remembered seeing "I'll bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween". The perfect quote! I like journaling with quotes and words and using ransome note lettering. I have a stash of letters that I keep in two embroidery floss organizers.

I pick up travel brochures when we travel, studying the brochures carefully for the perfect fonts. I know I prefer the fonts with "serifs" but pick up others that have cool color combos or are the perfect size. I try to keep a stash, so that I can sort through each letter looking for the perfect one that will be appealing with the other letters in the quote and with other art on the page.

Stamp the image on some scraps of designer paper and embossed with fine black embossing power. Apply a wash to your journal page using acrylic paint. Adhere your stamped images and add lettering, and assorted other quotes. I found some other interesting quotes about naked and or nude people from the internet.

"Clothes make the man (or woman). Naked people have little or no influence on society." Mark Twain

Check out all of the art stamps on Third Coast, at the links to the right. Three Nudes is # FA - 201-I .

Thanks for visiting Day 2 of The 31 Days of Halloween! Be sure to click on the next link in the blog roll at the right.

Day 1 - The 31 Days of Halloween

Welcome to The 31 Days of Halloween! Also World Card Making Day! Check out the links in the side bar to all the Wicked Bloggers participating in The 31 Days of Halloween.

Don't you love those little stamps they sell at Michael's for only a $1. A couple of years ago I picked these up in their $1 section. Even better, they were in a two pack, 50 cents each!

I used some designer paper scraps I picked up at my local craft recycling shop The Upcycle Exchange  in Saint Louis. Layer the paper onto your card. Next make an ATC sized card with a faux postage stamp template from SplitCoast Stampers

Print the template onto card stock, cut out the shape you would like to use, make a mask to help keep your image contained in the shape! I love doing this and love all the templates you can find on SplitCoast Stamers.





Of course you have to add some organdy ribbon or some sort of fiber!

The photo at the top has been embellished with Photoshop Element Brushes from http://www.obsidiandawn.com/ You can use the brushes for free or purchase a license for commercial use. I love them. This one was postage related brushes! Very Fun!


Check back daily for more of The 31 Days of Halloween!

Ever grateful

World Card Making Day is October 1, and The 31 Days of Halloween will begin as well! Come back and check it out!

-Posted using my iPhone and Blogpress.

On the road

Spent the week in Vero Beach, Florida. Had a great time, glad we were there!

















- Posted using my iPhone and Blogpress.

How Do Monsters Tell Their Fortune?

Are you getting ready for the 31 days of Halloween, starting in just 17 days? I'm participating in a blog hop as a Wicked Blogger. At this point I have 15 pieces ready for the blog hop! It's all I can do to keep from posting them. The rules state, however, that the items are to be new pieces and never "shown" to the public. (Funny!) Check back here and you'll see a different post with Halloween and Day of the Dead Art and  Art from the Dark Side. I've been stocking up on Halloween goodies from the Dollar Tree and digging through my stash of stuff to put together  Halloween vignettes! Sounds like fun, hope you can join me. You'll also find this particular "art" piece on the Third Coast Design Team blog tomorrow. Check out the work of the other design team member while you are there.

In addition I used "paint brushes" from Obsidian Dawn to digitally enhance this piece for blog publication.

Witchcraft!

“With color one obtains an energy that seems to stem from witchcraft.”

Henri Matisse

This cute witch in her airplane is coming soon to Third Coast Rubber Stamps!