October 23~ 31 Days of Halloween Wicked Blogger Challenge Day 23~Danza de la Muerte

Hi Happy Thursday!

Welcome to Day 23 of 31 Days of Halloween! The Smeared and Smudged 31 Days of Halloween Challenge is to create a daily project using a stamp, rubber or digi, and run from there. Remember to pop over HERE to Terra's blog to see the daily Scavenger Hunt prizes donated by our awesome sponsors and find the daily clue. You can also see all the rules there, too. For your reference I have the Wicked Blogger Hop list on the ride sidebar:)

Today's exploration comes from more banner play. This time I fell in love with a banner project made by Diana Trout and it was on her post and contest that I won the set of the ArtistCeller stencils, Danse Macabre. I used one stencil on a tag earlier in the month HERE


Click to see it bigger if you like:)

I made a long post....I hope you don't mind! 
Warning TEXT and PICTURE heavy!

I made the banner using deli paper, the same paper they use in sandwich shops to wrap up your sandwich. It is sold in the restaurant supply shops. I found some here at Smart & Final, a box of 500 sheets for about $8. It is called dry wax paper. 

I love how the light and shadows play here:)

I used Distress Paint right on my craft mat and sprayed with water. Then I pressed the deli wrap into the paint and pulled it slowly off. I made a lot of sheets, so fun to play.

Once dry I picked out the sheets I liked the best and tried the papercutting. The papercutting is just like cutting snowflakes! Fun!

Once done with cutting, I placed the dancing dead stencil where I wanted it and sponged on acrylic paint. I added more flowers using an Inkadinkado flower stamp dipped in Distress Paint. If you use paint on your stamps, make sure you wash them off as soon as you are done stamping:)

Now I wanted it to be more, lots more festive. I knew I wanted ribbon and flowers. I had ribbon that was easy. I don't have a flower stash and I really like using what I have on-hand. Besides, handmade is so much more fun.

There are lots of sources of how to make paper flowers. The easiest one is to cut up a bunch of flower shapes or even circles in whatever size you want. You can use any sort of paper too. Book pages are lots of fun.  Just cut up a bunch all basically the same size pieces. You can use a paper punch, freehand it, or use a flower die if you have a die cut machine.

I used my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and cheap tissue paper I had on-hand. I folded and re-folded the tissue till I had a lot of layers then placed it on the die and cut. Bit easier on the hands to do them this way.

I used the smallest flower in the set as I wanted the flowers to be close to a Marigold.

Take a stack of the cut "petals" and staple them in the middle. You can also use a brad if you like. Now starting with the top layer, gently pull it up and crunch it up, ruffle it. Proceed through each layer until they are all ruffled. It will be like a tight bud when you are done, so just ease them apart until you have the shape you like.

Along the way I found out the flowers that I had not pulled carefully off the cutter, (I dropped them all over the place) ruffled up much closer to a Marigold. The ones with all the layers aligned are still awesome but a totally different look!

I used the Dylusions spray to get the orange flowers since I did not have orange tissue. I like to spray outside on cardboard 'cuz I am a messy crafter and well the spray ink kinda goes all over.

Long winded, but I really love these flowers and wanted to share:)

Dance like no one cares!

Thanks for all your awesome visits and such wonderful inspiration to play and craft away!

~hugs~

~kim

Sharing this with the flash linky party at Stamplorations: HERE


I am entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge:Anything Goes
And I am entering this into the Mixed Media Monthly October Challenege:Ribbon

October 10~ 31 Days of Halloween Challenge Day 10~Friday Smeared Ink Day

TGIF!!!!

It is Friday October 10, the Tenth day of the 31 Days of Halloween Challenge and it is Smeared Ink Day! For all the Challenge details and the daily clue to the daily Scavenger Hunt, please visit our wickedly busy Terra, HERE.  There, you can visit our lovely sponsors who put up the fabulous giveaways, THANK YOU!

As always the Wicked Blogger Roll is right there with Mr. Neon Skele:) on the sidebar.

Onwards!

A tower of grumpies for your viewing pleasure today! I love the grumpies and the digi can be found HERE in the Smeared Ink Shop. C'mon you knowwww you want them:)

I am a really new colorer, so be kind:) I want to learn more and play more :)  My first coloring project is Here if you are curious:)

I did some re-sizing and flips (in my computer ofc) of these cuties. I printed them onto my on-hand stash Strathmore Mixed Media Heavy 90lb paper. I colored them using Sharpies and Bic Marks It pens. I also have a Prismacolor Colorless Blender pen.

I love my background almost as much as I love the grumpies. Please click to see it bigger:)

I colored the manila tag using Dylusion Spray Inks. The whole spraying, wetting, blotting till it was blotchy enough. Then I sprayed some more water on it and sprinkled rock salt on it. Let sit till dry. It makes the really cool spots you can see in the background in the colors.

I used a stencil and applied embossing fluid, the Ranger dabber one, onto the tag through the stencil. Then I sprinkled clear UTEE and melted it with my trusty heat gun. UTEE= Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel. It is thick and lovely. I made the raised puddles this way. 

That step gave me yummy raised bumps. Now I took my Distress Ink Embossing Pad and ran it over the raised surface. Then I sprinkled on some Verdigris EP. Melted. Inked again and this time used Distress Embossing Powder in Tea Dye, a yummy rusty brown color.

That's pretty much it, sorry for being so wordy today! If you have any questions, just ask:)

Thanks for all your lovely visits and kind comments!~hugs~

~kim

October 7~ 31 Days of Halloween Wicked Blogger Challenge Day 7~12 Tags of 2014

Happy Tuesday!

A sweetly spooky tag today this 7th day of October! 7th project in 7 days for the Smeared and Smudged 31 Days of Halloween fun! If you need the details, pop over to Terra's blog HERE

Should you need a refresher for the Blog Hop, it is right there under Mr. Neon Skele on the right sidebar. Thanks so much for all the enthusiasm in your comments, sooo appreciated<3

I know you all are super busy and so let's just Hop to it! Off we go....

Boo! My inspiration was drawn from Tim Holtz and his 12 Tags of 2014 October Challenge :)

Please click each image for a larger version:)

I have a manila tag, plain then transformed! I stamped the black cat and spider and embossed them in black, following Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2014 October make. Then I cut a mask for each, once the tag cooled, I used Tim's Dot Fade stencil and applied texture through the stencil and over the embossed images.

The skele kitty is another stencil from the Danse Macabre stencil set by Beatrice Coron. I just wanted the kitty portion this time around, so I only applied paste in that area.

Now let the paste dry.....while waiting I stamped the pumpkins with Jet Black Archival ink.

Then colored them with Distress Inks and water brush. Once dry I added Glossy Accents to the colored portion for a bit of dimension.

Once the paste was dry, I added some Distress Ink though stencils at the bottom, the diamonds and blocks then clear embossed them.

That done,  I misted the whole tag with water. Then I used Dylusions Spray inks to play. I love the vibrant color! I sprayed and blotted until I was happy with the pattern.

Cut out the pumpkins and adhered them to the surface.

Thanks so much for your visit!

~hugs~

~kim

I am linking to Tim Holtz ongoing challenge: 12 Tags of 2014 October 
I encourage everyone to pop over and see all the wonderfulness!

Altered Playing Card Challenge~APCC~Play Along! Week 2~SSS Wednesday

Hey There!

Thursday's to-do list is done: I finished my two altered playing cards for Claudine's Play along, week #2. Come play with us in this fun and casual environment! Super easy to do and easy to catch up. You can see all the details HERE . So many inspirational projects, it is a happy place!

This week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday is all about Backgrounds, I think this project is an awesome fit!

For Claudine's Week 2, the basic suggested supplies were Dylusion Spray Inks. If you have not played with them I highly recommend it! They are so bright and fun! They are water reactive, so they are easy to lighten up if you feel they are too dark. Just take care when mixing colors so it doesn't get too muddy.


My two cards for week 2:

Feel free to click for a better bigger picture :)

I covered both cards with white gesso. I was pretty sloppy/casual about it, leaving brush marks and adding swirls. I wanted to start creating texture:)

On top of the gesso I used Dylusions sprays. I sprayed them heavy and let the colors run.

I really liked how the backgrounds came out, the colors are so vibrant. I did not really want to cover them up! I remembered to take a photo of the purple one before I attached the surface pretties.

At first the purple and turquoise were a bit dark, so once it was dry, I spritzed it with water again and dabbed some off. I am happy it revealed more swirls. Once this was dry I applied some dots with Distress Paint using the eraser end of a pencil. The Distress Paint also reacts with the sprays and you can get some cool effects too.

Next I worked on coloring the stamped and embossed images. This is the first time I used markers to color stamps. I just used the Sharpies and Bics I already had on hand. I also used a colorless blender pen to pull off some of the marker ink. I colored inside the gears with a waterbrush using some more Distress Paint.

On Be Fearless I played with some white lines using a white jellyroll pen. It kinda blends on the Dylusions, too. Nice surprises along the way:) I stamped and embossed the la la la not sure if you can see it. I stamped it with white pigment ink and embossed with clear. 

Time does fly and this Challenge, Play along is super fun! I really hope you have a moment to leave a comment and then hop over and join up to play. You can find the details HERE

I am also linking to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge:Backgrounds!

Have a lovely day!

~kim

~Tag Play~Sunday Stamper: Bits & Pieces Hels Sheridan

Hi There!

Hope you are enjoying your August Day! July left too fast...amazing!

Bit of tag play to share today! I have been a follower of Hels Sheridan's blog, HERE, long before I decided to actually get inky crafty. She has great tutorials and brilliantly lovely projects, always a great inspiration. Super funny to read, too. Make sure you pop over to take a look.  Each Sunday she posts a fun prompt to play with. I finally got organized and time managed enough to join up!

Here is my play tag, enjoy :)

I used a tag I made awhile ago with Distress Paints and marbling. I added some Distress Ink with stencils on top. I practiced my stamping and embossing with the Tim Holtz stamps.

 I absolutely LOVE the heart stamp. I bought that set mainly for that particular stamp even though they are all really cool. I made the heart red with some Dylusions Red Spray Ink and a waterbrush.  I needed polkadots, truly really needed them and tragically(!) I have no polkadot stamp. Next best thing a bit of stashed ribbon :)

Another of my favorite things are flowers made from paper. I made these a bit ago as well. They were sprayed with Dylusions Purple Spray Ink and again with water to lighten up the centers. 

Thank you for visiting! I hope you like my project, all comments are greatly appreciated :)

Stencil Play~June 17

Hello!

Hope Summer is going well for everyone so far! As always seems to go by too fast, hahaha!

Had some time to play with some stencils and paint today. I made this postcard, it is about 4"x5". I made it with the Simon Says Stamp, Wednesday challenge in mind, the theme, STENCIL IT. I used the Crafter's Workshop Mini Gears stencil, Distress Paint and tissue.

Below are a couple of photos, click to see each one a bit bigger:) Thanks for looking! I really am happy you stopped by today!!

This is the complete postcard. I love the texture the tissue stamped and stenciled images add to the project. The base paper was embossed then colored with Dylusions spray to highlight the raised portions.

I stenciled the mini gears onto tissue paper using black archival ink. Once dry, and it dries quick!, I used distress paint on the non-stick craft mat and dipped the stencil and stamped tissue into it.

After everything was dry, I tore apart pieces and started layering! I love how each layer melts into the previous one. The archival ink does not run or smear when wet. The distress paint stays clean and clear too. The Dylusions spray inks do run when re-wetted with the gel medium I used in layering. But that effect I like as well, I just get my fingers inky and pasty and push it all around, the color bleed is really nice so it's all good:)

Thanks again and make sure to check out all the awesome projects at Simon Says Stamp, Wednesday Challenge.