31 Days of Halloween: Day 1-Zombify Me

Well, today's the day...it's officially the first day of October, AND the first day of 31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN 2011 here on Smeared and Smudged!!!Woo Hoo!!!! Are you ready for round three? We are super excited to be bringing you our third annual Halloween/Day of The Dead celebration!

As we did last year, we've recruited some awesomely Wicked Blogs to join in the 31 Days extravaganza, so you'll have a plethora of Halloween goodness to feast your eyes on all month long! The challenge for the Wicked Blogs is to participate all month by providing a different stamped project each and every day in October. If they complete the task, they will be entered into the huge prize drawing at the end of the month!

I know I am looking forward to the challenge again, and I hope you are excited to participate as a Horrifying Hopper or Sinister Lurker. Here's how you do it...
See that long list of participating blogs in my sidebar? The one under the Wicked Blog Button?
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Yep, that's the one. Be sure to visit each one every day in October, and here's how you can win prizes!!

Horrifying Hopper:

What You Have To Do:

Hop through each of the Wicked Blogs that are participating and leave a comment on each project. No need to sign up, just start on the first day and work your way through all the blogs. All Horrifying Hoppers will receive a Survival Button at the end of the month to proudly post on their blog.

The Rules:
You must leave a comment on EACH participating blog EVERY day in October to qualify for the grand prize drawing. Your comment should be about the project or something related (i.e.-no "Here's my comment for today" or "I'm here!"...these types of comments won't count!) If you miss a day or a blog, you will still qualify to receive a survival button, but will not qualify for the grand prize drawing.

Sinister Lurker:

What You Have To Do:
Some of you can't participate all month long, and that's okay! Only Wicked Bloggers and Horrifying Hoppers are up for the grand prize drawing, but if you can't do either of those you will still have the chance to win some Lurker prizes! We will be hiding scavenger hunt pictures randomly throughout the month on various participating blogs...if you find one on any given day, you will be put in for that day's freebie drawing. It may be a coupon, a free digi, or a Halloween goodie, who knows!

The Rules:
Scavenger Items will be hidden randomly on the Wicked Blogs, and are not guaranteed to be available every day. You will have to visit blogs to find them. If you find one, you will email us at smearedinkstamps@gmail.com and let us know exactly where it was and your name will go into that scavenger item's drawing. Each person who finds the "hidden" picture will get one entry. The drawing for each scavenger prize will be the day after it was posted and winners will be chosen by random number based on who emailed. Wicked Bloggers are able to participate and find scavenger pictures as well, unless it is hidden on their own blog. Horrifying Hoppers can participate as well!

Doesn't this all sound like fun? But wait, I know you are now asking yourself "What huge prize drawing at the end of the month is she talking about?" In addition to some awesome scavenger prizes provided by some pretty amazing sponsors, Smeared Ink is offering up this glorious concoction of 31 Days goodies!

*click for larger view

Prize Pack Includes:

Smeared Ink Logo Tank

Raven Collage Throw Pillow

Faes Magnet

Li'l Grumpies Suck It Up Snack Pack

Li'l Grumpies Black & White Bumper Sticker

Raven Collage PJ Set

As Death Journal

Card Goddess Keychain

Winner's Choice of 5 Smeared Ink Digi Sets

Each person who successfully completes the 31 Days as either a Wicked Blogger or a Horrifying Hopper will receive one entry toward this prize drawing. If you successfully complete both, you will receive two entries. (Meaning if you are a Wicked Blog Participant and you comment on every blog every day, you have successfully completed both).

That just about covers all the rules and regulations for this year's celebration. So let's move on to today's event!

Remember how I mentioned sponsor prizes? Well, we're stoked to start our festivities off with an amazing sponsor who has so generously donated a prize for EACH AND EVERY DAY of the month!! Yes, you heard right....we will be giving away 31 prizes from this sponsor!! Wanna know who it is? I know you do!

Rick St Dennis MFA

Seal Beach, California, United States

"Designer of over 100 theatrical productions, Rick St Dennis (Donald McAfee) is also the author of 4 books on decorative painting and contributor to at least a dozen national magazines on crafts and art. He has taught design at the college level as well as seminars and classes across the USA and Canada. He is one of a handful of designers to have designed TWO productions of AIDA, Verdi's massive Egyptian opera spectacle. Currently living in the quiet beach community of Seal Beach, California he writes restaurant reviews and theatre reviews between assignments for web designs, logos and creating art for local shows. Rick has appeared on such TV shows as Home Matters with Susan Powell, Aileen's Crafts and others. He was Crafts editor for Country Folk Art Magazine and sells his artwork nationally through galleries and shows. Among numerous awards he won a presidential commendation in 1976 for his contributions to the bicentennial year including the design of the west coast premier of William Grant Still's opera BAYOU LEGEND. His drawings and paintings are in the collections of Diana Ross, Sandy Duncan, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jacqueline Onnasis amongst others."

We are thrilled to show you this amazing digi set that Rick has put together for 31 Days, and even more thrilled to tell you that there will be a hidden image EVERY DAY for your chance to win it! SO, be on the lookout and when you find it, email smearedinkstamps@gmail.com and let us know where it is!

So now that you're all hyped up on prize info, let's move on to my project for today. I am going to try really hard to make a whole bunch of decorations this year, so you may see very few cards from me. I started with an idea for some of these decorations when Angela Brown, a.k.a. Lady Brayton, presented her Zombie Headshot digi set to us. In case you didn't notice, both Tori and I are part of the set.

It has become a tradition for LB to turn all of us into zombies for our birthdays, and the Sinister Zombie image is actually me! How cool is that!! So, I thought it would be fitting to turn a wooden plaque into a self- portrait of sorts.

*click to view larger

The image is, like I said, Sinister Zombie from our Zombie Headshot digi set. I started with just a plain wood plaque and added in lots of paint layering, layers of newspaper (which are barely visible now ) and modge podge. I colored my image and then layered that in as well, then put even more paint washes! I decided my portrait needed some mossy, moldy looking stuff, so I used Kona Crackle to achieve that effect and then painted over. The final touches were adding on a dark greenish/black glitter outline, the spanish moss, and the nails. Finally I added my hemp hanger.

I will be making more of these to hang as a collection, so be on the lookout for them during the month. I had alot of fun with this one and I love it!! Hope you do too.

So now that you've read my EXTREMELY long post (don't worry, it won't always be this way), it's time for you to hop through all the Wicked Blogs! Don't forget the list is in the sidebar. I know there are tons this year, but just pace yourself and enjoy. You are sure to get eerie inspiration overload, but it's going to be fantastic!!! Have fun!!!