Day 14- 31 Days of Halloween: Potion Scroll

Welcome back! Before we get started with my Day 14 project, I have a special Smeared Ink announcement for you... we are having a SALE!



From today through October 17, Smeared Ink is hosting a Halloween Hysteria Sale! Stock up on your favorite in-stock Smeared Ink images at 25% off*. Includes all in stock rubber and digi sets.

Our shop will reflect the sale prices, and we will be updating available quantities for each rubber set. Once our inventory is gone, the set will no longer be available to purchase at the sale price.

*Please Note: Sale price not valid on preorder or out of stock stamp sets, cling mount, apparel or other gift items.

Now is the perfect time to stock up on all your favorite stamp sets from Smeared Ink! All of our newsletter subscribers got the info on the low-down yesterday, so be sure if you are planning on getting a set or two or three, that you read the qty amount 'cause once they are gone, they revert back to full price!

Okay, now that I've told you about the sale, here is my project, and I absolutely LOVE it! It is a potion scroll; kinda like a checklist for the resident witch. No, not me... the make-believe one that only comes out at Halloween. The one who uses creepy ingredients and silly elixirs and who never cleans the cobwebs off anything!

*click pics to view larger














Did you catch a glimpse of one of my decorated endtables in the background? That's a teaser for my Halloween Room, which I hope you end up liking especially after all this hype! Ha ha!

So, back to the scroll, I started with a long piece of paper and attached two sticks that I found in my yard with heavy-duty glue. One of the sticks I wrapped in some wired chording first. I stamped my witch's cupboard images from Third Coast Rubber Stamps using stazon, and then colored them using muted tones. Then I took my colorbox tool and using three different distress pads, inked up the whole paper front and back. In some spots I used a leaf as a mask, just to give some odd lines and depth. I also covered my images to make sure the scroll looks really old.

Then I did my lettering, which I'm none too impressed with, but at least it looks hand written like it's supposed to. That's what I get for trying to write neatly, I should have just used my regular penmanship. Anyways, the final step was to add a gold leafing to the edges, roll it up, and tie with some antique lace ribbon scrap.

So, I'd love to hear what you think about it! I know it uses alot of the same materials and techniques as all my other projects so far this month, but at least I can say I have a theme :) I hope you get to hop to all the other Wicked Blogs today, and be sure to check back a little later to find out who wins the hidden digi from yesterday!

Day 13- 31 Days of Halloween: Witchy Sign

Welcome back everyone. Today we are on day 13, and I have a fun decoration to share with you. Just as a reminder, if you need a refresher on our 31 Days of Halloween rules, click HERE.

Alot of my projects this year have been focusing on decorations for my house. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first one is because I got tired of lugging all my Halloween stuff with me every time I moved, so before we sold our house in South Carolina and moved here to Washington, I had a garage sale and got rid of all the little kiddie decos. You know how you can accumulate to the point that you just get tired of looking at everything? Well, that is where I was at the time and I just kept what I truly loved.

The second reason is because alot of my old decorations were truly scary and meant for haunted houses or older kids. My oldest two loved them, but my younger two are at the point that all of the gore and grotesque stuff that usually comes with Halloween really scares them. All the creepy masks, scary movies, and spooky props are really starting to make them have a bad association with the holiday, and I definitely don't want that as it is my favorite time of year! I want them to love it as much as I do and celebrate it for what it truly is.

So, I've really been playing up the eerie, subtle creepiness this year rather than outright scariness. I am almost done completely with my Halloween room and will share pics soon, but for now I have a witchy sign for you.

I started with a scrap piece of lumber that was hidden in the bottom of my wood burning pile out back. The renters must have thrown it down there, and they said we could use the wood, sooooo I used it. It was already pretty aged, so all I had to do to it was add some brown distressing ink around the edges. I drilled a hole in each side, and attached some ribbon to hang it. Then I stamped a broomstick from Third Coast using the same distress ink in a row across the wood. It's very faded, but I wanted it to be like that to make it feel old. I thought about adding color to the brooms, then decided against it.

Then I took black paint and just lettered my sign; it says "Broom Parking".



This sign is hanging in my entry way for convenient parking all around. The final touch was to add my pegs, which are just a fallen tree limb that I cut into equal lengths and nailed to the bottom. You can see that I have a decorative broom hanging from the middle peg. I actually have a couple of brooms that I need to pull out, one of which needs to be re-sewn with new broomcorn, but you get the idea.





I know the stamping technique is minimal, but I think this is just a sweet decoration that the kids are loving, and I love it because it is whimsical and simple. I may leave it up all year! I am debating on adding some sort of dried flowers or something to either end, but I haven't found anything yet that I like. I'll keep an eye out. Or maybe if someone knows a good 3-D paper-flower tutorial that they can pass along... I don't really know how to make paper flowers (can you believe it?)

You know, since we are on the subject of brooms, I heard that Witch Ivy from Wild Flower Kids has lost hers! Maybe you can spot it today on one of the Wicked Blogs listed in my sidebar. If you do, be sure to email me and tell me where it is. I'll compile all the names of those of you who do and I'll draw for a winner tomorrow, who will receive a Witch Ivy digi courtesy of Wild Flower Kids!

Off you go, and have fun!

February Smeared and Smudged Sketch Challenges

February boasts even more great challenges on the Smeared and Smudged Forum, and I'd like to share with you some information about them and how you can win!

Each month in the Very Sketchy group on the forum, we feature a card sketch and a scrapbook sketch, with an awesome sponsor prize at the end of the month! This month's sponsor is:



Third Coast is a small art rubber stamp company started in 1995. Now carrying more than 5000 stamp images, they work with several artists to bring you new unique and inspiring images. Third Coast has something for every taste!

This month's prize is $50 in product of your choice from Third Coast! Yes, you heard me right, $50 in stamps! To participate in the sketch challenges, just visit the Very Sketchy group on the forum. You can find the Card Sketch HERE. You can find the Scrapbook Sketch HERE.

Along with the sketch challenges, Smeared and Smudged offers some other unique challenges, including the Oh! The Horror Challenge, and a BRAND NEW Rock n' Rolla Video Challenge! (Sounds fun, huh!)

Also, we are currently taking sign ups for an ATC swap and an image swap. You can find all of this information on the homepage of the forum as well as this post. SO, give Third Coast a visit to see their rockin' stamps, and then head over to the S&S Forum to get your challenge on!

Happy Halloween! Bat Wing Fairy Frame

Well, today's the day! We've been through 31 days of Halloween projects on Smeared and Smudged!!!!!! The project I have to share with you today is not the project I had originally planned. Once again, life got in the way and I wasn't able to finish my awesome Halloween Nesting Boxes that I've been working on for a couple of weeks now. They will just have to be a decoration for next year.

But, I do have a project to show you. It is a glass frame that I stamped with a bat-wing fairy and colored. I then used some cool looking eyeball cellophane to add the dark background to it. The glass is very reflective, so it made it hard to get good pictures. You can see the wall reflecting back, so just ignore it and hopefully you can get a feel for the project.



I'm not sure if I will add a picture to this or leave it as-is for a decoration. Either way I think it's way cool, especially in the dark because the eyeballs reflect back really well.

So, today is your last chance to comment for Blog Candy Points or to participate in any of the 31 Days challenges for extra points. Kelli and I will be drawing tomorrow!!

I'd like to wish all of you a very spooky and safe Halloween. I had such a blast with 31 Days, I am positive I will be doing it again next year!!! Thanks for all the wonderful comments and participation, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

Starting tomorrow I will be taking a little bit of a break on my blog. I will be posting randomly two to three times a week. Since the holidays are coming, I will be focusing alot on holiday projects for both the Smeared and Smudged blog and etsy store, so be sure to visit to take a gander!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Trickster

Happy Day Before Halloween! Today I'm sharing a card that I submitted for a DT sketch challenge over on the Any Stamp Will Do ning group. Hopefully it will get me a spot on the DT; I think it's really a cool looking card, and I tried to make it fun and not so dark. Also, I used some of the embellishments that I got from the Smeared and Smudged Halloween embellishment swap.

This card features a glittery, flaming haired skeleton, once again from Third Coast (gotta love those Third Coast Halloween stamps!) I kept the papers simple this time and just tried to utilize the interesting sketch layout as much as I could.

*click for larger pics*




The little spider button came from the swap, and believe it or not, the wide orange ribbon came off of the packaging of a blanket I bought about a week ago, it was tied around it.

So, let me know what you think, and join me tomorrow for the last day of 31 Days of Halloween!

Scary Cat

I figured before my 31 Days of Halloween is over, I better do a cute card so I can be sure to have something for everyone's taste. And today is as good a day as any! This is the last day that Kelli and I will be offering a challenge, so if you'd like to participate be sure to link to your project at the end of this post. The challenge is to use microbeads on your project.

Since I showered my tree card with microbeads, I thought I'd keep this one pretty simple. I used microbeads only on the cat and pumpkin so it gave them some shiny pop. The layers were made with deco paper and cardstock, and the star charm came as a RAK from Kelli earlier this month. Thank you Kelli!!!!!!!





So if you'd like to participate in this or any other 31 Days of Halloween challenge, be sure you do it before Saturday night! You'll get 5 extra blog candy entries! If not, leave a comment to get 1 entry. We'll be drawing in 2 days! If you've forgotten what the Blog Candy looks like, check out my sidebar for more info. See you tomorrow!

Soot Monster-Something Wicked

Day 27 and counting down! Only four days left, can you believe it!?! For my share today, I showing a card that I think may be one of my favorites so far. It's dark, spooky, and has a cool story behind the thought process.

I used a technique called soot stamping, and if you've never done it, you have to try it! You basically hold some glossy cardstock over a candle to cover it in soot, then stamp into it using a versamark or watermark ink to "lift" the soot. The result is stunning! For this card, I used the Candy Monster stamp from Third Coast.

The story behind it is that the Soot Monster comes every Halloween to try and steal all the Halloween magic. The stars on the card represent that Halloween magic, and as you can see, he is eating them! Don't ask where the story came from, I just thought of it while planning out the card; it seemed to make sense at the time.

*click for bigger pics*




Like I said, this is one of my faves and really represents the type of projects that I love to make! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and I'd love to hear what you think.

I also want to mention, if you're interested at all in purchasing a DIY warmer from Scentsy, now's the time to do it! Since she's gotten such a great response, Tori has decided to continue offering the 10% discount on the DIY warmers for the rest of October. If you'd like to get one with the discount, you have to email her your order and mention Smeared and Smudged. To see the products online, visit her site, but remember not to place the order online or she will not be able to discount it.

If you missed my DIY warmer project, you can scroll down to see it or you can find it here. See you all tomorrow!

Hilarious Hags

Well, pumpkin patching and haunted housing ended up spilling over into Sunday, so I missed my post. My oldest had a blast playing Freddy Crueger in the house!! My husband ended up having to work late on Saturday, so the Pumpkin Patch trip took place yesterday. We all enjoyed the corn maze, farm tour, and special storyteller, and it was great non-scary fun for the little ones. I've included a couple of pics at the end of this post for your enjoyment.

Anyways, since I skipped a day, I decided to give everyone a two-fer today. Kelli and I are coordinating and making our projects using patterned paper. Give her a visit if you haven't already, and if you'd like to participate in today's challenge, link to your project by Saturday night! You'll get extra Blog Candy points, plus you'll get to share your fabulous creations.

My cards today feature hilarious hags from Third Coast. The first hag is just full of mischief, and spends her evenings toilet papering houses and leaving flaming gifts on doorsteps. Her sister swoops through the air, but has a very funny problem. Be warned, these cards are not for people who are easily offended, but I know quite a few people who would enjoy them.











I adore these stamps, and will be using them for Halloweens to come! I'd love to hear your thoughts on them. Now I'm off to get some more stamping done and to plan for a school party, only five days to go!!!!!!!!!

Haunted Housing






Pumpkin Patching

Watcher In The Woods

Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched? For my card today I thought I'd use a color combination that is not normally associated with Halloween. I chose green, blue, and brown. These are usually pretty mild colors, but with this creepy watching tree from Third Coast, the card takes on a sinister feel.

I created the silhouette effect by using perfect medium and covering with ink. Then decorative paper layering, paper raffia, and clear microbeads finished the look.







Let me know what you think (and earn Blog Candy points) by leaving a comment. I'm interested in hearing thoughts on this not so traditional Halloween card. I personally love it, but it's always good to hear other opinions!

Now I'm off to enjoy my mommy time...my mom's visiting from Dallas for the next 10 days, so we'll be having all sorts of Halloween fun! See you all tomorrow.

Hairy Scary Girl

Talk about a hair-raising experience! My card today features the Hairy Scairy Girl and Cat from Third Coast, which are images that I absolutely adore! They are both ready for trick or treating, but stare wide-eyed at the darkening sky and creepy bats flying high.

My background paper for this card was handmade using glossy cardstock, alcohol inks, and paint. Both of my images were colored with prismas, and a glossy glaze was added to their eyes. Eyelets, glittered bats, and ribbon added the finishing touches.


*click for close ups*


If you like what you see, visit my Etsy shop! This card is available to purchase. I hope you enjoy it, feel free to leave a comment and get Blog Candy points! Happy 17th Day of Halloween!

Zombie Mail Parchment Set

Today is Thursday, which means Cajun Stampin Queen and I have gotten together to bring you a theme. So far this month we've been featuring themes that revolve around certain things, so today we decided to feature a technique instead-watercoloring.

It's been a really, REALLY long time since I've pulled out my watercolors; in fact I think it's been close to a year or maybe more. I'm not used to doing it anymore, but I was pleasantly happy with the outcome of my project.

Do you remember way back when, I posted a lunchbox and a couple of other items that I had found at the consignment shop? If not, check out my altered lunchbox post. One of the items was a pack of vintage parchment paper in a box, and it had six envelopes and lots of sheets of parchment that were already slightly discolored, stiff, and pretty old looking. They were great! Well, the box found its way into my closet and never left, until now.

I doubt that when Eaton's made this set they intended it to be overrun with zombies, but that's what happened! To make my stationary ensemble, I stamped my Third Coast zombie using stazon on both envelopes and papers. Then I just watercolored away with a brush and my watercolor crayons! It was a very relaxing project to work on. I'm not used to having so little control over how the colors blend, like I said, I'm no watercoloring expert, but I enjoyed mixing the shades and seeing how it all blended. Other than a few muddled spots, I think it turned out pretty neat.


*Wanna see a close up? Click the pics!*





And since the paper was already distressed, my work was easy! I ended up with six envelopes and 18 sheets of paper, ready to deliver a frightening letter! I can't wait to use these, and maybe make some more as gifts. Of course, I'll have to find more parchment sets, but I still have one lying in wait.

So now it's your turn; your challenge if you choose to accept it, is to show off one of your watercolored stamp projects. Link to it in a comment under this post to get 5 Blog Candy entries. Don't remember what the blog candy is? Use the link in my sidebar to take a lookie. If you don't want to watercolor, but still want an entry, leave me a comment and tell me what you think! See you all tomorrow.

Hide-N-Seek Skeley Card

Happy October 10th! My card today was made to match some ATC's that I am working on for the Pennywise yahoo group. While putting those together, I thought it would be cool to have the matching larger piece. There are alot of layers and texture on it, and I used a neat stamp that I just received yesterday from Third Coast. The image is a backward skeleton, and to me it looks like he's counting and playing hide-n-go-seek.





I used cheesecloth for the background that was dyed with alcohol inks. Then I added black gesso and glow-in-the-dark fine glitter. Surrounding the cheesecloth is this really neat chunky silver glitter. My skeley is covered in mini mirco beads, and my "spooktacular" saying is a left-over from some deco paper. The card glows really well when it's in the dark, but you'll have to use your imagination because my camera won't capture it. Go figure.

Love it? Hate it? I'd love to hear what you think, plus if you comment you get more BLOG CANDY entries. How easy is that! See you all tomorrow.

Bleeding Heart Domino Earrings

I felt a little creepy today and decided I needed a pair of really creepy earrings to go along with my mood. So, I brought out my dominos and a really awesome stamp from Third Coast that features a skeleton surrounded by roses. I plan on using the whole stamp later this month, but for now the face of the skeleton will do.

I started by drilling my hole into my domino using my dremel tool. Then I added gray and a little bit of red background using alcohol inks, and some silver accents with a paint pen. The image was stamped with stazon.

After letting it set for a bit, I added some red for the roses and a jeweled brad for the heart. I then finished it with a very thin coat of diamond glaze and some silver paint pen on the sides and back. I debated on adding microbeads to them, but in the end opted for more of the grungy, scuffed-up look.





I can't wait to get a new, much better camera, as these pictures really don't do the earrings any justice. The colors are much deeper than what is shown. I'll try to get some better pics if the sun comes out later.

After I go back to the store and buy some ultra fine tipped paint pens, I think I will try to make some more domino jewelry; it's really fun to do and super easy. As far as these earrings are concerned, I love them and will probably be wearing them long after Halloween passes!

Hag Smack-Down

What happens when an ugly hag and her reflection get into a smack down? Well, I end up with another awesome card, in my opinion! I've been waiting to use this stamp set for a while, and today Kelli and I are featuring projects that use witches; so I was presented with the perfect opportunity to bust these images out of stamp storage.



My hag and accompanying images all came from Third Coast, so check them out if you haven't already. The card was very simple to make by layering papers, a dictionary page, and paint. The coloring was done with prisma pencils, and of course I had to give this badass diva some glitter and sparklies! One of my favorite parts of the image is her tattoed arm.



So now it's your turn... to get 5 extra entries for our enormous BLOG CANDY giveaway, make a project featuring a witch and link to it in a comment under this post. You have until the end of October to do it. Plus, any comment you leave during the whole month will get you one entry, and posting one of my or Kelli's 31 Days buttons will get you an extra 7 entries! Check out my sidebar for more info, and then head to Kelli's to see her witchy project for today!

Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble...

Day four of 31 Days of Halloween! Yay! Thank you to all of you who have been leaving me such wonderful comments, it's really neat hearing what you think about my ideas. I'm having a blast creating all sorts of Halloween goodies for you to see!

Which brings me to my question: Have you seen all those cool looking Halloween jars that everyone seems to have/make/sell now? Well, I HAVE! I've been wanting to start a collection that I can keep for the past few years and just never got around to making any (and I refuse to pay $15 and up for one that's a jar and a sticker, I mean REALLY? SERIOUSLY?). But, I finally sat down and made one.

What inspired me, you ask? Well, it was the cool looking Cholula wooden top. We recycle anything we can, and when we were gathering our box of goodies to take out to the bin, I noticed yet another empty jar of Cholula sitting in the box...we eat it on popcorn and go through several a month. Anyways, I thought to myself "I could have had a pretty good collection by now if I had been saving these." So, I started my collection!






For this first jar I used a gnome witch stamp, saying, black cat and spider from Third Coast Rubber Stamps. The spiderweb is from Bombshell. All of it is embossed in black on my deco paper, and I used alcohol inks along the edges of the labels and images to give it that gray look. Then me and my 3yo filled it with green maggots! I mean, er, green dyed rice.

I have to say, I'm not completely happy with it because I put the top label on all wonky and couldn't get it to sit right. But overall, not bad for a first try. Plus I have lots of ideas swimming in my brain for future jars, so for now I'm off to serve my family some popcorn.

Oh yeah, almost forgot!! The winner (chosen by random number generator) of the card assortment from yesterday's World Card Making Day post is...AnnaManna!!! AnnaManna, I'll be in contact today to get your mailing info. I hope you enjoy the cards, congrats!!