It's Halloween! Day 31 of 31 Days & SBS Great Pumpkin Exchange Hop

Happy Halloween/Samhain! I can't believe it's here! Halloween 2011. I am so sad to say goodbye to this wonderful month. I am having some serious technical difficulties today, what with my main computer crapping our on us. Plus, the laptop I'm typing on could very well explode at any given moment. ;) Add to that the lack of heat in my house today, and, well...things aren't exactly going quite right at the moment. Originally, I was going to make a layout of me in my costume, since I wore it to Phoenix's school the other day. But I couldn't print b/c of the whole computer issue.
But on to what I did make for the last day of the Smeared & Smudged 31 Days of Halloween. I figured I would make one more of those clean and simple cards (which I just learned was what CAS meant- I didn't have a clue what it stood for!). Plus, today I am sharing my Simply Betty Stamps Secret Pumpkin gift. If you haven't been following the story on what that is, click HERE. But before I show you the Great Pumpkin gift, let me show you my card.

This is yet another of those fabulous $1.00 Inkadinkado stamps. I smudged some Pumice Stone Distress Ink behind the tombstone, and inked the image with StazOn. I also used some Diamond Stickles as I did with the other 2 cards that had this vibe. I drew the border in with a watercolor marker.

I do wish the month had more than 31 days, as I had so many other projects I wanted to make and share with you. Bottles, more pendants, scrapbook pages. One thing is for sure, I will be making more Halloween projects soon. Hopefully next month! :) I just can't wait until next year to make more.
On to my Secret Pumpkin. My gift was from Rio, Betty's daughter. And what a cool gift it was!

Check out this super cool bucket! All of those fabulous ribbons! The spooky paper! And what was inside??? My socks and TWIX! My absolute favorite candy bar!!! Yummy! There will be no sharing of the Twix bars. ;)

And here are the awesome socks Rio sent me. The picture is quite crooked, I know....that's because Phoenix took it! Pardon my pants...they look silly around my thighs like that! A super HUGE thank you to Rio, I adore my bucket, my Twix and my socks! I will have that bucket out all year! Did I mention that she even stamped my name on to the lid? I'm sorry...I should have taken a pic of that too...my mind is a little blown right now from the ruckus here. Here is the list for today's Secret Pumpkin Hop:

 Start: SBS Blog 

Betty

Alison (me!)

Lea

Rebecca

Lelia

Ends back here: SBS Blog

One more pic...I wanted to show you what my makeup looked like the other day. I will most definitely be using this on a layout soon.

Yes, I did the makeup myself. Yes, I will be doing it again today. See the little blue rhinestones? The folks at Phoenix's school really liked it. I hope you'll be back when I make the scrapbook page. I already know what I'll be doing for it. Now to fix that damn computer....

It's been an amazing month! You all said such wonderful things! And what's more...I was so inspired by all of the Wicked Bloggers! I couldn't comment nearly as much as I would have liked...but I was there with you, through the whole thing. You guys all rock! But you do have one more day to get through! Be sure to visit ALL of the Wicked Bloggers, listed in my side bar. Thank you SO much for stopping by. I really hope you will be back soon. Have an absolutely spook-tacular day!!!

Another Simple Elegant Pumpkin Card...Day 30 0f 31 Days

Greetings! What a whirlwind of a day we had yesterday! As you know, it was my Anniversary (thank you so much for all of the well-wishes!), but what you may not know is that here in the North East, we had some pretty awful weather. Snow for one thing! In October? Unheard of! Many, many people without power and heat. We lost power twice yesterday. As a result, our main computer has frtized, and I'm not sure if it will work again. In addition, our oil burner isn't working. Thankfully, it should be fairly warm today. So I'm typing this up on our laptop, with no watermark (yikes!), and without Live Writer ( I hate typing directly into Blogger).
Because yesterday was so busy, I had to scurry and make a quickie card. I made it in a similar fashion to one I had shown you mid-month, because I loved how it turned out. And you all seemed to like it as well!

I put a smear of Ripe Persimmon Distress Ink where tyhe pumpkin would be, then stamped the image (Inkadinkado) on top with StazOn. I went around the edge of the card with a rub on from the now defunct Daisy D's. Lastly, I added some Diamond Sickles.

See the glittery goodness? Like I said, this was super easy, but I think that, because of the image, it's really quite elegant. I think I may make some packs of these and put them in my Etsy shop. By the way, the Anatomical Heart Pendant I made a couple of week's ago is available in my Etsy shop right now!
Aside from the gross weather yesterday, Gene and I had a wonderful time yesterday. It was so nice to reconnect a bit without the banter of children in the background. We did some of our old traditions, and just enjoyed each other's company. Again, thank you for your kind words yesterday. :) In answer to some of your questions, yes, it was a non-traditional wedding. It was a Pagan Handfasting Ceremony. And the theme was Medieval. Almost every person that attended was in costume. Including one of our photographers! It was magickal, and magnificent. Here's a pic from yesterday when we were leaving.

By the way, the crow that is atop one of the mirrors was a Halloween decoration...but we liked him so much, we keep him up all year. Edgar would be proud! :) We are off to a Halloween parade today. I can't beilieve the Big Day is tomorrow!!! Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to visit the rest of the Wicked Bloggers, listed in my side bar. Have a spook-tacular day!

Secret Sister Pendant Day 29 of 31 Days of Halloween

It’s my 7 Year Anniversary!!! It’s been wonderful…and has gone by so fast. I’m thinking we may need to watch our wedding video with the kidlings later. It’s pretty awesome.

A few posts ago, I shared a Beatrix the Witch card from Simply Betty Stamps. I mentioned it was for my Secret Sister in a gift exchange. Today I am going to show you the gift I made her.

I made this pendant by using a fancy Halloween corner stamp from Inkadinkado, and pressing it into translucent clay by Sculpy. After baking, I colored it with Alcohol Inks.

I added a cool star and some pretty beads, and then created the necklace. See the spider in the upper middle of the pendant?

I like how it came out. It’s definitely an unusual piece…but I prefer that, of course! Happily, my Secret Sister loved it! These are so much fun to make, I really encourage you to give these clay pendants a go.

I am off to celebrate my Anniversary now! I promised a couple of pics…here they are. Then and now.

I miss those trumpeters…they should be following me where ever I go! ;)

This (above) is one of my favorite pictures from the entire day.

This was just a couple of weeks ago. This is where we got married….the same spot as in the first picture. We had not been back there since our wedding day…we were so happy to return.

Be sure to visit the rest of the Wicked Bloggers, listed in my side bar. Thanks so much for stopping by. Have an spook-tacular day!

Super Grumpie in Tighty Whities…Day 28 of 31 Days of Halloween

I’ve done it! I’ve done Smeared Ink projects every Friday this month! It’s just like I’m back on the DT! ;) I have another Creepy Little Grumpie card to share with you today. This guy cracks me up.

“Not your typical tighty whites” for sure! Check this guy out! He’s ready to save the world!

I colored this handsome fella in with my watercolor markers. I made him bright and bold…just as a superhero should be. :)

The background was simple…albeit looking a little washed out in my photos. I inked the edges in red, then blue…and I chalked the center in green. Last, I drew in some little “hairs” like those coming on the Grumpie.

Tomorrow is my 7 year Wedding Anniversary! I am very excited! Would you like to see some photos??? But while you wait with baited breath for them…please be sure to visit the rest of the Wicked Bloggers…all listed in my side bar. Thanks for stopping by. Have a spook-tacular day!

Alison does an Oopsie…S&S Day 27 of 31 Days and SBS Day 11 of 12

It’s the end of October…Officially. I am so miserable about it. I just love this month so much, and I never get to do half the things I hope to…but there’s always next October!

There’s been a bajillion things going on in my life right now…nothing bad, but it’s been tough to handle it all. I won’t bore you with the details. With that, I goofed on today’s Simply Betty Stamps 12 Days of Halloween. Today’s challenge is “11 Casks a-leaning.” I was thinking caskets. Yeah. I was wrong. Here is the definition of a cask.

cask |kask|nouna large barrellike container made of wood, metal, or plastic, used for storing liquids, typically alcoholic drinks.• the quantity of liquid held in such a container : a cask of cider.

Needless to say, my project was already made (wrong), and I just didn’t have the time to redo it. Hopefully, Betty won’t hang me. Maybe she’ll just get a good laugh at me being a dweeb. On the bright side…I like the card!

This is Franken Scott. He’s from the Teen Scene Halloween collection from Simply Betty Stamps. Look at him. Trying to be all scary…Not workin’ Scotty! But you are adorable!

I busted out the watercolor markers for this guy…and I like it. The shading is good, and his candy looks yummy. What more do you need?

And there are my caskets. All 11 of them. I counted. With a few boos thrown into the mix. Both of those bad boys are from Inkadinkado.

I must say, I will miss all of the kind words you folks have been leaving me. I really enjoy hearing what you have to say about my work. After October (sniff!) I will be able to leave you all some more love. I just need to catch up with myself. But thank you, for everything. I do hope you will be back to pay me a visit from time to time. :) Now, off you go! You have a lot more hopping to do! Please visit the Simply Betty Stamps Blog to see more with the 11 CASKS, and the rest of the S&S Wicked Bloggers, all listed in my sidebar. Thanks for stopping by. Have a spook-tacular day!

October Bombshell Hump Day Hop & Day 26 of 31 Days of Halloween

It’s time for the latest Bombshell Stamps Hump Day Hop! And, it fits right in to the Smeared & Smudged 31 Days of Halloween. My challenge for the Bombshell fans this month (since I am the official “Hump Day Hottie!”), was a “Very Skellie Halloween…or Day of the Dead.” I wanted everyone to use a skeleton, a skull, or bones in their Halloween or Day of the Dead project. Preferably making a decoration as opposed to a card. for the S&S 31 Days, you are allowed to make Day of the Dead projects, so again, this theme works for both!

We are starting a new tradition in my family. We are going to start having Day of the Dead celebrations on November 1st. Sadly, we lost my beloved Mother in law last year on Halloween, and my Father in Law on December 20th…just 6 weeks later. A few weeks after that, on January 17th, we had to put our dog, Oliver, to sleep. It was a rough couple of months for us, to say the least. On top of this, my Dad passed away 10 years ago this past March. We have lost amazing and wonderful family members…people that I want my kids to know so badly. Hence, the celebration. We will remember them, and celebrate them on the 1st.  We do it on a daily basis anyway…but this will be even more special.

I made the project I am sharing with you today for a friend’s Birthday. He likes skulls, and I’ve seen him wear jewelry, so I thought he would like this. After making it, I realized that this could be a great party favor if we were to ever expand our Day of the Dead celebration past my husband, kids, and myself.

I took the largest Sugar Skull in the Bombshell Sugar Skulls set and stamped it onto a wooden disc that I had painted white. I colored it in with markers (not watercolor markers), and then drilled a hole in the top.

Then I took one of the smaller sugar skulls and stamped it on to the back, which I had already painted black. I used my acrylic paint to stamp the image.

That’s it! It’s a really simple pendant, but it’s also pretty cool since it’s reversible. My friend put it on right away after I gave it to him. Wouldn’t this make a great “thank you” gift for guests?

Here is the entire Hump Day Hop list. I hope you will visit everyone, as they all have amazing projects to share.

Bombshell Blog: http://bombshellstamps.blogspot.com/
Alison: http://alisonsrandomthoughts.blogspot.com (me!)
Mary G.: http://www.mystampinhide-away.blogspot.com
Glittery Katie: http://ferrishyn-frontier.blogspot.com
Cheryl: http://inktrap.blogspot.com
Alex: http://www.paperandstring.blogspot.com/
Kelli: http://cajunstampingqueen.blogspot.com/
Torrey: http://left-field-studio.blogspot.com/
Meredith: http://www.papercanteen.com
Paula: http://heyheypaula-heyheypaula.blogspot.com/
Milo: http://milolilja.net
Alaine: http://missalaineousmosaics.blogspot.com/
Sparkly Mary: http://sparkly-train.blogspot.com/
Stempelientje: http://stempelientje.blogspot.com/
Kathi: http://kathstales.blogspot.com

Also, please be sure to visit the rest of the Wicked Bloggers, all listed in my sidebar. Thanks for stopping by. Have a spook-tacular day!

Coquettes Release Day, Plus Day 25 of 31 Days and SBS Day 8 of 12 Days

It’s release day for the new Coquettes collection from Simply Betty Stamps! Have I mentioned that I came up with the name of this collection? ;) Today I will be showing you 2 of the last 3 images. Time has just completely escaped, so I only got to 2. The first is Lulu.

I had colored her a while back, then I had gotten the  Ltd. Ed. Distress Inks from Kelli, and she coordinated so well! I sponged the inks on and then sprayed it all down with some water, to let the colors bleed a bit. Then I inked on the webbing and title (Basic grey) with StazOn. I added the pretty glitter, and of course Lulu.

I colored her with my watercolor markers. I love the shape of her eyes…

And now I have Priscilla to show you. For this card, I went along with the SBS 12 Days of Halloween. Today’s challenge is “9 Ghosts a Booing.”

I must say, I love how I colored Priscilla. The colors blended so well, the shading was just right, and I think I have an interesting color combo. Do you see my ghosties in the background? I don’t think Priscilla does…

My hair was this color once. I loved it. :) I’ll do it again someday…

There you have it! Another great release from Simply Betty Stamps! And, more projects for the Smeared & Smudged 31 Days of Halloween! Be sure to visit the SBS Blog for more eye candy, as well as the rest of the fabulous Wicked Bloggers, listed in my side bar. Thanks for stopping by. Have a spook-tacular day!

The Coquettes Preview Day and Day 24 of 31 Days

Greetings my fang-tastic friends! It’s time for another preview for Simply Betty Stamps! I will be showing you 2 cards today, both featuring new images from The Coquettes Collection. One card is Halloweenie, and works not only for the Smeared & Smudged 31 Days of Halloween, but also for the Simply Betty Stamps 12 Days of Halloween. The other card….is…c-u-t-e! I know, right? Me? Do cute???

This is Nicholas, and he is of course, today’s Halloween card. Today, as I mentioned is Day 8. 8 Monsters Shrieking, to be exact. Well, instead of focusing on the monsters, I’m focusing on the number 8. I have 8 stripes on my card.

I colored Nicholas with my pencils, and I shaded around him with Pumice Stone Distress Inks.

Isn’t he handsome? And I made sure to give him cherry red Doc Martens, just like the ones I own! :)

And this is the cute one! Really though…with these girls, it’s hard not to make a cute card! This is Cosette and Lolli…and they are just sweet as pie!

I colored Cosette with a combination of markers and colored pencils. I love her little skully bow!

Lolli was done entirely with pencils. I don’t usually color blondes…but these two just had to be blonde in my mind.

Another kinda simple card…I wanted these images to really shine. What do you think??? I will have more from this collection tomorrow, when they will be officially released. Be sure to stop by not only the SBS Blog to see more of The Coquettes, but swing by the rest of the Wicked Bloggers, all listed in my side bar. Thanks for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

Secret Sister Card: Day 23 of 31 Days of Halloween & SBS Day 7 of 12

Hello! How did you like the hop from yesterday? Good luck to all of you that hopped and have the chance at winning those great prizes! One of the Facebook groups I’m in decided to have a Secret Sister Halloween/Fall Swap. We were to make or alter something for our Secret Sister in either the theme of Halloween or Fall. My SS chose Halloween, which was great with me! I made her a card using Beatrix the Witch from Simply Betty Stamps (and a pendant which you will see another day).

Beatrix is one of my all time favorite SBS images, as she is part of the Steampunk Halloween collection (which you have all read me rave about). Today is Day 7 of the SBS 12 Days of Halloween..the theme is “7 Pumpkins Glowing.” Beatrix’s pumpkins certainly are glowing!

I colored her with my pencils, keeping her colors pale and soft. She just doesn't “look” (in my mind’s eye) like she should be wearing black or some other dark color. Though I do plan on giving it a go one of these days.

My Secret Sister said that she loved the card, which made me very happy. It’s not a “typical” Halloween card…I made it to appear like it was more for Samhain, which she celebrates.
How are you liking the SBS 12 Days of Halloween? There have been some awesome projects created not only by the DT, but the participants as well! Thanks to all of you that are playing along. Remember, all of the Wicked Bloggers are listed in my side bar. Thank you so much for visiting me again. Have a spook-tacular day!

Halloween Hop & Day 22 of 31 Days of Halloween

Greetings guys and ghouls! In addition to doing the Smeared & Smudged 31 Days of Halloween, I am also in a nice, big, spooky blog hop with a group I am in on Facebook. There are a lot of hoppers, but you will certainly want to visit them all, as there are lots of wonderful prizes out there to be won! If you are here specifically for the blog hop, I encourage you to take a look at the Wicked Bloggers, all listed in my side bar. We have been posting Halloween projects every single day in the month of October. There are a ton of amazing creations!

Here is the full list for the Halloween Hop.

Cyndi Bundy

Pam Hornschu

Suzi McKenzie

Jingle

Krissy Fossmeyer

Alison Heikkila (me!)

Wendy Price

Wendy Jordan

Berenice Rendon

Lynn Mercurio

Maria Levine

Lee Kellogg

Stampendous! Blog

Sandie Dunn

Tanya Johnson

Beth Raney-Thomas

Mary Collins

Lea Kimmel

Angelique Nederpel

Betty Roberts

Taylor Usry

AND we have TONS of fabulous Halloween prizes from our wonderful sponsors!

Stampendous! ( 5 winners... 1 Halloween bg cling stamp each winner..Crowscape, Graveyard, Beware Gate, Castle Gate, Pumpkin Fence)

Karber Digital Designs...2 digis to one winner
Skipping Stones Design...Halloweenie set
Smeared Ink  (5 single digis...1 each to 5 winners? or 5 to 1 winner?)
Strange Skin...1 set of choice (except Zombies)
Jens Digi Stamp...(5 images to one winner)
Simply Betty Stamps...($10 Gift Certificate)
La-La Land Crafts ($10 Gift Certificate)
Dreamweavers Stencils: 3 prizes: each is 4 stencils, 2 brushes,  with 3 technique sheets each!



For my project, I turned to one of the Halloween Hop sponsors, Strange Skin. I'm partial to their images, because...well...it's my sister and her boyfriend's comapny! So if you haven't seen their stuff before, and you like edgy and, ahem, unusual digis, Strange Skin is the company for you!



This is the Witch Cameo, from my favorite set of their's, The Beautiful Monster Cameo Collection. I adore this set, and wish I had more time to use it...because I would use it all the time! Hey, like I mentioned before, Strange Skin is one of the HAlloween Hop sponsors, you have a chance of winning a full collection of your choice (minus the Zombie collection)! How cool is that?!

I colored the witch in with my beloved colored pencils. It feels so good to be using them more often again! Take a good look at all of the elemnts drawn into this image. See how the moon looks like cheese where the rat is eating? How the witch's color becomes the moon? I love the deatils.

I was very inspired once again, by the latest Deconstructed Sketch, so I'll be entering this baby into that challenge. I love those sketches! My "Halloween" is from Basic Grey, and I stamped it onto a transparency, since it would have never worked on the glittery DCWV cardstock I used for the background. I used a metallic cardstock for the top layer of the drippy goo border. It's so shimmery in person.

I hope you have enjoyed my offering for today. If you're new here, I wanted to let you know that I am having a Crazy A** Stamp Sale going on with 50% off retail of all brand new stamps. Please take a peek! Again, all of the Wicked Bloggers are listed in my sidebar, and for the Halloween Hop, be sure to visit everyone for a chance at those "wicked" good prizes! Thanks for stopping by. Have a spook-tacular day!

I Put a Spell on You…Day 21 of 31 Days of Halloween

Only 10 days left of October?! Really??? Ugh. That makes me sad. But, I don’t ant to dwell on that.  Since it’s Friday, I have an all Smeared Ink project to share with you.

I used another from the Creepy Lil Grumpies collection. This is, of course, the witch. She is colored with my beloved pencils.

I kept the card simple, because I love the image, and the background paper. All I did was add the sentiment, which is from the same set.

See how pretty the paper is? Those little dots are pearlized. When it hits the light right, it just shines!

I’m keeping this one short today. But I would like to mention, that I have a Crazy A** Stamp Sale going on. I have updated the original post and taken out all of the items that have sold. Please take a look, as ALL of the stamps listed are at 50% off retail. All the deets are in the post. Thanks for looking. Be sure to hop over to the rest of the Wicked Bloggers. They’re all listed in my sidebar. Thanks for stopping by. Have a spook-tacular day!

SISC78, S&S Day 20 of 31, & SBS Day 4 of 12

That’s a lot of numbers in my title! Today I have 2 projects for you. The first is the latest StampInsanity Challenge, and the second is a combo for the Smeared & Smudged 31 Days of Halloween and the Simply Betty Stamps 12 Days of Halloween.

The StampInsanity Challenge is Halloween Treats. More specifically…how do you trick out a treat? Here’s what I came up with.

I used Witch Morgan, and made her a decoration for a lollypop!

I colored her in with my watercolor markers, and cut her our in a circle, to mimic the lollypop.

I attached straps to the back using scraps of paper, and slid on the pop. Easy peasy and totally cute!

For the 4th Day of SBS’ 12 Days of Halloween, we are to use 4 skeletons. I chose to work with Draco the Ghost Gentleman (who looks like a skeleton), and the dancing skeletons from my Bombshell Stamps Retro Cowgirl set.

Look ma! No kitties! ;) I colored Draco in with my pencils. I like that I kept the whole card in the gray family.

Have I mentioned how the collection that Draco is from (Steampunk Halloween), is my all time favorite Simply Betty Stamps set? Just look at how cool he is!

The little skeletons look like minions to me…about to do Draco’s bidding. Hmmm…wonder what that could be? The “Halloween” is from Basic Grey.

Please drop by the StampInsanity Blog for more treats that have been tricked out. I am sure they will inspire you! And be sure to hop by the SBS blog, and the rest of the Wicked Bloggers. All players in these 3 groups are listed in my sidebar. Thanks for stopping by! Have a spook-tacular day!