21st Century Pillow Book

Hello Guys and Ghouls! I am so stoked for today's Smeared Ink Reunion Blog Hop. Smeared & Smudged (as the group was called) was one of the reasons I made so many online friends, inspired me to make many of my dark and creepy projects, and was the 2nd DT I was ever on. So many stamps....so many memories. Terra, owner and founder decided it was high time for a reunion hop, so I absolutely had to play along. I'll be honest, my crafting time really diminished in the past couple of weeks, and my delusions of grandeur were shattered. So my project isn't over the top, but it is very Smeared. I decided that since this hop is a little virtual party, I decided to use one of the fabulous little Grumpies. This guy with the party hat is too funny. I started off by  stamping him with VersaFine Ink and coloring him in with Memento Markers, both from Imagine on a piece of Smooth Bristol cardstock. I inked around the image and distressed the edges a bit. Originally this guy was ...

Hello out there! It's time for a new Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge. This week, the challenge is o "Use Some Text," and we are sponsored by Lemon Shortbread . I had fun with this one....mwahahahaha!!!!!!!!! I used Not My Dolly , and I cropped her so that I could really focus on the intensity of her eyes. And she practically begged me to be a blonde, which I hardly ever do. She and her dolly are colored up with my Tombow watercolor markers. I also used a Smeared Ink stamp from one of their Lil' Grumpies sets that says, "I'm watching you." Ad doesn't it just seem like she really is watching someone? I would not want to be them! I used some Iced Jade ink from Color Box (one of my absolute, all time favorite ink colors!)around the edges of both of my layers to coordinate with the dolly's uh....skin color. I really loved working with this image. I will totally be using her again. Please be sure to visit rest of the Wicked Wednesday gals. A...

Do you have a sweet tooth? I sure do! And that's the basis of my card for today. I used the adorable bear from Smeared Ink 's Candy is Dandy set. I don't think it's available anymore. I had this great little "candy" stamp from Inkadinkado that I thought was perfect for this guy. I used a couple of the Radiant Neon inks around the border, and for my Trick or Treat sentiment which is also a Smeared Ink image. I used a fabulous Kaleidoscope embossing powder all over the candies. I think it added a cool effect to the card. Here's another shot. See the rainbow? Looks cooler in person. It's so hard to photograph glitter! Thanks for visiting me today. Please be sure to check out the rest of the Wicked Bloggers, all listed in my sidebar. Have a spooktacular day!

Greetings bloggy friends! I have 2 projects to share with you today. There is a new Wicked Wednesday challenge, and the April Bombshell Stamps Sketch has been revealed! Let's start with Bombshell. Here's this month's sketch. Here's my take on it using the Homeward Bound set. I stamped the ship on old book paper and colored it with Distress Ink. The banner was colored with alcohol markers. I love coloring with Distress Inks. As I was doing my project, my daughter was watching. She decided to create her own Bombshell project, and used Distress Inks for the first time! This week's Wicked Wednesday challenge is Crazy Craniums, and we are sponsored by Smeared Ink. My focal image is from Smeared Ink / Rick St. Dennis ' Morte rubber set. My sentiment is from the Creepy Lil Grumpies set, and the tombstone is from Inkadinkado. I used only a white pen to color the focal image. The other 2 were embossed with a seafoam white embossing powder. I di...

Hiya! Here's something I haven't been able to participate in for quite a while...the Smeared & Smudged Member Blog Hop! It's one of my goals this year to start participating in some of the hops and challenges that I used to love being a part of. Last year, many of those things got away from me. I hope to change that this year. This month, the challenge was "Anything Goes," so I had no excuse not to play along. I received my amazing winnings from the 31 Days of Halloween a few weeks ago, and I wanted to play with some of my new stamps. So I broke out the Occasions Grumpies and decided to use the spa Grumpie. Though it was a tough choice...I love so many of them! I colored my Grumpie with alcohol markers, and my background was done with watercolors. The phrases are handwritten and from the Occasions Grumpies set. I don't know if you have resolutions for 2014, but after relaxing with my family at home for 2 weeks...doing very little of anything besid...

Greetings and Salutations! Welcome to Day 10 of the Smeared and Smudged 12 Days of Creepmas. Today's project features a Grumpie from Smeared Ink. I love these guys. I love coloring this guy. I was happy to find some holographic light bulbs in my stash. They work really well in this card. I colored the Grumpie with Spectrum Noirs and Copics. I was going to give the grumpie a bit of a glow from the lights, then I realized that they weren't plugged in! Which, I guess is better for the Grumpie. Please be sure to visit the rest of the Jolly Bloggers, all listed in my side bar. Thanks for stopping by. Have a creeptastic day!

Hello and welcome Day 16! Today's project was made for the Smudgy Antics challenge, which is to use only Smeared Ink images. So I busted out the Creepy Lil Grumpies. Look at these adorable little trick or treaters. I always have so much fun with these guys, whether it's Halloween or not. I colored them with my alcohol markers. I think I enjoyed coloring the ghost the most. Although he isn't bright and colorful, I like using the pale, almost-not-there colors. So hop along, my friends, and visit the rest of the Wicked Bloggers, all listed in my sidebar. Thanks for stopping by. Have a creep-tastic day!

I have something very special for you today! It's a preview for the new Simply B Stamps Collection, the Wickidz. Which I am proud to say that I came up with their title!  The Beyond the Burtonesque Dolls will be working with the darker side of SBS . So the creepier images, the darker stuff, will be released through us. There are 6 new images. We Dolls are previewing 3 today, and then 3 more tomorrow for release day, along with a collection of sentiments! Today, I am previewing Malice and Petunia for you. Let's start with Malice. Isn't she creepy? All of the Wickidz have really cool backgrounds. It's fun to color them in! Featured with Malice is one of the new sentiments that will be available for purchase starting tomorrow. I used watercolor markers and Copics for both Malice and Petunia. I did Malice's hair a wee bit differently from what I normally do. I used a pale blue in her hair  instead of a light gray. I thought it would look co...

Hello! It's been ages since I've done a Smeared & Smudged hop, and I missed them, so I needed to play along with the latest one. The theme is "Mesh It!" You were to use mesh some how, somewhere on your project. I decided to break out some of my favorite Smeared Ink stamps for this one, so I chose 3 images, from 3 of my favorite collections. I used one of the Gals from Chicks Dig Guns, the mesh stamp from Quoth the Raven, and "pucker up" from Lil Grumpies. I stamped everything in white, and embossed it all in clear, for dimension. Here you can see the texture from the powder. I also went in with a white pen, and added additional highlights to the chick. I distressed the edge of the black cardstock, and inked a bloody red around the edges of the card. Voila! It's done! Simple, but it makes a statement. Basically, you don't wanna piss this chick off! There's a lot more hopping to be done, so get to it! Here is the full list of hoppers...

There’s something you probably don’t think about when you think of Smeared Ink stamps. Clean and simple. It’s certainly not something I usually think of! But I figured that some folks may be intimidated by the “typical” (I use that term very loosely!) Smeared Ink style. So, I wanted to show you that everyone can use these rad stamps, even if you like the Clean and the Simple! I started off by coloring Glam Vamp Anya with my watercolor markers. I cut her out, but I could have just stamped her directly on the card too. Then, I used 5 of the awesome sentiments from the Lil Grumpies set, stamped directly on the card. I purposely stamped them askew. I punched out a Drippy Goo Martha Stewart border and stuck it to the top. Two red Dew Drops to represent bite marks and a thin marker-made black border around the whole card and voila! Easy, clean and simple! I hope that I have shown you how to use these images in a different way. Have an inspiring day!

It’s time to say goodbye and hello over at Smeared & Smudged . It’s the end of the term for the DT, and while some of our team will be returning, others will not. But, we will be welcoming in some new faces too! So, it’s a bittersweet ending. Terra, Kelli and I wanted to have a “last hurrah” hop for the DT, but of course we needed to make it into a challenge! So, I decided that since we all now have so many awesome Smeared Ink sets, lets all make projects that use 3 or more sets of Smeared Ink stamps ! I’m hearing through the grapevine that some of the ladies are none too thrilled with my little challenge. I, however, loved it and thought it was a lot of fun! I made a card using FOUR different Smeared Ink sets. Holy City (the cemetery), Chicks Dig Guns (the heart), Nymphs (the frame), and Lil Grumpies (the sentiment). I think they all worked so well together! I pop dotted the frame and the heart, which gave the card fabulous dimension, and really directs your eye to the 2 tombst...

To check out my StampInsanity post for today (and you really should!) please click HERE . Thanks! Now on to the hop! Today Smeared & Smudged has a member wide blog hop going on, and they always prove to be creep-tastic! Our theme this time around is Orange! Not a color I tend to work with too often, but I really went for it this time! So much so, that I am also entering it into Macabre Monday’s Monochrome Monstrosities challenge as well! How’s that for Orange??? Even the cardstock I stamped on is called Iced Orange (Prism)! I broke out my Smeared Ink Lil Grumpies set, because I haven’t played with them for a while and they were starting to get mad at me. He’s stamped in Chestnut Roan (Color Box) and colored with my Spectracolor Design and Prisma pencils. I think he turned out fabulous! Coloring these guys is just so much fun! I added a wee bit of dimension with some leftover paper that I had embossed a while ago with those fabulous swirls. A little more ink, a lotta glue, and ...

There are so many awesome challenge blogs out there… too many to always participate in! Especially since I have DT commitments. One blog that I can never play along with often enough is Stamp It Crazy . I’m not gonna spend a long time chatting in this post because I am already soooo late in linking my card up!!! Just trust me, you are gonna want to check them out! They sell some INCREDIBLE stamps! We were challenged to make a spinner card. I have never made one before, but I’ve seen them done and I think they are awesome! I love that there is movement on the card!!! Here’s mine: Here’s yet another Lil’ Grumpie card! Now here he is spinning! Up, up up he goes!!! You can find a great tutorial on how to make a spinner card HERE . Now here’s a close up of my Grumpie (from Smeared Ink !) And a quick shot of the inside. Originally, I was gonna have a Grumpie spinning on the inside and outside, but since I ran out of time, I figured the twin could just chill on the inside! Ok! Gotta run!...

I made this card for my sisters. When I saw the tiny Lil’ Grumpies on my newest Smeared Ink set, I knew I had to make them a card featuring these crazy little creatures. Growing up, we 3 each had our “own” color. I was blue, Pam was green, and Monica was pink. Our rooms were in our color, if our mom bought us 3 of something, it was in our color, etc. So, of course I had to color in the Grumpies in “our” color as well! I also tried to pick the Grumpies that I thought was most like each of us! And my sisters definitely thought that I picked the right ones! They are colored in with colored pencils. And the “Sisters” is from an Alphabet set by Time Flies. I added this to the inside. This sentiment is from the Lil’ Grumpies set. I love the sentiments that it comes with! My family thought the card was great. Which of course makes me very happy! But, I may have to make one more of these so they don’t fight over the single card! Have an inspiring day!!!