Daper Halloween Cat

This has to be one of my favorite projects I have made in a very long time! I have a full tutorial up on Unruly Paperarts today.

I just love that this super serious dude turned into a gangster cat from the 1940's!

This serious dude was fussy cut and then given a slight makeover. 

 I hope this kitty made you laugh as hard as I did when I finished him!

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Zombies!

I am not a horror movie fan.  I can read the scariest, creepiest, goriest books out there, but show me a movie and I am covering my eyes and ears.  I joined a Halloween ATC swap on Instagram and sat down to make a slightly creepy ATC.  Things quickly took a turn for the worst.

The sheet music background got a spritz of Tea Dye Distress Spray and then a shot of Barn Door.  The Tea Dye made it creepy.  The Barn Door turned it into gore.  Now that my ATCs looked like a crime scene I decided to run with it and grabbed my photobooth strips.
Using my distress markers I took these poor innocent souls and make them soulless zombies.
Just in case you needed to know Frayed Burlap makes excellent under eye circles.

I hope I didn't give you nightmares with this post!
I am entering these into the Something Wicked Challenge on Frilly and Funkie, the Halloween Horror Challenge on Our Creative Corner, and the Halloween Challenge on Try it on Tuesdays.

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Undertaker Calling Cards

I love to create for Halloween.  When I saw the Undertaker stamp set from Stampers Anonymous and Tim Holtz I knew it was a must have.  

I made a large cabinet card using the big Undertaker stamp.  I stamped the image on watercolor paper using Black Archival ink and then used Pumice Stone and Crushed Olive to tint the skull.  The hat is colored using Dusty Concord.  

The background is a combination of Dusty Concord, Twisted Citron, and Spiced Marmalade.  I used the Gothic Stencil and Hickory Smoke Ink for detail.  The cabinet card was given a coat of Crushed Olive Distress Paint and splotches of Rusty Hinge.  Then a coat of Black Soot.  I sanded off some of the black so the green shows through.  I inked around the edges using Twisted Citron.  I slid the background sheet in the card and then mounted the head on the card using foam tape.  The hat got some Maya Road ribbon and a resin flower.  The flower has some Slate Alcohol Ink on it.  I fussy cut the Halloween stamp and used my water brush to paint on the Dusty Concord.  A vintage watch part vial has some Meadow Alcohol ink inside and remnant rubs to warn you not to drink it.

Once I did the big cabinet card I thought it would be really fun to make mini cards.  I have been calling them calling cards.  They look like something the Undertaker might hand you to let you know your time is up. I used the same basic techniques on the little guys as I did on the large card. 

This card has some German decorative scrap on the side.  I love the bloody pen nib.  The little skull and feathers on his hat make me think of a voodoo undertaker.  

This guy has a flashcard and a token.  The rose looks like it is made out of bone.  It's almost enough to make you shiver.  

This is my favorite.  The "nice knowing you" stamp is from Martha Stewart.  I love the stamped and embossed spiderweb on the card.  The whole thing is just creepy perfection.  

I hope you don't get one of these calling cards anytime soon.

 I am submitting these to the Our Creative Corner Halloween Horror ,the Try it On Tuesday Halloween Challenge, and the Simon Says Stamp Color Inspiration Challenge. 

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Tim tag for July

Dang! This is the closest I've ever cut it to the wire! Truth be told I have had a hard time finding my craft mojo this month.  I have been reading like crazy instead.  I read 12 books this month.  12! Sheesh.
But you're not here to hear about what I read, you're here to see my tag.

My tag is a bit different than Tim's.  I really wanted to use these images from Dina Wakley.  I'm taking a class with her tonight and thought it would inspire me a bit.  

They are watercolored using watercolors and a few distress markers.  The backgrounds are colored with distress inks using my water brush.  I like the resin flowers they have too.  It's a pretty girly tag.  

There ya go! My tag for July.  

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Mini Affirmations

 I have some altered coasters for you today.  I love to use coasters for the base of my work.  They are light and cheap(bonus points for being absorbent).   They are also great for sending out happy mail since a stamp usually covers the cost of mailing it out.  

Paula Cheney had a great tutorial on her blog using Distress Sprays and the new Micro Glaze that I had to try. 

This was my first attempt and it came out much darker than I had anticipated.  I think the Rusty Hinge Distress Paint on the edges was a tad much.  Not the look I was going for, but I still really like it.  I also love the old paper someone was using for their math homework or figuring out their monthly budget.  I smudged some gesso on the side to brighten it up a tad.  

This is the same background paper I used on the first coaster.  See what I mean about it being darker than I anticipated! I put a sari ribbon bow on this one.  

Here you can see how I colored the photos using either Distress Markers or Distress Ink.  She is totally rocking that resin flower.  

This is the brightest of the bunch.  I used Peacock Feathers to color the modeling paste instead of spraying it after I used the stencil.  The edges on this one are inked using my favorite Pumice Stone Ink. 

This coaster is a tad smaller than the other three.  I used the tiny tattered floral die to make my flowers.  They are so easy to make.  I did a bunch and tossed them in a jar to grab when I need them.  I didn't do modeling paste on here since most of the background is covered.  I still stenciled a bit using Distress Paints in Worn Lipstick and Antiqued Bronze.  

Vintage Journey- Spring Colors

Mixed Media Monthly Spring Flowers

Frilly and Funkie Happy, Happy, Happy

Our Creative Corner April Showers

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog Stencils

Simon Says Stamp Monday X,Y,Z Challenge (I used my X-acto knife to trim my papers, a bunch of Yellow (paper, distress markers to tint the photos, and alcohol ink) and my favorite Zip dry glue).

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Come take a class with me!

I will be teaching a class at Scraps of Love in Peoria Arizona on Thursday May 7th.

  Don't you want to make some of these adorable trophies? Come see me! We will have a ton of fun.  

Jess

Signs of Spring

 Flowers are in bloom.  Bees are buzzing.  Nests are being made.  It's no secret I love birds. Over on the Robin's Nest I show you how to make your own nest!

What have you been crafting?
Jess

Pennants with a punch

I always have so much fun playing around with old photos.  So many of them are so serious and I like to make them look a bit goofy. I have also had paper straws kicking around for some time.  Once I decided to make pennants I was off and running.
I recently got some Valentine goodies from Cavallini Papers.  They have wonderful vintage images.  I loved the tiny heart stickers and knew Lisa's Altered Art would have some great focal images to use for the base photos.

A dorky hat with a homemade enamel dot and vintage ric rac make this cutie even cuter.  I popped him up using my rosette die.  I used the centers on the bottom pennant to tie the two parts together.  The heart was plain white, so I fixed that with some alcohol ink.  

I mentioned I had paper straws.  What I didn't say was that I only had bright green polka dots, red stripes, and skulls.  So I had to paint one of the skull ones pink to make it fit with my theme.  For this one I punched holes and tied the flags on with bakers twine.  It's topped off with a mercury glass bead.  

I love these Tim Holtz dapper dudes.  I thought they looked like great contestants for the Dating Game.  A little pinup girl was the eligible bachelorette.  I'm not sure if you can see it, but this one reads "Larry, Ed and Harry knew she was out of their league".   

My final pennant for today is not Valentine themed.  This is for my sister-the coffee fiend.  

I think this sums up mornings for a lot of people!  This image is actually from and old coffee advertisement.  

I tinted her hair bow, lips, and nails with my distress markers.  She has a tiny gem in the middle of her broach. 

I am really loving these pennants and can see myself making a ton of them.  

What have you been crafting?

Jess

A Vintage Journey Use a Portrait

SSS Monday Challenge- Old and New

Mixed Media Monthly- Something New for the New Year