Sunday, October 31, 2010

How did I almost miss this?!

***2nd post today****
Please  scroll down for more Hallowe'en goodness!



LOTS of goodies still to be won on this awesome blog!


The Vampire Club and my haunted vignettes



I have a new boyfriend, only he doesn't know it. His name is "Voltaire", and not
only is he gorgeous in a gothic sort of way, but he is a phenomenal artist and musician.
He writes and performs some hilariously fun songs themed around dead things
and Hallowe'en and schtuff.
He also creates the wickedly bizarre intros for MTV and Fangoria TV promo spots.
Check out more of his brilliance on YouTube.

Now I would like to invite you into my parlour to peruse my
Hallowe'en decorations and vignettes.
This is my apothecary display.
I have been working on the bottles and jars for weeks, adding
labels and ingredients to each one. Great fun!  

The vintage style devil lantern is one of most cherished decorations.
I wish Illuminations was still in business, they had the coolest Hallowe'en stuff.

Here is my toilet paper tube and hot wax candle.
So fricken cool and cheap to make!
Just drop in a battery operated tea light and you have
illuminated perfection without the mess and danger of fire! 

My crystal ball and Gryphon stand that I have had for eons!
Plus a really cool skeleton bust I got on clearance last year at Mike's.
The skeleton hand and tarantula is an awesome snow globe.
Do you call it a bat globe if it has bats instead of snow?  

Now we get into the bugs.
What is a "Creepy Glowbugg" without her creepy bugs?

My husband about died when I unwrapped this little gem.
He hates spiders and the thought of this thing coming at him in the 
jungles of Malaysia kinda made him mad.
Good thing we live in California. 

The bug in the upper left reminds me of the Misfits skull, but is actually a 
"Human Face Bug". Cool huh? 

More bugs and devils and jars.

This is my "Creepeeville" village.
I painted and adorned the houses myself and then 
created all the little inhabitants to go in the village. 

Some of my vintage pieces, like the tambourine and the noisemakers.
All handed down from my dearly departed Grandparents, the Marcoms. 

My creepiest friend, Katt gave me this killer fountain for my
birthday one year.
 We are still trying to come up with a realistic blood that
won't gunk up the pump.
More schtuff.

Grandma (my husband's) would not be thrilled to see her hutch decorated in such a way.
The again, Grandma is pretty down with the cause.
Cause she loves me!

More coolness.

Cool jar with a skull inside on a fancy pillow and my
favorite lenticular picture. 

Even the masks get a Hallowe'en spin.
And let's not forget the mummy cat too!

My very favorite sign, before you enter the living room.
 "Free Rusty Lancets for the Kiddies!"

The kitchen gets some goodies too!

Did you get your bottle of "Zombie Zin" this year at Cost Plus?
Oh, you better believe I did!

Lastly, is the "Candy Man".
He reminds me of the preacher who tried to marry Beetlejuice and Lydia
in "Beetlejuice".
LOVE him!!

Thanks for schlepping' along with me on my little tour of my home.
Happy Hallowe'en!!!  

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Hallowe'en in Wonderland

With the final challenge of the month falling so close
to my beloved Hallowe'en, the Oh Alice! team is celebrating as only we can
with a "Hallowe'en in Wonderland" free for all!!

These odd little fellows are the artistic renderings of Lily Chilvers
When I first saw her Alice in Wonderland characters I knew they
were destined for my Oh Alice! challenge cards.
Right up my creepy little alley!

These guys (Dee and Dum) are my favorite image from Lily's AIW line,
but I can't even begin to narrow it down between all
of her other amazingly odd and unique characters.

The card?
Oh yeah, I colored it with Copics  and made my own little tickets
after I received some a while back from my Master, Barb.
They were actual tickets with "Trick" and "Treat" printed on each one.
I couldn't bring myself to use them as I only have one of each,
but decided to make my own until I can buy more to hoard. 
I also used that fabulous webbed ribbon in the middle but found that
the adhesive I used was still tacky where the weave was open,
so I dumped a bunch of glitter on it and rubbed it into the adhesive.
No more tacky than I originally meant for it to be.

Happy Hallowe'en Eve and drop in tomorrow for more
Hallowe'en goodness!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Trick or Treating with Tiddly Inks and Simply Betty Stamps


Trick or Treat!
Welcome to the Tiddly Inks and Simply Betty Hallowe'en blog hop!
Christy and Betty are both huge fans of Hallowe'en and decided to
organize a hop to celebrate their favorite holiday.
Now the ladies from both design teams have traded images so to speak,
and that means that we (the SBS DT) get to play with the Tiddly Inks images and the 
TI DT gets to design with Betty's images!  
Please drop by the Simply Betty Stamps blog for all the hop info and the list of DT projects to view.
You can join in on all the fun and win some great
prizes and candy along the way! 

For my first card I chose the "spooky Birthday" image.
Isn't she just adorable?! And she is perfect for those lucky ladies
who were born this month! What a fun card to receive with a hostess
gift for all the hard work that goes into throwing a Hallowe'en bash!

My next card is an Anniversary card for my in-laws.
I used the "Happy Couple" image also from Tiddly Inks.

Even though my In-laws were married so close to Hallowe'en,
they are not Hallowe'en people. Unfortunately for them, I am.
I usually send them a Hallowe'en themed card for their Anniversary since that
is all I make for the entire months of September and October.
This month, I decided to conform and send them a traditional-type
card for their wedding anniversary.
See, I can play nice.
Loving the labels die from Spellbinders.
Adds a nice whimsical touch to match this cute little image.

Thanks for hopping by and now, your next stop is the
awesomely talented, Kiara

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

When God takes away a loved one, he leaves the best part in our heads.

On Wednesday, the 13th of October 2010, my grandfather, Dr. Ralph A. Marcom
passed away from a massive stroke.
He was more than my grandfather, he was a multiple award winning magician,
author, sage, and an all around captivating man.


The magician has been reunited with his magic.
My grandmother, Gloria Marcom, passed away in 2002, and the magical spark
that she represented was missing from my grandfather's life.

Their 42nd wedding anniversary is on Halloween and they are finally
together again to celebrate their love. 

I love you both and take great solace in knowing
you are together.
I lift my glass to you both and shout a resounding
"Huzzah"! 
  

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

I'm late! I'm late!

Due to unforeseen extreme weather, and resulting lack of internet service,
I was unable to post my Oh Alice! challenge card on Saturday with the rest of the team.

A couple of days late and a few dollars short....
I give you,
Oh Alice! Challenge 
CHAPTER 35: CHESS - CHESSBOARD - CHESSMEN
"They don't keep this room so tidy as the other,' Alice thought to herself, as she noticed several of the chessmen down in the hearth among the cinders: but in another moment, with a little `Oh!' of surprise, she was down on her hands and knees watching them. The chessmen were walking about, two and two!
`Here are the Red King and the Red Queen,' Alice said (in a whisper, for fear of frightening them), `and there are the White King and the White Queen sitting on the edge of the shovel -- and here are two castles walking arm in arm..."

--Ch. 1: Through the Looking Glass

I am not knowledgeable on the subject of chess at all.
I chose to be very literal and use the checkerboard background 
and the Queen (Gossmere) image, both from Tiddly Inks. 

I love Gossmere, and thought she'd make a stunning
Red Queen to adorn the checkerboard background.

I also feel as though I should explain my lack of embellishments on my
recent creations.  My craft room as become something of a fall out shelter
for the schtuff that normally goes in the rest of the house, but has been replaced with Hallowe'en decorations, and any unfinished
or WIP Hallow e'en projects, and I still try to make cards in there too!
I have buried quite a bit of my paper crafting goodies (now would be a perfect time for my husband to call the people at the Hoarders TV show and turn me in) 
and have decided to go "old school", and just use the image and some ribbon. 

Going to start digging my way out now.... 


 

Monday, October 25, 2010

HDH062 Smeared and Smudged

Whew!
This has been the busiest month ever! I have finally found some time to stop and breathe after numerous involved projects and a Hallowe'en party are finally over!
I still have some back burner projects to complete, but the bulk of my load is
finished!!!
With that being said, let's get back on track with
the newest challenge from Haunted Design House

This week's Macabre Monday is sponsored by Smeared Ink.
The challenge was to be as inky and smeared and smudged as possible.
Apparently I didn't get the memo.

I did use a very cool image from Smeared Ink
called, "Ghouly Witch" though. 

I am quite fond of the old creepy images of witches and demons,
and I am sure I will be using this one again very soon.
I really like the look of the drawn image against the
black and white photo of a cemetery.
I added some crystal Stickles to the trees and the tops of the
headstones for some added interest. 

Terra and Tori from Smeared Ink have some really unique and odd
images available in both digital and rubber.
This week's Gruesome Twosome get their choice of a
Smeared Ink digi set!
What are you waiting for? Go get inky!!!

Here is a quick picture of my make-up from my Hallowe'en party
this past Saturday.
I went with a pretty simple Day of the Dead theme.
I decided to go with a black and white flourish design
as opposed to the fleurs and colors and schtuff. 
Truth be told, I didn't leave myself very much time to get ready before
my guests started arriving and this was as good as it was going to get!
I wish I had enough time to put the spider web in the middle of my forehead,
but it was really hard to keep everything symmetrical and to apply this on myself!
Luckily, one of my artsy friends was able to help me get the left side of my face to match the right side. Thanks Dani!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

A face only a Mother could love

I participated in a craft fair this past Saturday.
I took all of my goodies and hoped to unload some of these cards
I have been making.
I also took my witch mask and my newly completed zombie mask.
I overpriced the zombie a bit since I really didn't want to sell him anyway.

I sold a bit of stuff and it was better than a yard sale when it was all said and done.
I still got to keep my zombie though.

I am so happy with how he turned out.

I love how his teeth took on their rottenness from the brown wash I applied.

I am now searching for a deserving place of honor on the wall for
my little putrescent friend.

I am debating on whether or not to repaint my witch.
She is a bit emerald green and I wanted her a sickly shade of olive
like the zombie.
I'm afraid I mess her up if I start repainting and then I'll be stuck with her too!
Bummer.  

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Macabre Monday make-up HDH060 Simply Sinister

I know, totally lame.
I missed last week's Macabre Monday challenge which was
"Simply Sinister" with Simply Betty Stamps.
Betty has come out with quite a few new releases lately, and one of
my favorite lines she has is the "Victorian Beauties".
I really like the drawing style of this artist and the newest release is for
HALLOWEEN!

I chose to work with Day of the Dead Timothy. 
This is the coolest image ever!
Now I know the challenge was to keep it simple, but since I was a tad late
I kept on embellishing for extra credit.
I got my order from Wild Orchids and had to use some of the
yummy fleurs and picks! 

This also comes in handy as my husband and I are attending a
   Day of the Dead wedding on the 30th of this month.
How freakin' cool is that?!
I would have loved to have had a funeral themed wedding!!!
In some ways my husband thinks it was his funeral.
  

Monday, October 18, 2010

HDH061 Lil' Lurid and Lovesick

Welcome to another installment of Macabre Monday!
This week's sponsor is Tickled Pink Stamps, who create some of the 
cutest and fun to work with images.
There is a new line of images for Halloween called Lil' Haunts.
I think I'm in love.......

Say hello to Frankie Frankenstein.
I went with blue eyes cause they're so dreamy...

This guy was so fun to color and I am just thrilled
to have more male images to go with all the girls!

We'd love for you to join us this week and create something lurid and lovesick.
Since we have a sponsor this week there is a killer prize to be won. 
This week's winner gets to pick one digi from all of the releases at Tickled Pink!
Way cool right?!
What are you waiting for?!

Friday, October 15, 2010

Punky Teens Christmas New Release Hop

Welcome to the latest installment of the Punky Teens images
The newest release of Punky Teens is a Christmas theme!
If you haven't already started your Christmas cards, these images will
surely get you in the mood for hot chocolate and some coloring.
Betty has invited some of her Face Book friends to join us on our hop,
so there are a bunch of us playing today.

I chose to use the boys from the new release.

First up, is Tristan.

I am a total sucker for the wonky eyes!!

Next up is Mr. Personality himself,
Jimmie
Such a fun and perfect image for a teen boy.
   
You can almost smell that sock huh?
I LOVE this artist's style!

Best Christmas sentiment I have ever purchased.

That's it for me, so head on over to Iva's blog and
see what she has come up with today for the new release.

All images are now available at Simply Betty Stamps.  

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Zombies, zombies everywhere, and not a moment to think.


Finally, I have completed the zombie sculpture
for the Shriner's Children's Hospital fundraiser.

I am so pleased with how this turned out.
I wouldn't be upset in the least if my client decided she didn't
want it after all. 
I think I could live with seeing these rotting little faces
everyday if I had to.

This month is insanely busy for me, so I haven't been 
posting much outside of my DT stuff.
My Etsy shoppe has been keeping me very busy as well, and 
I gots ta make me monies ya know!!

Thanks for stopping by!