Dark humoured....Me???

Ok, some days you just have to let the darkness out to play

*encouraged mightily by  Dream in Darkness and

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers

mwahahaaa.....

It all started quite innocently....

I have these blank ink pads and thought I'd try making my own

random colour pads...

 which are now resting on a shelf...

 but then I had all these ink bottles out ...

 to make smooshy mess with...

 and then the gesso had to play too.

 Soon the stamps wanted to join in...

 which lead to random collage papers spread all over.

 Naughty collage papers...

 more gesso, more collaged stamped paper...

and Dark Art was created mwahahahaha....

I had meant to play along with the Sisterhood last month....

but forgot to finish and post doh.*the traumas of summer break*

These are the pieces I was working on for their 

"Something Old, Something New" challenge.

Guess we'll have to save them for another day :)

Playing along at ;

Dream in Darkness # September (birthday optional)

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers # J is for Jumble (aka collage)

Enjoy :D XXX

Playing n the Dark

with rusty metal :D

 Another technique I've been dying to try

(blames Brenda Brown)

is faux rustiness.

I started with a black card blank and a distressed piece of the

 Death's head moth(Visible Image stamp) card I made earlier

 I wanted a "rusty metal" plaque for a topper.

I started with a piece of faded gold card die cut from my scrap box.

Added some verdigris embossing powder with pva glue(makes it lumpy and crusty looking)

and rubbed over some Rusty Hinge distress ink.

 Next I added patches of antique gold and dark copper 

embossing powder with versamark to make more texture.

 Was too shiny, so I battered it with white gesso...

 stippled with orange and brown acrylic paint...

 and blended over with Rusty Hinge again

(making sure each layer was dry before adding the next)

 Finally I scrubbed over a good layer of Walnut Stain ink to dull everything down.

 Yummy lumpy pitted corrosiveness  :D

 Love the bit's of verdigris showing through.

 Once layered with a piece of torn vellum and old string I think it looks quite effective.

 Skelly certainly enjoyed the addition of  the 

Death's Head Moth mwahahahaha

 So pleased with the final effect

 Will definitely be trying this again :D

Enjoy :D XXX

Entering for the following challenges;

Country View Challenges # April - Rust

Dream in Darkness # April Anything Dark or Creepy

Shopping Our Stash # 297 Tie One On (string)

Colour Crazy Craft # week 14 Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps and More # 236 Anything Goes

Delightfully Dark...

This weeks challenge at 

Left of Center Creative challenges is "Bones"

 I have just purchased these AWESOME stamps

from Visible Images....

 and used the whole skeleton to stamp and heat emboss a "boneyard"...

 before blending over with TH distress inks.

 The inks wipe off the clear emboss to leave shiny bones

in the ground.

 The other set has these wonderful "Death's head" moths...

 which I stamped onto patterned card stock before fussy cutting.

The sentiment stamp reads 

"Even in our darkest moments

There is always a glimmer of light"

but I cut it down to something a little more sinister...

Mwahahahaha....

I will be entering this card in the following challenges;

LOC #149 Bones

Dream in Darkness # September

Dream Valley Challenges #141 wet or dry embossing

 Also...did you notice the 

"Burton Blog Bash"

in my sidebar?

Well I will be doing a giveaway when I post on Friday

so you may want to come back and check it out...

(sneak peek...yes it's a doll)

Enjoy :D XXX

Grumpy Goth...

Am really enjoying playing with my stash again...

and treating myself to a few new digi images too.

 This grumpy little Goth Girl is from Starstampz

 I can see I will be using her quite a lot...

great image for a " heard you were under the weather" card :D

I would like to enter her for the following challenges...

Left Of Center #147 Butterflies

Dream in Darkness #September

TTCRD challenges# Anything goes

Enjoy :D XXX

Feeling Snarky?

Ok...so after a while I need to let loose my dark humour 

and I recently came across a site called 

"Sisterhood of Snarky stampers"

and this week they have a "caffeine" related challenge

I've had this list of collective nouns printed out for years...

and thought it would work wonderfully for this sarcastic project.

I roughed up and inked the edges before gluing to a piece of black card.

I stamped and heat embossed "Beware" and

"Eat Drink & be scary"(Graphics 45 stamps)

For my card base I used the same stamp set to make a spidery border

and inked it up with bundled sage from TH

before adding the topper.

Finally I added a very necessary "collective" noun to the list.

"An UNACCEPTABLE of caffeine-free beverages"

..and a spider...every web needs a spider :D

Also entering;

Left of Center Creative  Challenge#146 Feisty Lady

Dream in Darkness #September

Enjoy XXX

Hey Dude!

I am currently renewing my love affair with Promarkers, and it turns out there is a challenge site specially for them!

Passion for Promarkers challenge for week 359 is " One for the Boys"

I was planning another "steampunky" piece for

this months Dream in Darkness challenge

incorporating these 2 cool dudes "Timothy" and "James"

from Simply Betty's Victorian collection

(which I've had since 2010 and may be discontinued).

Now the thing I find most useful about markers, 

is that you can build your background layers

Then make a colour swatch...

and choose your colour palette before you start to colour your images.

This is much easier than colouring your images and then trying to match up your papers :D

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Passion for Promarkers week 359 "One for the Boys"

Inspiration Destination Challenge # 99 Anything Goes

Dream in Darkness August # Steampunk

Enjoy :D XXX