New Challenge at Aurora Wings

I'm so very excited about this month's challenge at Aurora Wings.  The theme is Day of the Dead-be still my heart!  You know I love me some Dia de los Muertos!  To be honest, I've had this idea in my head for over a year so to actually gotten my butt in gear enough ahead of time to pull it off makes me all kinds of happy.  It did not turn out exactly as originally planned, but I like this version even better.  Grab a cuppa, this is a very long post 'cause I'm all kinds of thrilled about this and I'm feeling VERY chatty.

My biggest hold up was painting the paper mache monument.  I hate waiting for paint to dry and I'm not the swiftest at mixed media. I've got gobs of product, but don't know what to do with it all, so I just mixed some black and white gesso and threw in some sand.  WooHoo!  It turned out darker than I thought, but after a little dabbing of some Deco Art Bleached Sand acrylic paint with a natural sponge, I was good to go.

While waiting for the paint to dry, I had begun coloring the beautiful Bone Queen, also available HERE in the shop (with Copics) but NOT in these colors.  I'd planned on doing a less macabre version using the traditional oranges and yellows of the giant marigolds, often used on Day of the Dead alters, (conveniently also poppy colors).  However, as pretty as they were, those warm colors weren't all that striking against my tombstone... what to do?  

I decided to take inspiration from Mitzi's original print (also available as an ACEO print HERE)  and go with the red...ALL the way with the red, right down to the blood drips on her shoulders, which about gave me a heart attack since I'd already spent hours on coloring, especially the chest bone detail.  It's just Copics.  I was too scared to actually try to DRIP anything.  Too risky at this stage of the game.  Now for the reddish tinge.  I was a bit more light handed there, but found that with a Q-tip and red chalk I could get the shading I was going for.  There was a whole lot of fussy cutting going on, as I did pop her face and the closest blooms with foam.  Finally, I added a silver bird skull charm to her necklace.  One down...

Next came the florals for either side of my sentiment.  On the left is a Poppy corner. (Flipped in my printing program) Again, colored with Copics with some chalk detail on the leaves, buds and pods. The fussy cutting here was brutal, mostly done with an exacto knife.  I normally leave a little white border on imaged so delicate, but it wasn't right for the project.  That little web behind the pod was added for some stability and happened to help balance the design. Mitzi has a huge selection of floral borders and corners that can be used alone or in conjunction with her other beautiful designs.  You can find the whole collection in the Aurora Wings Etsy shop by searching by type of flower or in the Floral Collection of the AW Website's Digital Stamp Shop.

Finally, on the right I added Memento Mori.  This was a fave of mine right from the get go and also supplied me with the sentiment.  Again, I've colored with Copics and lightly chalked with red.  From Wikipedia 

Memento mori (Latin: "remember (that you have) to die"^[2]) is the medieval Latin theory and practice of reflection on mortality, especially as a means of considering the vanity of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits.

The sentiment is computer generated, cut with Spellinders Labels Four and inked with Distress while in the die.  It's backed by a Grand Labels Four that was run through my Cuttlebug with the Tim Holtz Bricked folder to give it some texture and inked with Versafine chalk ink.

Finally, here's the dimensional shot.  I really planned to do more with the individual flowers on each stamp, but I ran out of time. The good news is, I saved the stamps in these sizes in my Printmaster program, so if I get the inclination to add more, I can at a later date.  

Be sure to visit the AW challenge blog for more fabulous inspiration from my DT sisters and please come play along.  Not all of Mitzi's Day of the Dead stamps are creepy.  There's an adorable Marigold Sprite and even a Catrina Doll Kitty. Check them all out HERE.

Always lots happening at Aurora Wings so here are the important links.

Aurora Wings Challenge Blog

Aurora Wings Showcase Blog

Aurora Wings Etsy Shop

Aurora Wings Digi Shop

Aurora Wings FB Group

Aurora Wings FB Fan Page

I'm entering this in the Altered Eclectics October ATG (Mixed media) Challenge, the Anything but Cute 31 Days of Halloween Mixed Media Challenge, Eclectic Ellapu Halloween/Dark/Horror, Glitter 'N' Sparkle Halloween Cute or Spooky, The Corrosive Challenge-the Dark Side, Love to Create Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes, Left of Center Good Old Fashioned Horror, Chalk N Stock ATG with Chalk, A Step in the Dark October FB challenge, Simon Says Monday Monster Mash, Forever Dark 2 Challenge #5, Our Creative Corner Horror, The Mirror Cracked Tic Tac Toe (using Halloween, Time: my thought is that the sentiment references time, Red) and Dream in Darkness Halloween is Here.