Smeared and Smudged May Member Blog Hop

The Smeared and Smudged Forum and shop my be closed, but there is still a very active Group on FB to which I belong and I'm thrilled to be joining the Member Hop this month.  You should have arrived from Shell's Blog, who I'm sure has something amazing to share.  The theme this month is Anything Goes.

May Member Blog Hop
Black Dragon
Nan
Teresa
 Leslie Rahye
Anna
Tit Belsoeur
 Susan R.
Maureen
Jane
Barbara
Susan S.
Katie
Shell
Donna

Gotta say I was a bit late to the party, only signing up the last minute on Wednesday and although we don't officially have to go live until 9:00 am PDT, most have already posted so have some fun and visit the lineup. You'll be glad you did.  Good thing I'm last, although a bit anticlimactic after the wonders you've seen before me, and good thing my pals Teresa and Maureen teased me, or I wouldn't have had a sentiment for my project.  No real time to get messy and inky, nor delve into the amazing land of mixed media and to be honest, I pretty much suck at that, so I've got a 6x6 fat page and some straight forward coloring, using the fabulous Face On image from Ike's Art.

I always really got a kick out of it as a child when my mom or auntie would say she "had to put her face on".  Now being the vintage I am, it's doesn't sound nearly as silly.  LOL  I've colored with Copics and let the DP set the stage.

I printed the image 3 times and did a bit of fussy cutting and popping with foam for dimension.  The edges were distressed to fit with the current challenge at Left of Center and there ya go.  If you happened here by chance, I encourage you to start at the beginning up top there for some fabulous alternative (and perhaps a bit dark) inspiration.  The projects I peeked at this morning already will blow your mind.

I'm also entering Challenge #22 at Create and Inspire.

HDH In the Naughty Corner

It's our midway post for the now monthly challenge at HDH.  The theme is the Naughty Corner which gives you plenty of leeway. You can either make a naughty project, or a project about someone or something who's been misbehaving, or create something with corners, or decorate the corners.  We're easy in the dungeon that way, but we DON'T tolerate anything overtly cute or mainstream.  Capish?  So I had great plans and decided to decorate a candle box.  The fab corners are the gargoyle corners from Delicious Darkness that is coming back to life (after the nasty VAT laws ruined everything) on Etsy as ArtiDoodles.  Teri is slowly managing to add her vast array of fabulous stamps to her new shop and I'm hoping these corners will resurface soon.  The good news is that they are currently available as part of the Gargoyles Rubber set from Smeared Ink. (scroll down to get yours)  The center piece is a Skull from Anatomy 101 from Smeared Ink and was printed, fussy cut and dunked in the melt pot as instructed in the fab tutorial by Black Dragon in the Smeared and Smudged FB group.

Here's the dimensional shot.  I printed each corner 4 times and fussy cut and layered them with Pinflair and had full intentions of dunking them in the melt pot as well, but got sidetracked with a very exciting (but in the end disappointing) basketball final for the Big 10 championship where my beloved Spartans lost to Wisconsin.  The 3+ glasses of wine consumed during the game and my inconsolable state from our loss forced me to put the thing together without the faux porcelain finish on the corners.  Honestly, at that point I might have ended up with 3rd degree burns.  I expect harsh repercussions in the dungeon but they'd been worse had I abandoned the project all together so there ya go.

I'm entering this in the Smudgy Antics March ATG challenge.

Macabre Monday You Wood Do That Week 2

So here we go of week 2 of You Wood Do That at HDH.  We're looking for wood in your projects this time around.  I've taken a wooden plaque from the thrift store, painted it with black gesso, masked a moon, painted in white acrylic, dry brushed with black glitter paint.  The gnarly tree branch was found on my daily walk and glued to the plaque.  The stamps are both from Smeared Ink. Great Horned Owl from the Eyes in the Dark Set is feeling a bit peevish.  He seems to have ripped the heart from an unsuspecting victim with the head still attached.  YIKES!  The sentiment is an inside joke from the HDH dungeon.

I've printed the owl twice, colored him with Copics, fussy cut and popped for dimension.  His victim is the SI Open Bust  from the Gross Anatomy set.  Please visit HDH to see the wonderful work by my teamies and our special guest, Maureen Scott.  I promise not all the makes are this gruesome.  LOL

I'm entering this in the Smudgy Antics ATG challenge on the Smeared and Smudged Forum, the Recycle, Re-Purpose& Re-invent Fall/ Harvest/Halloween  challenge, the LOC Altered Art Challenge and Crafting by Designs Boo You Scared Me.

Week 2 of Skullduggery at HDH

Oh yes!  It's our second week of our Skullduggery Challenge at HDH and I've finally gotten around to making a faux porcelain skull with my meltpot using the fabulous step by step Tutorial by our own fabulous Minion Sister Blackdragon available in the Mixed Media University Group on the Smeared and Smudged Forum. So many cool things happening over there. The skull is a Smeared Ink digi that was printed 6 times, fussy cut and layered according to the tut.  WooHoo!  BD does the most amazing work and my effort cannot even begin to compare with hers, but I'm pretty damn proud of the result, just the same.  I've mounted it on a Tim Holtz Ornate Plate and added tiny metal roses and turned it into a necklace.

I'm entering this in the LOC Anniversay ATG Challenge (last day, BooHoo!) as well as the LOC Ribbons/and or Flowers challenge.

 Corrosive Challenge Show Us Your Metal

Tip Top Tuesday Metal or Faux Metal   My TIP for Tip Top Tuesday is after removing your creation from a Meltpot, you can easily remove bubbles or other imperfections with your heat gun.

Quoth the Raven Tic Tac Poe using the left verticle line of Hardware or Metal, Skull and Flowers and although it hasn't a specific reference to Poe, I think it speaks to his preoccupation with Death and I did find reference to "enamell'd head" in the poem Al Aaraaf.  (Perhaps a stretch.  LOL)

Left of Center Favorite Book

Playing "catch up" here with a project that has been on my desk for awhile.  It fits in nicely with the current Favorite Book Challenge at Left of Center so I photographed it with the book itself, The Unabridged Edgar Allen Poe. 

The gorgeous Annabel Lee 2 is from Ike's Art and I've merged it with one of the digital papers from the Poe Boy pack from Smeared Ink.  Annabel is colored with Copics but the lovely blood drips are part of the digi paper.  WooHoo!  I printed the paper several times so I could fussy cut and pop the skull and raven.  I've used the "feathering technique" from Ike's fussy cutting and feathering video available in the Mixed Media University Group on the Smeared and Smudged Forum for the raven's feathers.  Always lots of good stuff going on there.

I was also following the Tic Tac Poe Quest over at Quoth the Raven using the center horizontal row of Skull, 3D, and Emboss. I've used the Cuttlebug Fanciful Labels to cut, dry emboss and ink.  The sentiment is a past offering from the Smeared Ink Rubber Club.  (Forgotten lore indeed.  Bet there's tons of it in the Unabridged Poe, it's 1124 pages long!  Haven't quite made it through, yet.)

Here's the dimensional shot.  The quill pen is part of the design, layered between the image and frame.  The lovely framing uses two of the dies from my new Spellbinders Enchanted Labels 28. 

I'm also adding this to the Left of Center First Anniversary Anything Goes Challenge.

Happy Valentine's Day from Dilly Beans (and Me!)

Happy Valentine's Day to all my friends out there in Blogland.  Hope your day is filled with all the love you could ever imagine (and a few chocolates wouldn't be that awful, either.  LOL)  The Dilly Beaners have made some special Valentines for you all, too.  Our Challenge this fortnight is Hearts (just in case you haven't gotten your fill).  No shortage of Dilly Beans images with hearts so I'm sure we'll see lots of great stuff.  I've tried something new (for me anyway) and done a canvas transfer using Shell's tut in the Mixed Media University Group on the Smeared and Smudged Forum.  The image is the adorable #587 Penny's Heart String.  After carefully rubbing off the paper, I colored her with Copics and added more of my conversation heart stickers.  Love the texture the canvas provides.  The background is dabbed with bubble wrap dipped in Distress Ink.  I've fashioned the the heart with lace tape and added trim, crocheted flowers, pearls  and a little crocheted butterfly, as well.  I've wrapped some velvet ric rac around the edge to finish it off.  Very sweet and girly, don'tcha think?

I'm entering this in the 613 Avenue Create ATG Challenge (couldn't quite manage the optional Create your Own with this one but still wanted to share.), the Outlawz Twisted Thursday ATG /w optional Add a Flower, TTRCD ATG Feb 11-17, Through the Purple Haze ATG and Papertake Weekly With a Heart.

Kickstart Your Art- the 7th and Final Day!

Well, it's been a fabulous week at Smeared and Smudged.  The Kickstart Your Art 7 Day Art journal Challenge is coming to a close and I've managed to make it through the entire week.  WooHoo!  I've learned a lot and had all kinds of fun, but today was a real challenge as I had 3 projects to complete.  Today's prompt was an Easy Water Blotting Background with a fabulous tut, again by LauraB.  I have to say the whole self made background thing is new to me and I've learned so much. This one was particularly fun, kinda like magic, and none too difficult, thank God!, since it was the 3rd thing I did today.

Started with Distress Inks and blending tool and then just swiped the pad on the page to get more depth of color. Spritzed with a Mini Mister and water to blend colors and blotted.

More supplies collected.  Sprayed with Dylusions, then did the water blotting with that dart thingy for the dots, the Dylusions spray cap for the open circles ana a brush for the wavy lines (I was going for an underwater look).

Had planned on a mermaid or something and then remembered the fab image from the Steampunk Misses from Octopode.  Just how I felt.  Even too tired to say more.  The page says it all.

Day 6!!!

Well, I was all worried that yesterday was gonna difficult to finish my Kickstart Your Art project but didn't think ahead of the aftermath of too much food, wine and fab music (the Eagles).  Combine that with a VERY late night and EIYIYI!  We're really getting old, I guess, 'cause a I've felt like total crap all day (even after a little "hair of the dog" at lunch).  If ever I needed a really easy challenge, today would have been it, but NOOOO....!!!  The prompt was TEXTURE!  Now you know I love me some texture, but what I had in mind seemed a bit daunting and would require an undetermined amount of drying time.  Well, the sooner I got going, the better off I'd be.

Certainly I could have chosen a more visual, rather than tactile texture but I had some mediums I'd really not played with, so I assembled a bunch of stuff and just started to play. Fortunately I had already gessoed a page so I could start right in, after protecting the page underneath from,  I didn't know what yet, but didn't want to take any unnecessary chances.

I had some black Sizzix texture paper which I tore and glued to opposing corners using Matte Medium.  Then I slathered on some Texture Paste and tried bubble wrap to make impressions.  I wasn't impressed so I slathered on a bit more and used my trusty grapefruit bag.  OOOH!!! Love it!  Wasn't prepared for the bile green tinge, though.   You'd think with all the bags I've kept I could have picked up a clean one (how apropos though, considering my sorry state). Well, the color scheme was set, now what to do with that bubble wrap?  I flipped it over and stuck it on the page with more matte medium.  Kinda blurred the lines between it all with some gesso and shot it with a heat gun which melted and collapsed some of the bubbles.  The depressed areas added some nice shine, too.  COOL!

Glued on some white corrugated stuff to the corner and added some dry brush color with black gesso and lime acrylic paint.

With all this stuff going on there was really no room to write, so I added a corrugated strip and "texture study" with letters cut with my Cuttlebug. Tried melting some Cling Wrap directly to the page but that didn't work.  It melted, alright, but not onto the page so I glued it on with Glossy Accents.

Finally, I dripped some more Glossy Accents down the page in a couple of places to balance the all that matte.  Couldn't wait for it all to dry completely 'cause I was so excited to share it.  I'm afraid I always take the prompts too literally, but I sure had a ball today.  Wow!  Only one more day to go.  I'm sure gonna miss this but hope to keep it up, at least once a week, with the Smeared and Smudged Art Journal Every Day Group.  I'm telling you, there is something for EVERYONE on the Forum and you won't meet a nicer or more supportive and inspirational group.  Joining is FREE, just ASK.  I promise you'll be glad you did.

Day 4!

I'm pretty pleased that I've managed to hang in there with Kickstart Your Art.  So far the prompts haven't been too intimidating and I'm having fun and learning a bunch from the talented DT on the Smeared and Smudged Forum as well as the participants in the challenges.  Today's prompt is GROWTH.  I immediately I thought of my garden and my fave flowers.  I've been dying to color some more of my Aurora Wings digis, drawn by the fabulous Mitzi Sato-Wiuff, and chose 3 of her Sprites that happen to grow in abundance in my backyard.  I started with Dylusions sprays in the colors of the flowers I chose.  Then, getting brave, I used a Dyan Reaveley vine stencil and acrylic paint. (GO ME!) Once dry, I doodled and shaded the leaves.

My first little guy is Morning Glory Sprite.  Have to say I didn't plant morning glories.  They have invaded my yard through the fence and over my neighbor's trellis.  The cheeky little things sort of take over.  Still love 'em, though.

Next is probably my favorite flower.  This is Hydrangea Sprite.  We have 10 bushes, all kinds and colors.  Can't wait 'til they start blooming again.

And finally, here's Tiger Lily Sprite.  I got a bit creative with her.  About 4 years ago, my hubby sent for a whole collection of tree lilies.  They multiply on their own and grow larger with more blossoms each year.  Our oldest ones grow taller than I am and have as many as 20 blooms on one stem.  I decided this sprite needed a stalk so I did some creative cropping and fussy cutting of the Easter Lily digi and added the Sprite.  She was printed again and I used the bottom of her dress for the other bloom after drawing in the stamens.  All digis were colored with my Copics.  The little fence at the bottom is a Martha Stewart punch.  After all that work I didn't want to risk ruining my page with my own crappy journaling, so I went the computer route.  Hope you like.

Day 2 Prompt: Hearts

Tuesday's prompt for the Kickstart your Art Challenge is hearts.  Yea!  Another easy one.  I wanted to do a bit more with the background (HA!  none too difficult since I did NOTHING yesterday) so I took a produce bag (grapefruit) and used it as a stencil and pounced Distress ink in Barn Door and Black soot over my page and then removed the mask and did some blending around the edges.  Wanted to use some stamps this time and printed out Smeared Ink's Holding heart from the Bloody Valentine set, colored it with Copics, fussy cut it and said "Now what?"  My original thought was just this stamps with the sentiment "Love is fragile, handle with care", but I'd printed it too small for what I'd envisioned.

I poked around until I came across my Dependable Dotty set by Dyan Reavely and the "Always" caught my eye.  "Love is fragile, ALWAYS handle with care".  Cool!  It even sort of looked like a bandage on her head to me (until I realized it's a bird, what's up with that?)  Poor Dotty now looks like she has "MAN HANDS" but she's offering her heart which is FULL of love, and trusting that it will be cared for and cherished forever.

The wings I've added are from the Cuttlebug Emboss Plus Vintage Collage set and I've stickled them for some bling.  Dotty's heart, black tipped French mani, (I'm sooo gonna do that when I get a chance) as well as her lips, eye and boots are coated with Glossy Accents.  One side says "I'm still all aflutter".

 The other, "your love gives me wings".  Top corner now reads "Always and Forever".  She's in it for the long haul.

Sorry for this ultra long post.  Got a bit carried away with this one.  So my point?  When you find your ONE, never ever let him go.  Offer yourself fully and completely and as long as you both remember to love, respect and cherish each other, your life will be filled with joy and there will be nothing you can't do...together. 

I'm also adding this to the Mini Spotlight Challenge with Diana Fernandez at Anything but a Card.

Day 1 of Kickstart Your Art

One of my goals this year is to get involved in new arty adventures, to spread my wings, so to speak.  To say this is tough for me is the understatement of the year, but I'm taking baby steps.  Today is the first day of the "Kickstart Your Art" event at Smeared and Smudged, a week long set of art journaling challenges.  I'll be the first to admit, I suck at art journaling, so even the consideration of joining in gives me heart palpitations.  Yes, I belong to the Art Journal Every Day Group on the Smeared and Smudged Forum, but I'm a lurker and admirer, not a participant.  So, in case you can't read between the lines, I generally avoid things I'm not good at because I'm terrified of failure.  Still, no harm in looking. The first prompt came this morning at 9:00am PST and we have 24 hours to complete it.  There are daily prizes, as well as a fab Grand Prize for one lucky soul who manages all the challenges.  Can't promise that, but today's prompt of 3 primary color drips seemed pretty managable.  Titbelsoeur has a fab tut on the Forum using paint, but I went the Dylusions Spray route.  Now what?  Well, the drips to me sort of looked like tears.  What if our feelings colored our tears?  Would people see us more clearly, understand us better?  Those were my thoughts, anyway.  The rest is my own feeble attempt at doodling and the dreaded journaling. Phew!  Day One down!  I need a glass of wine.

The 12th Day of Creepmas!

Oh my!  It's the 12th and final Day of the 12 Days of Creepmas Blog Hop sponsored by Smeared Ink and the fabulous Smeared and Smudged Forum.  If any of this tickles your fancy you just gotta come and join.  It's FREE and there's all sorts of great things going on there, not to mention a really, really, REALLY great community of wonderful supportive crafters and friends.  Thanks so much for this fabulous event.  It also just happens to be a Smeared Ink Day where we Jolly Bloggers are challenged to use only Smeard Ink Stamps.  No prob.  You've heard the sentiment "Snowflakes are Winter's Butterflies"?  Well I say, for Creepmas, "Snowflakes are Winter's BATTERFLIES."

 

 It's an ornament again, using my fave bat from the A Little Bit Batty Set from Smeared Ink (also available HERE as a single).  Again I used a spent ribbon roll and printed, flocked, fussy cut and popped the bat as I did for my first DT Throwdown project HERE.  Perhaps I should do one for each holiday, eh?

Here's a close up of his cute little face and the icy crystal and skullie pendant he carries in his furry little claws.  Makes you all warm and fuzzy, doesn't it?  That's the maribou talking.  The snowflake was cut on my Cricut and glittered all up and popped on a silver foil shadow.

Had to commemorate the occasion on the back with the date.  My first Creepmas Blog Hop, but it certainly won't be my last.  I've got a ton of ideas left for next year.  WooHoo!  Now off to Violent Kittie, but before you go, I want to wish you a fabulous holiday and hope all your Creepmas dreams come true.  xxD

The 11th Day of Creepmas

Seriously?  the 11th Day of Creepmas?  Eiyiyi! I've certainly been having a ball participating in this fab Blog Hop sponsored by Smeared Ink and the fabulous Smeared and Smudged Forum.   Blog roll on my sidebar.  Well here ya go.  A snow globe easel card using the fab Evil Snowman from my HDH Minion Sister Teri at Delicious Doodles.  The snow globe itself is a digi from Lacy Sunshine.  I hope they don't have a heart attack seein' what I've put in there.  LOL

I've printed the snowman several times, colored him with Copics, fussy cut, layered, popped him for dimension and added a skull (like a snowball) in his hands cut from the Delicious Doodles Skully Xmas Wreath.  The snow globe itself is made from packaging from tape filled with Flower Soft, and Mica Flakes.

The sentiment is an ancient Rub-On and I've added some snowflakes cut with  a Tim Holtz Snowflake Die and topped with more skullies from the DD Wreath.

Here's a better shot (sort of, it's late and crappy lighting) of the dimension and easel.  I hope you all love this one as much as I do.  Now off you go to Violent Kittie.  I can't believe there's only one more post to go.  I soo don't want this to end.
 
 I'm also entering this in the Delicious Doodles White Christmas Challenge, the Lacy Sunshine Celebrations Challenge, the Simon Says Monday Use a Stamp Challenge and the Left of Center Christmas Challenge.

12 Days of Creepmas Day 8

It's Day 8 of the 12 Days of Creepmas sponsored by Smeared Ink and the Smeared and Smudged Forum and I'm doing double duty today.  Obviously this is my 8th Day offering, but I made it an ATC to also play in the Wicked Wednesday Creepy Christmas Challenge.  The fabulous digis are from HDH Minion sis Teri at Delicious Doodles.  I've used Tombstone 1, although the economical way to buy them is the fab Tombstone Collection of all 6 because once you see them, you will WANT THEM ALL!  I've decked it out for Creepmas with Skully Xmas Wreath.    And just in case you're interested in non creepy stuff, teri has gobs of beautiful mainstream digis at Delicious Doodles as well.  The background digi paper is from the new Smeared Ink Icy Digital Paper Pack.

I printed the images several times, fussy cut and popped portions for dimension.  Keep in mind that an ATC is 2 1/2 x3 1/2" and I have a fair amount of arthritis in my hands. Kinda tough goin'.  Truly a labor of love because I gotta say I LOVE how it turned out.  Since I was unable to fussy cut the greenery of the skully wreath, I added deep green metallic pine branches from a Martha Stewart punch and teeny adhesive gems to the eyes.  I guess stone gargoyles don't have hairy legs or I'd enter it over at the Delicious Doodles challenge as well.  Bummer, shoulda gotten this done last week!  Next up is a fabulous treat from Violent Kitty, and remember, the Blog Roll is always on the sidebar if you lose your way.

I will, however, enter it in the PunkYouGirl Black Christmas Challenge, the Corrosive Challenge Anything Goes, Anything but a Card (it's an ATC) ATG with a Holiday Twist and Left of Center Winter/Holidays Challenge.

Day 7 of the 12 Days of Creepmas

Can you believe it's Friday the 13th and Day 7 out of 12 for the Smeared and Smudged Creepmas Blog Hop?  That's sort of scaring me since I'm so unprepared for the upcoming holiday.  It's Smeared Ink Day and I've a fun card featuring the Quoth the Raven rubber set (available as a past offering from the Smeared Ink Rubber Club).  I've used the Santa Hat from the Watchful Eye digi, yet again, this time flocking it and using a Snow Writer for the cuff and pom pom for Poe and the Raven.  The cool card die is by Sizzix and it all folds flat for sending (not that I ever actually send anything, LOL)

The background DP is digi paper from the Slasher pack, also from Smeared Ink.  I've spelled out Poe in Alpha Beads and added a computer generated sentiment banner for the Raven.  Notice the little glitter raven dimensional stickers in the bottom corners too.  Aren't they the cutest ever?  Be sure to leave a comment since there's a drawing for prizes for a Jolly Blogger and a Merry Hopper from Smeared Ink today.  Full lineup is on the sidebar so you can start at the beginning and not miss a thing.  Next up is Violent Kitty.  WooHoo!

Obviously, I'm also entering this in the Ho Ho Poe Challenge at Quoth the Raven, TTRCD ATG Dec 10-16, Left of Center Winter or Holidays, Drunken Stampers:Person (Santa) Challenge.

12 Days of Creepmas Day 6

OMG!!! We're halfway there!  It's Day 6 of the 12 Days of Creepmas sponsored by the Smeared and Smudged Forum.  If you'd like to start at the beginning of the hop, the full lineup in on the sidebar.  Today I've created a little winter scene using the birch trees die from Memory Box in a frame cut with my Nesties.  The fabulous images are from Rick St Dennis MFA.  Surrender Rudolph is a gunnin' for Creepmas dinner (don't laugh, I actually DO make rack of venison for Christmas), while Rudolph himself (from a bookmark set I can't find in either of his shops) makes a feeble attempt to hide.

Both were colored with Copics, fussy cut and popped among the trees.  Unfortunately...

Inside sentiment is computer generated.  Bullet holes are from the Chick's Dig Guns set by Smeared Ink and the blood spatter is from the Inky Dreams Rubber set, available as a past Rubber Club Offering by Smeared Ink (as is Chicks Dig Guns if you prefer).  Now scurry of to see what wonders Violent Kitty has in store for you.

12 Days of Creepmas Day 4

It's Day 4 of the 12 Days of Creepmas sponsored by the Smeared and Smudged forum  (joining is FREE, you know you wanna!) and it's another Smeared Ink Day!  WooHoo!  There are prizes to be had for one Jolly Blogger and one Merry Hopper so be sure to start at the beginning of the Hop (on my sidebar) and follow it through for the chance to win a fab prize from Smeared Ink.  Although I've done a fair amount of projects in advance, I forgot to take pix so these aren't the greatest.  Sorry!  Here I've used Smeared Ink's Killer Shoes drawn by my fab HDH teamie Ike. (Yes, she designs for Smeared Ink too!  Check THESE out!) Shoes are my passion so it should be no surprise that I LOVE this image, and could it be more perfect for Creepmas?

Here's a detail pic of the suede (flocked) and patent (Glossy Accents) killers. Eiyiyi!  That mouse sure is messing up my Louboutins.  He's fussy cut and popped for dramatic impact.  I apologize to PETA and those with weaker stomachs, but when you have cats, this almost seems humane.

The other pair is glittered with real bows (on my "wish list").  No bloody massacre here.  That sweet little rat Calypso, all dressed up with his Santa hat from Watchful Eye is high tailing it outta there!  "EEK!" is right.   So Fa La la, off you go now to visit Violent Kittie.  (Calypso plans to skip her blog.  Gee, I wonder why.)

I'm also adding this to the Outlawz Friday Alcohol Marker Shoes Challenge.