Smudgefest Day 7 Super Sunday

WooHoo!  It's the final day of Smudgefest, sponsored by Smeared Ink, and I've managed to hang in there for all 7.  Gotta say I about died when I saw this last challenge because it required a bit of imagination and I thought I'd used mine all up with some funky, crazy dreams that made me sleep in til 7:30.   So here's what I woke up to:  

"Your challenge is to take any Smeared Ink image and turn it into some sort of superhero on your project! We'll be nice and let you choose either super hero or super villain, but in your description or even on your project, you must tell us your super's name and super power. "
EIYIYI!

Fortunately I've got GOBS of images both digi and rubber from Smeared Ink and when I came upon Frankiegirl, one of the Hallowcuties, I knew I'd found my gal.
She's now Electra-girl, who draws power from electrical storms to keep the city safe from blackouts.  Her goal is to solve the world's energy crisis before she shorts out. (And speaking of shorts, the bazillion volts burned hers right off. Oops!)   I removed her background (no, not her clothes, she was already nekkid, LOL) in my printing program, slapped her on a free photo I found on the net, added some text and printed her off.  She's colored with Fluorescent Copics and a little bit of silver pencil et VOILA!  Easy peasy.

And hey, great NEWS, the Smeared Ink Website lives on!  Although the shop is not yet open, you can sign up for the newsletter and find out all about the 31 Days of Halloween.  WooHoo!  Can't wait!

Smudgefest Day 6 Stencil Saturday

If you're here for the Remembering Lily Memorial Blog Hop, please scroll down.

 Quicky post and quicky project because I'm pretty much crafted out after the last two days, but I did manage Day 6 of Smudgefest, Stencil Saturday, with this tag.  I used Dylusion Sprays and a Dianne Reavesly stencil for the background.  The hearts are from Smeared Ink (soon to reopen, WOOHOO!) colored with Copics, fussy cut and popped.  The sentiment is done in stickers from Tim Holtz. Am I the only one old enough to remember when that instrumental was a Top Hit?

Smudgefest Day 5 Fiber Friday

Busy day today, so before I continue with today's Smudgefest entry,  please check out my TEW post HERE and my AW post HERE.  xxx

So it's Day 5 of Smudgefest and I'm so happy to have managed to hang in there thus far.  Today's challenge is Fiber Friday and I've made a tag again, this time using the Queen Bee digi from SI which I printed on Kraft and fussy cut and popped for dimension.

I've embossed the tag using a Cuttlebug folder that I inked up with Wild Honey Distress before running through the Cuttlebug (thanks Fiona for that superb idea) and then distressed it further around the edges with Vintage Photo and Black Soot.  The flower, made from stiffened jute, I think was actually cut off a ponytail elastic that I got in the $ bin at Mike's years ago.  The patch of woven fiber was cut from a pouch that some flatware place settings came in.  Just in case that wasn't enough fiber, I also tied some baker's twine around the flower in a bow and more for the hanger.  Some black Alpha Beads finished it off.

I'm adding this to the Outlawz Saturday Paper a la Mode Tag It Challenge and Simon Says Monday Tie it Up.

Smudgefest Day 4 Thrashed Thursday

Can't believe I'm hanging in there for Smudgefest, the fun filled week sponsored by Smeared Ink, where we receive a prompt each morning and must do the challenge by midnight.  I've played in this in years past, but not for awhile, and it totally snuck up on me, but I thought I'd try it anyway.  It's really a lesson for me.  No one has any idea how I labor over projects.  It's takes days (and sometimes weeks) for me to hash out an idea and make it come to fruition.  It's partly procrastination, I know, but it's also a bit of fear of failure.  I need to be reasonably sure that my project will turn out how I envision it, rather than just going with the flow.  You don't have time for that here.  Ya just gotta get busy. And although I'm not always thrilled with my outcome, I'm proud that I'm just creating.

So much for confessions.  Today is Thrashed Thursday and I can't tell you how happy I was since I've been hoarding a corrugated box since Christmas because the inside was BLACK.  Cool!  I rescued it from recycling numerous times because hubby didn't like it laying in the hallway so I finally hid it under the bed in the guest room until the right occasion came up.  AND THIS IS IT!  I cut a tag shape and distressed the crap out of the edges with my Distrezz-it-all.  (Boy, that makes a lot of noise, especially at 4:45 am, but fortunately, he didn't wake up)  Then I tore off some more of the black.  The die cut is from Memory Box with a Spellbinders circle cut out of a scrap of specialty paper.  I stamped the little ghost Grumpy, again from the SI Halloween Grumpies set, on black with Versamark, embossed it with white, and fussy cut and popped him on the tag.  Added a metal brad and rope hanger and called it done.  WooHoo!

I'm entering this in the Outlawz Monday Greeting Cards Tic Tac Toe challenge using Die Cuts/ Punches/ Image/Embossing, Simon Says Monday Tie it Up, and Crafter's Cafe use Some Torn Paper,  Fab'n'Funky No Patterned Paper and Papertake Weekly ATG w/Option of Torn Edges.  

Smudgefest Day 3 Wet Wednesday

Well, I'm starting to sweat it a little.  Today didn't go exactly as planned but i'm happy to say I managed another day of Smudgefest with the theme of "Wet Wednesday" .  I'm kinda timid about using mixed media, especially inky stuff that can be dropped and splattered all over the place.  First of all, I need to carry it all down to the kitchen, because my craft room has no available space for such nonsense. Second, I have a tendency to want everything to go perfectly as I envision the very first time which is rarely the case.

First attempt with Dylusions Spray in Post Box Red through a produce bag and then oversprayed with water in a Mini Mister.

Second attempt, again Dylusions though the mesh which I then turned and sprayed with Dylusions Black.  It seemed to turn brown with the mixture.  Not pleased.  Third attempt was so hideous I didn't even take a pic.  Switched gears and used blues and greens to do an underwater scene and it ended it up a mess, but I finally did decide on a stamp and abandoned the sprays altogether, et voila!

This time I did the old run your Distress Ink pads (Broken China and Tumbled Glass) across your craft mat, spritz it with water and mop it up.  The stamp and sentiment are from the Smeared Ink Abyss rubber set, stamped in Forest Green StazOn (because I couldn't find my black, but I like it better anyway).  The details in this set are amazing!  After stamping, I dipped the top of the mini mister in Tumbled Glass and stamped bubbles and the darker ones are with an air dart with Broken China.  Gotta say, I was thrilled, but it took up the majority of my day and I've got 2 DT things due Friday and another project due Saturday.  Hope I can keep this up too.  Up for grabs are exclusive new digis that won't be available until Smeared Ink opens it's doors again.  Can't wait!

Smudgefest Day 2 Tape Tuesday

Welcome to my Day 2 of Smudgefest, the fun filled week of challenges sponsored by Smeared Ink.  I woke up at 4:45 am and my first thought was "What's the next challenge?"  Turns out it's "Tape Tuesday", use any form of tape on your project.  Of course they'd love something uber creative, but I'm just trying to keep up and still manage the 3 other projects I have due the end of this week.  

Gotta say I admire people who can casually slap a piece of Washi on their project and it looks way artsy, you know, like it's just MEANT to be there.  That ain't me.  I've got quite a collection of the stuff, since it was new and exciting awhile back, but most of it's still in the package, until today, that is.  So I immediately thought of the Mummy Grumpy from the Smeared Ink Halloween Grumpies set (which I just happen to have in rubber and SHAME on me, they've never been inked).  I stamped the little dude a couple of times, once on an ATC sized piece of card stock and twice more for fussy cutting.  I wrapped his bod in multiple layers of my Halloween chevron tape following the lines of the stamp, added it to the ATC and layered on his toes and eyes, complete with googly eyes.  I colored the parts showing with Fluorescent green Copics, inked the edges and added another piece of washi I'd stamped with one of the sentiments from the set.  DONE!  WooHoo!  Not the most creative, but he's kinda cute, don'tcha think?

Smudgefest Day1 Metal Monday

Okay, so I was feeling guilty about entering Smudgefest with a project that just happened to fit the theme but wasn't specifically made for the challenge.  I mean, the point is to wake up and be surprised by the theme and then make something, hopefully using a Smeared Ink Stamp or paper (if you want to be eligible for the daily prize).
  

So, in the spirit of fairness, I made a quicky ATC for the "Metal Monday" theme today.  I wish I could have done more, but hubby has an itch to see new Mission Impossible movie and saying I needed to stay home for Smudgefest probably wouldn't fly.  The image is Backbend from the Toxic Ballerina set from Smeared Ink and the background is from one of the SI digi paper sets, but for the life of me, I can't remember the name of it.  The image was colored with Copics and I've  added a Tim Holtz metal Philosophy Tags.  Hopefully I will be able to hang in there for the 7 fun filled days, but we'll see.  Check out the rules and stuff for Smudgefest by clicking the banner top right.  Prizes are daily and Random so you can drop in whenever and play.  Gotta run and get boofy before the show. See ya tomorrow.

Final Day of Smudgefest!

WooHoo, I made it through!  I sort of started Smudgefest as a whim, but managed to keep at it all WEEK!  The challenges were fun and exciting, the prizes fab, and the comraderie excellent.  Can't say some days were outside my comfort zone, but hey, that's what challenges are for.  I'm proud that I hung in there as I'm not a "spur of the moment" kind of crafter and hesitate to post things I'm not overly proud of, but this experience was liberating and so freakin' much FUN!  Today, thank God, was an easy one.  A freebie challenge using this fun little Goulipop.  He'll eventually be in the SHOP but today only you can nab him HERE and play along.  There are daily prizes as well, so you may just get lucky!   

Ghoulipop looked a bit lonely so I also used Smeared Ink's Devil Boy, available individually or part of the Creepers set.  I think with those 3 mouths he may just be able to do Goulipop justice.  He sure looks thrilled with it.  The card turned out sort of chaotic with all that candy but I think it captures the spirit of a true sugar rush.   A huge thanks to Terra and Tori for a fabulous event.  I hope this is training for some of the biggies coming up.  We'll see.

Smudgefest Day 6, the Dreaded Sketch!

Still hangin' in there with Smudgefest, although this morning my heart stopped as I viewed the DREADED SKETCH!  I suck at sketches because I have no imagination.  I feel compelled to take them literally and today was no exception.  However, not to be undone, I faced my fears and decided to combine it with the Freaky Freebie Challenge on the Smeared and Smudged Forum and used Anya from the Glam Vamps set.  (Just so happened I already had the set, but Anya is the freebie this month for that challenge). I started thinkin' on DP to use and decided that one with blood spatter would be apropo so I called up this lovely from Crafty Chaos (alas, the shop is closed).  As I was sizing in my Printmaster program I stuck Anya in the center and realized I might just be able to do the majority of this digitally so I gave it a go.  I'm obviously no pro at this but at least it doesn't suck.  Even kinda proud of the shaded parts.  I'm too lazy to learn to color digitally, however, so Anya is done with Copics.

Here's the sketch.  See what I mean...pretty damn literal.  That line down the side was a bit of a heart stopper but I just couldn't let it go.  More blood seemed just the ticket but went back and forth between nail polish and reinker that SURPRISE was still laying out from yesterday (and probably will remain out forever like the majority of my supplies) but the polish was a bit sluggish so reinker it is.  DONE!  and it isn't even lunch time.  WooHoo!  Oh, and because I think the sentiment is kind of a giggle, I'm entering it in the PunkYouGirl Dark Humor Challenge and Left of Center using the LOC theme as well.

Flowing Friday at Smudgefest

EIYIYI!  It's Day 5 at Smudgefest and I'm still hangin' in there.  Today almost did me in, however.  We were to use "flowing medium" like watercolors, liquid ink, liquid glue, you get the idea.  WAAAAYYY out of my comfort zone.  I'm a papercrafter, not really an artist, and I prefer stuff I can control, like markers or pencils.  At first I tried to get all "artsy" with sprays and stuff but to get them to "flow" you've gotta spray them pretty close to the paper and they got all muddled, not at all as I'd hoped.

  I finally decided on Distress Reinkers and a water brush to color with.  I tried in vain to print images on my printer, but the watercolor paper was too thick to feed so I gave up.  I did have some Watercolor Postcards and decided to find a rubber stamp to paint.  Settled on one from the Smeared Ink Occasions Grumpies set (retired in rubber but available HERE in digi).  Thought a Birthday postcard would be something I'd actually send.  The postcard was pretty textured so the solid parts didn't stamp as well as I'd hoped, but it was workable.  Of course I used StazOn so it wouldn't bleed.  What I was surprised to find out is that the inks bled if you weren't careful, but I finally managed a so so project.  Spent an hour looking for the Grumpies sentiment "Party like a Grumpie" that I'd planned to use but had to find something else.  Bummer!  I'm just glad it's DONE!  Is it Happy Hour yet?

I'm thinkin' that since this really is a Postcard it'll qualify for the Simon Says Monday Air Mail challenge, too.

Smudgefest Day 4 ATC with a "Twist" (adult content)

I was a little stumped this morning seeing the Twisted Thursday Day 4 Challenge for Smudgefest, but only for a minute.  Make an ATC with a "Twist" using your own interpretation of "twist".  Well duh!  Femdom, my fave Twisted stamp set from Smeared Ink.  (No longer available in digi, but part of the Rubber Club past offerings.)  I went with black, white and red my "go to" twisted color scheme, printed "spreader bar" with a sentiment from Ginger's House.  Added a bit of blood spatter from the retired Inky Dreams rubber set and just in case that wasn't twisted enough, I made a little whip out of a toothpick and "twisted" piece of floss.  Done!  Woohoo!  All before breakfast.  Smudgefest is a BLAST!  (See sidebar for deets)

I'm also entering this at Left of Center using the LOC theme.

Please scroll down for my Simply Steampunk post for today.

Smudgefest Day 3!

WooHoo, I made it through Day 3 of Smudgefest and even better, I WON Day 2!  Bless you, Random org!  LOL  don't know if I'll make it through the end, but with the daily prizes, even if you play for only 1 day it's worth it.  The support, inspiration and comraderie among the Smeared and Smudgies (ok, I just made that label up but it's kinda cute, don't you think?) is super and there's always something fun going on. 

Today we have a color challenge.  They look a little different here than they did on the black background but I tried to get as close as possible.  I decided that Froggie Fae (retired) would be a good candidate and grabbed some Copics.  Too bad my coloring looks so washed out in the pic.  Some K&Co DP looked pretty close and I found Prima flowers in the colors too.  Mine's pretty simple (I'm totally neglecting my DT stuff at the mo) but check out Smudgy Antics for the fab entries each day.  Totally cool!

I'm also adding this to 613 Avenue Create Anything Goes with an Optional Sentiment.

Smudgefest Day 2!

WOW!  This is my 3rd post of the day.  I'm out on a limb here, trying my best to make it through the 7 days of Smudgefest. (Click the sidebar link to find out all about it.)  Here's my offering for Day 2, Terrifying Tuesday, pull out your favorite scary Smeared Ink image.  I've chosen a little charmer from the Babies of the Damned set.  Clearly, it should be no surprise that I'm not a mother.  And it is no surprise to me that we keep these creatures behind bars.  I think that's about all I'm gonna say about this in hopes of avoiding hate mail.  He's colored with Copics in my fave Zombie skin warms grays and greens.  the fab brain is from Creepy Glo's Etsy Shop.  the "playpen" is a Martha Stewart punch.  I've added a computer generated sentiment stamped with blood spatter from Smeared Ink's Inky Dreams Rubber set and a pair of fangs tied with a black bow.  Sweet!

I'm also entering this in the PunkYouGirl Dark Humor Challenge and Left of Center using the LOC theme.

Wicked Wednesday ATC and the Beginning of SMUDGEFEST!

I had my image all picked out for this week's Wicked Wednesday ATC Zodiac Challenge until I saw the very first challenge for Smudgefest 2013.  What is Smudgefest?  It's a week long challenge celebration by Smeared Ink with daily challenges and the chance to win all sorts of fab prizes.  Click the LINK to learn more.  Anyway, the Smudgefest Challenge is Manic Monday  (create a bi-polar project that shows opposites) and I immediately thought of Gemini and the fab Conjoined Twins image from the Carnies set.  The Gemini symbol was found on the net, with rub-ons and a computer generated sentiment.  Don't know if I'll make it every day of Smudgefest but at least I'll give it a go.  Even if I don't complete the week, there are still fab daily prizes to be had so check it out.  Smeared Ink also happens to be sponsoring Wicked Wednesday this week so WOOHOO!

I'm also entering this in the Left of Center Creepmas in July Challenge (you know, the "naughty/nice" thing or just LOC, if you prefer) and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes.