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The Haunted Design House Minions (most of us, anyway) are back for a little reunion. We've opened the dungeon doors for a little fresh(?) air and to refresh our fondness for the dark and weird. And hell, we just missed each other and YOU, our faithful followers. So here we go with a little creepiness to let you know the Evil will ALWAYS return.
Gotta say I'm a little off my game, but I stumbled (literally) upon some of my new(ish) (and virgin) Tim Holtz dies from last Halloween and chose Dracula. I had a bit of fun with the textures, using iridescent CS for his face, shiny black CS for his (slicked back) 'do, velvet for is cape and matte metallic (which I thought resembled satin) for the lining. Of course none of this shows in the pic, so you'll have to take my word for it.
Where else should he be, but on a coffin and here you can see a bit of the dimension. Couldn't resist adding some googly eyes and a die cut from the Happy Hauntings Cricut cartridge. Hey, my original Minion name was Creepy Cricut Cween, so I'm just channeling my roots. Love how the die gave him a fancier collar and fab pointy ears, don't you?
So I'm hoping you all are inspired to revisit your dark side, especially when you see the gloriously dark and decrepit makes from the rest of the Minions HERE. Happy Macrabre Monday. And as our Cadaverous Concoctor of Chaos always says, "Keep it creepy". xxx
I'm entering this in Dream in Darkness ATG, Dark 'n' Daring ATG, Left of Center using the LOC theme, DL.Art May Linky Challenge, and the Dark Attic ATG.
Getting in at the 11th hour (well, not quite) I just finished this piece for the Haunted Design House Team for the Smeared and Smudged Design Team Throwdown. We're one member short, but Creepy Glo and I didn't want the fab theme "Danse Macabre", chosen but last month's winners, the RSD Airless Chambers Team, go by without at least an attempt. The bad news is, it doesn't photograph well because I didn't have a hanger on the back to hang it on the wall so it's on a niche in our entryway on a plate stand.
In case you can't tell, it's a wooden plaque that I painted and decoupaged with torn and distressed sheet music (Handel's Messiah, to be exact). A skeleton hand (more on that in a minute) is holding dimensional marionette made with Smeared Ink's Dead Dancer Pointing.
The hand started out as paper mache. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to make it a skellie hand. Easier said than done. First I painted it with Gesso and then started to sculpt bones on top using paper clay. What I didn't count on was how freakin' FAT and heavy the hand got once I started sculpting. Used a full 8 oz of clay and had to cover the whole thing for fear of the stuff separating from the base. When I was done (forgot to take pix) it looked more like the Incredible Hulk's hand. Thought I should just paint it green and give up a that point.
But I persevered and tried shading with Distress Inks until it somewhat resembled bones.
A bit of an improvement, at least, but a new set of problems.
I'd started to do my dimensional dancer and after I saw how HUGE the hand turned out I had to start over because the scale was all wrong. I wanted sort of a "Tiny Dancer" look, but here's the size I started with, and next to it the size she ended up.
I wanted her not only 3 dimensional, but complete on both sides so I did 12 layers all in all, half of them flipped. Have scissors, will fussy cut, and fussy cut and fussy cut and...
Removed the hand above her head because with the flipped images, that actually gave her 3 arms. LOL
Ended up refilling my Copic red twice because I colored each image on both sides before attaching them together and even drew in the lines of the tutu because they were visible. Attached some tulle as well. After all, what's a ballerina without tulle, eh? Even a dead one. Be sure to visit HDH to see the fabulous work by my teamie, Creepy Glo and the fabulous work by the rest of the participating teams HERE. Voting starts tomorrow on the Smeared and Smudged Forum and you must be a member to join, but it's free and fun and you know you wanna.
I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge and the Stampotique Anything but a Card Challenge.
VOTING NOW OPEN HERE! Vote for your FAVE team. Best of luck to all.
WOW! It's the 4th DT Throwdown at the Smeared and Smudged Forum and I'm joining my Minion Sisters Teri and Croms to proudly represent Haunted Design House. The theme is Leather and Lace chosen by US 'cause we won last time, WOOHOO! and I've made a Butterfly Queen Dress Form Art Doll. It started with a papier mache dress form which I gessoed and painted with acrylic. Hubby drilled a hole through which I inserted a wooden spoon to fit in a spool base.
I've been collecting printed leather remnants from the fabulous Britex Fabrics in San Francisco and chose this piece for the dress. (That's a chair seat for point of reference as to the size.)
I tried to make a sort of pattern with tissue paper before cutting into it. Scared the crap out of me, to be honest, a seamstress I'm not, but the lace conveniently hid the seaming and I was on a roll. Wouldn't mind one like this myself.
With the theme covered, I proceeded with the stamps. All are from the Specimen Jar Set by Smeared Ink. I printed the butterflies in different sizes on transparency film and thought I'd be able to color them with Copics, but the colors were too pale. Then tried Alcohol Inks with a brush but it looked streaky. Finally I just dripped colors on the acetate and WooHoo! Wasn't prepared for the lack of control you have as the colors mix and blend, but the final effect was pretty cool. then I cut them out, attached little antennae and wire so they could fly. I cropped and printed the lady to use only her head and neck.
She was printed several times, colored with Copics, fussy cut and layered for a bit of dimension. Then I glued her to the front of the spoon.
The back served to be more of a problem. The stamp had no rear view. I considered making some rosette or something to cover the back of the spoon but didn't want to interfere with her wings, so I flipped the image and a bunch of just her hair, printed, colored, cut and pieced it together to form the back of her head. I have to say I was really, really REALLY thrilled with how it came out.
Finally, the spool just wasn't a big enough base so I added a round box cover, cut more of the leather (with a Nestie, who knew?) and embellished it as you see here. When I was done I did the "Happy Dance" and so did my teamies who were sweatin' it waiting for me to finish. LOL Please visit HDH to see their fab projects and also the Throwdown Post for more info and inspiration by the rest of the participating teams. We all are bringing our "A" game and every team should consider themselves a winner. However, there is a VOTE which starts tomorrow around noon EDT so be sure and support your fave! You must be a member of the Smeared and Smudged Forum to vote, but it's free and fun (just ask) so why the heck wouldn't you?
I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge, Simon Says Stamp and Show Color Challenge, Left of Center Challenge (hoping this is LOC enough?), the Stampotique Trimmed Stamp Challenge #97, the Going Grey With Scrap-Creations Insects or Animals, LEJ Designs Mystical, Magical or Mysterious, TTRCD Anything Goes, {Pin}spirational CHallenge #54, the Outlawz Paper a la Mode Anything Goes Challenge, the Art With No Boundaries Linky Challenge and the DLArt April Linky Party.
This month launches a new challenge on the Smeared and Smudged Forum: DT Throwdown. Read all about it HERE. I'm competing with fellow Haunted Design House Minions Creepy Glo and Mark for the honor and bragging rights. The first challenge is Paint and Splatter, WAAAAY out of my comfort zone but I'd pretty much already agreed so...here it is.
Thought it might be nice to do an Easter project so I started with a papier mache egg. Umm... now what? Seems like everyone starts with gesso, so I thought, why not? Then a coat of purple acrylic and I set it aside to dry overnight. Oh yeah, THAT'S why I don't do much painting. Waiting for stuff to dry isn't my forte.
Next came some Tim Holtz Crackle in Picket Fence. I had no idea how thick that stuff is (or is it that it's been in my drawer too long?) anyway, it WORKED like magic. WooHoo! Now for the splatter. I started with some watered down acrylic in lime and a toothbrush with minimal sucess so I brought out the big guns: Dylusions spray in teal...yummy!
Every Easter (or should I say "Creepster") project needs someting pink and fuzzy, don'tha think? OOOH, it's the Creepster Bat! from Smeared Inks A Little Bit Batty set, or as a single HERE, printed a bazillion times, fussy cut and flocked. His beady little eyes are just that, beads.
He's layered up for dimension and seems to be just bursting out of that egg, "bringing every girl and boy, baskets full of Creepster joy."
Which started like this, covered wire and raffia. I promise never to make light of basket weaving again, EVER! Eiyiyi!
"Things to make your Creepster bright and gay". Honestly, who wouldn't just love a litte basket of pastel skullies? Oh, and I've got to mention his furry little legs. I only had thick and thin pipe cleaners in black (which looked a bit harsh) so I flocked them too, using hairspray as an adhesive. Pretty cute, eh? Necessity is truly the Mother of Invention.
So I guess I've fulfilled the requirements of paint, spatter and stamping (either rubber or digi) and I've had a ball. Please come visit the DT Throwdown HERE at the Smeared and Smudged Forum to view the fab entries. Deadline is Sunday, and Monday begins the 5 day voting process. The votes are for individual projects with the total of the three participating DT member's offerings determining the winner. Go HDH!!!!! You must be a registered member of the forum to vote, so what are you waiting for? Cheer your fave team on and find a bunch of fun monthly challenges and fab, friendly, supportive, talented people to boot.
I'm also entering this in the very first Left of Center Challenge, a brand new "alternative crafting" challenge blog where the theme is "Anything Goes," if your project is a bit "different", or Button and Bows, if you prefer the mainstream sort of thing. Thank you to my dear friend Vee who is on the DT and alerted me to this fab new challenge blog.
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