TOFF Inspired by Music Challenge

The current challenge at Octopode is Inspired by Music and with all the hoopla about The Great Gatsby, I came up with this wall hanging.  Been dying to use one of the fab newish Flappers and this is Coco.  I searched the web for some music from the era and did a digital collage with Coco on top. (Sooo happy that the image comes in png form as well as jpg).  The keyboard and dark music is from a Graphic 45 Curtain Call 8x8 pad, the notes, Cuttlebug dies from scraps, and the "All that Jazz" Computer generated using the Theater font.

Coco is colored with Copics and I used maribou feathers for her skirt and adhesive pearls for her jewelry.  Isn't she gorgeous?  Not exactly sure that this is dark enough for the Smudgy Antics Fur and/or Feathers Challenge, but I added the real feathers with that challenge in mind.  Wouldn't you seriously LOVE a dress like that?

I'm also entering this in the Creative Inspirations "Inspired by Anything Goes" (in this case The Great Gatsby) challenge and the DLArt May Linky Challenge.

TOFF Easter Time Challenge

I was thrilled when TOFF announced their Easter Time Challenge ON Easter.  Since I'm always running BEHIND the holiday, it gave me a couple of weeks to get my Easter on.  WooHoo!  As it was, I didn't get my rear in gear until now, with only about 8 hours 'til the challenge closes.  Never mind, I made it, using Easter Bunny Norman and  whole crapload of chicks from the Easter and Spring Set.

I couldn't resist adding googly eyes to the chicks.  Kinda creepy, eh?  Heed Norman's warning, those Peeps are NASTY!

Week 2: the Poetry and Prose of Poe

It's the second week of our Haunted Design House challenge honoring the poetry and prose of Poe.  Lunatic, or Romantic?  We'd like your opinion.  Certainly the man has his demons and even his truly romantic works are filled with loss and despair but I chose a few lines from my fave "Annabel Lee" that captures the essence of true love when every breath, every beat of your heart, every thought is of your "One".  Obsession?  Perhaps, but is that such a bad thing?

"and this maiden

she lived

with no other thought

than to love

and be loved

by me"

Been there, done that.  Quite a lovely way to pass the time.

I've had this one in my head for months but just couldn't quite pull it together.  Poe and Annabel Lee are from The Octopode Factory. The come individually or as a Set of 8 Poe images.  The Lighthouse is from Tiddly Inks.  I'd always planned to go monochromatic but achieving the right mood escaped me until I saw the February Junk Funk challenge on the Smeared and Smudged Forum.  Used dryer sheets!  Of course.  I've got wads of those laying around so I spritzed and inked and ripped and taped (mostly around the back) until I'd set up a proper fog.  WooHoo!

I've also been trying to enter the Octopode Factory Friday Challenge with Octopode images for months but my time always got away from me.  This fortnight is Glitter.  Perfect!  After coloring Annabel Lee with Copics, I covered her with a Be Creative Tape sheet and sprinkled on Glitter Ritz transparent microfine glitter in cool highlight.  Even though I'd colored first, this stuff is so fine that you can actually stamp and color over it without damaging your marker nibs and gave Annabel the ghostly ethereal look I was after.  Cool!

Be sure to stop by HDH to view more Minion eye candy and come join us.  Inquiring minds want to know your opinion.  Romantic, or Lunatic?  Well, I dare say love can drive you mad.  So come and join us.  Just be sure that your entry has an obvious nod to the Master, Poe. 

The Altered Alice Chapter 23: We're All Mad Here, So Anything Goes

Sit back and grab a cuppa because this post is gonna take as long to read as it did for me to finish the project, but I must say, I haven't been this excited about crafting in a LONG while. We'll be having a little reminder post over at The Altered Alice a bit later, but in the meantime, here's another little inspiration from me. There's still time to enter.

 

`In THAT direction,' the Cat said, waving its right paw round, `lives a Hatter: and in THAT direction,' waving the other paw, `lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad.'

`But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.

`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'

`How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.

`You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'

-- Chapter 6, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

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"We're all mad here" is the favorite Alice quote of artist Rick St. Dennis, so in January, anything goes! Be mad! Get cute, get creepy, get crazy, because Rick St. Dennis has amazing digi stamps in all those styles, including many wonderful AIW images! Submit your creations by Friday, January 25th for a chance to win three digital stamps from Rick St. Dennis. All projects are welcome, but those featuring Wonderland will have two chances at the prize instead of one. Multiple entries are welcome, but to be counted as separate entries they must be on separate posts.

The one thing I have been able to do during my crafting slump is color, and the fabulous AIW images are so much FUN to color that I wanted to use as many as possible.  My thought was to have Alice fallling down the rabbit hole and seeing all the characters on the way (wasn't initially sure how I was gonna pull that off ) but I didn't really have an Alice that fit my vision.  Rick to the rescue!  I mentioned it to him and within an hour he sent me this fabulous Alice, exactly how I had described her.  What a GUY!  Now I'm not saying he's gonna go cranking out custom stuff every time, but he does welcome suggestions.  I was particularly thrilled when he put her in the shop with a little mention.  You can grab her HERE.  Thanks ever so much, Rick!  She's just perfect, so I printed her in three different sizes to give the illusion that she's falling and used an ancient Sizzix Spiral die to cut the hole.  I colored it in a checkerboard motif and and thought "Now what?"

My initial thought was to make a book with a page for each character and holes of descending size on each page as Alice fell further and further down.  Yeah, right.  Choosing DP sends me into fits of indecision so that was DEFINITELY out! Besides, having them all together has such greater impact, don'tcha think? My solution was to do a step card which conveniently allowed me to stretch out my hole for the depth I was imagining with room on the side for all the other guys.  I didn't even use DP because I thought the black and white background scheme showed the colored images to better advantage.  Just a bit of embossing for texture and I was good to go. 

 

So on the way, Alice encountered The March Hare,

 

The Tweedles,
 

 

The Queen of HeArts Zentagle Style,
 

 

and the Mad Hatter.

 

They're all colored with Copics and fussy cut, mostly with a craft knife so as not to clip off any of the fabby details.  (A little tip here.  I use my old Cricut mats to cut images with my knife because the little sticky that's left keeps them from slipping and protects any surface).  This took FOREVER, and imagine my dismay when I realized that because of the cheap crap paper I use to print my images, the bleed through required I back them and do it all AGAIN!  (I seriously considered skipping that part and making sure the pix didn't show any of the mess, but once I laid the colored images down on black and saw how the colors popped, I decided it was soooo worth it.)

But wait a minute.  What about the Cheshire Cat?  I'd run out of steps.  Hmmm...  He did seem to appear in the trees so I used a Crafts Too folder and embossed and fussy cut a tree for him to sit in.  I did flip him in my Printmaster Program because he looked better facing the opposite direction of the March Hare and his swirlies are enhanced with metallic gel pens so he sort of sparkles.

My only problem now was making the tree strong enough to hold him and not collapse on the rest of Wonderland.  Fortunately, I planned on backing the tree with black too and inserted a skewer up the trunk before attaching the layers.  Then I folded up the sides (thank God I left the bottom sides long) and glued that to the last step. The black ground is taped directly to the bottom of the last fold and then held on each side with adhesive foam to keep the tree upright. The banner in front was computer generated and cut by hand and I colored some of my pink metallic hearts red, with a Bic Marker to embellish it.  DONE!  and let me tell you I was doin' the "Happy Dance"! 

Now, if you're not snoring, I invite you to pop over to The Altered Alice for more inspiration with Rick's wonderful images.  There's still time to enter and it doesn't even have to be an Alice project, although those who do get a double chance at winning.  I might also mention that Rick has just added some new Wonderland images to his Etsy SHOP so be sure and check those out, too.  I've already snatched them up and can't wait to color some more.

Finally, I'm also entering this in the Sparkle and Glitter with Rick St. Dennis current Challenge which is Anything but a Square.  Pretty sure this qualifies,  the Totally Papercrafts It's Embossing Time Challenge, A Gem of a Challenge Emboss It, The Simply Create Linky Party #18, and the Glitter and Sparkle Sentimental Challenge. Finally, I'm adding it to the Octopode Factory Friday Mad Hatter's Tea Party Challenge because I didn't get a chance to do one with my fabulous Octopode stamps.  So sorry Lily, you know I love you and your work.  Thanks for hangin' in there with me.

For a Bunch of Challenges

Here's a fun one (at least I think so) for a bunch of challenges.  Ever wonder why your kitties are sooo interested in your Christmas balls?  Pehaps they know something you don't.  I'm thinkin' they can hear the little creatures that live inside and can't wait to break them out.  A crash sends them scurrying to parts unknown, but not before they've grabbed their shades.  They're not used to the bright lights of Christmas.  My first inspiration was the Stampotique Designer's Non-Traditional Christmas Challenge  where you use a non Christmas stamp to make a Christmas card.  I've used the Stampotique 3 in a Round, one of my faves!  They're peeking out of a shaped card I've made with Spellinders 2011 Heirloom Ornaments Die (sorry, still no Cricut).  Making shaped cards is my all time favorite things and it's even easier using Nesties dies to do so I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Favorites Challenge.

I used another Nestie and embossed the circle on my ornament and then cut it with a craft knife after taping the back with foil tape to look like it was broken.  The pieces are all triangles so I'm entering this in the Octopode Factory Shape Challenge (Use Triangles).  (Hope it counts.  I really would love to do another with the new Octopode Factory stamps I just got but I don't even have my tree up yet.)  YIKES!  How do you spell proscrastinate?  D O N N A!  (However, I've always been told I work best under pressure)

I've used #'s 1, 2, 3, and 10 in the Desert Islands Crafter's Itinerary.  Winter holiday (Christmas, silver (the foil tape) and gold (the ornament hanger), magical creatures (they look pretty magical to me living in an ornament and all) and a non craft item (the foil tape which really isn't meant for crafting and the ornament hanger).

The sentiment is computer generated the I've colored acetate with my Bic Markers and glued them to an eyeglass brad to make the shades.  Personally, the whole thing makes me giggle so I'm also entering this in the Christmas Crackers Challenge at Moving Along with the Times. Phew! that oughtta do it.

Macabre Monday Off With Their Heads!

WooHoo! This week's Macabre Monday Challenge at Haunted Design House is Off With Their Heads. Create a dark, creepy or Halloween based project by switching heads and bodies on one or more images. Fun, eh? Even more fun, our challenge this week is being sponsored by one of my absolute FAVE Stamp companies, The Octopode Factory. My lovely lady is from the Zombie Love set added to the Breakfast at Tiffany's body. She's colored with Copics and sports a Prima Rose. I've cut the frame with my Nesties Diamonds and added Nestabling around the opening. The mat is embossed with the Cuttlebug Harlequin folder. The sentiment is a Cricut cut from Graphically Speaking.Both the mat and diamond interior are raised on foam dimensionals. I've use a toothpick for her cigarette with additional bling for the smoke. Her dress is covered in Stickles. I'm also entering this in this week's TOFF's Bling it On Challenge. Now scurry immediately to Haunted Design House to see more fabulous inspiration from the Minions and don't forget our Wednesday post by Creepy Glowbugg with her fabulous offering. Lily is offering up a $15 gift certificate for the lucky winner of this challenge so surely is one you don't want to miss. Sorry BBTB2 fans, I didn't make it this week. Why do I feel SOOOO guilty!?!

Bah! Humbug! Meets Octopode (by accident)

Eiyiyi! I'm NOT keeping up! The days 'til Halloween keep flying by (no Beck, I haven't started yet, LOL some inspiration, eh?) and I'm still trying hard to keep up with my DT stuff as well as my fave challenges around Blogworld. Bah! Humbug! this week is Glitz and Glitter, and Lily at TOFF has a musical theme going. I had totally different ideas for BOTH challenges but realized I wouldn't be able to do them both unless I combined them, so this is the result. Probably not what either of them expected (or you either, considering the challenges) but it is what it is, and I kinda like it. First off I just bought a wad more Octopodes and I was dying to use the sweet new Winter Girl (that I don't see in the shop at the moment, but I'm sure she'll be back soon). Figured she'd be great for a Christmas card. The hitch was I was also dying to do the thing in sepia tones which doesn't really translate to glitter (or Christmas, for that matter) but Winter

Wonderland wanted Christmas with Autumn Colors.

She's colored with Copics and the snow flakes behind her were done in my Printmaster Platinum program by cropping some musical digi paper I just won from the House Across the Bay. The cropping is done with dots and I couldn't exactly see what I was doing but I was going for a sort of rough snowflake shape. The result was pretty funky but I thought it was perfect with my Octopode gal. The images were merged but it didn't really gel until I drew around them with my Memento marker to make them look more like a digi stamp as well.

To glitz it up, I applied Stardust Stickles to the snowflakes and cut a glitter card stock mat with my Nesties Grand labels One. There's also some Rock Candy Distress Stickles on her boots and I printed, colored and cut her hat and scarf a second time and popped them for dimension. To add to the musical theme, I added the note brads and the rub on words to "Let it Snow" from Melissa Frances.

Finally, I popped the frame and added chipboard letters from Prima that I've had forever (and never used). They look just like they were encrusted with ice crystals. Sorry I didn't take a pic of the unopened package ladies, but this qualifies for the ABC Christmas Unused Stash Challenge. So there you have it! A real collaboration while designing. I know it's different, but I had a ball.

TOFF Men

WooHoo! I finally managed an Octopode Factory Friday Challenge. Been missing them the last few weeks. The challenge is MEN. I've been dying to do a pirate card for awhile. First of all, I had the perfect colored treasure map digi from Tiddly Inks, and then there's the TWO (yes, you heard me, not one but TWO) fabby pirate stamps from The Octopode Factory to choose from. There's Captain Hook as well as Captain Jack (oops, I don't see him in the shop at the moment but he does look exactly like Johnny Depp, in the movie...REALLY). Anyway, I chose Captain Hook because he's a bit more masculine and I find the whole "hook" thing kinda cool. LOL

He's colored with Copics in shades of purple and green and I can never figure out why purple just doesn't photograph correctly. I've added an earring, because no self respecting pirate should be without one. The sentiment is computer generated and quite fitting since my pirate is ALWAYS looking for booty and I've added a Wonky Eyed Skull from my sister Minion Creepy Glowbugg's Etsy shop where X marks the spot.

The Captain and sentiment are popped and I've done a ton of distressing with my Distrezz-it-All and Distress Inks. The DT has some fabulous examples (as always) this week AND, if you've been craving some Octopodes RUN, don't walk, to The Octopode Factory IMMEDIATELY because you can get 30% off with the code theprancingpony at checkout until tomorrow morning since Lily is away celebrating her 18th birthday at Disneyland Paris. Lucky girl! I'm also entering this in The Digi Doodles Shop Distressing Challenge, Ruby's Rainbow For the Boys challenge.

TOFF Quotes and Forever Night

Just managed a quickie today for the TOFF Quotes challenge. I had planned to do something entirely different, but when I saw that Forever Night was Mysterious Findings (from Wonderland), I decded to use the Hatter's riddle as my quote. It's a quickie, because I'm running out of time and hubby wants to see a movie. Crafting as an excuse gets overused in this house so I'm rushing. I merged The Octopode Factory Raven, Ink and Quill from the Poe Set and Dada Steampunk Hands images (which for my purposes became the Hatter's) on the computer and added the quote. (I'm pretty sure the answer to this is still a mystery.) I colored with Copics, matted with a stripey border, a few beads and DONE! Sorry so short, but I'm outta here!

Macabre Monday 7 Deadly Sins Challenge

This week at Haunted Design House, our challenge is to create a project inspired by one of the 7 Deadly Sins. That would be Lust, Greed, Envy, Pride(Vanity), Sloth, Gluttony and Wrath. I was all set to do a dude having a Big Mac Attack when I realized the project I was doing for the TOFF Challenge (that I was late for) would work just famously for this challenge so I saved it. Anyway, it is my FAVE Deady Sin so...(don't laugh, just because there's snow on the roof doesn't mean there's no fire in the chimney ;D) Anyway, I used The Octopode Factory Whimsical Devil Girl and colored her with Copics and popped her with dimensionals. The background paper was done with Distress Inks and the flames behind her were stamped using the cool Distressed Stripes clear stamps from Papertrey Ink (thanks, Leah) which I squiggled up on the clear block and also stamped with Distress. I did a little journaling (a la Art Journal style, sort of) up the flames and doodled a striped border as well (because the TOFF challenge was stripes). The die cut letters are the QuicKutz Haunted Mini Alphabet cut on my Cuttlebug. The Minions are out in full force so check out the inspiration HERE, and don't forget Wretched Wednesday when Creepy Glo posts her contribution. Hope to see yours, too.

TOFF Steampunk Challenge and Whimsical Wednesday 3 Times a Charm

This is my second post for today, so if you're looking for my Bah! Humbug! Challenge, please scroll down.

WooHoo! I'm so excited to be a Guest Designer this week at The Octopode Factory Friday Challenge. You KNOW I love me some Octopode! this week's challenge is STEAMPUNK. Way too much fun! I happen to have ALL of Lily's Steampunk images, so choosing which to use was the biggest challenge. I also wanted to play with the Whimsical Wednesday 3 Times a Charm Challenge where you must use 3 colors only and 3 of the same embellishment.

It was Bernie, from the Steampunk Nippers set that gave me the idea for this project. Tell me he isn't the ultimate of paparazzi! I've welded "papa razzi" using letters from the Don Juan cartridge in Design Studio and embossed them with the Tim Holtz Retro Circles embossing folder.

Then I just HAD to use Flo with her built in paparazzi stopping eye. I just bet Lady Gaga is gonna figure out a way to copy her look. They were both printed on kraft card stock and colored with Copics. I've added Tim Holtz Sprockets to each and a Game Spinner to Flo's good eye. (Those are the 3 embellies for WW. Acutally I've used 3 sprockets twice.) The gears were cut with a Tim Holts Alterations Die by Sizzix and inked and embossed with Distress Embossing Powder in Vintage Photo.

The images and letters were popped with foam and the cool Idea-ology Film Strip Ribbon woven through. I kept the whole thing monochromatic to match the cool Steampunk DP from the DCWV Tattered Time Stack so my 3 colors are shades of kraft, gray, and black. Lily's fabulous DT has gorgeous eye candy this week (as always) so be sure to go have a look. Tell me this isn't a fun challenge. I just know you're gonna be playing along. And at Whimsical Wednesdays, there's still time to enter this challenges and there's another fab challenge to get your creative juices going as well.

TOFF Birds of a Feather Challenge

This week's TOFF challenge is Birds of a Feather. Actually, this was my original design for last week's Crown or Hat challenge, but I decided to use my Macabre Monday card to enter that one, so this one didn't get made. Still liked the idea, though, and chicks are obviously birds, so... Anyway, I've used Chick Girl for the main image and created my own DP using another little chick from the Easter and Spring Digital Set. I added the "chicks rule" with my Printmaster Platinum computer program. I'm really not too fond of the Copic yellows so the yellow on Chick Girl and the lighter chicks on the DP are painted (rather messily) with Distress Inks. I've drawn the crowns on all the of the small ones and colored them in with a gold gel pen.

I've also painted and sponged the background with Distress inks. The rest of the Chick Girl is colored with Copics. Her crown is a Stampendous Stamp that I heat embossed and cut and popped. I won the stamp on Taylor's blog. She's on the Stampendous DT and does fabulous work and has wonderful giveaways. I've added a feather and also the bow that is part of the Chick Girl image. I really enjoy working with the fun quirky stamps from The Octopode Factory. Check out more inspiration from the fabulous DT HERE.

Macabre Monday Queen of the Damned and TOFF Crown or Hat Challenge

This week for Macabre Monday our challenge is Queen of the Damned. I decided that Marie Antionette, losing her head and all, pretty much fit that bill and used a fab Octopode Factory image. The guillotine clip art is from the web and surprise! I've created and interactive Spinner card so you can relive the beheading again and again. WooHoo!

The whole shebang was colored with Copics. See, there it goes! You have to admit, she was sort of a beotch, with that "Let them eat cake", comment and all. The sentiment is computer generated and cut and backed with Nesties Labels Fifteen.

Obviously, it's not always good to be queen. LOL I've added a metal crown brad and jewel, because her crown didn't quite show up enough and I also planned to enter this in the TOFF Crown and Hat challenge. The rest of the Minions have done awesome work so be sure and check out their fabulous offerings at HDH. And please, have a look at the TOFF challenge too. Lily has plenty of ladies with crowns, as well as a new Mad Hatter image from The Octopode Factory, as well as several others, see the post HERE, the proceeds of which will go to Operation Cup of Tea, directly involved with riot clean up in the UK.

TOFF Girls, Girls, Girls and Whimsical Wednesday Fun With Folds

Well, I'm early (for me, anyway) for TOFF and almost late for Whimsical Wednesday. So happy I could combine them. The WW challenge is Fun With Folds and I've done a cool fold I learned from a former Cuttlebug Spot DT sister, Meredith, who seems to have stopped blogging so I no longer have a link to her tut. Bummer! It just so happened I had folded this card base awhile ago and it's been sitting on my desk since??? I added a Grand Oval and Scalloped Grand Oval to the center to back my images. The Octopode Factory Friday Challenge this week is Girls, Girls, Girls. As usual, I had a hard time deciding which images to use. I finally decided on Wendy, from the Peter Pan set, Posy, from the Steampunk Misses set, and Wednesday, from the Adams Family set. Don't they look like BFF's?

the girls were colored with Copics, and I just received some fabulous "bwainzzz" from my Minion sister Gloria's Etsy Shop. She's got all sorts of cool stuff over there, including jewelry, cards, ornaments, sculptures and more so be sure to check it out.

This prompted my sentiment which was computer generated. HeeHee, sometimes I just crack myself up! Hope you all get a giggle from this. I just love playing along with Whimsical Wednesdays and I don't think you can get much more whimsical than The Octopode Factory images so I'd say it's a match made in heaven! Be sure to check out the fab work by the DT's on both blogs. They are all just super fun and inspiring.