The Nights Are Drawing In-HDH Macabre Monday

When thinking of the September challenge at HDH, The Nights Are Drawing In, I automatically go to my favorite night of the Hallowe'en season.  No, not the 31st.  Our annual party, Hallowicked!  Hallowe'en is big for me, and starts in September in my home.  I've thrown this particular party for 11 years this year.  It's been BIG, it's been small, but I'll keep throwing it as long as people keep coming.

I've been working on a 12x12 scrapbook of past Hallowickeds for a while now.  I decided to enter one of my favorite pages from said book.

 Here it is.  I love the layered crazy look of it.  I used one 12x12 patterned paper as a base, the a smaller piece of solid color on top.  I ripped the solid piece, drug the edges along an ink pad, and used a blood splatter cling stamp set for some more red.  A few of my regulars adorn this page, who've made it almost every year.

 I made that tree myself.  Being that actual drawing eludes me, I felt pretty fancy here.

 These webs I made by cutting up a bigger felt web I got in a pack of webs at the 99cents store last year.  Neat little Happy Halloween die cut there.

I've had this bauble type bat sticker for a while now.  So long I can't recall who made it.  If I had to guess, I'd say it was a Martha Stewart bat.  Hope you like it, thanks for looking!

Kenny K Challenge #197-Anything Goes!

Hi. I know, I'm never here anymore.  Did you notice? =P  I've actually made quite a few things recently, I just haven't posted them.  UNTIL NOW!

Here's my offering for the Kenny K Anything Goes challenge this week.

Kinda sexy, yeah?  I made him for a good friend of mine who's single, but not for lack of trying.  The right one for her just hasn't shown up yet, so I gave her this Playboy image from Kenny K's line. I had hoped to get him into last weeks guy twist challenge, but I failed.  I am working on my skin shading, and this was a perfect image being that he's mostly naked.  He does have on pants, but the illusion that he didn't works well for us horny old broads. 

I hope you like it, thanks for taking a look. I hope to be more of a presence here soon.

Macabre Monday-You WOOD do that!

I honestly didn't think I'd make this challenge, the Minions at HDH really challenged us, but I surprised myself.  The Boy wants to be Voldemort(if you don't know who that is-where have you been?)for Hallowe'en, so I decided to make him a wand.

The Hubs found a cool stick while gardening that he thought would make a good wand.  So I sanded it down and stained it with some danish oil.

To make my handle I took some twine and wrapped around the base and sealed it with floral tape.  I then took a string of beads and hot glued them in a spiral.  Let it all dry, then painted it black.

Pretty cool, isn't it?  The beads shine through on some spots and it has a cool iridescent glow.  I decided to give it a whirl on my dog and see if it worked.

Nope.  Still a dog.  After all, the wand chooses the wizard, and this isn't my wand.  I'm lucky I didn't set my damn house on fire.

Macabre Monday-Ancient Evil

This was a tough challenge for me to figure out.  Use an ancient evil (aside from myself) as your inspiration.  Oh I went all over the place in my mind, searching for that one...thing.  I asked my husband one night what comes to his mind when I say "ancient evil." 

"The kraken." was his quick reply. 

So there it goes.

If it's not September through December, our home has a nautical theme.  We love the ocean.  So I thought to make something we could frame and hang.

After finishing this, I realize it has a more pirate feel,but kraken goes right along with it.  Besides, pirates are also an ancient evil.  Capt. Jack Sparrow and the like have glamorized the pirate, but let's not forget the old creed of take all you can, give nothing back. I used that cool map from Delicous Doodles.  A friend of mine's dad worked in a junk yard most his life, and gave me a bunch of odds and ends to use in my craft stash.  I finally found a home for a few of those things on this project.  I used a bag some onions came in as the netting, and an odd weird bead as a nice kraken eye.

  I almost entered this-

That lady with the big ole kraken tattoo is me.  This was my husband and I renewing our wedding vows after 10 years married.  It's the best pic I can find of that tattoo at the moment.  I figured a kraken tattoo would be a cool thing to enter, but I didn't make it. I just wear it.

Macabre Monday Crimson Crime Scene

The minions over at HDH wanted us to use a crime scene as our inspiration for this challenge.  Oooo!  My mind instantly went to decapitation.  I wanted to cut someone's head off.  So I did.  (I actually wanted to do a Sharon Tate thing with a baby being cut out....but I thought that might be tasteless?)

 Ann Boleyn was too far back for me.  Jayne Mansfield, however, wasn't.  Jayne was dubbed the "Working Man's Monroe" as she was as sexy as Marilyn.  She died when her car ran under a truck and it sheared off the roof of her car....and her head along with it.  Now there is some speculation on if she was actually decapitated, or was it her wig we saw on the dashboard, and she died from a crushed skull?  I wasn't there, so I went OFF WITH HER HEAD. I used one of my Kenny K girls(I do believe this is Allura Von D), gave her a bit more sexy, fussy cut her, then cut her head off.  I ran her neck(both ends) along some red ink to give it a bloodier look.

There was also rumors that Anton LaVey(founder of The Satanic Church) had something to do with her death as well, so I added the pentagram.  I used a red mesh bag that some garlic came home from the store in to add some more red. I almost splattered this whole thing with blood, just a big ole silly mess of it, but thought to tone it down a bit.

What a shame,
What happened to Jayne.

HDH 666-Number of the Beast

I decided to start playing around again in the hole that is my craft room.  I've made a couple things, but haven't gotten around to posting them.  Excuse? No, I'm just lazy I guess. =P

So here it is, my entry for the new Haunted Design House challenge Number of the Beast.

I have never been ashamed to admit I am not the biggest fan of Iron Maiden.  That being said, I do appreciate the mark they have made on heavy metal.  The song Hallowed Be Thy Name speaks to me, always has.  I didn't have a good devil image, so I went old school and used Eddie himself.  I paper pieced him on that background to give him more POP, and used and embossing folder to texture it up a bit.  Took my first crack at my Cricut by cutting that 666.  I still gotta get the hang of that thing.  I might send this to my nephew Nick, who was born on 6/6/06.  Or I might keep it.  Hope you dig it!

Hello 2014

I've decided to give my crafty side another run.  It's been hard to get up the gumption to actually make something.  Hard as I try, my craft room still stays in a black hole covered in dust. I finally get the craft room I want, and for some reason I don't want to be in it.

I must change this, so here I go.

Today is my Husband's birthday.  I could write novels about the love I feel for hm, about how wonderful he is, how he truly is my hero.  There just aren't enough words.  For Xmas he got an Xbox One, and has been playing Assassin's Creed a lot(even now as I type this).  It's a piratey game,  so I thought a piratey card would do the trick.

 

I used Pirate Polly and Treasure Map from Delicious Doodles.  For some reason I saw Polly as a green/zombie-ish woman.  Hmmm.

HDH176-Who are you supposed to be?

Here's my entry for Haunted Design House's challenge.  Pick your favorite costume you've worn, or maybe one you've always wanted to wear and work with that.  I've been so many of my favorites already.

So I went with this cute little dude from Dilly Beans.

I love creepy little kids.  I love horizontal striped jammies, but have always been too wide to pull them off. (As of this typing I'm 93 pounds lighter than a year and a half ago, so I might just get me some.)  It's been hard getting back into the swing of things with crafting, but I'm picking it up.  Hope you like it.

HDH175-Hallowe'en in Your Face

Hi.  Been a while, yeah?

Here is my humble offering I threw together for the Haunted Design House challenge this week.  My favorite season has finally arrived, so I figured what better time to get back in to one of my favorite things to do.  Craft.

I needed an 8x10 to fit into an empty Hallowe'en frame, so I made one.  I just opened my drawer labeled
HALLOWE'EN in the craft room, and started grabbing stuff.  I know there's a cool itkipulli thangy there, and a neat coaster a buddy gave to me. I love that little zombie baby there..but I don't know who made it. My memory ain't so good since my brain injury last year, so sorry if I forget to give proper credit.  I don't remember where half of this came from.  I just felt the urge, so I went with it.  Off to make more stuffs.  Tis the season!

Cyborg

Hello.

I have been gone a while, but it's not because I don't like you guys.

It is because I died.
4 times.

Confused?  Me too.  All I know is what I was told.

I had a heart attack on September 12, and died.  I was asleep when it happened.  Had it not been for my amazing super hero husband, you wouldn't hear from me again.  He woke due the noise I was making, and when he turned on the light I wasn't breathing.  He says he literally saw the light leave my eyes.  He administered CPR and called 911.  In high school my husband had chosen to skip P.E. one day and learn CPR.  He said he just thought it would be good to know, and so it was.

I was in the hospital a month total. I had to have a pacemaker installed, which now makes me a cyborg.  I've got this neat scar on my chest and you can see the shape of the battery pack if I move a certain way.  A pacemaker does just that, keep your heart at the correct pace.  I had 4 heart attacks total, and flatlined 4 times.  I was in a coma for about 24 hours.  All I remember is waking up in the hospital wondering what the hell happened, and why couldn't I walk?  Heart stopping = no oxygen to the brain.  I have anoxia, which is a brain injury.  It caused me to have to relearn my basic functions.  I could talk and was coherent, but aloof and very weak.  I've had to learn to walk, write, and work on my cognitive abilities.

During my stay I received the most amazing amount of support, near and far.  Thank you to the minions at HDH for the AMAZING works of art you sent, and to anyone else I've forgotten, thank you so much.

I type this from my craft room, which is on the 2nd floor of my home.  That is a SUPER big deal, because it means I walked up the stairs.  It took a few minutes, and my husband assisted slightly, but it is a milestone compared to two months ago.  I'm not quite at 100% yet, but I'll take it.  I'll be there soon enough.  Hope you'll see some work from me soon.

Bad Moon Rising..

I know, the song is stuck in my head too.

The Macabre Monday theme this week is the MOON.  One of my favorite things, being that it's the only natural light I see.

I heard about a cool artist on called Sureya from a Creepy pal of mine, and when checking out her art I found something cute I thought would work.

I love the contrast of dark and light.  I used a different medium to color her this time-colored pencils.  Not to bad, but I prefer my Copics.

I used some sparkly light yellow paper for my moon, and smudged it up with a little ink.  Hope you like it.

Kenny K-Anything Goes!

I love Anything Goes challenges, don't you?

Here is what I cooked up for the Kenny K Krafty Krew challenge this week.

Isn't this a cute wedding couple?  I love the booty bump!  I paired the blue with some glittery white cardstock to match the shimmer I put in her dress, although it didn't photograph well.  A cutesy project is a bit out of my norm, but I dig it.  I have a few other cute projects in the works...watch out!

HDH147-Who you callin' a Succubus?

Haunted Design House this week asks us to use a Succubus as our inspiration.  A succubus, plainly, is a female demon.  I've known a couple in my few hundred years on this earth, and have destroyed a few as well.  They aren't all that bad.

The sponsor this week is Kenny K.  Kenny is one of my all time favorite artists.  His ladies are some of the sexiest I've seen. I heart Kenny's girls so hard!  Who knew a line drawing could be so hot?  Makes you wonder if Kenny's inspiration is a Succubus.  Whoever she is, she's beautiful.  I knew I had to come up with something special.

I love women.  We are so versatile.  We are soft, pretty, we smell good...and we are EVIL.  Incarnate.  Wars have been fought for the ample bosom of a woman.  Humans, animals, and the whole supernatural community have fallen victim to women.

I had trouble deciding what Kenny K cutie I wanted to use.  So here is what I did.

I used 6 of them.  I have more, and I must say it was hard to bring it down to 6.  Like the succubi I've encountered, they are irresistible.  Repeated intercourse with a Succubus can lead to deterioration of health, and even death.  Thus the gravestones.  Succubi thrive on the suffering men go through just to be with them, right to the bitter end.  Temptation is a fitting word for the beauty on that page.  As soon as I read the word Succubus, the word temptation came to me, which made me think of the song Temptation by the band Cradle of Filth, which made me think of their album Bitter Suites to Succubi, which made me think of a fitting lyric on another of their songs, Nymphetamine.  It reads-

Six feet deep is the incision

In my heart that barless prison

Discolors all with tunnel vision

Sunsetter

Nymphetamine

Sick and weak from my condition

This lust, this vampyric addiction

To her alone in full submission

None better

Nymphetamine

My mind moves so fast at times.

 I've used Carmen Electrifying, Miss Fortune, Heidi Hot Rod, Pitstop Penny, Allura Von D, and the wonderful Honey Sparks who I got the pleasure of naming.  

To top it off, above Honey I added an old picture of me in my "younger" days.  Bat wings and all.

Succulent Succubus.

It's a Free for All!

This week's Macabre Monday theme at Haunted Design House is Freakers Free for All.  Do what you like.  So I did.

I used this beauty from Dilly Beans.  However due to my sick nature, I had to zombie her up.  I left his card simple due to her lonely look.  Hope you enjoy it.

Macabre Monday Move Madness

Last week I used cool Alice in Wonderland images from Spesch Stamps for my HDH challenge.  I bet the Minions shared a little giggle when they saw it, being that Spesch is the sponsor this week, and damn near all of them used those same images.  Am I a week behind psychic?  =)

The Macabre Monday challenge this week asks us to use a movie as our inspiration.  Easy peasy, right?

No.

Not as easy peasy as I thought.  I immediately went clown, thinking I would use Killer Klowns from Outer Space, or It. I have a cool new monster clown image I have been dying to use.  I colored him all up...and hated him.  Completely.  One of those polished turds.  I thought for sure I wasn't going to make it.

I started going through my images for inspiration, and happened upon something perfect. 

This is a cute freebie I got from Papelitos Stamps.  I made her into the Grady twins from Stephen King's The Shining(the movie, obviously).  I used some flocked paper for the bg to represent the walls of the Overlook Hotel, where the Grady twins and a few others met their demise.  I don't have a blood drip/goo punch, so I did some fussy cutting.  My last dilemma was finding a font to type out their invitation to Danny Torrence in.  I didn't have anything close, and my own handwriting didn't work either.  Some noises from the other room reminded me of something that would help.

I have a six year old.

My nephew was removed from his mom's care last October due to her negligence and he was placed with us.  He's a great kid, and we have been able to help him quite a bit.  I had him write out my sentiment and then traced it.  It upped the creep factor quite a bit, if you ask me.

Won't it be funny if Papelitos is the sponsor next week?

HDH142-Music Mayhem

How fun is this?  Macabre Monday says use a song as your inspiration this week.

I immediately went where I always do, and quickly chose the song Death Walking Terror by Cannibal Corpse.  I always love working with dead stuff, and I had some cool Alice in Wonderland images from Spesch Stamps colored up for a while waiting to be put to use.

See?  I thought she would be a perfect example of Death Walking Terror.  Until a conversation with Mr. Korpsgryndr reminded me of a song that would work much, much better.

White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane.

I went with a 12x12 sheet for this.  The song White Rabbit is based on Alice in Wonderland, or a bad drug trip, which defines that story for me.  A bad drug trip.  Through the looking glass my ass. I wanted my project to reflect the insanity that was Alice's"trip" down the rabbit hole.  I thought the spiral bg paper worked well for that.  The houndstooth pattern paper made my head spin so I had to work with it face down until I was ready to stick it all together.  Looking at this now still makes me feel all woozy.  Mission accomplished.  I got some cool handmade bottles down there, and my beloved Cheshire Cat.  All that's left of the Queen is her crown, unfortunately.  Looks like the rabbit met the same fate.
Grace Slick (singer of Jefferson Airplane) wails out that last line "feed your head" with such passion so I added that as well.

Here's a very Mad Hatter.  He wasn't necessarily mentioned in the song, but he was still there

 Absilim, or hookah smoking caterpillar, was found from a Google search HERE.

Would you look at the time? I must go.  I'm late for a very important date.

HDH141-Butchered Blueprint

This is our inspiration this week from Macabre Monday at Haunted Design House.  Butchered blueprint.  You got that right.

I admit I automatically signed myself out of this challenge.  I thought there was no way I could have matched that.  We were to use the layout exactly, or take creative license.  The DT work this week was great as always, but I still didn't see it.  Until yesterday.

Hopefully you an follow along.  I turned it on it's side, and moved the layout around a bit.  My sun became a vintage wedding photo I got from Free Vintage Digis.  I zombie'd the couple, naturally.  Filigree and purty flowers around it, and my lovely blood drops to signify the sword.  I ripped the patterned bg paper and used some Glow Brainz on the side for my laces.  I must say I sat there for quite some time trying to figure out how the hell to lace up this damn thing.  The brains won out.  I have surprised myself once again.

HDH140-Vile Vintage

I thought this project would be quite a challenge.  The Macabre Monday theme this week tells us to use something vintage and make it vile, or vice versa.  I almost didn't try...until I found that little light bulb burning deep inside my head.  Here is what shone in it.

The main image is a picture of my Mother(on the left) and her older sister, around 5 and 6 years old.  It has always been a slightly creepy picture to me because they look like Siamese twins.  They aren't, in case you were wondering.

I scanned the photo and kept it the original 8x10 size.  I aged the photo with various ink and an emery board.  Added a few splat drops of blood.

Cool itkipuli image up there with an old earring I had laying around.

Of course I had to add a nice coroners tag.  My Mother being of the spirit world now, I found this part a little creepy as well.

Have a good weekend!

HDH139-Strange Brew

Here is the recipe the Minions at Haunted Design House cooked up for Macabre Monday.

2 Layers
1 main image
Some metal bits
Black pearls
Ribbon or trim
1 punched element

Here is what I concocted out of it.

Black card is my first layer. My second layer is also my main image, something Dark Tower themed.  I trimmed the picture with some black paper I cut all fancy like.  My metal bits are the plates in the corners, and his neato lasso I made out of earring/watch parts. Punched element is that crown at the bottom.  Black pearls on the corners as well.  Boom.

Must be off, places to go.  People to kill.

Our Best Friend

Many people I know have furry children.  We bring them into our home and make them a part of our family.  Some don't understand it, but they don't have too.  Our furry baby is Kona.  I bought her for Mr. Korpsgryndr in our first year together, for his birthday.  She was 5 weeks old.  She is an American Pit Bull Terrier, and a fine example of what a pit, or a dog, should be.  We are complete pit bull advocates, and have worked hard to try to help break the horrible stereotypes and discrimination these poor dogs endure.  Kona is our first baby, and has raised many children.

This is her and my nephew, Jayden, whom she's known since conception.  As far as she is concerned, Jayden is HER baby.  Kona has brought so much joy and happiness to those around her, and been the best friend and dog ANYONE  could ask for.  She is now 10, and was diagnosed with cancer a few months back.  It ain't really fixable.  There is no time limit, however the vet did explain that this cancer could spread.  It has. She has had bad knees for a few years.  Needless to say, Kona is now heading towards her final days.  We don't know when they will be, but we have noticed that she just isn't herself lately.  I can't put into words how much this dog means to me, or how much I feel I owe her.  She has given me so much, it would take me a lifetime to repay her loyalty and love.  She lives a wonderful, spoiled life, but that wasn't enough for me. 

I got her face, and her beautiful smile, forever on my leg.  Now, no matter what, she will always be with me.