Come and Join me ~ a tag inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! For my second DT project for Vera Lane Studio, I created a Halloween tag featuring one of my favourite witches. Her name is Stella Luna and she was created by Vera Lane Studio. I think she is adorable...definitely a good witch :)

I coloured her with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cut her leaving a narrow white border, and matted her with black. She was popped up on foam tape to create dimension and natural shadow.

The background was one I had started ages ago and just recently found in my stash. I believe it was coloured with Distress Inks but I would be guessing at the colours. It was done with the wrinkle free technique where the ink is smushed on the craft sheet and spritzed with water. The colour is then adde to the tag by dipping it into the puddles of ink. The bottom of the tag was layered with a bit of left over gel print and a strip of patterned paper both matted with black cardstock to help the layers stand out. A spiral stamp was added in a few places using Rusty Hinge Distress Ink. Tiny Xs were added with black pen through a stencil.

A die cut black spiky circle was added to the top of the tag before a string topper was added to the hole. The wording was printed onto white cardstock, matted with black, and popped up on foam tape. White punched circles were added to the background and were outlined with black pen. The outside edges of the tag were inked with Black Big Brush Pen to frame and finish the tag.

Thanks for joining Stella and me today. We are so glad you did. Have you seen the new stamps Janet Klein created in the Vera Lane Studio style for AALL & Create? They are fabulous and I can't wait until mine arrive. People have been sharing their makes with them on the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group...such awesome images and creations. So now you have a choice of rubber or digi. My rubber ones were ordered from Topflight Stamps and,of course, the digis are available in the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

A sweet little witch card ~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! Have you ever seen a cuter witch that this one from the Wee Witches digi set by Vera Lane Studio? I absolutely had to colour her and have her star on a Halloween card. She makes me smile and that's always a good thing.

I coloured Wee Hattie with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils and fussy cut her leaving a narrow white border. She was then matted with black cardstock, and fussy cut a second time leaving a narrow black border. Foam tape was attached to the back of her to pop her up and add a natural shadow.

The base of the card is white and a black mat was cut from dotty embossed cardstock. A rectangle of orange patterned paper was cut to fit inside the black mat with a strip of the reverse side, a green stripe, peeking out the right side. To ground Hattie, a torn piece of plaid patterned paper was matted with black and placed along the bottom edge of the orange layer. A strip of Halloween washi tape adhered to white cardstock was placed where Hattie would stand.

The saying was printed onto white cardstock, matted with black, then purple, then black again. It was popped up on foam tape like Hattie was. She was surrounded by three die cut bats cut from black cardstock. A simple black border drawn with a ruler framed the card to complete the project.

Thanks for joining Hattie and me today. We love when you do that! Be sure to pop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop to see Hattie's sister, Hettie, and all their other Halloween friends. Our Facebook group is also a lovely place to hang out and be inspired! Hope to see you there!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Ghostly ATCs ~ inspired by Vera Lane Studio images

Hi everyone! My second DT project for Vera Lane Studio is a sweet set of Halloween artist trading cards (2.5 x 3.5 inches) featuring the images from the Trois Fantomes set. This is an older set which is timeless and so darn cute. They play well together or are quite content to star on their own. Each one makes me smile!

The fantomes were coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils and fussy cut leaving a narrow white border. I did not mat them with black as I usually do because I have some black sections on all of the backgrounds plus they showed up very well without the extra matting. Foam tape was attached to the backs of the images to pop them up.

The atc backs were cut from cereal boxes to give them strength and then were covered with sections from both sides of the same Halloween paper from a double sided DCWV mat stack. Only one 6x6 paper was used for all three.

They were treated as a set of atcs by keeping the paper the same although the mix was different. Simple doodled borders and Coffee Archival Ink edging was common to all three, as was a punched star detail on each. The wording from each was cut from a Lisa's Altered Art Halloween collage sheet.

Thanks for visiting the Trois Fantomes and moi today. They hope you weren't too frightened by their scary costumes :) To find these and a plethora of other fabulous images for Halloween or any/no occasion, be sure to pop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop and stop by our Facebook group when you get a chance, too. Both are lovely places to hang out!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Halloween ATC Trio ~ inspired by Vera Lane Studio collage sheets

Hi everyone! Have you seen the new Halloween Collage Sheets newly released by Vera Lane Studio? Oh my word, they are fabulous...to the point where I want to create something with every one of the images on the two sheets. I'm not a scary Halloween lover but I do love cute Halloween and these are exactly that. With the mix of sizes and colourways, as well as the adorable images which play well together, there is inspiration galore.

I covered the atc bases with Halloween themed pattern paper, adding a border made of either washi tape or a strip of patterned paper across the bottom of each. It's a quick and easy formula which works well.

The images were fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and then matted with black cardstock. I like to add my own touches to collage sheet images, although these certainly don't need it. You can see where I added some coloured pencil, gems for eyes, or Wink of Stella to make those teeth sparkle. Foam tape was used to adhere the images to the background, adding dimension.

The sayings were cut from a downloaded sheet from Lisa's Altered Art which has been in my stash forever. They were matted with black and popped up on foam tape, as well.Extra embellies like the cheesecloth, drywall mesh, and spiders were added to complete each story. To finish them off, a border was doodled around the two lighter coloured ones, and black Big Brush Pen was inked around the outside edges. How fun are these three!

Thanks for stopping by today to visit with the ghouls and me! If you are looking for quick and easy but highly effective images for a project, the collage sheets at Vera Lane Studio are definitely the way to go but don't forget about all of the other fabulous images waiting for you to colour them up, as well. There's something for every occasion!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Got Boo ATCs ~ inspired by Vera Lane Studio images

Hi everyone! I have a super quick post today. When I saw the adorable Got Boo images set by Vera Lane Studio, I couldn't wait to play with them. I decided to make two artist trading coins featuring one of the girls and one of the sayings on each. I love them! The girls were coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, and then matting with a narrow black border. I went with my favourite Halloween colour palette for both, but changed it up so they look slightly different.

I kept the backgrounds really simple, relying on patterned paper both for the background and for the borders at the bottom of each atc to ground the images. The sentiments which come with the set were cut apart and matted with black cardstock. The saying with the pumpkin faces was layered onto a scrap of cheesecloth...just because :)To finish the atcs, the outsides were inked with black Big Brush Pen and a border was added to each with a black pen. Epoxy stickers were added to both atcs to complete the designs. Easy peasy designs but so fun to do!

Thanks for stopping by today. The girls, their little friends, and I are delighted you did. If you get a chance, pop by the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group and check out Stephanie's September postcard swap. It will send you directly to the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop to find the perfect image to describe you:)

A Bump in the Night - The East Wind Challenge #65

Hi everyone! I have no idea how it became the 15th of the month already but that's what my computer is telling me. We have a new challenge beginning on The East Wind blog today. The theme is A Bump in the Night and we want to see embossing on your project. I also thought it would be fun to pull Halloween into this project because things that go bump in the night certainly bring Halloween to mind. I decided to go with adorable though rather than scary.

Aurora Meow Meow is the image which I have featured on my art journal page. I thought this would make the most adorable cat costume and given our usual Halloween weather, it would be very practical for keeping this little kitty warm and toasty. I coloured Aurora with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, using short choppy strokes where the fur would be. I am absolutely smitten with her beautiful face...love colouring this style of drawing. Aurora was fussy cut without leaving my usual white border. She was matted with black card stock which was trimmed out leaving a black border to contrast with the background. Foam tape was used to adhere her and create a natural shadow around her.

The background began with a 6 x 8 inch rectangle of  one of Doodlebug's Boos and Brews papers. A 4.25 x 5.5 rectangle of orange paper was cut, corner rounded and embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder. This piece was matted with black and adhered directly to the background. Aurora was adhered toward the top of the orange layer and two number disks were glued to the bottom left corner to mark the date of Halloween.

To balance the other side, four different lengths/widths of washi tape were adhered to white card stock and cut into fishtail flags. They were adhered along the right edge and embellished with enamel dots. The bottom right corner was given a double offset layer of punched photo corners to help balance the design. The sentiment was printed onto white card stock, die cut, matted and faux stitched. A tiny punched star was added to the label and foam tape popped it up. To finish off the piece, Black Big Brush Pen was used to edge the checked background so the white edge disappeared and black card stock was used to create a mat which framed the design.

Thanks for joining Aurora and me today. We are delighted that you did :) To see the other wonderful Bump in the Night projects from my talented TEW teamies, be sure to pop over to The East Wind blog. We would love to have you play along with us.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Blog Sneak Peek ~ Halloween Cards

Hi everyone! I'm hosting over on the Joggles blog again today featuring three fun mixed media Halloween cards using Red Wooden Flag  stamps. I have used six of the Halloween images on cards that make me smile. I also threw in a different way to use Sticky Snippets and had a great time with the new 6 x 9 inch Joggles/Margaret Applin Designs stencils. (Yum!) I'm only showing one here...to see the other two and read the full tutorial on my process, you'll have to visit the Joggles blog.
Hope you do!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Jack Swine ~ a Sandra Caldwell New Release

Hi everyone! Since we skipped last Monday's new releases because Sandra was sick, it means that today Sandra Caldwell has two fabulous groups of new releases available in her Etsy shop Babycakes Digis and Designs. The second image I played with is called 1072 Jack Swine. He was coloured with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border. I think he's very dapper in his striped suit and bat wings.

The background started as a rectangle of designer paper which had a different image inside the frame. I cut the inside out and matted it with black so that Jack contrasted with the spooky background. The frame was then faux stitched and tiny black bats were stamped and fussy cut. Before adding them to the frame above Jack's head, Glossy Accents were added to their eyes to add dimension and shine.

A purple banner was hand cut and then stamped with Versamark Ink. Black embossing powder was added to the ink and then heat set. The open letters were coloured in with white coloured pencil. White gel pen was used to faux stitch the banner. Black enamel dots were used to embellish the ends of the banner.

When you get a chance, pop by Sandra Caldwell Stamps Fans Facebook group to see the  two fabulous sets of new releases she has for us this week. it's going to be a banner day there with so many awesome images and DT projects being posted. To check out the rest of Sandra's awesome images, pop over to her Etsy shop, Babycakes Digis and Designs.  There is such a delightful collection of wonderful quirky images in Sandra's signature style that you are sure to be inspired!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Jack Swine ~ a Sandra Caldwell New Release

Hi everyone! Since we skipped last Monday's new releases because Sandra was sick, it means that today Sandra Caldwell has two fabulous groups of new releases available in her Etsy shop Babycakes Digis and Designs. The second image I played with is called 1072 Jack Swine. He was coloured with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border. I think he's very dapper in his striped suit and bat wings.

The background started as a rectangle of designer paper which had a different image inside the frame. I cut the inside out and matted it with black so that Jack contrasted with the spooky background. The frame was then faux stitched and tiny black bats were stamped and fussy cut. Before adding them to the frame above Jack's head, Glossy Accents were added to their eyes to add dimension and shine.

A purple banner was hand cut and then stamped with Versamark Ink. Black embossing powder was added to the ink and then heat set. The open letters were coloured in with white coloured pencil. White gel pen was used to faux stitch the banner. Black enamel dots were used to embellish the ends of the banner.

When you get a chance, pop by Sandra Caldwell Stamps Fans Facebook group to see the  two fabulous sets of new releases she has for us this week. it's going to be a banner day there with so many awesome images and DT projects being posted. To check out the rest of Sandra's awesome images, pop over to her Etsy shop, Babycakes Digis and Designs.  There is such a delightful collection of wonderful quirky images in Sandra's signature style that you are sure to be inspired!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Bugs and Hisses ~ Inspired by a new Sandra Caldwell release

Hi everyone! I had the opportunity to play with one of Sandra Caldwell's fabulous new releases which will be in her Etsy shop later today. It's called Jacko Spring Head Witch #1000 and I think  he's delightful. I love those spring head images.

I coloured Jacko with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. When he was fussy cut, a narrow white border was left to frame him. Once black cardstock was adhered to the back of the image, it was fussy cut again leaving a narrow black border. While this is hard to capture in a photo, it is visible IRL and it also adds strength to the skinny parts of the image which helps when it's popped up on foam tape.

Jacko was adhered to a framed section of designer paper and then matted with black cardstock. Clear rhinestones were added to the spider webs printed in the corners. Two rectangles of other designer papers were cut to size and matted with black before being adhered to the white card base: one horizontally and the other vertically. The layer with the image was added to the top and faux stitching was doodled around the outside of the card on the white base only.

The sentiment from Recollections was inked with Jet Black Archival ink and stamped onto white cardstock. It was then die cut into a circle shape and faux stitching was added to the outside edge to frame it and tie it in with the other faux stitching.

Thanks for joining Jacko and me today. We appreciate your fine company. Be sure and pop by Sandra Caldwell Stamps Fans Facebook group today to see the other fabulous new releases she has for us this week. They are wonderfully inspiring and my talented DT teamies will post their delightful creations featuring them throughout the day. To check out the rest of Sandra's inspiring images, pop over to her Etsy shop, Babycakes Digis and Designs.  You are sure to find many images that will make you smile!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

New Release at Sandra Caldwell's Babycakes Digi and Design shop

Hi everyone. Since it's Monday, it's New Release Day at Sandra Caldwell's Etsy shop, babycakesdnd. Throughout the day, her new releases will be featured by the DT on the Sandra Caldwell Stamp Fans Facebook group and later today they will be uploaded to her Etsy shop. I was fortunate to be able to play along this time, colouring Girly Ghoul 808 with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. GG was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black cardstock, and popped up on foam tape.

The background began as a 6 x 6 inch piece of Halloween designer paper by Recollections. It had a spider web design and a printed border and provided a great place to start. White and black paint rings were created with Dylusions paint and two sizes of bottle lids. White embossing paste was scraped through TCW's Tiny Circles stencil in three places. Once dry, the wicked laugh, Bwa ha ha, was stamped onto the background using Jet Black Archival Ink. GG was then added to the bottom right corner.

The sentiment was printed onto white cardstock, cut into individual words, and double matted with green and black cardstock. Each word was then popped up on foam tape. Two shimmery bat embellishments were adhered to the background with a single spot of glue in the center of each to allow the wings to be free.

Black and white washi tape adhered to white cardstock was glued to the back of the background layer to create a frame. Black Big Brush pen was used to edge this layer. It was then matted with green cardstock, and again with black cardstock to frame it and pull in the green from her collar and stockings. It also added a pop of colour and goes well with her slightly greenish complexion...:)

Thanks for popping by today. Be sure and stop by the Sandra Caldwell Stamp Fans Facebook group throughout the day to see the other amazing new releases and the wonderful projects by my talented teamies. Both the images and the projects are fabulous! Check out Sandra's Etsy shop, too, for a whole boatload of inspiration.

Life is good; so is art.

Day 21 of the 31 Days of Halloween ~ Rick St. Dennis' Airless Chambers

It's that time again for Rick St. Dennis' Airless Chambers Crew to join in the creepiest bloghop of the year, the 31 days of Halloween, organized by Smeared Ink. Today it's my turn to post on the Airless Chambers blog for Day 21.

I have a mixed media piece featuring two of Rick's wonderful images, Dancing with the Starz and Flying High. They make quite a team and both seemed to fit the sentiment. They were coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils and then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border. They were each matted with black cardstock before being trimmed out again and popped up on foam tape.

The 6 x 8 rectangle of mixed media paper which forms the substrate was spritzed with water and then sprinkled with Orange, Lemon, and Scarlet Brusho crystals. The background was tilted various ways so that the colours would run and blend before they were allowed to dry. Stars were die cut from black cardstock and scattered across the background. Inky dots were added with a Joggles background stamp and Jet Black Archival. The edges of the background were lined with Black Big Brush pen before it was mounted on black cardstock to frame it.

The sentiment was computer generated and printed onto white cardstock. The letters were filled in with red marker and the words were matted with black and popped up on foam tape. An enamel heart was adhered beside the last two words for emphasis and balance.

Thanks for joining us today. My witchy friend, her cohorts and I appreciate your visit.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Halloween ~ The East Wind Challenge #41

Hi everyone. We are beginning a new challenge on The East Wind Challenge Blog which runs until October 25. The theme for Challenge #41 is Halloween so we are looking for any project which is Halloween related. I chose to do another mixed media background to feature the lovely Lucy Loo Glamzombie.

I coloured Lucy Loo with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils adding green shading to give her a ghoulish glow. She was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and then matted in black for contrast against the background. She was popped up on foam tape so that a spooky shadow would surround her once she was adhered to the background.

The 6 x 8 mixed media paper background was sprayed with Yellow Rose of Texas and Marigold Yellow Orange Lindy's Starburst sprays. Love that shimmer from the mica in those sprays. Hag's Wart Orange was then sprayed through the Dylusions Blocks stencil and it was also flipped over to create more pattern when it was used as a stamp. Autumn's Maple Crimson Starburst spray was used to drip the nasty red from the top of the background using a paintbrush. The black strip of cardstock was patterned with Dylusions white paint and a runners stencil from Coffee Break Designs. That's the fast food that Glamzombie hates...people who run! The little haunted house was fussy cut from designer paper. Coloured pencil and black pen doodling were added to liven it up a bit.

The computer generated saying was printed on white cardstock, trimmed out and matted with black cardstock. Each word was popped up on foam tape to emphasize it and create dimension. Small bats were die cut from black and scattered around the sky. To complete the piece, a black mat was added to the background to frame it and keep the eye within that rectangle.

Thanks for joining Lucy Loo Glamzombie and me today. We are delighted that you did. To see what the rest of The East Wind Blog Dt members cooked up for this Halloween Challenge, pop over to The East Wind Challenge blog. We would love to have you play along with us!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Airless Chambers post ~ 31 Days of Halloween Day 7

Hi there! Rick St. Dennis' Airless Chambers is participating in Smeared Ink's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop again this year. Members of Rick's EDT are taking turns posting Halloween or Day of the Dead projects each day for all of October on the AC blog. Today is the first of my two posts. I chose to feature Bratty Lil Witch found in Rick's Zibbet shop.

Bratty and her wee friend were coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. They were fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and then matted with black cardstock which provides a wonderful contrast with the background. They were then popped up on foam tape to create a shadow and add dimension.

The background, a 6 x 8 inch rectangle of mixed media paper, was inked with Straw, Dried Marigold, and Worn Lipstick Distress inks to create a blended background. One of the Mish Mesh stamps from Stampendous was used with Orange Blossom Archival ink to stamp texture on the background. Black Archival ink was sponged through Dina Wakley's Plastic Canvas stencil and white embossing paste was scraped through TCW's Netting stencil. Dylusions Black Marble paint was added to the background with bottle lids to make rings and a plastic gift card to make the lines.

Before Bratty was placed on the background, torn patterned paper with text and crossed bones was added in three places. The first place gave her a place to stand, grounding her so she wasn't floating. The computer generated sentiment was printed on white cardstock and Sharpie orange and purple pens were used to colour in the open parts. The words were then matted in black and popped up on foam tape. Black and black and white washi tape semi-circles were punched and added to the top and bottom of the background. Black Big Brush pen was used to edge the background and a black cardstock mat was adhered to the back of the page.

Thanks for stopping by today. I'm always happy to visit with you and Bratty...well, Bratty is Bratty. Be sure and stop by the Airless Chambers blog each day of October to see the other awesome projects by the EDT, all using images from Rick's creative brain! Follow the hop at Smeared Ink, too, and you'll be eligible for cool prizes.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Hester's Pantry ~ an RSD assemblage piece

Welcome to day 30  of the 31 days of Halloween organized by Smeared and Smudged, This is my final turn to post on the Airless Chambers blog for this event.

I chose to play with Hester Hoopgarten creating her pantry cupboard. Hester can be found in Rick St. Dennis' Zibbet shop. I coloured Hester and her little scorpion friend with Prismacolor pencils, fussy cutting them while leaving a narrow white border. The image was then matted on black cardstock and cut out again, giving it more strength. Hester needed that so she could remain unbending and inflexible...as usual.

Hester's cupboard is a masonite hutch shrine from Coffee Break Designs. It measures 4.5" tall by 2.75" wide and 1.25" deep.The insides were all covered with Halloween paper scraps adhered with matte medium. Once it was glued together, the outside was covered with a spider web designed paper and the raw paper edges were inked with a black Big brush pen. A drippy border was die cut from red and black cardstock which were offset to create a shadow and greater contrast. A spider web was die cut from black cardstock and then painted with Clear Wink of Stella before being trimmed and adhered to the upper right corner.

Because this is Hester's pantry, two larger and three smaller bottles were stored in it with such yummy ingredients as Spider Legs, Bat Blood, Slime of Snails, and Foul Breath Mints (Vectoria Designs labels). A skeleton hand was adhered to the top of the hutch with Glossy Accents and Hester's message, Want me to spell it out for you, was printed on handmade paper. The message was then torn around (we don't give Hester sharp objects like scissors) and inked with Vintage Photo. Beware! She means business.

Thanks for visiting Hester Hoopgarten, her scorpion, and me today. The 31 Days of Halloween is nearly over...it's been a scream!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie