Kreepy Kids!

It's Monday, woohoo, which means that it's time for a new Macabre Monday challenge over at the Haunted Design House blog! This week it's all about Kreepy Kids. Kids are creepy enough already, but we think you can expand on this theme ;) Bewitching babies, terrifying toddlers, monstrous middle-schoolers, or taxidermied teenagers WE DARE YOU to creep us out!
My girl image is from The Octopode Factory, the tree is from Make It Crafty and the papers are by Crafty Chaos Designs. And the sentiment is the last line from the Rock-A-Bye Baby nursery rhyme.
These are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Paper Sundaes - sketch
Sassy Studio Designs - have a sentiment on the front
Stamp Something - use something digi
Forever Night Freaky Friday - good or evil. Lol. evil every time for me :P
Lollipop Crafts - monochromatic
Incy Wincy Designs - something old and something new. The papers are from one of my newest sets, and the Octopode image is the very first one I bought from Lily.
TOFF Challenge - girls girls girls

The last day of Grumpie, I mean Smudgefest!

The final day of Smudgefest is here! And the lovely people at Smeared Ink gave us a freebie to use on our projects for today. Did you think that might mean I couldn't use a Grumpie as well? Oh, ye of little faith, Grumpies can be used anywhere, anywhen, anyhow. This looks MUCH more washed-out that it does in real life, my printer, scanner and camera are all conspiring against me. The images are Calypso the rat, available free for today only, and one of the Grumpies from the Love Li'l Grumpies set, both from Smeared Ink.
These are the challenges I had in mind whilst creating:
What If Wednesday - sketch J2711
Colour Throwdown - krumb cake, pool party, old olive, white
Smudgefest Day 7 - use the freebie provided
Top Tip Tuesday - blue green brown
Little Miss Muffet - let your image expand outside the die cut mat

Earth Tones

We have a fun new colour challenge for you over at the Corrosive blog this week; we'd like to see your earth-toned creations. Our sponsor for August is Simply Betty Stamps, and I've used one of their fabulous Steampunk images to create my piece. The papers are from the Dusty Journals set at Crafty Chaos Designs.
Tuesday Morning Sketches - sketch 105
Incy Wincy Designs - monochrome colours
Creative Stamp Friends - monochrome
The Emeral Fairies - lace
Stamp Something - use something digi
My Mums Craft Shop - monochrome
The ABC Challenge - A is for Auburn hair

Last but one!

Smudgefest Day 6 is here! And yes, I managed to create another Grumpie project :D This little guy is once again from the Love Grumpies set at Smeared Ink, and the papers and sentiment are ad hoc creations specifically for this piece. There is actually some text under the hair-ridden wax strip (I promise, it's actually sellotape and chopped-up eyelash yarn :P) but you can't read it. It's part of the lyrics from "I'd Die For You" by Bon Jovi, which I'm now going to have running through my head every time I look at this.
Here are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Smudgefest Day 6 - Sketchy Saturday (follow the sketch)
Alphabet Challenge - N is for Navy plus one other colour
The Crafty Pad - something clear (sellotape, used to represent a waxing strip)
Take a Word - song (I'd Die For You by Bon Jovi)
Crafts and Me - anything goes
For Fun Challenges - anything goes
Craft Your Passion - anything goes
Frosted Designs - colour in your image
Make It Colourful - colour with pink

Day 5!

Yup, I made another Grumpie project! Today's Smudgefest challenge is to use a "medium that flows".
Hmmm, I thought, I could make some cool drips with nail polish . . .I dripped it on acetate, thinking I could let it dry, peel it off and attach it to my creation. Nope, it bonded. Hubby told me to try it on polythene instead. It still bonded. I tried it on glass. It STILL bonded! Grrrrrrr! So now I have lots of things with drippy nail polish on that are absolutely no use to me.
I painted a chipboard frame with acrylics and decided to use a heart stencil, paint the nail polish on top and then add some extra drippy bits coming out of the bottom. The polish didn't stay inside the stencil, so now I had a frame with a big splodgy mess of nail polish in one corner! >*< So I painted all across the top with polish and splodged more at the sides and let it drip down. It's not great, but it's in time and you can tell I used something that flows. I coloured up the Lovers Grumpies digitally and made a nice splotchy background for them, then pasted the You Got Me Babe sentiment from the same Love Lil Grumpies set underneath. All the Grumpies stamps can be found at Smeared Ink. And I have to add that the polish is actually a similar shade to the Grumpies, but in the photos it's either blindingly glossy silver or this darker purple shade. Ho hum :P
Here are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Smudgefest Day 5 - use a medium that flows.
Paper Creations Ink - stitching
Delightful Sketches - stitching
Cute Card Thursday - no designer paper
Craft Us Crazy - anything goes
The Sisterhood of Crafters - make a 3D gift
Creative Belli Challenges - non-paper material. I hope chipboard counts. My old stash is the frame, and the acrylic I used to paint it, both of which are about a year old.
Lil Red Wagon - put a critter on it
Papertake Weekly - anything goes with the optional extra of using metal (my heart)
The Crafty Purple Frog - anything but a card
Stamp Something Challenges - use a digi
The Stamp Man Challenges - stitching
Patties Creations - stitching

Twisted little Grumpie!

Today's Smudgefest challenge is "Twisted Thursday - make an ATC with a twist". Well, I thought and I thunk and here's what I came up with. Yup, it's another Grumpie. Although this wasn't planned at the beginning, I'm now hoping to complete Smudgefest using all Grumpie images. This one is Shot Grumpie, altthough I've erased the arrow. Not only does he have his little antennae all in a twist, I've used the "Twisted" stamp from the same set to create my background, by twisting it upside down and/or back-to-front and stamping it all over. (Mirror and flip was the closest I could think of for "twisting" in this scenario). The I found a tutorial for some Twisted Paper Flowers, so I made some of them, and finally I twisted a few strands of ribbon together to create the hanging strap bit. Oooh, and I also added a twisty spiral behind the image. :D The Grumpie stamps and sentiment are available from Smeared Ink.



These are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Sketch and Stash - sketch 67. My neglected stash items are the ribbons. I know where the organza one came from, and I bought that late last year, but the other one, with the velvet strip, I have absolutely no idea when or where I got it, but I "think" it may have been on sale in a local shop about two years ago.
Smudgefest Day 4 - Twisted Thursday - ATC with a twist.
Picture Perfect Creations - medium purple, deep indigo, vanilla
Hooked on Crafts - cute and cuddly
Shopping Our Stash - vellum or violet or violins (I've gone for the colour violet, obviously. I'd love to claim that my flowers are also violets, but I think that may be pushing it :P My old stash being used up are the ribbons)
Ribbon Carousel - anything goes (must use ribbon twoine or lace)
Crafts 4 Eternity - anything but a card
Allsorts - free and easy
Crafty Purple Frog - anything but a card
Cute Card Thursday - no designer paper

Happy grumpies!

I just can't seem to leave these little guys alone at the minute; I was all set to use a different image today, and even got so far as colouring it all in, but my persnickety brain refused to play until I started thinking about the Grumpies again. I think someone told them that Smudgefest was supposed to be called Grumpiefest. I gave these two arms and made them hold hands so that (if you sort of unfocus your eyes slightly) together they look like one happy smiling face. The Grumpies are, of course, by Smeared Ink, and this particular couple are included in the Love Grumpies set. I created the papers in PSP specifically for this project (because for some bewildering reason, I just didn't seem to have any love or friendship papers in this colour scheme :P)
These are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Pink Ink - sketch
Smudgefest Day 3 - bright orange, yellow, grey, deep indigo (the indigo looks black in my piece, but it is actually a very deep purple)
Stamptacular Sunday - Friendship
Crafts and Me - anything goes
Little Red Wagon - critters
Fab n Funky - friendship
Cooking It Up with Katie - something old (ribbon), something new (paper), something you love (digital colouring)
Stampin' B's Design Team - card using ribbon
Magical Monday with Paper Cupcakes - mythical/mystical creatures (Do cute furry monsters count?)

Smudgefest Day 2

Day 2 of Smudgefest is here and today's challenge is Terrifying Tuesday (use a scary Smeared Ink stamp). I've stuck with the Grumpies, lol, although they might be cute and furry, I figured having this intense little guy stalking you would be terrifying indeed! The sentiment is also from the Lil Love Grumpies set and the papers are from the Creature Feature set at Crafty Chaos Designs. And get me, I've used foam pads/pop dots, webby ribbon and a D-ring! Almost like a real crafter! :P

These are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Smudgefest Day 2 - Terrifying Tuesday
Mojo Monday - sketch 202
Crafts and Me - ribbon
A Spoon Full of Sugar - create a tag
Simon Says Stamp and Show - a tag (mine's obviously not vintage but is, I think grunge. I'm never really sure at what point my stuff would become unsuitable for your challenge)
Papertake Weekly - anything goes (optional to use metal which I have)

Put your best foot forward!

It's time for another challenge at the Creative Card Crew, and this week's theme is "Put your best foot forward". Shoes, boots, feet, we want to see them, OR you could make a card encouraging someone to put their best foot forward. And we're also looking for a couple of new DT members, so check out the blog for details and email Mari if you'd like to be a member of this friendly, stress-free team :D
We're sponsored this week by the wonderful Simon Says Stamp, so I hope you all play along for your chance to win a $20 voucher to the store. My creation uses a digi by Kenny K, papers by Crafty Chaos Designs and a sentiment I created.



These are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Deconstructed Sketches - sketch #12
Sparkles Forum Challenge - one for the girls
Skrappekammeret Chamber Maids - just one patterned paper
Craft Your Passion - anything goes
Aud Sentiments - enjoy your day OR use a sentiment to make someone smile
Crazy Amigos - anything goes

It's not about the romance!

Smudgefest starts today! One week of 24-hour challenges from the team at Smeared Ink with a MIND-BLOWING prize at the end of it all; Smeared Ink digis worth a total of $275!!!!! To see all the details and enter your projects, hop along to the Smudgy Antics blog.
All-digital products aren't allowed, so I've had to venture into the terrifying world of tangible crafting! Gasp! I decided to start with a bookmark, the abive image is the front and back view. And now you've seen my efforts, no doubt you're thinking "Hmmm, she should really stick to digi stuff" I stuck the two sides together slightly wonkily, so then I had to trim both edges again. The sticking down of the layers went reasonably well though, except for the "It's not about the romance" senti, which as you can see isn't quite right. But, lol, it will keep my place in whatever I'm reading at least as well as the scraps of paper I generally use, so all is not lost :P And it's scanned a little bit darker than it is in real life, but the scan is much better than the photos I took. I tried to brighten it in PSP but all that did was make the pale pink look paler and left the deep burgundy just as dark.
The digi images are both from Smeared Ink, the papers are from Crafty Chaos Designs and the sentiment was computer-generated by me.
Here are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Smudgefest Day One - Manic Monday. Create a bi-polar project that showcases two opposites. (Romance and bloodlust in my case)
Crafts 4 Eternity - anything but a card
Forever night Wicked Wednesday - you're so emo
Come and Get It Challenges - anything goes
Desert Island Crafters - From the current itinerary, I've used 1 - Colour your image, 6 - use three different shapes (rectangle, the mat shape and hearts), 9 - use an image of something alive, and 10 - use only three colours (deep burgundy, medium purplish-red and a pale pink)
Sir Stampalot - whatever you fancy

Varying Visages of Vincent!

Ok, macabre fans... this week marks HDH's 100th challenge! I can't believe it... who knew there were so many creeptastically cool people out there?! Thanks to everyone for tuning in and having fun with this little ol' blog :)

So, to celebrate this milestone, we're going to do a few things different this week >;) The general list of rules still apply (see sidebar), so be sure to follow them to be considered for the coveted Gruesome Twosome & Master of the Macabre titles!

There is BLOG CANDY-CORN to be had this week! That's right... keep reading...

Did you know that Vincent Price would've been 100 this year?!
Yes, so it is divine providence that this week's challenge is:

"Varying Visages of Vincent"

(translates to: the many faces of Vinny)
You are to create a dark, Gothic, or Halloween-based art piece

that is inspired by the TRUE Master of the Macabre, Vincent Price.
A movie, character, poem, narration, song or quote... anything that the great Vincent Price has touched can be used for inspiration. If you need a little help, HERE is a link for some images, HERE is the official Vincent Price website, and HERE is a link to a website with some audio clips.


Now, about the blog candy... Here's a pic so far:

There are rubber and clear stamps, a handful of cards created by The Masterful Mistress herself, chipboard shapes and letters, altered chipboard purse & album pages, skullies, ribbons, floss, embellishments, Distress Stickles, rub-ons... Even a cute stuffed jacko (he's my favorite)... and much much MORE!

As we get more comments & challenge entries,
there MIGHT be more thrown in throughout the week!
AND some of the Minions will be giving away additional blog candy on their own blogs...
be sure to check them out!

The rules for entering blog candy drawing:
1. Readers shall hop to each of the Macabre Minions blogs to see their take on the challenge...
readers must comment on each of the (6) posts.
2. Spread the word about the candy corn via your blog, Twitter, whatevah. Then just comment on this HDH post with a link to the announcement about it.
3. If you play along with the HDH Macabre Monday 100th challenge, you get TWO extra chances to win... just linky up and then add two more comments. We will be selecting a Gruesome Twosome like we normally do.

You should have come here from:

Creepy Cricut Cween Donna

This is my project. Did you kknow Mr Price was a rather famous gourmet?




I wanted to include the original photo that I worked from so you can see the changes, and I promised a brief tutorial as to how I achieved them. I'm going to try and word this so that it can be followed in any graphics program. Firstly, get rid of the background by whatever means you like best.
Then find a skull image that's roughly the same perspective (I ended up using three different skulls because Mr Price seems to like slightly sideway-but-forward-looking poses, and skulls don't come in that very often :P) Layer your skull or skulls over the original photo and lower the opacity so you can see through them. Fiddle about to line them up, paying most attention to nose and eye sockets and teeth. Stretch them, distort them, mirror them, whatever you need to do to get the important bits more or less lined up. Set the opacity back to 100% and play with things like hue, saturation, tonemapping, brightness and contrast until the skulls are of the same tone as your photo.
Then duplicate the layer with the human face on it and put that above the skull layer(s). Lower the opacity of the top layer so that you can see the skull(s) through it, set your eraser tool to a soft-edge effect and start peeling away bits of the face to reveal the bone underneath.
Then start playing with textures. I used one concrete texture, one water ripple texture and one unidentified-but-cool-looking texture that I liked the look of. Place the textures over the top of your images and change everything until you like the way it looks. Change blending modes, opacity, colour values and distortion. There is no "right" and "wrong". Just play until you like the way it looks. And that's about it, you should now have a wonderfully uniques rotting-corpse image :D

And for those of you who don't play with graphics programs, here's Mr Price's cookie recipe, originally published in A Great Treasury of Recipes by Vincent & Mary Price.

Vincent Price's Classic Cherry Butter Cookies

Preheat oven to 350

1 cup butter, softened (it must be butter - no substitutes)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups flour
halved maraschino cherries


Cream butter in large bowl. Gradually beat in sugar until fluffy. beat in
egg and almond extract. gradually blend in flour. Chill dough for 30 mins
for ease in handling. Roll small spoonfuls of dough into little balls and
place on ungreased cookie sheets ( I use parchment paper on the cookie
sheets) Place half cherry, cut side down, in middle of each cookie and press
down slightly. Bake 8-10 mins or just until bottoms are golden. Remove and
place on racks to cool. leave them on racks overnight instead of putting
them in Tupperware, and keep extras in freezer until needed.

And your next stop on the hop is:

Agent of the Abominable Andrea

We can't wait to see everyone's take on this VIVP (Very Important Vincent Price) challenge!