Beyond The Haunting - Altered Bird House for the Smeared and Smudged Design Team Throwdown

Howzit Friends!
 I've got another "Dark Etchnings" altered bird house to share with you today.
This one is a follow on piece from my other altered bird house "Haunted Within" which symbolized being trapped by fear inside your own mind and now "Beyond the Haunting" symbolizes breaking free of the fear and escaping the demons inside your mind.
 

Beyond the Hauting

 UPDATE:  Smeared Ink WON round #9 Woohoo!  Congrat to Tori, Terra and ME :0)


This one is my entry into the Smeared and Smudged Design Team Throwdown for Challenge #9.  The winners of challenge #8 gave us our theme, Metal Mania.  Please stop by and check out all the design teams vying for your vote in this round and cast your vote for the team you think should win!  I hope you like my creation and my Smeared Ink team mates, you can see their creations HERE and will vote for Smeared Ink of course, heehee, voting starts Sept 27 at noon, click the banner below to go and check out all the entries ;0)  

Click on the banner to go and vote!

 I played with my faux print etchning technique and featured Smeared Ink's digi stamp "Beyond" and wings from "Quoth the Raven" stamps - Smeared Ink Rubber Club and also added some purple watercolour pencil to the lips and eye areas.

 I covered the wooden bird house with Ranger Ink's adhesive metal sheeting and scored seams and rivets into the metal with a dry embossing ball tool.  Black Alcohol Ink was then applied and wiped off leaving the ink inside all the nooks and crannies.  Exposed wood was stained with Black Soot Distress Ink and diamond patterned washi tape was added to all the edges.  The base was a separate wooden candle holder I adhered to the birdhouse. 

 I applied Rock Candy Crackle Paint to the base of the birdhouse and Pewter Metalic Distress Stain applied randomly to the rough surface with scrunched up paper towel.  Assorted gears by Found Objects Charms from Michaels and washers from Home Depot were adhered with Judikins Diamond Glaze.  The images were run through my Xyron to add adhesive,  fussy cut out and adhered to the birdhouse with real feathers added to the roof as well.

The tiny bird was a resin multi-coloured hanging ornament I got from Target a few years ago in the after Xmas sales.  I painted it with black acrylic paint and then dry brushed it with silver and antique gold acrylic paint and then adhered it to the perch with Diamond Glaze.

 Thanks for visiting with me today and hope you'll stop by the Throwdown and cast your vote for the design team most worthy of winning!  Also stop by the Smudgy Antics challenge blog too, our new challenge "Broken Heart" started on Monday so you've got plenty of time to come and play with us!

Before you go I'd like to invite you to come over to DominoART and check out my upcoming 31 Days of Halloween event!  DominoART is participating as a Wicked Blogger in the Smeared and Smudged 31 Days of Halloween blog hop and I will be featuring scary altered game art for 31 days!  I'd love it if you'd come and join my Wicked Players for a scarey good time and a chance at some awesome prizes ;0)
   

Happy Stamping!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Smeared Ink * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * Lost Coast Designs * About Art Accents

Operation Write Home + Perfect Paper Crafting Blog Hop

Howzit Friends!
 Today is Operation Write Home's 2013 Birthday Bash and we, the Perfect Paper Crafting Brand Ambassadors, are helping them celebrate in style with a fabulous blog hop!  This is truly an amazing opportunity for us to give back to the men and women of our Armed Forces.

If you're hopping along with us then you should have arrived here from Allison's blog.  If you just happened to stop by my blog today and would like to start the OWH hop from the beginning then go to Stars & Stamps.

I created two Christmas themed cards based on two OWH's sketches and used my Perfect Square and Perfect Layers tools to create all the wonderful mat layering.  

Happy Holiday Elves

click on the photos and sketches to enlarge them

Rubber Stamps:  Elves - Magenta and Happy Holidays - Recollections
Perfect Square and Perfect Layers #2 tools
Tuxedo Black Memento ink
Fired Brick Distress Ink
Copic Markers
White Gelly pen
Derwent crimson pastel pencil  + Dove Blender Pen
DCWV Christmas Mat Stack
Inkssentials Matte Accents
Tonic Paper Distresser
Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive
A2 white card blank + envelope

Jolly Snowman

Rubber Stamps:  Jolly Snowman - Stampendous and Snowflakes - Inkadinkado
Perfect Square and Perfect Layers #1 and #2 tools
Tuxedo Black Memento ink
Tumbled Glass Distress Ink
Copic Markers
White Gelly pen
DCWV Christmas and Winter Mat Stack
Viva Pearl Pen Magic Transparent White
Narrow Red Ribbon
Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive
A2 white card blank + envelope

The next stop on the hop is Patti's blog.
 ...blogger is being buggy and isn't publishing the hyper link properly so if it stops working again here's the whole link to use.

http://www.cherisheachpreciousday.blogspot.com/2013/09/operation-write-home-perfect-paper.html
A complete link list of all the blogs is below too!

 There's a $50 gift certificate from Perfect Paper Crafting for one lucky person who leaves a comment on all the blogs and PPC will accept comments until Sunday, September 29!

If you would like to get involved in helping our heroes stay in touch with their loved omes then here's some helpful links to use!
Card Guidelines
OWH Sketches to use for your designs   

The range of Perfect Paper Crafting tools are so versatile and you'll never need a paper trimmer or cut wonky mats ever again.  Stop by my Perfect Paper Crafting Brand Ambassador page for more deets and use my coupon code Leigh5% to get 5% off your entire purchase ;0)

Thanks for hopping with us and have a fabulous day!

Blog Hop List
1. OWH Stars & Stamps
2. Perfect Paper Crafting
3. Linda
4. Pam
5. Sandy
6. Jenny
7. Samantha
8. Jeanie
9. Kim
10. Paula
11. Diane
12. Wendy
13. Dixie
14. Heather
15. Roxie
16. Allison
17. Leigh - YOU ARE HERE!
18. Patti
19. Marianne
20. Lezlye
21. Nancy
22. Susanna
23. Eva
24. Julie
25. OWHtv

Happy Stamping!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Smeared Ink * Lost Coast Designs * Third Coast Rubber Stamps *  About Art Accents

"Haunted Within" Dark Etchings Altered Bird House + Smudgy Antics Embellishments Challenge!

Howzit Friends!  

The last couple of weeks I've been working on a series of artwork I've called Dark Etchings because they remind me of the etched prints I created as a Fine Art student.  

It's week 2 of Smudgy Antics current challenge "Use Embellishments" and my DT inspiration for you is an altered 'Dark Etching' bird house called "Haunted Within" which symbolizes being trapped by fear inside your own mind.

"Within" is one of Smeared Inks newest digital images.  My Dark Etchings so far were all rubber stamped and I'm creating the same 'faux etchning' look this time using digitally printed images instead.

Dark Etchings Series 1 - Haunted Places!

Howzit Friends!

 I've been having fun playing with a technique that I call faux etching coz it reminds me of the print etchings I did when I was studying Fine Art.

Last week I shared the first in my Dark Etchings series which was the ATC for Smudgy Antics previous challenge...their new challenge started on Monday, Use Embellishments, so pop over and check it out!!  Now I'm super excited to show you these because both feature the newest rubber images designed by Rick St Dennis and are featured sets in Smeared Inks' Rubber Club!  These images are freaky fabulous and you should grab them for your Halloween projects this year, let them know I referred you if you decide to join up ;0)

Smeared Inks' Rubber Club exclusives
Haunted Places 1 and Haunted Places 2

 Dark Etching - Sacred Ground

 The faux etching technique is so much fun and really simple to do and the hardest part about my etching above was all the masking.  I used 3 of the stamp images to collage the scene as well as portions of the image from the center of the sheet...you'll be able to spot the collaged sections, just click on the photo to enlarge it.  Everything was stamped with Black Soot Distress Ink onto watercolour paper and I used a Japanese water brush pen that has the built in reservoir.  It really is just a watercolouring technique coz the water picks up the stamped ink and you can control how much ink to pick up for light areas and add more directly from the ink pad for darker areas.  You don't need any special masking paper either coz I used plain old Scotch Magic Tape and just mask the areas off on the rubber stamp, ink it up, then remove the tape before stamping.  You can either eyeball the placements or use a stamp positioner to line everything up perfectly!  

Dark Etching - The Signs

  
I used two images from the Haunted Places 2 sheet to create the etching above.  I used my Perfect Square tool to trim down the watercolour paper before adhering both etchings to black cardstock and then used my Perfect Layers tool to cut the 3/16" black borders.  Use my special coupon code Leigh5% to get 5% off your entire purchase once you realize you can't live without these tools!  I think I'm actually going to frame these two I love them so much ;0)  I've also got more up my sleeve for Dark Etchings Series 1....I'll be sharing my Smudgy Antics DT "Embellishments" piece next.  I'm also taking part in the next round, #9, of the Smeared and Smudged DT Throwdown with the ghouls of Smeared Ink themselves so you won't want to miss checking it all out on our new DT Throwndown blog!!

Happy Stamping!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * Lost Coast Designs * Smeared Ink * About Art Accents

Dark Etchings - Series 1 + Week 2 ATC challenge with Smudgy Antics!

Howzit Friends!
I've been having fun this last week playing with a technique that I call faux etching coz it reminds me of the print etchings I did when I was a Fine Art student.  So first up I'm sharing the ATC I made for week 2 of Smudgy Antics "ATC" challenge!

Faux etching is so much fun and really simple to do.  All you need for the this ATC is a piece of heavy weight cardstock measuring 2.5" x 3.5" which is the standard size for an ATC which FYI stands for Artist Trading Card for those unfamiliar with the format.  Stamp the architectural image from May's Smeared Ink exclusive Rubber Club set called Holy City with Black Soot Distress Ink.  Then simply apply water to the image with a Japanese water brush pen that has the built in water reservoir or use a traditional paint brush with water to achieve the same result.  The water picks up the stamped ink and it's similar to watercolouring and you can make areas even darker by picking up more ink from the ink pad...I created the sky by painting the ink on with the brush.  Once I was happy with the sky I stamped the flying bird which is also from the Holy City set.  I then edged the ATC with a metallic silver paint pen and adhered it to black cardstock and used my Perfect Layers tool to cut the 1/16" black border.  I've got more Dark Etchings to share this week featuring Smeared Ink's September Rubber Club exclusive sets Haunted Places 1 and 2 so stay tuned!!

 

Thank you for visiting with me today and I hope you'll come and play in our Smudgy Antics challenges!

Happy Stamping!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * Lost Coast Designs * Smeared Ink * About Art Accents