Steampunk Grumpies - Smeared and Smudged blog hop & new digi release

Howzit Everyone!
Today is our Smeared and Smudged FB group's monthly member blog hop and the theme this month is Steampunk!  We, the Smeared Ink design team, are also excited to introduce you to the newest members of SI's Grumpie collection, Steampunk Grumpies.

I had the pleasure of creating with Top Hat Steampunk Grumpie and made 2 projects for this hop and the new image release.  You probably got here from Susan's blog and your next stop is Rebecca.  Here's the blog roll for you to hop along with us!  Enjoy!

SMEARED AND SMUDGED MEMBER BLOG HOP

Smeared Ink
Black Dragon
Shell
Susan R.
Leigh - You are here!
Rebecca
Lyneen
Fiona
Elenor
Leslie Rahye
Susan S.
Nan

   I had fun creating this Grumpie Mob card announcing the arrival of the new Steampunk Grumpies...they're Heeeeere!  LOL

 My 2nd project is an ATC with a very Gentlemanly sentiment from a quote by Brian McKnight that I thought was perfect for my Top Hat Steampunk Grumpie.

I created both projects in Photoshop CS6 first and then printed them out on Neenah solar white cardstock.  The Grumpies are coloured with Copic markers with metallic gold gel pen and Promarker details.   The backgrounds are done with a sienna brown Derwent pastel pencil and a Dove Blender pen.  I distressed the edges of both with Tim's Paper Distresser tool and edged with gold Promarker and I applied Tea Dye Distress Ink to the Grumpie mob background.  The ATC is mounted onto black cardstock and the card panel is matted onto lime and apple green cardstocks, borders cut with my Perfect Layers tools, then black cardstock folded to make the card.  But before I adhered it to the black card I pressed the edges of the panel inside a long Cuttlebug cogs and gears embossing folder and highlighted the embossed design with metallic silver rub-on cream.

Perfect Layers by Perfect Paper Crafting - use coupon code LBrunton to save 10% on your entire order!

Thanks for hopping with me today & leaving me some love, much appreciated :0)
Happy Stamping!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Smeared Ink * Lost Coast Designs * Altered Eclectic Challenges * Forever Dark Challenges

Smeared and Smudged "Decorate An Egg" Members Blog Hop!

Howzit Everyone!
Welcome to the April SMEARED AND SMUDGED members blog hop!

The Smeared and Smudged Facebook group welcomes all kinds of art work, especially the themes that other groups and challenges frown upon but don't be afraid, we are a friendly bunch of artists and crafters who just embrace the alternative and dark and twisty side of stamping and crafting.

For this members blog hop Smeared and Smudged challenged us to DECORATE AN EGG and yes, it had to be a REAL egg.  We were encouraged to use our imagination, step out of our comfort zones and dare to be different, get inky and painty and get supremely messy and most of all, have fun! 
 The only S&S rule, as usual, is that it had to be stamped somewhere (digi stamps are fine).  It's a smaller hop this month but I'm sure you're still going to be blown away by the quirky creativity!

Below is the full blog roll, please visit everyone on the list and leave some love!

April Member Blog Hop
Leigh - U R Here!
Nan
Leslie Rahye
Susan R.
Jane
Kristy
Ike

Now, as I mentioned above, we at Smeared and Smudged embrace the alternative so I'm warning you that this might be a touchy subject for some and I'm sorry if my project offends or upsets anyone!  My altered egg is a sculptural statement piece about the appalling conditions and the cruelty that poor chickens endure in way too many egg farms.  I don't buy eggs often but only get free range eggs when I do and I encourage everyone to do the same or go vegetarian!

"Ode to A Chicken"

I'm afraid that my project didn't quite work out the way I intended it to.  It's been a while since I decorated an egg and I couldn't quite get my stamping of the skeleton bird image as clear as I wanted it and therefore didn't achieve the overall look I was going for.  But I think it still depicts how fragile the chicken is (and all animals) and the fractured image mirrors the fragility of the egg and how easily life can be harmed by mankind.

I started off by punching holes in the top and the bottom of the egg and blowing out the contents into a bowl which hubby later used for an omelet.  The entire egg was painted with 3 coats of white gesso and I roll stamped the Smeared Ink Skellie bird image from the Letterbox Backgrounds January 2015 rubber set (middle left image) onto the egg with Jet Black StazOn ink.  I then coloured it with various Prismacolor pencils, sealed it with Krylon Artists Workable Fixative and covered the punched top hole with a bead adhered with Inkssentials Matte Accents.  The egg was then adhered to a real chicken wish bone with E6000 adhesive.

Thanks for hopping with us today!  You're next stop is Nan, I'm sure she has a less depressing project to share with you!
Enjoy!

Happy Stamping!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Smeared Ink * Lost Coast Designs * Altered Eclectic Challenges *About Art Accents

Alice in Wonderland MADNESS Blog Hop - "Cheshire Cat" Wind-chime

Howzit Everyone!
Welcome to our March Smeared and Smudged members blog hop
"Alice in Wonderland - MADNESS"

I'm a huge Alice fan and couldn't wait for this hop to start!  I created a Cheshire Kitty diorama wind-chime featuring Smeared Ink's Cheshire Cat and the mushroom from the Alice digi.  If you're hopping with us then you arrived via Sarah but if you started here and would like to hop from the beginning then the blog hop roll is below my project!

Here's a little video so you can see it in action!

If the video doesn't open then click HERE

 My Ever After High doll and American McGee kitties think it's most Wonderlandful ;0)

 I love upcycling cardboard inner tubes from duct tapes and sellotapes and couldn't resist using this  large one I've had in my stash that came from some kind of packaging.  I painted it with Black Soot Distress Stain and while it dried I got to work on my images.  I printed out the Cheshire Cat digi image three times and the mushroom from the Alice digi twice, coloured the areas I needed with Copic markers and then fussy cut out all the components of the diorama.  When I made my Down the Rabbit Hole ATC I removed the Cheshire Cat from the original image in Photoshop CS6 and used that for my background.  I printed it out, creased it and applied Spun Sugar and Shaded Lilac Distress Inks with a sponge applicator tool and some metallic silver highlights to the swirls.   Before assembling the diorama I poked holes into the tube and added the hanging loop and hung the 3 wind-chimes from a variegated metallic fiber.  The diorama components where all adhered in place with little flaps cut from black cardstock and glued with Scotch Quick Dry adhesive.  The background was added last and then covered with black cardstock.  For the outside I used the same Cat-less background image, elongated it, added a purple gradient background and printed it out twice and adhered the panels to the outsides of the tube.  All the tube edges were finished off with a black broad point Prismacolor marker.  For a touch of sparkle and magic I applied Vive Pearl Transparent Magic White dimensional paint to the kitty's tail, hair, the mushroom spots and the "We're All Mad Here" text.
 

Thank you for visiting with me today!  Your next stop on the hop is Susan S!
I'm entering this one into the following challenges:
Haunted House Designs - The Naughty Corner 
 Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes 
Ike's World Challenges - Coloured Hair

March Monthly Member Blog Hop
Black Dragon

Kristy

Nan

Teresa
Leslie Rahye
Maureen
Susan R.

Lisa

Sarah

Leigh - You ARE Here

Susan S.

Jenn

Ike

Fiona

Happy Stamping!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Smeared Ink * Lost Coast Designs * Altered Eclectic Challenges *About Art Accents

February's Smeared and Smudged Member's Blog Hop: Cracked and Broken

Happy Thursday Everyone!
Today is our monthly Smeared and Smudged Member Hop and the theme for February is
Cracked and Broken! 
Sit back, relax, hop and enjoy!

Cracked and Broken - without the rib cage overlay

February Monthly Member Blog Hop
Black Dragon
Teresa

Shell

Kristy

Nan

Fiona

Shoni

Rachel
Lisa
Jenn
Leslie Rahye
Leigh - You Are Here!
Susan R.

 I'm still in the Bloody Valentine mood so here's my interpretation of this month's theme!
My 3D paper arts piece is dark, twisty and portrays that having a broken heart feels like your rib cage has been cracked open and your broken heart exposed!

Cracked and Broken - with the rib cage overlay

Three cracked hearts from Smeared Ink's Heart Wings rubber stamp set with a transparency printed rib cage sourced off the web encasing the hearts and flanked by two mirror images of Girl 4 from Smeared Ink's the Other Side of Fear digis. 

Cracked and Broken - without the ribcage overlay

The hearts were stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and the girl was printed onto Neenah Solar White cardstock.  The images were all coloured with Copics and fussy cut out and the hearts have Inkssentials Matte Accents applied to just the cracked areas.  Everything was adhered with Scotch Quick Dry adhesive and the transparency overlay was attached with staples.  It was hard to photograph with the rib cage overlay, it does look quite effective with it on in person though!  

Cracked and Broken - with the rib cage overlay

You've got one more stop so I hope you've enjoyed our little hop and see you again for the March one!  Now off you go to see what Susan has for you!

Happy Stamping!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Smeared Ink * Lost Coast Designs * Altered Eclectic Challenges *About Art Accents