The Other Side of Fear - Digital Art for Smudgy Antics!

Hello Friends!
It's my turn to share some Smeared and Smudged aka Smeared Ink DT inspiration today for our current Smudgy Antics "Anything Goes" Challenge!  We're now entering week 4 so hurry on over and enter to be in the running for the prize of a Smeared Ink digi as well as a Smeared Ink rubber stamp!

Here's my digital art featuring the Smeared Ink digi prize, one of the Other Side of Fear ladies, plus wings from one of the Heart Wings digis and the sentiment is also from the Other Side of Fear set.  Everything was done in Photoshop CS6.

Don't forget that DominoART's current challenge RAVENS ends on Wednesday so hurry and get in your Raven themed altered game art of any kind!

I've entered this one into
Haunted Design House May Challenge

 Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous weekend!

Happy Stamping!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

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

"Wonderland Sugar Bowl" Doublecross Domino Trinket Box & Launch of Lost Coast Designs new Event & Challenge Blog!

Hello Friends!
I'm super excited to tell you about the launch today of our new Event and Challenge Blog called

Lost Coast Portal to Creativity!

Where the stamps of Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda collide to bring you Twice the Inspiration and Double the Fun!

We've got so many fabulous events planned for you with lots of Design Team eye candy and lots of chances to win prizes galore!  PLUS our Lost Coaster's Review Challenges will now be hosted on the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity blog starting with the June Challenge on June 1st and they will continue to start on the first Monday of every month!  Exciting times ahead but today we're kicking off the grand opening celebration with a 10 week long event (approx. 2 months) to showcase the stamps featured on the NEW IMAGE pages of both stamp lines so you've got plenty of time to come and play with us and be in the running to win a $20 gift certificate to spend at either LCD or CV or a combination of both!  Check out the new image pages via those 2 links below!  Pop on over and let me know what you think of the blog coz I designed it :0)

Check out our new Lost Coast Designs stamps!

Check out our new Carmen's Veranda stamps!

Now for my LCD DT inspiration make for the launch!  I used Lost Coast Designs Manga Goth with Top Hat.  I couldn't resist making a Wonderland themed project coz LCD's stamp looks just like my Ever After High Madelaine Hatter doll created by Mattel!
 

 I made a "Sugar Bowl" altered Doublecross domino trinket box (which just happens to also be a portal to Wonderland) and used one of Madelaine's Tea Party accessories as the handle for the lid..it's a cupcake! Isn't it cute!

 The lid and the base are Pairs in Pears alphabet game tiles.  The image was stamped with Jet Black StazOn ink and coloured with Sharpie markers.  I decided to have the pip side of 2 of the dominoes facing out so that you can see the game pieces and to carry on the dotty theme I wrapped all the domino edges with polka dot paper tape.  Plus I used a black die for the lid stopper too!

 Thanks for visiting with me today!  I hope you'll pop on over to Lost Coast Portal to Creativity and join our "New Stamp Release" event plus our Lost Coaster's Review Blog also has a new look and is now our official Design Team blog where we share creations every 2nd day so pop on over and follows us there too for fabulous LCD and CV inspiration!

Happy Stamping!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

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

"Putting the Pieces Back Together" Smeared and Smudged DT inspiration!

Hello Friends!
Today I'm sharing some Smeared and Smudged DT inspiration over on our Smudgy Antics Challenge blog.  The current challenge is Anything Goes and projects must always be dark and twisty.  Even though Smeared Ink has ceased trading as of May 5th 2015 we are still offering Smeared Ink prizes!  There's been some other changes to the challenge rules to give you more creative freedom too so pop on over and check it all out!

The digi image I'm featuring today is from the Other Side of Fear set and is one of the prizes up for grabs plus there's also a rubber stamp from SI ATC Letterbox set up for grabs too!

I've called this one "Putting the Pieces Back Together" after a broken heart so I assembled only some of the pieces and displayed the others in a partially fragmented pattern.

I printed out the image and then coloured her with Copics markers.  I adhered the white cardstock to black cardstock to give the image more weight before running it through my Cuttlebug and die cut out the jigsaw puzzle pieces.  I applied Fired Brick Distress Ink to all the puzzle edges and adhered them to the card front with Scotch Quick Dry adhesive.  The folded card was prepared with a mat cut from Valentine patterned paper which I toned down and darkened with Black Soot Distress Ink and I also applied the Fired Brick to the edges of the white card as well.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great weekend!  Also, don't forget to stop by DominoART and check out my 15 Days of Terror - Half-O-Ween in May scarefest currently underway!  There's lots of wicked altered game being shared all month long ;0)

Happy Stamping!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

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

Seahorses ATCs with Lost Coast Designs!

Howzit Friends!
Lost Coast Designs May Challenge began on Monday and here's the two ATCs I made as my DT inspiration!  First a quick note that the May Challenge will be the last one hosted on the Lost Coaster's Review Blog coz I'm thrilled to give you the heads up that we will soon launch a brand new combined Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda Events and Challenge Blog by mid May!  Exciting times ahead, Woohoo ;0)

Now for my ATCs featuring Lost Coast Designs Seahorse and large Bubbles background stamps.
I used the same two stamps but used the Bubbles stamp differently to achieve different effects!

For the ATC above I inked up the Bubbles background stamp with a combination of Versafine Ink Sea Breeze and Turquoise Gem and removed some of the ink by stamping on scrap paper first and then onto the ATC for a softer effect.  The Seahorse was then stamped with Jet Black Archival Ink.
For the ATC below I stamped the Seahorse first and then the Bubbles was stamped over the top without removing any ink first.

Both ATCs were then coloured with various Copic markers to achieve the watery effects and the Bubbles of the background stamp were enhanced with Vive Pearl Transparent Magic White dimensional paint which also takes on the colour underneath and adds a beautiful sparkly shimmer to each bubble.  My photos just don't do them justice, it was hard to capture how magical and shimmery they look in person!

I hope I've inspired you to create some ATCs this month and join our Lost Coast Designs Challenge!  I look forward to seeing all your gorgeous creations featuring LCD and even Carmen's Veranda images!  Tell you friends to come and play coz if we get 10 entries you are all in the running for a $10 gift certificate to spend at LCD/CV!

Happy Stamping!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

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

Grandmaster Altered Pencil Holder!

Howzit Everyone!
 It's my turn today to share some DT inspiration over on our Smudgy Antics challenge blog.

I've had this very versatile Tombow 'store display' marker holder in my studio for many years.  I'm calling it a pencil holder for want of a better word but I use it daily for various purposes like to stand projects in while they dry or carry some coloured pencils or markers to my desk.  I've been wanting to do 'something' to pretty it up and I finally did it, haha!    It's also the perfect compliment to my 2015 daily planner I altered earlier this year! 

this is what it looked like with sides all open

I used all of the stunning chess piece Smeared Ink digis called Grandmaster and the chess board background I previously designed to create the panels for each side in Photoshop CS6 before printing them out.  Each panel was trimmed and run through my Xyron to add permanent adhesive and then layered onto black cardstock and trimmed again.  I applied Fired Brick and Black Soot Distress Inks with a foam ink applicator tool and adhered each panel to the plastic holder with permanent adhesive tape.  I added the harlequin diamond washi tape to all the corner edges and the top edges and the measuring tape to the bottom edges to neaten and complete the overall look.  I'm very pleased with how my "new" handy gadget turned out!

 There's approximately 8 days left to play in Smudgy Antics current 'always anything goes' challenge so I hope I've inspired you to come and join us!

Something wicked is coming to DominoART starting May 1st!  Join me for 15 Days of Terror over on my DominoART blog where we celebrate Half-O-Ween in May!  I feature altered game art created by my TERROR-ific Players every 2nd day all May long and I'd love to feature YOUR scary altered game art so sign up now!

 PLUS, we're celebrating DominoART's 13th Birthday with an altered game art doll contest that I've been hosting since 2002, the search for DominoART's Next Top Mascot, the Dominique Doll contest.

 Click on the event banners for details on all the fun events going on!

Happy Stamping!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

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

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

Wonderlandian Bookmarks

Happy Monday the 13th to you all!

It's my turn to share some DT inspiration over at our Smudgy Antics design team blog which is also where we host our monthly Anything Goes challenges!

 I'm sharing 3 Wonderlandian bookmarks in celebration of National Library week which began on Sunday!  Of course I had to represent one of my favourite books, Alice in Wonderland, and use some of my favourite Smeared Ink digis from the Wonderland set!

I performed some Photoshop magic and combined pages scanned from my Alice in Wonderland books with the images and printed them out onto Neenah Solar White cardstock.  I erased areas on all 3 digi images to allow the book pages to show through while keeping some areas white so that I could colour them with Copic markers.  I also added touches of gold to each one with a metallic gold gel pen.

I then cut them all out and matted them onto olive green cardstock and used my Perfect Layers tools by Perfect Paper Crafting to cut the borders.  If you haven't seen these tools then you NEED to coz they're amazing and they completely eliminate you ever needing a paper trimmer and wasting cardstock, you get perfect sized mats every time!  Click on my PPC Ambassadors link and get 10% off your entire Perfect Paper Crafting order with my code LBrunton!

I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch holes into each one and add flower shaped eyelets and finished them off with fun jewel toned flag fiber.  Thanks for stopping by to check out my bookmarks but I now challenge you to put down those devices and read a book ;0)  Enjoy!

Happy Reading!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

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

"Spring Lily" Easter card

Happy Easter Everyone!

Today I'm sharing the Easter card I made for my Mom which is also my DT inspiration for our new Lost Coast Designs challenge, #11 Spring, which started today over at our Lost Coaster's Review blog!

I used Lost Coast Designs "Lily" Art Nouveau stamp which is one of my fave art movements.  I stamped her with black Memento ink onto Neenah cardstock and colored her with Copics in shades of green with metallic gold detail on all her jewelry pieces.  I added a touch of sparkly dimension with a Vive Pearl pen in Transparent Magic White to her headwear as well as a tiny green self-adhesive pearl.  The edges were distressed and coloured in black with metallic gold highlights.  

I matted the image onto patterned paper and then on a dark olive green panel embossed with a floral embossing folder by Cuttlebug.  All the mats were cut with my Perfect Paper Crafting Perfect Layers tools, which are available as full length rulers and also in mini versions.  Click on my PPC Ambassadors link and get 10% off your entire Perfect Paper Crafting order with my code LBrunton!
All were adhered to a folded blank white card with Scotch Quick Dry adhesive.

To complete my Mom's card I added more self-adhesive green pearls, attached the ribbon with tiny gold brads and adhered the bow with a glue dot.  I added the yellow paper rose which both compliments the design and adds an extra splash of colour and the leaves I made myself.  The Recollections cardboard butterfly was the finishing touch which I coloured with a green Copic to give the brown cardboard a greenish tinge.

Come and join our monthly Lost Coast Designs challenges where you can use either Lost Coast Designs or Carmen's Veranda stamps (which is our sister stamp line) for the chance to win a $10 gift certificate to spend at either company!

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

Down The Rabbit Hole ATC - DT Smudgy Antics!

Howzit Everyone!

It's my turn again to share some DT inspiration on Wednesday on our Smudgy Antics Challenge blog!   I'm getting my project up a bit earlier coz I'm also playing in the Smeared and Smudge monthly member blog hop "Alice in Wonderland - Madness" on Thursday.  Lots going on so let's get started!

"Down the Rabbit Hole"

My American McGee White Rabbit keeping an on things

 Smeared Ink hosted a one for one ATC swap on our Smeared and Smudge Facebook group and the theme was Down the Rabbit Hole and you all know I love Alice so yep, I played ;0)

I used Smeared Ink's Cheshire Cat and White Rabbit digis from the Wonderland set and on the back I stamped the ATC Info stamp from the Letterbox Backgrounds rubber set.

Clocks have 4 hands in Wonderland, no one has a clue what time it is!

I performed some Wonderlandian magic in Photoshop CS6 and made the Cheshire Cat disappear from the background image, filled in the design, added a purple gradient sky and altered the shape from round to ATC sized.  I also removed parts of the design on the White Rabbit image and overlaid the Rabbit and a portion of the clock onto the background before printing it out on white cardstock.  I then printed out just the rabbit.  I coloured everything with Copics and fussy cut out the Rabbit and layered her onto the ATC with dimensional silicone glue.

a closer look at the details

 I added metallic gold detail to the clock text and another set of metal clock hands attached with a tiny brass brad.  I hand wrote the "down the Rabbit hole" text with a black fineliner Copic marker and distressed the edges of the ATC with Tim's Tonic tool and edged it in metallic gold.  For the finishing touch I added some sparkle with a Vive Pearl Transparent Magic White dimensional pen on the Rabbit's tail, hair, the arrow on the sign and some dots in the corners.  The ATC Info image was stamped with black Archival Ink onto another ATC and I adhered it to the back with Scotch Quick Dry adhesive.

 

Don't forget to come back on Thursday March 19 for our "Alice in Wonderland - Madness" member blog hop, I can't wait to share my project so here's a sneaky peek ;0)

There's also still lots of time to play in our Smudgy Antics "Always Anything Goes" challenge this month AND don't forget about the Lost Coast Designs "50 Shades of GREEN" readers progressive blog hop I'm hosting this month!  Hop all the blogs already up, get inspired and join the hop yourself for the chance to win a $20 gift certificate to spend at Lost Coast Designs!  Click the banner below for all the details on how to play and win!

Happy Stamping!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

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

Shades of Green ATCs - "50 Shades of GREEN" Lost Coast Designs Readers Blog Hop Giveaway!

I'm super excited to be hosting
Lost Coast Designs very first
Readers Progressive Blog Hop Giveaway!

the
"50 Shades of GREEN"
blog hop starts today on the
Lost Coaster's Review blog and EVERYONE is invited to participate and be in the running to win a $20 gift certificate to spend at
Lost Coast Designs!

Members of the Lost Coast Design Team kick off the hop today at 11am PST so pop on over, hop all the blogs in the Blog Hop roll Inlinkz collection, which is below my projects, get inspired and join the fun!

Link up your own Shades of GREEN projects from today through to March 30 and keep the blog hop rolling!

 Visit the Lost Coaster’s Review blog for all the info and rules on how YOU can play and win!

The hop will close at NOON PST on March 30th and the winner announced on March 31st and some Honourable Mention blog badges
are up for grabs too!

 I'm sharing 3 ATCs here today to get you in the mood and inspire you to join the fun ;0)  Plus another project which is over on my DominoART blog too!

All ATCs feature Lost Coast Designs rubber stamps only!

 All 3 ATCs were designed using watercolour paper cut to size (Artist Trading Cards must be 2.5 x 3.5 inches or 64 x 89 mm) and I used the Distress Ink Watercolour technique to blend and achieve depth and various shades of green with a watercolour brush pen directly from the stamped image and from the ink pad itself.  I used Peeled Paint and Forest Moss Distress Inks on them all to achieve the various effects. 

3D water droplets enhance her head piece and the background

Lily was stamped with Forest Moss and Peeled Paint Distress Inks, watercoloured and extra details added with a Peeled Paint Distress Marker.  3D water droplets were added with a Vive Pearl Magic Transparent White pen.  Peeled Paint DI and Stickles Crystal glitter with a green tinge was applied to the edges of the white paper roses and the detail on Lily's dress.

click to enlarge

For this ATC I stamped the large owl from the Owl Set in Forest Moss using a stamp positioner.  The image was watercoloured with Forest Moss and Peeled Paint DI.  The owl image was then over stamped (using the stamp positioner tool) in black Archival Ink to make the image pop.  Dimension was added to the eyes and beak with a Vive Pearl Magic Transparent White pen.  This 3D paint truly is magic because it has a whitish shimmer to it and it takes on whatever colour you apply it to which you can see here...the eyes look dark green and the beak is a pale greenish-white.  I hand wrote the Bird quote in Peeled Paint Distress Marker.

I used the Feathered Bird and Feathers stamps for my last ATC.  The Feathered Bird was stamped with Forest Moss DI and watercolour blended to enhance it's inky style.  The Feathers image was overstamped with Peeled Paint DI with some minimal blending.  The silver Peace bead was attached with green floral wire and tied at the back after I punched tiny holes into the ATC.  I distressed all 3 ATCs with Tim's Tonic Paper Distresser tool and the rough edges stained with Forest Moss DI.

Thank you for hopping with me today!  I hope I've inspired you to get out all your green supplies and join the fun by participating in our blog hop!  The blog hop roll Inlinkz collection is below!  So off you hop and see what fabulous Shades of Green projects await you!


   


    An InLinkz Link-up

    

This hop is going to be so much fun,
are you excited to get stamping?

May the luck of the Leprechauns be with you!
Challenges Entered:
Eclectic Ellapu

Happy Stamping!

 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

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