13 ATCs of Halloween - Feast of the Dead!

Darkness falls across the land,

the midnight hour is close at hand,

creatures crawl in search of blood,
To terrorize y'alls neighborhood...

The foulest stench is in the air,

the funk of forty thousand years,
& grizzly ghouls from every tomb,

are closing in to seal your doom.

And though you fight to stay alive,

your body starts to shiver.
For no mere mortal can resist...
The evil of the thriller!!!

ah hahaha!!!

o.k. this isn't exactly an ATC.

 I wanted to use a Tim Holtz embossing folder and 

my Grateful Dead art stamp (mfg. unknown).

The bats are Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers.

Happy Halloween!!!

13 ATCs of Halloween - 2

A vampire's kiss...

oh Edward!  how you sparkle!

; .P

Fangs - Inkadinkadoo Clear Stamps - Creepy Face Set
Alphas - Martha Stewart
Stars - I think this is an All Night Media stamp

13 ATCs of Halloween - 3

Death Grrl!

Death Girl Stamp - Unknown

Make Me Immortal - A Stamp in the Hand

13 ATCs of Halloween - 4

hee! hee!

Singing Skelly - Unknown

Web - Rubber Stamps of America 

Thinking of all my East Coast friends!!!  
I hope you stay safe & dry!!! 

13 ATCs of Halloween - 5

PunkerBell!!!

Even Tink dresses up for Halloween!

(Some people object to changes to their favorite iconic images, 

but I think its so clever, LOVE!)

You can't see this, but she has tiny Smees on her socks!!!

There are a ton of sources for this image, its been edited many times, so I have no idea who the orginator is for credit...

Alphas - Zettiology

 

13 ATCs of Halloween - 6

 Prepare yourself for the zombie apocalypse!!!

Heads - Daniel Torrente for Stampotique

13 ATCs of Halloween - 7

Oh BATS!!!

Bat - Meer Image

: .)

13 ATCs of Halloween - 8

This gallery is where you see paintings of some of our guests...

As they appeared in their corruptible, mortal state!

Hurry back...Hurry back! 

Be sure to bring your Death Certificate if you decide to join us...

Make final arrangements now...

We've been DYING to have you...

Jolee's Boutique Stickers
Dialog from Disney's Haunted Mansion ride

13 ATCs of Halloween - 9

What do Hello Kitty, Elvis, and Madonna have in common?

Big Elvis - Penny Power for TooMuch Fun Stamps

Little Elvis - unknown, maybe RubberBabyBuggyBumpers

Elvis Quote - Vegas Stamps

 

Madonna & Quote - Stampa Barbara 

Absolutely nothing...heh.

13 ATCs of Halloween - 10

Bats - Hero Arts

Ballerina - Edward Gorey for Kidstamps

 

Melanchollarina

: .)

13 ATCs of Halloween - 12 & 11/Making Vino

If you read Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse books 

(on which HBO's True Blood is based), 

 you'll understand ATC #12,

This explains the sightings... heh.

Elvis - Penny Power for TooMuchFun Stamps

Cat - Judikins

Dare - Alice in Rubberland

ATC #11 has one of my most favorite stamps on it...

 Turns out this is a Grateful Dead skeleton, I did not know! : .)

Will he magically fix this broken heart???

Skeleton - Not sure who's the mfg.
Alpha - Zettiology Rubber Stamps
 
*     *     *     *     *

I love drinking wine.

I'm really interested in knowing the process of making wine.

My co-worker Barbara, her sis and brother-in-law, 

and a group of friends comprise

Dragoncrest Wines.

Today I was invited to participate in the their grape crush...

Its hard and messy work, but I had so much fun!

There was a lot of wine to drink too, 

sips of cabernet savuvignon, cab franc, pinot noir.

We started by toasting the grapes with champagne...

Empty barrels.

Barbara in front of the crusher/stemmer.

 Lots of Chiefs, contemplating the work to be done...

First grapes out of the crusher.
Picture three people huddled over this chute,
 picking stems and leaves out of the crush as fast as they can.
My back hurts just typing that!!!

BUCKET!!!

Barbara supervising the Chiefs!

I got a bottle of Dragoncrest Zin to bring home!

I'm so special & sticky : .P

13 ATCs of Halloween!!!

So yeah, I had intended to do 13 ATCs of Halloween, but predictably, I'm a day late!!!  

Counting backwards, here's thirteen!  

That's a hand carved grim reaper from Tyggereye's etsy, 

but I don't know if she has a shop anymore.  

Isn't he cute tho'?!

TRICK OR TREAT!!!

Scrapping the Music - Iridescent

This round's challenge at Scrapping the Music is brought to you by me!

I chose the song Iridescent by Linkin Park...

Every time I hear Iridescent, I think of my friend Esther.  
I couldn't choose just some of the lyrics to work with 
because I feel all of them apply to her situation, 
so I typed them out and printed them to use in the background.
(Inspired by the first piece I did as a participant at Scrapping the Music 
and Van Gogh's Starry Night.)

My piece is in honor of her and the challenges she faces every day, battling breast cancer.  

The prompt this week is "what song brings out the rebel in you?"  (Right, just a little juxtaposition!)

What immediately comes to mind is Rebel Yell by Billy Idol!  

Or maybe one of the songs from the Transformers or Matrix series of movies.  

Recently, my rebel moments occur when I hear this song on the radio...

Pound the Alarm, by Nicki Minaj.   

EXPLICIT!  Lots of bootie shakin' going on here!  

Its the music and the bass beat that moves me!  

I always hear it in the car on my way to or home from work, 

& I just have to bop in my seat! 

Yeah, come by, check out the Design Team's work, and play along!!!

Get Spooked!

Finally getting around to my holiday decorating!  

Geez!  I guess better late than never, right?!

I think this is a funny example of "staging".  

I'm forever MacGyvering backgrounds that have serious structural integrity issues.  

You think you've got it going on and then this happens...
The glass pumpkin, of course looks fantastic in this shot!

Here's that Halloween card from my previous post, 

I added the dancing skelly, I think it just makes it better!!!

I had a grand idea to paint this wreath Dia De Los Muertos style, 

but time keeps ticking into the future and 

I've pretty much run out of it to get this project completed. 

There's always next year, yeah?!

Its still pretty cool in its natural state!!!
I better not forget to turn it off at night,
I'd hate to "surprise" myself  the next morning
with red glowing eyes in the dark!

Final Day of the Frantic Stamper Precision Die Blog Hop!!!

 Today is the final day of the the Frantic Stamper Design Team blog hop

celebrating Frantic Stamper's new line of precision dies! 

These dies are really easy to use:

• no measuring needed 
• hundreds of layout possibilities by combining dies,
• the square "punch-outs" can be used to create layered elements, mosaics, etc.,
• the square "punch-outs" can be cut diagonally to make easy corners,
• you can turn the square dies on the bias for neat "diamond" effects,
• they're great for the "highlight" technique,
•  and they're great for making shaker cards!!!

 *      *      *      *     *

 WELCOME!!!

If you have arrived here from the Frantic Stamper blog,

moving along, please visit Lis Whiting's blog next.

If you like to dance to the beat of your own stamping & creating, 

you can visit the other design team members at your leisure:

Lis Whiting's blog...Made for Paper

Jennifer Willis' blog...Outside My Window

Kathy Berger's blog...Paper Fanatic
Sharon Jeff's blog...Just Me and Them  
Frantic Stamper blog 

Ultimately, make sure you visit the Frantic Stamper blog 
as Fran is offering Blog Candy for this hop; 
either Set #1 or Set #2 of the square dies, 
Winner's choice!

You'll need to leave a comment over at the Frantic Stamper blog
about one of the items you see during your hop
in order to be in the drawing for the give-away.
 

The winner will be chosen randomly from qualified entries 
on Thursday morning, 
and will be notified via the blog sometime that day.

Card details: Magenta Bee Collage, 
Frantic Stamper's Precision Die, Series #3 Quad Size Square, 1",

and Frantic Stamper's Precision Die, Series #3 Double Sized Rectangle, 1".

: .)

Frantic Stamper Precision Die Blog Hop!!!

WELCOME!!!

Today is day number 2 of the the Frantic Stamper Design Team blog hop
celebrating Frantic Stamper's new line of precision dies! 

As mentioned previously, these dies are really easy to use with
cutting systems similar to the Big Shot:

• you don't have to measure
•  there are hundreds of layout possibilities by combining dies,
• the square "punch-outs" can be used to create layered elements, mosaics, etc., as well as
cut diagonally to make easy corners, 
• turn the square dies on the bias for neat "diamond" effects,
•  and they're great for making shaker cards!!!

 *      *      *      *     *

If you have arrived here from the Frantic Stamper blog,

moving along, please visit Lis Whiting's blog next.

If you like to dance to the beat of your own stamping & creating, 

you can visit the other design team members at your leisure:

Lis Whiting's blog...Made for Paper

Jennifer Willis' blog...Outside My Window

Kathy Berger's blog...Paper Fanatic
Sharon Jeff's blog...Just Me and Them 
Frantic Stamper blog 
 

Please make your way back to the Frantic Stamper blog 
as Fran is offering Blog Candy for this hop; 
either Set #1 or Set #2 of the square dies, 
Winner's choice!

After returning to the Frantic Stamper blog 
leave a comment 
about one of the items you see on the hop 
to enter the give-away. 

The winner will be chosen randomly from qualified entries 
on Thursday morning, 
and will be notified via the blog sometime that day.

Card details:  Frantic Stamper's marble background stamp, 
stamped with VersaMark watermark ink,
 a Frantic Stamper cameo,
and a bit of white tulle

: .)

Window to the World - Frantic Stamper Precision Dies

Still so excited to have the opportunity to play with Frantic Stamper's new product, Precision Dies!!! 

These dies are really easy to use with any of the cutting systems such as the Big Shot :

• no measuring needed 
• hundreds of layout possibilities by combining dies,
• the square "punch-outs" can be used to create layered elements, mosaics, etc.,
• the square "punch-outs" can be cut diagonally to make easy corners,
• you can turn the square dies on the bias for neat "diamond" effects,
• they're great for the "highlight" technique,
• and they're great for making shaker cards!!!

 *      *      *      *     *

In celebration of the launch, the Frantic Stamper Design Team is having a blog hop!!! 

 WELCOME!!!

If you have arrived here from the Frantic Stamper blog,

moving along, please visit Lis Whiting's blog next.

If you like to dance to the beat of your own stamping & creating, 

you can visit the other design team members at your leisure:

Lis Whiting's blog...Made for Paper

Jennifer Willis' blog...Outside My Window

Kathy Berger's blog...Paper Fanatic
Sharon Jeff's blog...Just Me and Them 
Frantic Stamper blog 

Ultimately, make sure you click over to the Frantic Stamper blog 

as Fran is offering Blog Candy for this hop; 

either Set #1 or Set #2 of the square dies, 

Winner's choice!

Just visit the Frantic Stamper blog and leave a comment 
about one of the items you see on the hop 
to enter the give-away. 

The winner will be chosen randomly from qualified entries 

on Thursday morning, 

and will be notified via the blog sometime that day.

Card 1 details:  Precision Die, Series #2 Triple Square 1.25",

Frantic Stamper Butterfly Background,

punched flowers and bling, of course!

Card #2 details: Precision Die, Series #4 Triple Size Rectangle 1.25",

Frantic Stamper Butterfly,

alpha stickers.

: .)

World Card Making Day

Is it synchronicity that World Card Making day coincides with 

the launch of Frantic Stamper's new line of precision dies? : .)

There are a lot of events out in blogland to celebrate 

the creativity of handmade cards and the personal connection that they create 

between friends & family, and artists & crafters from all over the world.

Paper Issues,  Lily Bee, and Studio Calico are a few companies
having events and giveaways!!!

 Lots of good swag to win!!! 

I've been having fun brainstorming, creating, constructing, and deconstructing with 

the Frantic's new dies, and I came up with a couple of cards for today's event...

This first card uses this Frantic Stamper die and

 Magenta's darling little chickadee stamp colored with markers.  

The alphas are Basic Grey Micro Mono stickers and 

the splatters are made with Dylusion Spray Inks.

 

This second card uses two Frantic Stamper dies, series 1, 4-Up 1 inch square, and

 series 2, 4-Up, 1.25 inch square, 

a Tim Holtz new Halloween Blueprint stamp, so awesome, 

and a cute little acrylic bat sticker I got at Michael's.

What will you create and share?! : .)

Scrapping the Music - Ridin' With The Radio

October's first music throwdown at Scrapping the Music is Ridin' with the Radio by Crystal Bowersox. (Did she win American Idol, or was she a runner up? : .)

Its a spunky song...

On a background that was Donna Downey inspired, I detail cut & mounted

this cuuuuuteeee picture I got from P.

This little girl is also full of spunk!

I just love her!  She's got a quick thinking & creative brain!

The prompt for this round is...

"What is your favorite instrument? Do you or a loved one play an instrument?  

Is there an instrument you'd like to play?"  Art about it!

Please come and play along!!!