Happy Halloween! Bat Wing Fairy Frame

Well, today's the day! We've been through 31 days of Halloween projects on Smeared and Smudged!!!!!! The project I have to share with you today is not the project I had originally planned. Once again, life got in the way and I wasn't able to finish my awesome Halloween Nesting Boxes that I've been working on for a couple of weeks now. They will just have to be a decoration for next year.

But, I do have a project to show you. It is a glass frame that I stamped with a bat-wing fairy and colored. I then used some cool looking eyeball cellophane to add the dark background to it. The glass is very reflective, so it made it hard to get good pictures. You can see the wall reflecting back, so just ignore it and hopefully you can get a feel for the project.



I'm not sure if I will add a picture to this or leave it as-is for a decoration. Either way I think it's way cool, especially in the dark because the eyeballs reflect back really well.

So, today is your last chance to comment for Blog Candy Points or to participate in any of the 31 Days challenges for extra points. Kelli and I will be drawing tomorrow!!

I'd like to wish all of you a very spooky and safe Halloween. I had such a blast with 31 Days, I am positive I will be doing it again next year!!! Thanks for all the wonderful comments and participation, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

Starting tomorrow I will be taking a little bit of a break on my blog. I will be posting randomly two to three times a week. Since the holidays are coming, I will be focusing alot on holiday projects for both the Smeared and Smudged blog and etsy store, so be sure to visit to take a gander!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Trickster

Happy Day Before Halloween! Today I'm sharing a card that I submitted for a DT sketch challenge over on the Any Stamp Will Do ning group. Hopefully it will get me a spot on the DT; I think it's really a cool looking card, and I tried to make it fun and not so dark. Also, I used some of the embellishments that I got from the Smeared and Smudged Halloween embellishment swap.

This card features a glittery, flaming haired skeleton, once again from Third Coast (gotta love those Third Coast Halloween stamps!) I kept the papers simple this time and just tried to utilize the interesting sketch layout as much as I could.

*click for larger pics*




The little spider button came from the swap, and believe it or not, the wide orange ribbon came off of the packaging of a blanket I bought about a week ago, it was tied around it.

So, let me know what you think, and join me tomorrow for the last day of 31 Days of Halloween!

Scary Cat

I figured before my 31 Days of Halloween is over, I better do a cute card so I can be sure to have something for everyone's taste. And today is as good a day as any! This is the last day that Kelli and I will be offering a challenge, so if you'd like to participate be sure to link to your project at the end of this post. The challenge is to use microbeads on your project.

Since I showered my tree card with microbeads, I thought I'd keep this one pretty simple. I used microbeads only on the cat and pumpkin so it gave them some shiny pop. The layers were made with deco paper and cardstock, and the star charm came as a RAK from Kelli earlier this month. Thank you Kelli!!!!!!!





So if you'd like to participate in this or any other 31 Days of Halloween challenge, be sure you do it before Saturday night! You'll get 5 extra blog candy entries! If not, leave a comment to get 1 entry. We'll be drawing in 2 days! If you've forgotten what the Blog Candy looks like, check out my sidebar for more info. See you tomorrow!

Til Death Coffin Box- Bombshell Hump Day Hop

Welcome to the Bombshell Hump Day Halloween Hop! This is the first hop where non-DT members have been invited to participate, and I'm really excited to be sharing, and to see what others have done with the Halloween challenge!

If you've never hopped with the Bombshells before, it's really simple... just take a look at my project, leave me a comment to be entered into the awesome giveaway from Bombshell Stamps, and then hop to others and do the same thing using the link list at the bottom of my post.

This week our challenge was to use the Martha Stewart coffin treat box template you see below to build our own version of a Bombshell coffin!





I decided that using paper simply would not do for my own project, so I used clay instead to build a wicked Halloween jewelry/treat box.. Here's what I came up with.



*click pics for larger views*










I used the Til Death and Tattoo Backgrounds sets to make my coffin, and painted it to look like antique silver. Not just for Halloween, this one has definitely gained a permanent spot on my dresser to hold jewelry and any other goodies I might see fit; I LUUUVVVV IT!!!!!!! I'd love to hear what YOU think, so leave me a comment to get an entry, and then hop over to the other blogs to see what they've done! Happy Hopping!

Angela

Lyss

Kas

Miss Magoo

Sarah K

Glittery Katie

Gabby

Nicole

Kathi

Kelli

Soot Monster-Something Wicked

Day 27 and counting down! Only four days left, can you believe it!?! For my share today, I showing a card that I think may be one of my favorites so far. It's dark, spooky, and has a cool story behind the thought process.

I used a technique called soot stamping, and if you've never done it, you have to try it! You basically hold some glossy cardstock over a candle to cover it in soot, then stamp into it using a versamark or watermark ink to "lift" the soot. The result is stunning! For this card, I used the Candy Monster stamp from Third Coast.

The story behind it is that the Soot Monster comes every Halloween to try and steal all the Halloween magic. The stars on the card represent that Halloween magic, and as you can see, he is eating them! Don't ask where the story came from, I just thought of it while planning out the card; it seemed to make sense at the time.

*click for bigger pics*




Like I said, this is one of my faves and really represents the type of projects that I love to make! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and I'd love to hear what you think.

I also want to mention, if you're interested at all in purchasing a DIY warmer from Scentsy, now's the time to do it! Since she's gotten such a great response, Tori has decided to continue offering the 10% discount on the DIY warmers for the rest of October. If you'd like to get one with the discount, you have to email her your order and mention Smeared and Smudged. To see the products online, visit her site, but remember not to place the order online or she will not be able to discount it.

If you missed my DIY warmer project, you can scroll down to see it or you can find it here. See you all tomorrow!

Hilarious Hags

Well, pumpkin patching and haunted housing ended up spilling over into Sunday, so I missed my post. My oldest had a blast playing Freddy Crueger in the house!! My husband ended up having to work late on Saturday, so the Pumpkin Patch trip took place yesterday. We all enjoyed the corn maze, farm tour, and special storyteller, and it was great non-scary fun for the little ones. I've included a couple of pics at the end of this post for your enjoyment.

Anyways, since I skipped a day, I decided to give everyone a two-fer today. Kelli and I are coordinating and making our projects using patterned paper. Give her a visit if you haven't already, and if you'd like to participate in today's challenge, link to your project by Saturday night! You'll get extra Blog Candy points, plus you'll get to share your fabulous creations.

My cards today feature hilarious hags from Third Coast. The first hag is just full of mischief, and spends her evenings toilet papering houses and leaving flaming gifts on doorsteps. Her sister swoops through the air, but has a very funny problem. Be warned, these cards are not for people who are easily offended, but I know quite a few people who would enjoy them.











I adore these stamps, and will be using them for Halloweens to come! I'd love to hear your thoughts on them. Now I'm off to get some more stamping done and to plan for a school party, only five days to go!!!!!!!!!

Haunted Housing






Pumpkin Patching

Accordian Pumpkin Boo

This is a card that I made last year, but I had such a good response from it, I thought I'd share it with you. It was made using the Carved and Candlelit stamp set from Stampin' Up, and although the stamp elements are simple, the card design is super cool!

It is about the size of a long notecard and opens up to reveal an accordian folded element that pops out. Then there are two tags that slide out on either side for you to place a message, more stamped images, or a hand written note.









I LUV this card design, and forgot about it until I found this card lurking in my collection! I'll have to make another with a different design to share later on. I want to remind you all that the month is winding down, only 7 days til Halloween! If you're wanting to participate in any of the challenges that either Kelli or I have featured this month, be sure to link your entries to the corresponding post before Halloween!
We'll be drawing for Blog Candy on Nov 1.

Also, I wanted to let you know I will not be posting until late tomorrow. Today is a super busy day filled with pumpkin patches and haunted houses, so I'll not be making a project until tomorrow morning. In the meantime, have a rockin' day!

DIY Day of The Dead Warmer

Welcome to Smeared and Smudged! Today I'm sharing a very special blog post, I am the guest blogger for Mrs B! I know I've been having a blast participating in Mrs. B's giveaways, reading all the guest bloggers, and visiting the blog tour participants. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should!

If you are new to Smeared and Smudged, this is a blog dedicated to unique and interesting ways to use rubber stamps. I love trying weird and fun things with all of my stamped art, and this month I am sharing 31 Days of Halloween and Day of The Dead Projects! You are very welcome to view previous posts to see all of my Halloween projects.

Since I've been focusing alot on Halloween, I decided I'd share a Day of the Dead project with all of you today. But you can always take this project and use it for Halloween, or any other day for that matter. It is a DIY Scentsy Warmer, and I've blinged it out in the Sugar Skull Collection from Bombshell Stamps.

The warmers are phenominal, and if you've never heard of them, they are a candle-less warmer that fills your home with fabulous scents. Scentsy offers tons of scents to choose from, and recently they rolled out these DIY warmers that you can decorate yourself. They also offer some rub-ons/decorations, which is great, but what fun is that if you have stamps! Here's what I did to mine:

*if you wanna see close-ups, click the pics*












You can see the little green scent bar melting in the top of my warmer. I forgot to mention before, the best thing about these warmers is although they get hot enough to melt the scent, they do not get hot enough to burn. I can pour the wax out on my arm and it won't hurt. So it's safe for kids, dogs, etc. since it uses a bulb instead of a candle.

I loved stamping on mine, and plan on offering these already decorated in the near future in my etsy shop. But, if you're like me and would enjoy stamping your own, you can order them from my sister Tori, who is my Scentsy consultant. She's an awesome person, and has been gracious enough to offer a special 10% discount to anyone who wants to order a DIY warmer today only. Visit her site to read about all the great Scentsy products, and then shoot her an email and mention Smeared and Smudged to get your discount. (Make sure you email or you won't be able to get the 10% off!)

This was one super fun project to work on, and I'll be using it every Halloween to decorate my home! I'll probably even make a few more with some traditional spooky stuff on them. So if you wanna let me know what you think about my warmer, leave me a comment. You'll also be entered into the huge Blog Candy drawing at the end of the month. For details on that, check out my sidebar. Happy stamping, and Happy Halloween!

Glitterfied Skully Bugs

Well, I've decided to show you a different project than I had originally planned since there are only a few hours left today, and I'm still not done with the other. So I'm sharing the skully bug cards that I made for my sister.

Each holiday my sister orders postcard-type cards from me that have a blank spot for her to add a picture of my niece. For Halloween she wanted skully bugs that were similar to the design of her baby blog.





My one year old niece is going to be a ladybug for Halloween, and I just know everyone will love her picture pasted to these cute cards! The blank black spot on the card is the matt for the pic, and the stars and skull eyes are glitterfied with black glitter. Hope you enjoy!

Glitterfied

Well, unfortunately I was not able to finish my project in time to post this morning, so I will be finishing my project and uploading it later today. It's quite a doozy and taking more time than I expected. But Kelli and I do have a challenge for you since today is Thursday.

The challenge is to use glitter on one of your stamped projects. If you'd like to participate, leave a comment with a link to you post. Then you'll get 5 blog candy entries. If you've forgotten what the huge blog candy looks like, check out my sidebar for all the info.

I'll be posting later today, so see you then!

Dancing Jack Skeley- Bombshell Hump Day Hop

Welcome to the Bombshell Hump Day Hop! If you're unaware, each week the Design Team Members from Bombshell Stamps bring you a fantastic blog hop featuring awesome projects and a cool monthly prize. Just visit each DT member on the list and leave them a comment; for each comment, you're entered into the drawing at the end of the month! The more comments you leave, the more entries you get!

This week our theme is paper piecing, and I have to say I took alot of liberty with the theme. I sat down with the best intetntions of making a card... then, surprise surprise, I thought of something else.

I did use some paper piecing techniques by stamping onto scraps of decorative paper and coordinating different pieces. You can't see it very well in the pictures, but my project used four different coordinating papers. They all have the same color scheme, just different patterns, so it's a little harder to tell unless you're seeing it in person.

My project this week is a Dancing Jack Skeley made from the Muertas Doll set. He is supposed to be like those little toys where you pull the string and their arms and legs go up and down. Since there's alot of movement to him, I included pictures for you to see the design, and a video of him actually moving. (I hope the video works right this time!)


*click for larger pics*


See Jack In Action



I'm loving Jack and his silly dance! I'll definitely be using this technique to make all sorts of these fun dancing characters for Halloween; my kids are crazy for them!

I'd love to hear what you think, so please tell me by leaving a comment! Then hop over to see the other Bombshell DT Members and their projects:

Angela

Miss Magoo

Jacquie (Ms.October!)

Kas

Gabby

Glittery Katie

Sarah K

Lyss

Watcher In The Woods

Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched? For my card today I thought I'd use a color combination that is not normally associated with Halloween. I chose green, blue, and brown. These are usually pretty mild colors, but with this creepy watching tree from Third Coast, the card takes on a sinister feel.

I created the silhouette effect by using perfect medium and covering with ink. Then decorative paper layering, paper raffia, and clear microbeads finished the look.







Let me know what you think (and earn Blog Candy points) by leaving a comment. I'm interested in hearing thoughts on this not so traditional Halloween card. I personally love it, but it's always good to hear other opinions!

Now I'm off to enjoy my mommy time...my mom's visiting from Dallas for the next 10 days, so we'll be having all sorts of Halloween fun! See you all tomorrow.

Calavera Fiesta

Venga a la Fiesta!!! Ahora estoy la diez y ocho dia de Halloween en Smeared and Smudged, y mi tarjeta es de Dia De Los Muertos!

Okay, so my Spanish is a little rusty, it's been a while...
Today I'm bringing you a Day of The Dead party invite featuring the Bombshell Festive Calaveras set. It goes along with my and Kelli's Monday challenge, which this time is to create something using embossing.

I made my background paper, stamped my images, and embossed them in black. Then I added an embossed flag, glitter, hemp twine, and black glitter glue accents on the calavera's heart and left side of card. The background paper took alot of time, but I'm extremely happy with this fun card!


*click for close-ups*


My pictures are a little shiny in some spots and dark in others, but by the time I finished this card I had no natural light left to photo. Hopefully I'll be able to get a better picture taken later.

Now if you'd like to participate in this challenge and earn more Blog Candy entries, make something that has been embossed and post a link to it. Or just leave a comment. And don't forget to visit Kelli to see her embossed project!Hasta manana!

Hairy Scary Girl

Talk about a hair-raising experience! My card today features the Hairy Scairy Girl and Cat from Third Coast, which are images that I absolutely adore! They are both ready for trick or treating, but stare wide-eyed at the darkening sky and creepy bats flying high.

My background paper for this card was handmade using glossy cardstock, alcohol inks, and paint. Both of my images were colored with prismas, and a glossy glaze was added to their eyes. Eyelets, glittered bats, and ribbon added the finishing touches.


*click for close ups*


If you like what you see, visit my Etsy shop! This card is available to purchase. I hope you enjoy it, feel free to leave a comment and get Blog Candy points! Happy 17th Day of Halloween!

Harlequin Ghostie- Prickley Pear Sketch Challenge

Today is an awesome day for a sketch challenge! The folks over at Prickley Pear are sponsoring a super fun October Sketch Challenge complete with a fab prize! Visit the Prickley Pear Blog to get all the details, see other Design Team samples, and upload your own project using their sketch.

For my project, I've created a spooky Halloween card to go with my 31 Days of Halloween here on Smeared and Smudged, and it features the Ghost and Small Ghost images from PP.





If you follow my blog, you know that I love working with metal, and this card was no exception. The harlequin background is a scrap piece of aluminum (think soda can), as is the larger ghost image. I used my paint pens, my new favorite product, to add the orange and black diamonds. I distressed all my edges with scissors, and the super cool ribbon was a gift from my

friend Sarah K- thank you Sarah!

This was a rockin' sketch to work with! So now go visit the Prickley Pear Blog to view the sketch and all the contest details, then get creating! Upload a link to your project there. And if you want to share, please link to your project here as well to get an entry for 31 Days of Halloween Blog Candy! (Just be sure to link on the PP Blog first or your entry won't count for their contest!) Have Fun!