Sunday, December 17, 2017

Happy Birthday Dad

As you may recall, I had some skulls readied for projects a while back.  I also had umpteen diecuts hanging round the desk, so it was time to put them together.  I painted the entire boxed canvas yellow, then stencilled the Sunburst over it with gel medium, which will dry clear.  Several washes including black, quinacridone gold, dioxazine purple... then wiped them off the stencilled areas to reveal the yellow rays.

Multiple cereal boxes were cut with Seth Apter's Take Flight die, glued together, then heat embossed with Stampendous' chunky metallic seasonings.  Some was dabbed on to the skull and heated on as well.
Down the bottom, more layers of paint and washes, understamping and overstamping, including use of Strumpet stencil's  Fetus.

4 sets of Sizzix Feathered Wings  were handy, so I layered two of each to make 2 sets of wings.  This set had Paper Artsy Infusions (which I first came across in July's trip to Australia) sprinkled over, spritzed with water.  The edges were tipped with gold Lumiere paint. The largest cross of the die set was cut out of a sheet of craft foam (it also shows the embossing component easily) painted, and strips of bling added.  The top of it had to be snipped to fit under the skull, and a jewel popped under the bottom to keep it raised off the surface.

On my (now late) father's birthday, and as we head into Christmas, a time of celebrating a special new birth, I also remember the children that did not live long enough to have their birth recognised.

Your darkness can be shared here.  And come back on New Year's Day and we will see what Santa brought us to creArte with.

Friday, December 15, 2017

Drift...with no particular destination in mind...

Drifting along with no special destination in mind...and arrived with a bit on mid-month play.

Hi! It's Kim today!

The other day I was stuck, bad mood made a bad day. I wanted out so I asked Granne and Asylum Anne to give me a launching point for d o i n g something.  They gave me color, the best gift ever.

Yellow and blue...



...add some index cards

dollops of paint, old gift card, scrape colors onto cards

it's applied thinly so it dries fast thank froggie! And the unseasonal heat for California helped too, since I am not patient



stamp and stamp and stamp



piece together this journey that came into its own without plan.



Drift along a n d enjoy your day.

Thank you Granne & Anne, hugs.

~kim

Link up your creations with us HERE


Thursday, December 7, 2017

Falalalalaaa ... and the winner is ...

My work with the X-mas cards continues:



Again with Stampotique stamps, :)
But off we go to some other important stuff!
The winner of the November challenge is:

Please email us at dreamindarknessblog@gmail dot com to arrange for your winner's badge and shopping trip at Sin City Stamps!

We have two awesome most honorable mentions this month too!
First Up: 

#3 Ionabunny with her colorful Day of the Dead make, love it!

and

#5 By Cathy with her Halloween Hangover, another fabulous bottle makeover!

Please email me as well to arrange for a small Sin City Stamp Treat!


CONGRATULATIONS!! and a HUGE thank you to everyone that played along!


And since we are talking about winners,
here's a little something December winner
will be getting:


So do link your art HERE and let us come and visit.

Friday, December 1, 2017

1 December~Already!! Are you ready???


Did any of you succumb to the Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales?  
Started Christmas shopping then?  I was so lucky, I had already received a pressie from Sari.  Remember her white chocolate skulls last month?
 She sent me the mould.  Over several nights I've been casting,
and painting a set (you wouldn't want to stop at one!)  
The top centre one also has some
chunky embossing enamel from Stampendous
 If you pop back later this month looking for some relief 
from all the forced gaiety pre-Christmas,
you'll see how I've used one of them.


Wau, those skulls looks absolutely FABULOUS!!!
Way to go Anne!

I (Granne) have been making some X-mas cards ... it's about time, ehh?



Using Stampotique stamps and STAMPlorations dies.

It is DECEMBER ... time to give and get ...
so give us a link to your art and someone will be
getting mail from Santa's land....don't be naughty and not have some arty-time! Hahahhaha
Link up below: We are super casual this month!


Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Death

It's inescapable.  And after hopping on my soapbox in mid September, but not published until end of October as Halloween Mojo, I have really been tested.  Heading off to Auckland (3 hour drive) for a 3-day weekend with Andy Skinner (UK) & Tracey Weinzapfel (USA), I detoured via the Emergency Dept to catch up with dad, who had been admitted that morning after many chest pains.  Turned out some of it had been another heart attack, and he died Saturday night.  At 94 he was still driving, greeting nurses by name every shift, and discussing articles I read to him out of NZ National Geographic.  I got to do the Friday and Saturday classes, but skipped the evening ones, and Sunday class.  Then mum took a turn for the worse, and we were expecting a double funeral.  But no, she rallied somewhat.  In the meantime I also had a hectic period at work, so my time and inclination to make art was minimal.  I did NOT lose my mojo, nor did I do much creating, I was immersed in other aspects of Life.  Mum died 5 weeks after dad, and I am creating this journal spread between death and funeral, a week ahead of this publication date.

So I apologize that I didn't visit and comment on all the pieces entered in October's challenge.
And here's a reminder that run fast, fly high, but seek immortality in other ways, because the Grim Reaper will get you.
One of those ravens diecut for the last post has carked it.
Seek immortality in celluloid - aided and abetted by a Lego packet with a batman character in it.  It was on my desk, need I say more!


You can tell I used plenty of die cuts - from Seth Apter, Spellbinder, Sizzix, Elizabeth Craft.
 The soulful face came in a package from Teesha Moore,  stencils from Andy Skinner (seems discontinued) and Kaisercraft.  The flying pig is from Silver Crow Creations, and various other stamps in the background from vivalasvegas stamps, Third Stone stamps.  I guess I've been buying Treasure for too long - some of these are no longer available.

Leave us some love below, and show us your dark makings here


Tuesday, November 14, 2017

October Challenge~Winner's Post

Slowly but surely, late but here now....we have our awesome Winner for October 2017....

The winner is ...

#6 so very POE-etic and very oddly appealing....Check out Cathy's awesome altered book!

Cathy, email us at dreamindarknessblog@gmail.com  to collect your Winner's Badge!

October is done and done and huge thank you to everyone who linked up and played along!


Saturday, November 4, 2017

Advice's from the mermaids

This morning I woke up really, really early.
Must have been these Sin City Stamps Mermaids calling for me...

They had something to say

Cascadia:


and Misty


A little different angle to show, how pretty they shine,
thanks to H2O colors



Wanna win gift certificate to Sin City Stamps?
Hop here and link your art, there's a change....

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

1 November or 60 Days until the End of the Year!


November 1st....60 days until the end of the year...All Hallows' Day...Hallowmas...
Day of the Innocents...
...and simply a new day bringing some lovely creative play by your DiD Team!


Asylum Anne has had an "interesting" past month, 
(more about that later this month) but finally mailed this ATC.
Mad Rat goes to Sin City, meets the Queen who has offed some person's head.  
Maybe the axeman wasn't the sharpest tool in the box, as the head is hanging by a thread.  
At least the victim was blindfolded first.  
Perhaps the mouse(RAT) has designs on the moth body for a nuncheon.  
The background is multiple stampings of the barbed circle from Background Grunge plate.  
The back of the card's stamp is also Sin City.  
The silhouette queen stamp was from alphastamps



Granne here asking are you ready for a treat?


White chocolate shaped with Panduro's mould,
served on a wooden cup I found from a flea marked 
and fixed for the Halloween season.



Black Gesso, black paint, some Inka Golds, ribbons pearls and
lots of creative fun.


CT Kim offering a card to go with the treats above...



I used a Sugar Skull stamp by SinCity Stamps.


The skull is stamped with Ranger Archival ink. The color fill is a mix of Distress Oxide and Distress Ink.


I used a Tim Holtz die to cut the diamonds pattern and used another distress oxide play background for more color. I love shiny things, so yeah, I haddddd to add some embossing powder, Brutus Monroe Sterling. I love his embossing powder it doesn't have an oily feeling after heated and it's shiny!



Now, seize the day and share with us what you have been playing with!

Link up....below :)

The winner this month will get a gift certificate for a little shopping at Sin City Stamps!


Sunday, October 29, 2017

Halloween Mojo

Every so often people talk about "losing their mojo".  Lost?  How careless!!! I'm coming to think this is an unfair term, self-critical, not nice.  There are times when other hobbies rear their head - you are still creating when you cook a meal from scratch, especially without a recipe book, or when planting out the season's bulbs in the garden.   When health, family circumstances, work overload etc demand your energy be directed in those directions, they can leave no energy for creating in your usual way.  That doesn't mean you've "lost" your mojo - it's just that you have other priorities just now.  When in crisis mode, some people do find their outlet in creating art, others are caught up in the moment, leaving no energy for arting.  And even something as "little" as Daylight Savings coming or going also can throw one out of balance and habit.

A while back I got some of Teesha Moore's stamps (Creator of Zetti style), and very recently went back for some back issues of her publications.  I hadn't discovered stamping, mixed media etc when she was doing all this, so browsing through the pages were fresh to me, and have provided a lot of inspiration.  In Art & Life issue #7, Tracy Moore refers to a talk given by Jay Lake:
"He talked a lot about balance and finding how to be a "producer" more than a "consumer;" spending lots of time playing video games, watching movies, reading graphic novels, etc.  Writing, drawing, making journals, photography, and just plain doodling are all things that fall under the "producer" label.  The satisfaction that comes after "producing" something is so far superior to the feelings which remain after being a "consumer", the choice should not be hard to make.  But it often is.  That is where balance comes in."

I've found that attending a live-in class often stops my creating for a while - it's as though my subconscious needs a lot of time to assimilate the class.  Some might say I'd lost my mojo, or enthusiasm, for the craft.  BUT I'm not doing nothing during this period.  I'm re-balancing myself by re-reading books, catching up on all those recordings of Star Trek Voyager, meeting deadlines for this blog's pieces, and "doodling".

So with Halloween around, I'm preparing die cuts with no fixed intent.
Ravens, hissy cats, supposedly black.  I was playing with alcohol ink backgrounds, and drinking juice, which provided me with more material to die cut.  The juice cartons have that silver inside.

Why shouldn't a cat or raven be shining silver in the moonlight?

Or calico-coloured after smearing the alcohol inks around.

And they would both be standing out from their background (Heaven knows what that will be).  So that means glueing multiples on top of each other.  Or offset, as if they are jumping out of their skin

But then there's a tv advert for some cat food where a cat comes busting through the wall for it - so cut a cat out of the centre of a piece of card - a cat-shaped hole in the wall.  How about some cat-coloured flowersoft around the hole - fur that got caught in the wall...

So I'm playing, I'm creating, BUT I don't have the direction for a "finished" piece.  But I'm happy, and having fun, while Nevermore (the raven) and Alice (cheshire cat?  Michael deMeng's online class starting mid-October?) play with my mind.  And mess with yours.

Saturday, October 7, 2017

Winner's Post September 2017!

Hello!

Happy Weekend! Hope it's going great for you!

Today we'd love to share with  you our awesome winner for the September 2017 Challenge!

There were a lot of wonderful pieces entered. The winner is...

Congratulations Senna!
Please email me to collect your blog badge at dreamindarknessblog@gmail dot com

Thank you everyone who played along. 
Honorable mentions go to:


Thanks again and Hope to see all of you back this month to play!

Sunday, October 1, 2017

October 1~The Best time of the year...Halloween!


So it is THAT time of the year ... 
Autumn, dark evenings and the HALLOWEEN coming 
with pumpkins, skeletons, skulls and spirits ... 
so I decided to "cover" my dreams from the eery spirits 
and made a dreamcatcher that hopefully will suck in all the bad dreams 
and allow all the nice ones to enter.


Re-cycling a ring from a sticky red tape


Using silk clay and Panduro's mold for the skulls. 
And then added some Inka Golds for the color.


Some more Inka Gold and stamp from Sin City Stamps

I think my dreamcatcher would fit right in to Anne's 
brilliantly creepy house, :)

Creepy house?  You're only thinking that way 
because Halloween is so close! 
  Shredded money makes great "grass" for the spiders 
to nest in and web from, true.


BUT... is it a house?  Or a Chrysalis?  
Is something hatching/metamorphosing under the Halloween moon?


Ohhh lots of things that don't necessarily go bump in the night!

I managed to get on track sort of, and finish a mini book that came to mind a couple of eeek months ago with our Circus theme...well who KNEW a MINI book could be so big on the inside!



I am crossing fingers and toes you can see my little slide show above...the one minute it should take to play, I hope you will feel it was time well spent. 


Mini Book Ingredients:
One page 8 1/2" x 11" bond paper
gelatin plate of choice
acrylic paints
old gift/credit card
Thick hot drink cup wrap repurposed as a "book cover"
Lots of rubber stamps, I used the Circus ones thank you Granne and
some of my Sin City Stamps, DriBonez by Rick St Dennis and Oddly Appealing by Cathy Frailey, yes these links go to my shop wherein if someone were to purchase somesuch stuffs, another someone might earn some change to buy some somenecessitylikethings.





But I do know for sure, if you come back during this glorious month of October there may be a few treats here and there and maybe that Frogster critter will leave a trick who knows?

We'd love to see your spin on Halloween, Day of the Dead and whatever else your dreams treat you to, so share away and link up okay?

Much love and hugs to you all!

Now go play!



Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Dear Reader... don't read so long that the spiders web you over.

Centuries after her death, (well, it was 200 years this July) people are still captivated by Jane Austen's writings.  It may be that a rather portly gentleman has  been reading since the first edition came out, never stopping to notice the spiders webs growing round him.  Even within Jane's tales of romance, there are some spooky places, creepy assumptions. What was the story behind Mrs Tilney's suite of rooms, wondered the heroine... and that got her into trouble before the Path Of True Love could be straightened, of course.
Paper Whimsy's Lacy Triptych with stand provided the foundation for this project.
The arched frames were given 3 coats of Emerald Creek embossing powder, then stamped while molten with the barbed wire brick fence stamp.  The side panels were done in Northern Lights colour, the centre panel in Midnight Sky.  The Lacework "roof lines" were painted with Jacquard Lumiere in Indigo, then a coat of Halo Blue-green, and heat gunned while wet for the bubbly texture.  The individual frame backgrounds were painted with white gesso.  Before completely dry, Lindys Gang moonshadow Tawny Turquoise was washed over, then a few drips of Moonlit Mulberry encouraged to flow down.

The barbed wire fence stamp with Indian ink was stamped over each panel, before gluing down the fussy-cut Austen stamps.  Strands of spider web are Helmar 450 glue (hot glue guns aren't a common part of my toolkit, else I'd have done that).  When this gentleman was glued down, the book was left unglued, for a touch of 3-D.  From his expression, novels are a new concept to him.



I used Emerald Creek embossing powders - they also have an American web site, or you can swap between the two (top right toolbar in the web page)  The box part of the stand was covered in some Graphics 45 Typograph paper..

Sin City Stamps have 2 new plates of Jane Austen stamps out, and here :)
Farewell Jane, and thanks for the hours of imagination you've stimulated.

Of course, if you've been working on something weird, off-beat, creepy, daaaark, share it with us here

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Face it

I felt very inspired by Gina's (last months challenge winner)
dolls. But, since I'm not much of a doll maker,
I made something related to dolls.

I altered a tiny T-shirt that was send to me
a while ago from other side of the earth,
Thank you Anne :). My daughter likes Pullip dolls and
the size of that T-shirt was perfect for her Pullip.
Or what do you think?


Lucifer looks so cool.


My daughter took the pictures above and I took the one down here:


Using tiny rubber bands, ProMarkers and alcohol blending solution
to color and the stamps from Sin City Stamps and Stazon ink

Lets us see what you have been making by linking 
your art HERE.

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Listen, Look, Talk ....

I was watching some Youtube tutorials
and saw one where lady had a embossed image
and she colored it over with Tombow marker.

Had to try if it really works, LOL.
These was suppose to be ATC trio, 
but I made it a decoration ... it is Halloween season 
coming after all.


Skulls are from Sin City Stamps, design by Rick St Dennis ,
also used one of the stamps on Background Grunge plate.




Entering my altered ATC's, to a Airless Chambers challenge,
where Anything Goes With Rick St Dennis.

And how about YOU entering our challenge?
We'd looooooove to came and see. This months theme is 
B-day - but the theme is optional, 
so link HERE your strange, wicked, cool art makes