The Finale is Here!

Sob! It is a happy time as we have found CT Anne, Evil Froggie, and it is Halloween!!  But, alas, it also is the end of the 31 Days of Halloween for 2016!  How we shall miss seeing all the faboolous makes this wonderful event brings!  Just remember, at Dream in Darkness we are the home of Halloween ALL year long....it never really ends!  So dry your tears and start thinking how you can creep, weird, odd, plain old mess up Thanksgiving projects!  Here we go with our last makes for the event but never our last makes for Halloween!  NEVER!!

CT Anne says Hooray!!!!  She has corrupted her teamies over the pink issue, or worn them down, made them use up all the pink in their stash, got it all out of their system - see, Nan can barely produce a digital pink watermark MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

I don't know if I'm thick-skinned or thin-skinned, but I do know that I need something to protect my fabulously awesomely inventive brain from the Slings And Shafts of Life, and this is something like what you'd find twixt skin & brain... bone!

Even DH got a bit of a fright when he came home from work to be met by this apparition!  But he still likes it - bless him :)  And my dentist says there's nothing wrong with my teeth apart from a few aged fillings 

(as he hands me a bill for $583 for replacing just one!)

The papier mache skull is from Silver Crow Creations.  It sucks up and holds black gesso then paint much better than a plastic skull. They also have the centre headpiece "wings" which colour up well with alcohol inks, or rub n buff, or any paint really.  The jewellery came from 16kg  in a banana box I acquired very very cheaply some years back.  A lot of it was earrings, with many duplicates, so the stalk for pierced ears pokes through the paper mache to help hold the pices on while glue dries. The mdf cupcake stand is a Kaisercraft kit- got as far as priming it with black gesso.  The crochet veil/mantilla... can't remember where the pattern came from, but the handiwork is all moi

The painting techniques came from various online classes (and 2 books) 

from Michael deMeng including his currently-running Skullduggery class. 

I've edited the photo to exaggerate the colouring.

And the test tube... is for catching all the ideas that 

still keep dripping out of my brain moi-mwahahaha

CT Kim has this...

"FIN"...

or is it?

MDF Skull to Celebrate the Day of the Dead...layered up with more DecoArt treats!

CT Granne has modest offer of a card, using mainly DI's and Tim Holtz stamps and dies.

Well, there was a stencil, few other stamps and fabric tape together

with torned piece of paper involved also...

Happy Halloween!!

CT Nan is ending the 31 days with a beginning?  Yes, November and December will be sponsored by the awesome Grumbacher Art!  So she has a partial reveal of the inside of a book that has a lot of Grumbacher goodness on the outside so be sure to come back tomorrow for a peek at the front!  She will also be showing some more pics of the inside of the book as November moves through with a chill in the air and the smell of paint in the house!

The book includes products by Tim Holtz, images from Mischief Circus, and some of the vintage images I have in my Etsy Store "Odditiesdigitalstamps.  If you want to grab any of these images free, just run over to my blog and download them for free!  Happy Halloween!

Remember, two months of Grumbacher fabulous products and projects and the winners of November and December will win Grumbacher products!  So get those painty hands ready and those ideas churning for a chance to be a winner!

To Recycle Is To Reincarnate?

Isn't she cute?  And so very very pink!!!!  But rest assured, Dear Reader, that Will Not Last!!!
Her head turns on its torso

and underneath, as you roll her along, the whole body turns.

You'll just have to take my word for it (and some closeup examination of the next pics) that I retained both movements.  On occasion I have accidentally recorded a movie on the camera, but do you think I can do that on purpose?  Even with the manual downloaded???  This piece is an amalgam of Michael deMeng's Twisted Toyland class and his current Skullduggery class

Those little pink ponytails have been turned into horns, I think.

Aves apoxie clays are 2-part, air drying, and take texturising, drilling and paint well.  Though I poked the earring through the clay before it set to create the hole, then removed the earring until the painting was finished as well. Awww, that tutu is soooo cute!!! One can only wonder about Snarly peeking out from above though...

As I built up the head with clay, it became apparent that she wasn't centred on the spinning base - she was leaning backwards.  Thickening the base and adding the skulls around the bottom fixed that, but her skinny one leg was also too soft a plastic to cope, so I beefed her leg up some.  And gave her teeth!  Her eyes stayed white sockets for quite a while, then I had one idea that morphed when I picked up some foamy packaging that had the recycle labels on the edge.

And in full regalia

Her earrings tell us that she's dead, she has the keys to the gates of... and she's armed to the teeth to dance 'n roll out of this life into the next.  Welcome to Day of the Dead.

Are you following the 31 Days of Halloween blog hop?  The list is on the sidebar.

And if you've been celebrating the season artistically, creating some off-beat, dark, weird other piece, share it here - someone's got to win that excellent skellie, before Evil Froggy makes off with it.

(If it's through facebook, please have it set to Public, so we can see it :)

Day 29 of 31 Days of Halloween!~Speak!!

 October is winding down, the days til Halloween are counting down, closer and closer 

to the End...

no! 

But the Creative Crew here at Dream in Darkness is just getting into high gear and have some awesome projects done and dusted, scheduled to delight your minutes over the next few days. 

So do return soon!

It's me Ct Kim up on deck today with a bit of small canvas to share today!

"Speak to Me!"

This was a many layered effort that took a bit before it did speak to me!

Have a hauntingly spooky day!

~kim

Day 28, 31 Days of Halloween - hocus pocus

Welcome to a 22nd day of the 31 DOH

For today, I made a very bony tag.

Squashed paint, gesso, embossing, rub-ons, 

stampping (stamps from LCD: Dancing Skeletons, Bird Bones) ...

Hmmm, I wonder if he just made the bird to be a skeleton or

is he making magic to create wings, so it could fly again.

If you are doing the hop, you'll find the road

on the sidebar ---->>>

and a wee reminder to link up your

weird, dark, alternative  creation HERE,

for a change to win this dancer:

Off to the Circus!

CT Nan back with my solution to my life's woes and worries!  I am off to join the circus!  And of course I can't just up and leave without leaving a little bit of a visual material for you to see.  I am not real sure how I am going to fit in with this crew but they seem friendly, love to dance, and I think the little dude likes a drink or two if you know what I mean, so I think we will learn to get along just fine!

Thanks to Tumble Fish Studios Halloween @Mischief Circus kit for these fantastic elements and how many of you out there are digging that disco ball hanging from the spider web?? :)

 Now it is the 27th day of the month...you know what to do so run along and then you can dream of cobweb covered disco balls!  And you still have time to get your make into our challenge.....we know who has been naughty and nice...like that fellow from the other popular holiday for weird people! 

Evil Froggy is back and so alive and well you do not want to tempt him!

Hook yourselves some Skulls

Back in June I tried to hook you up into giving flowers for Skull Appreciation Day Now it's time to hook the skulls in time for Day of the Dead.  They were a great hit as "charms" to give my fellow students & the tutors at Art Is You Down Under in 2014 (was it THAT long ago???)

I came across the original pattern  on the 'net, and tweaked it in a few places particularly so all the teeth happen at once in the middle of the last row.  It's a very forgiving pattern - if you miss the odd 2 tr in 1 tr, or only 6 instead of 7, it won't really matter.

Finished size depends in the thickness of yarn and crochet hook you use.  Again, I was brought up on English terminology.  Any Americans, dc is sc (symbol x), treble is dc (symbol T ). I have no idea what Americans call a half treble (symbol T ).

1.  Chain 24.  DC in 13^th chain from hook, slipstitch in last stitch.

2.  Catching in the tail as you go (saves sewing it in later), 20 dc in first circle, 20dc in second circle.  Slipstitch into start.  Change yarns here if you want different-coloured eye sockets like the orange & cream skull in the picture.

3.  Chain 3 (= treble), treble in next 4 dcs, 2 half-treble in next dc, half treble in next dc, dc in next 5 dcs, half treble in next dc, 2 half trebles in next dc, treble in next 4 dcs.

Chain 4  Miss last 4 dcs of circle, and  next 4 dcs in next circle. (nose!)

Treble in next 4 dcs, 2 half trebles in next dc, half treble in next dc, dc in next 5 stitches, half treble in next dc, 2 half trebles in next dc, treble in next 5 dcs.  Slipstitch into top of chain 3.

4.  Chain 3 (= treble), treble in next 4 stitches.  2 treble in next stitch, 2 half trebles in next stitch, half treble in next stitch, dc in next 7 stitches, 2 half trebles in next stitch, half treble in next stitch, treble in next 4 stitches.  4 treble in the chain 4.  treble in next 3 stitches.

Work teeth here:  Chain 4 (= treble, chain 1), turn work, miss 1 stitch, treble in next treble, chain 1, miss 1 treble, treble in next stitch - repeat to create 4 teeth (ch 1 gaps).

Chain 4 (= treble + chain 1), turn work, treble in next treble, chain 1 treble in next treble until 3 tooth gaps.  Chain 4, slipstitch in 3^rd chain of loop below, slipstitch in next chain and in top of treble.  This brings you back down to where you started the teeth.

Treble in next treble.  Half treble in next stitch, 2 half trebles in next stitch, dc in next 7 stitches, half treble in next stitch, 2 half trebles in next stitch, 2 trebles in next stitch, treble in next 5 stitches.  Slip stitch into top of chain 3.

If you want  a swing loop, chain 5, slipstitch in top of chain3 again.

With or without loop, cut thread, pull through last stitch.  Darn the loose end in, or keep it for stitching into something else later.

I suppose I'd better invent a cro-frog to keep Evil Froggy from beating me up for the pink background and watermark!  OR... you could save me by posting your weird creepy makes back on Day 1

Otherwise run FAST to the next link in the 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop.

Day 25 of 31 Days of Halloween~"Brothers!"

Welcome Back to Day 25!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting and playing along in our challenge, too! You all rock!

Today I have a garghoulish ornament to share!

It is made from MDF by Jac at Things to Alter!

Boo!

The stoney gargoyle is giving me the same look my family(read kids) does, sometimes they just don't get how much fun I have with Halloween! But DH does get it a bit since he brings me home some love stoney monsters! hahahha!

The MDF is lovely on its own but I haddddd to layer it up with lots of DecoArt Media goodness!
Crackle Paste Paint...it was a good day!

 Hope you like this ornament, I can't wait to spookify my Christmas tree when it goes up almost 6 weeks from today! eeek!

Come back and play, won't ya?

The Frogster's Linky is HERE

Day 24, 31 Days of Halloween - Face in the Mirror

Welcome to the 24th day of

A bit of a "mixed media" today:

printing, coloring, scanning and some PicMonkey work

The screaming lady is from KJArting and the 

mirror background is from Mischief Circus.

This is how this look before "monkey business"

If you are doing "the HOP", you'll

see the road on the sidebar ----->>>>

Don't forget to link your alternative, dark, weird makes HERE,

we'll love to see them.

What Do You See in the Mirror?

CT Nan, here, with my version of a fabulous project I saw that had mirrors and figures coming out of the mirror all in shades of white and gray.  It was truly breathtaking!  I went for a much smaller less detailed try and of course, had just broken yet another mirror (and I wonder at my continuing misfortunes?) so the fun began.  I painted the mirror fragment with Grumbacher's Modeling Paste and when dry I scrubbed off to let the mirror show through in places.  I had taken a small skull and pressed into 3 balls of air dry clay and let dry.  Then carefully sprayed both the mirror, clay embossed skulls, and tulle with some Nuance powder mixed in a spray bottle with water.  Carefully because air dry clay will melt away on you if too wet!

And what else but a lovely piece of pink ribbon to finish my ghostly wall hanging!

I know you know my next words...BUT off you go to the next name on the list and leave them some love, please?  And, also, keep those entries coming in here at Dream in Darkness!  We are watching you....do you have any mirrors in YOUR house??  Now don't let your imagination run wild with you........or should you?????

HEEELPPPP The Wind Changed!!!

Oh no, Halloween masks, and I tried one on!!!
Not this one - I like to be able to breathe, and the thought of a glow-in-the-dark thing with pincers trying to make me have my own Day of the Dead - well, let's just say, I'm too young to die THAT young.

I started off with papier-mache masks, which I painted with black gesso.  The next layer is acrylic paint.

I got introduced to Kroma's crackle in a Michael deMeng class. Pop in here to see his as well as more conventional ways of using it.  It's a Canadian product, so if you don't live in Canada, Dick Blick is your go-to place, no matter where else you live.  You can tint it with paint as I did, or you can leave it and it dries clear-white.  In the above mask I tinted it green.  Apparently it can take a few days to crackle, especially in humid or cold weather.  Well it may be winter here, but with the log burner in action, it started crackling withing a couple of hours.  It can flick off, so to seal it, before doing anything else, brush a layer of medium (matte or gloss) over it, let it seep into the cracks.  You want cockroaches, and other insects?  Try Silver Crow Creations and look for their "Better Quality" cockies.  Yummy yummy!!!  though I will admit to "saucing up" this one, with interference purple paint and Vat Orange paint.  The black ants got interference blue paint.

Now for the one that got me in trouble. A rather tasty mouse - white pepper (paint) lightly brushed over the high spots -is trying to clear out the sinuses perhaps?  While the spiders crawl around to find an eye socket, weaving their hot-glue webs as they go.  Overhead, a Things To Alter bat is pretending to be a Third Eye, and the second eye has a barbwire piercing.

I thought I would look bee-yoo-tee-ful wearing it.  Big Mistake!  Can older people tell me, is this uglification just a stage?  Will I grow out of it, like I grew out of "puppyfat", measles and hot cars?  I hope the wind changes soon.

That mouse reminds me of this cartoon that's been around for decades

OK, so now it's your turn.  Post your weird and wonderful pieces back on Day 1, then hop on over to the next person in the 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop.

Day 21 of 31 Days of Halloween! ~ Rejected...

Welcome back to Freaky Friday Day 21 of 31 Days of Halloween!

Sooooo hopefully you are feeling inspired and spirited and ready to celebrate the fabulousness of Halloween in just about 10 days....wow where is the time going!!???

Some people have no imagination...

ATC using DecoArt Media and Andy Skinner inspired techniques. 

Tim Holtz stamp, catchy "upcycled" envelope mailed to me.

Keep your head! (on straight)

Come on back tomorrow for more mayhem! or just plain escapism it's all good!

See ya and the Frogster is looking for you! Run!!

LINK UP HERE

Day 20, 31 Days of Halloween - Get yourself together

Welcome to a day 20,

today I'm showing another page from my

PIG & BLACK art Journal book.

Lots of stamping, a bit of painting and whole

lot of fun with inks and stencil.

Looks like she IS all ready to party .... well not all ready,

but hopefully soon.

Taking part of 31 DOH? The road map is on the sidebar --->>

And the froggy is asking more links,

you can make it happy by linking HERE.

A Message to All

Well, CT Nan, and you all know my absolute love of Edgar Allan Poe and I gave him a true tribute earlier this month.  But now I like to think poor Poe had to have smiled at some points in his life and maybe had a very dry sense of humor?  So here is my thoughts of what he might have to say to us all as we celebrate Halloween with the 31 Days of Halloween!

The postcard was given to me by CT Anne in a happy mail from Silvercrow Creations, a most wonderful place to find things you won't find anywhere else!  The postcard is really grainy looking; it looks like it could have just been taken it off of his last fiancee's wall.  Stamped with some red Distress Ink and stamps of hanging spiders and webs with a "sweet" sentiment :)  And of course a pink party hat on to "top" it all off!

We are still checking the Frog's inbox for your entries each and everyday!  Don't make us have to tell on you!  You know that Frog's temper...EEEK!

Now hop (I crack me up, I really do! Hop..Frog...hehe) off to the next stop and get inspired then hop back here and drop off your inspired make!  Then happy folks everywhere...also leave some love at each stop...it makes us squeal with evil delight!

The paintbrush slipped...

And my skeleton became a Zombie Skellie.

I'm taking Michael deMeng's Skullduggery online class at the moment.  Like all his classes, it is interesting, teaches me all I know about using paint and mixing colours, as well as covering assemblage, clay, right glues for right places... and they're well-edited.  However my wee skeletons ended up fauxfolksy and zombified.  Let me quote:

"... Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Not only is this a marvelous event where relatives celebrate the memories of the deceased, but it is also a chance for the living to mock the reaper. It’s a way for the living to say: “Neener, neener you haven’t got me yet”. One of the ways that Mexicans do this is with little skeletal toys known as “calacas”. Usually they are playful scenes where the skeletons are in the engaged in everyday activities, riding bicycles, walking dogs, dancing with devils (okay, so this one is perhaps not an everyday activity). The idea is to have a little fun with one's mortality. Well, that is what we’ll be doing in class. Using doll parts, action figures, and other found objects student will create little skeletons that will tickle your funny bone."

My "people" are enjoying a good harvest ("Neener neener, we won't starve to death THIS winter".  The All-seeing Eye of God is overseeing it all, of course.

I like the crisp stamping I got from Rubber Dance feather into clay, into which I settled the eye-bearing wings. (It's my photography that's a bit blurry)

The awesome wooden shrine/altar frames come from Silver Crow Creations, as do the fruit, wings (clear plastic which I coloured with alcohol inks.)  I made the skelicat (or is it a skuldoggery up to some skulduggery)  If I made more I'd be better at them haha.

Onwards, ever onwards through the 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop, the link on the sidebar will take you away from me alas, but to discover more inspiration for you to appease our evil little froggy.

Day 17 31 Days of Halloween!~ Ghoul Soup

A page from an old recipe book...

                                        Welcome back to Day 17 of 31 Days of Halloween!

Digital ATC crafted with the Falloween Designer Mash up at Mischief Circus!

Back tomorrow with more ghoulish offerings for the Frogster!

Link up HERE

Day 16, 31 Days of Halloween - EEK!

About time to decorate the house for the upcoming party?

Here's one skull ready to be hanged...

Lace-Up Skull from Eye Connect stamped with

Flagstone Background from Lost Coast Designs.

He sure has a reason for his "EEK"; so many cracks...

If you are doing "the HOP", you'll

see the road on the sidebar ----->>>>

Don't forget to link your alternative, dark, weird makes HERE,

we'll love to see them.

Who ME????

CT Nan here with a naughty little kitty but like me he is NOT taking the blame although the evidence tends to point towards him!  He also shares my rather naughty language so I apologize for his slightly off color sentiment but he insisted I quote him word for word!

This fat page is white cardstock with a fabric spray black paint that when it drys gives an almost ghostly gray so don't overlook those sales on these sprays when you find them!  They work just the same just take a little longer to dry.  The stamp is from Lost Coast Designs and the PINK feather in their mouths (that insisted on looking red!) were hand drawn.  A little spiders and web ribbon and stamped sentiment with a cheapie set from the dollar bin and he has declared his innocence to all!

Run do not walk to the next lovely on the list and leave some love and get those entries in to us for October!  We know you have been inspired by all the awesome makes so no excuses accepted this month!  Drop those entries off with the Frog or just leave in his inbox until we locate our missing teamies....he is sure to show up in time to pick a winner of that fantastic skellie stamp up for the winner of this month!

Entering: http://darkndaring.blogspot.no/2016/10/challenge-6-anything-goes.html  DarknDaring #6

Sweet Music, we shall dance you to the death

Even a sweet theme such as "Music" gets twisted in the Asylum of Anne's brain.
Another in the Deconstructed Art Journal page swap going on in Middle Earth this year.  Take an 8"x 8" paper, fold in half and decorate portrait angle.  For 6 people this time.  I cut up a songbook, so everyone has a different song to sing.  I did an extra one for Mr Ed Poe - "Evertrue Evermore" - the third one down!

 The front and back pages: A scrapbooking page full of toitoi "flowers" (a native pampas-type grass) didn't need much more to be done to it.   The Jester from the late Blockhead Stamps was also heat embossed.  I love his squeeze box.  Carabelle Studio have some rather different stamps.  I'm using a Seth Apter stamp to head up the front page - rather tongue in cheek - "everything imaginable is here"  and down the bottom, Rubber Dance instructs you to Go where the music takes you.

 Just before we turn the page, here's your "mood" music  The back page is rather sparse - Stampendous rendering of Danse Macabre, and a cloud giving credit to the stamps and stencils used in this piece. Seth Apter's Explore stencil was the first layer to make it onto the page, then Retro Comet and starburst now discontinued by Artist Cellar then one from the Sacred Heart series at Stencil Girl - since all the songs that were the starting place seemed to deal with love not being as satisfacory as one would wish, the barbed wire across the heart seemed appropriate. (And green is the alternate colour to pink for the heart chakra)

Then it was out with the stamps

Rubber Dance for the wee dancers

Blockhead for the squiggles and notes on the die-cut witch,

Rubber Stamp Ave for the musical bird that is the witch's alter ego.

I added diecut music notes as telephone poles, and birds on a line (presumably all singing their hearts out in 4-part harmonies)

I hope my teamies are proud of me - there's pink in the framing!!!

So if you hear what you think is wind through the trees, hearken closely, it could be Witchy breathing a new song into the skellies, bringing them back to life for one night only.

OR... it could be Evil Froggy demanding more weird stuff from you all!

Though if you carry on therough the 31 Days of Halloween blog hop, you could be rather stunned by what's already being put on offer.