Day 3 of The 12 Days of Creepmas - Button Skull Wreath

Eek!  Run screaming!  It's the 12 days of Creepmas!  The Christmas blog hop that's all about the creep factor.  I just know you're terrified by the partial image above, but, in case this is your first visit to The Smeared and Smudged 12 Days of Creepmas blog hop,  click in here for all the skinny

If you're hopping, you've arrived here from the very awesome Ike's World.

My project is below the blog roll.  Be sure to visit all the creepy bloggers and leave some comment love!

Blog Roll

Smeared and Smudged

Lady B

Silvia

Wendy

Carla

Leigh

Shell

Loren C

Kelli

Black Dragon

Suzi McKenzie

Windy

Glittery Kate

Alison

Julia

Jane

Monique

Jenn

Ike

Candace - You are here

Lisa Hall

Steph

Susan S.

I love button art!  I've been wanting to try it so here's what I did - I chose the eyes and nose and built the skull around them.  I gathered all the green buttons I had for the wreath and red accent buttons for the bow and berries.

The spider webs are one of my favorite SI stamps from the Candy is Dandy digi set.  I added them in Photoshop.  I'm loving it!

Now, off to Lisa Hall for some more fabulous fun!

Smeared and Smudged Blog Hop

 Welcome to the Smeared and Smudged Forum's November Blog Hop! 

The theme this month is: Alter Something! My contribution is an altered frame called "Need Coffee".  And, of course, I do.

If you're hopping, you should have come here from the lovely and talented Windy.  Be sure to see all the fabulous projects everyone made and leave some comment love.

Blog Roll:

Shell
Kristy
Susan S.
Jane
Windy
Candace - You are here
Wendy
Fiona Randall
Carla
Jean
Vee
Lisa Hall
Helen
Monique
Dianne

 I started with this old fabric frame that I found going through some old stuff.

 I printed out the SI Half Zombie dude and colored him with pencils.  I used and black pencil to dirty up the fabric a bit.

I cut the zombie out and I inserted a photo of a church and cemetery in Pennsylvania that I took and gave it poster edges in Photoshop.  I used a felt pen to dot the frame.

 

I slit the right arm of the zombie so I could bring both arms to the outside of the frame.  After he was glued in place I gave his hands, mouth and wounds a glossy sealer.

 I used a felt pen to color the letters.  Last, I glued one of my clay zombie coffee cups.

Now off you go to see Wendy's blog!

31 Days of Halloween - Day 22 - Pretty Please with an Eyeball on Top!

It's day 22!  It's day 22! And you are hopping onto the Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop! Yea!  I love all the wonderful projects that I'm seeing on my daily hops!  Take a bow, Wicked Bloggers!

Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

Today's Halloween treat is a polymer clay cupcake zipper pull a la Smeared Ink. The cartoony cupcake is from a collection of cool digital stamps called Candy is Dandy. My cupcake is a nod the incredible group of artists I was blessed to hook up with recently through Smeared Ink. The group is the Smeared and Smudged Forum and they are a hoot!
Materials:
Polymer Clay - purple, brown and orange
Colorful micro beads
Glossy sealer
Needle tool 20 Gauge wire
Accent beads
Eyeball bead
Round nose pliers
Chain nose pliers
Wire cutters
Lanyard clip

	You can see here the simple shapes required to make a cupcake shape. Make a hole in the cupcake with the needle tool. Bake according to directions.
	When the cupcake bead is cool, paint some glossy sealer on the orange icing. Drizzle some micro beads on the icing while the sealer is still wet. Allow to dry.
	I chose an orange accent bead and stacked a tiny green bead on that to make a little pumpkin dangle. Cut a 4" piece of wire. Fold 1/2" over the round nose pliers to form a loop. Slide the dangle onto the loop.
	Slide the folded wire into the cupcake bead from the bottom up.
	Add the eyeball bead.fold the wire over, just above the eyeball bead and make another loop. Slide the loop on the lanyard clip.
	Wrap the wire tail around just below the loop to secure it. Click here for detailed photos of the wire wrapping techniques described in this tutorial.

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 17 - Day of the Dead Cameo

Yea! It's day 17 of Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop!   This has been so much fun, hopping and commenting AND I thank everyone for the awesome comments you've give me! 

Dia de los Muertos. or Day of the Dead, is a wonderful, colorful celebration of life. In the days of celebrating, people groom the gravestones of loved ones, hold candle light vigils, break bread and share memories.
The skull is a symbol of loved ones passed and is loved, not feared. It can be a super fun decorated sugar skull that is made even more exciting if it has your name on it! It can be part of a vignette with whimsical skeletons portraying loved ones' occupations and family gatherings. 
My shrink plastic sugar skull sits atop a piece of polymer clay mounted on a cardboard pendant.

Materials:
Cardboard - a cereal box or something similar will work
Aleene's Turbo Tacky Glue
Die cutting machine
Sizzix Frame and Flower die
Black paint
Inka Gold metallic paste - Copper
Shrink plastic - white
Martha Stewart Skull Punch
Permanent markers - fuchsia, purple, blue, orange, lime green and black
Polymer clay - a small amount of black
Clear gloss sealer

	I used Sizzix Frame and Sculpted Flower die to cut 3 frame pieces from cardboard.
	Glue all 3 pieces together and allow them to dry. Paint the cardboard with black acrylic paint and allowed it to dry. I used my fingers to apply a thin layer of the copper paste so that some black showed through.
	Condition a small amount of black clay.
	Click here to see how I made the sugar skulls The skull had a hole in the top to put a jump ring in. I chose to cover it with a tiny gem. Form the clay into an oval that fits inside of your frame and is big enough to put the sugar skull on. Bake the clay as directed.
	Cover the black backing with clear glossy sealer and set the skull in it. Add a bit more sealer on the skull. I can't wait to make this into a necklace!

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 16 - Wicked Wire Wrapping

Eeek! It's day 16 of Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop!   This has been so much fun, hopping and commenting AND I thank everyone for the awesome comments you've give me! 
 So you made Halloween Doughnut Beads, now what? Now we make them into earrings! This is basic wire wrapping! Yea! Go grab some wire, some head pins and pliers and let's get to making!

Material: Beads - any beads will do, but this will cover a double holed bead like these doughnuts
20 gauge wire
Head pins
Assorted beads
Round nose pliers
Chain nose pliers
Wire cutters

	You don't want to see a wire in the center of the doughnut beads, so you'll want to begin with 2 head pins and thread them from the center out. The wire tails need to be rounded to thread this way.
	This is how it should look with both head pins in place.
	Grab on wire tail and wrap it around the round nose pliers to form a loop.
	Wrap the rest of the tail around itself below the loop 2 or 3 times. Use the chain nose pliers to grab the wire end while the round nose pliers are still in the loop.Trim off excess.
	Try different combinations of beads until you get the look you want.
	Repeat the loop on the other side of the doughnut, but don't close it.Make a loop on the top of the beaded head pin and close it by wrapping the tail around under the loop as above.
	Slide the closed loop of the dangle on the open loop at the bottom of the doughnut.
	Close the last loop as above.
	We'll do the ear wires in another post.

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 15 - Steampunk Bat Neclace

Eeek! It's day 15 of Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween! I am having so much fun! This is my project for this week's show. It's the Halloween show, of course! Be sure to check out all the projects for the show - they're so inspiring! Cool2Craft.com Featured on Cool2Craft TV.  Blog Hop!  This has been so much fun, hopping and commenting AND I thank everyone for the awesome comments you've give me! 


Materials:
Aleene's Super Thick Tacky Glue
Craft foam - I used black, but any color would work
Pen or pencil to trace pattern
Metallic paste - copper
Washers - No larger than 1/3" wide Nuts - no larger than 1/4"
Scissors
Bead for one eye - should fit into the center of the washer Tiny bead cap for the other eye - it needs to fit next to the washer on the bat's face
Craft knife
 Hole punch - 1/8"
String or ribbon Wire - I used 20 gauge, but most any size will work
 Bat Necklace Template

1.Cut out the bat necklace template, trace on the foam and cut out.

2. Cut the gray areas out of the paper bat, keeping the head and body as one piece. Trace all the pieces on the foam and cut out.

 3. Cut out the head on the paper bat, trace on the foam and cut out.

 4. Rub copper paste on the foam pieces. Do a tiny bit at a time. You can add more if you desire.

 5. Cut a tiny "x" on one side of the individual bat head. Cut just large enough for the eye bead.

6. Place a tiny drop of glue on the cut "x" and push the bead in.

7. Glue all the foam pieces in place. **You may want to cut the ears off the whole bat piece and the body with head piece, if they don't line up with the individual head piece**

8. Punch holes just to the outsides of outer foam triangles.

9. Glue the metal pieces according to the photo above, making sure to glue the outer metal pieces over the holes. Allow to dry

10. Thread string through the holes. Tie knots and wrap the wire around the string tails and trim off excess.

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 3 - Halloween Hand Soap

It's day 3 of Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop! 
Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

Here's an easy Halloween upcycle project - Eye of newt hand soap! Dig out you favorite Halloween papers, and embellishments and create a one of a kind home accent!

Materials:
Soap pump bottle
Aleene's Collage Paudge Matte or Glossy
Decorative paper
Halloween ephemera
Gems
Paint brush
Scissors

	Remove the label from a soap pump. Measure the bottle and cut decorative paper to go all the way around. Paint the bottle and the back of the paper with Collage Paudge and attach the paper. Immediately coat the outside of the paper with the collage medium. If your bottle is not straight up and down you may have to do some clipping an overlapping. Smooth as much as possible.
	Add paper embellishments in the same way. I wanted the bat wing to stand out, so I coated the back of it to seal it.
	Glue on the rest of the embellishments and allow to dry.

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 2 - Monster Football

 Day 2 of Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop!
Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

Here's a Halloween project for the kids - A paper football built around a set of vampire teeth that they can paint and glue faces on and will hold up to rough play!

My oldest kidlet (my brother's grand kids) is 11 and the youngest is 6. We recently started having one party a month where one kidlet gets to pick the theme, help with the invitations, plan the meal and come up with a craft. We drew names to see who got which month.

Stevie had the month of September. He couldn't decide between a football theme or a monster theme, hence the monster football.

My daughter and I put the balls together in about an hour and the only thing I had to buy was the teeth, so this is a pretty economical project.

Materials:

• Plastic vampire teeth - the cheap kind with upper and lower teeth connected
• Hot glue
• Felt in various colors
• Lots of cheap masking tape - painter's tape won't stick when you start painting recycled paper Scissors

	I started with teeth and red felt. I traced around the teeth on the felt leaving 1 1/2" on both sides. The side pieces are 1" and you can see I've marked the center for cutting. Glue the upper and lower curves of the felt to the inside of the teeth.  Cut the side pieces as marked. Fold the pieces over the sides of the teeth and glue in place.
	Cut a strip of felt to fit all the way around the outside of the teeth with the teeth partially closed. Glue in place.
	You can see that the mouth is secured here and can't open any more than this.
	Begin building the paper football around the mouth, securing the first piece with glue. I used recycled packing paper, but anything will do.
	Tape down every layer of bunched paper with tape, but not this blue tape as it's designed to come off easily and you don't want that for this project. Shape as you go.
	This is as far as my daughter and I went. The kids got to paint it before dinner, then design the lips, eyes and stripes from felt. I did the gluing, because my new hot glue gun is way hot!
	After we were done, my brother and I went outside to be the ghoulposts for the kids. It was a hoot!

Stevie is demonstrating his scary football face! Eeek! Too much fun!

31 Days of Halloween - Kick off!

Happy first day of October and the awesome 31 Days of October Blog Hop! 

Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

 

You won't believe how easy it is to make this delicious mailable cake art!

Part 1 - Carve and paint a sponge to look just like cake, then attach a post card

Part 2 - Frost your cake mail with painter's caulk and add Halloween bling

Come back tomorrow for another Halloween treat!  Moohoooaahahah!


Materials:
Aleene's Super Thick Tacky Glue
Large sponge
Painter's caulk
Card stock
Acrylic paint
Paint brush
Craft knife
Plastic disposable pastry bags  - sandwich bags are not strong enough for this
Embellishments
1. Cut sponge into wedges/cake slice shapes.
2. Cut a slot down the center of one side, horizontally and cut away the sponge in the slot.
3. Paint the sponge and allow to dry.
4. Cut card stock to the size of one side of the cake and glue on.
5. Squeeze caulk into a disposable pastry bag, tie the end off with a baggie tie and snip off the tip.
6. Squeeze the caulk  into the slot on the side and all over the top and back of the cake.
7. Add embellishments to the icing.
8. Allow to dry until the caulk is hard.  That may take a few days.