I'd Like to Introduce You to Scytale

This is Scytale. He is a confused little monster, really. You see, he was wandering around the neighborhood and he noticed that all of the people were wearing fun costumes!




Some had taken on the form of pirates, and some of witches, and some of ghosts or goblins much like himself! Well! This looked like fun! But who would he become???




He saw that they were wearing different outfits and holding treat bags and such, so he set out to find a good outfit and a treat bag! That is when he saw here! A bouncy little girl wearing a little pink fluffy thing that looked like an interesting outfit and she had a great treat bag and everything!




Well, he decided THAT was the one for him! Soooo....welll...... (I did mention the whole demon/monster/goblin thing, right? Just say'n.)




He took it. He took all of it. And he wasn't sure why she wasn't giving it all to him, so he sort of .... ummm.... well.....

AND THEN! He noticed that most people had different faces, too! Yes, indeed, they had taken on the faces of those they were dressed to be....




....so he stole her face, too.

WELL!!! I told you he was a confused monster! He thought that's how all the others had obtained their new faces, so...naturally, he used his skills to simply remove the face of the little girl so he could wear it! Yup. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Just say'n.




And there he was...ready to go. New clothes, new treat bag...new face. And he watched as the children extended their hands and were given treats, so he did the same - extended his one hand...




...while clutching his new face in the other.




He was sad when the people screamed and ran away. He didn't understand why, seeing as he had gone through all the effort of doing things the way they do them!




...But, alas, he turned and walked away...watching the festivities from a safe distance.

P.S. If you know where his name came from, I'm impressed!
P.S.S. Supplies: Polymer clay for the hands and feet. Wire armature, taped, and covered with batting and then wrapped with walnut ink stained strips of muslin. Tulle and ribbon for the tutu. The clay is alcohol inked to give it the coloring and painted where needed with acrylic paints. The bag is stitched from Moda cloth with a stamped pumpkin (Scrolls Work)on the front. The crown is cut with Sally the Cricut and covered in glitter.

Observation of the Day: I need more Steampunk in my life. Just say'n.

I love the Steampunk style, but for some reason creating in it is a bit intimidating. Quite frankly, that is silly because it suits me really well.

Last night I had one of those nights - you know, where you know you should go to bed so you do and then you abruptly pop out of bed a few restless minutes later causing one dog to jump out of her skin and the other to sigh, annoyed that you have disturbed her comfy position on the bed. You know...one of THOSE nights. Why did I pop out of bed? Because I HAD to make something. It simply HAD to be done. And it had to be with this stamp.

This is Flight of Frank from Scrolls Work Stamps. Yup. I pretty much love this stamp. And now that I have inked it and used it. I pretty much love it even more!



*sigh* Happy Frank. He's flying. I love flying. I want to fly. You may have noticed that a lot of my art steers in the flying direction....*sigh*. Love it.



I also incorporated the Cog Set from Scrolls Work into this card. To create that sort of weathered look I stamped them in gold pigment ink and then embossed with a copper ultra-thick embossing powder. Using only one coat of UTEE allowed for there to be some minor cracks and then I bent the paper to add some more distressing. I love the slightly aged look that resulted!



And...just in case you are curious, Frank is flying over London at the moment. Just say'n.

And now, my friends, I feel a desperate need to go buy lots of fun cogs and doo-hickeys of various kinds because I REALLY love Steampunk. Just say'n.

I am joining the following parties:

What's on Your Workspace Wednesday? A DOLL!!! And lots of other stuff...as per usual...

This is my desk as of this morning. (Well, taken last night, but nothing has moved, I promise.) I have another doll in the works, which is pretty exciting, considering I am just finishing up another one. I love making dolls! They are just too fun! This one, if all goes well, will be a witch of some sort. She may end up green. I'm leaning in that direction, actually. I am working on a skirt for her and basically just playing around and having a bit of fun!

You can also see the plastic pumpkins that I plan to create fabulousness with very soon! I bought some Rigid-Wrap for the first time and I can't wait to play with it on these pumpkins!!!!



I got my hands on a couple of these fabulous little bird cages from Mike's! They are totally in the dollar section!!! I saw a couple other artists creating with them and decided that I needed some, so off I went! I am excited to use them! At least one is totally going to have a little fairy in it! Just say'n!



Also gracing my desk this week is a stack of fabulous fabric! HAPPY MAIL!!! Yup, this lovely stack came all the way from Israel! It all came from the FABULOUS Carmel and I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

So, there is this week's peek into my studio! What do you think? Leave a comment! They make me smile!

For more workspace coolness check out The Stamping Ground!

It's the MOST Wonderful Tiiiiime of the Yeeeeeaaarrr...... {Wordless Wednesday}

For REALS! I love having candy everywhere all the time! It's pretty happy making. Just say'n.

For More Wordless Wednesday (or not so much...) posts check here and here!

You've Been Boo'd!!! (SSD #45)

Have you ever deleted an entire post? It is a sad thing to do. Just say'n.

Okay, now onto the fun stuff. Have you ever done the whole 'Boo' thing? Have you ever HEARD of the whole 'Boo' thing? Well, let me share because it is wicked crazy fun and you should know about it! Basically, you create a treat - big or small- whatever suits your fancy - and then attach a nifty little poem that says something to the effect of 'someone likes you and so they are giving you this treat, now copy this poem and pass it on.' Okay...so the poem should be *slight* more eloquent than that, maybe, but THAT, my dear friends, is why Skipping Stones Design rocks so much! You see, they have kindly created a stamp set that is JUST FOR THIS VERY THING! I mean, of course you can use if for lots of other stuff, too, but it is AWESOME for creating boo treats!



Here are the pieces I created using the awesome new stamp set! LOVE! I used American Crafts cardstock as my base and then layered a random stamped circle over the Rusty Pickle Thriller patterned paper. I love the spooky designs in this paper line!



I added a black strip across the circle with the little Boo poem and then finished off the card with some black organza CTMH ribbon and a stamped hat that I colored with Prismacolor markers and finished with Liquid Glass. It looks SO neat in person!



For the treat topper, I used all coordinating papers and such and stamped the ghost from the SSD set to pop off. And...I would like to state on record that all candy that you see in this treat bag that I created over the weekend is STILL in that bag with the staples secured. That's pretty amazing. At least with me around. Just say'n.



So head on over to Skipping Stones to check out the new set AND get the great news about the Blogs for Boobies event! And don't forget to check out what the other stamp tramps created!

Kandi Phillips
Amy Tsuruta
Ann Kranitz
Barb Turpin
Brenda Weaver
Gladys Chia
Jennifer Ingle (That's me!)
Tammie Beaton
Wendy Jordan

Today I am linking with the following parties:

Some Notes To Some Folks and Classroom Posters

It's a cloudy, rainy, Monday here in Massachusetts. And, as it would seem, it is likely going to be a cloudy, rainy WEEK here in Massachusetts. Hmmm...I like the sun. Just say'n.

BUT...I did get some crafting done over the weekend. The problem is that I worked on my World Card Making Day stuff, which I posted on Saturday...and then I worked on a doll, which is not yet finished, and then I worked on my Skipping Stones DT stuff, which I can't post until tomorrow. Hmmmm...lots of fun stuff, none ready to post today...That means, FUN STUFF TODAY!!!!! (Well, that's all fun stuff, too. Actually, everything I post is fun if you ask me, sooooo.....hmmmm...yeah, well, anyway...moving on.)

Dear Dairy Queen,

Why do you make me hug your food? No. For reals, here, people. You put the combo meals in those convenient little boxes and then slide two boxes into a paper bag for take out. All well in good, in theory, however, because I can't carry the bag upright without all of the food sliding to the end of the boxes and getting all mixed up and squooshed and such, I have to essentially 'hug' the bag to keep it in it's right and proper position. Is this a marketing ploy? 'Cause it's a pretty funny one if it is. Just say'n.

Dear Buffy,

Thank you for making a cool, cloudy weekend more bearable. Oh, and tell Hulu thanks for having your entire series available. Just say'n.

Dear Monday,

We are not friends. Just say'n.

Dear Mary Engelbreit Planner,

Thank you for making me smile with your adorableness. The bird cage on this week's page is my favorite. Just say'n.

Dear Hubbums,

Thank you for being interested in my hobbies and supporting me and even asking me to make stuff for your classroom. Thank you for going on those lovely trips to Michael's that you *love* so much and for paying separately so I can use coupons to the max. You rock. Just say'n.

AND....for those wondering what I have made for his classroom, well, I have those to show you today. They aren't super fancy, but they work well for a middle school Social Studies room. He has them get news stories each day and so he wanted simple definition posters to put on each of the four computers they use to get the news. Here they are!









Aren't they fun? I mean, they aren't like the most glorious scrapbook pages ever or anything, but for their purpose I think they are perfect! AND...what is better, is that the lesson is working and kids are reading the news and sharing it!

I hope you have an awesome Monday!

It's World Card Making Day!!!!

Yup! Today is officially World Card Making Day!!! (No...really....click the link, folks. I don't make this stuff up!)

And that means LOTS of fun happy cardness!!!! Today I am participating in a blog hop with Skipping Stones Design 'cause, well, we like to stamp and stuff and stamping and card making are like Nutella and Vanilla ice cream! (For REALS...have you ever tried that? It's freaking amazing. No...really. You just put a tablespoon or so on top of your ice cream and mix it in....HOLY YUM!)

Oh...sorry....we were talking about cards and stuff, huh? Okay, so on to the fun of the HOP!!!!

Hopefully you are starting RIGHT HERE on my blog! (Well, you may have come from Skipping Stones Design, too. Either one works!)



Here is my super fun card! I love HUGE ribbon bows! I really do. They are just too fun! Plus, this one totally inspired a hair clip that I know MUST make this weekend! HA! I used the Friendly Fruit set from SSD along with some super cute papers from Pink Paislee!



I accented with the giant bow, some super fun lime green buttons, and Liquid Glass.

And...because it is World Card Making Day, I went and made ANOTHER super fun card using Scrolls Work Stamps!



For this one I used multiple layers of different textured papers. I started with cardstock and patterned paper (Graphic45) and then layered some kraft tissue over the black panel and the really light paper is actually tea bag paper. I just dumped out the tea after it was used and dried the paper out! It comes tea dyed and EVERYTHING! LOL!



I love how well the images stamped on the tea bag paper! The images are from the Costumes set from Scrolls Work.



This one is finished off with a key hole from Tim Holtz. I love the way this piece anchors the design so well!

So, those are my cards for today! I hope you get a chance to create something fabulous today and I hope you have SUPER TONS OF WICKED LOTS OF FUN hopping around and checking out the WCMD posts out there!

Your next stop on the Skipping Stones Blog Hop is Wendy's blog!

Leave a comment and let me know you stopped by! They make my day!