FYI...Halloween Has Been Rescheduled...

I know...I know...weird, right?  Who moved Halloween?  Ok, maybe it wasn't moved - maybe it's just me & I decided to buy a bunch of weird things all at one time.  What can I say - they were on sale & I thought they were cool so I got 'em to use for something.  Don't exactly have a plan...but it'll come to me...just give me a little time...          
So, look at all the crazy stuff!


All this came from Retro Art Cafe.  I was looking for the perfect skull stencil, got sucked into their site &, well, this is what happened.  I found the stencil I was looking for & a whole lot more that I didn't know I wanted, but once I saw it decided that I couldn't live without it.  All the skulls!  All the skeletons!  All the dragons!  I mean, honestly, who buys just one of these?  That's just crazy!


I sat down & tried the stencils out immediately - big fan of instant gratification.  Check out the skull stencil - love it!

Bigger than I thought it would be, but looks exactly like I wanted.  The skull, rib cage & moth stencils are all made from oil board.  This is the first time I've bought oil board stencils - all my others are plastic or mylar.  I'm not too sure about how long these are going to last or hold up since I also use them with soft gel gloss to texturize.

 Here's the moth made with soft gel gloss & some Art Alchemy Micro Beads sprinkled on top just to see what it'd look like & what would happen with the stencil.

The gel wiped right off so I guess I'm ok there.  I'm still considering spraying them with a protective coating just to be on the safe side.

All the chipboard pieces that I ordered - the dragons, scroll work, antlers - came still attached to the chipboard it had been cut from which was great because, once I punched out the pieces I wanted, I had a new stencil!  These definitely need a protective coating or they aren't going to last too terribly long.  I love that fact that I got a 2 for 1 deal here.  Now I've got more dragons to play with & who wouldn't like that?!

My favorite thing that I got was the crow skull cameo.  It was just perfect for a little goth/steampunk crossover cuff bracelet - my new favorite piece of jewelry.  Whatcha think?

The Banishment of Boring Beige

For months, I kept looking over & seeing my beige filing cabinet in my studio.  Beige - is there any worse color than beige?  If black is the absence of  all color, then beige is the a absence of all personality.  My idea of hell is a world where everything is beige - well, one version of it anyway.  Can you tell I feel a little strongly on the subject?  So what was I doing with a beige filing cabinet in, of all places, my studio?  It was wrong...just so very wrong...

The first thing I did was spray paint it red.

The color came out brighter than I thought & wasn't exactly what I was looking for.  I also did a horrible job, partly because I didn't know what I was doing & partly because I didn't have the patience to figure out how to do the job right before I started.  That was ok though because I was pretty certain I wasn't going to be happy with just throwing a coat of paint on it.

Next, I pulled out my currently favorite stamp - the death's head moth.  This stamp is so cool - can you see the little skull?

 I got a whole squadron of moths going on, but I felt like it was still lacking.

Now, I'm not a big fan of subtly in my art - I like a lot of color & texture.  I also like the grungy look - lots of drips, drops, splatters, seemingly random marks  - so I got out more paint & more stamps, a stencil or two & a lot more color.  I spent the morning bringing some personality to my deadly dull filing cabinet & dancing around to some good, ole vintage rock 'n roll (which was not vintage when I first heard it) - AD/DC, Def Leppard, Aerosmith, Boston, Kansas, Cheap Trick, Foreigner.  Ahh, the classics!  Art & awesome music - sheer bliss & I was a very happy soul!





And this is where it ended - at least for now.  Much, much better & something that looks like it might actually belong in an artist's studio.

So, what do you think?  Vast improvement or something that makes your eyes cross when you look at it?