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Welcome

I love answering your questions. If you ask them in the comment section, I have no way to answer you (if you haven't heard from me, that is why). If you use the "EMAIL ME" in the left column of this page, I will be able to respond to you. You can also use it if you want to be added to my newsletter. Laura

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

FREE POTION DOMINO BOOK/ BOTTLE IMAGES - MY HALLOWEEN TREAT FOR YOU

It’s become an annual tradition to treat all my followers to a FREE Halloween-themed collage sheet.  This year it’s domino book covers (you can use them inside Domino too), or you could use them as bottle labels.  Feel free to download this sheet and use it in your artwork.



HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Monday, October 30, 2017

CREEPY CHILDREN ATCs

These ATCs are cards I submitted for a Halloween swap hosted by AlphaStamps.  The base for the card consists of an ATC-sized piece of chipboard and a decorative frame.  The card and frameset are available in three designs.  I used the Dragon Arch and the Wrought Iron designs.  The images of children can be found on the Little Imps and the Little Darlings Collage Sheets.  The original images are in black and white, so I colorized them to make them creepier.

VAMPIRE
The chipboard arch is stippled with various shades of grey, going from dark to light, to create the appearance of the stone.  The fence and tombstones are printed on decorative paper, and the tree is a rub-on transfer.
I added a tombstone with dripping blood (paint) and a creepy tree covered in black glitter.

I colored the boy's clothes, added the red circles and dots to his eyes, and the blood dripping from his mouth.  The final touch is dimensional felt bat stickers.


CREEPY DOLLS
In the background is paper with winter trees, the wrought iron frame is painted black, and the creepy tree is covered in black glitter.
I added a tombstone that says, "Beware of the Living Dead."   Behind the tombstone and the girl are creepy dolls to which I added red eyes.  The creep factor is enhanced by having the red eyes of the doll behind the tombstone peek through the tree branches. The doll images are from the Dolls in the Attic Collage Sheet.
I colored the girl's dress and face plus added cracks giving her the appearance of being a porcelain doll.


WEREWOLF
The frame on this card is sprayed with stone spray paint.  
Embellishments include a tombstone, a moon, glittered bats, a dimensional bat sticker, a creepy tree, and a crow.
I colored his jacket red and added fur to his face.  On the wire leash is his pet rat.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

THE HOUSE OF GHOSTS & THE GHOST QUEEN - NEW COLLAGE SHEETS & DIGITAL IMAGE SETS

When thinking about projects for this Halloween season, I realized that in the hundreds of Halloween pieces I’ve made, none of them are Ghost themed, so I’ve rectified that with 2 ghost-themed projects and new ghostly image sets.

THE HOUSE OF GHOSTS
On the edge of Grimsley Village is a crumbling brick house.  It’s had many residents during its life; some of which have died and now haunt the house.
The house is crumbling, with piles of bricks blocking the door and holes in the roof.
Two of the most famous ghosts are Sarah and James, seemingly lovely polite children.  Their parents employed a governess as they were frequently away.  Each time they returned from a trip, they would find the governess unwilling to continue.  The parents assumed the problem was the isolation of the house and the lack of adult conversation.  Upon returning from an unusually long absence, the parents discovered that the latest governess had fled, abandoning the children.  Oddly enough, she left all of her things behind, some of which looked like they were stained with blood.  
Next, there is Abigail, who had all but given up on finding her true love.  Then one day, unexpectedly she met Thomas; tall, handsome and witty, it was love at first sight.
On their wedding day, Abigail discovered that Thomas had fled with her maid of honor, Sarah.  In a fit of deep despair, she jumped from the roof of the House of Ghosts.   Thomas and his new bride Sarah moved into the house, but they weren’t alone as Abigail was waiting.  Thomas and Sarah were never seen again.






Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them die,
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie scared them away. 





You’ve been forewarned, enter the House of Ghosts, and you might be next.

The Details
The house is constructed using the Large Haunted House Frame Set.  
For the paper, I used Red Brick Wall Scrapbook Paper.  I cut some of the brick away and added bricks backed by chipboard to the base.  After gluing the paper to the house, I peeled away some of the bricks (cutting out the shape first with an X-Acto knife) to expose the chipboard beneath.
I used Hampton Brick scrapbook paper for the roof.  I then cut away sections, and in one of the cutaway areas, I added wooden skewers to simulate the roof framing.
At the top of the roof is a chipboard Bat Border which I painted with a combination of grey, red, and orange acrylic paint.
The ghosts are from my new Ghosts in Abandoned Rooms collage sheet, and the picture frames are from my Shabby Architecture collage sheet.

THE GHOST QUEEN
This project was inspired by a poem I wrote and the Dark Hollow 12 x 12 Collection Kit.

The Ghost Queen
The ghost queen walks amongst the toppled headstones.

Her steps make no sound save for the rustling of dead leaves as all in her path wither.

She is unchanging and unforgiving; time weighs heavy on her stagnant heart.

A cold wind brings shape to the mist revealing the others.

Bound to the earth by bonds of their own making, floating on a sea of endless sorrow, the silent procession reaches the hollow.

She watches as the barrier dissolves, a barrier no thicker than the silk from a spider’s web, a moment when life and death merge into one.

She reaches out to touch the past.

Too quickly, a bright moon rises, melting the mist and lifting the darkness.

She fades away with a sigh and a whisper as one cycle ends, and another begins.

I decided to illustrate the poem using a simple accordion fold book.
To decorate the cover, I used an 8” creepy tree cut in half (I used the other half later in the book) covered with Raven Iridescent Glitter.
To make the crown, I first braided some leather cording to serve as the base.  Next, I attached Clear Mini Icicle Ornaments, Twisted Leaf Charms, and branches from a 6” chipboard tree (I used other pieces of the tree to decorate other pages) covered with more of the raven glitter.  I also use the silver metal triangular charms from my stash.
Inside the book are four pages that illustrate each section of the poem.
The ghosts are from my Ghosts digital image set.  There are several isolated semitransparent ghosts in the image set, which I printed on the Dark Hollow papers.
I decided to make a chipboard template the size of the pages (5" x 7") to use in selecting which part of the 12" x 12" paper I wanted to use.
 
I marked and cut out the section, ran the paper through my printer, and printed the ghosts onto the paper.
Another way to use the ghosts is to print them on vellum or transparency film.


NEW COLLAGE SHEETS & DIGITAL IMAGE SET
To complement these projects, I’ve created 5 new collage sheets and 2 digital image sets.

GHOSTS IN ABANDONED ROOMS  
This sheet contains 8 ATC-sized interior backgrounds haunted by ghosts.  In addition to using them as an ATC, they could also be used behind a window.

GHOSTS
This sheet contains 8 ATC-sized backgrounds haunted by ghosts.  In addition to using them as an ATC, they could also be used behind a window.

GHOST IN THE WINDOW 
You’ll find all kinds of shabby windows with interior ghost screens on this sheet.  They would work well for either the Large Haunted House Frame Set or the Large Haunted House Shadowbox Set.  The background images and the ghost in the windows would work well for any of the Grimsley Village haunted houses.
These are sized for the Large Haunted House Shadowbox Frame Set or the Large Haunted House Frame Set but would also work well for any of the Grimsley Village houses.  Some of the windows are duplicated so that you can make the windows on the haunted house symmetrical.
These are sized for the Large Haunted House Shadowbox Frame Set or the Large Haunted House Frame Set but would also work well for any of the Grimsley Village houses.  Some of the windows are duplicated so that you can make the windows on the haunted house symmetrical.

This set contains all of the images from the Shabby Architecture #1 & #2 collage sheets, plus 6 more images for a total of  27 images.  These are sized for the Large Haunted House Shadowbox Frame Set or the Large Haunted House Frame Set but would also work well for any of the Grimsley Village houses.
This set contains all of the images from the Ghosts, Ghosts in Abandoned Rooms & Ghost in the Windows collage sheets.  In addition, there are 13 additional isolated ghosts, for a total of 43 images. 

The isolated ghosts can be printed on patterned background paper (as I did for this project), transparency film, or vellum.

The 16 background images are ATC-sized and work well behind windows.  The 14 Ghost in the Windows sheet would work well for either the Large Haunted House Frame Set or the Large Haunted House Shadowbox Set.  The background images and the ghost in the windows would work well for any of the Grimsley Village haunted houses.