Resurrection

 BOO!!

Ok Ok Ok. Yes it's me, Croms, again. After a long while away from here and just doing bits and bobs in the crafting field, I've decided to resurrect my blog again.

So much has happened in the last months!! Not only world wide with the awful pandemic that has swept through all our lives affecting everyone to some degree. From lock downs when we've been isolated in our homes to those unfortunate people that actually contracted the virus and the many very brave people that helped to relieve their suffering. There have also been a vast number of people that have worked on throughout from home (myself included) and in their workplaces (eg shops), trying to keep the countries' infrastructure going. I don't think there is one person that hasn't been affected in some way. 2020 will certainly have it's place in infamous history. I have been made a Nana once more, now boasting four gorgeous Grandchildren. Josh was born in July to my beautiful daughter and his big sister Emily is besotted - so far! 

It's mainly because of the impending Grandson that the majority of my crafting was focused on the  "pretty"  and "normal" - a far cry from the styles I tend to be drawn to. I made a memory book of course for my daughter to store her memories of Josh' first months.  There have been handmade birthday pressies for close friends.

There have been a number of gifts made for our heroes of the pandemic - I was a part of just one Facebook group that contributed over a thousand thank you gifts for just some of the people that selflessly put themselves on the "frontline". 

So I have been kept busy in many ways.

Now it's time to get back to my roots in crafting and have some Real Me Time.

A few years ago, I was lucky to be on a few design teams that truly fired my passion for "The Dark Side". One of these was Smeared & Smudged.  After the closure of the Ning forum and the move to Facebook the group petered out. The trend was that fewer and fewer crafters were being drawn to the alternative genre and, sadly, the same old familiar faces started to disappear as well for various reasons. Now, out of the blue, Terra - one of the owners of Smeared and Smudged - has resurrected the old group. YAYYY!!!!! If you're interested please feel free to visit. SMEARED AND SMUDGED - THE RESURRECTION.

It's started with a little challenge - Make a piece using a stamped image with the theme "Resurrection". What else!!

So here, after all my waffling, is my contribution...

My trusty old camera seems to have died so have had to resort to using the camera on my tablet. 

The base unit on my piece is made from a coffin shaped MDF box from stash and a resin face. Covered with fabrics coated with powertex and varnished with pigments.

The Cross element is more MDF from stash. This was given a bit of Andy Skinner/Creative Expressions lava and strata pastes treatment. Then painted and washed with media paints

The stamped image is from Smeared Ink (Smeared & Smudged stamp company) set called "Fringe". Love this set!! A total of 6 images stamped, fussy cut and bits layered up to be a 3-D element coated with clear embossing powder. (I do have my UltraThick somewhere but it's in one of my "safe places" that is squirreled away)  Some homemade barbed wire to support the image emerging from the coffin.

So - my first, in a long while, visit to my roots of the Alternative. Just getting in practice again for the Halloween hop being organised. More news on this in the near future - Promise!!!