Quoth The Raven

I hardly know where to start on this post, except to say this little fat page book with ATCs as the main focus is dedicated to, what must be, one of the most well known poem of Mr E.A.Poe.

What was my project going to be for the challenge blog Quoth The Raven?
Choose 3 things from a list.....

RAVEN 

RIBBON

EDGAR ALLAN POE

LACE

SCARLET

METAL

STITCHING

FLOWERS

FEATHERS

SKULLS

CATS

THEN Rick St Dennis came out with these new digis!!  Mr Poe himself and a trio of ravens.
A light bulb came on. That was at some stupid o'clock when I was trying to sleep, always the way with me. A quick note to self, in case I forgot. Fast forward to the next day when I could get all my bits together. Stamps, colouring tools, card etc.
Are you sitting comfy? This post is picture heavy but I think you'll see why eventually.

The only items from the list that are still missing are the stitching and cats. There is room for them when made.

The cover of my little book was made up of a "tiled" image of the plain raven from Rick St Dennis. Available from his blog.

Printed onto white card but yellow, orange and red distress inks brushed on to colour.
This was folded in half and some black ribbon added as the closure.

The quote is taken from one of the other versions of the raven. Edgar is the other digi available in Rick's shop. Promarkers used to colour.

Inside we have 5 pages plus inside covers
Inside front

Candle Poe from Ike'sArt 

page 1

Raven, Poe and Skull with Roses from Rick St Dennis

Page 2

Quoth the Raven rubber from Smeared Ink

Link to digi set there but is available in rubber as part of the "Rubber Club"

Page 3

Free Your Imagination from Visible Image

Page 4

Quoth the Raven rubber from Smeared Ink

Link to digi set there but is available in rubber as part of the "Rubber Club"

Page 5

Writers Plate#20 from Cherry Pie Art Stamps

Inside back cover

A raven from Ike's Art

can't find this one in the shop but there are more to choose from.

I'd like to enter this little book into the challenge over at 

Quoth The Raven - Choose from a list (as above)

day 21 of the Smeared & Smudged 31 Days of Hallowe'en

The rules and details of all the fabulous sponsors that have generously donated prizes along the way can be found on Terra's Blog and of course on the Smeared and Smudged forum.
The blog list is still there in my right hand side bar - should you get lost.
Thank you all that have kept up with me so far. Your kind comments really make this epic task worth it all.
To those of you that are also blogging your projects as well as commenting - hats off to you. I don't know when you'd be sleeping, haha.

Yesterday I mentioned that I was slacking in making some fat book pages for my own amusement. For something other than a digital reminder of this fabulous blog hop organised again for the 4th year running by the Smeared and Smudged Forum.
 This 4"x4" fat book page is dedicated to the Master of Horror Tales. None other than E.A.Poe himself.

The raven is by Lost Coast Designs. The books/skull image is Cherry Pie. The "Nevermore" and "Quoth The Raven" text stamps are Smeared Ink. As is Mr Poe himself. Can you see him?

The ghostly apparition of the man himself.
Images stamped with memento ink with just one bit of masking. EAPoe image stamped with embossing ink and a slightly opaque powder. Black soot and barn door DI followed.
The pleated ribbon and feathers from stash.

Valerie is the very talented lady you will, no doubt have visited before me, and now is the turn of the beautiful blog of Sharon.

I am entering this page into the challenge over at
Quoth the Raven Challenges - Anything Poes
Fat Pages and Cards with Attitude - Halloween/Anything Goes

Smudgefest - Day 6

Nearly at the end of the week long Smudgefest over at Smudgy Antics.
Today's challenge

SATURDAY'S SONG!

Make an ATC based on these song lyrics:

Blackbird - Beatles
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

To qualify for the grand prize of $200 of Smeared Ink goodies - their stamps have to be used in the project. So far I have managed just that. After all - there are so many gorgeous stamps to choose from!!
So to today's effort from me.....

This is it closed
I tried to keep my inky fingers to a minimum  lol

and fully opened
I have used the Raven Wings from the Smeared Ink, Quoth the Raven stamp set to form the wings of the ATC.

I have also used one of the main images and the two ravens from the Holy City set. Again from Smeared Ink.

Other stamps used are from the Dark Boundaries plate 52 from Cherry Pie/De Stempelwinkel

I am entering this into the challenge over at
Smudgy Antics - Day 6 of the Smudgefest
ATCs and Cards with Attitude - Anything Goes
That Craft Place - Things With Wings
Sweet Stamping Challenges - Things With Wings
No Matter Which Challenges - Anything Goes
Stampalot Challenges - Take Flight

Annabel Lee

Annabel Lee was the last complete poem written by the Master Author, Edgar Allan Poe. It tells of a love so great, that when an untimely death befalls the beautiful Annabel Lee, the narrator's fate is that of a living death.
My project this week is a "meander book" made the same size as an ATC. Each page has one of the six verses and a picture that, I think, fits that verse. So a lot of pics. Are you sitting comfy?
The front cover
Pics taken from Moonlight Journey's Annabel Lee callage sheet. A home made lace and ribbon flower and some blood red gems and black pearls from stash.
The jade green cs to depict the sea and black satin ribbons to tie - from stash. All pages have been ink distressed with "stormy sky" DI. Each page also has black textured paper stuck to them.
Page 1 The image is from MirrorCradle.
Coloured with promarkers with chalks for the sea and sky












Page 2 Features one of the Symbology of Angels from Smeared Ink.

Again coloured with promarkers with a background of chalk.









Page 3
The background again from Moonlight Journey. The lady is from Ikesart coloured again with promarkers with a Cherry Pie stamp of Poe himself heat embossed in clear.









Page 4
This picture from Moonlight Journey, I felt, needed no extra embellishment.











Page 5
Just 2 more images that match the melancholy but also joined as the two lovers are joined.











Page 6
The ghost of the narrator as his love lies in her sepulchre.
Soot stamped image of EA Poe from the Quoth the Raven Set from Smeared Ink.









Back Page
This is the same image as on page 3. This time layered up with silicon glue to form a 3-D image and then covered with UTEE
















Did you last this long?

I am entering this into the challenge over at
Quoth the Raven - Annabel Lee
Haunted Design House - Love Lies Bleeding - Figurativly taken

Fat Book

I'm in the process of compiling a Fat Book. A page 4" x 4" with 1/2" for the binding.
These are 2 of the pages that I have done this week.
They just so happen to fit into a couple of challenges as well :)

The first features that little known poem by the Literary Master of the Macabre, Mr. Poe himself.


The poem is "Eldorado". For those that don't know it...

Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old-
This knight so bold-
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow-
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be-
This land of Eldorado?"

"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied-
"If you seek for Eldorado!"

Edgar Allan Poe

The paper is from Joanna Sheen. Slightly charred around the edges as a lot of old maps are. The image is from the "As Death" set from Smeared Ink. Coloured with promarkers and the chain was heat embossed to give it that extra volume. Then all mounted onto a pearlised gold piece of cardstock.

The second page features stamps from Smeared Ink and Cherry Pie. It was for the Rock 'n' Rolla challenge over at the Smeared and Smudged Forum. This month we were challenged to make a piece of artwork inspired by the song and video, The Lonely by Christina Perry.

This is the outcome from my craft area

So much masking done here. Most of it stamped using black memento ink. The "mesh" background (Quoth the Raven set) was stamped using weathered wood DI.

The challenges I am entering into are
The top fatbook page
Haunted Design House - Get Lost (Use a map)

The bottom fatbook page
Smeared and Smudged - Rock n Rolla Challenge

Quoth The Raven - Use a Likeness of the Master (I was hoping to doo another, but time cannot be bought)

E A Poe

Smudgy Antics Blog has a challenge this week. To make a "something" inspired by Poe and/or his works. Not that hard to do. Has to be stamped somewhere, either digi or rubber and the added bonus is that if a Smeared Ink stamp is used, the prize is the awesome DT creation made by Blackdragon!!!

Here's my humble offering... first time at altering a canvas!!!
Edit - Ike asked "how big?" It's 5"x7"

Three poems were at the front of my mind when creating this. "Annabel Lee", "A Dream Within a Dream", and that old faithful "The Raven"
Loads of different things and techniques used here and I really enjoyed it. It was daunting at first as all the tutorials I watched about transfering images to canvas used "gel medium". What to use? I tried gesso. It WORKED.... yayyyy.
I used images from Moonlight Journey as a starting point, printed onto thin card, (I find the print quality is better). I applied a coat of white gesso to the canvas and, when still wet, burnished the images on - then went to bed so that I wouldn't be tempted to "see how it's doing". The testing time - wet the card and gently rub it away. The images are set in the gesso.
Some soot stamping of the angel from Smeared Ink and some Poe quotes from the writers plate from Cherry Pie. I also heat embossed the angel with a slightly opaque powder. These were applied using matt mod podge after heat embossing images of the man himself from that Cherry Pie plate in the bottom left and between the images top right using the same opaque powder. This gives it the slightly ghostly look I like. Next comes the stamping onto tissue paper. Using the "nevermore" quote and skull/books stamp from Cherry Pie again and some gravestones and ravens from Smeared Ink. These were applied using more mod podge.
When it was all dry, I applied a final coat of modpodge to seal.
I made a few lace flowers and stuck on with pinflair glue gel.
All I need to do now is a frame.
That's for another day.

I am entering this into the challenge over on
Smudgy Antics - Poe Me
Samuel Taylors Crafts - Anything Goes - some fab items for one lucky person

Splat!!

I copied this direction direct from Haunted Design House as this project was made specifically with this in mind

"Out! Out, damn spot!"

You are to create a dark, Gothic, or Halloween-based art piece

that is covered in spatter, splatter, drips or drops.
It doesn't have to be bloody. There are plenty of other creepy,
drippy, gooey, and oozing things that can go SPLAT!

Well, as luck would have it, I got my grab bag from a win over at Smeared Ink's forum, Smeared and Smudged. In it was this great splatter stamp. It so took the hard work out of creating a splatter in the short time I've had this weekend. I have been put in charge of the "Dark Art Forum" over at Stampin' Dymonz' Scrap Shack and I have used this as this weeks piece.
For this project I inked up some glossy card stock with bright red ink and darkened one side with black for a contrast. Covered it all with candle soot and then used the splatter stamp on both colours. Set with hairspray in the absence of silicon spray. (for full details see Splitcoast Stampers). When this was dry, the edges were given an MS makeover with the drippy goo punch. Then came the heat embossed images from Cherry Pie.


Stuck into my art journal after more heat embossing of a few words written by me
A few closeups...

I am entering this into the challenge over at
Haunted Design House - Out Damned Spot #99 - Their challenge inspired this

Tim x 10 Grand Give-A-Way Challenge: Day Two

Yep, that prize is getting closer to being in someones crafty space. Over at Stampin' Dymonz Creative Space the challenge for day two is to make a tag using a masking technique. Today's theme is "Busy Bees" and your design must incorporate bees in the layout. The tag must also have some type of sheen/shimmer.
Well, I'm all out of "bee" items. The one piece of craftyness stash which have bees on it has gone walkies. So I substituted a quote "To Be Or Not To Be" stamp. Close.
The Tag itself was masked off around the outside with post-it notes, and using distress inks, I sponged mustard seed, rusty hinge, barndoor and spiced marmalade in the "hole". {Original idea from Craft Stamper (October Issue - Designer Joanne Wardle)} The stamp is a friends I borrowed, this was stamped on the tag with forest moss DI. The little quote is from a set from Cherry Pie, Plate 20, writers.
The swirl has been created by masking the tag with the offcut from a swirl die cut and sprayed with copper glimmer mist.
All finished off with some twine matching the colours of inks used.

Nevermore

My latest inky fingers are as a result of this.........
It started out trying a technique that my friend Kathy K over on Craft Mad and Loving it highlighted. She calls it a "post-it-note tutorial". Well after just the one inking after masking on white set me to thinking..... I wonder...... So began a marathon session of masking and inking.
I wanted to depict the broken man of the poem "The Raven".
I only used two colour distress inks for the middle green section.... Antique Linen and Forest Moss. The last few verses of the poem "The Raven" were printed in tiny font. The card was then trimmed to a shape similar to the inked sections and stuck onto some dark cream card that I had already used the antique linen ink on. I felt it needed more. So using black instead of green started masking and inking again. Now that looked better!!!
Now to use my stamps that were sitting waiting patiently for me. The "Poe", "Nevermore" and "leave my loneliness unbroken" stamps are from CherryPie. The grave stone and the other raven images are from SmearedInk "Holy City" range. Final touch were a few feathers stuck into a couple of black beads and a broken heart that I drew onto shrink plastic and attached.
This was all then attached to some deep red and then black cardstock.
It is destined as a picture but the frame I had in mind has been broken beyond repair. Need to go looking for stuff to make another.
Hope you like looking as much as I enjoyed making.

I am entering this into the Haunted Design House challenge this week for their "Freakers-Free-For All". Also into the 2Sisters Challenge for No Designer Paper and I Did It Creations Challenge for make your own charm .... the broken heart. Lexi's Creations are having an "Anything Goes" challenge this week so am also entering this little piece in there as well.