Since the stores have Halloween witches and skulls right beside Santa and Christmas trees, why should I not get in on the band wagon. Personally I think it's stupid and money hungry to put Christmas stuff up before Rembrance Day. I grew up not seeing anything Christmas until after November 11th but now it seems to get earlier and earlier which sucks. So what have I done? I am showing you a Halloween card and a Christmas card.
Doggie Stamp, witches hat, pumpkin, star and saying stamp. Black dye ink, gold dye ink, gold glitter embossing powder, gambow markers, pastels, die cut, sizzex machine.
Neighbours, across our street, have been so nice bringing bones for our Wallace so I made a Halloween thank you card for them and used the dog image since they have a black lab. I tried to combine the fusion challenge by using the sketch but also having the pumpkin, black background and stars which is from their photo. I took orange chalk a rubbed the color, using cotton swabs around the doggy. I stamped the pumpkin and witches hat and fussy cut them out. I coloured the pumpkin in gamsol pencils and the hat, |I used tombow markers. I placed the doggie on the black background and added the hat on top of her head. I used pop up dots to bring the pumpkin out. I stamped the stars and saying in gold and embossed it with this antique sparkle gold powder. I have to start sending out some Halloween cards.
Angel and saying stamp, Black embossing dye ink, sparkle black embossing powder, Star stickers, black marker, gems, different card stock. Tombow markers
I love angels and am not sure why but I always find them beautiful and peaceful looking. Over at Christmas Crafts All Year Round, They have Angels or Nativity which is right up my alley. I love this Angel stamp I have and stamped her on white cardstock and embossed her in the black glitter embossing powder. I took the different papers and layered everything. I used pop up dots for the angel to look 3D. I stamped the saying in the same black and used the same black embossing powder for extra glitter. I added the stars that I coloured in black and the gems.
Are you sick of all the merchandise being placed out so early? Do you still dress up for Halloween, like I do, to hand out candy? What is your favourite Christmas image? Angels, Trees, Santa, Snowmen, Newt Gingrich...sorry he would be more for Halloween.
I have had more jumps in my seat than I can think of except now I can’t think of many at all. Wait, I think that sounds slightly suggestive:). I am talking about scary movies and I will be curious to see what everyone will choose as their 3 "jump out of their seat" moments. I will be very curious if Joel has any. I suggest to head on over to Wandering Through The Shelves to see what everyone has chosen. Here are my 3...
1. THEM-1954
It starts off where this little girl, after witnessing something scary, can’t say anything until, while in the hospital, she screams...”THEM!!!” James Whitmore plays the cop who is trying to find out what is going on. This is at the time when the Cold War was in its infancy and the same with nuclear war (every kid was told to hide under their school desks ‘cos that’ll prevent them from being harmed) so big giant creatures, human and animal became huge in film(sorry about the pun). So when I first saw the image, on my parents’ black and white tv where I had to get up and turn the channel using an actual knob, I screamed. Now every time I hear freaky violin music, I start to scratch and remember...THEM!
2. BURNT OFFERINGS-1976
Oliver Reed is married to Karen Black with a child and an Aunt, played by Bette Davis, in tow who all move into one scary ass home for the summer. At first all seems good except there are dreams of one weird looking hearse driver and everyone starts to dislike this house except for good ole Mom..Er...Karen Black. The house speaks to her. Let’s just say this is a lot scarier than that dumb Amityville Horror Movie. Oh, and it is one of Steven King's favourite movies. I did jump, more than once, but this time the TV was now in colour...still had to get up and change the channel though.
3. JURASSIC PARK-1993
If you haven’t seen this movie, you at least know about it. Three paleontologists are asked to come to an island that is the brain child of this nutty old buzzard played by Richard Attenborough. With scientists and a number of other crew, he has been able to recreate dinosaurs for a Disney like theme park. He decides to send the three out, along with his 2 grandchildren and a lawyer on a track to ...AGHHHHHH! Yes, seeing Mr. Rex made me lose my cool and jump. I jumped more than once in this film....the raptors ...damn raptors. By the way, Jeff Goldblum stole the picture.
Which 3 films did you watch that made you lose your popcorn?
Leaf stamp, trees stamp, flower, butterfly and fairy stamp and saying stamp...oh and bird stamp. Perfect pearl powders, versamark stamp pad. Brush for the powders, scissors, glue dots, black paper.
I had a lot of fun creating this card and using the Secret Garden as inspiration. My friend in B.C. is going through a very tough time since his bastard spouse left him and now wants more than half of the condo and my friend's investments. Can we say Jerk! OK, that's off my chest, I stamped a bunch of leaves, flowers, 3 butterflies, 2 birds and the fairy stamp. I fussy cut each one out after I put a variety of colors down from the perfect pearl powders. I stamped the trees and the saying directly onto the card and then adhered all the little bits all around to create the garden. I did use fall colors for the trees and leaves but then went blues and purples plus other colors for the other pieces. It was pretty easy using glue dots to affix the bits.
Poinsettia stamp, Bronze embossing ink, Rustic embossing powder, Tim Holtz distress inks, water, brush, scissors, silver glitter, pearl paper, blue glitter paper, border and saying stickers, gems, bic marking pen.
A cool Christmas card and more will follow before the 24th of December. I took the distress ink and just pressed it down on a wipeable surface, added water and now I could paint the image that I stamped and embossed with embossing powder. I stamped the image twice so I could color the flowers, cut them out and place them over top the flowers of the whole image that I had fussy cut out before. I had no brown paper so I took basic white and stamped the distress brown on top of the white and sprayed it with water to blend it. Once it was dry, I layered the papers together and placed the poinsettia on top. I took the saying and border stickers, coloured it with a blue marker and placed them on the card. I finished it off with silver glitter for the berries and flower centre and added the 2 gems to finish it off. I was inspired by someone I follow, The Dutchess, who creates amazing cards. She made one a while back which took my breath away. Overall, I think my card went well. Please check out her blog and look at some of her cards.
Teens are horrific on a good day so, I think any teen flick could work but I don’t think that is quite the theme Wandering Through The Shelves was looking for. I remember being a teen and I was a good gal, to be honest, but I could still grunt and drag my heels to help out my dad when he came back with groceries to unload. Anyhoo, teens always get into bad trouble especially when a group of them decide to rent out some cabin. You have the 2 horny teens that get the hatchet just after they “do it.” You have the token African American, the geek, the jerk, a funny guy, the nice guy and the nice girl who usually runs down the middle of the road with one high heeled shoe still on who is having a hard time running away from the killer with a limp where a turtle is outpacing him. Big Sigh. Anyhoo, I chose 3 that I think works, and here they are...
1. I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF-1957
I love this tacky flick starring Michael Landon, yes that Landon of Bonanza, Little Outhouse on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven fame. He plays a troubled delinquent who ends up going to a therapist for help. Unbeknownst to poor Michael, the therapist is a mad quack who decides to use him as a guinea pig and pump him with serum when he is under hypnosis. With some mad scientist talk, poor Michael turns into a werewolf and wrecks havoc at his high school. I actually thought the makeup was quite good and young Michael was ok as the nutty teen who likes to howl at the moon.
2. THE GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI-1966
This film used to be on TV quite frequently and now, hardly ever shows up. Ok, it might be short on horror but it is a fun movie even though this marked the end of these teen beach movies. You have the old corpse, played by Boris Karloff( of Frankenstein fame and The Original, and best, Grinch fame) who must do a good deed in 24 hrs so he can go to heaven. He enlists his old girlfriend to help him .yes, she is the ghost in the invisible bikini, make sure his crooked lawyer, played by Basil Rathbone, and his stooges don’t get their hands on his mansion and millions. Of course, his very young relative and a group of teens come to the mansion to have fun along with a man posing as a gorilla, a real gorilla and Erik Von Zipper and his gang of numbskulls. It’s fun and who doesn’t love the teen music, dancing and Erik Von Zipper and his gang.
3. FRIGHT NIGHT-1985
This is one of my favourite movies of the 80s. I thought Roddy McDowell as Peter Vincent, the late night host and scaredy cat who is reluctantly brought into teen Charlie Brewster's world, who believes there is a vampire living next door to him. The teen has a weird friend and a girl friend who worry about him especially when he decorates his room with crucifixes and garlic. Poor Charley(not the fish) thinks all is well until his daffy mother invites the suave neighbour over for a drink. Chris Sarandon plays the suave neighbour with a love of apples and Brewster's girlfriend. I have to admit I jumped when I saw the girlfriend's new teeth. This had great humor along with some great effects from 1985. I love the quick scene of Roddy McDowell, in an old 60's movie(playing on TV that Charlie turned on) playing a Von Hesling character who is ready to drive a steak through the busomy Vampiress but the steak is backwards. A very fun with some scary moments film. Worth a look.
Cut out paper, sizzex machine, die cut butterfly and leaves, corner flower stamp, chrysanthemum stamp, purple dye ink pad, turquoise sparkle embossing powder., embossing folder,pastels, orange stickles, gem.
I had this paper cutout from a long time ago because I used a cut out on another paper. I added the pearl paper behind and used the sizzex for the embossing folder and brushed a purple dye ink over top to showcase the bottom.. I stamped the border corners and the flower in purple and heat embossed it in turquoise glitter. I coloured the flower with pastels. I used the sizzex to cut the leaves and butterfly using those die cuts. I added orange stickles around the border and the gem in the corner. I hope to kick things into high gear and start making cards before Christmas. Oops sorry for that word.
I can honestly say that last Friday was one of the worst pain days I have experienced which begs the question, why do women ever want children? I had to take 2 pills to open up my cervix for the uterine biopsy...talk about a period Horror! Ok, sorry, yes I hear the ..ewwwwww. What was funny was thinking I could return to work, I did for about. 10 minutes before calling my friend to take me home. The actual biopsy was 10 seconds of painful crap and, yes, I literally counted down from 10 to 1, per Dr’s orders while she ripped out a piece of my uterus. I went from a loud shriek of 10, hitting soprano all the way to bass before it ended. The pain only increased from the meds I had to take and didn’t subside until the later evening-think your pelvic sides are being stretched by knives. The next day, I woke to my dizziness and a severe sinus headache that lasted into Monday. Monday, hubby’s brother in law drove us to Toronto for the post op of my hubby’s operation and hubby is doing very well but must stay in the sling for 4 more weeks. He had a major amount of calcium taken out plus a tendon from his back was pulled across to his front. He can’t drive for 4 more weeks but can start physio. OH, will get my results on October 22nd, so there’s the poop scoop. By the ay, our weather is nuts, 17C to 23C on the weekend. Yesterday, the temps went up to 32 feeling like 40 with the humidex only to fall back to 15 today. Nuts!
Period Horror...it really should be about giving birth but this week it is about horror films that take place from a time in the past. Wandering through the Shelves picked a good theme this week so here are my 3...
1. SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE-2000
Willem Dafoe should have won an Oscar for his performance as a vampire playing Max Schreck playing the vampire, Nosferatu, in FW Murnau’s 1922 film of the same name. This is horrific but quite funny movie as a film crew travels to the Czech Republic to make a very famous expressionist film, now considered one of the best vampire films ever made. Job Malkovich plays F. W. Murnau, the famous German director trying to keep everyone happy especially the vampire who just wants to suck everyone’s blood. I would suggest to see the great 1922 film, Nosferatu, before seeing this film just because it is worth it.
2. WOMAN IN BLACK-2015
This film stars Daniel Radcliffe as a widower with his young son who travel to an isolated town with a very scary home that he must oversee after the death of the owner. He doesn’t believe the talk about the woman in black and many residents resent this man who has doubts, but, soon, the young man starts seeing this freaky chick and talks to the only person who befriends him. A very spooky tale full of atmosphere that was not one just for shock. It's well done and worth a look.
3. CRIMSON PEAK-2015
A young blonde innocent( well, she couldn’t be dark haired could she?) marries a noble man and travels back to his estate to meet his creepy sister. The gal soon sees things that can’t be believed and notices that sis seems to have the hots for her brother, her husband. Ewwwwww. There are some good scenes in this film but I was disappointed by it because I was expecting more but the ending seem to have gotten away from the writers. Tom Huddleston was neither here nor there as the man loved by 2 women and Jessica Chastain, who plays his sister, was just too much. It’s ok to watch on tv but if a better movie shows up, watch that instead. I might give it a second chance but I was expecting more.
Wandering Through The Shelves came up with a good one this week as it is all about Fantasy. I love Fantasy but I have not seen many of the newer shows because they are on Netflix or Prime or HBO..ughh. Well, Here are my 3...
1. BEWITCHED-1964-1972
This was the time when most shows started in September and had more than just 10 episodes. The first season of this great show has 36! It stars Elizabeth Montgomery, a beautiful witch, who marries an unassuming, Ad Executive played, initially by Dick York. Samantha loves Darren and marries him but fails to mention she is a witch. Enter her mother, played gloriously by Agnes Moorehead as Endora who hates this situation and tries, for many years to dissolve this "mixed-marriage". Darren, being a typical husband of the time, doesn't want any help from his wife's witchcraft and forbids(HA!) her to use it. You know this never works and her witchcraft often saves the day. There are many characters that show up like Larry Tate, Darren's boss,(a series regular) Abner & Gladys Kravitz, the nosy neighbours. The great Alice Pearce played this role withholding the fact that she was dying of cancer. You have Samantha's Aunt Clara, Uncle Arthur, her dad and various cousins and Aunts come and go. It lost some sparkle when Dick York had to retire due to a severe back injury and was replaced by Dick Sargeant who was not as good as the original Darren. Marion Lorne, who played Aunt Clara died and the character just never showed up again. They replaced the character with a maid who was also bumbling but just not the same. Regardless, how I wish I could just wiggle my nose and have the house cleaned or take a trip to Europe.
2. I DREAM OF JEANNIE-1965-1970
This, I think, started because Bewitched was so popular. It stars Barbara Eden as Jeannie who saves an astronaut, played by Larry Hagman and goes to live with him often causing much mayhem. His best friend, played by Bill Daily, also knows about Jeannie but that is it. Of course, with her arms crossed across her boobies and a nod of her head, they can go or do anything. The astronaut, Tony, wishes she wouldn't do a thing but she doesn't listen. She becomes jealous whenever a girl comes around and, eventually, Tony realizes he loves her. It is a fun show that is not as good as Bewitched but is still fun even though Barbara Eden could not show her belly button as that would be too sexy. Did I say I love both opening music pieces from both these shows.
3. FANTASY ISLAND-1977-1984
Oh this was such a big show in its day which premiered right after The Love Boat. You have Ricardo Montalban as the mysterious Mr. Roarke who is the main man of this island along with his side kick, Tattoo played by Herve Villechaise. Each week, 2 or 3 guests come to the island ("Da Plane...Da Plane!) to have their fantasies realized. Mr. Roarke seems to have supernatural powers to help his guests play out their dreams often ending in a way they were not expecting but still feeling success. I used to watch this back in the day and I have been watching it again and, Oh MY God! How hoaky!! Michelle Phillips plays a mermaid who wants to know love so Mr. Roarke stares intently at her only for her to lose her tail and have legs. Some of the acting is corny and Tattoo becomes a comical sidekick to the point Herve left the show. It still is fun to watch especially that many guests were big name actors back in olden days.
Bonus...
4. THE HILARIOUS HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN-1971
This is a Canadian program that most of us Canucks just adore. It was made on a shoestring budget with Billy Van playing many parts most notably, Dracula who prefers pizza over blood. Igor always screws things up but we still get to learn some fascinating things since this was geared for children but many young adults loved it even more. They would have pet vets talk about caring for your pet to zoologists who would bring on more untamed animals. They also had a mad scientist played by a real life scientist, Julius Sumner Miller, who created real scientific experiments and explained how it worked. This man was a student of Albert Einstein! You know what else is cool...Somehow Hamilton, Ontario was able to get Vincent Price to be the narrator of this show...so cool! Go to Youtube and look up the Wolfman dancing to Innocence and Peppermints...groovy.
5. DEAD LIKE ME-2003-2004
This is quite an off beat comedy-drama but with more comedy, just the dark kind. It starts off with a miserable teen, who tussles with her mom and, generally, hates, her life. She hates her temp job but this all will not last...why? well, when she is on her break, after getting a coffee, she looks up into the sky and gets killed by a toilet seat that came from the MIR station in outer space. She is now dead but must fulfill her obligation as a grim reaper. She becomes a member of a team led by chief Grim Reaper, Mandy Patinkin who gives out post it notes of the next person to meet their end. The reapers must find the people and touch them so that their souls can leave the earth and go towards the light. I thought this show was clever, funny, offbeat and you feel for these people who must give out the touch of death. They always meet in a German waffle house to discuss their life events as it were. How fun is that?
