You better watch out.........

You better not cry, you better not pout, I'm tellin' you why....

Krampus could be coming to your house to whack the crap out of you with a bunch of birch branches, give you nightmares for a year or, if the horror stories are accurate, spirit you away in his big black sack and eat you alive.

Pretty cheerful Christmas legend!
This is kind of what I picture him riding around in. Kind of the anti-Santa's sleigh...all dark and sooty with horns that he shed from the previous year mounted on the back of his great big chair, his sack-o-children and birch branches tossed in the back.

Krampus has only just started his rounds so his sleigh is all tidy and clean. I imagine that toward the end of the night it's looking pretty grotty and run down.

You can see a little hand sticking out of his bag. Hmmm....
And his old horns are starting to look a little rotten already.
All you really nasty kids (you know who you are!!) better start being very sorry for all the bad things you've done all year.

The best you can hope for is getting the stuffing scared out of you seeing hairy, mean old Krampus waving that big stick around.
The worse I'll leave up to your imagination....but if I were you, I would try really hard not to think about that big black sack!

This was a pretty straight forward project. I assembled the Chipboard Sleigh (Tabletop) all but the outer sleigh railings which I set aside. I painted everything black, including the outer railings, let it dry completely, and cut and fitted my red paper. You can use any paper you like...I just liked the sooty quality of the red paper. It sort of looks like a cast-off Santa sleigh to me.
I glued the paper on and let it dry.

I painted the pieces of the Arch Top Reliquary black and glued my paper on the back piece of the reliquary and then glued the frame over it.




The base of the chair is a little wooden scrap I had kicking around that I padded with a piece of jewelry box padding and covered with black fabric.

I made polymer clay horns and two arm rests for the chair and glued them on after I painted them.

I made a black sack by folding over a piece of fabric and gluing (you probably noticed by now that I don't sew) up the seam.
I turned it inside out and voila, a sack.

I stuffed tissue in the bottom to poof it out and added my little, erm, touches to it. I admit, I had a doll arm kicking around too.

I bent up a piece of black electrical wire and glued it inside the sleigh and hung a lantern on it. Krampus doesn't have a fancy Rudolph to light his way, so he's got to do it the old fashioned way.
Maybe that makes him even more grumpy.
I imagine he's got something less glamorous pulling his sleigh like yaks or water buffalo.
Or maybe something far less substantial like a couple of night mares......



SUPPLIES LIST From Alpha Stamps

Chipboard Sleigh-Tabletop
Lantern
Arch Top Reliquary-Single
Weekend Market Around The World Scrapbook Paper
Bronze Fancy Filigree Set

Additional bits:
The red paper I used was called Distressed Couture Vines from Glitz
Polymer clay
Black Wire
Black acrylic paint
White acrylic paint
Quinacrodone Nickel Azo Gold Acrylic paint
Black fabric Twine
Dolls arm
Sticks from my back garden

Thank you for stopping by!

Some eye candy...

A few pictures of what I've been up to for the last couple of months.
Why houses, of course!

Baba Yaga Longshanks

Butterfly House

Isabella's Red Wheels

A few grouped together.....The Maiden, Number 48 and Mona's Place.

Thank you for visiting!

Christmas Ornaments

I love making Christmas Ornaments. Working small, with cheerful Christmas papers and pretty, tiny little findings and lots of glitter is so dang fun. Here are four house-shaped (are you surprised?) Santa themed Christmas Ornaments.

I used wooden blanks that I cut from a template I drew, but you could easily use heavy chipboard instead of wood. I also used bits and pieces of scrap paper left over from other projects...mostly G45 Christmas papers, but any bright, cheerful papers will work!

 

I really like these cabochon medallions....the glass cabs make the images appear larger and they look great and add a little bit more gleam to the ornaments.

I added some litle dots with a black marker around the corners and edges of things to add a bit of richness and detail.

And a little extra kitsch....some quick ornaments I made using 3x3 canvas (you could very easily use chipboard), some adorable papers from the Farmhouse Kitchen Collection and a little mini red pom pom fringe. I really love the impact black and white make especially with a little pop of Christmas color!

Supplies list for the Santa House Ornaments:
Papers came from G45's Christmas Emporium and Twas the night Before Christmas...all 6x6.
Cabochon/pendant settings
Mini Clock and Winding Key Set
Bronze Bookmark with Round Setting
Kriss Kringle Collage Sheet
Santa and Children Collage Sheet
Christmas Red Stickles
Lime Green Stickles
Tiny Dot Dresden Borders-Red

Other:
Filigree Flower
Swarovski Flat back crystals in Aurora
Burgundy ribbon

CHRISTMAS KITCHEN KITSCH ORNAMENTS

8x8 Heavy Chipboard ( I used 3x3 mini canvas' but could easily make these with chipboard)
Farmhouse Kitchen Collection Papers;
Holiday Baking Butcher Paper
Salad Copic Marker
Black and Ivory Prints 6x6 Paper Pad
Mini Pom Pom Fringe-Red

Red Pony Beads
Black ribbon

Winter Wonderland Advent Calendar

Christmas is just around the corner folks! And if you're thinking about making an advent calendar, it's a lot closer than you think!

I made this one for the fab folks at Alpha Stamps and it's kind of inspired by the whimsical, fancy Mad Hatter style of the company Mackenzie Childs.
The box is a good size at approx. 12x12 inches, so it makes a good statement on a mantle or tabletop. You could also wire it and hang it on a wall.

I love how the bright colors are a cheerful contrast to the black and white harlequin check on the walls. I fell in love with the Farmhouse Christmas Stripe Scrapbook paper because of the strip of stockings toward the bottom and decided to use that on the wall. I hand colored it with an array of Copic markers and added lots of glitter.

Looks like the family is coming in from a chilly ride on a one horse sleigh! There are lots of tasty treats and a bottle of bubbly waiting to warm them up!

I made the treats and the bottle from polymer clay with some really wonderful molds that I highly recommend. They are really good quality and you don't have to use a release spray to get your pieces out. I used Copics on these as well. Turns out alcohol inks are great on baked polymer clay! I used liquid pearls in Hydrangea to make the jelly center of the cake in the dome and lots of Stickles for snow on the gingerbread house.

I finished the back off with more stripey paper just to make it pretty from any angle.

And added some charming details like the sweet little tuxedo cat and all the presents. I used the wooden die-cut snowflakes for ornaments on the tree. I painted them with a light coating of glue and then sprinkled glitter on them. Love the sparkle!

I also used glass pearls for the drawer pulls, dotting the tops of each with a little stickles and then piping some around the base of the pearls to finish them off.

The cake plate was made using a bead cap, a piece of cardboard and some Dresden trim, primered then colored with Copics.
For a link to all the supplies I used, click HERE.

Supplies List:
Advent Calendar Shadowbox
Farmhouse Christmas Stripe Scrapbook Paper
Black and Ivory Diamonds Scrapbook Paper
Black and Ivory Ribbon Stripe Scrapbook Paper
Mini Silicone Cake Mold Set
Mini Gingerbread House Mold
Victorian Table Kit-Black
Black and White Reclining Cat
Cream Pearl Assortment
Mini Christmas Packages
Wood Snowflake Cut-Out Set
Retro Bottle Brush tree Set (substitution suggestion)
Christmas Red Stickles
Lime green Stickles
Liquid Pearls-Hydrangea
Thin Fleur Dresden Border-Black
Clear Cake Dome on Gold Tray
Double Dot Vintage Wild Berry Scrapbook Paper
Double Dot Vintage Wasabi Green Scrapbook Paper

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

What's in Your Basement?

Here are a couple of fun Halloween Houses inspired by this months Haunted House Kit over at Alpha Stamps.
Looks like a little Halloween party is going on on the left side. Some one is reading fortunes.......and what's that creepy little clown doing? Maybe he's on his way down to snoop around the basement. If he is, he's in for a big surprise.

The house on the right has it's own story to tell, what with birds and nests, lost keys and locked attics.
Hmmmm, I think that one might be a bit creepier than the obvious skellie in the basement.
I'll let you be the judge!

For a link to all the supplies, click HERE

SUPPLIES LIST
Supplies;

Moonlit Gossamer Scrapbook paper
Moonlit Collection Images
Skeleton Slides Collage Sheet (images in the upper windows)
Copic Marker #V15 (Mallow) I used this marker to color the Gossamer paper purple.
Moonlit Graveyard Shadow Scrapbook Paper (just the cream colored bits used for the background in the windows)
Graphic 45 An Eerie Tale Enchantment Scrapbook paper (for the roofs)
Graphic45 Rare Oddities Antiquities and Artifacts Scrapbook Paper
Black Zig Zag Dresden Borders
Ornate Metal Keys-Shabby Chic
Tim Holtz Locket Keys
Miniature Bookplates Die-Cut Set (for the windows with the kitties in them)


Additional:
Chipboard Bats
Hand cut windows (as gable windows)