Don't you just love this pair of creepy girls is from the Lunagirl Edwardian Gothic digital collage sheet? I happened to find some paper dolls that were just their size and thought they could do with a a makeover. They've been wearing those some old white dresses for over a century! And once they got  dressed it seemed fitting to give them a few friends to go trick or treating with. This collage really makes me laugh because in spite of they fun outfits and fun friends they still refuse to crack a smile. 
I did a little research on why people rarely smiled in old photos. One reason is that they had to hold a long pose for the long camera exposures. Another seems to be about what was "in" at the time. People with big smiles in photos were considered to be lewd, poor, drunk or stupid. Throughout the history of portrait photography people have the same goal, they want to impress other people. So being serious in a photo back in the day was just as important as looking like you're having fun in a selfie is today. 

Do you have an old photo album around the house and wish you knew something more about the people in it? What are their names? How are they related? What were they like?
I have a very old photo album I found in that attic. I don't know if the people in it are relatives or if someone in my family thought it was super cool and picked it up as a garage sale. I find it really interesting to look it over on a rainy day and imagine what they might have been like. 
I chose several photos from the Lunagirl Edwardian Gothic digital collage sheet and decided to experiment with the idea of giving them a story.  A vintage Nancy Drew book was used as the base and Golden Matte Medium strengthened the vintage book pages. It worked really to preserve the delicate look of the pages and provide a substantial surface for the paint and collage elements. 
I'm on the Lunagirl design team and the challenge for October  is  "Gothic". Its really been a lot of fun! The challenge is open to create in any media and is open through the end of the month. 

This mixed media collage is inspired by Lunagirl Edwardian Gothic digital collage sheet and the fact that my roommate thinks that moths are the souls of dead people. Yes, moths are surrounded with a ton of international folk lore associating them with death. An Edgar Allen Poe story, The Sphinx, was inspired by moth lore.  
Maybe my friend doesn't really believe it, but she does say it. She says it when the moths are looming around my brown rice and when they are hovering around my treasured vintage cashmere sweaters. At that point, if she isn't in the room, I admittedly will do away with them in one way or another. They can go the easy way (cooperate and go outside) or the hard way. Either way, it was much easier to accomplish before she started hounding me about how they are souls of the dead. 
If you are interested in finding out more about moth lore (tis the season, right?) I highly recommend this beautifully written post by Stu Hovath on Unwinnable. 

What can you do with a big jar of vintage belt buckles from a yard sale? Other than make a lot of belts (very cool but lots of work). I figured I could use them as bezels and make pendants. A pair of wire cutters made quick work of the center strip and then I just filed it down a bit. I used my metal punch to make the holes and it worked perfectly without breaking a single one. So much easier and faster than drilling. Because this was an experiment (don't you love experiments?) I grabbed some little things that were closest to me. 
A word on resin: I used EnviroTex Lite, but I think that IceResin would be a better choice for embedding "floating" items like the watch face because it is more clear. Ice Resin comes in a great little two part dispenser like epoxy now so its easy to mix up just a small amount. The EnviroTex has a slight vintage/yellow cast which can actually be useful in certain projects because it gives a more "antique" look. When I don't need a really sturdy resin I "cheat" and use Diamond Glaze because there is no mixing and its water based. Its great for a shiny topcoat/sealer or bottle cap/scrabble pendants, and safe for older kids to use. 

I've just joined the Design Team for Lunagirl Vintage Images and created this altered Altoids tin for the October challenge "gothic". Lunagirl is running the Gothic challenge during the month of October and its a really fun way to express your creepy creative side in any medium. 
​First I covered the tin on all sides with the Lunagirl Gothic Black backgrounds paper. Then I added the monument and text from ad in a 1928 National Geographic. The wonderfully creepy girls are from the Lunagirl Edwardian Gothic image sheet. I covered them with a sheet of mica and used black photo corners. A coat of Diamond Glaze finished it off and sealed it.
One of the best things about making altered tins or boxes is that there are so many surfaces to work on. I'm not sure what I'm going to put inside yet, but I'm thinking of a tiny story book inspired by the photo. 
In "real life" this case looks quite a bit thicker (3/4") but looking at this photo I can see that this technique could be used for some amazing iPhone cases. I'd substitute resin for the Diamond Glaze so it would hold up better with daily use.