From Halloween to Christmas

From Halloween to Christmas in Crafting

It seems as though I can never get enough Fall.  I try to slow down and savor the delicious moments that happen in the season, that first taste of something with pumpkin in it (as in the wonderful pumpkin bisque I had the other day) or the first cool snap of weather.

Loved the color choices in this one by Sherri, I had to copy cat!

But sometimes no matter how hard I try, I always feel like I'm galloping right past Fall and running headlong into winter and the Christmas season.  With that thought in mind, how appropriate that I have a Halloween post as my last post and today, I'm posting about Christmas ornies.

Such pretty colors, I can just see these on a white flocked tree.

A group of friends came over Saturday night to do a little crafting.  Our inspiration, was of course, Pinterest.  One of the gals in my "art group" found this pic and fell in love:

The inspiration for our crafting get together

I've been a fan of Nancy Maxwell James for ages.  And I was also looking for a "Paris Inspired" Christmas Ornament and I thought this fit the bill perfectly.  Nancy's were more monochromatic than ours turned out to be.  And at one point one of us tried the fabric skirts, but I think that got tossed aside in favor of just leaving them as is.

Sherri adds an icy dangle to her ornament

Their skirts were just too pretty to cover up and dangles and glitter were added instead.

Melissa addes silver glitter and a vintage light reflector to her ornament

And VINTAGE!  I dug out these great light reflectors (from the 50's) and they added the perfect background for our lovely Parisian ladies.

I created this one, love the gold.

As did an array of plastic snowflakes, leaves, flower petals and feathers.  Some of the goodies to decorate with came from the dollar store and some came from Michael's.  A touch of Stickles was often all that was needed for finishing touches.

Copy cat by me from Sherri's pretty ornie!

Thanks Nancy and Pinterest for such lovely inspiration for Christmas ornies.  And thanks to my friends for coming over and helping to make such a lovely project and a wonderful evening.

Just a few of the lovely ladies, waiting now for Christmas.

Halloween Decor the Home Made Way!

I'm getting a few props ready for my "Something Wicked".  I was able to find these great frames at Dollar Tree...for a dollar.  I love Dollar Tree.

After copying an old photo and an old book page, I aged each of the pages with a little Distress Ink. (vintage photo).  I rubbed out the eyes of the family with a little bit of sand paper (very gently).

While the frames where empty, I sponged on a little brown acrylic paint here and there.  Then a little bit of cream.  Then I gently sanded here and there.  I put the pictures into the frames, closed the backs up.  I spritzed LIGHTLY with Walnut Ink and then dried that with my heat gun.

The Walnut INK, just wants to sit on top of the glass and wood, but if you gently blot with tissue and then dry with the heat gun, it will slowly adhere.  It does seem to remain a bit tacky, so be mindful of putting your finished piece where it might come in contact with furniture or fabric.

But for a Halloween prop, with no one touching it, I think it will do quiet nicely.

I'll show you the completed "scary" display later.  For more posts, check me out, over at Paper Cowgirl.

A couple of more pages

Just a few more pages in the Big Book.