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.

My Rule Number Three for Me

One of my many artistic quirks is perfectionism.  Insert scary da, da, DAAA!  here.  Oh the dreaded perfectionism.  

 When I get caught up in the evil binds of thinking a project has to be absolutely perfect or not at all....doing it not at all usually wins.  Therefore, "Baby Steps".  I have to keep taking baby steps in whatever new skill or task I'm trying to learn.  Thus began the theory for Rule #3, "Baby Steps".

Does it always work?  No.  But I have to be kind to myself.  I have to tell my own self to "don't be a hater" when it comes to what I create.  Sometimes I have to say this several times.  And then I keep moving forward.  

I was really happy with the way that these two pages turned out.  I wanted quirky colors, an odd version of pink and blue.  And the paper doily pocket above holds a small inspiration/journal tag.

With a picture of, of course, a baby!  Just another way to remind myself that I would not expect a baby to run a marathon the minute it first starts walking, and I should not expect marathon results from myself, when I've just begun creating.  That makes baby steps, rule #3.

The Big Book of Creative Rules and Strange Oddities

Perhaps I should start this post as, "What I did over my Summer Vacation".  One of the few things that I did do creatively this summer was to start YET another new journal.  Really?  I know, but for me, they seem to be like potato chips, I can't stop at just one.  

This journal started out as a great find from Dollar Tree.  Cause ya gotta love Dollar Tree.  For a store where things are only A DOLLAR, I sure can spend allot of them there.   Anyway, it is a lovely book, and it drew me in because there were several pages of great black and white photo's involving mountain climbing.

 As I flipped through it, I was thinking how the gentleman (who was a mountain climber) that wrote it, must have known no fear.  And as I glanced through it, one theme became apparent, he persisted.  Fear and Persistance.  Two words that I always seem to wrestle with when it comes to being creative.

I decided to try it out as a journal and explore my thoughts on being creative and my fear of failure.  And thus began, "The Big Book of Creative Rules and Strange Oddities", the journaling being me giving myself advice.  Then I decided it would be a series of rules.   Rules that made sense, but were presented in a silly, nonsensical way.   

For the art part, I got started by removing several pages, and then going back and gluing some pages together.  Above, I've taken two of the pages and on the right, just gessoed over the existing page.  On the left, I've glued down scrap book paper and then gessoed over that.  Now these two pages are ready for when inspiration hits.

Above are two completed pages.  They did turn out a bit messier than intended, but that's OK.  I like the feel of them.  Again, gesso over the book pages and then layers of paint, scrap paper, stamping, sewing etc.  The rule for these pages,  "Fake it till you Make it", seemed to mirror the faces of those young men, as they took those first hesitant steps up the mountain.

Without a doubt, these two are my favorite pages in the whole book.  

For as long as I've been creating books, I've always loved flaps, pockets, windows, things that pop out and move.  And that is what these two pages do.  They are actually pockets.  And the little man on the clock face spins.  

The text reads, "How many times should you toot?  Spin to find that number!".  The strong man has a tiny horn that dangles off his arm.  He is ready to toot too.  For me, this falls under "rule # 29".  Because I really do hate saying, look at me, look at me.  

Well, when it comes to my art anyway.

Tomorrow I'll show you the pages called, "Baby Steps".

Fall is here and so am I

Summer is truly over and here I am.  It was a good summer.  We did some traveling, spent some time with our god-daughter, got to know her better.  I did a little gardening, until the heat began to hit the 100 degree mark...then, forget it.  It was a wonderful summer, and I do hate to see it end.

I did very little creating.  Well, some, but I'll show you that later.  For the past couple of days, I've played with this journal page.

I loved the quote.  My niece had it on her Pinterest page, it was actually a tatoo.

Finally found a rolodex at a garage sale.  And while it was not exactly what I was looking for, it'll do.  I did my first little "rolodex art" piece to get started.  My thinking is, that as inspiration hits, this will be a fun way to do some smaller pieces, working on techniques, lettering and especially composition.

More later.

-Cindy

One Class, different spins

Bump in the Night Triptych by Melissa Hines

For those that don't know, my other blog is Paper Cowgirl.  I'm hosting another Art Event this Fall called, "Something Wicked this Way Comes".  And its a small event, four classes, to get you in the mood for Fall and Halloween.

The above photo is one of the classes for this event (registration opens in the morning).  But what I really wanted to show you was how a class project can sometimes take a different vibe, depending upon the student.

My sweet god-daughter came down for several days this summer and we made her hang out with us old broads and craft.  We decided to try the class out on her, and this was her version.  She did a totally diff background color (and this pic does NOT do it justice), a vintage image on the gal and she added a trio of pumpkins, which is personal to her and her family.  Her trick or treater holds her "bucket" by a string.  Very cute.

I proceeded to do my version.  I also opted for the vintage gal and larger moon.  I Mod Podged my pieces, as well as painting in a haunted house in the background ad adding in some glittered bats, stars and hand-writing.  Again, the piece now has a different feel.

As you can see, side by side.

Our friend Annette did her version and she really put a spin on it by using the moon as the head. And blocking in the eyes.  I love it.  And that's what I love about taking one of our (Paper Cowgirl) classes, you can do the project as presented or you can put your spin on it, to make it yours.

Pop over to the other blog and check it out.  Http://papercowgirl.blogspot.com and come down and take a class with us!

-Cindy