Wednesday, October 21, 2009

pendants

Slowly getting the Etsy shop stocked up and ready for holiday shoppers. I've added some new pendant designs that would make excellent stocking stuffers! Check it out...





The weather has been absolutely beautiful. I'm feeling inspired. I'm anxious to start making some mobiles using a technique for transferring images to wood that Katie from Matsutake demonstrated in her tutorial. If you're thinking of giving it a try, here's a heads-up. Instead of prepping a piece of cardstock, coat a transparency sheet with the glue before printing. This makes it MUCH easier to peel off the wood.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

costume designer no more

Now why did I go and spend all that money on a costume when Finn could have just as well dressed up as a Home Depot bucket for Halloween?

This year was all about store-bought costumes. A Star Wars Clone Trooper for one and Scooby Doo for the other. *Sigh* Is this the end of mommy's homemade costumes? Maybe one of these years they'll let me create something like a two-headed monster that they can both wear together. Hmmm... on second thought, that sounds a little dangerous. It's not like they need an excuse to hurt one another and if they were bound together? That would be nothing but trouble!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

pumpkin patch with my pumpkin

A day at the pumpkin patch.

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold,
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.
I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.
But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.
I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?
Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.
Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?
- Robert Frost

Monday, October 12, 2009

holiday preview

Some holiday crafting going on...

Elf
(perhaps an Elf on the Shelf?)


Amigurumi Monkey Ornament

Monday, October 05, 2009

time for another project!

halloween wreath
*

I saw a cute little Halloween wreath at the store a couple weeks ago. I've been itching to get a wreath of any kind up on the door. I don't know what it is about something decorating the door. It makes me happy. But I just couldn't justify spending the money for one, so I hit the craft store and brainstormed a way to make one of my own instead. How hard could it be?

Well, it wasn't hard but it was slightly more time-consuming than I imagined it would be. This, of course, makes me wonder if it really was worth it to make my own, because time is money, after all. I do love having my own little jack-o-lantern faces to get the house in the Halloween spirit. So, yes, it was worth it. This wreath, along with my ghosts in the trees outside (they've actually weathered pretty well over the last 5 years!), has me very excited for All Hallows' Eve.

Make one yourself! It's easy.

Here's how I did it:

To start, I picked up a bag of sticks to use for the pumpkin stems and to connect all the pumpkins. You'll also need about 10 wooden circles and 4 wooden ovals. (My craft supply store didn't have a wooden pumpkin shape that I liked. If yours does... lucky you! Feel free to improvise with whatever materials you find.) You'll also need some paints, paint brush and glue.

1 - Using acrylic paints, I started by painting the edges and then moved on to painting the fronts with orange and blending in some brown for shading.

jack-o-lantern2 - Paint the stems. I used a light and dark green and made stripes. Use a darker orange to paint the groove lines on the pumpkins. (wait to do the faces after the pumpkins are all arranged in their circle - because some of them in the background won't need faces)

3- Once the paint is dry lay the pumpkins in a circle with painted side down. Using popsicle sticks (or, as in my case, the same sticks used for the pumpkin stems) connect the pumpkins together. Keep 5 or 6 pumpkins aside and glue these on top of the first layer once the wreath of connected pumpkins is dry enough to flip.

halloween wreath4 - Cut and glue on stems.

5 - Paint faces. I found a jack-o-lantern sticker that I loved and that's where I got the inspiration for my toothy grins and googly eyes. Have fun with it.

6 - Once the paint is dry, give the wreath a coat of gloss varnish. I even used a coat of sparkle varnish to make it glittery.

And now it's time to bring out the Christmas crafts. Yes. I said Christmas. (I've been waiting all year for this)