Ready for Halloween

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This is the last of the leaves from the swap. This one is by Ange H.

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Halloween is my favorite time of year, and I started making decorations early. I figure if I make a few each year and buy a couple of nice ones as well, I will soon have all I need to decorate the house.

I made these from potato chip cans. I'm not crazy about the skull, but the other two turned out just like I wanted them to. I love the old-fashioned looking decorations.

These ATCs are for a Halloween swap on the Paper Imagery Designs yahoo swap group.

This guy is about 30" tall. I just love him--once I carved the foam pumpkin, the rest took only an afternoon to gather together the supplies and construct him. He will sit in the living room until a few days before Halloween, when he will go outside the front door in the flowerbed with other pumpkins. His base is a sand pail with a FQ of fabric tied around it. His head is lined with black felt and stuffed with plastic grocery bags. The raven is attached with clothespins. The head is attached to the pail with heavy duty craft adhesive.

I have some fall pillows in the planning stages. I have been shopping the thrift stores for wool skirts to felt, plus a few other fabrics that will work well with the wool. I picked up a lovely grape colored skirt today, and a red plaid that will work for Christmas pillows. Wool clothing isn't very easy to find around south Texas. I bought several skirts and a beautiful pumpkin colored jacket last week that are now washed and taken apart for the fabric, so I hope to get started on one of the pillows this week.

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More backgrounds

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One of the techniques this past week being taught on the Paper Imagery Designs blog on Yahoo groups is paper towel painting. I had done some before for the amulet swap, but this time it is just to make backgrounds to use in your art. The ones above I painted with cheap craft acrylics. The second one from the left is metallic, although the photo doesn't show that. I really like how the texture of the paper towel pops out, and they are made sturdier by the paint so they will stand up to being used in ATCs or collages. The one below I did with Cat's Eye Pigment Pads by ColorBox. The paper towels are a local chain brand, but other brands give very different textural effects.

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Remember the felt leaves I did for the FiberArtTraders yahoo group? Here are the ones I have received in trade--I still have one more to arrive. Some also included extra goodies!

By Flicsha A.

by Morning Dove

by Barb E.

by N.J. B.

by Linda W. (The beads in the center are made of Tyvek!)


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Some ATCs from the PID yahoo group:

The ATC on the left is by Kim S.
The one on the right is by Wanda H.--I may have shown it before, but it rates a second look!

Both of these are by Pam B. All four are tiny masterpieces!

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I made the wooden ATC above for the September ATC Jackpot on PID, in which we were to use gold in some way. I used a wrapper from a Rolo candy for the background, then a piece of punchinella (sequin waste) with a gold spiral button, an image from PID which I then lightly sanded, and a small balsa chip.


This one was made using the background sheet below, done with music sheets and Tim Holtz' Distress Inks. Little Ralph looked like the perfect PID image for a Tenderfoot. I gave him a hat, a cow skull on the wall, and a coil of white twine stamped with Distress Ink to resemble old rope.

The background sheets look kind of messy until you cut them to size--these are 8.5" x 11" sheets of cardstock. I had an old book of cowboy songs in my stash; I used some of the pages for this project. Paste them to the cardstock, cover with smears of Distress Inks, and let dry. I then rolled them with a brayer to flatten them. Very easy!

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I hope to make more ATCs over the next few days. Copper goes for a haircut tomorrow, and DH will be at his Master Gardener class in the AM. I will have time to play if I work it just right!

Hurricane Ike passed Corpus Christi by completely--not even any rain until the next day! The elderly and disabled were evacuated, but we stayed here expecting high winds and lots of rain. I think we got a half inch when it finally did rain.

I'm putting together a care package for my son. He's a Dallas Cowboys fan, so I bought him a jersey and made a throw that he can use as either a blanket or a wall decoration. I don't know how cold the nights get in Iraq, but it's a lightweight fleece with the team logo on it. I've got lots of candy and personal care products in there, as well as a couple of Halloween surprises that he'll get a kick out of. I should get the box filled in the next couple of days. DS #2 promised to download some music for him as well. I hope to start the next box as soon as I get this one mailed.

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Art as comfort

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My son is now in Iraq, and doesn't know when he will be coming home. My DIL and grandchildren seem to be adjusting well. I, on the other hand, am a nervous wreck. I have not had any inclination to create anything for at least two weeks. I did receive a packet of inchies from my MixedMediaArt yahoo group swap. I love them--they are tiny little artworks but all are very different. I received two of my own back, and the eighteen new ones below.

The PaperImageryDesigns yahoo group has a new technique for this week, and that got me going again. We did pulled paint background pages (I used cardstock for mine.) I did the four pages below, then we were to cut one page up into ATC backs and make one card to mingle. I made "Bloom" out of one piece.

Then a new swap was announced that will use a new image every month. For September the image is Nia from Paper Imagery Designs. I made these five cards below, plus an extra for the hostess. I used the other ATC backs that I cut out of one of the above background sheets.


I had such fun making backgrounds that I tried another technique using acrylic paint and plastic wrap. The paint is smushed around on the cardstock with the plastic wrap, then the wrap is left on with the wrinkles intact while the paint dries. When the plastic is peeled off, the wrinkles remain to add texture to the sheets. I did that with the first five sheets shown below.




The last sheet is one of three that were a real trial-and-error sort of technique. I spread gel medium over a sheet of cardstock, then spread some kind of unlabeled dried herb flakes over it. (You know, the kind that come with your spice rack and you don't have any idea how old they are? The label had come off this packet, and it was so old that I couldn't identify it by smell. Yuk!) Then when it is dry you are supposed to cover it with green paint so it looks like artificial turf or something. I haven't gotten to that stage, and I may not. The herbs are crumbling off with every touch, and although I can't identify the smell, it is strong! I think these sheets will bite the dust.

I've started some other ATCs that I will show when they are finished.

The past four weeks have been brutal emotionally and physically. I have had a headache nearly every day, and am short-tempered and out of sorts. DH and I even had an argument, something that has rarely occurred in our thirty years of marriage. Between the worry over my son, DH's cancer, and my MIL's Alzheimer's, the everyday financial problems and household clutter and lack of privacy tend to blow up to unbearable proportions. I need to spend more time by myself, but with DH being out of work so often I have barely had a moment to call my own. I can hardly wait until October when we will travel to a family reunion. It will be wonderful to get away for awhile and be able to breathe again. Claustrophobia is setting in here.

I find working on ATCs relaxing, as long as there are no interruptions. I can think while I'm waiting for the paint to dry, and express my frustrations in my artwork. I find myself daydreaming of a private studio for my arts and crafts, and another for my sewing and quilting. A big enough kitchen to actually cook in and a freezer and pantry big enough to keep the food in. More than one bathroom. Empty space between us and the nearest neighbor. And of course, the money to be able to live that way. No one to have to care for but ourselves. What everyone expects retirement to be like. But it doesn't look like it will ever happen. That is a big reason why the stress is getting to me--I can't see the end of the tunnel.

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