Day of the Dead cometh early!

Day of the Dead cometh early!

I had some fun yesterday playing again creating some funky colored skull beads. The more I learn about El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) the more captivated I am by the bright colors and imagery used, as well as it's message. Check out my fun creative process below:

<--- Here's what the skull beads looked like before I colored them

There are many ways you cancolor these skull beads, I chose to use my Color Mists and was amazed at how well they took them.

I next used the heat gun to dry the Color Mists slightly before I moved on to my next step...

In this next step I sprinkled lightly with extra fine Crystal Glitter Dust (this glitter is extra fine and should be added while the piece is still slightly wet. It will stick to the wet paint without having to use any adhesives). *Optional you can mist slightly again and then dry once more with the heat gun (avoid using your fingers to move the bead around use a pencil or end of a paint brush until piece is dry).

Once I was all done coloring my beads I sealed them with PYM II

Here's my finished beads! Hmm..now what do you do with them...I have lots of ideas running through my mind. Just for fun I couldn't resist making a wee Day of the Dead Fairy (check out my fairy tutorial to see how to make it substituting the bead used).

As for being really creative my friend Kris made some awesome neckwear using the colored skull beads. Only difference isn't a glitter queen like I am LOL

Check back for more Day of the Dead projects and click the HERE to view more Day of the Dead and Halloween product and ideas.

Happy Creating!

She was a good little witch!

I've had a lot of people ask me what else they could do instead of soldering and this is what I came up with. I used the following supplies to make my good witch necklace.

2 Beveled glass pieces

1 Bull Nose Clip

Multi-surface Adhesive

Image (I used a witch image from my Halloween 2 Collage Sheet)

*Ribbon

*2 way Sticky Tape (red liner tape) or gaffer's tape with adhesive

I sandwiched the image with a back image between the two pieces of glass and then wrapped the gaffer's tape tightly around the edges of the sandwiched glass and then folded it over smooth and tight. I used the multi-surface adhesive to glue the bull clip onto the glass and once try I added the ribbon.

*Instead of the gaffer's tape you could also use red liner two way sticky tape wrapped around the glass edges and then add ribbon and fold over.

<--- check the archives to view previous posts

The spell has been broken!

Omygosh! my art dry spell has been broken WHOOHOO!! I feel so freed....Yes, I know it may not last (shh!!) but the feeling of actually creating something again was liberating! I was beginning to feel like a thirsty person crawling across the desert in search of water! Try as I might I'd sit at my work area and attempt various pieces, but I couldn't get myself to go further to completion Arrrgg! talk about frustrating AND feeling like part of me was missing!! I love creating Halloween pieces it seems to be the perfect no fail motivator for me. I think we probably all have something that can instantly get our creative juices churning...what's yours?

Here's a Halloween card (This may not be a complicated piece but it definitely was a fun pieces to create) and new Halloween 2 and Day of the Dead college sheets I created below:

Supplies Used

• Card stock or background paper
• Images (I used an images from my Halloween 2 Collage Sheet and wording)
• Label Bracket (II used one of the label brackets I have and colored it with a Gold Leafing pen to change the color.
• Gaffer's Tape (I found this locally from 7 Gypsies but this can be optional or you can use ribbon.)
• Dimensional Adhesive (such as Diamond Glaze, or Crystal Lacquer)
• Crystal Glitter Dust
• Gold Leafing Pen
  

There's not much to explaining this piece other then I layered the image I used with left over card stock and colored the pumpkin eyes with watercolor pencils. I then added some dimensional adhesive over the coloring on the eyes, nose and mouth to give it some depth. I also added the witches hat from the collage sheet. The mask I applied dimensional adhesive to and then sprinkled lightly with the glitter dust. The label brackets as I mentioned were not the color that I wanted so I colored them with a gold leafing pen and added it to the card with the wording behind it. The gaffer's tape was cut in half and folded over around each side of the card.

5 Collage Sheet Special!

I thought I'd spread my excitement by offering a 5 college sheet special. The top two college sheets are new and the bottom two are ones I've already had.

• 3 Halloween Themed Sheets
• 1 Gypsy Themed Sheet
• 1 Day of the Dead Sheet

Click HERE to order 
the 4 sheet special

Happy Creating!

Crafty Blogger Blurbs

Layers Upon Layers Where does Cyndi find all those artists that are profiled on Layers Upon Layers? Would you like to be one of them?

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery Paper is going under the knife this week at Sweater Surgery with type strips being used as photo corners on ATCs.

About.com Cross Stitch Connie profiles Melinda Medeiros, the designer behind Medeiros Needlecraft Designs.

About Family Crafts Find out how to create a fun apple craft using a paper bag and a few other supplies. The finished craft can be used as an ornament, a magnet, or a brooch and it would make a great gift for a special teacher.

The Impatient Blogger What happened to the creative? Madge ponders the homogenization of the craft aisles in this provocative first half of a two part post.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world This week features two new books releases; Beadwork Inspired By Art and Fashion Trims and we wouldn't be Craftside without sneak peeks inside! See how to make freeform ribbon cut work embellishments and two jewelry projects inspired by paintings. There are also pictures of the fabulous samples from the book One-Piece Wearables and an origami envelope for last week's dimensional ornament, or for anything you want to envelop!

Crafty Princess Diaries Get some power over your crafting with this tie-dyed muslin bag project.

Ovarian Cancer Awareness

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month! Please take a moment to read more about a worthy project that I'm honored to be a part of:

Our mission is simple in concept. Artists united in their creativity to benefit Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Our project: Ties That Bind. A hand made doll created with heart and soul, donning hand embellished men’s dress ties and hand born charms. 100% of the profit goes to the OCRF, in support of their mission to help ovarian cancer patients and their loved ones.

If you click the link below you can see the beautiful charms and ties that have been created for this project and also learn more about the Myths and facts of Ovarian cancer.

http://projecttiesthatbind.blogspot.com/

Crafty Blogger Blurbs

The Impatient Blogger Sometimes it's about what we craft with our hands and sometimes it's about what we craft with our hearts. Margot talks about why our life is our most profound creation and why she's focused on crafting hope.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Ho-ho, uh, ho? Yes, the holiday's have hit at Craftside with free downloads of templates and pattern paper for a dimensional ornament card, a how-to for sculpting a squirrel and acorns, and a beaded flower. There are pictures from The Modern Mark Making Release Party and a fun little survey that gets you entered to win any craft book you like from The Quayside Publishing Group. Let those opinions fly!

Crafty Princess Diaries Stop the social networking insanity! Tammy gives you some tips on how to use them but not have them abuse your precious time.

Layers Upon Layers Molly "Porkshanks" Friedrich is an assemblage and jewelry artist of extraordinary talent...with an extraordinary story to tell!

About Family Crafts Would you craft with elephant poop? Learn more about how you can...

About.com Cross Stitch Going Down in Flames? How do you deal with stitching burnout?

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery Fall leaves are the inspiration for a "Leaf it to Me" beaded ring.

Mail Art From the Heart!

Not only did our son leave for college my niece left for collage as well. Since she's a little homesick yet, I put together this mail art goodie bottle and filled it full of things she likes or can use...a skein of yarn (she loves to knit baby hats), note pads, fun buttons to wear, her favorite candy...you get the idea. I'll mail her goodie bottle tomorrow as is through the USPS mail...don't let the post office fool you into thinking you can't mail it this way I've mailed lots of interesting things through the mail as is. You can check out my tutorial HERE.

Goodbyes and Hello!

We said our goodbyes last weekend to Spencer as we dropped him off at college. I'm proud to say there weren't any tears from me....at least until the next day :-) but I'm fine now and adjusting to not having him here.

School also started for Mr. Morgan so Hellooooo art time! I squeezed in some small increments of creative time and managed do another painting. The mermaids were calling to me again, so here's another mermaid painting. I used cold press watercolor paper and a mixture of Chalk inks and my Color Mists for the background. I then sketched out my drawing and filled it in first with gesso and then once it was dry I used gouache paints and once it dries which is quick I add detail with the pastel sailor pens. I love using these pens they really make things pop!

Crafty Blogger Blurbs

About Family Crafts Did you know that September 7th is National Grandparents Day? Discover fun gifts you can start making today.

About.com Cross Stitch Stitch this free Have a Spooky Halloween pattern to add to your Halloween decor.

Craftside- A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world The glitter, fabric, fire and pens are flying this week at Craftside with cool lettering tutorials from Lisa Engelbrecht, lampwork beaded earrings, Modern quilt designs and patterns, knitting with fleece fabric and pictures of the Crafty Chica's Sparkle tour.

Crafty Princess Diaries Tammy has a new free metal clay project posted. This one is for the ID Me bracelet.

Layers Upon Layers Debe Friedhoff creates bottles of hope for those in need. "You can't sell hope!" Debe says. "You can only give it away!"

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery You'll look fabulous coming and going this fall when you knit up this free pattern for a double sided cable scarf.

The Impatient Blogger Margot shares a project from her book Sparkletastic with Ana and Megan Araujo on this episode of When Creativity Knocks.

Where Has All My Art Time Gone...

:::insert singing:::: ~Where has all my art time gonnnnneee.....~ that was my beautiful lame attempt at singing! Don't worry I promise not to take up Karaoking anytime soon LOL Hopefully after we get one boy off to college and the other back in School, I'll find my art time again!

In the mean time Check out what my hubby and the youngest son decided to take pictures of while they were transplanting some roses....boys will be boys! LOL

Introducing Snaily!

I put together some postcards I made for you from pictures of snaily and of the fairies in my garden. Click HERE to download them and save them to your computer and send to a friend.

Belated Crafty Blogger Blurbs

Well my apologies for the belated Crafty Blogger Blurbs! Life has been crazy rummy between Spencer getting home from China and now packing and getting ready to leave for college *sniff* and then Hubby working crush season at the winery 7 days a week....sleep is a rare commodity! ::insert crazy laughter:::::

Anyhow, without further ado here are the new Crafty Blogger Blurbs!

Craftside- A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Gear up for fall crafting with a chance to win a Crafty Chica Bobble head and her book along with her tour schedule, touching quilt stories, a free Halloween raven template with a paper and jewelry tutorial, a fashion illustration guideline for sketching your new fall fashions and how to sew a book cover just in time for back to school.

Crafty Princess Diaries Links are still hot! And so is metal clay. Tammy offers some ideas for making metal clay links and then incorporating them into an easy earring design.

About Family Crafts Now is the time to start sharing your Halloween ideas and, more importantly, photos of your home-made costumes, jack-o-lanterns, and haunted decorations.

The Impatient Blogger The Impatient Crafter Margot Potter has a special guest in her new craftertaining video sampling! Jenny Harada comes to the little school house to share how to make your very own fuzzy monster!

About.com Cross Stitch A Pattern-A-Day in August '08 continues. Don't miss the new free patterns!

Layers Upon Layers Come meet Angela Mabray, the Crafty Goat, as she shares her recyled art inspirations!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery Practicality wins at Sweater Surgery and the craft supplies get a new home with a freecycled wood shelf how-to.

Home From China!

Ah the prodigal son returneth!

Sorry for the delay in posting. I received a lot of emails asking if Spencer made it home safe and sound. I'm happy to report that he did indeed, and it's good to have him home and to hear all his stories. He arrived home tired but happy. He didn't think he'd have jet lag but it caught up to him and has slept the last few days in between eating LOL the one thing he missed the most was milk since he's a very BIG milk drinker! I guess the milk there left a lot to be desired. I had people ask if he really did eat the previously mentioned items.....sadly yes he did! LOL

When we asked him what was his favorite memory his reply was EVERYTHING! He loved every experience and memory and has taken lot of pictures and promises us a presentation soon!

PYM II aka CI Super Seal Video

Many of you have heard me rave about PYM II , now also known as CI Super Seal, and how much I love this product! I was always a Krylon user but after using PYM II, I was sold-lock, stock, and can! For those that haven't tried it yet, I thought you might be interested in watching a demo of this product at CHA. You can check with the companies for their shipping prices.

Here's a list of some of the things I've used PYM aka CI Super Seal on:

Ink Jet prints, Ink jet transparencies, over watercolors, Color Mists, Paper Flowers, fabric, shoes, painted mailbox, metal and rusted items. All my artwork is now sealed with PYM to keep it from fading and to protect it from moisture. The thing I love best about PYM is that it will leave it the same finish and texture as it started out as and because it dries so fast!

China Update #5

Weren't the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics amazing! What a beautiful show they put on!

Here's another China update...The Olympic Orchestra played their last performance together at Tianjin's Olympic Stadium before the women's soccer game.

The following exert was taken from Official Olympic Orchestra website:

"After some morning rehearsals, the group departed for Tianjin on 57 buses. This 'motorcade' of buses was escorted by police all the way from Beijing to Tianjin. At some points the police stopped traffic on the freeway to ensure the motorcade made it through swiftly. Local onlookers had to chance to wave to the Olympic Orchestra - now a well known group after the media attention it has received in China!"

I don't know about you but it's hard to fathom a 57 bus convoy, wow!

After their performance they were able to stay and watch the soccer game.

The next day they did some sightseeing at the Forbidden City and a bit of shopping.

The following day they were bused to the Summer Palace which looks amazing! with it's vast history! From Ferry boats to Marble boats the place looks breathtaking!

Here's a few faces of Spencer at the Summer Palace...

I received another email from Spencer. He shared with me some of what he's eaten so far...

"I've eaten cuttle fish, sea horse, cicada, and cockroaches, couldn't find the scorpions."

They are now on their way via sleeper train to Shanghai for their last few days in China before heading home.

Meet Fleurita

Let me introduce you to Fleurita, The Flower Nymph. She prides herself on being quite the fashionista! I created Fleurita in honor of OTM's Art Muse Contest (click HERE to read more about the contest). I colored the manikin first with Color Mists then dried it with the heat gun. Little by little I glued flowers and torn off petals on to her. Once they were all adhered and dried I misted the flower petals with Color Mists as well and then while still WET I added the glitter just by sprinkling it over the wet petals. For her hat I used a wood finial that I was able to screw into her head. After I painted her face I sealed her with CI Super Seal (aka PYMII)

Supplies Used
Art Manikin
Color Mists
White Paper Flowers
Fine Crystal Glitter
Multi Surface Adhesive
CI Super Seal (aka PYMII)
*Wood Finial (optional)

Crafty Blogger Blurbs

I thought I better get these posted so I can be ready for the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics, I can't wait to see them!

Enjoy the blurbs as usual! :-)

About Family Crafts There comes a time every summer when our thoughts must turn to going back to school... You can make it fun!

About.com Cross Stitch Get your creative juices flowing with these ideas for Cross Stitch Projects.

Art Bead Scene Have you got something to say? Enter the Art Bead Scene's monthly creativity challenge to win some awesome prizes!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world The paper and fabric are flying this week with origami napkin rings, T-shirt jewelry, inchies set in hot wax, free envelope and Japanese paper downloads and even a recipe thrown in for good taste!

Crafty Princess Diaries That little voice inside of you has something important to say. Listen to it no matter if it has to do with crafts or your life in general.

Layers Upon Layers Would you like to stretch your collage muscles to include more abstracts?

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery Sweater Surgery Flower with a little Help from Sherri Haab's New Book- Felt, Fabric, and Fiber Jewelry

The Impatient Blogger The Impatient Crafter Presents: Summer CHA Fabulous Crafty Rockstars! Join Margot as she schmoozes with some of the craft industries biggest celebs in this fun YouTube video!

For an Important Cause!

Here's my charm for Project Ties That Bind a collabrative art doll that will be made by Jan Brown to benefit Ovarian Cancer Research.

I first colored the base of this bisque medallion using my Color Mists . I then hand painted the scene using a combination of acyclic and gouache paints.
The backside I collaged with left over scrap paper that had been previously misted with my Color Mists , and then sealed (at separate times) the front and back using Crystal Lacquer. After it dried I added a PMC charm I had created previously.

And the Winners are. . .

Thought I'd forget about the *Mermaid Postcard Giveaway* didn't ya! Nope, I was up early this morning and added numbers for each comment posted and put them in a cup to randomly pick out.

Only thing is I couldn't just draw 1 number since

there was such a great response! So I created more

postcards and drew 4 numbers out!

Whoohoo!!

And the winning numbers are...

:::drumroll please::::


Congratulations to the 4 winners
of the following postcards below!

Ha thought I'd tell you the names huh, nope you have to go and count now to see if your the lucky winner, I know what a tease huh! LOL

*WINNERS*

As soon as you contact me with your snail mail addy and I verify your email address with your comment, I will then mail your postcard off to you.

Update
******

Congratulations to

#1 Joanne Huffman

#31 Rena Sawatski (please contact me Rena)

#20 Autumn Labbe-Renault

#39 Cindy Bullok

MMCA Marketplace Grand Opening & Blog Giveaway!

The virtual doors of MMCA MARKETPLACE

have been opened! Come take a peek at the talented artists and peruse their shops to see some fresh, new and exciting works of art! You will find jewelry, collage, purses, hand turned bowls, prints, fabric collages, assemblage and more.

2fer Giveaway!

Since my last blog giveaway just finished up

I've decide to offer another one! This one requires a bit more work

Details:

• Click on the above MMCA Marketplace link above
• View all the shops
• Then click on the MMCA Blog and leave a comment that you arrived from Aileen's Musings (don't forget to include Aileen's Musings AND your email so I can contact you, I'll be checking).

Now here's the 2fer deal...if you leave a comment there as described above AND you place a marketplace button on your blog or website and let Mz Debbie know, you will also be included in her Blog Giveaway (info. posted on her blog).

hmm...are you wondering what the prize is here?.....I thought you'd never ask! I will randomly draw 1 name out at the end of the month to win a similarly hand-painted bisque medallion like the one I just posted HERE

Ready, set GO!

China Update #4

There were lots of great pictures posted of

Spencer thanks to a certain chaperon. Whoohoo!

Spencer in action!

The Modesto High School group!

Spencer & Char After a day of performing.

China Update #3

Yay, another email from Spencer it was short and sweet and basically said lots of practice, some shopping and bargaining, performances and sleeping when he gets the chance! As you can see from the picture below he didn't waste anytime. Our first real picture and its of him sleeping LOL

Monday the Red Hub performed at the Great Wall. It was a 3 hour bus ride to get there. After their performance they were able to walk the wall and explore it.
Hopefully you can click the pictures to enlarge

to see how the wall seems to gone on and on in the picture below.

Tomorrow all the hubs will perform before the Woman's preliminary Soccer game.

China Update #2

No more word yet from Spencer in China, but we do know they had a big rehearsal on Friday. Rehearsals were done in sectionals, Red Orchestra (USA) and Green Orchestra (Australia, Guam, Japan) by themselves, and they also performed all together (2008 musicians) for the Olympic Cultural Committee (seated in the white chairs). If you enlarge the picture you can get a better idea of just how BIG a group this is WOW!

Sunday Aug. 3rd (our Saturday if your in the states), they made international news performing at Tiananmen Square. We heard it took 30 buses to transport them all! Thanks to one of the Modesto High school chaperons, there's a blog started along with pictures and videos of them preforming (Isn't technology awesome!) on a flickr site. Of course we scrutinized each and every picture and videos, as if we were searching a Where's Waldo book LOL and finally hit pay dirt! We recognized him by his nose!! Yep, that was our Spencer! (see the picture below with an arrow above his head).

After looking through all the videos this one is my favorite! I love how the front line kneels down so the drumline can be seen At the end you can really hear the horns playing!

Crafty Blogger Blurb Friday!

Yay! I can post again! Seems Blogspot's wicked little bots had a glitch in their system and deemed mine and a lot of other people's blogs as spam blogs (whatever the heck that means?!?) and froze our blogs until they could be reviewed by a live person (blogspot has live people?!?, I'm thinking more like WOZ and the man behind the curtain LOL). Apparently I've been sprung from blog jail and I'm a free bird again! Whoohooo!! Just in the nic of time to post my Crafty Blogger Blurbs , so without further ado here you go, enjoy!

Crafty Princess Diaries Have a book idea or even a few book ideas but not sure what to do next? Which one do you devote your time to? The Crafty Princess has some answers or actually some questions for you.

Layers Upon Layers An artist profile with the fabulous June Campbell, one of the most generous women in the mixed media art world!

About Family Crafts Gather together all the kids you know and follow these directions to show them how to make a variety of fancy craft foam visors with little effort and a few common craft supplies.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Tons of free patterns and how-to's for mixed-media and beaded jewelry, a crochet sweater, a doll name tag, a vinyl tote bag and a chance to win a free copy of any Quayside Publishing Group Book, Crafter's choice!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery Listen to my favorite new song while reading about Superfly-the big aluminum Airstream craft project that got a face/floor lift with freecycled materials...with a touch of cross stitch thrown in.

The Impatient Blogger Margot wants to know what you think. Please take a moment to answer her crafty survey.

About.com Cross Stitch Practice your stitching skills with these patterns that use basic stitches.

Happy Creating!