New Awning!

I'm so excited that the first of my window awnings

went up today by son #3  Isn't it cute!

Click here and here to see more pictures 

of my Funky Farmhouse

Here it is up close.

Just like my front door and mailbox it was sealed 

with PYM II to protect and seal it for years 

to come.

Winter Wonderland Tags

It's beginning to look like Christmas on my 

art table!  Above is a festive snowflake themed

pinwheel wand I made with a "Believe" tag.

Here are 3 tags I created with a embossed music

themed background and colored using
OTM's Color Mists.
The stocking holds a mini bottle

brush tree I bleached out.

Pinwheel, Snowflakes, stockings
and the ornament are from
Outside The Margins 
Christmas themed die cut packs
HERE

Homemade Cloth & Paper Tape Fun!

I forgot I hadn't posted these pictures yet 

from a fun time I had with my art peeps!

We created our own handmade cloth and paper tape

following Cathe at Just Something I Made's

directions.

I had found a bundle of fun retro looking fabric

at Big Lots and made mostly cloth tape.

Not only did we have fun creating

we also dressed up for the occasion!

Pumpkin Make-Over

On my trip to the dollar Tree store I

picked up the following Styrofoam pumpkin

and cool stickers and turned them into

THIS below:

Supplies Used

Styrofoam Pumpkin White Glue (any white glue will do) Brush Punchinella

Vintage Book Pages Pigment Inks Stickers PYM II

I've gathered my supplies	Start by tearing your book pages into strips and coat the pumpkin and the strips with watered down white glue.
Smooth any air bubbles and wrinkles (you don't want) out with your finger. Allow the pumpkin to dry.	Using the inks add highlights and color using the punchinella as a stencil.
Add your stickers where you desire and burnish well with the cap of a pen.	Add 3 or more coats of the white glue allowing each coat to dry in-between.
Once your pumpkin is dry seal it with PYM II to keep it from getting sticky from the glue.	Check out your Dollar Storeand see what you can find to alter and enhance with your creativity!

Blue Glass Sculptures

Thanks to my friend Kris, I finally created a 

glass sculpture out of old vases, plates, jars 

and goblets!I started this at my her 

house and finished it at home with blue 

cobalt pieces I've collected through 

the years. Click HERE to view 

my friend Kris' glass sculputres.

Creating glass sculptures I liken it to playing 

a giant game of breakable Blockhead 

(do you remember that game?). 

The problem is that there a gazzillion

ways of stacking, unstacking, and rearranging

your pieces! If you think you will remember

how you stacked it, you probably won't!

 If you're anything like my friend and I, and 

you have a bad memory like we do,  my 

suggestion is to make sure to take a 

picture before you  unstack and glue 

your pieces together.

Here's a close up of the top part.

The glass star is a stopper from

a bottle I have.  The round the 

base of it are blue marbles. I 

adhered it it in 3 sections using 

waterproof silicone.

For more glass sculpture ideas 

check out my Pinterest board

HERE

Low Flying Witches and Herm & Ethel

It's that time of year again for low flying witches!

When I woke up this morning Herm and Ethel 

had arrived unannounced as usual.  For some 

reason Herm is in the birdcage aka doghouse...

for what I don't know Ethel is mums the word on 

the subject!

As always these postcards are free for 

you to right click, save and  download  to 

email to friends and family.

Click HERE to see past Herm & Ethel postcards

Altered Mousetraps

I love when I can take something like 

THIS:

And turn it into something like this:

and this...

The above 2 are for a Christmas 

themed altered mousetrap swap

Click HERE to view a few other 

altered mousetraps I created.

CALL FOR ART

Happy Oct 1st...hopefully we are days away from that welcoming cool fall weather that is so fast and fleeting here in the California valley!

Since October is breast cancer awareness month I had my mammogram today, have you? A friend shared this call for art project with me by Melanie Testa called Breast Pockets-with a deadline! 1000 pockets in 3 weeks?  I plan to do one in  honor of my late mother in law who chose to be a flattie.

The deadline is October 22nd!

click the link to read more about the project

CALL FOR ART

Cake Anyone?

Here's a few cakes I made recently for friends...

This giant cupcake candy cake will mostly 

give you chocolate overload with the base 

of it covered in KitKat bars and the top 

covered with M&Ms! It's one heavy cake!

This mini girly-girl mini cake is the first time

I've worked with fondant...its kind of like

working with paper clay where you have 

to work quickly before it dries out!

Color Mists Special

Check out the Color Mists special at 

www.OutsideTheMargins.com

Check out the amazing journal page 

Debi Boring created using the Brite Lights set!

Big Boy!

Mr Kevin is really liking his new big boy table :-)

Upcycled Chalk/Magnetic Board

How to turn a washing machine 

lid into a chalk/Magnetic Board

Lucky for me my husband saves

everything! In this case he had saved the lid 

from our old washer and a front panel. Being metal

I thought how perfect to make a place to use magnetic

letters on.  Especially since magnets don't work on

stainless steel refrigerators! At first I was going

to just spray paint it a cute color, but then I got 

the bright idea to use chalkboard paint and

make it dual purpose.

Step 1:  Lightly sand the front side of washing 

machine lid and then wipe it down with a damp rag.

Step 2:  Spray 2-3 coats of chalkboard

paint onto the lid and allow it to dry.

Step 3:  Paint a wood scrabble tile holder and glue it to 

the bottom of the board to hold the chalk.

Step 4:  String ribbon through pre existing holes on

either side of the lid and tie a bow.

Cost

*Washing Machine Lid-Free

Scrabble Tile Holder-Free

Adhesive-$3.89

Chalkboard Paint-$4.80

Ribbon-$3.00

==============

Total Cost $11.69

*An alternative to a washing Machine 

lid could be a baking sheet.

Viola! 

your upcycled washing machine lid 

turned chalk/magnetic board is done!

Java Queen

Java Queen

It's always nice to finish up a piece that's been 

sitting on my unfinished shelf!  This piece I started

a couple of years ago and only got so far then 

I set it aside because I didn't know what else 

to do.  I love when I get inspired again 

and everything finally comes together.

This was done on an 8x10 piece of 

watercolor paper with a paper background, 

acrylic paint then water soluble oil pastels.

Fantastic Fairytale Scottish Castle

Check out what a group of artists painted on an
abandoned castle in Scotland! Makes my brightly 
painted house seem mild in comparison LOL
to read more about the project click HERE

Art Time

Mr Kevin first art time with Gramsie!

Looks like he's going to be a lefty.

Art Journal Page

New art journal page- 

water soluble oil pastels, gesso & acrylics.

September is Ovarian Cancer Research Month!

It's that time again to remember and help educate people about the silent killer....Ovarian Cancer!

You can help raise money to go to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund by purchasing this beautiful 7x7 coffee table book showcasing the art doll and charms that were auctioned off to help raise money for OCRF

Ties That Bind by Aileen Roberts | Make Your Own Book

Free Word Sheet

Free Word Sheet

I was looking for some words to use in some art and remembered this freebie word sheet I made several years ago.  So if your in need of a few words then CLICK, SAVE to your computer and PRINT it for your own use.

What I'm working on...

 Here's a few things I've been working on...

Altered Mousetraps

(I have to admit they're addicting!)

and

an altered Paint brush 

which I got the idea from

Donna Downey's 

Altered Paint Brush Project

I must admit I wasn't into purchasing a 

paint brush from her to alter and mail back 

to  her so I opted to purchase some cheapy 

paint brushes from the hardware store.

Crafty Blogger Blurbs

ACreativeDream 
Taking a bird from my journal page to one nesting in my tree..and the pattern for you to make your own!.

About Family Crafts 
Will you play along with the current craft challenge? Create a pencil holder or two and decorate your pens and pencils and then submit your projects.

Carmi's Art/Life World 
Carmi has redeemed her pincushion making reputation with a new design! 

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world 
This week at Craftside there are patterns, tutorials and techniques galore as we celebrate the back to school season! Pop on over to read all the great knitting and stitching ideas and inspiration we have from a whole bunch of our latest books!

Crafty Princess Diaries 
Needle-felting is an amazing low-tech hobby, and Tammy gives you a review of a new needle-felting book, "Felted Feathered Friends." 

Eileen - The Artful Crafter 
Eileen shares an August-themed envelope for her hubby’s birthday, along with how to make custom envelopes the easy way and the hard way.

Evergreen Glass Sculpture 
Cherie makes a green glass sculpture with some pieces she has on hand. 

Mixed Media Artist 
Cyndi decided to make a test piece out of felt before commiting some of her hand-painted fabrics to the project. And it turns out that she likes the test piece pretty much the way it is! 

Resin Crafts! 
Carmi has a brief post showing you how she dries flower for her resin pouring projects. 

Free Bookmarks

Since I'm working on a bookmark swap with some art friends and with kids going back to school I thought I'd share these freebie bookmarks I created digitally. Save them, print onto card stock and color yourself.

Enjoy!

MIA!

I've been MIA around here! I've been down
sick from a bug bite that became infected.
I thought I had the flu when it actually
was from a bug bite that became infected.
Click HERE to familiarize yourself
with insect bites symptoms

Crafty Blogger Blurbs

About Family Crafts 
Have you ever experimented with chalkboard paint? If so, share your stories!

Carmi's Art/Life World 
A trip to the antique market can be very inspiring! 

Cherie Burbach 
Cherie makes a clear glass garden sculpture.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world 
This week at Craftside there are a whole bunch of designs created with new Sizzix Dies, a tutorial on how to make a Blackletter "S" , 12 ways to make the letter "K", plant a container garden featuring red twig dogwoods and a recipe for Tuna Tartar.

Crafty Princess Diaries 
The Crafty Princess has another giveaway going on. Enter for your change to win a wonderful new knitting book.

Eileen - The Artful Crafter 
How to make polymer clay food safe.

Mixed Media Artist 
Come oooooh and aaaaaaw over the quirky metal work of Joseph Cavalieri!

Sometimes...

...you feel like a nut...sometimes you 

just KNOW your  nut!...my wonderfully 

weird husband wanted to send a picture 

to one of our sons...did I mention I have 

not 3 boys but 4!?!

Speedracer!

Go Speedracer!

Mr Kevin attempts to drive Uncle Morgan's go-kart!

Funny how he knew exactly what to do with that 

steering wheel!