We were extremely lucky to have all three of our grandchildren here for Halloween. Joshua was Count Dracula, Bobby was Max from Where the Wild Things Are, and Kathleen, a.k.a. Cheeky, was an adorable pea pod. I thought I'd share a few photos.
Here's one more picture of Kathleen in her Georgia cheerleader outfit. Despite her best cheering efforts, we lost.
If you scare easily maybe you should close this window — quick! But, if you are like me and enjoy a good old scary movie or ghost story, then go ahead and look at what I've done today.
This is my entry for this week's Gothic Arches theme — Orange and Black. Before I made the arch, I did this ATC, and it scares even me!
Look closely behind and to the left of the girl's head. Do you see that face? Another one of my dictionary pages turned ghostly.
The image of the little girl is from PaperWhimsy.
Layers of Color will soon introduce 9 new clear sheet stamp sets — over 70 designs! To celebrate, they are throwing a Release Party on November 14-15, and I thought I would spread the word. Here's what Laura has to say about it:
blog hopping with Faith Perspective,
a unique challenge from Stamping Sisters in Christ,
mingling with over
one dozen talented stamp artists,
including Layers of Color Design Team
you won’t want to miss this fun event!
I had so much fun creating banners for Aileen's Halloween Banner Swap that I decided to do more. Here's one I made for a friend. Notice the ghostly faces at the top of each just like I did before. (For details, click here.) I cut the letters out with scissors after I printed them on cardstock. The font is called LD Cottage, and I love the Gothic look of it. The cool charms and ribbons are from Paula's Kit Club.
I won a major award! Do you know that movie "A Christmas Story"? If so, you'll remember that line in the movie. Well, I didn't win a leg lamp — thank goodness — but I did win Alys, one of Joanne Huffman's beautiful handcrafted art dolls. Here is the beautiful Alys.
According to Joanne, Alys knows that there are truths that transcend facts and can be found in art and fiction. She is a very wise woman.
Joanne has recently reopened her web site. It is filled with wonderful things for sale like other art dolls, unique polymer clay buttons, journals, collage sheets and lots more. You should definitely check it out by clicking here.
I'm participating in a Halloween banner swap. We each chose a letter from the word Halloween, and that letter is the focal point of our banner. After swapping, we will each have a set of banners that we can tie together to spell out the word. I think it will make a fun display for the holiday. As you can see, my letter is E. The second E, to be specific, not that it matters much.
As I planned my banner, I knew I wanted it to have a Gothic feel, so I started by choosing an appropriate font for my letter E. My plan was to collage text, photos, and tissue to use for the background, but as I was looking through old encyclopedias for text, I realized how spooky some of the old images were. I'm sure most of the people pictured there were perfectly nice people, but in this context, they definitely could look mysterious, even eerie. I chose a page with an illustration of some historic figure for each banner. Then I brushed Golden's Titanium White over them to make the image fainter, more ghostly. Next, I sprayed the pages with Color Mists. When dry, I stamped on them and used Distress Inks on the edges, added the E, charms, trims and ribbons. The cool charms and ribbons are from Paula's Kit Club. None of my banners are exactly the same, so here are a few more examples. Notice the ghostly figure at the top left of each. Here's to short dead dudes!
The next one may be the scariest just because of the illustration. It's a 17th century dentist practicing his "art" on some unfortunate soul. Yikes!
I must admit I usually hate deadlines, but they do stir me to action. After a long lull in my creative endeavors — well, I have been knitting which is creative — okay then, a long lull in my mixed media art endeavors, I spent the day creating little house-shaped collages because I had a deadline. I recall that someone once said to me, "Without deadlines, there is no reality." Very true.
I give up! I can't stand it in my studio any longer. Yesterday I began the process of cleaning and organizing. And not just picking up and putting away either. I need to dig into drawers, files, and piles on the floor and get rid of some of this stuff I've accumulated. Honestly, I almost want to throw everything away and start over. Do you ever feel this way?
a new blog by an incredibly talented woman who just happens to be my sister, Laurie. Click on her name to go there, and you will see diverse art forms such as linoleum block printing, bookmaking (the legal kind!), watercolors, portraiture — and get to read about the process too. If you leave a comment, tell her you found her through her big sister.
That seems to be the story lately. I'm always trying to catch up — housework, errands, friends, art projects, blogging. My life has changed so much this year since I keep grandson Bobby 2 or 3 days each week. My focus has definitely shifted from myself and my art to him. And I'm happy with that. At first, I kept beating myself up that I wasn't creating much art, but I've cut that out now. I am enjoying spending time with Bobby, and I know that I'm making an impact on him and his future. That's an accomplishment to be proud of.
I have found some time for digital scrapbooking. I want to make a scrapbook for both Bobby and granddaughter Kathleen documenting the first year of their lives. I need to hurry, at least in Bobby's case since he will turn 1 year old in less than a month. Here is a sample from his book.
And here's a page from Kathleen's.
Kathleen is now 6 months old. I don't get to see her as often as Bobby since she lives far away, but I've enjoyed using Skype to visit online with her and her mommy. Isn't technology wonderful? At least sometimes. I just love this fairly recent photo of her. She has such an adorable little face. I guess you can tell why her nickname is Cheeky.
Bobby, my husband, Warren, and I recently visited a local park where Warren took this photo of Bobby and me.
I have found time to enjoy some knitting lately. I actually finished a sweater that I can actually wear! That was a pleasant surprise. Oh, and I sewed myself a skirt. I'll try to take photos of those projects and share them later — when I'm caught up. Hah!
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