New Halloween Art

This is my attempt at doing a little fall decorating. I really dont have that much table room for displays, so I guess this will have to do.

I'm creating more Halloween art to put in my etsy store. I love creating Halloween stuff, there's such a variety of things you can do. I want to create a little bit of everything. So here's another sampling of what I've been working on. These are either in the store now or will be shortly.

These are some ACEO's I drew by hand and then painted with acrylic paints. Made them in a vinage style.

New Art & Supplies in My Store

I've added a few more pieces of art and some supplies for inspiration for Halloween. Take a look in my etsy store (link is on the upper left)

Fall Inspiration & Tutorials

The themometer seems to be dipping lower and lower each night here in the foothills. Gets me in the mood for nesting. Airing out the down comforters. And searching for ideas for fall decorating. I found a few here and thought I'd share. I subscribe to BHG newsletter and they have so many ideas for decorating at any time of year!




This photo is from Better Homes & Gardens. The instructions for the pumpkin centerpiece is here









Instructions (& photo) of this cornucopia courtesy of BHG

Here's a beautiful idea from Heather Bullard of Present Past Collection. She's got some beautiful pictures of fall decorating that's sure give you some ideas. The tutorial for this beautiful crafty idea is also on her blog. Photo used with permission.

A different way to display those fall grocery store flowers instead of a standard vase. Very easy to do (maybe a little more messy than you'd want, but the results look pretty) . Courtesy of Country Living.












This is probably one of my all time favorite vignettes. I wish I was brave enough to paint a wall orange! This is from an older Country Living Magzine issue.













I have yet to start any fall decorating, but I'm really inspired by all the pretty pictures I've found of others' that have been so nice to share their ideas and home decor. There's also alot of links over at The Inspired Room that feature fall decor to give you even more ideas.

Witches, Goblins & Bats, Oh My!

I actually started ahead of the season for once. Here are a few of the Halloween items I've made and put in my etsy shop.




These are some folded pinwheels that I made with vintage music sheets. They were very time consuming to make.


A little hanging with twigs, burlap, raffia and ribbon.



I really like how this one turned out. The photo is an original that I had in my collection. This woman has creepy light eyes. I've also had the old wooden frame for years and invested in some black gloss spray paint and presto!


I really got into making tags this time. I found I had a lot of vintage Halloween images already, but they were small pixel images so would only work on a smaller project.

Out of the Comfort Zone

I’m really liking graphic art lately and I’ve been wanting to create something different (at least for me). Wanting to go (a little) out of my comfort zone. I came across some large ledger sheets that I forgot I had hidden away (not usual). I just started doodling and cutting and pasting. Two of these came out (somewhat) to my satisfaction.

I really like the artwork of swallowfield, jp-art and abbyjane among many. Eventually I want obtain some carving tools and try making a couple carved blocks to try my hand at block prints. I just love all the two color graphic art you see everywhere. I see fabric, pillows, curtains, etc. in all the home dec. magazines. I’ve just got so many ideas floating around, and I’ll never live long enough to do them all.

Fire in the Sky

sunset and moonrise

Here's a couple pics from earlier in the week, and of course its because of the smoke in the air that they look like this. We've had more clear days lately. I haven't even checked the news to see what fires are still going. Like I've said before, and I'll say it again, we've been lucky so far--no fires near us. I live near a road that people take to reach part of the American River. We always seem to get at least one fire near the river canyon where some idiot obviously throws out a cigarette or something to start the fire. I don't know how many times I've been on the freeway and I see some idiot hauling his trailer full of toys and the connecting chains are dragging on the ground shooting off sparks. Duh! all it takes is a little spark (like Smokey the Bear says) to start the fire, and they just keep driving oblivious to what they cause. Ok enough of that!

I put together a sewn paper banner, my first, but I'm not too happy with it. I wanted to use some embelishments I already had on hand and incorporated them with some of my trims and papers. I decided to start out small and used the word "NEST" as my inspiration. I'll be putting it in my etsy art shop.

A confused butterfly

The Heat, Smoke and Lack of Creativity

We’ve had such a mild summer I guess I’ve been a little spoiled. Until NOW! OMG its freakin’ hot, feels like Arizona (except they have dry heat there, lol). I’m here in the Sierra Foothills (about 2300’) and for the last couple days its been hot, hot, hot. We do have central air but I don’t even want to imagine what the PGE will cost with running it. According to the thermostat it’s about 104 in the shade. Add to that, we’ve had smoky skies for weeks (a day of clear air here and there), but at night you can smell the smoke in the house if you leave a window open. The kids and I like to walk in the evening but haven’t for weeks because of the smoke. I’m getting “cabin fever” stuck inside. ARGH!

My good for nothin' cat who has survived the perils (coyotes, etc.) of country living for about 12 yrs now, decided to leave a present on the porch the other day. It must have fallen from the sky, 'cause I know she's too lazy to hunt. A quail was left intact for me to find. It had the prettiest plumage and I saved a few feathers. I wanted to take a few pics and when I set them out they fell into the shape of the bird (somewhat) so I grabbed a few things that were right there on my desk and created this hommage to the quail. Don't get me wrong, I really do love this old cat. A couple years ago she was attacked by one of my jack russells, and I sat with that cat overnight and then nursed her back to health, so we have a special bond.

Trying to keep my garden green in this heat!

I haven’t been able to create anything in the last week, can’t get any ideas, or maybe there’s just too many ideas, I can’t settle on any one thing to start. I think I’ll look thru my old Somerset Studios issues to see if I can get any ideas, if not, there’s always the eye candy.

A Little Vacation at Home

artI guess it was last week, I was alone for 4…whole… glorious… days! Everyone had gone to different places, the kids, the H, and I was enjoying every minute of it. It was quiet and relaxed, just me and the dogs. I also realized that during that time, I found I was really creative. I had lots of ideas and actually created quite a few works of art, which is unusual for me to create so many at one time. So what’s up with that? I should pack up and leave? (had that thought many times, lol) live in a cave? But seriously, what does that say about our creative selves? I guess for me I need quiet, some people can work with music or background noise, apparently not me. I also realized that I had long periods of uninterrupted time (except for the occasional doggy potty breaks, where I rounded up all 5 and let them out at one time). I could follow through on an idea, not be interrupted and loose my train of thought. I’m lucky in that my kids are teens and I don’t have little ones demanding even more of my attention. I don’t know how you do it - those of you with little ones - I see the art created by you and am amazed.

My creative space is nothing fancy, just an alcove on one side of the kitchen. I recently redid it, painted, added shelves, combined and conquered the clutter and organized the plastic drawers. Stayed nice and neat for about a day! I find that I work better in clutter, then when I can’t stand it, I clean, but only if absolutely necessary!

Well, off to finish some art, here’s some that I created during my little 4 day vacation.

Feelin' Witchy

I’m usually never on time with making holiday decorations/crafts, but this time I’ve actually already made a few Halloween items to sell in my etsy store. I usually start too late and then the items end up in a box in storage for next year, but then I forget I have them and … Such is the cycle of my life, “a day late and a dollar short” as my Dad always says.

I’ve been on a kick making tags, which I’ve never really done to any extent before. Below is one that I made from a photo I have. OMG are they a homely couple, such a sourpuss face on the older one. They are not related to me (bought on ebay)!!



Seems like when I get an idea in my head I have to search all over to find the elements I'm looking for. Take for instance the crow tags below. I knew I wanted crows, but I only had one pic of a crow.
I wanted to use several different views, so I had to search all through my books to find images, then I had to scan them, then print them (finding I'm almost out of black printer ink in the mean time!). Is it that way for you? Do you find your elements first and then put the idea together? It just seems that I spend alot of time looking for just the right element to add. Am I too picky? Just seems like it takes me so long to get something done. Even when the ideas are flowing, it just seems that a simple project like a few tags takes me several days to complete. And it never fails, right when I'm in the "zone", I get interrupted! Kids to pick up from school, dogs need to be let out, dogs to be let in (most of my day is spent doing this). ARGH!



This is a small painting (5x7) I just finished. I haven’t done any real painting since high school many, many years ago, lol! I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I’ve never been good at drawing people that look real. But I’ve never tried to draw a figure that has a primitive look that seems so popular. Since this was my first attempt I didn’t want to waste one of my canvases so I used 140 lb cold press watercolor paper. I painted gesso on first, and then when almost dry, I set it under a heavy book to get it to lay flat. It worked pretty well with the acrylic paints, but did want to curl some, so I pressed it flat overnight a few times. I put it in a thrifted frame that was already painted a dark brown (looks almost black) and I’m keeping it for now, he he.





I think I might have a few more Halloween ideas somewhere in my mind, so back to the crafting table!