Happy Hallowe'en candlestick

 This year I have made so little for Hallowe'en I'm getting withdrawal symptoms! With one thing and another I've had no time but I have managed to make this candlestick.

 He started life as a ceramic money box............I painted it with several layers adding extra to the teeth and eyes..........................

 .......gave him a hat made from a little flan case and a cream horn tin................with painted lace, feathers and crystals added around and underneath............

 .........on top of the candlestick is a hook thingy that came with a dress form................and hanging from it are dolls arms....of course......every self respecting Hallowe'en candle stick needs hanging arms!

 ......more little skulls on a wire fence around the bottom............................

The skull piece just sits on top of the candle stick so it can be removed and a candle added!

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!!

Owls and bats

 Yesterday I escaped my kitchen makeover once again  and went to WIGHTWICK MANOR (near Wolverhampton) with a couple of friends.....the main reason for going was a WILLIAM MORRIS exhibition.............I have to say the exhibition was a little disappointing.......a good job that most of the rooms had original William Morris wallcoverings and fabrics on the sofas etc...............the added bonus was that there were loads of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, drawings, ceramics, tiles everywhere.....BEAUTIFUL! Unfortunately no photos allowed inside:(

 Quite appropriate for the time of year....I thought.... were these two carvings on either side of the front door:)

 

No art going on here!

Being still in the midst of the kitchen re-fit and now with husband home too there is no art going on here! While I can't get in my workroom I have been wandering the web and doing a little shopping.
I have something on order that I will share when it arrives, hopefully in a couple of days but in the meantime I thought I'd share what came in the post today:)

 

 These two nicely wrapped little packages......................

 ....the wrapping is dress makers tissue tied with sari silk strips................

 .....inside were these.................

......and this.............meet Benny!!! I got them from here........

A SPECTACULAR MESS on Etsy....

...I am having Benny earrings made to match!

All things weird and wonderful

 Yesterday my friend Sarah...... of ART OF MOODLING fame..........and I headed to Knighton on the Shropshire/Welsh borders to go to an open studio event. There was lots of fun stuff to see...........first the WEIRD! The angel/cupid thing on the wall above was huge and gaudy and to make it worse THERE WERE TWO OF THEM!

 Then there were these bucket lamps.............I kinda liked these:)

 And this was a ship covered in carpet..........HMS AXMINSTER!

And now the WONDERFUL!

  This piece was entitled............THE VOLES THINK GOD IS DEAD!.....this I really liked:)

The dog in a chess pieces box and all the pieces below are by a fav artist of mine......LUCY CASSON.....Sarah and I wanted to go to one of her workshops but the only 2 she is doing are full:( We did talk to Lucy about future workshops so fingers crossed.

 I LOVED these crows!

 The Pastry Cook!!

Lucys little figures all have such character!

Another fabulous day out......nothing better!

Pumpkin doodles

 I still can't get in my workroom cos it looks like this.....it's turned into a store room for stuff from the kitchen!
So, I have been sat on the sofa doodling! I really liked the way the pumpkin on the previous post came out so I did some more!

 This was my fav one!

And I think this one is having a bad hair day!!!

The magic of secrets

 This morning I saw that the challenge on GINGERSNAP CREATIONS is RAVENS. I have never joined the Gingersnap challenge before but I do love ravens so decided to play along.
Not having full access to my stuff just now (see previous post if interested why) I grabbed a few collage sheets, my PAN PASTELS (available from The Stamp Attic)glue stick and a journal and this is what I came up with!

 You might ask why the quote.........well, no good reason really.....I went through the Radio Times looking for interesting wording and came up with THE MAGIC OF SECRETS.....I kinda like it!!!

 I used Pan Pastels to colour the background and also to colour my pumpkin.......which I drew myself.

Do you think ravens know THE MAGIC OF SECRETS?

Pretentious? Moi?

Not wanting to sound pretentious or anything but I have discovered that "my head has to be in the right place" to be creative! Or to put it more simply.......I have to feel settled!

I wonder if you find the same thing??

At the moment I'm not that settled..................the reason................well it's a good reason.......we are having a new kitchen fitted............

............this is what it looks like this morning...........the floor is being tiled this very minute but it does mean I can't get into my workroom......it's behind the door with the calendar hanging on it!

So, I'll show you a journal page that I made last week..............it's not finished..........it's a double page, below is the right hand page, it needs some words but not got round to those yet!

I used a couple more digi mages that I got from DLLYBEANSTAMPS

 and I added a moustache to the skelly.........makes me smile!

 

 Spooky pumpkin!

I really liked the way this part of the pages came out.........gesso through a square stencil......paint........more stencilling over the top with a tree stencil.

Lynne Perrella

As I said in my last post I went to a workshop taught by LYNNE PERRELLA on Friday.

This is what I made!

 I really liked what Lynne called her "low tech" approach..........not using lots of  overly expensive "stuff".
I mean you have to buy some"stuff" but sometimes not so expensive "stuff" can look great too! And the other thing about using individual "stuff" is that your work doesn't then look like everyone elses! I have always liked to use found things in my work so this approach suited me!

Not to give anything away here as it is Lynnes workshop but I think I can tell you that that face started as a very un-promising looking photocopy that had most of us looking sideways at it! Lynne said that although we were learning her method of working our finished pieces should still look like WE made them. I hope you think this looks like I made it!

 There were lots of stamps available to use to make embellishments but I decided against that (as part of the individuality thing) and when I discovered a bag of black feathers what came to be known as my spirit bundles came into being!

 This brass number 2 is the only thing I have added since I came home......it was meant to be used as a house number on your front door.......again that "found" object thing!

No one here but us dunces!

Yesterday I went to a workshop with LYNNE PERRELLA.......it was good fun, I learned some new stuff, met up with new and old friends and generally had a good day out! My piece is NOT QUITE finished so I'll show it in the next couple of days when it is.

So in the meantime..................

 ...........MEET THE SKELLY DUNCES!

 They are appearing in my A4 journal......I printed them full size on A4 paper and they fill the page quite nicely! Ok, so I know they are heading towards the cute but they just about make it onto my whimsical radar!!

 Aren't they just the funniest things?
I saw them here on MANDYS BLOG (she is Lily of THE OCTOPDE FACTORY fames Mum!) and they made me smile! 

They are digi images from SILLYDILLYBEANS

Pumpkin anyone?

 

Wendy over at THE STAMP ATTIC sent me this Acrylic Shadowbox Frame Pumpkin to have a play with a while ago .......it has a back piece, three frame pieces and then an acrylic cover......you add paper, paint, stamp etc etc to it and then assemble the pieces together..............the only problem with that is that the acrylic cover is shiny and getting a good pic was nearly impossible........you could reflections of the camera, the rest of the room, me................so, I took it apart so you can see better!

 This is the inside and the frame sections.....................

 .....this is the acrylic cover with its added decoration........the leaf comes with the kit, in fact there are three of them......................

 .....this is inside with stamped STAMPOTIQUE bods......I 3deed them a little so they stood out better..........

 .....this is the leaf on the acrylic cover with added twisted wire and plastic spider......they are from the supermarket, amongst the Hallowe'en junk:)

Go over to THE STAMP ATTIC BLOG for more pics and details.