Thursday, October 17, 2024
Welcome to the 31 Days of Halloween - DAY 17
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Welcome to the 31 Days of Halloween - DAY 16
One of my newest craft loves is to refresh my deck each season, which means year-round creating, upcycling and DIY-ing. Ever since I got my deck/front porch sealed and painted, I've had fun changing out different items for show. Today I took out the summer decor (from July 4th, whoops) and refreshed my door vases (which were also upcycled from a thrift store find).I did run out of a little colorful something for one of the vases, but with luck I will have found whatever tickles my fancy, add it and retake the photo before this post publishes (yes, during October, I schedule some of my posts). Meanwhile, I now have a little Fall decorating my home: these vases with Autumn foliage, 2 stuffed scarecrows (store-bought), and a creepy Halloween wreath created last year. Not a bad start for the second, huh?!
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Welcome to the 31 Days of Halloween - DAY 15
For the better part of 2024, I have been anxiously trying to get to my Cloud backup, where I put ALL of my photos and digital stamps from my old laptop. We're talking pictures of family vacations, weddings, when my husband was alive; images from years of designing for teams on blogger; every scrapbook page I created on my own and at several scrap meets. I was frantic, not getting any response from the host except the message "we no longer support this version of...".
Just a month ago, I found a way to get in, and there everything was!! My most precious memories, a history of my growth as an artist, and all the images I collected and bought and received. And the first thing I did was buy a 128 GB flash drive. I am still in the process of copying EVERYTHING onto that drive. I don't think I can ever trust the cloud again...
My project today is a Design Team make for Halloween & Other Occasions All Year 'round. I used an image from my "once lost but now found" inventory of digital images from Bugaboo Stamps. It's part of a series, and this one is called "the chosen one". I colored him with Copics and fussy-cut him out to place him into the scene, which is a cool and creepy paper from Rucola Designs via Mischief Circus (from her Dead or Alive Series).
The paper is leftover from a DCWV stack, as well the assorted stickers. The spider web is a tiny piece of lace I cut off a larger piece. The crow is a silhouette from Google free clipart, and I printed my greeting in Algerian font.
I don't make a lot of Halloween cards as I don't send them out, but I often bring a handmade treat or gift to a neighbor during the holidays - any holidays!! LOL
Monday, October 14, 2024
Welcome to the 31 Days of Halloween - DAY 14
I finally broke down and made one of those quaint road crossing signs I'm seeing everywhere on Pinterest. It actually turned out cuter than I thought it would. I dug into my bin of wood pieces and puled out a bag of thin wood pieces about 6"x2.5". After painting them with acrylic paints, I used my Posca markers to letter some of the "mysterious destinations" and also sticker letters for others. I made six, but the ones pictured here are my favorites.
I also dabbed on some Tim Holtz alcohol inks to "age" the signs so they look a tiny but weather-beaten. Instead of spending an hour looking for the "perfect stick" to attach them, My eyes spied a very old 12" ruler that had seen much better days. I hot glued my destination signs onto it and it looks pretty cool up against one of the bushes, half in and half out of the sun.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Halloween here at the Martin homestead. Do you decorate for this Autumn holiday? Do you make cards and send them out to neighbors and friends? Or do you just wait until Thanksgiving and Christmas to let your creativity soar? In my neck of the woods, Halloween is getting to be as popularly decorated as Christmas.
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Welcome to the 31 Days of Halloween - DAY 13
I painted a face corresponding to a NBC character onto each ball. Meet Zero the dog, Sally, Jack Skellington and Oogie Boogie. I also painted the bases of battery-operated tea lights black. Once everything was dry, I popped the "flame" part of the tea lights into the holes in the balls and I have lovely window decorations for the Big Day!!
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Welcome to the 31 Days of Halloween - DAY 12
When I go into my basement to find craft supplies, I sometimes feel like Mary Poppins reaching into her carpetbag. I can pull out the most amazing things to work with, most of which I often don't remember having. Today's project uses one of those magical finds.
Friday, October 11, 2024
Welcome to the 31 Days of Halloween - DAY 11
Today I decided to upcycle this fashionable witch I had found from one of my many trips to local thrift stores. Her hat was torn, her broom needed re-strawing (is that even a word?) and her shoes "were last year's, dahling."... So I gave her a makeover.