Welcome to the 31 Days of Halloween - DAY 17

How's the weather where you live? October started in like a lamb, with unusual temps in the mid 70s, cooling off at night to around mid fifties. But as we near October 31, I know it's going to get nasty. Most years the weather is beautiful right up until the Monday before trick-or-treating. Bummer for the kids who want to show off their costumes. 

Today I upcycled a wooden cat figurine. It was originally pink and cute, but 'tis the season so I first out on its black coat. By the time I finished using my white Posca marker, the cat became a hybrid sugar skull skeleton. I couldn't decide on cute or creepy, and I got what you see here! 

While photographing my project, I decided to make the background black & white. Now the cat looks like he's camouflaged into the background. LOL I've put him in my window. I almost put him in between the glass and screen facing in, but my dog was not very happy with that! So Mr. Bones is facing out and behind the blinds most of the day.

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?!

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

Challenges I am Entering:

Shopping our Stash - Halloween

Try It on Tuesday - Halloween

 

Make My Monday - Kid-Friendly card

Two Old Bats Halloween - Halloween

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. 

Challenges I am Entering:

Daisy Chain - Autumn and/or Halloween

Halloween & Other Occasions - Halloween

Welcome to the 31 Days of Halloween - DAY 13

 

Today is October 13th! It would be cooler if it were a Friday instead of a Sunday, huh?! Anyway, today's make features the stars from Tim Burton's Nightmare before Christmas classic movie. Since I started decluttering the basement, I have found things I never even knew I had. Among my discoveries was a bag of (old) ping pong balls. 

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!!

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.

It was a very used  Halloween wreath made from painted, clipped clothespins on a wire wreath frame. A little burla, some dirty stickers and a crushed bow were all that remained on the original DIY  someone worked on to delight their children in times gone by. I had my work cut out for me...

Taking all the clothespins off I repainted them in bright orange, purple and black colors.. Some had originally been green but the ribbon I used didn't have a speck of green in it, so change of color scheme. While they were drying I rummaged around my Halloween supply box and found some wooden shapes that would look well on the finished wreath and cleaned them.

The wire frame consists of three attached circles. I clipped the pins orange, purple black so that in theory the same order would go around the whole wreath. I didn't allow for the broken clothespins I had pulled off and didn't replace. Their empty "slots" would be where the large orange and black ribbon and bow are hiding them...

Once pins were in place as well as the ribbon, I hot glued the wooden shapes asymmetrically, adding some small skull buttons to fill in what I though of as gaps. I used black carabiner rope for a hanger and my door now showcases a "new" Halloween wreath. I think I gave this wreath the fresh breath it needed. What do you think?

Challenges I am Entering

Creative Artiste - Anything Mixed Media Goes

LeighSB Designs Inspiration - Anything Halloween Goes + optional twist Catoween

Moving along with the Times - Autumnal Colors

Classic Design - Autumn/Fall

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.

I repaired her dress, added a belt, made a new hat for her, styled her hair, painted her shoes and the base on which she stands, and re-strawed her broom. I even added a black cat in front of her right foot, tho' it's hard to see. I didn't have to dig into the air dry clay I discovered while decluttering my supplies, so it was an easy upcycle and she's ready for Fashion Week in Paris. I hope she can get a good price on airfare. Oh, wait, she doesn't need a silly plane to get there...