Sunday, November 2, 2014

AMEN AMEN AND AMEN!!!

Three Ways Parents are Ruining Halloween

Monday, October 27, 2014

My Children Arise!

Took some photos of the kids tonight.  







Considering this year almost didn't happen (again, details later), the kids are happy to be playing in the yard again.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Little by little

Started digging out some props to put in the front yard and caught this guy grinning at me, with his pet ladybug.
Doug the piano playing ghost.  Still looks ok after 3 years of being mothballed.

Teaser tombstones.

The Lady of Blue (tried my hand at the packing tape dummy thing)

The Lady of Blue with Google+ doing it's arbitrary make-over of a picture.  Still looks kind of cool but don't know who what when why or how it determines which ones to do.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Random Hallowe'en Images from around the house...

Played around with my cell phone camera (iPhone 6).  I was impressed it took such good quality pictures.











Saturday, October 4, 2014

High Hallowe'en Art

So, in my old school Hallowe'en pursuits, I come across really neat vintage paper products from Dennison, Beistle and others.  I love these, they bring me back to Hallowe'ens past where everything was much simpler and fun.  Or at least that's the way I romanticize them in my mind.  However, I wanted to keep and display these pieces of art (and yes, they are indeed art) all year round and so behold!

 I had my vintage small glow skeleton done by a frame shop.  They did a good job but they did charge me a whopping price (I think they boasted that it was done at 50% off and the price was around 55.00 if I remember right).
This one was done under 20.00 by me.  Went to Hobby Lobby and bought a frame set for half price, a half sheet of mat board and some acid-free mounting tabs and voila! instant Hallowe'en high art work for a lot less and I leave it up year round!

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Beauty and bane of my existence...

Had to drive down in the country today and I happened upon fields and fields of beautiful goldenrod, otherwise known as ragweed.  I love these fields of fluffy yellow flowers along with black eyed Susans. 
My nose begs to differ and if it wasn't for a steady diet of antihistamines, I would be dead.  These are yet another sign of fall in the South.







Glorious gold field,
Autumn color shining bright,
ACHOO ACHOO sniff!

 Another of my favorites, the spider lily. No where to be seen during the year and then all at once a spire of red firework-like blooms explode in the yard.  My next door neighbor had this one blooming in all its glory.

 The neat thing about these and daffodils is that in an abandoned field, you can see these flowers pop up marking where someone's long abandoned and gone homestead was located in one point in history.

Monday, September 29, 2014

It Starts....Images of Fall

We have been having nice dry weather lately with tolerable temperatures for a pleasant change.  I have been traipsing around taking pictures of the local flora and fauna in all their glory.  

Some unidentified bush in the woods with glorious purple berries in clusters along the stems.

Defoliated cotton fields near where I work.  Although the smell may stink to some people, the defoliant scent is what I associate with fall since it was what I grew up with and it always comes towards the end of September.

Beautiful pumpkins.  Went to the curb market and they had a wonderful assortment this year and all were pretty.

Pink pumpkins! I love these!  They weigh a ton though, much heavier than they look.

Gourds in tons of beautiful shapes and sizes

I had planted some gourd seeds earlier this year and was griping because they seemed to be making nothing but foliage but as some of the leaves withered away, this guy showed up sitting pretty in the flower pot!

Nectar of the Gods...Mallow Cream pumpkins!!!!

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Glowing Chinese Lanterns

Contrary to popular belief, Chinese Lanterns will not grow out of control anywhere, my yard is living or rather dying proof.  I love them, I think that they're beautiful and have envisioned a bed of wonderful little papery lanterns adorning my garden.  I read an article about a little girl who would catch lightning bugs and put them in the lanterns to see them glow like ornaments in the summer night.
Fat chance, can't even get them to grow decently much less bloom.
So not to be daunted, I saw some LED branches at Big Lots a while back and with a little gumption, some leftover moss and a pot and a wall wart, I made this...I turn it on when I want to feel Hallowe'eny.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

High Holy Day Craft...Tree of Souls or Cool Skull Jewelry

Tree of souls with friend

Tree of souls with little skulls glowing happily in the darkness


I bought a little metal tree from an import store a while back and although I liked it, I didn't know what to do with it.  I have always loved the little skulls that are synonymous with the Mexican Day of the Dead and then it kind of hit me when I saw the article what to do with my little tree besides slash my shin on it when I leave it in the floor.  If you don't have a deadly metal tree full of rust and tetanus hanging around, you could use some branches and hang them from that which would look quite nice I would think. Not only are these really cool as little ornaments, they would be great as jewelry for Day of the Dead or Hallowe'en.  A couple of findings and you could have little skull earrings or a bracelet or necklace. I wish I could take credit for this but I have to thank Martha Stewart for the bead tutorial in her October issue (not much else though, I was a bit disappointed in this year's Hallowe'en issue). Although I couldn't find a link to a tutorial, I'll show you how I did it...

Tree of Souls

Reaper of souls, otherwise known as Karma the Kitteh

Ooh pretty...I MUST MURDER IT!



Karma making a case why we can't have a Christmas tree
Materials needed:
  • Fimo clay (I used glow in the dark)
  • Small thin nail, thin metal skewer or even a straight piece of wire
  • Pin with large head
  • Something like a very small flathead screwdriver

Fimo Glow clay, hard to deal with until you get it warmed up in your hands then it's pretty fun.

Make a marble sized ball....
Mold and pinch it a bit on the bottom to add a chin...
STAB IT THROUGH THE BRAIN!  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Use the end of a pin to make an eye socket.
Make another eye socket.  Don't worry if it doesn't look perfect.
Make two little slashes for the nasal cavities.

Make a line and then add teeth using an instrument like the screwdriver I have here.

Removed the pick through the brain...notice the head is a bit flat looking.

Head after gentle remolding back into shape.

Finished head prior to baking in regular light and dirty work table.

Skull glowing brightly with features really pronounced!
Now make a whole bunch of them and bake them according to package directions.  If you're making them as beads or ornaments, you're all set when they come out and cool.  For earrings, you might want to embed a very small metal loop in the clay before baking so you can attach the posts to them.  Hey, I have piercings, I know what I'm talking about!