A Fall Cozy Crafting Recap
November has come and gone so quickly it is startling! Things have been so busy and I of course have to share some of my art and crafting goodness.
With an early cold snap hitting our area early, forcing a harvest all of my pepper crop, I was left scrambling to try to find ways to use them up! I dried some, saved seeds for next year, cooked all kinds of spicy foods but I was still left with buckets of peppers. Then I thought of of making pepper relish!
Using a simple but great Hot Pepper Relish Recipe from Serious Eats I was able to use up all the peppers. I made a few changes to the recipe using heirloom Jalapeno, Sapporo, Pepperoncini, Serrano, and Anaheim peppers and I didn’t have cider vinegar so I used white vinegar with a bit of fresh apple cider. The jars of relish were eaten so quickly, I already have requests to make more next season.
Another “harvest” I decided to share was making my own Bead Soup bags from all the extra beads I have in my beading supplies. Each bag I filled to the brim with a wonderful assortment of glass, metal, acrylic, stone, clay and wood beads to help start a day with creative goodness! These fun and creative mixes are great gifts to give and perfect for crafty nights.
To relax at night I picked up knitting again this time trying out chunky weight yarn from the Bernat Viva line in Burgundy using Clover Bamboo knitting needles, size 15. With two skeins I was able to make my mother a wide scarf and a thin accent scarf for myself. They worked up so quickly I know I will have to make more projects with chunky yarn.
Speaking of crafting addictions, resin jewelry is still a ongoing addiction for me. I love using Amazing Clear Cast Resin for creating my one of kind molding pieces. Lately however I decided to hark to one of the traditional styles of resin jewelry of filling bezels and frames to encapsulate drawings, paper and stickers. My favorite piece out of my most recent crafting whirlwind is the one above using beads and jewelry findings from Fiona Accessories
With the weather rapidly turning cold, I hope you stay warm and cozy as my dear 18 year old kitty Vladimir is with his new winter sweater!
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
An Artistic Halloween Haunting Recap!
Welcome to my Artistic Halloween Haunting Recap! The month of October and all of the Halloween goodness flew by so fast, but I wanted to share some of my ghoulish crafting fun before Halloween is just a faint promise of next year.
Using some wonderful chains, crystals and beads from Fiona Accessories I created this jewelry assemble for my spellbinding costume of a Gothic witch. The sterling silver snake pendant was hand crafted in Nepal and really played well with the raven skull I had bought recently.
I transformed this plastic Italian Carnival mask into a Plague Doctor mask using paper mache, paint and Liquitex Matte Varnish. However I wasn’t finished there and created the rest of the look:
With the addition of a black heavy weight line robe, hood, gloves, hat and walking stick it made a perfectly frightening Plague Doctor costume for my husband.
I created a replica mummy head using a plastic Halloween skull and the help of Amazing Casting Products. Clicj HERE for this Upcycled Mummy’s Curse!
Taking inspiration from one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays, Macbeth, I created a Eye of Newt Apothecary Jar, spooky enough to keep any monster happy!
Last but not least my husband and I finally took the time to refinish a old cabinet that had been in the family longer than me. After patching, sanding, staining and varnish it was ready to become a Halloween curio cabinet!
Not bad for our first attempt at giving new life to an old piece. Once filled with fun holiday decor it made a perfectly frightening Halloween decoration. With Halloween gone and past now I can fill it with with antiques and little curios befitting of Fall.Now to start on art projects for Fall and the coming Winter!
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
Ancient and Contemporary Inspired Artistry