Halloween crafts and Pumpkin Harvest!
It has been a very long month and seemed to have gone by so quickly. I never seem to have enough time to get all of the arts and crafts I want to get done for Halloween. There are so many directions you can go to be creative for Halloween: home decor, themes, costumes and accessories. Jewelry is thankfully one of those crafts that is easy to make, even with time constraints. I ended up finding this perfect twisted tree pendant from Blue Moon Beads. It had a silver bird dangle attached to the tree; while cute it did not lend well to a Halloween theme, so I removed it and started to brain storm. I wanted to make a more classy addition to a witch costume. Going with the classic idea of poison apples, I started to rummage through my glass and crystal beads.
“The wicked tree” ended up being simple to make but classical in design. I thought blood red crystals would add the needed flash of color with a touch of sparkle to remind of the ruby red but deadly apples.Now still going with the Halloween theme, I bring you to my garden. As I noted in my last post pumpkins have been a big theme for me this season. For me Halloween is one of the best times to showcase this lovely squash. This year I attempted my first try at a completely organic pumpkin patch. Starting with only homemade organic compost and organic seeds I ended up planting 12 seedlings. Traditionally you want to plant pumpkins no later than June, I ended up planting them in the beginning of July but they still came out wonderful. I picked a small variety called New England Pie. This is a classic traditional heirloom pie pumpkin on the East Coast. They are small and usually only weigh a few pounds.
Quickly they took over my little raised garden patch and started to bloom! The bees did the rest and little pumpkins started to form!
I was so happy to harvest the first pumpkin of the season. But many more started to turn orange….
I have many more still turning orange on the vine but I was able to harvest these. They have to cure for 10 days but they look wonderful as Halloween decor until I can cook them up. 🙂My family can’t wait for them to be ready to eat and they are already planning on what to make. One of my favorite recipes to use for pumpkins besides stuffed pumpkin is Olive Oil Pumpkin Bread. At first it might sound a bit odd but it is a wonderful recipe to use. The flavor is light but the bread is rich in nature, perfect to give as a gift.
Wishing everyone a Happy and Safe Halloween! Until next time, Safe Travels!
Creative Crystals
I often get into these creative modes where I get focus on a specific medium or supply. My recent craze is using crystals, be it vintage, natural, glass, anything with a sparkle to it. I am testing my boundaries with this because I generally do not use crystals in my work, I always get so worried I will break the delicate pieces or chip them. But a few months back at the Winter CHA I came across the Connie Crystal booth. The booth had this gorgeous dress made from paper and crystals, it was such an eye catcher I had to walk in and look at the crystals.
Connie herself was teaching make-and-takes and invited me to try making one of her projects. I was pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the crystal beads and focal pieces she had in a stunning array of colors. The crystals did not chip while working with jewelry tools and they had amazing clarity. I bought some of the floor samples and carefully packed them away. I would take them out now and then just to look at the beautiful beads but still not sure what type of jewelry I would like to make of them. After seeing some some other artists work in crystal I got inspired. I researched some ancient jewelry patterns and I came up with these necklaces and earring sets:
Sterling silver chain, size: 12mm and 10mm Connie Crystal beads. A simple design but I was going for a fantasy piece that brought to mind a female warrior’s adornment.
Gold plate vintage chain with 10mm Connie Crystal beads. With this piece I went with the theme of the the Leo horoscope sign and the colors often attributed to the sign.
Silver plate chain and findings, vintage green crystals, lampwork glass beads and 14mm circle Connie Crystal beads. I love to put animal themes in my artwork whenever I can and with this one I used a lovely snake toggle as one of the many focals on this asymmetrical piece. It hints back to ancient myths and legends so I named the set “Snakes of the Crystal”.
After making all of these pieces and using Connie Crystal beads I can honestly say they work very well, have amazing color and can handle being moved around a lot. I tend to adjust my jewelry pieces, connecting and moving about elements until I am happy with the design, and these beads came through it looking beautiful. If you do bead work or mixed media and want something different to add to a piece, go to their website. 🙂
Until next time, Safe Travels!
CHA Winter show 2012 part 2
As I noted in my last post this year’s winter Craft and Hobby Association show was awesome! My last post was mostly about Globecraft Memories and my first time doing demos at the CHA. This post will be about some of the new products, designs and workshops at CHA!
First I would like to talk about the DCWV booth which had some of the most beautiful paper and bead booth decor at the Winter CHA. DCWV Inc. is known for their very popular scrapbooking papers, cards, brads, stickers, albums, and embellishments. In 2010, the Blue Moon Beads brand was acquired by DCWV, so the booth was showing a wonderful fusion of these companies. I have used both DCWV and Blue Moon Beads products before, mostly for artwork at small shows. I must say though after seeing their booth decor and product samples I just had to get wholesale catalogs to use their products for classes.
The blue color tone tree was one of my favorites. It looked right out of a fairy tale. I keep trying to think how in the world I could make a tree of my own and where to put it.! LOL
The green beads on this tree are just gorgeous, and the photo does not do it justice.
I ended up wandering around, several isles over, and once again to stopping at a booth just because of how stunning booth decor was. In this case a glittering, full size gown made from crystal beads, paper and chain. I had to stop to see what this booth was about!
As I ended up finding out this beautiful piece of art was part of Connie’s Crystal booth. They carry genuine, high quality crystal beads and focal pieces in a stunning array of colors.
A close up of the bodice of the wonderful booth display at Connie’s Crystals.
I wandered by their booth on the last day and noticed they were selling out the booth crystals, so of course I had to buy some. Sadly I did not get there early enough to get all of the colors I wanted but I did buy some beauties. The reflection of light with their sun-catcher line is amazing. If you do bead work, mixed media or even just want lovely sun-catchers go to their website and request a catalog!
While I normally do not have time to attend many workshops at CHA, when I heard about Makin’s Clay Explore the Possibilities class I had to take it! Makin’s Clay produces a no-bake polymer clay providing an alternative modeling medium to oven-bake type polymer clays, environmentally safe, biodegradable and user friendly. The workshop, which was instructed by designer Ann Butler, explored the applications of Makin’s Clay and helped those who attended gain hands-on experience using Makin’s Brand products.
Each workshop participant received this seriously awesome complimentary Makin’s Clay gift bag just stuffed with goodies! I even ended up winning a Makin’s Professional Clay Tools set in class as well!
While I have not used Makin’s Clay polymer clay line in the past I do use their tool line a lot and I can say it is some of the best on the market. After trying out their clay and finding out they make some rather nice new color lines I will be using their clay with projects in the future. 🙂
Until next time, safe travels!
Ancient and Contemporary Inspired Artistry