Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!
Hope all my friends in blogland had a terrific candy-bar packed Halloween!
This is "Boo" my newest little paperclay leopard doll......

It's Snowing Men......Snowmen that is.....

Since Halloween is almost here it's time to switch to gears. The frosty nights speak of impending flakes......snowflakes that is not your visiting relatives! Tracey at Glitterbug Studios and I decided to challenge each other to make a snowman and do a cross-blog posting.

Let me introduce to you......Mitten. Tracey made this fabulous man with vintage appeal! He's all ready to go out caroling. Isn't he cute? To see more pics of Mitten head on over to Glitterbug Studios. She is becoming quite the Paperclay maven! I love the little "coal" eyes. Mitten measures 15 inches high.

Now, let me introduce you to my little snowguy.......please say "hello" to Sugar. Sugar is made out of cream colored felt. His eyes and mouth are french knots and his nose was embroidered with a straight stitch with DMC floss. I lightly dusted the top of his head and cap with coarse white glitter. He measures 12 inches tall. I was inspired to make Sugar by this glass jar full of yummy Christmas goodies. Isn't it funny how you can get an idea just by looking at a jarful of randomness?

So onward to the pattern. Now remember you can copy and save this pattern for your own use and even make little snowmen to sell, shoot you can even resize it and make little itty bitty ones or giant ones, but please don't sell the pattern because that would be very uncool and bad karma would then come your way in the form of every snowman that you try building this winter looking like a big pile of crap, and I really wouldn't want that for any of my friends in blogland!
So you're asking right about now, "where are the instruction Melissa?" I would never leave you hanging like that! Just to let you you know, I used a sewing machine with Ecru colored thread but you could just as easily hand sew too. You will be sewing on the front of the pieces which means there is no turning of things right side out!

Cut 2 bodies, 4 legs and 4 arms and 2 hats out of felt. Making french knots put on the eyes and mouth and using a straight stitch make a nose using DMC floss. Next cut out 2 little red circles and attach them to the front of the body using french knots. Pin together 2 legs and sew around the outside of them, repeat for the other leg. If you'd like use red DMC floss and a chain stitch to add stripes on his legs. Sew the arms the same way. Pin together the 2 bodies and tuck the two legs into the bottom of the body and stitch right over the legs to hold them on. Continue to stitch around the outside of body about 1/4 of an inch in from the edge and leave about a 2 inch opening on the one side to put the stuffing in (I use Polyfill). Sew the hat and put just a little stuffing in it. Lightly stuff the snowman and hand stitch up the opening. Hand sew the arms on each side. Hand sew the hat on the head at a jaunty angle. Embellish with whatever you want to add on to him!

If you make one of these babies, I'd love to see it! Send me pic and I'll put it in a future blog posting with a link to your blog. Happy Snowman making! This is a great way of making a snowman without getting your hands cold!

Fairy Door Necklaces.....

Again, the falling leaves have inspired me in my newest creations........ fairy door necklaces. The leaves are made of leather and the doors are metal. The coolest thing about the doors (other than them being so stinkin' cute) is that they open! Yes, they open and there's room in there for a picture or little message. The door closes securely with a little magnet in the inside. What would you put inside it?

I love the fibers in this necklace, I was trying to create a "foresty" look.

If you'd like to wear one of these little fairy door necklaces, please visit my jewelry blog:

Honey Girl Studio Jewelry.

Autumn Leaves Jewelry

It is in autumn that I feel very blessed to be living in Western Pennsylvania. The bright blue days of October showcase a jewel-tone parade of falling leaves carelessly floating through the air. The blazing brilliance of colors never ceases to amaze me......

A few weeks ago my mum and I went to a local quilt show and discovered a woman creating these wonderful art quilts. No doubt she was inspired by the showy array of foliage. This is a quilt she was working on.....

This is a finished quilt. She creates them with tiny snippets of fabric which has been backed with Wonder-Under. The machine quilting is random. I think it looks pretty realistic. I'd like to try my hand at one of these someday.

I think Maple trees are my favorite. The colors are just so vibrant.....the reds, yellows and oranges! This is a picture I took this weekend. I was standing in my mom and dad's drive way shooting down toward the little village of Hadley........

Plus, the Maples hold a special place in my heart because the gentle giants surrounded the house I grew up in. This is the house! There were many more Maples around the house but they had to be taken down when they got too old and rotten on the inside.
So as many of you know, I draw a lot of inspiration from nature and this is an excellent time of the year to do so. These are my new pendants I created from leather. This one has a bronze shimmer that is hard to see in this photo. The cascade of shell and stone chips is suppose to mimic falling leaves. The words on the leaf are types of trees.

This leaf has a shimmer of copper, russet and bronze to it. I made it a little steampunkie with the metal gear attached to it.

I really like how this one turned out! The cascade of iridescent pearls in dark egglant, bronze and pale gold really pop on this piece. You can find these necklaces over at Honey Girl Studio Jewelry.

How do leaves inspire you in your artistic pursuits during the autumn season? In other words, what "leafs" you inspired?

Pumpkin Goblin Winner Announced......

And the winner of the Pumpkin Goblin is..........(insert drum roll here).... Dianne C. from
Dianne Rambling On. Congrats Dianne! I hope he doesn't cause too much autumn mischief in your home! Please email me your address and I'll get him sent right out to you this week.
Thanks to all those who left comments and became followers during this giveaway. There will be another give away coming this week so stop back!

Good Weekend/Weekend Goodies

I hope you all had a good weekend, I know I sure did! On Saturday I went to Strongsville, Ohio with my friend Donna to a stamping convention. This is what I bought......

I'm very excited to use the new Tim Holtz rosette die you see above. I watched the guy do the demo and he made it look pretty easy. We had a lot of fun watching the demos and checking out the new goodies. I'd love to be a demo person for Tim Holtz products!

Donna gave me the recipe for this potato soup.....it's super easy and sooooo yummy!

Easy Potato Soup Recipe
In a large pot in 2T of olive oil saute 1/2 of an onion (chopped), 2 stalks of celery (chopped) and 1 large carrot, finey chopped until soft. Add 1 box of chicken stock (about 5 cups) to the pot and 1T of parsley flakes. Next stir in one packet of McCormicks Country Gravy and one bag of Oreida frozen hash browns. Bring to a boil and then turn down to low and simmer for about 20 mintues. I can't get over how delicious it is!

Today I got to play around tonight with Photoshop and make a few digital collages. This collage was created with the following elements: steward boy, Eagle Rock ticket, black and orange ribbon, pumpkins, and orange and white stripe paper in oval frame by Marsha at Tumble Fish Studio at Etsy; white box, corn stalks, metal oval, and books by Lorie at Scrapbook Graphics; black glitter lace by Lisa at Scrapbook Graphics.

I call him "The Pumpkin Steward" as he's the one you call upon to fetch your pumpkin from the field, his tall shiny black boots glistening in the moonlight as he makes his way through the patch with only the aid of a candle in a jar to guide him.

Speaking of pumpkins.......how about this crazy pumpkin that I took a picture of a few weeks ago. It almost looks like it's covered with peanuts! After some sleuthing on the net I found out that it's actually a type of squash called Cucurbita Maxima and I guess they are delicious.

Lastly I'm leaving you a with a picture of Veepers. He's hanging out in the pie safe which is decorated for Halloween and no he does not look happy.....that's because tomorrow is MONDAY and there's a giant spider tickling his toe! Have a bearable Monday! I'd say have a great Monday but we all know there is no such thing.

Got Frost On Your Pumpkin?

A special "Thanks you" to my friend Tracey of Glitterbug Studios for making me this new awesome Halloween banner! Isn't it cool?

Brrrrr, it may possibly frost this weekend here in Northwestern, Pa! The weather in this area around Halloween is a total crap-shoot. The big joke is that you know you're a Western Pennsylvanian if you buy your Halloween costume 2 sizes too big so that you can get your winter coat on underneath it! That saying inspired me to make this 3 by 5 inch collage. The witch is wearing her winter coat because it gets pretty chilly zooming around on a broom. The background was digitally created with elements from Tangie Baxter and the rest of the collage was handcut and glued from my bits and pieces from my own collection. of goodies.


The Autumn Key Pendant winner is Jill at Bucks County Folk Art. Congrats Jill!



Please visit the previous post to enter to win the Pumpkin Goblin!
Remember keep the frost off your pumpkin and stay warm! Smiles :-)