Free Candy Cane Fairy

I've changed the name of today, better known as "black Friday" to "Candy Cane Friday"! While I applaude the shopping intestinal fortitude of those who venture out into the malls of America on this wonderful Friday, I, myself do not have such shopping resolve, therefore I'm hanging at home and going to my mom's house to finish the outside decorating.

And so begins the countdown to Christmas! This little guy is the Candy Cane Fairy that I created. Please feel free to use him in your artwork, athough he is not for resale on a CD or collage sheet.

I'm working on a new set of 4 Christmas postcards and here is one of them using the above image. If you create something with the Candy Cane Fairy, I'd love to see it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in blogland! I'm thankful for my wonderful husband and family and creative friends. Thanks to all who visit my blog and leave such nice comments! Tomorrow starts the 30 day countdown to Christmas. I'm going to post everyday for the next 30 days. Thoughout these posts will be awesome giveaways so check back everyday! Ok, now get outta here and go eat some more pie then take a long nap. :-)

Something Glittery......

There's something sparkly going on at the Honey Girl Studio............

Something round and scalloped..........

Something delightfully frilly without being too frou-frou............Something called a paper wreath! How cool did this wreath turn out? If you would like the steps on how to make it go to Enchanted Rose Studio. Tina has a really nice tutorial with pictures. I followed her directions and it was pretty easy. The next one I make I'm going to glue in little red and silver glass balls. I didn't glitter every circles' edge mainly because I was too impatient and wanted to get it together!

I actually made 2 wreaths this weekend. I'm getting into the Christmas mode. I like the simplicity of this wreath. I'm finding that as I get older I like more simple, pared down things. I really like the white/silver/winter white combo and I'm considering doing my mantel in that scheme this holiday season.

I used a styrofoam wreath base and wrapped it with cotton batting then I cut strips of white linen and wrapped it around it followed by white ric-rac.

The little acrylic snowflakes and shell buttons are secured with pearl head pins.

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

Christmas in Paris

This week in Western Pa has been beautiful, warm and sunny days of about 65 degrees and cold frosty nights of 32 degrees. The cold nights have got me thinking about Christmas decorations. I created a template for this Eiffel tower and created it from chipboard and decorative papers. Hmmmmmm, kind of makes you wonder what Christmas in Paris would be like.

I think the tiny bottle brush tree is so cute!


What Christmas Eiffel tower would be complete without a snowman?

The tower measures about 7 inches tall.

NOEL!

Ornaments Anyone?

I've been in somewhat of a creative funk for the past few weeks. I'm sure you all have had periods of time where you just couldn't get into the artsty swing of things. Well, this morning I work up bright eyed a bushy tailed at 6:15, went into my studio and started to create! The funk has been broken! Perhaps it had something to do with the time change? I had chipboard stars and decided to turn them into ornaments......It's hard to tell in the photos but the bears and snowflakes are covered in a beautiful ultra fine glitter. I had a piece of sheet music from 1919 and the title of the song was "Romance" so I tore it off to use on this ornament as it just seemed to be perfect. The bears are raised off of the star by about 1/4 of an inch.

This little guy is holding a shiny silver bell, ringing in the holiday season. He is also raised off of the star by 1/4 of an inch. A Scrabble tile and piece of vintage lace round out the ornament.

Hark the Winter Angel Sings! I tied in the basket of lillies she's carrying into the theme. Sewn to the vintage lace are 2 bisque calla lillies and a teal colored pearl all lightly dusted with ultra sepia glitter. The star has also been covered with the glitter.

Now you know I couldn't create ornaments without sticking a bird in somewhere! This one was created on an old CD for the base.

Rememeber the mini CDs that never quite took off? Well I found one and turned it into a little ornie. These three bears remind me of "Three's Company".....come and knock on our door.......we've been waiting for you. I'm going to name them Jack, Krissy and Janet.

My best crafting friend, Tracey says that I have a "kitchy" side to my art and she's right! I like to get whimsical from time to time so here are 2 in that category.....

You know, they always have "sister" and "friend" ornaments but what about a "cousins" ornaments? We all have a favorite cousin, right?

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.