Looking forward to Halloween 2013!!

It's only July, but yes, I am already getting super excited for projects to work on for this year's Halloween decorations!! I have been scouring Pinterest, joined The Halloween Forum, have been checking out Halloween online websites to see what props and decorations are for sale to see what I can try to mimic, etc.

You guys want to see what I'm looking at so far?? Of course you do!!

So those were my PVC pipe candles last year but this time around, I'll be doing some more in other types of color combinations and maybe fix these guys as well as getting the battery powered tealights:

Aged PVC pipe candles by jimmyzdc

Black PVC pipe candles with ground stakes by Kelly_A

I'm not sure which ones I'll try, or maybe both... but I didn't really think of doing anything but just white last year!! Did you guys know there are COLORED hot glue sticks?! ^_^

I also failed at doing a paper mache hand and copy of a styrofoam head I have....

Not only did I over water down the glue, but I was also only starting with aluminum foil and the wire fingers weren't sticking into the foil (even with super glue/hot glue) so.... a total fail. This year however I want to get significantly better at paper mache so that I can properly do the styrofoam head copies as well as maybe a few of these:

Photo and idea courtesy the Ghosthess

I also want to do a Halloween themed piñata but want to surprise you guys with that one if I manage to do it right! ;)

I want to get a skull and try to make a mold of it like this:

Awesome tutorial for these here

I also need to get some cheap dolls of all kinds for this kinda stuff:

You get the idea.... lol The first two pictures are from Spirit Halloween's website and the 3rd is from what else, the Halloween forum!

I've also got a good idea of how to make a giant spider, some new ghouls and more!! The Halloweenforum.com is a GREAT resource for all things Halloween and a very supportive, friendly bunch if you want to check it out and get some ideas!

I'm so excited!!!! What about you guys? Any of you got any big Halloween plans starting to brew in the noggin?? Please share in the comments!!

Also, before I forget, tomorrow I'll have a post to show you guys what I ended up doing for my display at Easely Amused, a BYOB Paint Class Shop in my town that I'm doing a consignment deal with!! I'm going down there tonight to set it all up and I am SOOO excited!! Check back then!

Craft ya laters!!

Monthly All Girls Craft Group - July 2013

This month's craft day was small due to a lot of stuff going on for people. Airon had homework and projects to do for her classes, Michelle's working on getting their house ready to show/sell and lots of other types of things.

We did have one though, even if it was just my mom, Sarah and me. 

Sarah was working on some cross-stitch type Kleenex boxes and a jeans casing for her chain link belt she wears when she takes walks to encourage a little more cardio burn (didn't get pictures unfortunately).

My mom wanted to make another badge lanyard for herself:

The only part I did for her was to finish it off with a crimp bead, thread protector and crimp cover! Looks good!!

I haven't been able to get all my displays done and pricing and all that for my consignment deal yet so that's what I was working on some more. I got the rest of my price tags strung (punched cardstock with a couple of punches I have, will show you guys those later ;) ) but also painted the single necklace displays:

I had painted a couple of flat canvases yellow and then swirled green and blue on the background to add a little flair and measured out and drilled holes for the hooks sometime last week. Saturday I went ahead and got all the screw hooks in the boards and hung the jewelry I plan on giving her on them:

Once I get my whole setup done, I will show you guys the finished products as well as what the display looks like all setup in the Easely Amused shop! 

I can't wait to finish these guys and get to the next item(s) on my list!!
This was definitely a smaller group this time around, but it meant that we got to sit there and chit chat the whole time. 

Here's to next time!!

Craft ya laters!

Monthly All Girls Craft Group - June 2013

We had our June All Girls Craft Day on 6/22/13. It was a little small with attendance being 5 gals, one of whom couldn't stay long, but we still got a bit done!

Sarah was able to get a bracelet and 2 pairs of earrings done (one pair pictured, the other with black beads instead of blue):

Anne had a little more fun with the needle felting and made an awesomely cute little duck!!

I got another clutch done for a friend at work, but unfortunately the neon green was unexpected and has asked for another one with a darker, more true green. That's ok, that just means I can use this one for my consignment shop stock!

And last but not least, we had Airon taking her first big stab and making something on a sewing machine (whirrrrr):

And voila! She made the cutest little bow-front, zippered, wrist strap clutch!! 

Great job as always all!!

Craft ya laters!!

Getting ready for my first shop display!!

Ok, we had our All Girls Craft Day for June last weekend and I said I really wanted to get the blog post written up and posted here... but I've been more distracted in the evenings than I planned getting more clutches sewn to put in Easely Amused's store on MY shelf!! 

Therefore, until I can get the rest of those pics off my camera and edited to post here, I give you clutch pr0n!!

New fabric!! May only be 1 or 2 clutches though... we'll see!

More new fabric!! Can't wait to see these together as a clutch!!

Sexy ladies...?? ;)

I still have about 6 more I want to make along with price tags getting put on these as well as on whatever jewelry I choose to put up in the window. Then I need to figure out displays which I think I'll have to make myself but I kinda want to try and keep with the fact I'm setting up shop in a painting studio. I want to use canvases to display the earrings, necklaces and bracelets, make them almost little pieces of "art" on the canvases and also maybe have a tray with some loose pieces.

The clutches oddly enough are a little harder to figure out because as much as people have suggested to just splay them out in a fan... they'd be laying on the shelf and not visible from across the room. What I would like to do is have them sort of stadium seated, prominently displayed so that they're visible from across the room. I am thinking of using this idea and just making it smaller, with steps that aren't as deep so only 1, maybe 2 clutches fit on each step, and have little lips so they don't just slide off:

The (awesome) DIY can be found at Sen & Sons

I'll keep you guys updated and definitely show you what I come up with and how the shelf looks when I'm all done!! I hope to be ready to take it all down to setup Monday night, 7/1/13, but we'll see how that goes...

Craft ya laters!!

BYOB Paint Classes and First Official Consignment Deal!!

You guys have heard of Groupon, yeah? (If not, it's a service that works with businesses to offer discount buys of services/goods that basically help businesses get noticed or get some easy business to try and retain long-term customers. They provide emails and have deals not just for your city, state but also for vacation trips and more! It's pretty awesome.) Well, my friend got a couple of classes scheduled through Groupon to a BYOB Paint class at a place called Easely Amused here in Austin, TX. If any of you can, I highly suggest making it out to one of their classes sometime. They've only been open for 2 months, but the owner Bridget, is FANTASTIC!! She makes the classes so much fun with little stories, jokes and just her love of what she does!

For these classes, you are allowed to BringYourOwnBeverage (see beer or wine, etc ;) ), you pay the $30-$40 (depending on size) for the art piece you want, and you are provided all the supplies from the canvas to the brushes to the paints. Once the class is over, you get to go home with your very own piece of art that YOU painted. It doesn't matter your skill level when you go, it will turn out however you want it to. The awesome thing is to see the variety that comes out of the same class, with the same instructor and all the different choices people make and ways they paint.

This is pretty much what you start off with: a blank canvas, a plate full of paint colors, water cup for your brushes and whatever brushes deemed necessary by Bridget you'll need for the picture and of course, my choice of beverage for the night was a bottle of Cabernet Savignon.. yummmm!

This is after a few steps of a blue wash on the top 3rd of the canvas, kiwi green on the middle and a darker green on the bottom of the canvas. Then layers of dots from a pumpkin red all over, to a red on the bottom half and a bright orange on the top half.

Here we have Airon deep in thought as she's adding the leaves on her trees.

This is my finished piece, with a few more layers of leaves added on (including some dark reddish brown leaves in the bottom right corner of the foliage) and tree trunks, nice and whispy!!

Airon's showcasing her awesome finished piece! She added the extra white stripes near the trunks in the grassy area and a few holes in the leaves along with adding a pretty cute bird's nest with some robins!!

After the class, I got curious if I could re-create this picture again. Only, I didn't want to do a full-size so I grabbed a 2"x3" miniature canvas from my stock and.....

What do you guys think?? Pretty similar, eh?! Painting in miniature is pretty challenging! I maybe could have added more layers of leaves, but I like the way it looks now!

The next picture we did (we had 2 Groupon sessions) was poppies!! This is the first few steps done:

We did about 5 yellow dots anywhere on the canvas to place our poppies, then made red sort of flower bodies around them. Then we did a light blue wash down the middle and dark blue on the outsides.

Then we did another round of the blue washes to make them darker. This is Airon's (she wanted more than 5 :) :

This one is mine:

The next few steps were to darken and texturize the poppies, add some dark brown and black scribbles in the centers, leaving however much of the yellow we wanted, and then add some lavender and pink to the meeting ground of light and dark blues and added kiwi green stems.

I added a little more texture to the flowers and was done with mine:

Airon added a few more details and stems and such to hers and here is her final piece!!:

All in all, I'd say these classes, if you have a studio near you, are a MUST!!!! If you happen to be in the Austin, TX area, you can find Easely Amused here. You can also take a look through the picture gallery to see the variance of these pieces people have painted!

 It was such an awesome experience, both times and even though it was the same studio and same instructor, the experiences were still different!! It's also pretty awesome to see all the variations on final pieces with the same instructions!!

Now to the more exciting part!!

I showed Bridget about 10-12 pieces of my jewelry and the pink and brown flowered gathered clutch I showed you guys the other day.... SHE LOVED IT ALL!!! She's giving me a whole shelf on a bookshelf that is in her lobby with the backside facing a full wall WINDOW to the outside/street!! I am so excited about this opportunity for consignment and look forward to working with Bridget on this first time endeavor for my business and hobby!!

Now I just have to price everything, make more clutches, figure out displays, layout on the shelf, etc.....

SO EXCITED!!!! I can't wait to setup my shelf and don't worry, I will definitely show you guys what I come up with!

Craft ya laters!!