Happy Halloween

Halloween Tiara

I have a couple Halloween projects left to share, and want to make sure I get them in before the big day!

I made a Halloween tiara out of black wire, crepe paper, tulle, and a few glittery decorations. I'll be wearing this when the trick or treaters ring my doorbell on Monday night.

I made the wire form and then added ruffled crepe paper and tulle. I didn't want anything to be too perfect and straight - for Halloween, the more raggedy the better!
 

White Pumpkins

When I was at Junk Bonanza, I saw beautiful fabric pumpkins that were embellished with vintage trims. I really wanted one several, but thought I'd try to make one instead. I found an easy pattern online and started cutting out my vintage chenille pieces.

After I sewed the pieces together, I started embellishing the top. I found a stick to use as the stem and then added crochet trim, lace, fabric, millinery flowers, and old buttons.

My pumpkin needs a few friends. Maybe I'll get to that next year. I'd also love to make some velvet pumpkins. I need to get out to the pumpkin patch and gather some errant stems.
 

School Girl

I can finally share the card I had published in the September CARDS magazine.

I used patterned paper and crochet trim from Graphic 45. The other papers are vintage. I added an Elle's Studio journaling square, an apple button, and other trims. The focal point is the darling school girl, cut from a vintage sewing pattern envelope. I used 3D adhesive to adhere her on top of all the layers.

Joyful

I made yet another layout of my niece. I printed out a pile of some of my favorite photos and used them for inspiration. Funny thing, only one photo was of the husband and me - all the rest were of my Lily Munchkin.

Without further ado, here she is:

I used Prima paper from my stash and then layered on the embellishments: lace, buttons, flowers - vintage, handmade, Prima, and Recollections. I added a little Melissa Frances frame that I backed with vintage fabric and typed a tiny title on my old typewriter. I added some old paper - doily, sheet music, poetry - behind the photo. I tucked a little Prima resin bird into the flower branch.

Vintage Organization

I did a little junking over the weekend before we headed to the fair. I bought two quilted boxes and an old jewelry box. I'll use these for organization in my craft room. I have a couple of old jewelry boxes that I use for storing some of my favorite vintage jewelry pieces for reusing in projects.

I use the quilted boxes for storing lace, flowers, thread.

I also found a few old advertising cards that someone had saved for all these years in a scrapbook, until the vendor cut up the scrapbook to sell the pieces. It would have been wonderful to see the completed book.
 

More from the State Fair

Yesterday, I shared the scrapbooking winners from the State Fair of Texas. Here are photos of some of my favorites at the fair.

This dress is made from crocheted doilies that are stitched together. It was stunning.

A sweet needlework hanging.

Great altered art.

 My favorite wreath. Received an Honorable Mention.

Isn't this a sweet doll? Again, an Honorable Mention.

State Fair

We spent the day at the State Fair of Texas. We got there early, before it was hot and crowded. If you're not familiar with the State Fair of Texas, let me say it is big, fried, and definitely Texan. My favorite part is the children's petting zoo. I love seeing the baby goats. This year, we had a set of triplets that were six days old when we visited.

We ate fried foods - deep fried pineapple upside down cake, fried pumpkin harvest pie, and fried bubblegum (below). I think the bubblegum was our favorite - it's really marshmallows flavored like bubblegum and then fried.

Of course, the real reason we went to the fair was to see my scrapbooking projects on display in the Creative Arts building. I won Honorable Mention for both of my projects. Here are the other scrapbooking projects that won. (I apologize for the photos - the projects are behind glass, with all kinds of glare.)

12x12 double layout 1st place:

12x12 double layout 2nd place:

12x12 double layout 3rd place:

And my Honorable Mention:

Here's a better look at the layout:

Apparently, the judges did not appreciate my handmade paper rosettes and pinwheels, or layers of coordinating patterned paper, or my vintage 3-dimensional embellishments, or my photo editing skills. Sigh.

On to the 8.5 x 11 layouts.

1st place:

2nd place:

3rd place:

Oh wait. The judges didn't bother to award a 3rd Place ribbon. Instead, they gave the Honorable Mention to me.

Here's a better look at the layout, with vintage sheet music, handmade paper flowers, and coordinating embellishments:

Was I glad I entered? Of course. Will I enter again next year? Nope. Am I disappointed that my ribbons don't even have the big ribbon rosettes? You betcha!

  

I'll share photos of some of my favorite projects from the fair tomorrow - most of them didn't place either.

 

Adore

Here is another layout of my niece. This one has a fall theme, but without a fall color scheme. I didn't want to use a strict fall color scheme since my niece's outfit is bright pink and turquoise.

I started with a Pink Paislee paper in this great foliage pattern and soft colors.

I kept my embellishments to a minimum, since I didn't want to add spring flowers to a fall layout, or add fall embellishments that would clash with the design. I cut and embossed a couple of leaves, added a patterned tag, and a couple of paper cut outs. 

Isn't she as cute as a Bubble Guppy? : )

Lily Munchkin

I made another layout - with a photo of my niece, of course. This is one of my favorite photos of her. I captured it as she was dancing with her reflection in the store windows in Cape May, NJ. I went through my stash of paper, hunting for the perfect piece for this photo. I found this Sassafras Mix and Mend paper and knew it would be perfect. I printed my photo in sepia tone and added just a few embellishments.

Using this paper was a great way to get a layout completed quickly. It has all the layers of "stuff" that I like to pile on, but I didn't have to make many decisions about embellishments, which was nice.

Mini Collage

When I was in MN, my friend Julie and I worked in her craft room to do a mini collage swap. We started with plain chip coasters and put together a small hanging collage.

Here is the collage I made for Julie:

I used some of her colorful scraps to make a house scene and a Crate Paper chipboard embellishment for the top. I cut clouds from softly patterned paper and tied on colorful ribbons.

Here is the pretty in pink collage Julie made for me:

She used her signature item - a vintage pattern girl. She now hangs in my craft room.

The Magic of Oz

For Halloween, my niece is going to be Daphne from Scooby Doo. She has a list of Halloween costumes for the next ten years, which include Mary Poppins, Dorothy, Ariel, and just about every princess Disney ever thought up, including Tinkerbell. Her favorite movies to watch right now are Mary Poppins and The Wizard of Oz. I bought some of the fabulous Graphic 45 Magic of Oz papers and got busy putting together a paper bag album.

It's still a work in progress, as I haven't had a chance to really dress up all the pages yet. But I'll show you what I've got so far (as it may NEVER actually get completed).

Here is the cover:

And a few of my favorite pages inside. I wasn't picky about which story I followed - I used images from the movie, an old book, and the Graphic 45 papers.

Since it's a paper bag album, it must have tags tucked in the pockets.

I used an image of L. Frank Baum on this tag.

I used images from my book on these tags:



Everything seems like it needs more bling, to match the spectacle of the yellow bring road, the ruby slippers, the Emerald City, and all that magic.

I remember being a kid and watching The Wizard of Oz on TV, and loving the part when Dorothy walks into Munchkinland. I think this is my niece's favorite part, too. And she asks all kinds of questions - What was under that house? Why are the munchkins scared? How did Dorothy get those shoes? She's so full of awe and wonder. It will be sad when she outgrows it all.

 

Vintage Card

I played along with the Green Paper challenge this month. Mary always has the prettiest images for us to play with. I made a card, using the lady as the focal point. I resized all the images and used one as a small card that she is holding and cut out the sentiment from the third image and used it as the sentiment on the card.

I cut out the woman and mounted it to a piece of old dictionary paper that I painted with shimmery paint, then mounted onto old wallpaper (that I bought at Junk Bonanza). I added a Glitz Design stamp, a couple of Prima flowers, pearl, and trim to finish it.

 

Published

I have a new favorite magazine this month - Create Holidays. I have two projects published in this issue! Makes me want to get ready for Christmas already.

Nevermore

The house is decorated for Halloween. I've been making cards and some other projects.

I used a mix of patterned papers and a Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous stamp that I stamped on vintage dictionary pages.

I have a few of these in my etsy shop.