Halloween Matchbox Shrines

Virginia is so beautiful this time of year. The leaves are really beginning to change now, and should be at their peak in a week or so. I like to change the inside of the house, too.

Here is the table inside my front door. The gargoyle on the left came from the dollar store. He looks more menacing when perched on a vintage candy dish under a dome. I change the items under the dome from season to season.

Last Saturday, Terry Pitzel showed our FCCA Altered Arts group how to make Halloween matchbox shrines. I couldn't stop with just one! All my nieces and nephews are getting these from me this year. The older kids will get confetti, and little pins and rings in their matchboxes. The little ones will get stickers.I wanted to make a more durable one to use as a decoration. I used Claudine Hellmuth's sticky-back canvas to wrap the matchbox. I cut a strip and painted it with "dab of yellow" and stamped the fence image.

Then I scrubbed on some "altered orange" with a dry brush. The canvas picks up the brush strokes really nicely. I mixed some "classic teal" with the "dab of yellow" and put in highlights around the fence and at the bottom.

I used the "altered orange" on a circle stamp for the moon image. Then, I used multi-medium to glue on a piece of bat-shaped confetti. I painted the inside of the box, and used an extra piece of the canvas for lining. The sticker inside says, "Happy Halloween".

I punched two small holes in the top of the inside of the box. and threaded some copper wire through the holes for a handle. Then, I added ribbon scraps to the handle.

Halloween Altered Frame

October is here, and I'm ready for it. I lthink I like my Halloween decorations even more than the Christmas decorations that I have. This year I decided to make a decoration of my own, by altering a cabinet card and a picture frame. Here is the "before" photo:

I found this at a yard sale for $1.00. My husband couldn't believe that I wanted it. I added a few embellishments from the Halloween aisle at the drug store, and filled in the areas underneath to blend everything together.

Once I had everything in position, I painted everything with black gesso and then with black acrylic paint to unify the elements.

It was looking a little creepy, but not believable enough, so I went over all the high spots with interference gold to make them stand out.

I used Photoshopto altere an image from a Victorian cabinet card, adding in a bat brooch, and emphasizing the bat-like collar that the woman in the picture was wearing.

I removed the original velvet from the frame and replaced it with a collage of antique onion-skin paper that had spider webs embossed in it. This is the final result. Woo! Scary kids!

The ABCs of Ephemera Altered Book Project

I am excited to say that my altered book "The ABC's of Ephemera, A Visual Lexicon of Personal Symbols" is A) complete! and B) being shown at ArtSpace gallery in Richmond from Sept 25 - November 1.

As I started this book with the theme "personal symbols" in mind, I realized that certain images crop up in my work over and over again. I decided to use ephemera as a unifying element. As I wrote down the items that I like to use, I realized that the stuff that I collect runs the gamut from A to Z. Thus, the alphabet book concept was born.

This is the G-H page. Hands, hearts, gears, games... get it?

I tore apart an old 45 record album holder, and a vintage coin book and then reassembled them into a new book form and altered that. The spaces originally intended for coins gave me places to put little objects. This one is from the I-J page - insects, jewelry, ink.

Special thanks go to my partners in crime from the Mixed Media Experience, Terry, Darlene and Carol for getting the ball rolling on this project!

Back from the Tides Inn

My friend Marty and I set up shop at the art show at the amazing Tides Inn this weekend. It's only a two-hour drive from Fredericksburg, but once you are there, it seems like you're a million miles away. Was it all a dream? We had fantastic weather and lots of boaters were out on the water enjoying the beautiful day. This was the view that we had from the room where the art show was set up.I concentrated less on jewelry at this show, and brought some of my collages, journals, greeting cards and glove form hands. I did bring my Relic Babies jewelry and the Crystal Cupcakes. I sold the Relic Babies with mixed emotions. I get so attached to each one!

We had a some time to explore on Friday. The town of Irvington is a quaint shopping village with a quirky design within walking distance of the Inn. Even the town dentist has a sense of humor!Friday night's dinner was at the Trick Dog cafe, which had come highly recommended. The barbeque was fantastic. Inside, you can pet the trick dog for good luck. He got an enthusiastic petting from me.

Now it's back to the real world. Something tells me it won't be long until I find myself in the town of Irvington again.

I am still working hard in the studio. Today I spent the day pricing and packing for the show this weekend at the Tides Inn in Irvington, Va. Everyone tells me how gorgeous it is, and I can't wait to get there.

I have a bunch of new hands ready to go, plus my new line of jewelry, which I've been working on for some time.
These are my Relic Babies. They were excavated from the site of an old European doll factory that operated from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. I think they are just hauntingly beautiful. Here's a look at what I did with them:

I'll have them at the Tides Inn this weekend, and after that they're coming soon to a gallery near you. More on that in the next post.

Fall Preview

I have been busy, busy, busy in the past week! I actually carved out a few days in a row of studio time in order to get ready for some upcoming shows. I'll tell you more about the shows in my next post.

I got inspired while spending so much time in the school supply aisles last week, and so I created some journals. I started with some tiny ones. They are just 3.25 x 4.5 inches. Fairy-sized!

I used Claudine Hellmuth's new line of studio paints, and I just love them. I used the resist technique that she shows on her blog for the backgrounds. I can't wait to get the rest of the colors!

The fairy stamps are from Tim Holtz and the little girl comes from Island Stamping. I bought everything at Handcraft House, one of my favorite places to go for a little half-day outing.

In my next post, I'll show you some of the larger journal covers that I did.

My first challenge

This is the first time I have participated in a challenge. Helga Strauss at ArtChix has created the most beautiful masterboard to play with, and I just couldn't resist!

I made three color copies, and a transparency.Then I cut one of the cardstock copies into strips and wove it back together to make the background and gave it a wash of thinned acrylic paint.

I chose two images with words that spoke to me this week, as my daughter starts middle school:

"Be you" and

"you are marvelous"

I accordion-folded a dictionary page to put under the bird and then added bead fringe and a wire and ribbon hanger.

My daughter asked me if she could put it in her locker. Of course, I said yes, but the whole time I'm thinking "How can my baby be old enough to have her own locker?"

This is a second piece that I did with the transparency. The cage and the bird are on cardstock. The background of the cage is a transparency layered over a sheet of white paper. I added a piece of doily at the bottom of the cage, and edged the whole thing with a white gel pen.

There's still time to play. This challenge runs until Tues., August 25.