It was a slow motion day today. I had a migraine, so not a lot was accomplished. Made red candy apples, and will make caramel ones tomorrow. Finished decorating for the trick-or-treaters. I carved a pumpkin, and hubby carved a zucchini.
Kitty Pumpkin
Zuchinni Goblin
OMG!!!! What a find I made today. I was out in our very messy garage looking for something, and I came across an old trunk of mine that probably had not been opened since we bought our house in 1992. Inside, I found valentines, birthday cards (even from my 2nd birthday), postcards, felt pennants, newspapers, more and more “stuff” from my childhood. I found a “book” that I made in 2nd grade. The little story was dated October 28, 1965. That was 43 years ago. I scanned the cover and the back page. What a cool Halloween find!
Halloween 1965
The story
I made a couple new artist trading cards today.
I was not real happy with my first gypsy to include in a trade, so I tried another today. I have until tomorrow to decide if I want to include this one too!
Crystal Dreams
The other one that I am working on is a picture of children. This picture was taken in 1909, and the boy on the right is my maternal grandfather.
Days Gone By
My Pumpkins
I harvested pumpkins today, and each one is now wondering what will become of them. Will they be carved into a spooky or silly jack-o-lantern to decorate the front porch on Friday night? Will they be part of our fall decorations and help us to remember to be thankful for our bountiful garden on Thanksgiving?
Growing your own it so rewarding. Granted, we did not get many pumpkins this year, and I probably could have purchased them for for less than the amount of water it took to grow them. I love playing in the dirt, and waiting to see what I will be rewarded with. It brings back childhood memories or mud pies?
For the most part, we had a VERY successful garden this year; it is still producing from our summer crops, and my fall crops are doing nicely. This year we grew 4 varieties of tomatoes, 9 varieties of peppers, yellow and green zucchini, pumpkins, corn, peas, sunflowers, artichokes, beans, hops (used to make a home brewed jalapeño ale), scallions, carrots, radishes, and lots of different varieties of leafy greens for salad and cooking. On the average we were harvesting between 10 and 20 lbs of vegetables a day. Besides the veggies I have an extensive herb garden too. We ate, gave away, dried, froze, made jellies and sauces, and we still have an abundance. The only things we did not use were the artichokes (I let them go to flower when the aphids attacked), and the corn — I was gone when it should have been harvested, so it got starchy. We let it dry on the stocks, and now our hamsters are thoroughly enjoying eating it off the cob!
Isn’t it funny how one thing leads to another? I was cleaning off our bar today, and started to put the smoothie maker away and bring out our hot drink maker. While looking at the smoothie maker (we use it as a blender too), I remembered how much fun I use to have making paper. I had a paper making and screen printing class in college, and while I never purchased any of my own screen printing supplies, I have a few things I can make paper with. I managed to get 4 sheets done before I had to start dinner. Here they are with descriptions as to how each was made. I can’t wait to create some art with my new papers!
Brown Bag and Botinicals
For this one I tore up a brown paper lunch bag, and blended it with the water. After pouring the pulp into the mold, I sprinkled it with some purple petals and small leafy botanicals.
Gold Flecked Paper and Straw Flower Petals
For this one I tore up leftover scraps of gold flecked cardstock, and blended it with the water. I then added some dried flower petals to the pulp, re blended it, and pored it into the mold.
Colors of Fall
More Colors of Fall
For the last two I made 3 different blends using scrap card stock in rust, yellow, and goldenrod. I poured each mixture into a cup then poured them alternately into the mold. For the first one I stirred the colors around with my fingers, and for the second one, I let each color settle before I poured in the next.
A fall ATC (artist trading card)
Autumn Glow
Well, I do not have a room specifically designated as a “craft room”, but my bedroom could probably be called a craft room with a bed it it. Fortunately, I have a very tolerant husband, and as long as he can find his way to the bed and his clothes he is happy. One draw back of this room is it is upstairs, and way to hot in the summer, so I just gather up what I am working on, and relocate downstairs. Also, I only like to create up there when no one else is home, otherwise I feel segregated from the rest of the family. Below are a few pictures of the area. I hate to admit it but under our bed it is also crammed with supplies. Now that the kids have grown, I will be purging and donating some stuff to the local elementary school this winter.
This is my desk, and to the left of it is the back side of some bookshelves, that i have attached screws to that hold my scissors.
The shelves make a nice divide, so that I do not bother my husband while he is sleeping, I don’t do anything noisy late at night, but i can paint, cut, etc.
Behind the desk, under the window, I have a 6 foot plastic table to expand my working area. Unfortunately, I tend to clutter the flat surface, and have to clean every time before I craft.
Work Table
We have a cape cod style house, and unfortunately, the dormers really are not useful for much. Ours is lined with 4 shelves that hold move of my materials. This one in on the left side and my husband adapted it to hold my collection of rubber stamps. The other three just have boxes and containers of all the “junk” I have. Once nice thing, when the kids were little and remembered they had a project due the next day, I didn’t have to panic that the stores were closed. We could always find suitable materials to use. My friends were know to call me in a panic late at night when they needed stuff for kid’s projects too.
Left Side of Dormer
I have joined a yahoo altered art group. This card front was my answer to the challenge to include a puppy, teacup, dragon, and clock in one card. It definitely made me use my brain cells — since they are a strange combination.
There is ALWAYS time for tea with friends!
This is my first attempt at an ATC (Artist Trading Card), well, not actually the first attempt, since attempts 1 through about 9 are resting peacefully in the trashcan upstairs. Working on small scale is difficult for me, these cards are only 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches. This is a poor scan — all blurry — I think this is because the moon brads are not letting it rest directly on the scanner screen. When and if I get a better scan, I will repost it.
Moon Gypsy
Background: Marbled Plastic Coated Paper
Gypsy: Copied vintage print, lightly water colored
Embellished with beads, sequins, brads, and jewelry findings.
As promised, here are the rest of the cool postcards that I found. 
