Show n Tell Friday

Hello & welcome to another Show n Tell Friday...hosted by the ever talented Cindy @ My Romantic Home. Remember the little cardboard house, you saw in the swap package I sent my Joli Paquet partner? (you can see it in this post) I found them @ Goodwill for 3 for $3 so I bought several packages. It's amazing what you can find @ GW, huh?

Anyway, for today's show n tell, I wanted to share what I transformed one into.... a haunted house diorama on a glittered cake pedestal! First I started w/ a melanine plate, glued it to a glass candlestick, sprayed it w/ spray adhesive & glittered it generously w/ MS's glitter (I used white gold), then sprayed it w/ polyurethane to keep it from shedding glitter. LOVE this pedestal! I'll use it for all seasons but never for food, of course. I also bleached, then dyed black, some bottle brush trees using Rit fabric dye.

Then on to the house make-over..... I gave it a shot of black paint & papered it's roof w/ toile paper scraps...adding a sparkly "wreath" over the front door (it's actually a vintage rhinestone button) & some black pompom trim.

Then I made a ghost out of playdoh & tissue paper...glittering it up just a bit w/ opalescent glitter.


Hung a rising moon.

And made tissue paper pumpkins. I just balled up tissue paper, wrapped it w/ orange tissue, twisting & glueing the top to form a "stem", trimmed for neatness. I daubed on distressing ink to add some dimension (using a Qtip for control), & painted the stems brown.

I LOVE it! It may be my favorite Halloween creation yet! It falls right in w/ the spooky-chic theme I've got going this year. And I bought several packages of the houses, so I'll be doing them up for Christmas & Easter too...maybe I'll even make a little "love nest" for Valentine's. ;o)


I also completed a project I've been planning on for 2 years (I told y'all I've completed all the projects on my "wish to do" list & then some, I've been on a roll!) ...... a tassel made out of a tiny, glass jack 'o lantern ornament. Sorry for the bad lighting...it's been raining here again. :o( I'm so glad I had the foresight to snap shots of my diorama when the light was good.

I'm really happy w/ my choice of ribbons but I wish that I had looped the ones underneath. I didn't even think of it until after I was finished (it's my first tassel). Guess I'll have to make another one. ;o) But it'll have to wait til next year cause STICK A FORK IN ME, I'M DONE w/ this year's projects.

Oh yeah, I glued a wine cork, on to the bottom of the ornament, to provide a base to glue the ribbons on to.

Stop by Cindy's to see the beautiful teacup she is sharing today & to get all the links for the other participants. Have a frightfully good weekend everybody!

Where the witch hangs her hat....

Hi y'all...Halloween is just 2 days away. Are you ready? We are! The witch has even flown in (no, my mother in law is not here for a visit LOL) & I wanted to show you where she hangs her hat @ my house. On the front porch! *grins* I saw this idea in one of my Halloween magazines & copied it...isn't it cute?

The "peg rack" was once a "curtain rod"...it's made out of vintage doorknobs.

Key to the dungeon.

This little terrarium was a recent thrift store find but I moved it out, on to the drop-leaf table on my porch, as soon as I brought it home so it didn't make it into pictures. Now that I see it in pics, I realize that I need to tie a bow on top.

And I just made this wreath the other night (wish it were a better picture, it's really pretty in person) & I want everybody to know that I have successfully completed all of the Halloween projects I had planned & then some. Whew! That was a first! My house is a wreck, my dog needs to be groomed & we've been eating take-out for weeks but..... Hey! I got all my Halloween crafts finished. ;o)

I spray painted a black wreath w/ hints of white paint to add depth, then glued on black roses (from the dollar store), glittered black birds , a sparkly skull & tulle bow. And because I like my Halloween a little glam'ed up, I draped it w/ pearls. Spooky chic....I love it!

My swap package to my Joli Paquet partner

I had such fun w/ this, my first swap! I enjoyed creating & sharing & of course I loved opening my own goodies. My swap partner for the Joli Paquet swap was Michelle @ Gingham World. The premise of the swap was to make an adult "treat" bag & fill it full of treats.

I'm really embarassed that I had to flake out a bit on the tote. I had issues w/ the tote I was making her, ruined it & had to go buy this vinyl, store-bought tote in order to meet the mailing deadline. I tried to make up for it w/ the treats & I hope that I was successful!

I sent her one of my Boo'tiful girls, (dressed in gingham, of course!), one of my altered spoons, the shadow box I made, Halloween candles & the tote full of treats.



I filled the tote w/ lots of crafting supplies....vintage flashcards, glittered skulls, spooky images, bingo cards.....



Family stamp, glittered black birds, orange gingham napkins, a pearl letter M, black bottle brush trees, chocolates, ME cocoa mix....

a cardboard house (wait until you see what I did w/ mine!) & containers full of candies & bouncy eyeballs & spiders. I wanted to share some of my crafting supplies as I always buy in abundance.

I shouldn't even show y'all this but this is the tote I was making for her. It would have been darling if everything had gone according to plan. I would have attached a big black & white gingham bow w/ vintage rhinestone button & it would have been so chic. (Not as nice as the beautiful, pieced tote that Michelle made by hand for me but still chic).

I know what you're thinking..."well that doesn't look too bad!"

Yes it does! Just look how messy the iron-on letters were. Why didn't I stencil instead? As embarassed as I am about the vinyl store-bought tote I sent out, I would have been mortified if I had sent this one. Especially once I received the beautiful one she sent me. ;o) I'll just have to chalk this one up to experience!

You can see my goodies I received from Michelle, here in this post. I really enjoyed this swap & hope my partner had as much fun as I did!

Halloween Bingo Card Images

I've been wanting to scan & share these cool bingo cards I bought, w/ y'all but thought I'd wait until I used them in a project. Still haven't done so (maybe this week!) but I wanted to go ahead & share them w/ you, so that you still had time to make something w/ them.

They'd be great as background of a shadowbox, as altered tags or string them together as a garland.

I found thsi Haunted ticket online but can't remember where...sorry! They're nice all piled up in a crystal bowl & of course would be great for a project too. I cut them all out & then stacked them & used a paper punch for the corners.

Enjoy! And if you make something out of them, please let me know so that I can copy admire your creations!

Boo!

Hello & welcome to another Show n Tell Friday, hosted by Cindy @ My Romantic Home. Cindy needs no introduction, her beautiful blog is very well known...don't you just love visiting it? Talk about some eye candy!

For today's show n tell, I want to share the Boo! girl I made this week. I bought her as a kit from Cindy @ Junque Art, through the Joli Paquet blog. The kits sold out quick though so don't get your hopes up.... but there are lots of free tutorials available on Joli Paquet. There's some great ones from last year too so plan on spending a bit of time there. And they'll be back for Christmas w/ more kits & more tuts!

I have to brag on Cindy @ Junque Art for a minute. Her kits are WONDERFUL! Beautifully packaged w/ thorough instructions & she did all the work for us. Everything was pre-cut & ready to glue together! I had this darling little "doll" assembled in less than 30 minutes & much of that was drying time. I just love her...ain't she cute? Cindy has an etsy shop too...check it out here.


Stop by Cindy's to see the other participants in today's show n tell...have a great weekend everybody!

It's All About Me!

Hi y'all! Natasha @ Artistic Creations challenged us to create something special for ourselves...an It's All About Me! swap. I'm stepping outside the box a bit & sharing not just creations but an event. An event that I did just for me!!! I've been doing a lot for me lately...not for "Honey" (my grandparent name) not for "Chris' wife" not for "Shilah, Clifton & Dustin's mother" but for me, "Cami".

I LOVE my role as a grandmother, wife & mother but I recently discovered that I've lost my identity outside of that. That my daughter's boyfriend, (who she has dated for almost a year & who is only 10 years younger than me & whom I have been around on many, many, many occasions) didn't even know my first name...to him, I'm just "Honey". Now being "Honey" is a fantastic thing, don't get me wrong, but I like being "Cami" too. ;o) So I've been on a journey to being her again & I'd like to share a part of that w/ you.

Like I said, the past couple of months, I've really been working hard @ creating Cami & I have indulged my whimsies & desires to create. So much so, that we couldn't eat at our dining room table for 2 weeks! LOL I had a really hard time, deciding what to share for this party...I created many things in teh past few weeks. I signed up for Heather's It's a Beautiful Life journal workshop & thought I'd share the journal but no (it's not finsihed yet anyway!), I've joined an art group, taken a couple of classes, signed up for a couple more & made lots of really neat stuff (you can see some in previous posts) but the best thing I did for myself was to attend Paper Cowgirls, an art retreat held here in Texas.

I created some beautiful things & I'll share them later but that's not what it was about. It was about this...the smiles, the comraderie, the inspiration, the newly found friendships!

And this! The creating...look how intense I am about it.

I love everything I made & learned some wonderful new techniques. This is the fabric cuff I made....(it's still in it's unfinished stage here)

And my crown...oh, how I LOVE my crown! It's outrageously over the top fou-fou & it is divine!

I also "painted" this cute cupcake painting. It's actually mostly paper scraps, layered w/ paint & beeswax...fun technique!

I treasure my art that I created that day but I'll treasure the memories that I carry & the friendships that were formed, even more.

You can read more about my day @ Camp Whimsy, here in this post. I highly encourage y'all to sign up for an art retreat (they're springing up all over the country....it's not just Silver Bella anymore ;o) ) & hang out w/ people who get you....do that for yourselves!