W. I. P. on a commissioned piece of the FALL ~ Celebrate 365 Cover artwork

It's not every day I get asked to do a commission, which is a good thing because it's literally been about 22 years since I had to hand paint any straight lines or do much in the way of graphics work, that didn't involve a computer.

So far so good though, I am quite pleased with how the piece is coming along. Although I did miscalculate the height of the piece initially and will have to cut it down with the miter saw upon completion (that's why you are seeing the black bands at the top and bottom, they are waste area.)

Oh, I did have one very interesting tidbit of info I'd like to share regarding this piece.
When it came to drawing/tracing in each graphic I avoided the hassle by flopping the imagery in my graphics program.
I then proceeded to print out the graphics in strips (trimming with a ruler and knife for each square/rectangular checker board space) and then I laid each of them onto the board (face down) and proceeded to scribble over top, (the way you would if you were making your own transfer paper.)

Anyhow, the inks I use in my printer worked exactly like transfer/carbon paper. Just thought I would share that in case anyone can use the tip, as I found it to be very useful indeed!! (You can see the results of the ink transfer on the painting on the left. ~ Click the pic below to zoom up.)

Have a great week... more on the SpOoKy tree progress later :) ~ Lori

Is Halloween lame?.... I certainly don't think so!

But according to our son it is! 

Yesterday morning I said "Happy Hallowe'en" to Bailey at which point he replied "Halloween is lame!"

What Bailey didn't know is that I had stayed up until 3:30 in the morning decorating a tree with my paper tags, ornaments and paper lanterns (some of which are meant to go to Amelia... she knows I used them :) I also grabbed the battery operated tea lights and as many hollow pieces of my own creation that I could find all to make some sort of display for him to enjoy. I rummaged around looking for the thread to hang the ornaments with... you see it was a very last minute thing. I haven't had a whack of free time lately... but at the same time... I couldn't bear the thought of not doing a little bit of decorating since he was staying in to hand out candy instead of going out trick or treating on Halloween night.

So when he proclaimed that "Halloween is lame" I was shocked that I could have a son who speaks what is tantamount to blasphemy to me. I was so dumb struck I couldn't utter a word, I just continued to walk down the stairs.

Can you disown a child for saying "Halloween is lame"??? ~ Well... can you? I briefly thought about it... no I didn't, but I did feel a pang of sadness.

As it turns out he is truly his father's son... he couldn't have cared less that I made an effort to make the hallway look nice. (That's a boy for you ;) He walked by the tree and display without noticing them several times. It wasn't until the skeleton was hung from the doorway and the candy was set into bowls that he took any interest whatsoever.

He did enjoy handing out candy to the 15 or so kids we had come to the door, but I think he'll enjoy Halloween a little more this week... there's enough candy left over to get an extremely good sugar rush several times over.

Happy Halloween... lame though it was to him, it's still a rush for me! ~ Lori

Project: (my soon to be) SpOoKy, Hanging Tree

I am sure you've all heard/read this before. For those of you who may not know... I have a serious fascination with trees.
Can we say fetish??? Sort of, although it's more of an obsession, fixation, a passion... you get the idea.

Mostly, I seem to collect feather trees and I have lost count of how many I own. I also made a few black, faux feather trees this year from scratch - but you'd know that if you read my blog.

Anyhow, I am now in the midst of making a (soon to be) SpOoKy, hanging tree. The subsequent making of this tree was inspired in part by a future event, umm... no I don't see into the future, but I do plan ahead.

The other source inspiration for this tree is the simple fact that I do tend to make a lot of Halloween ornaments throughout the year. I also tend to spend far too many hours using Photoshop to wipe out the backgrounds of the majority of my pictures.

Sure my photos may look pretty good, but I find I spend about 6 hours (per set of listings) between the picture taking, editing, uploading to Photobucket, pasting html code, testing the code and then uploading an auction template to eBay to be too much time wasted... I'd rather be sculpting!!! Honestly, I would!

Pictured above is the start of my time saving tree. This large tree, once it's completed will become the backdrop for every Halloween themed ornament or hanging candy container I make this year and next.

The branches are not yet attached, so it looks a bit odd. The tree base/trunk is still drying. (I started making the tree yesterday afternoon.) It does not look especially SpOoKy either... that's because it does not have it's facial features hollowed out and sculpted. It will have paper inserts for the eyes and mouth, a tree branch for it's nose. The tree is/will be hollow and I will light this baby up... provided I can get the branches to attach/adhere properly to the trunk... I don't think it'll be an issue.

I hope you'll stay tuned as I continue to make progress on my SpOoKy, hanging tree. ~ Lori

Paper Lanterns... fun little treats for your Halloween tree

A HUGE thank you to Allison who bought several sets of my Halloween paper lanterns and generously sent me a few pics of them on her tree, both lit and unlit.

I also spy a few of my other papier mache ornaments she purchased this year too.

Oh and she also found some really awesome tealights that turn off when you blow on them! How cool is that?? Pretty darn cool, hope I can find them here too. ~ Lori

Len Bentham of Happy Holidays is having a blog a sale & giveaway

If you like vintage style Halloween candy containers, rattles and ornaments please take a moment and stop by HAPPY HOLIDAYS to see what goodies Len currently has up for grabs.  

Many of Len's ooak ~ hand cast, composition Autumn and Halloween themed pieces are enhanced with multiple layers of paint, origami papers, vintage trims and millinery supplies. 

At the end of his week long sales event there's a giveaway, so please be sure to stop in and say "hello". ~ Lori

Halloween Party Giveaway!

Thank you to all who stopped by to enter the giveaway.

The Winner is Caroline YAY!!! Please drop me a note and I'll get the tags mailed out to you asap.

As promised I have assembled a set of 7 of my Vintage Style Halloween tags/ornaments as my contribution to the Halloween Blog Party.

Please leave a comment below this post to enter the giveaway. One winner's name will be drawn on Saturday, October 24th.

Please head back to the party! ~ Lori

Halloween Party Pooper... just temporarily!

My sincere apologies for not being able to participate in the party (right from the get go.)
I am really bummed because Halloween is my absolute favourite of all holidays!!
But alas our son is feeling very poorly and I haven't had time these past few days to get much party prep done.

I promise I will get a few Halloween goodies assembled and posted for a give-away a little later today! ~ I will keep the post up for the entire week and draw names next Saturday, October 24th!

For now, please hop back over to Vanessa's blog to enjoy more of the festivities!

 ~ Lori