A thought for today...

These are the thought provoking words I came upon today:
IT'S EASY TO FORGET WHAT'S IMPORTANT..... SO DON'T!

It really IS easy to get caught up in the petty everyday things of life, worry about worrying, can't we all do it? When circumstances are at thier worst, look close, there will be some flicker of light  even in the darkest of places. It's a tragedy when it has to take cancer, or a death to finally get this. With our attitudes we can navigate our destiny down a road that is happy, grateful and positive in spite of all, we all CHOOSE what road we go down... Choose wisely my friends.

Prim Snowman just finished. Too many Christmas Cookies?

Here is my newly finished tubby snowman! he is a cutie patootie! Does the words Weight Watchers come to mind here? LOL he is so fat!! I do think he has over indulged in a few snacks too many. 

His body was constucted from a Country Friends pattern, I then sculpted my own ooak head, so technically I cannot say this is a ooak piece, only the head is my original. The rest of course is handcrafted by me and my interpretation of Country Friends wonderful snowman pattern. I am at odds with this one, I am torn because I need to get my item for PFATT in Nov. done, so am not sure if I will save it for then, or list on ETsy now??? If I list now, I had better get myself in gear and get another one done by the 7th, am wondering if that is possible at this point, sigh.....

Here is the full view of my sad snowman! he is done on an antique spool, and he holds a large snowball. He will be for sale soon....

Fun Cake Idea!

Just had to share this adorable thing I found!! who wouldn't love to go to a party and have a cake like this to eat? I thought this was such fun, now to actually do one and have it look half as good may be a challenge, we can dream huh? My guess is they used orange suckers that were dipped in frosting just on one side, then a choc chip in each middle. The mouth is black licorice and the teeth ???? hmmmm well it could be mashmallos cut to look like teeth. Boy, not sure how you get frosting to look like that!

Shortly I will have the full view of my sad snowman AND I have another one almost done I will be sharing here. Shhhhhh, we won't speak too loudly, but my latest snowman really needs a trip or to to Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig.... :-)

We're all sad sometime...

Well here is my very un-happy primitive snowman, this is a sneak peek, I will post the rest of him later when he is completely finished. I could wait, but I get way too excited to share! He is a OOAK. There is major boo-boo face going on here, I know you Mother's have seen this look before!

 You probably are wondering what posessed me to sculpt such a sad snowman, it is funny when you sculpt, sometimes you sculpt your mood! On this day, I had my clay and I started in, and I thought to myself, why does everyone of these snowman and holiday charactors have to be cute and smiley???, out of rebellion and probably a sad mood myself, this little guy was born.

I will let you decide why you think he is so sad, there could be a host of reasons, my hubby looked at him and sad, well of course he's sad, look at his nose!! LOL I wish the picture showed it but he has a tear running down his right eye. I used two applications of Crystal Laquer and it worked great!

In other news, I just photographed my first tutorial, I will post it here when I get the pictures edited. I made a new batch of my cinnamon buttons and documented the process for my  blog. I have no idea how these things work so I am winging it so to speak. The weather here feels cold, kind of dreary today, makes you feel a bit like the snowman here. I may need to soak in a hot tub tonight, now that sounds wonderful...

OFG Trim Your Tree Give-Away ornament.

Here is my newly finished OOAK Old World Santa! He will be my donation to the OFG Trim Your Tree Treasury Give-Away! He is clay sculpted on a gourd, painted, stained and finished off with mica flakes and a rusty snowflake. There will be many nice ornaments in this give-away, so don't miss it!

Prim Snowman and Candy Cane idea!

My Sunday has been a full one, I am working hard to at least get as much done as I can for the Holidays, yes, I should have been at this way before now! Well, here is my sweet Snowman Make Do! I think I am in love with this one, which is why I guess when I sell those things I am especially attatched to, it feels like I am selling my first born child! Well, that may be a "slight" exaggeration! :-) He will be for Sale on Etsy.

He was made on an old antique spool I purchased in Montana, sheesh I wish I would have bought more than 3 of these since I see now how great they are! His rusty snowflake I found in my stash, and yes I only have one, and NO I have idea where I got it to buy more, isn't that the way it goes? His head is a clay sculpted gourd, scarf is stained cheese cloth, he also has a cute prim hang tag. Of course like all my snowmen, he has been dusted with mica flakes and glass glitter.

Candy Cane Idea!

These chenille candy canes are great for an added accessory in a snowman's arms etc... but I wanted to come up with another use for them, so here is what I came up with today. Make the candy canes , the recipe for making them is here on my blog. Hot glue two together in the middle area, glue three sprigs of berries around the candy canes, keep the glue in the middle area as well so the ribbon can cover it. Take two pieces of complimentary ribbons and tie in the center. I then sprayed the berries and ribbon with spray adhesive and added a sprinkle of Glamour Dust. I made a tag with my cricket and added a picture of an old world santa, glittered that  and it's all done! I think I may sell a few of these on Etsy too, we'll see, they are kind of fun don't you think? I can see them on a tree, a coffee table, a wall, a special package tie or whatever you can come up with. Who knew Chenille could be so cute! Really, once you coat them in mod podge and put all that glass glitter on , you can't even hardly tell it started out as a chenille stem.

Gourds And Clay

Here are some projects in the making! I am starting to pull out my gourds again, when I say again, I mean that a couple years have gone by since I have done much with my gourds. I have a love for gourds, love the shapes, feel, look and simply everything about them! I have a wonderful collection of gorgeous gourds, just waiting to be painted on, sculpted on or whatever comes to mind. I have done santas and snowmen on them mostly.

The two I have started here are two of my smaller gourds, what you see here is the raw sculpt drying, I love LaDoll clay, so that is what I use most for these type of sculptures. The larger one will be a snowman, he is on an antique spool, I will make him a felt hat, and  can see in my mind's eye how cute he can, and will be. I know he looks funny now with his face being so differently colored than the natural gourd, but when painted, you will never be able to tell. The gourd on the right is a woodland santa, am not sure how I will paint him yet, but it will come to me. He "might" be my Trim The Tree OFG give-away  donation, this will be soon and I promise to let you know all the info. here! This type of creating is my favorite, no patterns, just clay and watching something come to life from it, how wonderful is that? Stay tuned for the unveiling of these projects finished.

Gourds need a long growing season in a fairly hot climate, need lots and lots of water. Once harvested, they need approximately a year to dry before they can be crafted on. They are all moldy and ugly once they have sat to dry. You know they are ready when you can hear the seeds inside shake about. The mold can be removed with steel wool and a bleach solution.

Okay, so this is a completely different topic, but how gorgeous are these nails for the Holidays? I just love them, however my nails need to look nicer before I get them painted.

Snowman Ornaments and Mr. Sparkles

Here are my latest OOAK Snowman Ornaments! They were hand sculpted in clay over a foam core, painted in acrylics, sealed, then mica flakes, glass glitter and a dusting of glamour dust sprinkled on top. The sticks are wood. These were made to have a vintage look to them, and if you haven't guessed, to look like lollipops! They will be for sale soon on Etsy.

Here is another newly finished snowman, he is one of Country Whims newer patterns "Mr. Sparkles", he is such a cutie too! He is made on an old antique spool, his buttons are cinnamon stars I made by hand with the recipe you can find here. I could not find proper sticks for arms, so I took wire, twisted them, then covered them in floral tape. I then painted them,  added a coat of glitter, I think they make wonderful stick looking arms, and the best part is they are positional. He has a bell handing from his right arm, a vintage looking tag hangs from his plaid scarf. And what snowman would be complete without a ton of mica flakes, and perhaps some glamour dust!  He will be for sale soon on Etsy...

In other news, I have entered into an Old Farmhouse Gathering Ornament giveaway, each participant enters an ornament, so the winner goes home with at leat 12 to trim the tree. This will be so neat because it will be a combination of different artist work, now how much fun is that. I will let you all know when you can enter, and how to do it soon. I need to figure out yet what exactly I will be entering.

I honestly wonder how I get anything done at all, editing pictures, making ads and adding them online takes so much time I hardly have time to create... I know I am my own worst enemy though, I am WAY too picky about pictures and edit them all beyond what I need to. Well, I guess I should do something domestic like cook dinner...

Buttons and more buttons!

This is not mine, but I love the idea! I have so many buttons I have collected, I must admit I have a "thing" for buttons. This was done over a foam core, you can get these in any craft store, then attatched with pins. I am thinking I would add a little glue too just to make sure they aren't going anywhere. This has got my wheels spinning as to how I can incorporate my buttons into something fun!

Sammy Scarecrow

Sammy scarecrow is done!! he will be for sale Oct. 10th on the Pfatt Marketplace!

 I love him, think I'll cry if and when I put him in a box to ship out. He looks mighty cute in my house!

His face was handpainted, the fabric was stained with a coffee and vanilla solution, his hair is raffia.

His felt hat and scarecrow were rubbed down with cinnamon for a worn, prim look I love! Really, shouldn't all your projects also smell like you could eat them??

His base is an old antique bobbin, love the color of it, almost hated to cover most of it up! His cinnamon heart was made by me, the recipe is here under the recipe link! I also made him a vintage looking hang tag! He was made from a Samantha Schmidt pattern and handcrafted by me.

I wish I had several of these done, should have started way sooner than this on fall, that is how it goes,  I end up getting a few quality pieces done over quantity anymore. I wonder how I used to go like a mad woman getting so so much done for bazaars, I could not keep up that pace anymore. I do think we need to be happy with what is and quit worrying about what would have been or could have been, I am getting there...

In the mood for FALL!

The wonderful colors and feel of Fall is right around the corner, I can see tidbits of change everywhere. I absolutely love Fall, nice temps, crisp, colorful, pumpkins, apple pie, pumpkin bread and hot cider!!!

Here is a sneak peek at a very whimsical scare crow I am almost done with, but not quite. This picture is a teaser, you'll see the rest of him soon. I am wanting to put him on my Pfatt page this month. I have to make him a crow or two yet and other finishing touches. He is a cutie, makes me think twice about putting him up for sale!

Doesn't this sweet little girl just ooze cuteness! She was the perfect picture of Fall.

Here is the yummy Kringle I made lately, it is soooooo good, especially if you love almond. This is an easy recipe, and so good for company. This was passed down from my Mother, I will share the recipe here in my recipe link, look for it in the next couple of days...

In other news, I have posted the link for an up-coming Old Fashioned Christmas Online Craft Show! Check it out, there are already so many ladies who will be in this. You will be able to shop on all the participating blogs, and actually purchase from each one. I am going to try my best to get some extra things done to post here myself and have for sale for this event. Stay tuned.....

I just have to say, I am loving the idea of using cinnamon rubbed into various fabrics to help give a nice primitive look. I have used this method several times lately and LOVE it, used it on my new scare-crow too! Try it yourself, I like to mist the area first with a mixture of coffee and vanilla, then rub in cinnamon and let dry! Your project really smells like something to eat!