Too Early for Halloween? Never!

It might be too early for YOU to think about Halloween, but it's never too early for a Halloween-lover or a crafter, or the subscriber's to Kari Ramstrom's private Sweet and Sinister blog. Kari http://artsymama.blogspot.com was swamped with requests to join her second-annual Sweet and Sinister swap and/or to subscribe to her project/idea blog- so much so, that she had to create two blogs!

I was thrilled when she contacted me to ask me to be a guest designer for this blog and swap. So, natch, I made some haunted houses, one of my favorites from last year, too. I love getting the plain cardboard house forms and dressing them up for any holiday. Priscilla http://sweetremembrance1.blogspot.com and I swapped winter houses last year.

Anyway, I can't give you my step-by-step instructions or more pics for my houses. You'll just have to watch for Kari's swap next year and hope to get in! I'm giving away one of my houses this year on her private blog, but check below for a give-away in honor of my blog-aversay here (until Aug. 15).

Swap Goodies

Here are some things I finished up tonight to get in the mail for Artsymama's sweet and sinister swap. Photos of all the goodies are on Flickr, a free, public photo-sharing community herehttp://www.flickr.com/groups/493018@N23/. I stuffed the bear myself for something sweet, although I purchased his sweater, which is tres chic. I also painted and decorated a tiny hanger for the sweater. The felted pinkeep cat is for moi, by Elona's Originals on ebay. He is about 6 inches tall. Next, I covered the band box with black and white papers and tucked lots of sweet and sinister goodies inside, and added ribbon, a Beware sign and skulls on top. The Halloween dress card is made from a template from Somerset Studio and is one of my all-time favorite card shapes. It has real pockets (with candy and a bone) ric rac and ribbon trim, buttons, and can also fit on the tiny hanger. Hope my swap partner likes her package!

Sweet and Sinister Swap In Progress SIP

Here is the Haunted House I made last night (possibly) for my Sweet and Sinister Swap with Artsymama's group on Flickr. I say possibly because it is supposed to be black and white with thouches of Halloween colors, and this is possibly a little too colorful.

The potions bottle should be a shoe-in though, as it is black and sparkly, with a skull, black and silver fibers and my black cat charm attached. Makes a nice gift I think, as the charm can be detached for wearing, making into a pin or displaying on a tiny easel. The other swap pictures posted on Flickr are all luscious, so I am a little bit intimindated to send my offerings. I hope they pass muster- wouldn't want to be the target of an evil spell or something.

Speaking of Flickr and my new-found love for it (see below), there is a Cupcake group on Flickr which I have joined. Surely someone who not only paints but crochets cupcakes should be in this group! I just love like-minded (weird) people!

My other Flickr group is a Zetti group. Zettiology is the company of Teesha Moore (see links) and her husband Tracy, whom I have written about before. There are over 1,000 pieces of art (and now 5 of mine) in the Flickr Zetti group for admirers of this style. It is a color celebration! Check it out.http://www.flickr.com/groups/zettiology/.

A couple more Halloween ATCs

Here are a couple new Halloween artist trading cards I made last night for gifts in my ebay and blog swaps. I am in a Sweet and Sinister swap (see logo at right) which requires something sweet and something sinister (duh!), something handmade and a home decor item, all in shades of black, white and Halloween colors.

The skull card was made by using bleach and a rubber stamp, to stamp an image on black art paper (construction paper does not work). I used various amounts of bleach to get varying degrees of spooky images. I first saw this done in either Somerset Studio or Cloth, Paper, Scissors, two excellent magazines. The examples used an egg stamp and went further by using a brush and paint to add some color to the bleached images- have to try that!

I am also in an Art and Scent swap for my ATC and ACEO Enthusiasts group on ebay and a Secret Swap for Respect: Artists who Love Art, AWLA, on ebay.

I have tons more fall clip art to use, plus I just got 48 new Lyra Aquacolors, so I really need to get back to my journal and start drawing more new stuff. Making these ATCs is addicting. I have to laugh, because only a month ago when I was buying some stuff from Kris H at Retro Cafe Art Gallery on ebay, I asked her how she could stand to do such tiny work- ha!

Eeeek! My First Collage Pendant

So I tried to make a tiny collage (1.5 x 1.5 inches) to put under memory glass and into this tiny memory frame, which can now be a pendant or go on a tiny easel. Actually, I found a cute black bottle that says something like "eye of newt," so I think I am going to put this on a ribbon around the neck of the bottle, and give it for one of my swap gifts (swappers, close your eyes). The back is a spooky looking 6 also on red. I colored the cat with gel pens and added the collar. The glass or collage look wavy in this photo, but it turned out just fine.