The Pumpkins Are In!!!!

I know it's just barely summer but the pumpkins came in last week! I've been collecting broken candlesticks, lamp bases and anything else broken that might possibly make a good pumpkin stand for months. I'm not allowed to keep them at work so I'm excited to get them out of the studio. The first two are done. I have visions of pumpkins dancing in my head. The pumpkin on the cement base started out orange. I painted him to match the base. I think he turned out pretty cool. I can't wait to do the large one, but there's an owl I really can't wait to do too.

The orange one was a little too orange to go with the base so I used spray stain on him. It gave him a mottled look that I didn't intend but I like the effect. The hat is just a paper cone (also spray stained) with black puff balls glued on.

It might be a little early to bring them to work yet. I'm hoping to have a whole bunch done by the time we start selling them. The ones we have now are just to get a head start on arrangements and jack o lanterns. Joe's in charge of arrangements, but the jack o lanterns are my domain. I did get some help from Jodi last year. I'm hoping she'll help this year too.

Stay tuned for more...hopefully soon, but my sister and her four boys are supposed to visit next week. Have to find time to tidy the house for company. She's not speaking to me at the moment though so who knows what'll happen. Personally, I'd rather spend my vacation days with my sister and nephews than carving pumpkins but...we'll see.

Altered Kitchen Cabinets

I love my kitchen cabinets. They started out plain white builders cabinets with crappy little knobs. They are, like a lot of my projects, a work in progress. I covered the inside of the doors with pages from an old cookbook and whenever the mood hits me, I mod podge a label or picture on top. Every once in a while I add a coat of polyurethane so I can wipe them down. Eventually I'll probably cover the entire inside of the cabinets. When I started my kitchen project (5 years ago), my husband told me I could do whatever I wanted because the whole thing was going to be remodelled soon anyway. Define "soon". Anyway, they make me happy now. I used a fleur de lis stencil and spackle to make a raised design on the outside in each of the 4 corners. I base coated them black then used silver rub-n-buff. I like the way they turned out but if I were going to do it again, I would use powdered water putty and add paint directly to it. Sometimes they chip a little, not so much on the upper cabinets, but the lower cabinets get more wear and tear. It wouldn't be so noticable if there was paint in the compound.

In the Halloween mood...

I know, it's been between 90 and 100 degrees for the past 4 days. Today however is gorgeous. A perfect summer day, and it's not even officially summer yet. It's still spring and I'm already thinking about pumpkins and Halloween. It's a sickness. I made the crow rider last year out of crayola model magic and some stems leftover after I used the flowers for a wreath. The reins are a liquid silver necklace that my sister gave me. I used spray glitter on the crow and gave him red rhinestone eyes to make him more "magical". The hat is made from black cardstock with more spray glitter and rhinestones. There's a short story about him floating around in my head but it hasn't decided to be written yet. Mostly because he doesn't have a name.


The pumkin head doll I also made last year. I made it for work and I thought (still think) he's the coolest thing ever. I priced it at $49.99 knowing that we have a 40% off coupon every week. Nobody bought it. Jerks. I had to buy my own damn pumpkin. I'm glad I did though. He sits in my studio all year making me happy instead of in somebody's basement in a box with all their other halloween decorations. So worth more than $30.00. I used a small white pumpkin and used paperclay to sculpt the face and add texture. I planned to cover the whole thing with tissue paper but didn't have any on hand so I used...maybe I shouldn't say. I used toilet paper. It gave it alot more texture and I really like the way it turned it out. Painted over that with pearlescent white, added the hair (picks from the bridal department, some spray painted black), but him on a broken candlestick spray painted black and added a black leaf garland for a collar. Love, love, love him.

Yay! The love of my life came home the other night with a canon rebel for me. For no reason... Just cuz he loves me. Now I can put pictures up. It might take me awhile to get the hang of it, but It'll be fun learning. I wish I could just quit my job and play with my camera. This a garden sign I painted a couple of creative wednesdays ago. It used to be a really ugly black and purple halloween sign that I got for 90% off. I think I paid like $1.90 for it or something ridiculous like that. It's not fine art but I like it just fine.