Just About Halloween

   Hi everyone. Happy Thursday to you. Can you believe it is just about the end of October?  

   Today I am sharing my last art journal pages for Elle's challenge at Art Journal Journey. By now you must know her theme is Steampunk, Halloween, or Halloween steampunk. Thank you Elle for being such a super host. It was lots of fun to make some silly and spooky themed pages about Halloween. 👻

   I also want to thank everyone who joined in too. I like getting spooky once a year and making some Halloween art. I hope you also enjoyed Elle's challenge, which by the way, runs through tomorrow, Halloween.

   Today's pages are all about Halloween night, and these 2 pages come from the recent Halloween journal I've been working on. I haven't finished this journal yet, so maybe next year you'll see more of it.  😉

    For this first page I used a TH chipboard window and chipboard quote. I glued the window down onto some star paper that I covered my background page with. Before I glued the window down  I added the bat images to the background. I wanted them to look like they were on the outside. Then I inked the background around the window, but I left inside, where you see the bats uninked. I did that because I wanted it to be dark but still look like there was moonlight coming through the window. 

   Since it's an old broken window I added some yellow glitter glue and some clear drying glue only in spots where the glass would be. I also added some black cheesecloth scraps to make it look a bit cob-webby. I also  added the TH raven to the front. I'm happy with the final effect.

   This next page is also about the dark night, but I now wish I had darkened the background paper instead of leaving it the brighter yellow and orange. Oh well.

    I used a TH background image, and I added some yellow paint to the far windows. I found adding the paint made this view even spookier, and it's not even a whole lot of paint. Then I added the cat image (49 and Market), a scrap of black die cut lace, and finally I stamped my quote onto  some tissue paper and added that. When I glued it down I was slightly off center, but you can't move tissue paper as it's so thin so I left it off center. 

    I don't have any dark photos for you today, but I do have the dark background of this truck I followed one morning when I was out. I thought the quote was thought provoking, and imagine how nice the world would be if it was true. Of course  my cynical side tells me the quote has a double meaning, because that's the  how the owner of this lumber store chain wants to you think about how you'd be treated at his one of his stores so you'll shop there.

   

   It's too bad we all have to develop cynical sides, isn't it? 😈

   Have a super rest of your day. 

  

   

The Witches

     Hi everyone. Happy Wednesday. Today is my husband's birthday.  Ha ha- he has finally caught up to me in age. We won't be celebrating until this weekend when my daughter can be there, but I do plan on making him a birthday cake today because you have to do something to celebrate on your birthday.  🎂

    Since it is getting towards the end of October, and since I have several pages made in my Halloween journal that I haven't shared, today I have 3 pages to share for Elle's Steampunk, Halloween or Halloween Steampunk challenge at Art Journal Journey. Today theme is witches.

    This first page is almost all stamped images, except for the background that I inked with grey ink.

    This next page isn't very complicated either. I took a large  TH image of the moon, and then I stamped a the witch and added a quote.

   For my final page, I did a little more work. I'm not sure I like how this page came out. I like the design, and the thought behind it, but it feels a little messy to me. I can't quite put my finger on what makes it feel messy to me though. 

   I started by adding a couple of scraps of paper on the left (binding side)of my page. I did that because  my witch die cut (Hero Arts) is peeking around something with an edge. 

    I colored in the witch with various markers, and then I decided to make her outfit go all the way down to the bottom of the page. I didn't look complete without doing that.  I continued the stripe effect of the top of her skirt and colored it below the die cut. 

   I added a pipe to her mouth (a die cut scrap that was laying on my work table), and I also added the candelabra to her hand  (that was another die cut scrap).  I used some yellow glitter glue in the lights of the candelabra, and I added some green glitter glue to the witches face and her fingernails. 

    I hand drew and fussy cut the smoke coming out from the pipe, and I decided to write the quote in the smoke. You may remember that my book has a theme of a Halloween party which is why I wrote the quote that I did. Finally I added some sparkle bat stickers to finish off my page.

    That's all for me today.  Thanks for stopping by my blog.  And just an  FYI-Elle's challenge at AJJ runs through this Friday, which is also Halloween. 👻

  

     

   

Time for a New Challenge

    Hi everyone. Happy Tuesday. Since it's Tuesday and I'm posting that means it's time for a new challenge at Try It on Tuesday.

      But first, thank you everyone who joined our Autumn Colors challenge. And thank you Elisa for being a wonderful guest designer for that challenge.  The last 2 weeks went by so fast, and now it's time for our new topic which is HALLOWEEN. 

   I'm sharing a page from a little Halloween journal I created this month. Sadly the dot on the exclamation point at the end of the word boo fell off and went somewhere. 😒

    I covered my page with this bone paper and I ran it at a diagonal to give it a little more interest. Then I die cut the pocket from some black left over packaging.

    I then created a couple of tags. They didn't take long because I used a lot of stickers and pre-printed images for them.

    For this tag I inked the background with black ink and then splattered some black watercolor paint  to give it some details. Except for the little bat circle, all of the images are from an old sticker set I had in my stash. The little bat circle was also in my stash, attached to a brad from October Afternoon.  I cut the Brad part away and then attached it.

     The other tag came pre-printed, but I still splattered black watercolor paint over (but once it was finished this time.) I added some Janet Klein images from AALL&Create  to it, and then I finished by adding a puffy star sticker (from the same sheet as the ghosts in the other tag) and also a word from a package of Tim Holtz Halloween images.

    Don't forget to check out all the other Halloween inspired art by our designers. There are some super ideas there!

   This challenge, as always, runs for 2 weeks, and at Try It on Tuesday you can link up any type of art related to the challenge.  I think not super scary Halloween is lots of fun, and so I'm looking forward to seeing what creative pieces people share.  I hope you'll join us at TIOT. 

   I am also linking this page up to Elle's Steampunk, Halloween or Halloween Steampunk at Art Journal Journey.

Frankie Is Thirsty

   Hi everyone. Happy Friday once again. Since we are getting close to Halloween , I have another journal page for Elle's Steampunk Halloween or Halloween Steampunk challenge at Art Journal Journey.  Since it is also Friday and time for Nicole's Friday Face Off, I have a lot of faces to share today. And last but never least, I will also be linking  up to Gillena's Friday Lunch Break.

      I found a package of inexpensive  but fun Halloween stickers at Target a few weeks back. They're meant for treat bags at a kid's event, but I  thought they'd be fun to use anyhow. That's where Frankie's face comes from. And for the background I used a stencil and a Sharpie to draw the lines, some black ink to added a bit of depth to the paper, and finally some bright green paint to make a border int he top and bottom of my page. 

    This year's Halloween mini-sized journal project is all about a spooky Halloween party, so I ended up giving Frankie a glass of champagne. Doesn't he look like he's reaching out for it? I used some watered down cream colored paint in the glass, then added a few little confetti bubbles, and finally put clear glue over it all. I wanted you to be able to see through the glass, but still get the effect you would get if you looked through a real glass. OK, I was only partially successful but I'm happy with it.  

    I chose this quote because if you've read Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, you know the monster wanders the mountains. I figured he might be thirsty after all that foot travel. 😏

    I've mentioned before how a couple of weeks ago I visited my local botanical garden. At one time there was a small flock of guinea hens there, but on this day I only saw 1. He/she latched onto my friend and I and followed us around for a short walk, mostly when we were by a couple of places to get a drink.

  Guinea hens are interesting looking birds, and in some ways they look like they are pieced together, just like Frankenstein. But I'd much rather meet a guinea hen than a real Frankenstein.  😏

   And since I'm sharing a bit of bird/wildlife faces, can you see the snout of this visitor that was on my deck first thing the other morning?

    Although I don't want him making a home in my house, opossums are actually good to have around because they eat lots of ticks. Perhaps that's why the only tick I've had to take care of all summer was crawling on me.   I never found one on either dog.  I don't like ticks and the diseases they can carry aren't anything I want anyone to catch either.

     And finally for today, the wild turkeys were back in the yard earlier this week. I counted 11 of them. 

    What I found interesting is that my husband walked up from the driveway into the backyard while they were there, and they ignored him and continued to eat. When I opened the back door to step out onto the deck for a photo, they formed this perfect line and headed off into the woods. I wonder why they didn't feel threatened by him but they did by me. Hmmm. I'm the one who threw some millet seed out in the lawn, not that they knew that. And actually I threw out the seed for the mourning doves, but we're all willing to share.

    That's all for me. Have a super Friday and weekend ahead. 

Ghosties

  Hi everyone. Happy middle of the week to you. More rain is due to fall at my house today-hurrah. Hopefully today's lighter showers will help the drought a bit. 😀

   Today I have a simple page for Elle's Steampunk, Halloween or Steampunk Halloween challenge at Art Journal Journey.

    I used a sheet of black designed paper as my background.  I took a very old Martha Stewart jack-o-lantern border that was 12 inches long, and I cut it into a few pieces. Then I chose a few pieces to use on this page. Phew-I'm glad to actually use these jack-o-lanterns because  it's been in my stash for maybe even 20 years.  Time to use some of these really old time items up. 😏

   I stamped a TH ghost, fussy cut  and arranged him behind the pumpkins. I glued everything in place. I darkened the ghost's eyes and added some black glitter glue to them. I also added some white glitter glue over the ghost. The quote is also from the same ghost image set, and I debated whether to stamp it on white paper and fussy cut it or whether to just stamp it on the page. I decided to go with directly stamping it on the page, even though it doesn't stand out all that much. Finally, I finished by adding a gold paper foil moon.

   And even though it seems later than normal, we finally have some leaf color. 👍 Hurrah! It's mainly because the oaks are starting to turn, which means it isn't really later than normal because the oaks are always at the end of the foliage season. Yesterday I had to drop Miss Maddie off at the vet for a teeth cleaning, so Pete and I went for a nice long morning stroll. I don't think leaf color mattered to him, but I enjoyed it a lot.

    I am always very attracted to the mix of colors in each leaf.

     And this poor tree has some kind of health issues. BUT, to my artistic eye, the black rings really make these leaves quite stunning. If I designed fabric these leaves would be a great inspiration for a bolt  or two of cloth.

    Then put all that individual color together, and you have scenes like this one.

   And ha ha, even the pumpkins were getting into the multicolors too.

  That's all for me today. I hope your day goes well for you.

Happy Halloween

     Hi everyone. Happy Halloween to you. It's going to be very warm this year for Halloween; it's even quite warm comparably this morning. Makes me want it to be spring-grin.  And have you heard of Trunk or Treat? That was a new one for me. If you haven't heard of it, it's where a public place is picked, people go and park their cars there, and then kids walk around the cars and trick or treat out of the trunks.

   Today my post is a collection of photos to celebrate Halloween. I will also be linking this post up to tomorrow's Friday Face Off over at Nicole's website,  Gillena's Friday Lunch Break, and to Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's Second on the Second which goes live on Saturday.  I guess you could say it's a bit of a hodgepodge post. 😏

     But first of all, let me show this fantastic Halloween card I received from Elle in Scotland.

      I love the fuzzy die cuts. Very very cool Elle. And I know some of you like to see stamps, so I included them on the right side of the card.

       These next 4 photos are related to last Friday's post (Fairy Houses) when I shared some of the fairy houses under construction at my local botanical garden (Bedrock Gardens in Lee, New Hampshire). These photos are not fairy houses, but some large fairies as well as the moon. These fairies are also some clever tree decorations and faces too.

     And then, to celebrate this spooky day some more, I have some second looks from the last 3 years. Here's a few pieces of Halloween art that I created.  This year's new Halloween art is something I can't share yet, so you'll have to make do with some second views.

I hope you have a safe and spooky BUT fun Halloween if you celebrate or enjoy it. 

Thursday Collage

 Hi everyone. October is quickly winding down, and before it's over, I want to share a bit more October art with you.

At Art Journal Journey we are celebrating the month with Tracey's challenge, My Favorite Colour is October.  You still have until the end of month to join us for Tracey's challenge so come by and share your art journaling with us.

I have been on an art roll this month. I don't know which I am loving more, October leaves or Halloween. Smile.  My journal page today is a collage made on a printed paper that I pulled out of an old Somerset Studio magazine.

I did modify my background a bit with some crayons, orange spray paint, and some assorted stamping.

I then added some assorted bits and pieces including some die cut leaves. I inked these, and on the big oak leaf I stamped part of an old autumn words image. 

I also used a small bingo card sticker (which I embellished with some orange gemstones), a vintage looking tag sticker, a piece of striped  trim and a piece of foiled paper trim. I also added the cool eye sticker. I finished my page with the TH boy and his dog as well as a bit of stamping.

Because Halloween is right around the corner, here's another holiday piece I made.There's not many more days left to squeeze in that art before the spooky day arrives, so if it seems like I've been posting a lot of Halloween inspired pieces lately, that is because I have been making and saving up pieces since late September. They don't seem to have the same interest to me when Halloween is far off or already come and gone. 

If these ghosts look familiar, it's because  these stamps have been getting a work out.

This page is in my Halloween journal that I made, and mostly it is lots of layering of paper and foam items.  I did a bit of stamping an inking too.

That's all for me today. I hope you week is going well, and thanks so much for visiting my blog.