Happy Halloween!!!

Here's a little Mother/son collaboration. Have a safe & fun Halloween!

Be Inspired to Create Fun Halloween Decorations from things Around the House

Here are a couple of quick tutorials for some Easy Halloween decorations created from things around house.

Paper Bag Jack O' Lantern
Materials:
Brown Paper lunch bags
Newspaper
Acrylic craft paint












1.Take a brown or white paper lunch bag and open it up
2. Stuff it with a bit of paper about 1/2 the way up the bag
3. Gather the bag just above the stuffing & twist
4. Keep twisting until you've created a stem
5. Paint with orange acrylic paint & let dry
6. Add a face to create a Jack O' Lantern
7. Let dry
8. Make another! They look great displayed together.














String of Ghosts:
Materials:
Coffee Filters
Tissue
Fishing Line or Clear thread
Black Pen (optional)











1. Flatten out the coffee filter
2. Ball up a piece of tissue and place in the center
3. Gather up the middle of the coffee filter and twist to create the ghosts head
4. Add eyes with the black pen
4. Tie the ghosts onto fishing line to create a string of ghosts that appear to be floating

The ghosts look great in a window or strung in a door way or from a chandelier.

Through My Eyes - Fall From a Distance

Yes, I'm going to milk this Fall thing for all it's worth. It's my favorite season, so I'm always a bit obsessed with it when it arrives. So bear with me through a couple more "Fall" posts. This one is a bit of a reminder to myself. I'm always looking for that close-up macro shot and sometimes I miss the bigger picture. So this was a study in noticing the big picture that is Fall. Enjoy!

Through My Eyes - The Darker Side of Autumn

Not every day in Autumn is bright, sunny and full of brightly colored leaves. Some days are cold and gray, but they are beautiful in their own way. Here's one of those days through my eyes:

Daily Dose of Inspiration - 10/23/09

Like Fire:




I missed posting yesterday's inspiration, so here it is. Quite a contrast from today's.

Through My Eyes - A Perfect Fall Day

Feeling less than inspired? Take a break today from creating. Get outside and throw some leaves in the air or make a leaf pile and jump inside. I guarantee the joy you feel will bring you inspiration!

Today's Daily Dose of Inspiration 10/20/09

Starting to get in the Halloween Spirit! This is a little gargoyle my son got out of a gumball machine. I did my best to make him look spooky. He is inspiring me to get several Halloween projects and tutorials done so that I can share them with you! I hope he inspires you to let a bit of your dark side come out in your art today!

Today's Daily Dose of inspiration 10/19/09

Here's a picture of some tomatoes from my garden. The squirrels and the groundhog got most of them before I did, but I did manage to get these 2 lovelies. The color contrast is just delicious!

Inspiration Revealed - Sometimes I Inspire Myself!

In a previous post, I illustrated how some of my pendants inspired one of my new prints. Here are a couple more examples of how my jewelry has inspired my art and my art has inspired my jewelry:










































































I'm sure the back and forth will continue. All the items above are available in my jewelry and print shops.

Yesterday & Today's Daily Dose of Inspiration Photos

Fall is in full effect!





If you ever make anything inspired by one of my photos, don't forget to send me a photo or link, and I'll share it on the blog!

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Through My Eyes - On the Farm

I visited a Farm with the kids on Sunday and here's what inspired me:



Gorgeous "Pick Your Own" flowers



Bins of Gourds and pumpkins:







A Catwalking goat:



A Big Smile:






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Through My Eyes - Looking Down

While going through the pictures from last week's field trip to Annapolis, I found that I had taken several photographs of the surfaces I walked on. Their textures and patterns drew my eye throughout the day. Annapolis is a historical town so there was lots of interesting brick and stone. Here's what inspired me when I looked down:

Lots and lots of of brick walkways:




























A Carpet in the Maryland State House - The oldest legislative building still in use.


















A grate at the Naval Academy which featured a tony acorn in a hole:














And finally the long wooden planks of the dock:



















I'm glad I took the time to look down a few times throughout the day. There were tons of other sights to see (which I will post soon), but something as simple as what I walked on stirred up all kinds of ideas. Take some time this weekend to look down at all of the different surfaces you walk on and may be they'll bring you inspiration too! Just be careful to look up sometimes too. I'd hate for you to walk into something and get injured while you were looking down at my suggestion! Have a great weekend!

Yesterday's & Today's Daily Dose of Inspiration

Of course I couldn't make it through the whole first week of posting my daily inspirations, so here's todays and yesterday's.

Daily Dose of Inspiration - 10/06/09

Monday Jump Start Mosaic

Each Monday I'll post a mosaic from my Daily Inspiration Flickr Group showcasing some of the wonderfully inspiring photos added to the groups from the past week. Hopefully it will jump start your week with some great ideas for creating.



1. wood panel detail, 2. November Woods 071, 3. Daily Art Inspiration 10/01/09-Leather Cords, 4. Screened Life Macro 40/365, 5. our first fall beauties, 6. Meadow Wildflower, 7. Untitled, 8. silver leaf , 9. Autumn-ness

Created with fd's Flickr Toys


If you make something that was inspired by the photos or posts in this blog, please share it with me & my readers by sending me a photo or link. I'll be happy to include it in the blog!

Now get creating!

Today's Daily Dose of Inspiration 10/5/09

Here's a photo I took while on a Field trip to Annapolis with my oldest on Friday.



I'll be doing my best to post my daily inspiration photos...daily. For the most part these will be photo only posts.

Quick thanks to the organizers of Crafty Bastards, their awesome volunteers, and all the amazing customers (new & old) that I met on Saturday. It was a fantastic day!

A Quick Update

Hi all! Sorry I've been MIA, but I've been getting ready for the Crafty Bastards show this weekend and it has taken up all my time that isn't already devoted to my family and filling orders. Please come by on Saturday and check me out! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't rain! Even if you can't be there, you can still support me with your vote for Craftiest Bastard! You can vote here or by clicking the button on my sidebar!

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 • 10am - 5pm • Adams Morgan

While you're in the voting mood, you can also vote for BEST's blog for best Art/DIY Blog in Baltimore's Mobbies. We're currently in first place, but we'd like to stay there. You can vote here daily.

I started a new Flickr group, Daily Art Inspiration, for a daily dose of inspiration. I hope it will be a wonderful resource for when you're feeling stuck, and I like the idea of artists helping other artists! It's an open group, so feel free to join in the fun and inspiration! I'm planning to make a mosaic from the group each Monday as an inspirational pick me up to start the week. Here's yesterday's inspiration photo:



Here's today's:


Block Party Prints is doing really well in it''s first 2 weeks. There have been 2 Etsy front page appearances and even an inclusion in a Storque article. I had my first sale on my one week anniversary, and just hit double digits with my 10th sale today! I have a lot more prints to add and will be adding some smaller 5x7's, so check back next week. Here's my most recent print, Candy Cane Rain:


I'm hoping to get back in the blogging groove next week! Have a great weekend!