crafts and magical gifts

The heat has arrived!! Well, a little bit..

It will get much hotter before we get out of the month.

Good news is...Monsoon season starts on Saturday!

I look forward to hearing thunder and smelling the rain come in.

It peaks in July😀 but sometimes we get lucky and it drops sooner.

It's getting closer to Halloween!

We only have 

139 Days left!!!

 I have a few things I've been making lately..

This is a book trinket box

A couple of cookie cutter witches

made of clay..

 

These paper mache dolls are a work in progress,

(Can you tell one of them is Frida?)

So is this junk journal..I absolutely love

Where The Wild Things Are!! 

It's the first book I remember reading.

I'll show you the pages 

once I'm done with it.

I found this quote a while ago, and I feel it's

fitting in perfectly with how I want to live my life.

I think if you look for magic everyday, you WILL find it.

Lately it seems as though magic and gifts keep 

drifting into my world.

Here's a little list of amazing things that have happened:

 

I recently had a visit to my doctor and he told me I 

was done with my post-operative bi-annual appointments, 

I don't need to go back!

That is Magic to me!!

....................................................

 oooh, I was given this candle the other night!

It smells like the green tea perfume

from Elizabeth Arden:)

 

This next candle smells just like a coffee shop, SO GOOD!!

It's so saturated, the whole house was filled with this 

incredible scent...

 

 

The view out of my kitchen window,

 

 

 

New magazines with my favorite birds

and projects!

I love all things Haunted Mansion so

this giant box with the hitchhiking ghosts was

such a great surprise.

This was gifted to me yesterday.

One of the lovely little hummingbirds

posing for me...

These are bookends!!!

Incredible, stunning, glittery bookends💫

I love all these amazing treasures!!

I think my favorite one is this one:

Peeves just getting ready for a nap.

...................................................................................

Well, I have to get going for now..

I hope everyone is doing well.

I'll be by later to visit.

 

Haunted Happiness

Hello everyone!

how have you been??

We have had the best week! 

Our weather is absolutely delicious right now..our evenings have become so cool!

Now remember, here in AZ low 60's are very chilly for us..especially since

summer can bring temperatures as high as 121 degrees Fahrenheit.

So, for now, it really feels like Autumn

.  

Not too long ago we watched this

Have any of you ever watched it?
It's only a little silly..I watched this as a child and it scared me so much!
You can find the entire movie on youtube..for some reason, I can't link it.
Here's the trailer though...

..................................................................................................................................

I didn't find many Halloween treats this week,

other than this cake mix,

Isn't it neat?

Haven't made it yet, but I'll definitely post when I do. 

We did make a spooktacular hot cocoa.

I added vanilla, cinnamon and extra whipped cream.

When it was ready to go, I threw a few Froot Loops 

& some spooky marshmallows on top.

Don't know if you can make out the shapes..

there's

 a bat,

a ghost 

and a creepy green thing...

could be a hand, could be a monster head, lol

We took our cocoa out to the patio and carved a pumpkin

It was getting dark and a little chilly :)

we put some scary music on and enjoyed the night.

I tried to take a photo of the sky....

A few weeks ago

Helena went to a shop called

As You Wish 

you pick out a white plaster figurine and paint it..

she chose a little candy dish.

We went to pick it up a few days later &

it was nicely glazed and ready for use.

Isn't it cute?

Last month I was chosen to be on a new design team!

It's called Hellgnome's Death Digis..

This is what I made:

A ring

A hair clip

And I embellished and old handbag..

All these were printed out onto Shrinky Dinks paper, colored and baked.

I had so much fun creating these!

All the designs are a little spooky and very versatile.

If you're into digital images, or printing out images and coloring them for your

mixed media cards..check out Stephanie Eaton's Etsy

I also made this..just for fun:)

We went for a walk around our neighborhood the other night.

I had to stop and take a picture of this path...

with all the things I read and all the things I imagine,

there was no way you could get me to walk through here.

it was tooooooooo creepy!

I heard a story the other night..

it sounds a bit like an old urban legend, like last weeks tale..

I liked it enough to tell it to you tonight.

Wrap a blanket around yourself and sit here by the fire with me..

now, let's go...

There once was a couple that loved each other very much.

As time went on, they began fighting often..

They both wanted a divorce, but

they decided to stay together for their 2 year old son..

For a long time it worked and they managed to get along.

One night however,
 when the son was six years old,
 they started arguing, 

 by the time they had finished eating dinner,
 the fight had turned vicious.

It was bedtime for their son, so they got him ready and tucked him in.

The fight  got even worse after he fell asleep,

 and the husband ended up killing the wife.

Not really knowing what else to do,

He bundled his wife's body into the trunk of his car and drove to the 

swamp land at the edge of town.

The stench of the swamp was overpowering, but he trudged through as far as he could.

Finally, finding an area,

he hurriedly dropped  her in.

He arrived back home and quickly cleaned himself up..

the smell of the swamp seemed to have embedded itself into his pores

he could not stop smelling it.

As he drifted off to sleep, he briefly thought of his son and how he would 

be asking for his mother in the morning.

He also thought, if he asks too many questions,
I might have to kill him too.

The next morning,

even after a very hot shower, he noticed that

the smell was still very strong,

 but he woke his son,  helped him dress, then made him breakfast..

Throughout it all, his son remained silent,

 but his eyes never wavered..he watched his father constantly.

After a while, the dad asked

"Son, do you have a question?"

"Yes" he answered

"is it about your mother?"

"Yes" he answered

 "Well, ask me, then."

the child looked at him for a moment 

then said

"Why is mama so pale...?"

"And why have you been giving her a piggy back ride all day?"

..................................................................................................................................

That's all for tonight!
I hope you enjoyed this week's
Haunted Humpday!
See you soon

Two Fridas & some recycled art

How has your week been?

I have been visiting blogs and I'm seeing many Spring posts up lately.

Seems like winter has lasted a long time for many of you.

Right now we are close to hitting triple digits here in Phoenix..

I usually stay indoors for the most part, unless it's very early in the morning or the sun has set.

I made a few things this week, including a couple of earth day projects..

first, the Fridas:

This one is created from a thrifted playing card tin, a Penelope doll head from Lisa Kettell

burlap papers and an old baby shirt that belonged to Helena.

This is acrylic and water color, I added paper flowers and glitter stars .

I created this Marie Antoinette inspired ornament using one of Lisa's

Kewpie dolls from her shop. 

She's wearing a dress made out vintage sheet music.

I made her wig with a bit of wool felting. She's my favorite right now!

I recycle/repurpose all the time..I love using old boxes for the cardboard..

A lot of my art cards and water color paintings are attached to 

 rice, cereal and cracker box cardboard.

I save all the oatmeal and salt containers we get. 

They make lovely little fairy homes.

Empty coffee cans and jars are used to store paintbrushes and pencils.

For Earth Day, Helena and I decided to make some purses.

We used these Pop Tart and Uncrustables boxes...

I had an old roll of clear contact paper

and some fabric remnants..

these are the boxes covered in contact paper:

this is the inside lined with the fabric.

Now, they are not completed but they are looking very cute!

We can't wait to wear them out in public:)

I'll show you how they turn out.

We also made a bird feeder out of an old milk jug, but I did not show a photo of it 

because my email was being very crappy and the pic would not upload.

I'm currently creating some fun paper mache creatures, which use up lots and lots of old newspaper..

Can't show you those you those yet as they are for a swap which has taken so long for me to get to.

Helena and I are going to our library's Spring book sale today,

fill a bag for $10 or a box for $15

We are so excited! 

I hope you have a happy, magical Thursday!

Gingerbread Love

Hello!

I hope the first week of the new year has been sweet to you!

We had a great time,

 there was a Stephen King  marathon,

We had  some fudge, a cheese platter and sparkling cider:)

I was asleep by half past😴

Now I'm ready for the next  holiday!

Yesterday our local classical station featured a live audio stream from the 

Metropolitan Opera.

It's one of my favorites..

Humperdinck's

'Hansel and Gretel'

 

I love it for various reasons..

1.Candy!

2. I had the little golden book 'Hansel and Gretel' when I was a child💕

(which, by the way I just got for Christmas from these awesome girls!)

3.I love gingerbread cookies..

they're my favorite kind of ornament, doll, pillow, drawing or shape to collect.

4.When Gabriella was eleven, she was part of the gingerbread chorus

with Arizona Opera.

I helped organize a party given for the children on opening night

(making the decor, favors and treat bags, etc)

 I was dubbed, Gingerbread Queen!

lol, I even got a certificate.

It was a lot of fun.

5. The music.

 

Before it began, Helena and I made some gingerbread cookies.

 While it was on we made some cute little crafts..

 

 

 

 

It was beautiful as usual..and as usual I cried at the end..haha!

It really took me back...

  (via Pinterest)

I made this digital art to show you

what my house would look like if I could have it any way I wanted:)

I'd live there and make art and never turn any children into cookies..

well, maybe just the bratty ones! haha

 That's it for now....

I will be stopping by to visit your blogs very soon.

Thank you for the New Year wishes!