A Winter Image by Anton Pieck

Halloween Artist Guild Featured Artist: By Way of Salem

Over the next few weeks I'll be featuring Halloween Guild Artists. Don't be fooled by our title, we love Christmas too, as you'll see by Jeannine's artwork! She can be found at www.bywayofsalem.etsy.com.

By Way of Salem
"My passion is creating OOAK Halloween & Holiday art, and other sweet things. An eclectic mix of whimsy, wicked and sweet! You'll find clay and papier mache sculptures, painted signs, little quilts, greeting cards, prims, cute critters and funny characters, garden items, ornaments, and a bit of jewelry as well. I feature Halloween and other holiday goodies all year long - so don't be surprised to see pumpkins and witches in July!

My mediums include paper clay, polymer clay, papier mache, acrylics, watercolor, colored pencils, fabrics, and other assorted ephemera.

Each item is created by me, then handpainted, or handstitched. No OOAK is ever duplicated, such as my sculptures. All my wood items are cut by the artist (me!) and painted without stencils (unless I create it myself).

I take great pride in bringing you top quality, handcrafted items to proudly display and collect. Many pieces take up to 2 weeks to finish, so please be patient as I slowly stock my shelves. All items are created in a smoke-free environment, signed by the artist (me again!), packaged very carefully, and sent on their merry way to you!

And of course, all my items are created in the spirit of whimsical fun, with a bunch of love tossed in!

Selling my art enables me to donate a portion of my sales to help animals in need, something that gives me great joy! Check out my blog at www.bywayofsalem.blogspot.com to find out more."

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy wishes to my friends. Enjoy!

Halloween Artist Guild Featured Artist: Heather Millott of Witch Hollow Prims

Heather Millott is a Folk Artist, living in historic Coal City. Her work reflects her love of vintage Halloween folk art. Her favorite medium being acrylics, she enjoys painting silhouettes of Witches, pumpkins, cats, moons and fairy's. Being an avid traveler, Salem Massachusetts is an annual stopping ground for her every Oct. 31st. Salem is an inspiration to her with its wonderful people, architecture, folklore, history and magick. Being a folk artist is something she has always aspired to be. She is a stay at home mother of 4 beautiful children.

"Primitives are about preserving the past, showing a genuine warmth in your heart for a time that was not our own. It is about love for our ancestors and remembering the old ways. When we remember, salvage and hold on to the past we breath new life and respect in appreciating that which was loved long ago. My work is dedicated to my Grandmother Christina Maria for I knew her only a brief time and that has made a lasting impression. My style is extreme prim folk-art & a touch of Halloween whimsy. I focus mainly on Halloween, but I also do tons of primitives throughout the year. Hand stitched treasures include crows, hearts, make-do's, bunnies, cats, dollies. I love old time vintage postcards and these images are used to create my one of a kind lighted luminaries and mason jars lamps. I love the look of old general store labels and tins and make creations that inspire me from my love of the past.

You can view Heather's galleries at

www.witchhollowprims.etsy.com

www.halloweenartists.com

Myspace: http://myspace.com/witch_hollow_primitives
Ebay witch_hollow_primitives

Happy Halloween!

Our time has come...enjoy yourselves on the magical day!

Mommy Pumpkin by Paulina Cassidy

My Dive into the World of ATC's......

I've often wondered about these beautiful little creations I see on some of my fellow bloggers sites. Gorgeous creations adorned with glitter, bits of lace or beautiful, little, handpainted masterpieces. After some input from Becky and Lynne at Moonlight Journey I've decided to take the plunge and try to create some ATC's myself.

As I mentioned to Becky and Lynne, I have a ton of bits of paper, fabric, lace, stamps, colored pencils and chalks that have been sitting in my closet for years. I've always liked collage work (haven't done it for years though!) and I thought ATC's would be a great medium for all of my bits of stuff and, they are small. It's not too intimidating working on a 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inch piece of card.

Here are my first one's. Would love to know what you guys think any advice is appreciated and I would love to participate in a swap someday....


This is my very first one....




My second one....



I'm sending this one to my sister.

Artistic Credit

I would like to take a moment to give artistic credit where it is due. I've received so many compliments on the Night Sky pendant that, even though it was not required by the artist,  I feel only fair to give credit where it is due.

The digital image for the pendant was created by Robin Camps at Rowan Tree Design. She has a great shop over on etsy, Rowan Tree Design. Some of the other pendants I've created have been designed by her as well (some of the witch and leaf pendants I've made). She gives permission on her etsy shop to create jewelry or other designs and sell them but, not to sell them as is.

I feel very strongly about receiving permission from the artists for using images in the jewelry that I create. I either receive permission from the artist (it's usally given on their etsy site how the images can or cannot be used), or  I  use images that are in the public domain.

I've done some research on copyrights, in particular vintage images, since that's what I like to use. Here is a link that gives a good basic explanation of what is considered in the public domain.

I also ask permission from artists if I can use their images on my blog. I post a lot of Paulina Cassidy's work on my blog and it has been with her permission only that I do  this.

So many of ou have such creative minds - you do things with digital art that I can only hope to do.I am just glad that you all share with the rest of the world.

Thank you,
Joane

Winner for Le Mysterieaux Carnival Give-Away.....

.....the winner is Dogs Mom Visits! Congrats! Dogs Mom will be receiving the midnight sky pendant and a few other surpize goodies.

Another annoucement is that I'll be hosting more give-aways for the rest of October! I have soooo much stuff that I've created things are starting to overflow. So what better way to make room that to give it all away!

So, if you're interested in this fall pendant, leave me a comment and next Sunday, by a random number generator someone will be picked.

I'd like to give credit to RowanTreeDesign for creating the graphic. She has a great shop on etsy and is very kind in giving permission for her designs to be used in jewelry, art, atc's, etc.

May the good luck goblins be with you,
Joane

Last Day for the Sale at my Etsy shop

Today is the last day for the sale at my etsy shop. Use the coupon code "october2012" to receive 20% off! Sale is until midnight tonight.

Le Mysterieaux Carnival

Le Mysterieaux Carnival - Are You Ready?

I have my ticket. Do you have yours? I'm so looking forward to visiting your carnivals and parties. I hope you enjoy visiting mine. I'll put on my best hat and grab my broom and whisk away your parties.
I'm having a little give-away for visiting my party. It's a pendant I made. It's what I think the night sky would look like during our party and while I'm whooshing around the sky. If you'd like to be eligible for the give-away. Leave a comment, nothing special, just let me know you dropped by. You can follow my blog or not. Some other trinkets will be included but, those are a surprise!

I'll be leaving this post up for at least a week so there will be time for everyone to visit. Thank you for flying by!
Love,
Joane

New Items at Ivory Pumpkin and, the Sale is Still On!

Here are some new items I've posted on my shop the past few days. The 20% off sale is still going on until October 8th. Just enter the coupon code "october2012" to receive the 20% off! Thank you for visiting!

Sale!

To celebrate the beginning of the Halloween season I'm having a sale at my esty shop from Monday October 1st to Monday October 8th. Enter the coupon code october2012 to receive 20% off on your purchase!
My shop is http://www.ivorypumpkin.etsy.com/

New Items in the Shoppe....

Some new items added to my etsy shop, you can click on the images for a closer look...

My shop is at www.ivorypumpkin.etsy.com

thanks for stopping by!

Fairy Friday

Have a lovely weekend! Another pretty from Paulina Cassidy

Let the Autumn Movie Watching Begin!

For me Autumn is a time for cuddling up on the couch on weekends and watching movies. I usually like to keep this tradition until October but.....fall officially begins on the 22nd and I have acquired quite a collection of movies over the years and I want to cozy up and watch them all before the Christmas movies start showing up on TV.

I'll keep the distinctly Halloween movies for October (Hocus Pocus, Sleepy Hollow, etc). Hmm.....but what to start with that is fall like? I think I'll start with The Dark Crystal!

I bought this movie a few weeks ago and just haven't gotten around to watching it. It's been at least 10 years since I watched the film. It's not Halloween but, has a wonderful fantasy, magical quality that will get me off to a good autumn movie watching mood. I did a wiki on the movie and found out that there was/is supposed to be a sequel called, "Power of the Dark Crystal" but, for various reasons its been put on hold. To quote a quick wiki on the film -

"The Dark Crystal was released in 858 theaters in North America on December 17, 1982. In its initial weekends, it had a limited appeal with audiences for various reasons including parental concerns about its dark nature, creative connections with Henson's family-friendly Muppet franchise and because it was overshadowed by the film's competition over the Christmas of that year, including Tootsie and the already massively successful E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.^[5] Although it never topped number one, the film managed to present lasting power in its following weeks, even past the new year of 1983. By the end of its box office run, it made $40,577,001 dollars, profiting over its $15 million dollar budget.^[6]
During its international release in 1983, The Dark Crystal was the highest-grossing box office release for the year in both France and Japan.^{[citation needed]} and out-grossed E.T. as the most successful foreign film in Japan until Titanic took over the spot 14 years later. The film has gained a cult following over the years since its release."

What movies will you watch this fall? Please leave a comment, I would love to add new Fall/Halloween movies to my collection.

A Trade....

I'm calling on the talents of my creative blog friends that can create magic with their computers! I'm looking to update my etsy shop banner. I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in helping me to create a new banner and perhaps a template for business cards.

I do not have photoshop so I can't do this myself. Important note, I can't pay cash money but, I'd be willing to trade the work for some items in my shop or a shop credit if you don't see anything you like (I am adding new stuff almost daily though).

I'd like to keep the pumpkin image I have if possible. I did take the photo and someone kindly lightend the background and added the font for me. But, now I'm looking for something a little more whimisical. Simple but, whimsical, a little darker, more magical.  It could be as simple as turning the photo to a sepia tone and adding some scrolling and a different font. I'm all up for creativity though and would love to see what can be produced with your own imaginations.

If we do decide to work together I do ask though that if you decided to use the photo please don't sell it. Feel free to use the created/updated image in a portfolio though.

If you think you'd be interested you can email me at joaneduranatgmaildotcom and I can send you the photo I originally took to work with and, we can work out details of what items and/or how much.

Thanks so much for considering this! My shop is at www.ivorypumpkin.etsy.com if you want to take a look.

Love,
Joane

Fairy Friday - Dressing the Fairy

Sigh....I'm so glad to have time again to post for Fairy Friday. I'm loving going through beautiful illustrations of fairies and fairy tales. I hope you enjoy and have a lovely weekend!





Dressing the Fairy by Warwick Goble



New Items in My Etsy Shop

It feels good to be crafting again. Here are some new items available in my Etsy shop Ivory Pumpkin.
I hope you like them and thanks for visiting!

Asian Style Phoenix Pendant/Necklace

Asian Style Bird on the Branch

November Sky

And...something for Halloween! Mr. Skeleton!

A close up of the details.

September and Fairy Friday

September

Departing summer hath assumed
An aspect tenderly illumed,
The gentlest look of spring;
That calls from yonder leafy shade
Unfaded, yet prepared to fade,
A timely carolling.

-  William Wordsworth

Gargoyle!

I was able to get back to craftng this weekend and made some pretty cool pendants for my etsy shop (if I do say so myself!). Right now this little guy is up for sale and, more are on the way! You can find him at my shop here Ivory Pumpkin.

Thanks for stopping by!
joane

Come join the fun...

It's carnival time! To find out more click the button on my side bar for more information on how to join the fun!

I'm Ready for Halloween...

I'm ready for Halloween and, so are these little characters by Paulina Cassidy.

Let the Carnival Begin

You can find her website on my side bar if you are interested in purchasing this art work.

My Return to Knitting......

I have finally organized my yarn stash and have vowed not to buy new yarn until I've used a good amount of what I already have (this vow is, of course, pointless if I find some fantastic yarn that's on sale!). So I've got my knitting mojo back and have started on a couple of projects. Here's a peek at what's in the works.

This is going to be a cowl that's knitted in the round. My camera phone doesn't to the colors justice for either photo but, this a yummy milk chocolate brown with little cafe au lait flecks. I can't even remember what kind of yarn this is, I bought it so long ago. I'm not sure yet if this will be a Chirstmas gift or something for myself.

I don't know why half the picture got cut off. Anyhoo, this is going to be a short sleeved sweater knit in stockinette stitch with a seed stitch border at the bottom, neckline and sleeves. This is a gorgeous merino wool in a pretty forest green. This is the first sweater in which I've really paid attention to using a guage swatch. I usually knit things that don't require an exact guage but, this is such nice yarn and the sweater is so simple that I wanted it to fit really well. I knit a swatch, gave it wash and counted my stitches. I decided to go up a needle size since I'm a tight knitter. 

 I bought this yarn at the Stitches West yarn show a few years ago. That's one thing I miss about living in California - The Stitches West yarn show. It is held in Santa Clara, only about 30 minutes from my mom's house. You could walk around all day and not see all of the yarn! I was a great inspiration to go. Well, it's a good excuse to go visit!

I think moving forward I'll keep two WIP's on hand to work on maybe on knitting and one crochet. I have a lot of skeins of a lot of different  that I think most of what I'll be making in the coming months are scarves and other accessories for gift giving during the holidays. I already have a couple of scarves done. It's nice to have an emergency gift on hand! I'll take some photos of those for the next post.

Happy Knitting!

Signs of Halloween....

Last post I was moping for Halloween and, I still am but, a few weeks ago I had to kill some time while my puppy was getting a mani/pedi. I wandered into a Michaels and look and what I saw!!!!!

Yes! Halloween and Autumn is peeking its head in at Michael's!!!! It was tickled when I saw this stuff. I think I literally giggled in the aisles. I was smiling when I left the store. I soooo wanted to buy a pumpkin or two and an owl but I have to be conservative with my personal funds right now. But, it's coming, it really is!!! I think seeing this delight even helped me get my knitting mojo back. I've started a fall sweater for myself and started on some scarves and cowls for holiday gifts.

Other things are falling into place too. I got a new job. I'm back doing admin work and I start right after the 4th of July. I'm hoping to save a bit of money with the additional income so I can make a trip back to California for the Dickens Faire around Christmas time.

Anyhoo, I hope you fellow Halloween lovers enjoy the photos. I'm going to make a trip back to Michael's soon to see what other Halloween goodies are awaiting!

Love,
joane

Mid-Year Halloween Blues.....

I am longing for Halloween. What do I do to get myself out of a funk? I have photos from a Salem, MA vacation that I took too many years ago that I can look at....again (I'm so longing to go back there but, that's another blog post!). A good ole Hallween movie? I feel it's sacreligious to watch Halloween movies before October. I tell myself that autumn will be here soon enough and to enjoy the present seasons as they each have their magic and bring their own gifts to the earth.

But, geez, I'm aching for pumpkins, witches, falling leaves, bats, spiders, monsters and haunted houses! I guess I could get on with some Halloween crafting...knit something in orange maybe?

Anyone out there feel the same way? What do you do to cure your Halloween blues?

Steampunk Tags by Moonlight Journey

Here's an awesome Steampunk sheet by Moonlight Journey.