Halloween Matchbox Swap

I did another matchbox swap over at Vintage Dragonfly ... this time for Halloween ... I had a blast making goodies for my swap partner Amy.  Now Amy likes vintage and shabby chic ... which totally had me stumped for a while, but i think i sent some pieces that were sort of in that style ...

 My little owl is doing overtime this month, starring in various little photo shoots ... he was a birthday present from my daughter meant for the garden, but he's just so cute i keep him indoors!  okay, okay, this is about the halloween swap ... i made a little card which I slipped inside of this envelope ... the envelope can be reused, and it has a pretty vintage image, and paper rosettes and a little star pin!

Here is the grouping again, only the owl is wearing this cute little pin as a hat ... these pins are so quick and easy to make ... just use a gluber, pleated ribbon and something for the center and you can whip these babies up in minutes!

I made this little mini book, filled with Alice in Wonderland images and Halloween'ish quotes ...the liquid in the bottle is again, glossy accents and alcohol ink so it moves around the bottle and looks think and gooey ..

 The actual matchbox ... okay, i really dont have a lot of Halloween stuff ... i tend not to do "theme" scrappy so not much in my stash ... so my version of Halloween is this long forgotten dress form, covered in webs and dust stashed in the back corner of an attic ... and behind it ... an eye ... the all staring eye .... just keeping it creepy ... i covered the eyeball in glossy accents so it looks moist like a real eye ... i hope my swap partner gets my vision ... and the dress form is kinda vintagey...

 Just a cute little vintage image in a black frame, once again with rolled rosettes!  I coved the picture in grey mesh so it has a different look to it, although it didn't really show up in the photo ... there is also a little black spider embellishment in the upper right corner so it appears that the girl is looking at it.

 This little "boo" bunting turned out so cute ...

The final piece was this necklace ... yes, I'm spreading my wings a bit here ... it has a heavy chain to give it that spooky factor ... and a vintage witch image ... i finished it up with a black rose button and a grey crystal ...

This was so much fun to do ... and now I am waiting patiently till the day my swap comes!!!!
thanks so much for stopping by!!!

It's here ...

at 9:04 am today ... the equinox arrives

 bring us colour in all of it's leaves

  and wonderful harvests ....

and rain ... but we won't mention that here ...

Have a beautiful day everyone!

Shabby Jar exchange ...

I participated in a shabby chic jar exchange last year ... and i have never posted about what i sent ... so here it is ... goodies i collected and sent my swap buddy Sue.

 I started with this empty jar i picked up at a thrift store ... I printed a vintage label from the Graphics Fairy ... distressed it a bit and then glued it to the jar

I added some pretty vintagey looking ribbon

and some vintage spools wrapped with seam binding and ribbon and bakers twine

added some little bags of goodies

painted and aged some little frames and filled little vintage shakers with glitter

added some metal embellishments that i aged and painted

some little stork scissors and jewelled trim

a little envelope with tea bags, tied up with a vintage spoon

I made a pretty little flower for the top of the jar

and voila!  what fun!

I'm linking up to Cindy Atkin's Oh-La-La link party ... come join in the fun!

Saturday Centus ~ The Leaves

Okay, this is the meanest prank that Jenny has played ... not only do we have a max. of 32 words, we have to sync this up to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star ... and use the prompt, "In the autumn" ....arrrrrg!
Seriously, I just felt another grey hair sprout ...  so here it is, my teeny tiny contribution for this week.

In the autumn, crisp leaves fly
dancing across the darkened sky
In the autumn, chill winds blow
bringing hints of winter's snow.

I guarantee you some quick reads today ... all you have to do is click the Jenny button below!

Inspired by Poe...

I haven't done many small objects, but I am starting to do more and more and I am loving it!  The tiny piece below was inspired by Poe ...

The book was the hardest part to do, and that's only because i have never cut into a book before ... the spine doesn't slice as easy as the pages do ... but modifying books has always been something i have wanted to do ... and this is a start ...  I distressed the pages, covered the top with a bit of patterned paper and added a misted and inked grungeboard bracket .

The blood in the bottle was so easy to make ... its glossy accents mixed with a little alcohol ink.  Because i sealed the bottle, it should last a while, but sooner or later the air through the cork will harden it.

I'm in a Halloweenish mood!  I just finished a Halloween swap and i will post it as soon as I receive my swap items.

want your twine to twist ... just wrap it around a dowel, or pencil or chopstick ... get it a little wet and air dry it over night ... you can do this with ribbon as well!

Sealing wax rocks ... i used both black and red to add little globs of stuff to the table ...  thanks so much for stopping by!

from this day forward ...

I promise myself to start living in the light ...

no more negative people ... no more groups of people with drama ... no more housewives on TV that flip tables and think their behaviour is classy ....

instead i want to keep myself surrounded by those I love and who love me .... by friends and family that add to my life ... by entertaining media that promotes positivity (i know ... hard to find)

Live is short ... i want to enjoy as much of it as possible, to love as many as possible and to create and write with a happy heart ...

There is a circle of these Buddha's .... they remind me to stay in the light, stay in the positive, embrace the world and love hard ... sometimes i like to drop flowers in their open hands ... it makes me smile.

Saturday Centus ~ The Game

Geez, Jenny's prompt started off so innocently for me as I jumped back in time and remembered playing the game in the school yard. The prompt "mother may I" ... my word count came in at 99.  Here's my offering ...

The school yard was busy with the games of recess ... watching the kids play "mother may I" he singled her out.  Her blonde curls were almost obscured by the hood of her red jacket, and she was at the back of the pack ... too shy to call out "mother may I", and too nervous to make a big move in the game.
Watching from across the road, he took a long drag on his cigarette and smiled in anticipation.  "Oh yes, he thought, she is just perfect ... she will be mine before the day is over."

eeeks, something sinister came as i wrote that ... i hate when that happens, but there you go ... make sure you visit other Centus players by clicking on Jenny's button below.

Saturday Centus ~ The Pizza

okay, time for Saturday Centus ... or in this case ... Monday Centus???   okay so i am a few days late, but technically i have almost the week to submit ... to I'm really still on time ... kind of ...

So this week, 100 words plus the prompt words for a total of 107 words ... I managed to clock in at 106 but only after some serious editing ... geez, this one was almost a small novel ... well very very small ... perhaps minuscule ... here we go:

“Your leaving me” he asked, “Seriously Julia you are not going to get anyone else who is as good as me, In fact you might never meet someone again”

“No Steve, I’m not leaving you … those aren’t my suitcases by the door, they’re yours!  And I want you out of my apartment tonight, Gawd I am so done with this.”

“Really Julia?  You are far to needy to be alone, and who else is going to want to put up the daily drama that is you?” He tossed his case onto the chair and strode over to the counter “What kind of pizza is this?”

Whew ... drama central right???  I sure didn't expect that to come from the prompt ... I'm off to read the other centus submissions, there is always some great reading ... grab a coffee, click the Jenny button and join me!!!

a little eco sculpture anyone???

I look out at my little shade garden in my back yard patio, and think "wow!  I haven't killed anything yet!" and just as i think i am accomplished, we stumble on to these incredible eco sculptures ... thats darling daughter in the photos hamming it up!

Papa Bear - out on the links!

Baby Bear, ready for a hug!

Fierce in his wildness!

What an absolute beauty ... who doesn't love a carousel horse?

What's growing in your garden?  You can click on all of these photos to enlarge them ... thanks for stopping by ... peace love & paper ~ jo