Mad Hatter Gone Batty and More Halloween Fun

Happy Halloween!!! It's the BEST day of the year!!!!!!

We already have been celebrating with lots of creative activities around here, and Trick-or-Treat will be a great topper tonight.  For us, it isn't even about the candy, but a way to face and celebrate the shadow side of life.  Plus, all those trick-or-treaters are pretty darn cute!  Even before we had Angelo, we have always loved Trick-or-Treat.  It's a great way to be a part of community if only for a short bit of time.  Our plans for the candy (since we eat such low sugar food and candy is so rare in this house) is to let Angelo have a few pieces tonight and give him the option to trade the rest for a super special toy.  Yes, it is bribery, and it's not a regular feature here, but today is an extraordinary day!

This was for the Altered Alice challenge- the Mad Hatter at his tea party with Twinkles.  So, Twinkle Twinkle little bat it is!  The background (on a plain index card) is a couple of stamps plus some sprayed mica ink (twinkly).  The image is colored with colored pencils and the polka dots have added Stickles (twinkly).  The bats are punched from a book page I sprayed with Tulip fabric paint/dye over cheese cloth.  The border and outlines are made with a Sharpie micro tip pen.

I didn't actually finish this in time to enter the challenge with all the other projects I had going on, especially sewing our costumes.  That's OK, though, since I really like doing challenges for the "challenge" aspect. Sure, winning is great, but going by someone else's guidelines while still having artistic freedom is a great way to stretch your creative wings.  :)

Here are a few more projects I've worked on lately.  I'll keep the descriptions short. :)

A with Sparky the Fire Dog at the Halloween parade, wearing the spider costume, but not the cute Trick-or-Treat bag.  Oops! 

One of A's Halloween decorations.  He cut out this, the skeleton and wolf man (because those are the only ones that actually link) from *Kaboose.  He stapled them together- easy and fun! They're hanging in the living room. :)  He's currently working on some of these coloring pages.  *Warning, the video ads are very annoying!

A having fun cleaning out the pumpkin.

A carved one of the eyes and drew the nose on this 1st one.

I absolutely LOVE this one!! A carved it with only the teeniest bit of help from Mama (holding the pumpkin and encouraging).  Love how children have such natural creativity and it looks extra creepy cool!

A Haunted house I painted, stamped and glued images to.  House form from Art Chix.

A Halloween bunting made from material I bought a few years ago.  It dons our entry-way.

I need to take a moment and mention my self-control.  In past years, I bought every Halloween magazine I saw, OD'd on Halloween art supplies, over-stocked on costume material and generally went nuts buying Halloween stuff.  This year, not a single magazine or decoration was bought, only material and art supplies in our stash were used, with this exception:  I only bought a few paintable forms for A and I to use (and some styrofoam balls for an art doll witch).  And we actually used them (except for the styrofoam... by the time I was into the sewing mode it was costume time.  But, we are a few steps closer to having her done.)!  BTW, the total for all the new purchases was about $15 or less. See below:

Couldn't resist this paper mache witch hat- I'd _just_ been looking in Bethany Lowe's Folk Art Halloween book and the supply list included "paper mache witch hat".  I thought, "yeah, right.  Because all stores carry that sort of thing."  I guess in the Bethel Park, PA Michael's they do!!  Also couldn't resist the antique photo finish here. :)

A picked out all of these himself and chose when and what colors to paint them.  

I know this was a long post!  (Aren't you glad I didn't add the "how to make a ghost costume in about 3 hours" tutorial?) Hope it adds festiveness to your Halloween mood!!! 

A Witch Link

Thought I'd try using a "Not Martha" method and keep track of some favorite links here on the blog.  Funnily, it is a "Martha" link.  :)

This is for making a Witch/Wizard hat: http://www.marthastewart.com/268139/wizard-and-witch-costumes-witches-hats?czone=holiday/halloween-center/halloween-center-costumes

Angelo's costume is made and I hope to get some pictures/video at tomorrow's Halloween parade.  Right now it is pouring, so I'm crossing my fingers for at least a break for the parade.  His trick-or-treat bag is also made- if only everything I made were that simple and satisfying.  Pictures to follow.

The material for my costume is mostly ironed.  Apparently, I shouldn't run the space heater and iron at the same time in the attic.  DH has switched the breaker back on (I avoid the basement if at all possible due to a mold allergy... it's really pretty under control, but just in case), but I took it as a sign to get back downstairs and get things set up for the morning, including print flyers for the next Mixed Media Collage workshop I'm teaching at Sterling Yoga: Altered books.

So, those are printed and now I should get some sleep.  'Night!

Dia de Los Muertos

This is a collage I made for the Art Chix Day of the Dead challenge.  The skull I was able to draw here and there in my large spiral art journal pad.  The multiple purples on the canvas I painted many years ago and wasn't sure where to go next.  Figured it out, though.  Some orange splattered paint, mica ink spray, paper and "silk" flowers (also mica ink sprayed) and my cut-out skull were added.  The color was added with oil pencil on the skull.  An additional layer of mica ink spray was added to make the skull more cohesive with the rest of the piece.  

Please "Like" my picture on FaceBook and help me win! :)

3 Witches for the Price of 1

Maybe I'm obsessed.  Here are more witches for your Halloween count down.  Have I mentioned my digital camera bit it?  Yep, so all these and other recent photos have been taken with my iPhone.  You can click on the pics to get a better look.

Those of you in Pittsburgh come to the Mt. Lebanon Halloween parade on Saturday!! The family, some friends and I are going to be in it!  Just decided today, so gotta get on making a banner and such.  

In other seemingly unrelated news, Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts is a book that I really enjoyed.  She's really taken flight herself and it's very inspiring to this gal who's getting more into this art biz thing.  Her post, Telling the Truth, helped me remember that trying new things can make you feel a bit ungrounded, but that "ice water running through your body" feeling is really pretty normal.  She has a ton of posts, so enjoy them! :)

Cupie Witch

Hmm... let's see.  How was this little Cupie Witch made? A coat of paint on a paper box lid, scratched with  a needle tool, glued on some collage images and punched shapes, a coat of beeswax (added with a quilting iron, inspired by Suzi Blu's La La La class), and some copper Shiva paint stik rubbed into the scratches, the excess rubbed away.

It's getting clooooooooooserrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! 

How is your Halloween prep going? 

Things With Wings

This is for a Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge that I found _today_!!!  The challenge is Things With Wings.  So, bat and spiderweb wings it is!! You can click on the pictures to get a better look at what's going on in there.

I coated a cigar box with black gesso, added sewing patterns to the inside while it was wet, used punches for all the wings, inked to distress and added skulls/skeletons/creepy doll heads with armless bodies to them.  The background for the center rectangle is a phone book page inked with orange and purple ink, stamped with a pumpkin stamp and covered with fabric paint sprayed cheesecloth.  Tea dyed cheese cloth covers the outside and Spanish Moss is glued to the bottom.  Latte Aderondak alcohol ink dyed the skeletons. 

Can you find the third skeleton?

Colored Pencil Witch

This is a collage I did just because, and to practice what I've learned in Suzi Blu's La La La class.  The witch, moon and bat were drawn and colored with colored pencils by me.  Drew and cut the witch's dress, hat and wand from decorative paper and inked it up for a distressed look (Stickles on the wand).  Stamped pumpkins on the back side of some decorative paper and cut out for nicely shaped pumpkins. Inked up the background paper and used my tea dyed cheesecloth as an embellishment.   

Polymer Clay Image Transfer

Another entry for the ArtChix owl challenge.  Though I thought it may be complicated, the polymer clay image transfer was really simple.  Clean hands with hand sanitizer (gets everything off and prevents lint and hair from getting on the clay), roll out Sculpy clay to about 1/4" thick, gently burnish your toner based image (from a laser printer or toner copier) onto the clay, use an X-acto knife to cut the excess clay away (if desired; also if desired, trim your image), bake according to directions on a baking sheet covered in aluminum foil, remove paper when baked.  Easy!  I even used the paper image in another project because not a lot of the toner transferred.  I didn't try it because I didn't want to over-bake the clay, but my Image Transfer Workshop book said that if the image didn't transfer, you can re-burnish and bake longer.  However, the picture in the book also had a pretty clear paper image and a not-so-crisp transfer.  That's kind of the thing about transfers, though.  They aren't supposed to be super crisp, but will have a somewhat ghostly look.

The stars on this project are made of paper clay and Angelo gave me some help making those with a little star cutter.  The background papers are ArtChix's Halloween backgrounds.

I'm getting so excited about the upcoming Haunted Collage workshop!! I'll have some more Halloween art up here soon.  Thanks for looking!! 

Hand Drawn Owls and Moon

copyright Narah Kimberly Minardi 2011. All Rights Reserved.

 This is a piece I did for Art Chix latest challenge- owls.  I hand drew the owls and moon on heavy drawing paper, colored them with chalks and colored pencils, cut them out and adhered with matte medium.  The background and houses are corrugated cardboard.  The papers on the houses are antique spelling primer pages, vintage letter and envelope and old graph paper.  The paints I mixed with soft gel medium for a glaze.  The circles were made with a marker lid.

Hope you enjoy!  More to come at the Haunted collage workshop! :)

Haunted Collage Workshop October 23rd at Sterling Yoga!

October 23 3:30-6:00pm -Haunted Collage!

Fall brings an abundance of creative energy as we respond to our DNA’s call to prepare for winter.  Humans are born to create and happy hands make a happy heart.

As we approach the night the dead can walk the earth, there is excitement in the air!  We face our fears of the other side, celebrate, and embrace the Celtic New Year (Samhain) with collage!  Join us as we use materials destine for the recycling bin to make Halloween art sure to become a favorite piece!  Simple methods and readily available materials ensure this workshop will be a Treat! 

No drawing, painting or any other art experience required!  Art veterans will enjoy exploring Narah’s approach to collage as well!  

$35 includes a collage sheet and supplies to use at the workshop!

Save the dates for more collage fun- November 13th? 

                                                     December 2^nd 7-9:30pm

                                                      January 21st time TBA