Glittery Monster Horns, Sad things in the Nichols home

For those of you lovelies that are also likers of my page on Facebook, you maybe have already seen this picture of my poor little dog Tink, being a good sport and modeling my monster horns.

 I made these for Halloween this year, but I'm only now getting around to posting them. I made a headband with horns and ears, along with a tail that I pinned to my shirt.

 I formed the basic shape of the horns out of aluminum foil, so they would be nice and light weight and I wouldn't use too much clay, which is relatively expensive, compared to foil.

 Remembering to thread some wire through the foil at the bases of the horns was crucial, otherwise, I have no idea how else I would have attached them to the headband... Maybe it could have been done with a serious amount of glue, but the wire really made it much easier.

 Next, I wrapped the horns with thin strips of fabric attached with hot glue. I thought it would help to smooth out all the crinkliness of the foil, but honestly, I think I would skip this step next time. The clay didn't stick to the fabric as well as I had expected, so it was kind of a pain.

 After that, I smoothed air-dry paperclay onto the outside and let it dry. This picture is before drying. After this step, I sanded the horns down to smooth them out some more, then painted colorful stripes on with craft acrylics. Once those were dry, I used Aleene's tacky glue to do each color of glitter, one at a time, letting them dry in between each glittering, so the glitter colors stayed separate.

 Here's my make-up for Halloween night. I didn't dress up really, except for my tail. I just didn't have time to figure out the rest of the costume. When people asked what I was, I either said cow or monster... But mostly I had people guess. My favorite guess from that night was Pinata.

Anyway, I have not been blogging, because of crazy stuff. I mentioned that Bobby and I were doing assisted fertility treatments because we've been trying to have a baby for several years, with no luck. We did an IUI, and were so happy when we found out it worked, and I was pregnant for the first time ever.

On Wednesday night of this week, I started having abdominal pain, but I went to sleep, hoping it would go away. I woke up early Thursday morning with the same pain, getting worse, and Bobby drove me to my doctor in Dothan, about 45 minutes away. By the time the doctor saw me, the pain was the worst thing I have ever felt in my entire life. I had to have emergency surgery. The pregnancy was ectopic, causing heavy bleeding in my abdominal cavity and the doctor had to remove my right fallopian tube along with the baby. Needless to say, the last few days have been tough. I'm trying to stay busy, putting up Christmas decorations and keeping up with my Etsy shop and stuff. I should probably rest more, but I don't feel like it. I feel fortunate for all the good things in my life, and I'm glad to be alive. God has a plan for Bobby and me, we know it. Anyway, thank you, my friends, for all your love. I'll have more crafts to share with you soon.

Freaky Black Cat Halloween Hanging Plaque

It's still creeping up on all of us... Halloween! Here's a crazy-looking black cat plaque I made for a Halloween swap on Craftster. My partner got it, so now I can share without spoiling any surprises.

The theme for the swap was "Vintage/Retro Halloween." I'm not sure how vintage-looking this turned out, but it was vintage inspired.

 Here's a pic of the cat before painting. I used polyclay and modeled it after an old 1930s (I think?) embossed die-cut Halloween decoration. The proportions aren't exact, so it looks a little different, but I was happy with how it turned out.

Here's the cat after baking and painting, before distressing. I just used acrylics.

 I roughed it up after painting with some sandpaper and brownish-gray pigment ink.

 Hiiiiisssss! Happy Halloween! :)

Ruby Slippers Bookmarks GALORE

 I have been hard at work making Wicked Witch/Ruby Slippers bookmarks to stock my shop for this very witchy and spooky month of Halloween :) There are 20 new ones for sale in my Wicked Awesome Series, including a few with green shimmery striped legs...Very Elphaba! Please check them out, or share with a friend.

I also have had plenty of people ask me if I make Dorothy, too, so I thought, "Why not?" and went ahead and made some Dorothy Bookmarks. The bookmark body features an original illustration, which I made by drawing, watercoloring, acrylic painting, then combining the various elements digitally, including the blue gingham dress :) I was pretty happy with my Dorothy! Anyhoo, I hope everybody has been having a good week so far.

More Wicked Awesome Series Witch Bookmarks & Baby Snakes

 Nope, I haven't stopped making wicked witch bookmarks :) And lucky for me, you haven't stopped buying them. So I thought I'd share some of the new fun bookmarks I've made for the "Wicked Awesome" series of these bookmarks. They're available for purchase in my Etsy Shop!

 There's a new Wizard of Oz movie coming out in January 2013 that I'm pretty excited about.

 I think the blue one in the middle is my favorite out of this batch. She's got just a hint of a smirk...

 And speaking of wicked things, there's been some heavy, heavy rain here in south Alabama the past week or so and it seems like all sorts of creatures are being, quite literally, flushed from their various hidey holes. My house has been reptile city. This GORGEOUS teeny tiny baby milk snake was in my garage when I got home from a Zumbathon Friday night. I had to scoop him up and take pics in my light box, since he was too much of a wee precious jewel to go un-photographed.

The next morning, there was this baby black racer snake on my front porch, and he was super feisty. He kept lunging and striking at my camera, the tiny thing. He was thinner than a regular sharpie marker and maybe 10 inches long, to give you an idea of size. Harmless, but cheeky. AND a green anole lizard also somehow got into my kitchen that day. Reptiles!

And last Tuesday after a REALLY heavy rain, Bobby saw a huge, sad-looking beaver crossing the road. I'm hoping that ALL the rain cries itself out over the next couple of days, because it's our anniversary this weekend and we have plans to head to the beach! Anyhoo, I hope everyone is having an adventurous week so far :) Happy Tuesday!

Toco Toucan Altered Altoids Tin

This month's challenge over at the Unique Crafters Challenge Blog is GLITTER AND SHINE! 

I made this altered Altoids tin lid with all sorts of sparkly, shiny fun stuff. The clouds in the background are cut out of American Crafts glitter paper, which is unlike any other glitter paper I've used. It's so smooth and totally not the normal glitter texture. Nothing falls off of it, and I think I'd describe it as more glowy and reflective. Seriously, it's awesome. I have to find some more of it.

I also slapped on a border of beads, along with glitter glue on the inside rim and some rhinestones.

Here's a shot of the polyclay toucan I sculpted before the acrylic paint job. 

"My favorite color is shiny." 

The bottom has a dangling pendant with lovely, sparkly glass stones :) I couldn't resist adding just another glitter and shine element.

So, if you've got the hankerin' to create something shiny this month, don't hesitate to enter it in the Unique Crafters Challenge! You can win some radical supplies. 

Happy August 1, folks!

Retro Camper Altered Altoids Tin Lid

Hello, friends! I'm in Texas right now visiting with my sister. I probably won't do much serious crafting while I'm here, but luckily I have a backlog of projects to share for the next couple of weeks. I made this altered Altoids tin lid for onegroovyday for the Craftster IYP swap. She loves retro campers...

Check out the glitter and beads along the edges... I love glitter glue because it covers the edges of the paper lining the back of the lid. Looks more finished that way.

Here's the back, there's some chain so the tin can be hung on the wall.

I made the little camper from white polyclay and then painted it with acrylics. The little lines I did with a micron pen. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Aaaaaand the decorative topper piece is made out of matches. I put some clear nail polish on the tips, hoping it might make them less flammable... Does that make it less flammable, or more? Oh well. Just keep it away from open flame :) I have tons of loose matches about from making altered matchboxes, so I've gotta use em someplace. They look nice, right?

Anyhoo, I hope everyone is having a splendid week so far. I am. I went to Sea World yesterday evening with my sister and it was great. We're going to go about 3000 more times before I leave... I want to feed a dolphin.

Toucan Sculpture: He's wearing a hat!

 Here's what I've been working on this week! While I was on vacation, I saw an awesome toucan sculpture made from different stones in one of the gem galleries. It was an instant WANT, but I thought, hey, why don't I make my own? It won't be made of rock, but it will be cute! So I started on this toco toucan guy on Monday.

 I had a little bit of air-dry clay in my stash, but I didn't want to use up ALL of it, not to mention wait days for such a huge hunk of clay to dry, so I first made the form of the toucan out of aluminum foil. The beak and body were made in two separate pieces, so the beak is attached and supported by two toothpicks jabbed in  and glued at the base. I stabbed in and glued the legs, which were just made from pretty sturdy .032 safety wire.

 Then I just had to cover the outside as smoothly as I could with the air-dry clay. I wanted a reasonably thick layer, because I was planning on sanding it smoother once it dried. And I did. The clay sands really nicely when dry, actually! The clay I used is Premier Lightweight Stone Clay .

 Then all I had to do was paint the toco toucan goodness on with artist acrylics. I used those because they dry a little shinier than craft acrylics, and I wanted the sheen. Oh, and I also added the tail which is just a tail shape cut from thick canvas I had painted/stiffened with the same acrylics I used on the body.

 "Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark." I needed a quote about faith, things hoped for, but not seen... Dreaming about and working towards having a toucan someday is going to take a lot of faith! Not to mention everything else...

The mini-hat is from Hobby Lobby and embellished with a fancy pheasant feather and lots of novelty yarn! 

And I also decorated the base with a bunch of inchies made from a cut out book page and toucan doodles. I can't wait to show it to Bobby when he gets home! He's been watching this little sculpture progress over the past couple days... Anyhoo, happy Wednesday, friends! Until next time.