Eight more days till Halloween

I just love to make Halloween Clay Babies. They are cute and colorful. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday and if I ever get married again,,(I doubt,,) I would like to have a Halloween Themed wedding. But, until that happens, I'll enjoy the holiday just as it is.


Here is a Halloween set I made for a customer. She bought a tree and wanted to decorate it with my little clay babies. She just got the set last week and she's already ordered a Thanksgiving set which I'm shipping out tomorrow.


The picture below is a scene I made for a contest at Polyform Products. I think you can win metallic powders or something like that. I've already sold this at a show. The customer squealed when she saw it!

I am on a kick making monkeys. These Halloween monkeys are too cute! Now I've started to make Christmas monkeys. There is something so adorable about monkeys,,whether it's clip art, or clay or cartoons.

Although I enjoy making Halloween clay babies, it's time to move on to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Those holidays will be here before you know it!


For a preview of some of my Christmas ornaments, here's a link to my etsy store where I'm slowly filling it with Christmas Clay Babies.

Watch for my tutorial for a Thanksgiving cornucopia next week!

Halloween at etsy

I thought it would be nice to showcase some of the Halloween treasuries at Etsy, where I have my shop. This blog can't always be about me! Since October is right around the corner, I thought I would share some Halloween and Autumn artwork. If you haven't been to Etsy before, it's a wonderful website where thousands of artists and craftsmen sell their hand made wares. Vintage and retro items are available there too.

To start off, I thought this Orange treasury was bright and fun! Who doesn't like orange?


This next treasury is called Purple Perfection and it's just that! I especially love the purple hair!
What's the glowing in the jar? I want one of those..



Haunted forests, spooky bottles and old crows are part of this next treasury, called Haunted House in the Forsaken Forest. I think I've found a kindred spirit!

Finally, here's a treasury full of mummies! It's called Show me the Mummy!

I do have to admit that one of my mummies is in this treasury, the tall standing one. It's always fun and an honor to be placed in a treasury, so I thought I would share this one.




If you enjoyed these Halloween Treasuries, let me know. Click on the links to see the actual treasury. You might even find something you can't live without!

Recent Work

Thought I share some pictures of what I've been up to this past week.



These are Christmas ornaments shaped as tags. Can be used as tags, but at $4.00 each, better for an ornament.



Cute scarecrow with a pumpkin, one of my favorite characters to make during the fall.


Frog cake toppers. These are ready to ship or I can do a custom design with different colors of flowers. I can do most animals, so if there is something you've been looking for, let me know.



These are Halloween Ornaments, made for a Halloween tree. Once again, in the shape of a tag. It is entirely made of clay, with a textured background. I love making these.

Tomorrow is the deadline for the contest to win the Halloween pig, so leave a comment and good luck!

Shadow boxes and Halloween Potions

A few weeks ago my friend, Mary Ann and I had a little art weekend. We each made a Halloween Shadow box. We found these two boxes at a resale shop.

My shadow box is to the left and Mary Ann's is to the right.

I saw the idea to make a Halloween shadow box in a magazine and loved the idea. So for the past few months the two of us have been gathering Halloween items from around our homes.

I made clay pumpkins and grave markers and Mary Ann found some skeletons and skulls at the dollar store. We began by painting the interior of our boxes and once they were dry, we began gluing our "spooky finds" to the shelves. Mary Ann's method of designing her shadow box was much more organized than mine. She sketched out her idea beforehand. I just jumped right in and started building the idea. In the end, I think we each designed some wonderfully scary shadow boxes.

I especially love the blue theme of her project.

This is my shadow box. It is not finished yet and I've added a few more details. This gives you a pretty good idea though. When it is complete, I will post pictures. I thought it might inspire you to make your own.

I also thought it would be fun to make labels for jars and bottles. Feel free to print out these labels below. Reduce them if you need them smaller. If you are having a party, you can cut these out and attach to beverage bottles. Glue them to your kid's snacks in their lunch box. There are lots of ideas and I plan on making more and posting them here.

Have fun!

Ebay

I have a few Halloween items on Ebay. I'll be adding more as this week goes by. If you like what you see but you don't have an ebay account, just email me and we will work something out!

My Ebay

I'm dreaming up a Halloween contest giveaway and will be posting it soon, so check back for details.

Polymer Clay Mummy Tutorial

I thought it would be fun to start a few Halloween Tutorials. Today I'll be showing you how to make a mummy!

I try to make these as easy as possible with lots of pictures, so enjoy.

Supplies....Premo Flesh and self stick band aid tape.

Toothpick

Two small black seed beads

The shapes are one ball, four tubes (arms and legs) and an oval for the body.

Attach and sit upright

Make a foot and 5 toes. Attach to end of leg.

Push seed beads into face for eyes. Form a nose with clay and press gently. Use a toothpick to make imprints in the face. Bake at 275 for 20 minutes. Let cool completely.

Now the fun begins. Tear off strips of tape and begin wrapping them around the body. I tore the strips down the middle to make them more narrow.

Cover most of the body, leaving the nose, eyes and toes exposed.

Dust with a brown pastel crayon. Then soften with a clean brush!

Here's the mummy sitting with some pumpkin friends!

If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

Sounds in the night

Something happened early this morning that couldn't have happened at a better time.

It was 3:00 a.m. and I was watching an old black and white horror film. It wasn't really very scary, but I love the ambiance in these old movies with the dark, shadowy woods, the fog that rolls over the country side and the sounds of the night creatures.

Just as I was about to turn the TV off, I heard the hooting of an owl. Although it came from behind me, I thought it was from the movie. I sat up and listened, first muting the TV. I waited a minute in the dark, straining my ears. Then I heard it, loud and clear, the strong hoot of an owl.

It sounded as if it were right outside my window. There are woods directly behind my house and not too long ago, I saw the large wing span of a bird that I hoped was an owl. I've scanned the tops of the trees and searched with binoculars the crevices and shadows where an owl might live, hoping to see one. But I never did.

I'm used to strange noises that drift through the night air and have heard frightened baby fox, screams of raccoons and possums, and even the the quivering cry of a screech owl, but I've never heard the eerie sound of a Hoot Owl (Barred Owl).

I opened my window and hooted back at the owl, but, wise as he was, he cautiously waited before he hooted again. Without my interference, he felt free to call out in the night. So I closed the window and laid in the dark and listened. At first the sound was unsettling, but after a few minutes it was as welcome and familiar as an old friend.

Every old black and white movie I've ever seen has an owl crying out in the darkness. A symbol of impending doom, the owl is seen as strange and frightening. It's the watcher of the night. But there in bed I rested, snug in my covers, listening to the owl as if it were singing me a sweet lullaby.

Whether it's an owl crying out in the night, a black cat running across your path, or a bat buzzing past your head, Halloween might just spook you with a little surprise. Watch those dark corners, beware those mysterious shadows and be careful of things that go bump in the night.

Have a great Halloween!

Halloween Clay Babies

As I promised, here are some of the halloween things I've been working on

I'm doing 5 shows this fall and that is just the motivation I needed to get cracking on making lots and lots of clay. The main motivation is paying my bills and keeping myself from being homeless.



This is a pin I made from scanning a vintage postcard and attaching it to clay. I've made several and when they are finished, I'll post pictures. I added some beads to some. I did these about 5 years ago, sold a few and stopped. Now I see that they might be kind of popular. I love vintage, so the process of finding images, and designing the pins is fun. For years I've been collecting kids books from the 50 and 60s and thought those images would look great on pins too.
Witch on three pumpkins...$10.00


Scarecrow with a crow and pumpkin...$8.00

I'm not doing too well on ebay right now. I only keep a few things on there just so people can see me, but for some reason, my stuff isn't selling like it used to. It's not keeping me up at night, but it is causing me to take a look at my creations. I wonder, what are people looking for?


I would love to hear suggestions on how I might do better on ebay. I've tried to keep my prices competitive. I've used a lot of key words in my listing. I'm even offering free shipping. Free!! (of course, I've raised my price, but since my clay is moderately priced to begin with, it's still not expensive)..
At this point, it's costing me more than what I'm making. That is not good business.I know the economy isn't doing too well right now, but I can see my competition selling, so that excuse doesn't work for me. Here's my link to my ebay if anyone would like to offer up some advice..
debbies-clay-babies

Devil's Night & Happy Halloween

I wish I could say that was really me in the above pic, but a girl can dream. (that's the inner me)..
It's Tuesday night, Devil's night and I'm waiting for my boyfriend Jeff to come over. I've got mexican chicken on the stove and scary music playing on my computer. There's a creepy movie on TV and I've lit candles, so I'm in a Halloween mood.

I'll be back here in a few days for some creative and reflective updates.

Stay out of mischief and Happy Halloween!