More Halloweeniness

Aren’t these wonderful?  They just arrived from my friend Pam, at GoldieLoo Woodworks!  She makes great Primitive looking signs and game boards.  Spooky Town just makes me giggle every time I look at it.  The Candy Corn blocks are so well aged and distressed, they look like they’ve been in the attic for decades.  Pam has lots of other Halloween goodness here,http://goldieloowoodworks.com/harvest.html in case you’d like to have your very own directions to Spooky Town.


New, fun, Jack O’Lantern tags, are now available in my Etsy Shop, Digital Antiques.  These come as a Digital Download, which means you can print them as many times as you like, and use them for all sorts of Halloween projects – cards, tags, treat bags, scrapbooking.  Lots of other Halloween designs are in the shop, too.
Have a wonderful weekend, from the Dog and me.

More Spookiness Ensues

In case you haven’t figured it out, I am nuts about Halloween.  It’s always been my favorite Holiday, far and above Christmas.  It’s the possibility of spooky and scary that gets me every time, especially with a bit of darkness and magic thrown in too.

So here are the latest Halloween designs from my digital graphics shop at Etsy.

The set contains 16 images on two 8.5” x 11” sheets, ready for you to download and print.  These images, with their ghostly backgrounds and favorite Halloween words in a very spooky font, are just right for party invitations, treat bags, decorations, cards, and anything your imagination suggests.  Click on the images above to go to Digital Antiques.  Browse the Halloween category while you’re there, lots of other scary goodness awaits.

Thanks, from the Dog and me. 

Images to Share

I spend a lot of hours searching for images to use in my graphics work.  It’s just part of what I do, and I’m always learning new ways and new places to look.  One of the side benefits is that I get to see some amazing things, and some fantastic artists.  Not all of what I find fits in with whatever my vision for my project might be, but they’re just too good to forget.

This amazing cat etching is the work of  Wenceslaus Hollar, born in Poland in 1607.  He lived in Germany, Netherlands, and England, and created 2700 etchings during his lifetime.  Click on the picture to enlarge, and save for your art.

 

Another charming illustration from an antique children’s book.  I love the dancing doll and the cat on the table!  Click on the picture to enlarge, and save for your art.

I want to talk about the paper you use to print your projects soon.  I’m doing some in depth research, and I’ll be back with my conclusions.  I’ll bet you can hardly wait!

Have a wonderful day from the Dog and me.

New Items for Sale Tonight on TDIPT Mercantile

I will have some new Halloween things for sale tonight on the Mercantile, including these Vintage looking hangers..  These were inspired by the great Halloween cutouts from the early1910’s and i920’s.  I wanted to get that feel, and a kind of Primitive grungy touch.  I was pleased with how they came out.

These little cuties will be there too.  Such great faces on both the boy and the dog!

This Witch and her Black Cat companion will be available tonight, too.

From a 1923 children’s magazine cover, she’ll be for sale as well.

The Dog and I invite you to drop in to TDIPT Mercantile tonight, about 9PM Eastern.  There’ll be lots of new work from the very talented TDIPT Artists for you to see.  Thanks for letting us tell you about it!

A Chance Not to be Missed

One of my friends, Susan  Pilotto, is an amazing artist.  Among other things, she makes the most wonderful wee creatures, tiny mice, rabbits, and birds that touch your heat. Her creations are highly sought after by many collectors.

For her own Sweet reasons, Susan will be giving away the wonderful mouse shown above.  Click on the photo to visit her blog, Mouse Droppings, and sign up for a chance at this little blue Mouse.  Good luck to you all, from the Dog and me.

An Old Pastime, and some new Images

 

I just recently finished this quilt.  It will have a place in our living room, across from those Barn doors.  I had gotten away from quilting for quite a few years, but recently went to a little trunk show of just the kind of Folk Art quilts I love, and I’m inspired again.  Although I can’t spend as much time quilting as I would like to, it makes a nice change from staring at the computer.  I love creating digital graphics, but it’s very satisfying to me to manipulate fabrics as well.  Having something you can touch at the end of the project is comforting to me, and gives me an excuse to collect fabrics and buttons, and all those endearing things.

I’ve also added another set of images to my Etsy shop, Digital Antiques.  This time, it’s a set of Vintage Birthday Images.

Drop by the shop, if you have a chance.  You might find something just right for you.

I hope you will have a terrific day.  The Dog and I will be trying to keep cool, which might be impossible unless the weather changes here. 

So What Did We Do With Those Barn Doors?

I showed you the barn doors we picked up at the Highway 127 Yard Sale, remember?

Here’s one of them still on the trailer in the field.  We’ve finally gotten past that”gotta have it” stage, and now we calmly discuss a piece, where it will go, if it will fit in any of the pitifully few spaces we have left,  and whether it’s a wise purchase.  Then we buy it anyway.  Mr. Big Brown Dog suggested that these might make a nice headboard for the guest room.  I really wanted them somewhere in the main part of the house, where we could enjoy them all the time.  So they ended up in the living room.  Here’s how they got there.

Here’s the first one, upside down on an old painter’s drop cloth.  The piece of wood at left is part of Mr. Big Brown Dog’s clever hanging system.  He cut two pieces of wood for each door.

One piece of wood is attached to the back of the door with drywall screws.

See how the wood is cut at an angle on one edge?   This is part of the magic.

Here is the second piece of wood, attached to the wall.  It’s been predrilled and we have been careful to locate the studs in the wall and screw into those for security.  This is an awful photo, but you can almost see the angled cut at the top of the board.  Then we lifted the door up and slid it down over this board, locking the angled edge of the board attached to it into the V groove made where this board is attached to the wall.  Magic!

Here are the two doors, complete with rusty hinges, mounted in the corner, next to each other.  Our mustard colored walls are looking greener than they are.

Another view.  I love the wooden latches!  Amazingly, there are no dogs in these photos.  Rest assured that they did supervise the entire project. 

Have a happy weekend, from the Dog and me.

New Free Tags and a Very Big Yard Sale

The Dog and I live in Tennessee, about a mile off of Highway 127.  Anyone who watches TV or reads magazines is probably aware by now that every August, a phenomenon occurs along that Highway known as “The World’s Longest Yard Sale”.  The sale extends from Hudson, Michigan to Gadsden, Alabama, 675 miles, which is a mind boggling amount of junk.  We usually make a one day outing,  and travel 80 to 100 miles along the Highway, and that’s what we did this year.  We’ve learned that going south from home seems to be the best pickin’s for us, but I know everyone has their own opinion.

 

Old, rusty farm implements are a big favorite.  None of these will fit on a John Deere, so now they’re Decorator items.  These first two photos are from an area about 10 miles north of Pikeville, Tennessee.  As you can see, groups of sellers set up together in many areas, and lots of them are dealers who have come from a long way away.  Lots of antiques and primitives, but here are also lots of folks with all their unwanted baby stuff, tires, clothing, auto parts, etc. set up in front of their homes.  And the typical swap meet folk with t shirts, socks, sunglasses, STP are out as well.  It’s a real mixture, something for everyone, I guess.

It’s impossible for me to show the magnitude of the sale.  Imagine driving for 80 miles with a yard sale every block or so.  I think you might have to see it to grasp it, it’s really overwhelming.

This table of treasures was just a bit north of Dunlap, Tennessee.

This is where we made our big score of the day.  See the barn door on this trailer?

It’s one of a pair, and they now live at my house!  You might also notice that the trailer is wet.  We had rain showers, thunderstorms, high winds, and blazing sun, all in one day.  Not unusual for summer in Tennessee, but it made it very hard on the sellers.

 

Here’s Mr. Big Brown Dog and the former owner of the barn doors, carrying one to our vehicle.  This man was from Kentucky, and sells “junk” year round at the Nashville Fairgrounds swap meet.

See those two brown lumps in the background?  Those are cattle grazing next to the Lookout Mountain Volunteer Fire Department yard, where about 100 sellers were set up.  A very large part of the Highway in Tennessee is very rural, and farm animals abound.  This was our last stop.  A huge rainstorm, with lightning and high winds came up, and we decided to head back north, driving through the storm for about 40 minute.  We saw lots of tents blown around, tipped over and destroyed, unfortunately.  It was a tough day to be a seller.  We had a fun day, in spite of the weather.

New Free Tags!

It’s time for some new free tags, from DigitalAntiques this time something more toward Fall – Squirrels.   Click on the tab in the sidebar to the right to download your copy, ready to print and use.  The Dog and I hope you enjoy them.

Making an Accordion Fold Display

Whenever I design a new set of images for Digital Antiques on Etsy, I try to make them as versatile as I can, so the same design can be used for tags, cards, altered art,  etc.   The new Witch's Daybook images are such a lot of fun,  I wanted to have a way to display them on a shelf or in a cupboard.  So after some thought, I came up with the accordion folded display below. 

I also try to use materials that are easy to get and inexpensive if at all possible, so here's what you'll need to make your own display:

Prints of the images you want to use,  lightweight cardboard like cereal or cracker boxes,  black cardstock, glue stick, and scissors.   Pretend the paper punch isn't there - OK?

Cut out your images.  Measure the finished size of the image and then cut out a cardboard piece that measures approximately an inch larger on each side.  Use your cardboard piece as a template, and cut two pieces of black cardstock the same size as the cardboard.  Set one piece aside, and use your gluestick to glue cardstock to one side of the cardboard.

  If you'd like to ink the edges of your image, using a sponge and a stamp pad, do that before you glue your image into place.  Center the image on the black cardstock and glue in place with the gluestick.  Repeat the above steps for each image you want to include in your display.  Set aside to dry.

Using scraps of cardstock, cut out some pieces approx. 3" x 4", or a size that's appropriate for your image.  These will be the hinges for your accordion.  Fold in half lengthwise and crease, using  a bone folder, or butter knife, or whatever you have.

Apply the hinge to the back side of your cardboard mounted images.  Leave about a 1/16"  gap between the two pieces so there will be room for the fold, and glue in place.  If you like to use a tape runner or double sided tape, it works well here, but gluestick works well too.  If you will be joining more than two images, continue hinging pieces together until everything is connected.

Glue a 2nd piece of cardstock to the back of each mounted image, over the top of the hinge.  Set aside and let dry.  Trim the edges if  necessary, and ink the outer edges if you wish.

Here is a view of the back of two joined pieces, where I used black cardstock on one side and scrapbook paper on another.  You have a ton of choices for your background paper, of course, and don't forget old book pages, wrapping paper, magazine pages, and on and on.

I kept the end result pretty simple, but you could find lots of ways to embellish if you wish.  And, of course, you can do this kind of thing with any image you wish, and vary the paper you use for the background according to your taste.

Up next, some new free tags for Fall.


Try to stay cool if you can,  from the Dog and me.

New Halloween Fun!

Farm chores have kept us busier than usual lately, with crops and preserving.  We’ll love having this harvest during the Winter, but it does take time and effort, even with all the modern conveniences we have.  I hate to think of the serious canning that was done in days gone by, in the  hottest part of the Summer. Those women were a tough bunch! 

I have spent some time working on new designs for Digital Antiques, including this new set of Halloween images.  Halloween is my absolute favorite Holiday, so this was a lot of fun to design.

It’s called the Witch’s Daybook, and includes all the information a well equipped Witch might need, from the School for Witches, to a new broom.  Available in my Etsy shop, you can use it to make Decorations, Make a fun Halloween themed Journal, for Note Cards, altered art and collage or scrapbooking.  I’ve included a form for making Party invitations,  and some blank pages for whatever you wish. 

I made an accordion style folder that stands up on a shelf or table, using the pages from the Witch’s Daybook.  I’ll show you how I did it tomorrow, in a simple tutorial.

Have a happy day, from the Dog and me.