Feeling Mousy

I saw these adorable images of a mouse on The Graphics Fairy. Maybe you don't think mice are adorable but I do as long as they aren't real. I especially like them when they are dressed up in cute outfits.

I loved these images so much I did two projects with them. First I printed them onto fabric and made a little pillow out of it.

Then I printed just the mouse and made a magnet out of him. I searched for an image of cheese on The Graphics Fairy and sure enough, she had one. I also put the cheese on a magnet too and put them on the bottom of the refrigerator.

Tee hee! I hope he doesn't scare anyone too badly!

I'm linking this to Brag Monday on The Graphics Fairy. I'd be lost without her!

Mini Quilt

I finally did a sewing project! I enjoyed making this mini-quilt project from the Romantic Gothic Ghosts workshop.

This was fun because I didn't have to buy a thing. I used scraps of fabric and lace that I had and I dug through the old button box and found some really pretty old things to add.

I made the rosettes out of seam binding. I've been watching everyone else make these for too long and I've been dying to try it.

I did some embroidery around the edges of the picture. Oh, the picture was another first. I had never printed a picture onto fabric. Worked like a charm!

I even hand quilted some of the photograph.

Finally, I attached an old necklace to the top to be a hanger. I had retired this necklace a long time ago and put it in my craft box. I may retire it from this quilt shortly and put it back in the jewelry box.

I may have to do another mini-quilt because I really enjoyed this. Actually I need to get back to my bigger quilt that I haven't worked on in months. I packed it all up when I moved and haven't had a chance to work on it since I got here. That's the excuse I'm going with anyway.

I signed up for Mary Green's "My Christmas Gluebook" Class. I'm really looking forward to that!

Triptych

A triptych is painting or carving with three panels hinged together. I made this project from the Romantic Gothic Ghosts workshop.  It was fun to work on and I got to use my Crop-a-dile Big Bite to put the grommets in. I bought that with a 50% off coupon from Michaels a couple months ago but hadn't opened it until this past week. New tools are fun, aren't they?  I tried to find tiny binder rings to hook them together but wasn't successful so I used some old seam tape.

On this third panel I used a technique taught in the workshop that uses wax paper over the photo. It gives the photo a neat texture and look.

Hopefully I will be doing a sewing project next. I have a million ideas for things to work on but there just aren't enough hours in the day. I'm sure that's true for everyone.

Have fun and stay creative!!

Romantic Gothic Ghosts

Last year at this time Karla Nathan and Beth Leintz had a class called Romantic Gothic Ghosts. They had some really cute projects and it really got me into celebrating Halloween in a different way. The projects are more romantic, hence the name, than they are about the usual orange, black and purple decorations. It was more for the girly adult. I started it late so I only completed one project and nearly completed a second project. This is the first one I completed.

I just set the collage inside of an old frame so I could put her up on a wall.

The second project I just completed this year and it is a banner made from several collages.

I think this is the prettiest one.

Last year when I was working on these it inspired me to do a bulletin board with the students I had at the time. Gosh, I miss those guys!

Sorry if it's fuzzy but it is a scan of a photograph. I used some of Beth and Karla's ideas and images to put each kid into a Halloween picture. It was really fun to do and the kids loved it. I put myself in one too.

I wasn't blogging at this time last year so maybe you already took this class and made these projects.

If not, you should check it out. They have loads of beautiful images and awesome projects. I hope to get a few more done in the next week or two.

Here is the link again for Romantic Gothic Ghosts. They also did a Christmas workshop and those are the photos that show up first so don't think you are in the wrong place. Scroll down to see the other projects in this workshop. Sign up for some Gothic Ghostly Girly Goodness. Sorry, I just wanted to use all Gs. 

October Collage Challenge

If you haven't noticed, I love doing these collage challenges that Mary Green does at the beginning of every month. It's fun to see what I can come up with and even more fun to see what everyone else creates. The challenge is to use at least a part of each of the images Mary supplies.

I made her jewelry out of the borders of the one piece and used the spool of thread from the other. I made her a sewing needle and added some real thread too.

Check here to see the original images and the collages created by everyone else. If you have never participated, why don't you give it a try?

Thanks, Mary, for another fun challenge!

Halloween is Coming!

I made a quick project this week in preparation for Halloween. I saw these really pretty decoupaged pumpkins on the October Country Living Magazine and I wanted to try one. They used large fake pumpkins which are $10-$20. I'm on a tight budget right now so decided to buy a small $1.47 paper mache pumpkin.

Then I tore up book pages and glued them on.

      Actually, that part wasn't quick! This is also where I realized I was covering paper mache with paper mache. 

                             Then I added these cute bat ladies from The Graphics Fairy.

I added some other stickers and stamps and tied a bow on top and that's it. Oh, I also outlined the ladies with a glittery gelly roll pen and painted the stem black.

Looking forward to making something else for Halloween. Now I need to hurry and get downstairs where there is a fire burning. It's getting cold!! Have a great weekend!!!

I'm linking this to Brag Monday at The Graphics Fairy! Check out what everyone else has made with the beautiful images available on her site!