Creative Paperclay and my Ghoul

  
I’m rather pleased with the way my project for today turned out. I totally thought “outside the box” on this one. lol I started out with my Creative Paperclay and a cannonball gourd. Yep, that’s the name of this particular gourd. First I covered the whole gourd with paperclay and let that dry overnight. I then made and attached all of the ghoulish paperclay features and let them dry also. I don’t think I had this much fun with clay since I was in grade school!

        
                                
The eyes are actually brads, which I just bent the posts down and pushed them right into the clay. I next attached the head to a spindle (remember me mentioning that I bought a whole box full of them quite awhile back?) and a purchased wood base. I also inserted a dowel rod through the spindle.
                                     
It’s really hard to show in a picture what the features really looked like ‘cause the clay is white. After attaching these parts together I decided to add ears and an eyeball in the back of the head. Once this was done and dried, I went to work with the paint and embellishments!!! Woo Hoo what fun!! I painted all the details spray sealed him and gave him a collar made out of “Recollections” 12X12 Cardstock. I cut strips of the cardstock, sewed them with needle and thread and glued them to the spindle. Looking good isn’t he?
                                   
Well……. he does look pretty good but you know me, I just had to add a little more. So I put another collar under the first one made out of tulle. I made it the same way as the first. Then I used some “Recollections” border and cut the skull border and hung it from the dowel rod and cut out the labels individually and glued them around the bottom of the spindle. Here are pictures of the finished ghoul:
                                                                                                        
I really had a lot of fun making this ghoulish guy! I guess he does look kind of scary ‘cause when the dog saw him he growled and then barked at him. LOL Why don’t you buy some Creative Paperclay and make yourself some Halloween fun! You can use any type of ball to cover with the paperclay. A styrofoam ball works great too.


Barbara

What a great class in Marshfield, MO!

 

Last Friday and Saturday I had the great pleasure of teaching a gourd art class to twenty people total at the Hampton’s Greenhouse and Nursery. It was also the opening of the Hampton’s Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze! If you live in the vicinity of Marshfield, MO, you really need to get on over there and have yourself a great time!  The majority of the class was made up of Master Gardeners from Marshfield and I also had two very special young people (aged 8 and 5), we also had one lady from Portland, OR. Here are a few pictures of the wonderful students and the marvelous Gourd Art they created.

           

Great wood burning and isn’t this farmer just too cute? He even ended up with wire rimmed glasses and a straw hat.

          

Here we have a wonderfully wood burned and waxed deer and a jolly happy Santa who was also waxed. Next pic is a birdhouse being created and an apple gourd.

            

These two guys made a cut out gourd with fall leaves and a wood burned box.

       

Does this first gourd remind you of Rapunzel and Tangled? Giving a little spray on the beginning of a snowman and the young man in the last picture is applying dye to a warty gourd to make a bowl.

         

How do you like this beautiful peacock? Wonderful job! New wax technique.

      

Cleaning out the inside of a gourd which will becoming a Halloween mask.  Some wood burning on what is to become a goose!

      

Working on some very cute penguins and helping Michael clean out a gourd with a ball and a drill!

See what I mean? You can be so creative in so many different ways with gourds! I had a very happy feeling after we headed home, because I felt that everyone was happy with what they had ultimately created. It was so easy doing this class because we got to use one of the Hampton’s greenhouses to spread out and create in. Saturday it rained and poured but there were still  people who came out to the pumpkin patch and corn maze. Wow. I hope you enjoyed looking at these pictures. Wish you had been a the class cause you missed a fun  and creative time!

 

Barbara

Fork and Talk in Little Rock, AR

Hello everyone!! Have I got something to tell you!! I have just been dying to talk about this for awhile now
. I attended the most amazing event ever!! Who would have thought it? Anyway, last month "Craft Gossip" put out a call for Little Rock, AR bloggers or those who could drive to Little Rock for a Fork and Talk event which was going to be sponsored by EK Success Brands. Well let me tell you, IT WAS AWESOME! I submitted an application and received an invitation from the Design Team from Little Rock.
We all met up at Trio's Restaurant in Little Rock:

It was a perfect day with lots of sunshine!

 

Once all of the introductions were finished, the Fun began! We started with lunch:

We had a wonderful selection of dishes to try on our menu. I was very impressed with my selection which was Quiche Lorraine and salad. Ummm, yummy.
There were 20 crafty bloggers who met at the “Fork and Talk”. I met a lot of women, who I'm hoping will become great friends. The creativity in the room was electrifying! All of the people at the luncheon had some sort of craft/art that they participated in everyday.

Can you guess how many buttons and bobs are in this jar? We played a few games of which this was one and I guessed the closest. Woo Hoo! I got to keep the jar with the stuff inside.
Working as a group, each group decorated a Dollar Store hat with stuff that was provided to us. The group I was in picked a Mardi Gras theme and our hat won! Another gift!

This is a picture of our winning hat and also our model, Scarlett. She is also the quilting guru for Craft Gossip, She is a very talented and friendly lady and I'm very glad that I was able to make her acquaintance. The four Craft Gossip Editors who planned, executed and attended this wonderful event were, Anne Weaver (Sewing Editor), Denise Felton (Needlework Editor), Stacie Hooder (Jewelry Making Editor), and Scarlett Burroughs (Quilting Editor). There were bloggers from all over and since I had traveled one of the longest distances I received……. you guessed it, another gift!
Here are some photos from  this magnificent event:

When everything wound down and the wonderful day was about over, we received all of these FANTASTIC THINGS TO TAKE HOME WITH US! THANK YOU EK SUCCESS BRANDS!!

There were really too many things here for me to even list! Now do you know what I mean by an awesome get together? EK Success was soooo generous toward us all. Oh and would you believe there was one thing I didn’t get? LOL Yep EK Success carries a Gourd Edger Punch, which when I saw it I had to have. Can’t wait until it comes in the mail! We did receive three of their border punches and one is a Spider Punch, EEEEEK! It will come in handy for Halloween though.

Here's a list of the wonderful bloggers who were at the Fork and Talk this past Saturday. Please take a little time to check out their blogs and see what they do:

1. Bella Kates | Jennifer

2. Hello Ladies | Mandy

3. Bottle Tree | Angela- Little Rock, AR

4. Candice Windham Designs | Candice Windham

5. Hog Wild About Stamping | Holly

6. Idyll Hands | Erin

7. Junque Rethunque | Laurie

8. Karma per diem | Lisa

9. Leslie's Art and Sew | Leslie

10. Mel's Designs | Melony

11. Mo(o)re Gourd Whimsies | Barbara

12. Moxie Mae | Angela- Fort Smith, AR

13. Moxie Mae | Geri

14. Nook and Crannies Crafts | Andi

15. Personalized by Paige | Paige

16. Roses and Robins | Debbie

17. Roses and Robins | Kimberly

18. Ramona's handwork | Ramona

19. UnRuffled | Suzanne

20. Pork Chop Tuesday | Peggy

I really had a wonderful time and I'm in hopes that I get invited back to the next Fork and Talk!

Barbara

Do you remember when......

Do you remember the beautiful hand held mirrors that maybe your mother or grandmother had on her vanity? They were usually accompanied by a brush and comb which matched it. I thought they were just beautiful and glamorous. Well a couple of weeks ago a very dear friend of mine, who knows all about my work with Creative Paperclay, suggested that I use Creative Paperclay to turn a plain Dollar Store mirror into something pretty like we remembered them to be. Well, here's my take on it. Not what I remember them to be exactly but, beautiful anyway. To begin you start with .......

A Dollar Store Mirror and Creative Paperclay

I then took the paperclay and added some paint and glitter paint to it.





I mixed up the paperclay and paint, rolled it out with a fondant roller. I spread white glue onto the mirror and covered the mirror with the paperclay and then stamped some flowers into the clay. ( the paint and glitter paint were really unnecessary in the clay itself).

Didn't the stamps make some pretty flowers in the clay? Once I had the stamps in the clay I painted the mirror both front and back and then I applied glitter paint over the paint to both the front and back. I then painted in the flowers.

It's really looking better at this point isn't it? I then painted in the branches with the flowers. Once all the paint had dried I Mod Podged some lace on the back of the mirror. I had a picture of a victorian woman which I cut out and sealed with an acrylic sealer and then Mod Podged on top of the lace. My printer uses inkjet ink which has to be sealed with an acrylic sealer or the Mod Podge will smear the ink. Once all that was dry I glued four little roses to the picture and voila', a very special mirror!

I wish the final picture had turned out a little clearer but I think you get the idea. The mirror turned out just beautiful and now I think I'll use it as a gift for a special occasion. What do you think?

Barbara















A Unique Piece

I just had to take the time to do a post about this unique piece of Gourd Art that I've done. I'm not wanting to brag in any way but I am very proud of it. I entered this piece and four other pieces of Gourd Art in the County Fair. I received five Premium Blue Ribbons on the pieces (Premium Blue Ribbons come with monetary prizes) and also placed Best in Show with another ribbon on this particular piece. All I've taken pictures of so far is this Best in Show piece but I'll take pictures of the other four and post about them at another time.

I really enjoyed entering this piece and the four others in the Fair. All five pieces will be going to the District Fair on the 18th of September. Please wish me luck! If things go well for me there, I'll be taking my pieces to the State Fair for judging. Woot! I'm so excited about all this and I wonder all the time as to whether or not my work is good enough for competition. Let me know what you think.

Barbara