Blogaversary at Trash to Treasure Art!

Lynn at Trash to Treasure Art is celebrating her blogaversary with some FAB prizes, folks! So run over and be sure to tell you Autumn sent you!!! Thanks Lynn for your ever inspiring flow of art!
Click HERE!
[photo credit: Lynn Stephens]

Smokey Mt. Retreat

Silly me left my Gypsy Lore book at the cabin, so I have no pics of that to share with you yet. But I couldn't resist sharing these with you any longer. It's the most wonderful time of year in the Carolinas... Claudia and I rode for almost two hours to Maggie Valley and then drove straight up the side of a mountain to finally reach this 2.9 million dollar cabin filled with the most wonderful group of friends and artists.


We enjoyed the most magnificent meals, including this Italian Wedding Soup! Drooool...

We were literally on top of the mountain, overlooking the world! It was a wonderful experience and I am so thrilled to have been a part.

El Día de los Muertos

Today is El Día de los Muertos, a day of celebrating the loved ones in our lives who have passed on. With all of the Halloween festivities going on I have thought about my dear friend, Andrea Marrs, who passed away recently. You have probably seen Andrea's work grace many a stamping magazine. She was so talented and truly a remarkable person. Halloween was her favorite day of the year and I always sent her Halloween goodies since I didn't celebrate that much, but after collecting for her I realized how much I admired the holiday myself, thus a new passion for me was sprung! I always wish I could share this with her still and think of her with each new treat. Today I celebrate your life, Ms. Andrea, and your passion in life. To you...
With love,
Autumn

13 Days of Halloween - Day 13

Happy Halloween Bloggers!!! It has been so fun partying with you these 13 Days of Halloween! Today marks my final Halloween project for Halloween 2009, one that you may not get a chance to create yourself for Halloween, but one that you will use for many other holidays and celebrations - a pennant banner. I came up with this idea to craft six pennants from two sheets of 12x12” paper, one patterned and one solid cardstock. Your finished pieces will measure 4x6”.

Begin by cutting your solid cardstock into six 4x6” pieces. Measure one end of the 4” side at the 2” spot and mark with a pencil dot. Cut these sides of diagonally from pencil dot to opposing corner for each of your six pieces.

Next, cut your patterned paper into six pieces measuring 3 ¾ x 5 ¾”. Mark one end of the 3 ¾” side at the 1 7/8” spot and mark with a pencil dot. Cut these sides of diagonally from pencil dot to opposing corner for each of your six pieces. All that’s left to do is attach your panels, alter them, and string ribbons through to hang!

Click HERE to view my Valentine banners. I made this one from the black and white photo booth pics at the mall.

And this one was an inspiration swap for a friend.

I hope you all have a wonderful night celebrating. Happy, happy Halloween and thank you for visiting Autumn’s Antics! Don't forget to send me your address if you're a follower to get a TREAT!

My munchkins at Trunk or Treat. :)

13 Days of Halloween - Day 12

Wow! We’ve made it to day 12! One more day until Halloween! I hope you are as excited as I am. Today I am headed to the Smokey Mountains for a one day art extravaganza with Jeri Aaron of An Artful Gathering. We will be working on a Gypsy book and I cannot wait! I also have to prepare the goodies for my followers, as promised. Please e-mail me at clarkjanda at att dot net with your address by next Monday and I will send you some blog candy! What a TREAT!

When CuttleBugs first came out I thought of a new recycling art project. I saved pie tins from bakery treats and cut them to size then ran them through the embossing dies. They turned out beautifully! You may have seen some of the pieces in my Hero Arts cards on my Flickr page. I attach these with red line tape.

My friend, Claudia, came up with another neat way to die aluminum. She runs pieces of regular aluminum foil through her Xyron and then attaches them to cardstock and then runs that through the CuttleBug to emboss.

I have sponged and DTP’ed my pieces with permanent ink. Claudia has applied bottled alcohol ink to her pieces and it works beautifully. Here are a couple of examples I created using the spider web die. Have a howling good day today, I know I will be! See you tomorrow!

13 Days of Halloween - Day 11

Today’s project is one that you’ve been given peeks into through my Etsy shop, my Halloween domino necklaces. Today I wanted to show you the entire collection. I altered these old painted wooden dominoes by attaching German text and images to them with PVA adhesive. I glued down each layer and applied more glue over the top of the finished piece. I dipped the dominoes top edges in black glitter while the glue was wet to add a bit of sparkle. The glue sort of sprinkled into the main images and created a really neat dusty effect, perfect for Halloween!

I drilled holes in the dominoes with a tiny drill bit and began creating the links for my necklaces. Each piece is different, but I used a variety of beads and charms along with gunmetal chain and black oxidized steel wire (available at Ace Hardware) in various gauges. It created distressed looking wire wrapping similar to aged silver.

For most of my necklaces I added tulle as a webby accent. I cut ½” strips and accordion folded it and then strung the wire through the center, allowing it to act as a bead. On others I tied two long strips in bows.

It was very difficult to get good photos of the necklaces due to glare and that they are so small.

I mailed Nan of Her Art Nest her prize from the Fanciful Twist party and received the sweetest note from her:

Hi Autumn,

I received your necklace today! It's absolutely beautiful! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am going to post a photo of it to my blog next week...

I really like how you added that tulle above the beads. What an awesome idea! Very cool. I am so lucky to have won this fabulous giveaway, and I truly appreciate your generousity. I'm doing my happy dance.

Thanks, Nan

Nan, you are so welcome!!! Guys, do check out the coolest bottles on Nan's blog!!! I hope you’re having a haunted day and are fully prepared for Fright Night! I’m still gathering last minute details for my costume. Mewhuhahahaha!

13 Days of Halloween - Day 10

While my boys were off on a camping trip we girls contemplated having a girly girl night doing our nails… but decided we’d much rather be getting our nails DIRTY instead, making a piñata! Meet Frank, yet another recycling project.

We filled a cereal box with candy and punched two tiny holes in the top box flaps. We tied a thick knot on one end of two strings and pulled them through the two holes.

We then applied tape on the inside of the first flap and again to close the flaps in place, testing it to make sure it was strong enough and the hole didn’t rip.

We created the screws from aluminum foil. To make them we folded a square of foil down again and again until it was a 2” high strip with the last section unfolded as shown, then rolled it up tightly to create a thick and thin side.

We taped it onto the box tightly with thin strips of masking tape.

To make the paper mache we mixed two parts white glue with one part water and poured this over 2” pieces of newspaper torn up in a bowl. We mixed this up well and applied it all over the box and “screws”.

With the last bit of pulp we sculpted a nose, eyebrows and mouth.

Finally, the girls painted Frank with acrylic craft paints. He is ready to be tied in the tree in our front yard for our Halloween party. We had a lot of fun working on him. This is definitely a fun project to for you and your little ghouls to work on! You still have enough time and while he's drying you can make Rice Krispy Treats! Don't forget to share!!

I totally forgot to draw a winner yesterday, so without further ado the WINNERS of the Scrabble words are...
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
5
7
2
Brenda of Memories & Treasures
Claudia one of my local friends and
Bleubeard and Elizabeth of Altered Book Lover

Ladies, I will be contacting you regarding your prizes! Congrats!
~ Autumn

13 Days of Halloween - Day 9

On the ninth day of Halloween a wicked witch gave to me lots and lots of little skullies! Today's project is another PaperClay project. I added some pics of the in between phases for you to see. I created six napkin rings and one charm.

I began by creating a wire base with a wrapped loop for attaching a necklace or napkin ring through. Note orientation for each.

Next I molded a bit of aluminum around the wire base.

Then I sculpted the PaperClay around the aluminum and let the pieces dry for several days.

I came back and painted the features. When the paint was dry I created the metal napkin rings. I measured about five times the length of wire needed to wrap around three of my fingers loosely. Then I strung the wire through the opening in the skully three times and wrapped the remaining wire around the rings to secure it in place and give the appearance of barbed wire (click first picture to enlarge for detail). He sticks up above the napkin and peers at hungry friends! I sprayed the finished pieces, including the wire with acrylic fixative.

I'm in cupcake overload this week. Making cupcakes for Cub Scouts, class parties, my parties! Thought I would share one with you. :)

13 Days of Halloween - Day 8

Welcome back to day 8! Today's project is a recycling art project. I created these luminaries from a coffee can, a candy can, and a carrots can. To start with I smashed the tops of the cans slightly and drilled holes in each can in various patterns, and in each side for the wire hangers. I then gessoed each can. After the gesso was dry, I painted the cans with acrylic paints, blending the edges of the stripes slightly while the paint was wet. Next I sprayed the cans with acrylic sealer in matte finish. I let these dry for one day to make sure there was no residual odor (this stuff gives you a headache if you're not careful!) and then attached the images and label tape with Mod Podge. I cut a length of wire for each can and wrapped it in place. Finally, I added candles inside (taking care not to rub against the inside of the drilled holes) and lit them. The light peers through the holes beautifully. I plan on placing these along my picnic table on Halloween night near our bonfire. Here's a better view of the candles...

And I just had to share this of Logan trying to dress up as (hotdog) Chicken Pox boy. He's such a silly goose!

13 Days of Halloween - Day 7

So hard to believe that there are six days until Halloween! I am having the most fabulous time celebrating this year, mainly in part of sharing this event with you. Today I wanted to show you a jewelry project that I simply love! I googled these jeweled spiders and found THIS link and within 20 minutes had created this piece. She may go on a necklace or may become an ornament, I haven't decided. If you've got seed beads laying around do give this a try. It is one of the most fun little projects I've played with.

More excitement, I just got a note from Piper of Woodland Wanderings saying I won her blog candy! Am I on a lucky streak or what?! Seriously! And please check out these witch's hats in her Etsy shop they are amazing!!!

[photo credit: Piper @ Woodland Wanderings]
And check out these quilled spiderwebs that I won from Reese Dixon (love your name by the way!!!) She has a complete tutorial on her blog with the 411.

[photo credit: Reese Dixon]

Hope your weekend was a blast. I look forward to hearing about your creative endeavors.
xx,
Autumn

13 Days of Halloween - Day 6

Happy Owl-aween, folks! (Thanks for that, Lynn! LOL!) It's so fun reading the responses I'm getting about the various projects. You guys are the best! Today I wanted to share the hangie danglies I've been working on. You may have seen two of them in my shop. Three of these are miniature board wrapped canvases. For these, I used techniques similar to those in the haunted house, layers of text with a paint glaze atop. I used an awl to scratch into the layers of paint and reveal the colors below. To create the hangers I used black annealed steel wire, available at Ace Hardware, in 22 gauge. I punched holes in the canvas with my awl and wrapped the long lengths of wire randomly to create a spiderweb or birds nest effect. It is very dimensional in person.

For the paper piece I used my favorite new stamps by Character Constructions, purchased from Stamp Diva. (Please tell Susan you found these from Autumn!) I created the dangles by using a jewelry wire wrap technique at the bottom. So fun! But not as fun as this...


Last night I had my yearly party with BFF and her family. Look at this spread of food, YUM!

Witch's Cauldrons (chicken salad in tomatoes w/celery sticks)
Frank's Back (frosted brownie w/crushed Oreos)
Eyeballs (sausage cheese balls w/olives)
Pumpkin'wiches (cut refrigerated pie crusts with ham, turkey, and Swiss inside)
Beer $ Cheese Soup (with pie crust jack-o-lantern face parts to top with)
Caramel Apples w/nuts and chocolate (didn't make it in the pic)
Pumpkin Creme Slushes (orange sherbet, vanilla yogurt, and orange Crush topped with whipped cream and a pumpkin candy)

Apple bobbing after...



Hope you're cooking up some Owl-aween fun today! Send me pics/links!

13 Days of Halloween - Day 5

Day 5, with 8 days remaining until the witching hour! We had 13 entries for the haunted house blog candy - how very wicked! And the winners are...
True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 13 Result: 5
True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 13 Result: 6
True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 13 Result: 4
Candace from Eye Candy
Claudia, one of my local friends! and
Lynn from Her Creative Spirit
I will be contacting you about mailing your prize.

Today I wanted to share with you the Halloween display above my bookcase. As you may have noticed, I love, love, love owls. Well, I picked up about 12 or so as collections from the flea market in Virginia this summer all for about $13. After I got them home I realized that I did not want or need decorative owls everywhere! Yikes, they were taking over. But I did not want to depart with them either. So I decided to paint them black and use them as Halloween decor. I simply love the look! I found an old mirror at the thrift store, along with the white Easter tree (which I also spray painted black). The broken clocks at our local flea market, all for about $5. I pulled from my collection of Scrabble tiles and created the "witching" label.

Now, ten of you commenters did not win a house and I just had to throw out some more candy for you! I have three painted Scrabble tile bases with tinted letters to giveaway. The trick-or-treating just won't stop. Best of luck! I'll pull winners on Tuesday.

13 Days of Halloween - Day 4

Greetings Bloggers! Welcome to day 4 of my Halloween Blogathon. First of all, I want to give a shout out to a new friend,Patty Szymkowicz, of Magpie's Nest. I was googling vintage Santa pics yesterday and somehow stumbled across her blog and her AMAZING doll creations. I just so happened to have the coolest old doll head found in the woods a couple of miles from my house.

In celebration of friendship, all things creepy, and Patty's wealth of inspiration I'm offering this as a freebie image for you to use in your art. I've uploaded one lighter and one darker version of this doll, so play around and see which one works best for you.






Today's project is a simple project and very inexpensive(am I seeing a pattern here?!). This is a little scrapbook created from ONE 12 x 12 sheet of scrapbook paper (around $1) that has a grid of six double-sided rectangles (each 4 x 6). I'm posting this with my BFF in mind. She is new to the arts and wants some goodies to get her feet wet. This project is perfect for that! No one would ever know this was so simple to construct. I attached the cut rectangles together with a ring in the top corner, added ribbons and dangley charms to the ring, and embellished the pages with stickers, flowers, brads, tickets, charms, and buttons. This project would also be a great gift for those with small children. Just mark the measurements on the photo mats so they can cut photos easily and attach to complete their book.



Last year's Halloween pics (that I need to get put in my little book!).

Now fly on over and visit Patty for a spell...

13 Days of Halloween - Day 3

Haunted House + Blog Candy!


On the third day of Halloween, a wicked witch gave to me a house for my very own haunting! Today's project is another dollar find. These blank wooden houses were begging to be altered so I conjured up another eerie creation for you, with a few ingredients that I'm sure you have in your witch's cupboard.

I adhered old mystery book pages, vintage labels, and images to the blank house with Mod Podge. You could also use gel medium. After this was dry I mixed Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid (this is a paint extender that gives your paints a transparent quality) with fine acrylic paints and blended the colors in layers over the entire house, over the images. You could also water down your paint, use Golden glazes, or use thinner, cheaper craft paints. Be sure to test on scrap text paper to make sure you get the see-through look you're going for. After the house was dry, I added details such as the dots and trees with a Sharpie marker (you could paint them on too).


The elements were secured into the house with Diamond Glaze. As a final touch I stained torn strips of cheesecloth with walnut ink diluted with water and attached it to the base. Viola! A wicked little Halloween display that you can add new elements to each year.

Today I've decided to offer some treats! Please say trick-or-treat in your comment to be entered in a drawing to win one of three blank houses & German text paper. I'll pick three winners on Friday. Best of luck and have a BOOO-tee-ful day bloggers!

13 Days of Halloween - Day 2

Well BOOOOOO to you! Thanks so much for stopping by, it's really a pleasure to see you again! So hard to believe the countdown to Halloween night is ticking away as it is. But here we are, DAY 2! Today's project is something that was very new to me. I found this amazing tutorial (click here) on creating dolls from Paperclay. For my figures I composed a rough base from scrunched aluminum foil. Next, I applied Paperclay around the foil to form my figure. I let mine dry for one week, just sitting on the table. After the figure was completely dry, I lightly sanded it to smooth any irregularities in the surface and then painted it with acrylics.

To create the collar I folded pieces of crepe paper and German text and attached the layers together in the folds with PVA glue. I then glued it to the ghost's neck with the PVA, working it as it dried and became more and more tacky. This little guy is about 4" tall. There are so many wonderful artists who create much larger figures, I won't even begin to list them. But you too can be an Paperclay artist! These are great for swaps or mailings! Give it a whirl, Paperclay is only about $4 or $5 and goes a long way when applied atop aluminum foil. Just think of the cute little ornaments you could create for your own Halloween tree. You can add metal hooks by building your aluminum, then your Paperclay layers over the metal finding.

Now, onto other AMAZING news! I was the winner of the blog party giveaway at Blue Chair Diary! The Dr. drew MY name and I've won a pair of pewter goblets! Wooooo hoooo! Sophia, you rock my Queen! Thank you so much, I'm stoaked!

[photo credit: Blue Chair Diary]

And I just got a note from Laura at Katydiddys saying that I had won one of her rotten apples! I feel super lucky today. You bloggers are amazing! Thanks Laura!

[photo credit: Laura Bray]

13 Days of Halloween - Day 1

On the first day of Halloween, a wicked witch gave to me...


The winner of my blog party giveaway!
True Random Number Generator Result: 39
Nan at Her Art Nest you are the winner! Thank you all so very much for your comments. I am blown away! I appreciate each and every word that you have written. It was such fun partying with all of you!!! But the celebration is not over. Autumn's Antics 13 Days of Halloween Blog Event begins today! Each day I will be showcasing some Halloween craft and art inspiration to keep everyone inspired until the big night. I've got so many wicked tricks up my sleeve, including more giveaways. So stay tuned.

Today's project is an altered calendar. This is a $1 thrift store find, a plastic calendar with interchangeable months and dates. I distressed the plastic tiles with alcohol inks, added scrapbook papers, German text, vintage image, label tape, tulle, and a brad! Viola! A fun way to keep up with the month of October each year! Please share your project links with me and other comments!

A Frightful Soirée

Autumn’s Antics, in conjunction with A Fanciful Twist, proudly presents the Halloween Extravaganza 2009 blog party!!!

For this year’s event I set my heart on hostessing the festivities in this abandoned shack. The shack, eerie but magical, called to me...

But upon further inspection it was deemed to certainly scare the guests… to their death. Now we can’t have that can we?

So Casa de la Clark amid the great city of Pumpkintown it shall be!!! After all, there's no place like home!

In efforts to make this affair a splendid gathering, I’ve staged a warming entrance for party guests. Wanting my guests to feel welcome and invited and not too leery off the bat.


Everything is lining up perfectly for the soirée! At the Casa there are many friends waiting in the shadows, eager to play with the party goers. What fun will be had!



Now, to brew up some sort of edible concoctions. To the cupboards for gathering supplies…





Delightful, the smell of these treats is sure to conjure up an appetite!


Now, onto the utmost of priorities - ATTIRE! I must head over to the Costumerie. There are so many splendid options, what to shall we choose?




Costumed creatures are lurking about. Frankenstein's Bride will surely cause a shout!

Oh DEAR! Heavens be - is that a cheerleader from the great beyond?!

Ah, and what type of Costumerie would this be without a vast selection of Superheroes?! Batman is here with his charming smile and daring wit to surely lift our spirits! Hooray!

Lest we forget this darling little elephant boy! How enchantingly he waves the party banner!!!

My costume of choice must remain a secret until I greet you in person. I can't spoil all of my surprises now, can I? Now on to the celebration. We'll toast ghost fingers by the fire.

Careful now, the fire is dancing on this magical night!

It has been such fun visiting with you! This All Hollow’s Eve Extravaganza will certainly be a pumpkin smashing hit!

Now to send our guests on their merry way. Too many festivities around to tie up their whole evening… Of course I’ll throw in a party favor! One lucky reader will receive this eerie delight, complete with matching earrings. Your comment to this post will enter you in the running’s. Now don't dismay if you fortune doesn't permit, there are more treats in my Etsy shop for you to devour!



Farewell and have a bewitching day ye ghouls!

Halloween Necklaces on Etsy!!!

I've just placed two of my Halloween domino necklaces in my Etsy shop, so go take a peek! autumnsantics.etsy.com

Whoever Said Christmas is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

...must never have experienced a fall in the Carolinas. The first few leaves are just beginning to fall, but it's in the air. It makes me feel so alive. I hope you're enjoying Autumn where ever you are.

Create Date with BFF!!!

BFF is BFF and usually not included when I say my "art friends", BUT today she broke out the secret card-making ninja within and together we created these adorable three creations, one a hangie. It was way more fun than trying to make these Martha Stewart hang-ups, which we thought we would cuss and spit making! Today was fun and the creativity flowed, could it be the cool days and sense of Autumn in the air?! Who knows?

I made this card thinking of her a couple of years back (good at making them - bad at sending them - obviously!) Anyway, I'd love to receive a comment from you linking to any of your Halloween card pics!