Bye Bye Fairies, Hello Ghosts!

Isn't this fairy from Linda sweet as can be?

 It's sad that the Faery Book Swap is over! I made a couple more pages, as thank yous to some sweet people.  And I have extra covers that I hope to list on Etsy or in the Boutique. If I ever get a spare minute to do it!

In the fairy frenzy, I'd made up about 16 pages for the swap, and didn't need them all of course, so I'll have a few of those to list too.  But I didn't want to use any of those as thank yous. I thought "thanks" deserved something made special just for it.

  I still have my family's books, they weren't mailed because we are going to open them all together when everyone gets here to visit for Romantic Gothic Ghosts.

I'm so glad that Guncle Randy, Sissy, Bobbie Sue and Terry can come out to play with us for the classes! We hope to go to see the annual Lawrence Zombie walk if everyone arrives in time, it will be on Thurs. the 4th and family is flying/driving in from Utah, Florida and Indiana.

Then, Friday is shopping at the West Bottoms district, with all the once a month junk and antique stores, as well as Bottoms Up.

Saturday the 6th will be our ghost filled craft day, with Gypsy spells and ravens. Sunday we plan on hitting the Renfest, all decked out in our fairy attire.  A perfect little reunion!!  Plus I get to have my blog friends meet my family, that will be nice.  I'm glad that we are having a workshop while the relatives are in town.

Along with the thank you pages, I mailed out hand made envelopes stuffed with tidbits.  To make these, I looked at a regular envelope to get an idea for the pattern, cut it out from an old book page, folded it up and glued the edges.  Simple, and kinda cute.  I might need to do more of these!

I've gone straight from sweet fairies to gothic ghosts.

These images (provided in the online Romantic Gothic Ghost class) are printed on transparencies and hung around the room.

And the room is a WRECK!  I've started cleaning and decorating, but need to get all the chaos and clutter out too. 

I started decorating at the ceiling first, then the cabinet tops around the room.  I'm sure most people would have cleaned the whole room, put away the mess and then started fixing up.  But I got too excited about making the ghosts and had to do the fun parts first!

See how they are hung from tattered tulle on the ceiling?  (I'll have more photos later)

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Speaking of photos, I've noticed that no matter how good my camera is, and how well I edit pictures, they NEVER look as good on my blog as they do on my computer files. 

I wish I could fix this.... I also noticed that if you click on one to open it in a bigger window, its sharper.

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Another instance of backward preparedness- instead of cleaning and making kits, I wanted to make some ghostly images to set around the room. This collage is an old trinket box with a glass lid that Beth gave me. I took out the image that came it in, turned it on its side and made it a shadow box.

A transparency spider image is across the glass, and a ghostly girl is layered over a gothic arch  (from the albums full of pictures and images and backgrounds and patterns that were scanned and added to the online class) and glued to the back of the box. I then added some tatted trim and some very old, beat up flowers.

Its very small, and I seriously doubt that it adds a lot to the over all decor of the room. But it was something I really wanted to do.

We had lots of projects made up for the online class that I pulled out to use around the room too.  This tag is pinned to my new curtains, hung just for the occasion. The tag is one of the "ready to go" bonus images from the class. All you do is print it and cut it out.

The curtains are from the Sparks Flea, and were $1.  When I bought them, they were a hideous, fleshy peach. But I liked the over all pattern and the flocking was cool, so I gambled that dollar and bought them any way, hoping a bowl of dye would take.

It did and now I just love them.!  Thing is, though, I bought them thinking I'd cut them apart to use in projects, and to test the dye, I cut a hunk off the bottom of one to dip.  I loved it so much, that I dyed the rest of the panels and hung them up, even with a hunk missing at the bottom of one.  

In the window, is a banner also made from the Romantic Gothic Ghost online classes.  There are tons of projects, decorating ideas, and printable images in the class. I'd forgotten how much there was in it, and had a lot of fun looking through it with fresh eyes.

Everyone coming to the class at the studio gets the online class free too. We still have a couple spots open for our one day party in the studio if you'd like to join us.

You could hold a puppy on your lap while you work.....

Comments

[Louise Oakes]

Linda's fairy is beautiful. I too have a nasty habit of starting up something before I have put the last thing 'to bed', but, I get a bit excited and away I go. :-)

[Linda P.]

I'm so glad you like your fairy, Karla. : ) Such a sweet surprise to see her here! I love the saying that accompanied her, and I had the best time creating this piece for our wonderful swap "fairy godmother"!

Y'know sometimes ya just HAFTA do the fun stuff first! Hey, we love creating. That's just who we are! ; ) The cleaning part is just a necessary evil. Ha ha! *SIGH*

I think the envelopes you created are beautiful! There are so many really pretty pieces of your art in this post.

I know you will all have a great time at your artful gathering! I am going to try not to be jealous of all the people who are going to be cuddling puppy babes!

[DogsMom]

I would say the pups are really getting big, but that is a relative term. Still sweet and tiny!

I always enjoy the fairies but that gothic banner has real appeal.

[jeanine mayden]

beautiful! love the work space also. but o the puppies. they are so cute. have fun.

[Linda McMillin]

the fairy pages and envelopes are gorgeous. i've never been fond of halloween-don't dislike it-just not interested. BUT i love the decor. now holding a puppy and having that sweet face to look at-that is a real temptation! they are so adorable.

[Suzanne Wingfield]

I just love what you did with the shadow box! It absolutely looks haunted and eerie....

[jeanie]

I especially love the garland. Your romantic gothic ghosts certainly is beautiful and magical!

Karla, I had one card from R. Nathan -- no email or blog. Just wanted to tell them I liked it very much, so if you could pass the word, I'd be very happy! Thanks! ~j