Too late to go out and buy a pumpkin? No time to carve? Never worry, you don't have to feel left out of all the fun, try this!

These pumpkins are scary any time of the day..

 

Nothing Spooky about THESE pumpkins!

Using a drill makes short work of the carving.
Check out the great instructions.

In China, it is customary to exchange monetary gifts on special occasions such as Chinese New Year, weddings or birthdays. These gifts are  nestled in a red envelope, a lucky talisman known as ang pow.

Knit up some Ang Pow to hold your precious gifts.

So while the Germans had Scherenschnitte, the Japanese were tearing up colored paper to create Chigiri-e. This technique which dates from the Heian period of Japanese history was  often used with calligraphy. Hand-made paper is used for the creation of images with an effect of water color. Some are further decorated with color pigments or metallic dust. 

   

Bernina has some great tips on vintage French hand sewing techniques with your sewing machine.

This free earring project is from BeadStyle.

Chip/crystal earrings These earrings go with the beautiful asymetrical necklace inspired by Lindsay Hastings' design. You can find the necklace on page 46 of the November 2008 issue of BeadStyle. Supplies 2 8-12 mm gemstone chips 12 4 mm bicone crystals 20 in. (50 cm) 24-gauge half-hard wire 2 2-in. (5 cm) head pins pair of earring wires chainnose and roundnose pliers diagonal wire cutters

Zippers are So-oOO utilitarian, but who would have thought they would make up into such pretty corsages?

Make this great bag to collect all the treats!

Scherenschnitte (shear-n-SNIT- a) means "scissor cuts" in German. This is the art of papercutting design. The artwork often has symmetry within the design. The tradition was founded in Switzerland and Germany in the 1500s, and was brought to Colonial America in the 1700s by immigrants who settled primarily in Pennsylvania.

Get out your paints and trims to give your pumpkins a chic new look!

 

Anyone who has ever made their own clothes would never settle for pret-a-porter. The secret here is the custom fit.

Ensure the right fit every single time with a good dress form.

Well, I know that we are not yet done with Halloween, but an early start will make sure that you have your Christmas mantle ready well in time for the holidays!

These luscious pears look good enough to eat, but do remember to first remove the pins!
The terrifically talented Heather Bailey has created the pincushions with her divine stash of fabrics.
... and I was wonderfully surprised to learn that she is the DDIL of none other than the legendary Elinor Peace Bailey. Looks like they've kept it All in the Family. :)

Great design is calling! Dress up your iPhone with a unique limited edition artist series skin. Easily applied, the skins decorate and protect your iPhone and are both reusable and removable. 

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil -- especially linseed oil, poppyseed oil, walnut oil, and safflower oil. These oils confer various properties to the oil paint, such as less yellowing or different drying times. Certain differences are visible in the sheen of the paints depending on the oil. Painters often use different oils in the same painting depending on specific pigments and effects desired. The paints themselves also develop a particular feel depending on the medium.

Paintings in this medium are very popular amongst artists and collectors because of their ageless character. They lend themselves to a plethora of subjects, and well executed paintings remain vibrant and attractive for several centuries. The two paintings here were painted by Rembrandt and Caravaggio almost 400 years ago!

Traditionally, artists begin by sketching the subject onto the canvas. The oil paint is mixed with turpentine or artist grade mineral spirits or other solvents to create a thinner, faster drying paint. Then the subject is built up in layers. A basic rule of oil paint application is 'fat over lean.' This means that each additional layer of paint should be a bit oilier than the layer below, to allow proper drying. As a painting gets additional layers, the paint must get oilier or the final painting will crack and peel.Oil paint remains wet longer than many other types of artists' materials, enabling the artist to change the color, texture or form of the figure. At times, the painter might even remove an entire layer of paint and begin anew. This can be done with a rag and some turpentine for a certain time while the paint is wet, but after a while, the hardened layer must be scraped. Oil paint dries by oxidation, not evaporation, and is usually dry to the touch in a day to two weeks. It is generally dry enough to be varnished in six months to a year. Art conservators do not consider an oil painting completely dry until it is 60 to 80 years old. A still-newer type of paint, heat-set oils, remains liquid until heated. Although not technically not true oils, the paintings resemble oil paintings and are usually shown as oil paintings. The easiest way to start painting with oils may be with Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oils. These water-soluble oils are easy to clean up and have no hazardous fumes. Time to stretch a canvas, grab a brush, and start!

Can Art be considered a viable approach to paying bills?

This centuries old dilemma has plagued artists from all over the world, and caused much angst in the creative mind.

Lisa Sonora Beam addresses this significant issue in her new book The Creative Entrepreneur A DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real, which will be out November 1st.

Goal setting or knowledge of savvy business tactics will not alone guarantee success as an artist. Here, the  inner aspects of the artistic psyche are considered and readers are introduced to a unique combination of powerful business and leadership tools. The book is presented in a visual and engaging way that appeals to the way creative types think, learn, and process information. This book will appeal to this audience because it uses visual language to communicate the material and engages the readers, encouraging them to create their own artist's business journal that becomes their own step-by-step approach to creating their own right livelihood.

The Creative Entrepreneur takes readers on an inner journey of creative exploration to discover how to make their dreams of creative livelihood real, as they craft their own artist's business journal. The artist's business journal is a visual, project-oriented, step-by-step approach to business development for artists from all walks of life who are mystified and possibly frustrated by how to make a business out of their creative work.

Just take a  sneak peek -

"The Creative Entrepreneur Mandala consists of four intersecting pathways that form a flower shape. Arriving at the center "sweet spot" is the result of refining each pathway."

"The word mandala is from Sanskrit, and is loosely translated as a "magic circle." The mandala appears cross-culturally as an archetypal symbol of wholeness and is a pattern that occurs in nature. Mandalas became a central theme in psychologist Carl Jung's work as a healing tool to aid in the process of individuation (becoming a whole person)."

Doll artist Carol is giving away this little cutie pie just in time for the holidays... take a peek, and maybe he'll be spending this Christmas with you!

Art is often inspired by its surroundings, and just as often, this art shapes the future.

The Great Fire of London was a defining moment in the city's history and growth. The Museum of London has a special exhibition that traces and studies the evidence.

There's something sublimely ethereal about the flame of a candle... it reaches into the deepest darkness of every corner of our world and souls. It soothes a troubled mind, kindles warmest love, and spreads the festive mood.

And, best of all, candles are easy and inexpensive to make. The gentle warmth and soft texture of  the wax makes candlemaking a perfect project for long, chill winter evenings

The simplest candles to make are the dipped ones - all that you will need is a tall vessel, a ball of wicking, and a block of wax. Follow these instructions to make up a batch, decorate as you please, light up, and enjoy!

Carve a creative pumpkin to enter this contest, and your Halloween may end up a winner!

Feel like a splurge  Feel like a splurge to do up your home for the party season? Check out these beauties from Preston Bailey.

You don't have to wield a needle to use these beauties! Pick up a passion for  collectible thimbles.

 

Planning a spooky bash for Halloween? Whip up a few of these placemats to dress up your table.

If sewing and quilting are not quite your thing, don't worry - just use the templates to cut out the shapes, and use a hot glue gun to hold everything together.

A lot of times, we admire artists and wish we could study under them (and hope some of their creativity will rub off on us :) ?!! ). This may not be possible for very many reasons.

Textile artist Linda Misa has found a generous way around this with her new free online class. From all the way down-under in Tasmania, she shares all her wonderful art and craft techniques and tips with fabric artists from around the world.

In difficult times such as these, this class is a wonderful and inspiring gift.

Apples, Blackberries, and now the mighty Pomegranate... creative design often falls back to Nature for inspiration.

For all the design freaks and gadget geeks out there.

Here I am, back again, after almost two years! I must say that I'm really delighted to be doing this blog once more.
I realized that sharing all the art and craft trivia here has helped me up my own creative processes several notches. My usually active radar goes into hyperdrive looking for interesting bits and pieces, and I tend to look at even the most mundane to find sparks of creativity.
To many, many more fun hours of sharing! :)