Candace's Green Sleeve

If you know me, you know I love coffee and Starbucks is a frequent haunt. Last week I was there with my husband. I was mulling over my options for the Green C4 Challenge and playing with the sleeve when I slipped my hand through it and thought it made make a cool bracelet.

So it began.

I've done a few things with coffee logos (yes, I collect coffee logos and photos) and really wanted to punch this up, so I got out my glittery gel pens and Glossy Accents.

I loved the the outcome!

You'll notice I flattened it for the Glossy Accents application. It will stay where you put it if it's applied to a flat surface. The coffee sleeves are made with 60% post consumer recyled material, so I was already pretty green. Then I got out the pieces of broken costume jewelry that my grandmother saved (along with the buttons off of everything she ever wore...sweet!) and made some decisions.

I gathered the green, pink and pearl beads, a hole punch, a lovely corner punch. stretchy beading string (I wanted it to be able to stretch and not tear when I put it on) and scissors. I punched a pattern of holes and started beading. I overlapped the back and corner-punched the top outer corner.

I cut wavy edges and added a few more sparkly spots.

I really should have slipped it on before I atached the ends together, because it's too big for a bracelet, but it's an awesome coffee sleeve!

Tiki Woman

Tiki Woman is a self portrait.  I love tikis!  there's actually a tiki magazine!  I bought it when I was in Hawaii.  I fell in love with the very cool tiki drawings of an artist called Thor.  My tiki woman likes drawing in her jammies.

Ghouls Gone Wild

This is my interpretation of the February C4 Challenge
 Holiday Fusion.

This ghoul has had tee many martoonies and is lifting her sheet hoping to collect more Mardi Gras beads!
She's made from transparent polymer clay, wire, feathers and beads.

Temple Dancer

I took a wonderful online class through joggles.com in October.  The artist was Barbara Schoenoff and the project was a soft sculpture doll - the Temple Dancer.  I set it aside for a while because of, well, life, but I just completed her and here she is!

She stands about 18 inches tall and is sewn, stuffed and embellished with yarns, threads and beads.  I added wrapped wire and charms.  I've never sewn anything like this.  So I was thrilled when she came together relatively easily.  I had trouble with the hands and ended up sculpting them in polymer clay.

I highly recommend looking at classes offered through joggles.com, especially with this artist!  The instructions were great and easy to follow! 

The Comfy Chair

The Comfy Chair is a dry needle felting sculpture. It's about 2 1/2 inches tall. I started with a baseball size chunk of loose wool and needled it down to the square you see next to it. It takes a while to do it, but it's a lot of fun. You squish the wool as you needle it, turning and shaping with the needles. For this part, I used a needle holder with three needles. You'll notice that none of the pieces are perfect, and that's fine with me.

I made all the pieces I would need to construct the chair before I started assembling it. The two squares are the base and cushion. The other three pieces that have fluffy sides are the back and arms of the chair. I left the fluffy sides to make it easy to attach those bits with the needles.

All the fluffy bits helped to make the assembled chair nice and firm.

I decided that the chair needed a ruffle around the bottom, so I made little bits tapered and fuzzy at both ends. I needled them into place and shaped with the needles, as well.

I love orange, so I chose this fabulous finishing wool to cover the chair. This part happens in layers. If you tried to do it with thick layers, it would change the shape. Thin, multiple layers are the key to a successful piece.

When I finished the covering process, I added details with a single needle. The swirls on the end of the arms and the front edge of the cushion were quick and added character to the piece.

The focal piece was needle felted, as well. It started as a bit of pink finishing wool needled in the same manor as the ruffles. I needled the center first, then caerfully needled the bottom into a point. I say "carefully" because, in order to make a point, you have to press the point down with you fingers as you work. I probably jabbed my fingers twenty times. The other end was shaped into the devided top. The last part was beading the the heart.

It took me a good six hours to make. I'm not a professionl felter. If you are, please tell me if it goes faster the more you practice.

Nightmare Before Christmas House

Last December I went to The Avenue (36th Street) in Hampden, Maryland with my daughter and her best buddy. This house was just off the Ave. I want to live here...forever!

My Ghoul Friday

If you haven't had the pleasure of visiting My Ghoul Friday, you really must check it out. I'm just beginning to explore the creepy goodness of true Halloween aficionados. There are so many!