Another Trick or Treater

I really loved making my first little Halloween elephant, so I had to make him a little buddy. This one is similar, but many of the details are different.

Like his friend, his bag is separate so he can access his candy.

Trick or treat!

Grinning Jack

 Carving pumpkins can be such a mess.  I decided to paint a permanent grin on a faux pumpkin to help celebrate Halloween this year. He ended up looking a little crazed, but I think that's part of his charm.

He needed a bit of a lift, so I painted a wooden candlestick in orange, black, lime green and purple, and then aged it with ink so it wouldn't look so new. His collar is made of crepe paper.

I had a hard time getting a good picture of the candlestick in focus, so here's a photo of it alone. It's still a little hard to see the polka dots, but most of them are composed of three different colors; for example, the dots on the black part are orange, green, and black. I guess you could say it "looks better in person".

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Nevermore! Edgar Allan Poe's New Friend

 Here's the second raven. I made him a nice party hat, but he convinced me that he was too dignified to wear it, so he's arriving to the party "as is". He's perched on a block with great vintage images (from Alpha Stamps, of course!) I painted the block he's sitting on and the little wooden feet black, and then misted them with some copper colored glimmer mist to give them some shine.

Aaaand, his back:

That's enough ravens for one season! Tomorrow, it's back to elephants. I have a custom order for a little girl's birthday, in great colors: cream, red, and turquoise. It's going to be fun to paint.

Halloween Raven

 I've been working ahead for Christmas, but I just had to take a break and do a little Halloween crafting. On Pinterest, I saw a wonderful raven perched on a wooden block, and wanted to make one similar. (Actually, I'm going to make another, but I decided to do one at a time, just to see how things would go together.) Here's my first one. Of course I had to give him a party hat, but he also demanded a ruffled collar. I wanted to give him something to do, so I let him hold a key.

There were a few things I struggled with on this one: I used crepe paper for his collar. It was hand pleated and then glued to a ribbon, which is tied around his neck. Because the ribbon wouldn't lay flat and I was afraid the glue wouldn't hold well, I ended up actually pinning the collar into his neck, which made it nice and secure. Getting that beast to hold the key was a bit of a struggle as well. I made a small hole in the beak, but didn't want to make it so big that the jump ring was loose. There was a lot of trial and error (and perhaps a bit of cursing) over that.

The block was easy; I painted it, sanded it, and then used Mod Podge to adhere some scrapbook paper to each side. I was going to use just the paper on the sides, but it looked too plain, so I added the buttons, which helps break up the space a little. I wanted to give it all a bit more height, so I added wooden beads for feet.

I'm not sure how I'll do the next one. I want it to be different, so it will be a surprise as to how he turns out.  Perhaps I can get to him tomorrow.