Spring Nesting at The Vintage Marketplace at the Oaks

18 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, DIY & Crafting, Field Trip, Mixed Media, Textiles, Vintage

Tags

antique show, antiques, antlers, apothecary jar, birdcage, birds, bunny, burlap, CA, christine barker, deer, deer antlers, duckling, Easter, eggs, flea market, flora and fauna, garden, gnome, Julie Weller, junk show, lace, lamb, lamb cake mold, lavender, mixed-media, mushroom, nests, rabbit, Rainbow, Scotsman, Scotsman trailer, shabby chic, squirrel, succulents, The Vintage Marketplace, treasures, vintage, vintage candy mold, vintage flea market, Vintage marketplace, Vintage Marketplace at the Oaks, vintage suitcase

This past weekend I was delighted to be a vendor at the Spring Nesting show at The Vintage Marketplace located at the Oaks Park in Rainbow, CA. I showcased my items together with more than 60 other vendors selling vintage and antique treasures, inspired garden goodies, lace and ruffled items, shabby chic yumminess and the most creative repurposed items.

Infused with the scent of lavender, the theme of my booth was Flora and Fauna, with Flora being on the right side under the white canopy and fauna was on the left side with my vintage 1968 Scotsman trailer, Fiona.

Inspired by Spring, adorable birds, speckled eggs and organic nests I got to work early this year, pinning images to Pinterest and taking notes in my journal. My friend, Julie Weller, and I took a buying trip up to the Bay Area in February and brought back some of the treasures that you’ll see in these photos. I still have some items set aside that will be for sale at a later date and I can’t wait to show those to you!

These are some pictures from the Flora side of my booth. Enjoy!

Thank you for stopping by my blog! I’ll be posting more photos soon, featuring the Fauna side of my booth.

If you’re interested in staying in touch with me on Facebook you can find me here.

xo,

Christine Barker

bannerpink

Sewing: St Patrick’s Day Pin Cushion

03 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Christmas and Holidays, DIY & Crafting, Sewing, Textiles, Vintage

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Bunny Boudoir Lamp, charms, Colleen Moody, corsage pins, hand embroidered, LOveBug Creations, millinery flowers, mother of pearl, Otis and Lola, pin cushion, rhinestone button, Rumple Ribbon, sewing, st patricks day craft, vintage, vintage millinery, wool felt

I spent the weekend creating in a class with artist extraordinaire, Colleen Moody. I took her Bunny Boudoir Lamp class and was so entranced with her dolls, her home, her studio and her beautiful bulldogs, Otis and Lola. Colleen is known for her paper clay dolls, but excels at all sorts of other artistic endeavors. One of her creations, a gorgeous pink and white pin cushion, came home with me and inspired me to create one of my own.

I used Lovebug Creations Simply White to create a delicate, vintage-style focal point.

I added a vintage mother of pearl button to the Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon bow.

The four leaf clover on the top of the pin cushion is created from green wool felt, with hand embroidered details, vintage mother of pearl buttons and a vintage rhinestone button in the center.

I added some antique millinery flowers and a piece of tulle.

Next, some beautiful corsage pins.

And a top hat charm and a horse shoe charm for good luck!

Thank you for stopping by to see my project! Have a wonderful week!

xo,

Christine Barker

PS: Stop by later this week to learn more about my class with Colleen Moody and to hear about my adventures in antique stores and the Alameda Flea Market with my friends Kim, Terry, Mariasela, Sylvia and her mom!

May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.

Design Team Call: Graphic 45 Design Team Call 2014

20 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Cardmaking, Collage, Design Team Call, DIY & Crafting, Glitter, Jewelry, Mini Album, Mixed Media, Paper Sculpture, Papercrafting, Rubber Stamp, Rubber Stamp, Scrapbooking, Tags

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

2013, Altered, announcement, antique, art, audition, craft, Crafting Design Team Call, Create, Design Team Call, diy, Family, graphic 45, Graphic 45 Design Team Call, Home, idea, mixed-media, scrapbook, scrapbook paper, vintage, We Want You

It’s that time again! Time for the Graphic 45 Design Team Call!

Terms and conditions are here DTcallG452014-2. For more details, check out their blog.

Good Luck, Friends!

xo,

Christine Barker

Swap: Winter Wonderland Soldered Ornament Swap

26 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Christmas and Holidays, DIY & Crafting, Mixed Media, Swap

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Alanna George, Ann Hammes, Carol Lucero, Carrie Harney, christmas swap, Debbi Wilcock, Hope Ellington, hosting a swap, jack a lope, jackalope, Jeanine Stowe Weiss, Julie Weller, Kadee Metzger, Linda Vinson, Lonnie Jenck, lori dams, Maija Lepore, michelle hurtt, Nicole Goodwin, Pam Munns, reindeer, Rochelle Gaukel, solder, soldered, soldering, Susan Bates-Bezek, vintage, Winter Wonderland Ornament Swap

After signing up for a couple Christmas ornament swaps this year, I wanted to add just one more! My friend, Pam Munns, and I worked out some plans for a soldered Christmas ornament swap. At first we were wondering if we could get 10 ladies to sign up, and imagine our surprise when we got 19 participants!

These are the guidelines we set up. “Winter Wonderland Swap: these soldered ornaments will be celebrating the beauty of winter in all of its gorgeousness! From icicles on trees, to snowflakes falling, to sweet little woodland creatures, this theme gives lots of room to create your favorite winter fantasy. Style can range from Antique Chic to Vintage Grandeur with the primary colors being white, silver, creams, and a hint of a muted winter color.”

Because we had such a great response to the swap sign ups, the ladies were split up into two groups so that we would each make 10 ornaments. I didn’t let any of the girls know which group they were in so there would be more of a surprise for them when they opened their boxes. But, the surprise was on me on sorting and packing day when I realized that I didn’t have ornaments from someone I thought was participating. After all of my careful planning and even working out the details on a spreadsheet, I overlooked a very important detail! At first I freaked out, thinking that I had misplaced her box of ornaments but after a phone call I realized that I had messed up and she never committed to joining the swap. How ridiculous am I? But, it all worked out in the end since I had already made an ornament for each lady, and I ended up as the lucky girl who got one of each ornament!

My ornament started out as an image of a vintage deer, but once my daughter, Savannah, saw it she said “what about a Jack-a-lope?” So I got to work in Photoshop, turning this vintage deer picture into a jack-a-lope, hanging above the fireplace.

Hanging on the mantel is an antique lace up boot stocking that I made for a Christmas stocking swap 2 years ago. There’s a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and a swan planter next to the fireplace. I included some of my favorite things in my make-believe mansion living room, like a deer topiary, turquoise damask wall paper, a roaring fire, a Turkish rug and a cloche on the mantle.

For the other ornament, I created a smaller image featuring the Jack-a-lope picture.

I’m so happy to share these ornaments with you! From fancy to vintage, to all kinds of Winter themes and even an ornament that had special lighting effects, these ornaments are over the top gorgeous! From smooth solder to textured solder, and everything in between, I can’t believe the amazing range of styles and the incredible and overwhelming amount of talent we have in this swap. I’m so glad that Pam Munns talked me into hosting it and I’m so thankful to Julie Weller for hosting very successful swaps in the past that gave me a clue about how to host a swap.

Here are the names of the very talented soldering artisans:

Susan Bates-Bezek
Lori Dams
Hope Ellington
Rochelle Gaukel
Alanna George
Nicole Goodwin
Ann Hammes
Carrie Harney
Michelle Hurtt
Lonnie Jenck
Maija Lepore
Carol Lucero
Kadee Metzger
Pam Munns
Linda Vinson
Jeanine Stowe Weiss
Julie Weller
Debbi Wilcock

This ornament, made by Pam Munns, has a votive inside that lights up!

This was Julie’s first time, EVER, soldering. Awesome job!

Thank you, Ann, for this gorgeous hostess gift! I love it!

Carol, thank you so much for this gorgeous ornament prezzie!

ScarletCalliope Christine Barker Soldered

ScarletCalliope Christine Barker 2 Soldered

ScarletCalliope Hope Ellington 1 Soldered

Hope, this snowflake ornament prezzie is gorgeous and fits in perfectly with my snowflake theme this year!

This was also Jeanine’s first time soldering! Beautiful!

This image is of Linda’s actual cross stitch needlepoint ornament that she designs and sells patterns for. Amazing!

ScarletCalliope Rochelle Gaukel Soldered

ScarletCalliope Susan Bates Bezek Soldered

From the bottom of my heart, thank you, ladies, for joining in this swap and I look forward to hosting another soldered swap for you! (Waiting until next Christmas is way too long!)

xo,

Christine Barker

Swap: Victorian Inspired Ornament Swap

19 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Christmas and Holidays, DIY & Crafting, Glitter, Lovebug Creations, Mixed Media, Papercrafting, Swap

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Angela Howard, antique, artistic bliss, cheryl stoneham, Denise Hahn, disneyland hotel, Julie Weller, kim caldwell, lace chalet, mariasela vallejo, Marsi Bennett, matildas mouse, Sylvia Estrada, tashia jacques, tea party, Terry Frias, Victorian ornament swap, vintage, Vintage marketplace, winter wonderland affaire

I recently attended a wonderful creative event called Winter Wonderland Affaire hosted by Kim Caldwell. It was held at the magical Disneyland Hotel and what a soiree it was! We started off our weekend by getting on a plush shuttle and being driven to the Vintage Marketplace in Rainbow, California. We perused the treasures there and then headed for our next stop, Matilda’s Mouse, a fabulous antique destination located in an historic barn on the Betty Crocker Estate.

From there we headed back up to the Disneyland Hotel for a pajama Tea Party, and started on our first preparations for the Chalet we were making.

On Saturday, we did some more work on our beautiful lace chalets, but one of the highlights of all of Kim’s events is the swaps. I joined the Victorian inspired Ornament Swap and the other ladies ornaments were so incredible.

The girls in the swap include:

Angela Howard
Cheri
Cheryl Stoneham
Deborah
Denise Hahn
Julie Weller
Kim Caldwell
Mariasela Vallejo
Marsi Bennett
Sylvia Estrada
Tashia Jacques
Terry Frias

Take a look through this gallery to see all of the unique ideas that they came up with!

ScarletCalliope Ornament Victorian Angela Howard

ScarletCalliope Ornament Victorian Cheryl Stoneham

ScarletCalliope Ornament Victorian Deborah

ScarletCalliope Ornament Victorian Denise Hahn

ScarletCalliope Ornament Victorian Julie Weller

ScarletCalliope Ornament Victorian Kim Caldwell

ScarletCalliope Ornament Victorian Marisela Vallejo

ScarletCalliope Ornament Victorian Marsi Bennett

ScarletCalliope Ornament Victorian Silvia Estrada

ScarletCalliope Ornament Victorian Terry Frias

ScarletCalliope Vintage Christmas Ornament Swan 1

ScarletCalliope Ornament Victorian Cheri

ScarletCalliope Ornament Victorian Tashia Jacques

Thank you so much for stopping by. I’ll be posting more pics from that wonderful weekend soon!

xo,

Christine Barker

Paper Crafting: Merry Christmas Noel Card

18 Wednesday Dec 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Cardmaking, Christmas and Holidays, DIY & Crafting, Glitter, Lovebug Creations, Mixed Media, Papercrafting, Vintage

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bigz, christmas card, christmas decoration, copic, copic marker, crystal clear glitter, die cut, faux snow, giraffe, glitter, glittered bell, gray, grey, grunge, ideaology, ideology, jingle bell, LOveBug Creations, martha stewart glitter, mica, mica glitter, noel 25, paper flower, pink, plastic snowflake, rhinestone, ribbon bow, Rumple Ribbon, silver extra fine glitter, Sizzix Big Shot Pro, tim holtz, Tim Holtz Alterations, tinsel glitter, Tuesday morning, vintage, vintage noel, vintage shabby, vintage wall paper

I’m creating some Christmas cards and I’ve been inspired to work with silver and pink lately.

It’s pretty straightforward but here’s the details:

I used some Lovebug Creations On The Edge collection to make a petite bow. This is the “White with Black Edge” Rumple Ribbon, which matches so well with the grey flowers and silver accents on this card.

I topped the bow off with a pink snowflake. It started out white and I colored it with a Pink Copic marker, glittered it with Martha Stewart pink glitter and gave it a rhinestone accent.

The background paper is Tim Holtz’ Idealogy Paper Stash in “Vintage Shabby”.

Next, I ran some pink card stock through my Sizzix Big Shot Pro using a letter size Teresa Collins eBosser embossing folder in the Sophisticated design. I outlined the pink paper with Martha Stewart Tinsel Glitter.

I cut out the chipboard Noel 25 using a Sizzix Tim Holtz die, called “Vintage Noel”, (which I recently scored for just $8.99 at Tuesday Morning). I painted it with my secret faux snow recipe and then glittered part of it with crystal clear glitter (the inexpensive kind in the giant bottle, I love that stuff!). I outlined the letters and numbers using a grey Copic marker, sometimes it’s easier than using a stamp pad with those itty bitty corners.

Next, I outlined the paper flowers with Mica glitter to give them a vintage, old fashioned look. Then I layered a snowflake, cut from vintage wall paper, and then added a jingle bell that I had covered in Silver Extra Fine glitter.

That’s it, easy as pie! 🙂

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Want to see what the other girls on the Creative Team have been creating? Stop by their blogs!

The Lovebug Creations Creative Team

xo,

Christine Barker

Secret Santa: Merry Christmas!

15 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Christmas and Holidays, DIY & Crafting, Glitter, Jewelry, Lovebug Creations, Mixed Media, Swap, Vintage

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

christmas decoration, christmas giraffe, giraffe, giraffe christmas decoration, glitter, LOveBug Creations, rhinestone, rhinestone jewelry, Rumple Ribbon, secret santa, secret santa swap, vintage, vintage rhinestone jewelry, vintage wreath

The Lovebug Creations Creative Team is starting Christmas celebrations a little bit early with a Secret Santa swap. Why wait for the 12 Days when we can start now? We each created a hand made gift for our Secret Santa Partner and bought them some gifts from their wish list. The best part is that the rules say that I’m allowed to show you what I made, but I can’t tell you who it’s for. But, I’ll bet that everyone on the Creative Team will know who my Secret Santa swap partner is right away!

From what I’ve heard, my swap partner loves this animal and loves the color pink as well. I hope she’ll be really surprised, in a happy doing-the-clap-dance way, with these sparkling creations. The mommy giraffe wears a crown made from vintage rhinestone jewelry.

Her wreath is vintage too, found at an estate sale a while back. It had some red glitter on it that I covered up with my secret recipe vintage faux snow. (I had to match the color and texture of the original vintage snow on the wreath!) A dab here and there covered up the glitter perfectly!

These little cuties are wearing wreaths adorned with beautiful Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon bows in Princess Party Pink.

After I was done putting the finishing touches on, I looked at these two and decided I don’t want to part with them. But I must, and I hope that my Secret Santa swap partner loves them! They’re all ready for a fancy Christmas party now!

Thank you so much for stopping by. Want to see what the other girls on the Creative Team have been creating? Stop by their blogs!

xo,

Christine Barker

PS: A great big thank you to my friend, Michelle Hurtt, for the helpful suggestions she gave me to help me create these cuties.

The Out Take photo:

Swap: Winter Wonderland Ornament Swap

05 Tuesday Nov 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Christmas and Holidays, DIY & Crafting, Jewelry, Mixed Media, Soldering, Swap

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Alanna George, Antique Chic, christmas ornaments, christmas swap, Hope Ellington, Lonnie Jenck, lori dams, ornament swap, ornaments, Pam Munns, pinterest, Rochelle Gaukel, sally jean alexander, shabby chic, solder, soldered Christmas Ornament, vintage, vintage grandeur, Whatever Lola Wants Lola Gets, Winter Wonderland Ornament Swap

This year I’m hosting a swap for my friends who love to solder. I’m part of another Christmas swap and it closed before my friend, Pam Munns, could join, so we came up with some ideas for a swap for soldered ornaments with some of our friends we’ve met at the classes we’ve taken with Sally Jean Alexander. I’m so thrilled that not only did our Sally Jean friends join, but a coterie of other talented artists signed up to be in the swap as well!

It’s called Winter Wonderland and the guidelines are to create a soldered Christmas/Holiday ornament that is inspired by the beauty of winter. This leaves plenty of room for each artist to create an ornament inspired by their favorite part of winter and the Christmas holiday. I’m envisioning falling snowflakes, icicles on trees, adorable little woodland creatures hopping through the snow and all kinds of other gorgeous images.

I’m a big fan of vintage and shabby chic so I’m suggesting that all the artists create in a style that is somewhere between Antique Chic to Vintage Grandeur, with Antique Chic possibly being free spirited, lacey, made with linen, a little bit bohemian or a little bit primitive. Vintage Grandeur could be a little bit more dressy than Antique Chic, with chandelier crystals, rhinestones, and maybe a little bit of velvet or silk.

The color palette will consist of white, cream, silver and a hint of a muted winter color.

We have 20 talented ladies participating in this swap and I’ll be dividing us up into 2 groups so that we’ll make 10 ornaments each. The shape of the ornaments is wide open to whatever their hearts desire. There are so many shapes to choose from, like simple squares or circles, to house or dove shapes, vials and small perfume bottles and even stars or three dimensional shadow boxes or reliquaries.

The Ornaments are due to me by December 5 and then I’ll divide them up into the groups and mail them back out to all of the artists.

For inspiration I’ve been doing my research online and finding a lot of gorgeous soldered ornaments on Pinterest. I’ve created a board called Winter Wonderland to give myself some ideas about what shape I want and different colors and sizes.

exquisite-totally-white-vintage-christmas-ideas-15

exquisite-totally-white-vintage-christmas-ideas-28

exquisite-totally-white-vintage-christmas-ideas-34

Since it’s been so warm in Southern California it’s difficult to get in the mood for winter and Christmas so I found a great blog with pictures of beautiful shabby chic decorations to get me going.

Here are some of my artist friends in the Winter Wonderland Ornament Swap who have blogs, teach soldering or sell their soldered jewelry:

I’m excited that Rochelle Gaukel, of Whatever Lola Wants Lola Gets, will be joining us. As I was going through Pinterest I saw several of her beautiful pieces pinned to other people’s boards.

Lonnie Jenck is a sweetheart whom I met at Kim Caldwell’s glorious creative events. Lonnie teaches classes and is a wonderful artist.

Also joining us is the fabulous Lori Dams, who creates amazing jewelry! If you get to meet her, ask her about Hugh Jackson! And recycling! LOL

Alanna George is an artist I’ve never met in person but I feel lucky that I got to know her through the 12 Days of Christmas Ornament Swap that she hosted. She is a super versatile artist with talents in so many areas!

We also have Hope Ellington, an inspirational artist whom I’ve never met but we were in Alanna’s ornament swap together. It’s fun to meet new artists through swaps and get to know them via Facebook.

And I’ve volunteered to teach my friends, Julie and Jeanine, how to solder. I hope I’m able to give them the instruction and encouragement to create some beautiful ornaments!

I’m counting down the days until I get to see all of these beautiful ornaments start arriving at my house. In the meantime, I’m brainstorming ideas so I can create some delightful ornaments that will grace the trees of my talented friends!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

xo,

Christine Barker

Craft Fair: Psssst, I’m a craft fair virgin!

01 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Christmas and Holidays, DIY & Crafting, Field Trip, Jewelry, Mixed Media, Papercrafting, Sewing, Soldering

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

arts and crafts, autism, benefit, Charity Wings Art Center, craft fair, crafting, crafting event, door prizes, entertainment, fundraiser, holiday craft fair, holidays, Mountain Shadows Outreach Services, music, san marcos, scrapbook royalty, silent auction, soldered jewelry, spa services, special event, stocking stuffers, union flag apron, vintage

Holiday Craft & Vendor Fair

Yes, it’s true. I’ve never, ever sold my handmade wares at a craft fair and it’s finally time for me to be brave and get myself out there. I’ll be setting up on November 16 for the Holiday Craft and Vendor Fair at the Charity Wings Art Center in San Marcos, CA to benefit Mountain Shadows Outreach Services and the Active Learning Center for Autism.

I’ll be bringing my soldered jewelry pieces, some Christmas stocking stuffers, some of my Union Flag aprons and some vintage surprises.

There will be 3 beautiful arts and craft projects to create that are perfect for all ages and levels. Each project will be a perfect handmade gift to give for the holiday season.

Plus, there will be a silent auction, door prizes, amazing vendors, food, entertainment, and spa services. Come on out for a great time and get creative while supporting a worthy cause!!!

For more details visit the Charity Wings Art Center.

When: Saturday, November 16^th from 11-4

Where: Charity Wings Art Center, 287 Industrial Street, San Marcos, CA 92078

Presale Tickets are just $7, that’s a $3 savings off the day of event tickets.

~CRAFTING ~ FOOD ~ HOLIDAY SHOPPING ~ MUSIC ~ MAGIC AND MORE ~

Swap: Sweet and Sinister Halloween Swap 2013

16 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Christmas and Holidays, Mixed Media, Swap

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

antique, apothecary jar, black rhinestone pumpkin, black rose, bling, crystal tiara, dia de los muertos, feathers, glam skull, halloween, halloween candle stick, halloween card, halloween craft, halloween home decor, Halloween Mantel, halloween picture frame, halloween swap, halloween treat, Julie Weller, marabou feathers, michelle duke, mummy, Pam Munns, Papier Mâché pumpkin, Rogers gardens, sarcophagus, shabby chic, skull cameo, something handmade, something home decor, something sinister, something sweet, something thrifted, sugar skull, Swarovski Crystals, Sweet and Sinister, Sweet and Sinister Swap, The Duchess, vintage, vintage candle stick

My sweet friend, Julie Weller, hosted a Sweet and Sinister Swap for us this year and my partner was Michelle Duke, aka The Duchess.

Michelle and I told each other our preferences and then got to work creating Halloween treasures for each other. The swap includes:

Something Sweet
Something Sinister
Something Handmade
Something Thrifted
Something Home Decor

With our crazy schedules it was difficult to have time to open our presents, since we wanted to FaceTime each other to see the reaction. I opened up my box yesterday and Michelle opened up her box today!

Eek! Isn’t this an awesome box? My prezzies are inside here!

I love how Michelle created a handmade card for me, it’s super spooky with the giant spider on it! Check out my haul!

Here’s the scary loot on my mantel. Michelle decorated a photo frame with a gorgeous feather and vintage flower and a vintage picture inside. She also made me a candle, inside the black apothecary style jar, that smells like licorice. These are my Home Decor goodies.

Oh Mummy! Next is this frightful mummy on a sarcophagus, decorated with a black rose. This is my Something Thrifted, since she found the box at the second hand store. He’s pretty amazing, with his black mesh and all!

Michelle made me a cute pin with black and cream striped ribbon surrounding a cameo of a skeleton lady. This is my Something Handmade and I can’t wait to wear her! Behind her is a sweet shabby chic style envelope made from burlap and lace. There’s also an amazing glam skull decoration with fab feathers. She’s wearing some black roses and bling and I think this is my favorite, ever! (I seriously hope my cats don’t notice this or they will be banned from the house!) Inside the sarcophagus were three skulls and those are hanging out on the mantel as well.

Thank you, Michelle, for all of my gorgeous and fun presents! The cats discovered the spider rings and have been flipping them all over the house and I’m enjoying the candy eyeballs! I love all of my scary, spooky and beautiful treasures that you made and selected for me!

Now, I get to show you what I made for Michelle! A while back, Julie and I took a trip to Roger’s Gardens to check out their amazing Halloween shop. They really put a lot of work into creating gorgeous Halloween and Christmas displays and this is one tradition I always look forward to. We love Roger and his garden! 🙂

Anyways, I saw a pumpkin that I loved but didn’t pick it up that day so I made one myself a bit later, using a Papier Mâché pumpkin, painted with acrylic paint mixed with plaster, embellished with black rhinestones. I added the plaster to give it a textured, matte look.

Michelle said she loved Sugar Skulls, so I made her a Dia de los Muertos skull with hand drawn details, Swarovski Crystals, and a marabou feather and crystal tiara. Isn’t it SCARY?

Next, I made her a wall hanging featuring a vintage little girl in a glittered witches hat decorated with Swarovski Crystals. The wall hanging has a vintage flower topped with a cameo.

For the Something Thrifted I got lucky and scored this gorgeous candle stick. I came across a tutorial online about how to decorate tissue paper and attach it to the candle with a heat gun. But, like everything else, I have to complicate things so I created a design in Photoshop, ran tissue paper through my printer and then attached that to the candle. The candle smells good so that’s the Something Sweet!

I’m so glad we finally opened up our gifts, I’ve been dying to find out what Michelle thought and I couldn’t wait to see what Michelle made me. FaceTime is one of the greatest inventions of all time!

And, I have to give a big THANK YOU to my friend, Pam Munns, for letting me use her incredible art studio to photograph my swap items in. We have such similar tastes in vintage finds that visiting her art studio left me giddy like a kid in a candy store! She has gorgeous vignettes of her vintage and antique finds artfully arranged around her studio and i just wanted to spend days looking through everything.

Thanks for stopping by!

xo,

Christine Barker

{PS} Don’t miss my FREE Halloween Printable: You’ve Been Boo’d!

The full set of printables plus instructions can be found here!

Would you like some more Halloween Crafting Inspiration? Don’t Miss:

My FREE Printable, You’ve Been Boo’d, to spread some Halloween spirit around your neighborhood.
There’s also the Something Wicked This Way Comes Blog Hop with lots of fun ideas on crafts to make for Halloween.
I also have a FREE Bewitching Hat Tutorial with easy to follow instructions and a free pattern.
And if you need some petite Vintage Halloween Images to decorate with, I’ve got a cute Vintage Halloween Collage Sheet in the Scarlet Calliope Etsy Shop.