Time for Pumpkins

© Dianne Bishop Carey 2011

It's T Tuesday over at Elizabeth's blog:

Altered Book Lover...

© Dianne Bishop Carey 2011

And time to share a few pumpkin characters.

To celebrate October, I will show a variety of pumpkin

and Halloween decorations this month, so

'stay tuned' for stitching, painting, drawing,

collections, and dust-catchers of all kinds!

© Dianne Bishop Carey

I love vintage-looking pumpkins, so I am

sharing some past art work inspired by

old paper mache' Halloween decorations.

© Dianne Bishop Carey 2014

Above, an ATC (Artist Trading Card)

 with a vintage-style pumpkin face.  The 

Lettering was generated on the computer 

and printed on card stock. I drew the rest of the

 elements on white card stock, applied

 watercolor or marker, cut out, and glued on.

The background is navy card stock.

This went to Dawn via snail mail!

© Dianne Bishop Carey 2014

Above, 'Jolly Halloween' lettering was also

done on the computer. The background is scrapbook

paper and a piece of Smash book page, with a geometry

diagram from a vintage Geometry textbook.  I drew 

and watercolored the pumpkins and the 

Man in the Moon. The title on the back says

 " I AM smiling," said the moon.  This ATC may end up

in my Project Life scrapbook...

I am having my mocha coffee today and linking up

with Elizabeth's   T Tuesday link party. 

How do you celebrate October?

TABS on T Tuesday

Tabs with my morning coffee today...

I like to try finding a topic that begins with 'T' for

the T Tuesday link-up party with Elizabeth and friends.

Thought I would share TABS

 on the edges of my art journal pages.

Tabs make me happy...

Most are made from scrapbook paper or 

watercolor paper, either rectangles or circles

punched out with a circle punch. Notice I sewed a

bit of burlap for the tab on the right. It is rather

bulky, but I like how it looks.  I've also used security

envelope liners, and watercolor paper with doodles

in paint and pen to make Tabs.

There are lots of options!

The Paper Clip as a tab: above, is a counted

cross-stitch design on Aida, that was cut out, glued to

the paper clip along with backing fabric, and 

the entire piece stiffened with white glue.

Another paper clip tab, with a knotted strip of

fabric.  You can also see the purchased paper clip

to the left that has an arrow image on it. I am not sure

if I bought it in the office supply aisle, 

or in scrapbook supplies.

Above, a rather large tab covered with

fabric scraps.  I guess I just wanted to include

the entire collage on this tab...

One of my favorite tabs: a scrap of lace that

I crocheted with beads sewn onto it.  The 

bugle beads and seed beads stick out over the

edge of the page. Not a substantial tab, but

adds a nice texture!

Tabs on cards or tags inside a pocket, make the

piece easier to pull out of the pocket.

A bit of fall color is showing up in my area

of Ohio...and here's one of the many

primitive pumpkins that appear around our

house this time of year.

Linking up with Elizabeth for T Tuesday.

Thanks for visiting!

Vintage Halloween Inspiration

Watercolor and pen~

inspired by images on Flickr

of vintage Halloween collectables...
paper lanterns and candy containers.
The ghost was a candle...

I can almost hear the

Trick-or-Treaters approaching!

Pumpkin Man

My taste in Fall decorations has turned to vintage style pumpkins, as shown on the black round box (center). The country angel was made a few years ago with twig angel wings and a raffia garland of wooden stars and a heart. The Halloween ATC's from a previous post can be seen in the foreground. The "Pumpkin Man" was created because I couldn't afford to spend the $65 or so on the one I saw in a shop...mine turned out differently, of course, but I like him. I used panels of golden yellow and rust/orange fabric for the pumpkin, and painted his eyes and mouth in artist's acrylic paint. His nose is 3-dimensional, stuffed with poly fill and darker green paint for shading. I love the look of the skinny legs and feet, but they were terrible to turn right side out! (I know there are gizmos for turning tubes of fabric easily, but I don't have one)

As my paper arts projects, paintings and art journals have been consuming more of my time and interest, the sewing projects are less frequent. The fairly large fabric stash that most sewers and quilters accumulate is still lurking in closets, bags, and bins however...so fabric is turning up in my collages. With the trend of small "art quiltlets" gaining popularity, I may have to try one, but I wonder if my experience with traditional quilting methods may interfere with the art and experimental aspect.. raw edges showing is not a problem for artists, but traditional sewing doesn't go for that. And did you know that Fabric tends to be like art supplies, you are forever seeing one more item you just have to have...?!