Busting out glitter for Day of the Dead

We started celebrating Day of the Dead last year. I'll admit that I was lured in by The Crafty Chica, Kathy Cano-Murillo. But really, who can resist brightly colored paint and glitter!

Last year's major project was an altar for my grandfather, Robert Somerville, who passed away. Em got into making the paper flowers and the white chocolate calaveras. We invited a bunch of friends over for a party and had a wonderful time.

Because the house is under major renovation right now, we're on a party hiatus. I wanted to continue the tradition, though, so I've been on the lookout for some inspiration for a fun project. It hit me at the Dollar Tree yesterday. Skull shaped "pots" with an opening in the head which would be great for a little 4" marigold. They screamed for alteration, and here's my creation.

I started by glittering the teeth. Then I went to work with the puffy paint. No plan in mind, and it was fun to just doodle. Most of the real sugar skulls you see are decorated in pretty simple, abstract patterns. I went a little glam on this one. Now to decide if I should go back for more.....

Non Traditional Colorways

I like to do a few non-traditional colorways for some of my Christmas cards. I love the lush feel of the Vintage Violet background paper contrasted with the strip of kraft cardstock. It's hard to see, but I did accent the tree a bit with my Sakura Stardust pen. I love the way it adds just a touch of sparkle without the mess of glue and glitter. It dries pretty quickly too.

The stamp sets I used are Stampin' UP! Season of Joy and Heard from the Heart. The background paper I textured in my Sizzix with one of their plates. To bring out the subtle embossing, I used a Versamagic Wheat pad to lightly highlight the snowflakes. It's a nice, natural look with the flecked kraft and ivory natural cardstocks that I used for the other layers.

Starting in on the holiday cards

A couple of weeks ago I was browsing in Talbot's and heard Christmas music. Too early, I thought! But I'll confess that as a crafter, I'm one of those people who pushes towards Christmas before I give candy to a single Trick or Treater.

I wanted some instant gratification, so I went to the November 2007 Sheetload issue to get me started on some quick cards. After banging out a dozen cute cards, I had two small strips of printed paper left over. Never one to waste anything, I whipped up a second card style to use it up.

Super Scrapping

Moving the craft room has made me realize just how many craft supplies I have. With construction going on in the rest of the house, I've been forced to hang out in the office and face just how much stuff is here. Instead of wallowing in guilt, I've been scrapping. I promised a while back to donate scrapbook pages to parents of preemies, so I'm finally getting my butt in gear. I hope to be able to send out a pizza box full of pages by the end of the week. I'll show a couple of samples to give an idea of what I'm doing. I added a temporary pic of DD on the eggplant page just to show how lovely it will be with a photo.

If you're interested in donating scrapbook pages, please visit Pages for Preemies.