2 more projects on the to-do list!

I was shocked when the Spawn cleaned her room (without me nagging!!) recently.  She came across 4 artist canvases that she'd doodled on a long time ago and was going to throw them out!  I grabbed them and told her I'd figure out something to do on them.  There are 2 - 16x20 and 2 - 12x12.  So I put them aside until inspiration hit.  Then I saw someone on FB post a painting of a tree she'd done on one on the H'ween pages I follow.  

**ding** that was my inspiration!  

I don't know if I ever posted anything about this old cherry tree that used to be next to our house.  When we moved into the house in 2003, they told us this tree was dead, but it bloomed and produced (really sour) cherries every year until 2014!  The last year, nothing.  Not even a single leaf.  It finally kicked the bucket.  I'm going to miss using it as a back drop for my wire tree with orange & purple lights - I actually tied the wire tree to the real tree and you could barely see it during the day. 

Sadly, it's gone now.  It wasn't our only dead tree, and one of two dead pines fell during the first snow we got last November and reclined across the yard for close to 6 months before we called the "tree guys" and had all 3 taken out this spring.  

But look how awesome that tree was!  I loved the twisted trunk and the fern that grew between 2 of the bigger branches.  Anyhooo.  I'm going to attempt to recreate this tree on canvas!  Obviously without the house & big maple.  I'm thinking a silvery-gray background with the tree in black and maybe a stylized graveyard?  

I was at Hobby Lobby tonight with the Spawn because she wanted LED C'mas lights to put up around her ceiling.  And I wanted to check out their H'ween selection to see if anything would be good for my Secret Reaper victim (from the H'ween Forum).  I got some acrylic paints in colors I don't have and also found another damn fancy charm!  I need to stay out of the jewelry section, especially the clearance area!  This is a bunch of stuff I've picked up over the the last 2 years or so, with the thought of making some really fabulously decorated apothecary items, but I didn't even put the apothecary out last year!

These are mostly from Hobby Lobby, Michaels & JoAnns. 

I promise I did not pay full price for any of these!  

The green one is a bracelet, but cheap enough that I have no problem with cutting the elastic to use the skull beads for something else. 

These are from Party City. 

I like that they have clips on them. 

The pink octopus may need a coat of paint.  I have some deep blue / green nail polish that should work nicely. 

I got the rhinestoned skull &crossbones today.

I love bling!

I thought it was odd that Buddha has a pumpkin head. 

Love that tree!

Yes, handcuffs.  

I hadn't even opened this pack of charms.  The bat & spiders were a nice surprise! 

These are from the local plant nursery in the fairy garden section. 

The creepy-ass armless winged baby came out of its crown, but some glue will fix that. 

I'd put that huge crystal in my car, but it would probably blind me if the sun hit it!

Tiny little bottles have a lot of potential. 

I won't get into all of the kinds of beads I have - this particular group is Daisy approved!

The tear-drop shaped thing is a broken earring that came in one of the bulk bags of jewelry that I've picked up at consignment stores here & there. 

So it looks like I have stuff to keep me busy & out of trouble, since there's nothing else (at the moment) that I want to do for the cemetery.  

Spent some dollas today...

Randy & I went out to dinner for Valentines Day tonight (or last night, since it was after midnight when I posted this), so we can have Chinese carry out tomorrow in the peace & comfort of our own home.  For some reason, we always seem to end up going out to dinner, then finding ourselves at one of the local Salvation Armies (or sometimes WalMart) to walk off dinner.   Tonight was no different, except we went to two!.

I got some new pieces for my ceramic village.  In this first one, there's a bat and the moon on little wire coils so they bounce.  

 This one has a dangling spider and has a place for a tealight candle in the back. 

 This one is my favorite!  It's a little pirate ship! 

I also found a neat old jewelry box that has a cameo of some girl on the cover, but I needed something to put my earrings in that is kitten-proof!  I haven't decided it I'm going to repaint it or not.  The music box doesn't work, but I'm OK with that.  I don't want it to start playing at random and give me a heart attack!

 Earlier today I was at Hobby Lobby and I found the paints to use on the horse project.  They're all of a satin finish and instead of bright white for the bones, I found "white birch" which is a bit more ivory looking. 

I better make sure I get the apothecary out in 2016, because I found more cool things to adorn bottles & such!  I have a box of stuff just to use, so I need to bring it out to the light of day!

I have a lot of pieces like that, along with beads & costume jewelry & such to use.....I found this idea on Pinterest , but I was thinking of a skull....

OH ~clicking back some posts~ I never showed you this!  Randy & I were at an antique store and saw these in a display case.  I didn't get them at the time, but I couldn't stop thinking about them, mainly the dragon.  So I went back the next day.  

Ugh.  Lousy color, but you can see how huge it is!  

I don't know if that will be put in a frame or not.  It's too heavy to actually wear, but it's too pretty to stick in a box where noone can see.  This will require some thought! 

#MGC

Day 16 - my jewelry & girly stuff

I'm weird when it comes to my jewelry - I only wear my wedding rings & US Navy ring and hardly ever wear necklaces....but earrings I go crazy over. 

I do really like this cameo necklace. 

 An assortment of skeletons - the big ones glow in the dark. 

 Mummy earrings & pin.

 Speaking of pins....a lovely spider and some fall leaves. 

 Goofy skulls & bats. 

 These are probably the ones I wear the least.  The orange glitter is wearing off the skull & crossbones and I have similar non-dangly spiders that I like better. 

 I don't wear the cats much, either.  It's hard to see what they are.  Love the headstones, tho!

 Candy corns, bats / moons, ghosties and the spiders that I do like. 

 It just occurred to me that I am missing the matching necklace to these.  It's long enough that it gets caught between me and my desk at work.  It's a dark chain and golf-ball sized skull with a chain tassel under it. 

 I found this cuff at a dancewear store, of all places!  

 I found this perfume & nail polish at Hot Topic.  I'm not big on strong smells, either (gives me headaches) - so I was pleasantly surprised with this. 

 Close up of the perfume bottle. 

#MGC

Home Depot & stuff

Yeah, I was intrigued with all the hype regarding the Home depot offerings this year.  So after a chaotic day at work, I did some retail therapy.  

These huge freakin' skulls were awesome! $50. They had a ginormous 3 foot tall gargoyle, too.  I can't believe I didn't get a picture, since I like gargoyles!

 I'm not sure why everything has LED eyes this year.   

I caved and got one of their $30 pose & stays.  It's very lightweight and also has LED eyes.  I'll have a review up on it soon. 

 Now THIS I was very impressed with.  It's very heavy resin and almost 2 feet tall (with LED eyes, of course).  I like the detail and heft and the perfect amount of goofy to fit in my cemetery.  Best of all....$15!!!  The only thing I noticed that could be a problem is that the base is somewhat narrow, so if its sitting on uneven ground it could fall forward or back.   And there doesn't seem anyway to anchor it to the ground. 

I saw the fire & ice lights there, but they only had red & purple.  If they had blue, I probably would have been all over it.  So I got the ghosties instead.  They also had skeletons, spiders & one other that I can't remember. 

I like how the post is easily adjustable. 

 Let's see if the video works.....

I also popped into Hobby Lobby where for some reason all Fall and Christmas stuff was 40% off, but not the Halloween.  But that's OK.  I didn't see anything I liked there.  But my nutcracker collection is more racially diverse now!  Seriously - I've never seen black nutcrackers before - love them!!  

 I'm still on the quest for the hearse from Home Goods.  I found this one the other day....hidden amongst the fall stuff.

Which I like a lot, but I've seen pics of a silver one with a driver that I'd like, too. 

Now I need to come up with a suitable horse.....

This plate is pretty awesome.  I got the smaller of the ones available.  They had silver & gold & red, too.  This actually has red tints in the black when the light hits it just right. 

I got this today.  Come on - a blinged out purple skull candle holder - awesome! 

Kmart didn't have much out yet, but then again - its technically still back-to-school time since around here school doesn't start until the Tuesday after Labor Day.  Sooon! 

They always have the best hand towels. 

 I got this neat throw pillow and only 1 towel (so far - muahaha!) 

 

 I was thinking of kicking back with a Buzzball (never had one before) but Randy is out with a bunch of people from work, celebrating with envy the guy who is moving on to new opportunities so I don't want to crack open something with 17% alcohol if I may need to pick him up.  So it'll wait til later!  I need to finish getting my Secret Reaper gift together so I can get it mailed out anyway.  Or I could be domestic and like OMG, clean my house....

NAH! 

#MGC