Dia de Bloglandia

Happy Dia de los Muertos!

I am happy to celebrate this very special day by taking part in Stephanie & Susanna's Dia de Bloglandia uber-Grande par-tay extraordinaire!

I had a very strong desire to create an ofrenda (altar) in honor of the people I love that have passed, but must admit I had a hard time getting started ... I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to come up with anything worthy of the emotion I feel for those I hoped to honor ... that is until this morning.

I knew I wanted to include at least one traditional Mexican craft & realized I had everything I needed to make paper flowers (most of us do have these items on hand - tissue paper & pipe cleaners), so that's where I started ... the rest, well, it just seemed to fall into place ...

There are six people I am remembering today. The two candles sort of center right are for my Grandfather and my Omi. My Grandfather Pitcairn passed on October 12th of this year; he was 95 and died in his sleep. I can't think of a more gentle way to go. When I found out, all I could think of is that he and my Omi were finally together again. Theirs was a love that not only survived World War II (in Germany, no less), rations & two daughters that both married American men and left their home country for the United States, but thrived. They were more in love in their "golden" years than they even were in the beginning. I loved both of them dearly & was blessed to have been able to spend quite a lot of time with them considering the distance between us ... plus, there was always the letters back and forth.

The four candles clustered to the left are for friends of mine who's lives were tragically cut way too short (in my humble opinion, at least) - John, Brian, Mac & Bill - all on separate occasions. I still miss them dearly and think of each of them often. They are in a very real way responsible for the woman I am today. For that, I will forever be grateful; they will always occupy a sacred space in my heart.

I learned that it is traditional to light an extra candle for forgotten souls, so I have added the larger white candle to the left of the raised portion. See if you notice other traditional items that I included in this ofrenda.

The simple papal picado (banner) below includes "flags" with the names of those I've mentioned.

Special Message: To the lovely gals that won one of my mock sugar skulls from Vanessa's party way back when, you might see your little gems in these photo's ... my sincerest appologies for the delay, but their presence here today is very appropriate and greatly appreciated. They will most definitely be on their way to you come Monday.

Building this ofrenda was truly an amazing experience for me. I felt such a joyful peace in creating it & my heart actually new when it was complete. Once I lit the candles, I sat in silence for quite some time before taking any photographs. I offer my sincerest thanks to Susanna & Stephanie for hosting this beautiful event.

... and on that note, I am off to visit all the other participants ...

Happy Dia de los Muertos!

(ps - click on any of the images for a larger view)

Party Favors

I had a great time putting together the party favors for my big 4-0.

Above is a photo of goodies that were included in each little box: stickers, temporary tattoos, a few plastic beads, a mango scented candle, plastic drink critters (for use at parties - each person gets a different critter to help remember who's glass is who's), a God's eye, a mini loaf of lemon poppy seed bread, a beaded bracelet (swarovski bicone crystals beaded on elastic thread), an assortment of 2"x2" washi chiyogami papers, a paper crane and a two sided pendant. Not pictured: a glow in the dark skeleton key ring and a dark chocolate truffle ... that I really should have known better than to send - I received word that at least three melted somewhere in transit ... ick. Hopefully they didn't cause toooooo much of a gooey mess!

Not too long ago I made a beaded God's eye that wasn't quite so simple and was more time consuming than I had anticipated. For the party favors, I decided to get back to basics. I used little skewers and 100% cotton embroidery thread. Making them brought back a lot of good memories and were quite relaxing to do. Here's the complete set that I made (only 5 were actually shipped out; I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to embellish the remaining five ... time will tell).

I also wanted to make name tags for my guests, so wrote their blog names (with the exception of e.beck's - couldn't resist gettin "groovy" on hers) on a 4x4 piece of Bristol Board and doodled all around their names with my handy dandy fine point Sharpie (a favorite past time, dontcha know). Once the doodles were done, I decided that it would be cool to add a lil sumpin, sumpin ... I stitched over their names with embroidery thread. I think it added a cool little element:

Finally, I had so much fun making my first set of charms for the Black and White Charm swap that I wanted to try my hand at another charm type thing. I decided that a pendant would be good. Each pendant is two sided. The image on one side is a Sharpie sketch that I had done of Audrey Hepburn's eyes and the other side is the first Mandala I painted:

If you are interested in the steps, it was pretty simple. The squares are pieces of craft wood that I cut to size and sanded the edges smooth (slightly rounding the corners). Next I painted both sides with Mars Black acrylic paint. I attached my miniature artwork (just printed on 60 lb high gloss paper) with Modge Podge (believe it or not) and then applied about three coats of high gloss varnish. Once the varnish dried, I poked holes through the wood (with a needle), added the jump ring and strung it on the black cord. Viola! Simple and yet effective. :)

Project Updates

If you are here via Pam's challenge, my Little World photo's can be found here.

I completed the four panels for Karla & Beth's Vintage Workshop swap late Friday night (I know, nothing like waiting till the very last moment). Uber-honey made the trip to the post office Saturday and priority mailed it ... I'm fairly confident it'll arrive at Beth's tomorrow - my fingers are crossed! Here's how they ended up:

For a first attempt at something like this, I am pleased that I finished and (as is typical) now that I am done, I am suddenly struck by things I could have done differently and ways I could have improved the exectution. Also, after seeing some sneak previews of other offerings, I am truly humbled by the creative genious that surrounds me. I've gotten a lot of inspiration from those visits. All-in-all this has been a fun and educational experience for me. I've definitely found a little courage for trying something new.

Since this deadline loomed sooner than the Black and White Charm Exchange, my poor little ellies had to sit patiently by. This morning I dusted them off and added the silver edging:

I used model paint and am really happy with how shiny it is - if you squint (just a little) you could believe that it's chrome. Once I feel confident that the paint is dry, I'll add another coat of high gloss varnish (to both sides, of course). Once that dries I'll be rounding the home streatch - I'll get to poke the holes and add the jump rings.

It's too late to start all over, but if I were to make more like this, I would probably cut the paper to the size (and shape) of my wooden piece and would just seal the image high gloss varnish. I'd still want to paint the edge ... I can't scrap what I've done so far for two reasons ... 1) this was my first attempt at anything like this (yes, a lot of firsts these days), so I have a soft spot for them and 2) I've put a lot of time, energy, and love into them. I hope the recipients will be able to feel that in the pieces and appreciate them, too.

I just visited Amber Dawn's blog and learned that she is still looking for a few more participants. If you are interested, please go here and leave a comment.

You know you want to!

OK, so the last update for now:

There's not a lot of progress on my beaded doll, but I have been busy ... if you would like to see the previous photo updates you'll find them here and here.

Oops! One more. The uber-hub has given me an indefinite extension on his own challenge ... the beaded God's Eye is part of it, so I guess it IS in progress.

Beaded God's Eye

Last night I worked on the beaded God's Eye for the spouses challenge. I'd hate to admit how much time I actually put into this - way longer than I should have - but ultimately, I think it was worth it. I used 11/0 glass seed beads on super strong thread ... check out the results:

The first image is of the front and the second is the back.

I would like to revisit this idea in the future and just might try using something like a 24 gage wire instead of thread ... we'll see.

On a side note, we're 8 days into the birthday month and wouldn't you know it ... the fam decided to surprise me with lunch today - sushi (eel) and seaweed salad - YUM! yep, I like it when I'm spoiled.

Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful week. :)