Wizard Kid Halloween

  It's Halloween time and again this year my daughter needed a costume for my grandson for school. This year it was a play and Max is the wizard. Well FYI, they don't really make wizard costumes in childrens sizes. So, we had to DIY our own.
     Was a bit of work but I think it came out great and he loves it so, Marmare is happy.
Materials:
Black fabric dye
Yarn, grey and white,
Hot glue gun & a crap ton of sticks
White hair band
White muslin
Burlap
Jute
Christmas bulb (plastic)
Black leather type material
Witches hat
White spray paint
Yellow glow stick (the thin bracelet size)
Tree branch with at least three small twig jutting off.

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Elmo Birthday Cake

My grandson's 3rd birthday was coming up and I promised my daughter I would make him an Elmo birthday cake. Sounded easy enough.


You'll need:
10' & 6' round cake pans
3 cake mixes
2 cups of Confectioners sugar
White fondant (about 12 oz)
  - Tint 2 oz. Orange, 4 oz. Green, 4 oz. Red and leave 2 oz. white.
White Butter cream frosting
Chocolate frosting
2 round ball lolli-pops
Multi colored candy covered chocolate balls 'Sixlets'
Color gels- Black, red, yellow, green







So,....I bought white fondant & white butter cream frosting and mixed all the colors I needed. It is cheaper to buy just white and color it whatever color you need.

The bottom is:
3 layers of yellow cake,10 inch rounds.
Pale yellow butter cream frosting all over.
Fondant tinted red and cut into 1/2 in stripes.
Multi colored - 'Sixlets'
Greenish/yellow tinted fondant then, outlined in bright yellow (for Sesame Street sign)
White butter cream (label name and age on green sign)

Elmo's Head:
1 very full layer cake without the top cut off level, 6 inch round. Cut the mouth into it.
Crumb coat with red tinted butter cream and the mouth with black tinted chocolate frosting,
I used two ball shaped lollipops for his eyes, covered them with white fondant.
The orange nose is just tinted fondant formed by hand.

Signature Trees - Wedding

So,.... I made one myself! It really was, that easy. When my husband and I got married a few months ago I tried to save money by making as many of the items I could myself. I actually learned so much and really enjoyed creating so many lovely things (see previous post).

One of the items that was really important to my husbands and myself (yes, Hubs actually weight in on this one). Was a signature tree. Everyone I know has their wedding album and guestbook wrapped in paper in their closet somewhere or buried on a box. Not only did I not want to bother with that I thought, "Geez, I am no spring chicken these signatures could be really special to me in just a few years." Really, I am an old chic, folks in my age bracket are dying. No longer does my Aunt call to tell me who is pregnant, oh NO!! It's now who has bought the farm.

It's sad but true. I was not a typical 23 year old bride that has her whole life to ponder over memories of her wedding day. Trying so hard to keep up with all her 20 something friends that are all getting married an having babies, etc. Shit, I didn't even want to shell out the several grand for the photographer. That in it's self is a whole other post I will get into some other time.  I got remarried at 50 and was actually kind of peeved that we were making such a big deal out of it. Oh wait, I digress,.. I was blogging about the wedding signature trees.

Any who,.....I was researching options for a guestbook and came across some really nice ideas for wedding guest signatures. Some were just printed off printers or sold in mass from chain craft stores. I didn't care for any of those. I myself had started painting again the year before. Just some acrylics of flowers, doors, landscapes, etc. So I thought I will give it a try myself. I saw one on line that looked like this. So I went ahead and painted it myself and saved the >$300.00 for the hand painted one I wanted.

The left one is waiting for all the quests signatures and the right is after the wedding, all framed up and ready for hanging.

Guest really seem to enjoy signing them and I made my personal tree quite large because I had a huge empty wall to put it on.
I have since then been asked to do a few for family and friends and recently just finished my first commissioned piece. I love it when I am asked to do one and they let me 'Do my thing' and just have fun with it. Trees are so individual that the possibilities are endless.

I don't usually get to see them after the wedding so some of these pics don't have signatures on them yet.

If anyone has questions on how to create one, just email me at mlarsonarts@carolina.rr.com. It is more easy than you think.

Polymer Clay Christmas ornaments

   I had a lot of polymer clay left over from making my wedding cake topper so I decided this year I would make some Christmas ornaments. Every year I buy a new ornament for each of my grandsons so I thought I would make one this year for each of them. I also made one each for my nieces.
    This is the one for Liam, he simply loves Batman. I saw an image of this one online but don't remember where or what link I found it on.

Now, my grandson Max has not yet identified any particular character or thing he favors. So for him I may just make a little replica of he himself. For my twin nieces, one takes figure skating and the other is on a gymnastic team.

These are fun to make and a nice break from some of the paintings I have done.

Signature Tree Paintings

   After a friend saw the signature tree I painted for my own wedding she commissioned me to paint one for her. She wanted it to have her and her husbands family sign when they were all together for the holidays this year. So I thought about it a bit wondering what I could do to make her tree special.

   Each tree even in nature is very different. As an artist I have found myself just looking at trees, the way the branches are some times gnarly and and very asymmetrical. Some branches are straight and evenly dispersed, the hues of the bark offering the eye textures. I also thought about, what kind of tree would be meaningful to her. Over the last year we have talked together about her love of nature, wildlife and the time she and her husband spend hiking, horseback riding and enjoying the outside.
   So I decided to paint her a maple tree just after the leaves have fallen off it and the cardinals are enjoying the cold. She asked me to add the date of their wedding to the tree as well. This is the painting I completed for her.

The 'Guest Tree' I painted for my wedding was a conifer tree. Conifer trees are classified as any tree that bares cones and has needles. The size and type of painting is created for each of us are very different. The one I created for my wedding I knew I wanted to hang in a specific area of my house and that I wanted it to be a larger size to accommodate that wall. Hers I made a bit smaller so she had more options as to where to hang it. I still have to take mine for framing but almost all the guests at our wedding remembered to sign it.

I Enjoy painting these signature trees, there are endless possibilities and total creative freedom as far as the tree goes. For weddings I think it is just a much more practical options instead of a guest book that is going to be tucked away into a closet and sit for years. Why not make it a work of art and every time friends come over they can see their signature displayed in a piece of art.

Chalkboard Menu- Vintage Door

I wanted to create a very vintage feel for my wedding and certain elements were very important to me. Putting the dinner menu on a vintage door chalkboard was really important to me. So I bought and old maple door from Habitat for Humanity for $15.00 and some chalk paint from Home Depot.

This is a close up shot.

The brass plate and Crystal handle were missing and I purchased them from eBay. I added the skeleton keys and ribbion to dress it up a bit more.

Vintage Plate cake stand - DIY

Just made this tonight from some vintage plates I purchased at a Goodwill and one from a antique shop.  I love how this one came out. I made three others and have enough to make a few more.

Once I got the correct drill bit for my drill and the hardware online it was a snap.

This blue one cost me about $6.00 to make and $5.00 of that is the hardware. I just watched a youtube video on how to drill holes in porcelain and I was in business. I am planning on using these for the dessert table at my wedding.

Wedding Cake Topper DIY

     Sorry, it's more wedding prep talk.  So, future hubs (fh) decided he wanted cup cakes for our wedding instead of a traditional stacked cake.  I am cool with that.  But, he still wanted the fancy cake top to cut and attempt to plaster in my face (he thinks I am not on to him).

     I went on line and started looking at the cake topper things. I picked out a few generic ones that are nice and present the options to fh.  He mentions that he wants one that is custom or kind of a caricature of us. So I research and find the ones made from polymer clay can ran between $200-400.00 depending on the level of detail.  He nearly choked but was still considering it. On etsy the one we liked was going to be $280.00 plus a good $65.00 shipping from Korea. I told him I would give it a shot.
   I had never touched polymer clay before but thought it might be fun. So I buy a bunch in the colors I need, watch a few youtube videos on it and I am ready to get started.  Really wasn't that hard.  The worst part was the suit jacket for the fh caricature.  The little pocket sash and collar was the hardest part. All in all is was kind of fun but took me about 10 hours.

        Fh is a big golfer and we live on the 9th hole of a golf course.  Hence the golf club in hand and the 9th hole flag. The flag is actually a chop stick I had sitting in a drawer that I painted black and with the yellow/black polymer clay square glued to it. The 'green' is actually a wooden disc I got in some gourmet cheese months ago and thought, "what a perfectly round/flat piece of wood. I should save it in case I ever need it for something". This is actually the colors of his suit, the flowers and the design of my dress.

I am going to have to do a little touch up in the golf club because at this point it looks a bit much like a gun in its current state. But I am happy with the way it came out and it cost me about $40.00 to make.

Okay, so I have less than six month until our wedding on Oct 4th 2013.  I am dealing with details now.  So I go to order my wedding shoes.  Holy crap, the ones I liked are over $210.00. I was looking on Etsy and they are all beautiful but very expensive and I am only going to wear them once.  I am the queen of frugal and only paid $124.00 for my gown so to pay that much for my shoes seemed unreasonable.
So I took a good long look at the shoes I liked and thought, shoot,.... I can make these. I bought a pair a white satin shoes online for about $40.00, went to an antique store and bought a little doily for $7.00 and hit Michael's Craft store for some "Bling". I am going for a vintage theme so the white shoes with the antique doily made a perfect contrast. This is what I created and I love them.

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   This is my Dad, Bob Daly before he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s six years ago.  He was working full time at a funeral home as an attendant.  He had his own home, car and was very independent. Shortly after he moved in with my daughter and I. He spent a several years living with each of my sisters and now lives in an assisted living facility here in Charlotte, NC.

   He has become very frail and thin now. It is painful to watch the slow progression of the disease take his mind and body. He always looks so frightened and confused. Each time I visit I end up sitting in the parking lot crying before I leave.  But not going to visit him is not an option.  He was a great Dad, reliable, loyal, and strong. Fun to be around, all the kids loved him.  He was smart, could fix anything and loved to go camping and traveling with the whole family.  Now, it is hard to convince him to leave his apartment and go get groceries.

   He used to love music so, I gave him a radio/CD player for his apt.  He can’t seem to remember how to turn it on though. He used to sing to us when we were kids all the time.  Now, he can’t remember the words to any songs. It breaks my heart when I see the diseases symptoms of anger and aggression.  He was always so gentle and reasonable; he just wanted us kids to do the right thing.

   So I go and visit, watch him point to the lamp and call it a fan, see him standing in his kitchen just looking around and I know he has forgotten why he went in there.  I know he is frightened and so am I for that matter.  But there is nothing I can do but, love him and wait with him for the disease to take him. In the meantime try to make his life good for him in little ways.

My fist Blog,...whaahoo!

   Okay, so here is the first entry in my official life of Blogging.  My intent is to share the things that make me laugh, piss me off, ruffle my feathers and make me stop and go,...'Aww, wtf, that is so sweet, or how can people that stupid live". 
   Today not much ruffled my feathers other than the chic across the street that lets her beagle puppy out at 6:30am to pee and leaves him out for 40 mins while she showers and he barks/howls non-stop.  Now mind you he is a cute little bugger, she however is clueless. His name is 'Tiny', they got him from the pound about a year ago and I am guessing they thought he was going to be just that, tiny.  Well, he grew into a normal sized beagle so they leave him chained up to the front porch for hours howling.  They got an itty bitty replacement dog that is apparently the acceptable size (in their eyes) and that dog is carried around, fussed over and is only seen outside long enough to pee (In her pink little doggy jacket).  Poor Tiny on the other hand shivers on the front porch curled into a ball alone in the dark (no doggy jacket mind you).