Bats are Flying!!! Fairfield Halloween Bloghop with Designer Crafts Connection

Hello everyone! Welcome to the Designer Crafts Connection Fairfield Halloween Bloghop... featuring oly*fun™ and PolyFil from FairfieldWorld.com. 

I'm always working so I don't normally dress up in a costume – though this year Halloween falls on a Saturday. I do LOVE to wear festive head adornments that are easy to take on and off... so this year I'm going a little batty! I've made a Halloween Fascinator using oly*fun™ fabric, a headband, tulle, lace, seasonal floral/feather picks, Beacon Fabri-Tac adhesive, and some fun metal tags from Deflecto.

I have fallen in love with oly*fun™ and have been using it for all kinds of projects. CLICK HERE to read more about this fabric from Fairfield World. oly*fun™ comes in a fun assortment of 18 colors which makes creating pretty much anything possible... especially when it comes to making no-sew projects. CLICK HERE to see my Doctor Who T.A.R.D.I.S. pillow and my Holiday Shelf Elf Sitter using these fantastic Fairfield products.

To begin, I sketched a bat pattern template on some cardstock, cut out and traced onto a couple colors of oly*fun™ using a white pencil.

I cut out a variety of circles to create a "one-eyed" bat, two layers of my bat in black and one in purple that was slightly larger to give some added detail.

Now to prepare my layers for gluing. I made three layers thick for extra dimension/stability and because I will be embedding the Deflecto metal tags in between the layers so that my wings will fly and I can mount bat vertically on my headband.

I've also dismantled a purple tulle fairy skirt from the Dollar Tree to add some additional details. One circle is the last layer for an added touch of whimsy.

Using Beacon Fabri-Tac adhesive, I glued down the layers of my one-eyed bat and then moved on to adhere the black front to the purple center layer. I set aside the other black bat which will be the backside to conceal all of my support mechanisms inside.

Before I add the support system, I have added some tulle fringe to the edges of the wings... it's my favorite color, girly and it matches a shimmery purple spooky cape I have in my box of Halloween goodies. I glued gathered strips along the edge using Fabri-tac - all of which will be hidden after final assembly.

I've bent and wrapped a couple of Deflecto Flexible Sign Danglers around my headband to act as supports when I mount my bat vertically, and there will be more concealed within the layers of fabric {you could also use wire or pipecleaners}. I happened to have a bunch of these sign danglers and they did the trick.

These strips are be perfect to add structure and stability for my batty fascinator - keeping the wings in flight without sagging. I left a small pocket open in the bottom of the eye to insert the tabs mounted to the headband when I'm ready to wear - then remove again for flat storage.

Now to ADD BLING!!! I grabbed my black soot Ranger Distress Stickles and started adding glittery detail to my bat. I had to let her sit overnight to dry, but it was so worth the wait.

The sparkley detail added so much personality to "Ms. Bat".

Batty Fascinator... ready to fly!

I wrapped some black tulle and lace around the base of my headband and gently slid the bat onto the headband mounts. I've gathered my resin skull pendant choker, spooky spiderweb cape and the seasonal floral/feather picks to add height and drama to my "Batty Fascinator". I tried it out on a test run to plan my updo... all I can say is that it's going to be so AMAZING on Halloween. I'm creating a matching "dracula" style collar/capelet to add to the top of my storebought cape.

Connect with Fairfield World on your favorite Social Sites...

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FairfieldWorld

Blog: http://fairfieldworld.com/blog

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/fairfieldworld/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/fairfieldworld

Shop for oly*fun™ here: http://shop.fairfieldworld.com/c/oly-fun

oly*fun™ is available from Hancock Fabric, Fabric.com, the shop at FairfieldWorld.com and also JoAnn Fabric.

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

Thanks so much for visiting! For more ideas and inspiration follow the Designer Crafts Connection "Fairfield Halloween Bloghop" by selecting hop back/forward on the logo below to enjoy all of the wonderful creations. Sb :)

Designer Craft Connection

[ Hop back ] [ Hop forward ]

Have Fun...Fun... FUN Creating with oly*fun

Introducing oly*fun from Fairfield World

The Everything Material!

This is one of the the easiest,
most versatile materials you will ever find.

• You can sew it, glue it, staple it, pin it or tie it.
• You can write on it, paint it, embellish it,
  stamp it or stencil it.
• You can scissor, rotary, or die cut it.
• You can use it as fabric or use it as paper.
• You can use it indoors and outdoors.
• The only thing it won’t do is fray, tear or fade
  so don’t bother hemming it.

oly*fun™ features...

SOLID COLOR THROUGHOUT

Use both the front and back - no white core or back side.

GREAT VALUE

A good value solution for holiday and event decorating, costumes, kids projects and activities.

NO FRAYING

Easy sew, no hemming required!

WATER RESISTANT

Ideal for a wide variety of indoor and outdoor uses.

oly*fun™ works inside and out and is very economical. It’s a great alternative for PARTY CRAFTING – and can be used instead of paper or tissue for many projects. It’s more durable than papers – won't crease, wrinkle or tear quickly in wind or from hyper kids - and it won’t disintegrate when coming into contact with water. Essentially all school spirit color combinations are included in the 18 color palette of oly*fun™! Make spirit pom-poms, spirit cuff bracelets, bleacher cushions, ponchos, etc. for your students and community. Can make a great fundraiser - sell easy to make projects by kids and families at reasonable cost and lots of value... perfect event before a big game!

CREATIVE GIFT WRAPPING – To sew or not to sew – that is your question! Use basic folding and wrapping techniques or more complicated origami with oly*fun™ to create beautiful, unique and durable gift wrapping. Vibrant colors can be used as is, or can be stamped, stenciled, or painted on with a variety of materials. 

If you can make it in Felt, you can make it in oly*fun™ - but it will be more weather and water resistant with a more tailored look and feel.

Easy to die cut - use oly*fun™ in your crafting, scrapbooking, bulletin board art, school projects, and all sorts of teacher/student projects.

Easy to sew! oly*fun™ is a great material for beginner sewing – there is no grain, no selvedge, no sizing, no fraying... Just so easy!

a few oly*fun™ faq's...

What exactly IS oly*fun™? oly*fun™ is a specially engineered material that features some of the best things about fabrics AND papers.

How do I sew it? Very easily! There is no grain to oly*fun™, so you can cut it any which way you want. There is no need to pre-wash, as there is no sizing or shrinkage. Use a simple stitch to attach pieces together, and hem only if you want. oly*fun™ will not fray.

Do I need to pre-wash it? There is no sizing in oly*fun™, so there is no need to prewash.

When it needs cleaning, how should I wash it? It’s best to wash on gentle cycle and air dry.

Can I iron it? Yes, but carefully. When ironing oly*fun™, use only a cool or low iron with a pressing cloth.

Can I use it outside? Absolutely! oly*fun™ is weather resistant... so water rolls right off.

Can I glue it? Yes! oly*fun™ glues best with Fabric Glue such as FabricTac or Aleene’s Tacky Glue. A hot glue gun works great too. It’s best to test the glues before kicking off a big project.

Can I die cut it? Yes! oly*fun™ runs through any pressure style die cutters like Sizzix, or Accu-cut. It will work with an electronic die cutter if a stabilizer is used.

What other ways can I cut it? Use scissors, rotary cutters or paper cutters with a rotary style blade to cut oly*fun™. It’s best to test before kicking off a big project.

Is it flammable? No. oly*fun™ is not flammable, it will melt if exposed to flame.

How many colors does it come in? oly*fun™ comes in a rainbow of 18 vibrant solid colors. The colors can be mixed and matched to create projects for any holiday or season, and almost any sports team or school! 

How is oly*fun sold? oly*fun™ is sold on bolts and in quick grab and go packages. The bolted material is 60 inches wide and can be cut to whatever length you like. The grab and go package is 20 inches wide and includes 3 yards of material.

oly*fun™ is available from Hancock Fabric, Fabric.com, the shop at FairfieldWorld.com and various other sites.

Connect with Fairfield World on

your favorite Social Sites...

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FairfieldWorld

Blog: http://fairfieldworld.com/blog

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/fairfieldworld/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/fairfieldworld

Shop for oly*fun™ here: http://shop.fairfieldworld.com/c/oly-fun

* * * * * * *

Stay tuned to see how I'm creating with oly*fun™... it's out of this world! :) Sb

Raiding the #Cre8time Fridge to Preserve Memories...

Welcome! It's the first Monday of September and it's time for a new Designer Crafts Connection Bloghop. This month's theme is "Preserving Memories"... a scrapbooking blohop... with a bonus challenge of utilizing items found around the house. I love making mini albums with all sorts of fun recycled items such as flip flops, paper bags, empty ribbon/tape spools and with today's project... food packaging!

I don't have to look far for finding something to create with – there is usually plenty of interesting things to use for crafting in my recycling bin... or in my pantry and refrigerator! Do recognize this empty box? This is the packaging that comes full of tasty wedgies of Laughing Cow cheese. I never let these babies hit the recycling bin. They are a perfect for housing a mini album -or- decorated up to present a gift card. I gently peel off the package labeling from the box to give me a blank slate to work with. 

I've also recycled a chipboard box from cookies and also a corrugated shipping envelope that I've cut into circles to make pages for my mini album.

 

I gave a distressed, white-washed beachy feel to the outside of the box and both sides of the pages with an acrylic/gesso mix and also some spray mists.

I also need some matching ribbons/fibers! I distressed some sheer organza ribbon and white cheesecloth with distress stains and spray mists.

Now to assemble my mini book - this will be accordion style. Using double-sided sheet adhesive cut to fit the pages, I sandwiched the ribbon and cheesecloth between the pages – adding some double-sided tape to the top of the ribbon to lock them in place when I adhere the top page.

Between the pages, I added some knotted natural green dyed raffia.

Nothing goes to waste with me - I used a recycled envelope to decorate the base of my box. I distressed/painted in the same fashion as the pages and adhered using double-stick adhesive sheets. I'm normally a glue-stick girl, but after all the painting and distressing, the double-sided adhesive makes assembly quick and easy.

I included some vintage beach stamp images using brown dye ink onto creme cardstock primed with the same acrylic/gesso base as everything else. I tore each image out and distressed edges with chalk inks to complete the vintage weathered feel.

I layered onto the corrogated pages a section of distressed cheesecloth and one image adhered with tacky glue. The backside of each page gives me space to add some of my vacation photos from Jamaica last fall.

I added some antique gold dewdrop ink to the inside of the box and layered a stamp collage image to the base. The gold ink worked nicely blending the hard edge of the envelope and white box with the corrugated border around the sides... WOW this is so lovely!

Now for some finishing touches: a resin cast sand dollar colored with spray mists and antique gold ink; a recycled dry cleaning tag; section of cheesecloth; raffia stands; and some real mini seashells to complete the scene.

The accordion style book nicely folds into a stack to nestle into the box... i's all grungy and weathered, and looks like it's just washed ashore!

From Cheesy to Beachy Chic...

This cheese box has been transformed completely – one would never guess what it was when I began. Keep a lookout in your pantry, the fridge and your recycling bin for amazing and interesting things to upcycle into something beautiful and useful for memory keeping! 

Thanks for visiting. Continue on the Designer Crafts Connection "PRESERVING MEMORIES" Bloghop by selecting hop back/forward on the logo below.

Sb :)

Designer Craft Connection

[ Hop back ] [ Hop forward ]

Papier-mâché Animals on Parade... a #Cre8time Collaboration with #MixedMedia Friends

Hello friends. I know I've been a bit quiet... I'm not able to burn the midnght oil creating all night, every night like I used to... though I am still creating - with reckless abandon!

Grab ahold of your seats!!! It's that time again - time for another Cre8time Collaboration hosted by the amazing Tina Walker. She came up with another fabulous challenge for a bunch of us mixed media junkies... an altered papier-mâché animal collaboration. You know I was all - in!!!

I am so excited to share my whimsical creature that is a twisted and taped bundle of recycled newspaper, packing papers, paper towel tubes, WIRE HANGERS {yikes}, topped in a hoarded cherished jar of purple chalkboard paint.

I started out by cutting up and bending two recycled wire hangers {from dry cleaning} and began building up my creature with rolled up newspaper wrapped in masking tape. Feet done!

This body is stuffed with loads of newspaper, tissue, recycled paper towel tubes and I decided to add a couple craft matchboxes. I taped these together to create a trio of mini drawers.

I reinforced and secured edges of drawers with a good beading of hot glue. This also helps keep the moisture from the wet gluey paper from warping and dissolving my boxes.

I cut up another hanger and bent into ear shapes. I hot glued this to a stiff recycled paper tube {I think it was one from saran wrap} and taped on balls of crumpled paper to create the head shape.

Then its on to the laborious task of papering my creature. I used a mixture of 1/2 PVA glue to 1/2 water. I mixed it in a big pyrex cooking dish and began soaking and adding on torn sections of recycled tissue paper, newspaper and packing paper. This took several hours since this critter is so large. I set it aside to dry overnight.

It's really coming along and OMG... it's got a personality!!!

I added some brads mounted in discs of paperclay for eyes, and molded a bit of paperclay to the snout to create indentions for the nostrils. When papering, I must have been sniffing the glue - I only thought to give my new friend a BIG happy smile - LOL!

When clay additions were dry, I painted the entire figure with a purple chalkboard paint that I picked up on clearance ages ago. I painted on layers in a drybrush fashion so that I didn't affect the papier-mâché. Due to monsoon storm - this isn't drying as I expected. I'm going to have to wait a bit longer for this to be dry so I can take some chalk to it and doodle up my new studio mascot... a super cute donkey!! I will share as soon as I can - this paint is still glossy and a bit tacky - which seems ODD for a chalkboard paint.

I need make a point to give credit to another artist who provided me the inspiration to make this critter. An amazing mixed media artist I follow on FB - Karen Kradel Fincannon, who makes wonderful sculpted critters.

I have had this screen shot in my phone for quite a while and I'm pretty pleased how my donkey came out... though her lil' guy is so STINKIN' cute!!! Thanks Karen for sharing your wonderful art online to inspire us all.

Can you help me name my
new studio donkey mascot??

Please leave a comment with your suggestions.

Thanks for dropping by - please enjoy the Animals on Parade! :) Sb

Please follow the links below to see
what the rest of the gang has created...

Tina Walker - Our HOSTESS!

http://adogslife-thirteen.blogspot.com/2015/09/artist-collaboration-paper-mache-animals.html

Laura Mooney

http://happinessequalscreation.blogspot.com/2015/08/meet-bertram.html

Michele Kosciolek

http://stuffbybelle.blogspot.com/2015/09/winged-giraffe.html

Christy Strickler

http://myscrapbookevolution.blogspot.com/2015/08/altered-paper-mache-animal.html

Albion Gould

http://albiongould.com/mixed-media-deer-head/

DeeDee Catron

http://deedeecatron.blogspot.com/2015/09/altered-paper-mache-blog-hop.html

Melissa Johnson

https://melsartjournal.wordpress.com/2015/09/04/altered-paper-mache-animal-collaboration/

Mitra Lee

http://mitralee.blogspot.com/2015/09/bitchy-baby-fairy-papier-mache.html

YOU ARE HERE... Susan M. Brown {sbartist}

http://sbartist.blogspot.com/2015/09/papier-mache-animals-on-parade-cre8time.html

An InLinkz Link-up