Today through Monday, everything in my etsy shop (including original art) will be 25% off. You have to use the coupon code TWENTYFIVE at checkout though!

I’ve already added back a new and beautifully improved I Miss you Honey greeting card (now satiny matte with a beautiful bear brown envelope) and new I Pick You cards.

25% off is not something I do very often, so if you’ve had your eye on something, now is a good time to get it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Glass, Cinder & Thorns II
The all woman, fairy tale inspired group show opens this coming Saturday at 323East Gallery (Royal Oak, MI)

When the first Glass, Cinder & Thorns opened in 2009, I remember wishing I could have been a part of the show. So when the curator, April Segedi, contacted me about a year ago and invited me to be a part of Glass, Cinder & Thorns II, I was really excited! Wish granted.

Cusp of Euphoria – mixed media, shadowbox

I thought of the mingling feelings between two ages, the day into dusk, something unknown, things that can’t be undone, a forest being more than a forest, dangerous & alive.

It seems like a dream show to see in person, I wish I could be there… Stop in and have a look if you’re in the area this coming Saturday & take photos!

In spite of that, I’ve always enjoyed the decorations. Especially the antique ones my Grandma still displays every year. Cat’s in masks and in top hats with monocles, old ceramic figures that emanate light from their eyes…

My Mom and I would sometimes make paper decorations to hang around the house and on the windows. Construction paper shaded with color pencils. That was always fun.
Many, many years later, my sister and I would do the same thing but because her birthday is so near Halloween, the holiday became a huge focus and we began creating extremely elaborate decorations, games and those *things you poke your head through so people can take funny photographs for our annual party.

One year we even made cardboard coffins that contained a skeleton noisemaker for the invitations. ELABORATE.

Then, as the parties cooled a bit, my sister and I began painting huge pieces of cardboard with Halloween themes for fun.

It was then that I painted the first Little Ghost Girl. I had already been drawing a smaller version I’d been calling snow ghosts but the Little Ghost Girls are significantly different.

I’ve painted one or two every year since. It’s an irresistible urge! The cool weather comes and I grab my paints.

This year’s ghosts:

Ghost Girl with Balloon

Ghost Girls October

Ghost Girls Halloween from the archives as postcards this year!

All available in my shop today.

Thinking of it now, my best Halloween as a child was when we lived in Baton Rouge during a big tainted candy scare. I dressed up as a fortune teller but stayed in to pass out candy to trick or treaters while watching The Blob on tv.

Perhaps if I had never been expected (socially) to go out and beg for treats, I would have enjoyed it much more. Somebody has to stay home to pass out candy, right?

*why is there no word for this??

Apparently I like my witches to have pastel hair. Soft candy floss strands… Perhaps it’s a little Autumn festival inspiration.

While painting this doll, I couldn’t stop thinking of the word souffle. It seemed nonsensical at first but after a little brainstorming with my sister, we arrived at the name Sour Apple Souffle and it worked (for me at least!)

Sour Apple Souffle

Find her here!

I thought it might be fun to make a little shadow box for her. I made a loose photographic how-to so you can make one too. (instructions are behind the cut!)

This week in celebration of my new paper doll set, I’m having a 15% sale in my shop. Use the code FIFTEEN when checking out to save 15% on your total order.

Inspiration for this project came from one of those boxes that a certain mega online store ships books in… They have perforated flaps that can be easily removed (save those to make tree shapes) and usually have a flat piece of cardboard that the books are shrink wrapped onto to keep them from being damaged.

1. Once you’ve carefully removed the flaps, you can trace out tree shapes that are as tall as the box (as many or as few as you’d prefer). I used a box cutter to cut mine out (very carefully!).

2. Then take the loose piece of cardboard (the backing board for books) and push it into the bottom of the box to make a a smooth backdrop. Mine was a bit larger than the bottom of the box I had (it was from another box) so I trimmed it to fit.

3. Now is a good time to add a moon or some stars or whatever you like. You could paint the background if you like.

4. Stand the box upright so that the bottom is facing you. The trees should easily wedge into the box. Mine felt a bit loose so I added a bead of glue under each trunk. Once the glue dries, turn the box upside down and add some more to the top of the trees (to keep them fixed in place).

5. With scraps leftover from cutting out my doll pieces, I drew shapes to cut out and glitter. Stars & candy corn.

6. To prepare for the paper doll to be added, I poked two holes with the tip of my scissors into the top of the box (the holes should be approximate to the paper doll’s fastened shoulders) set back about an inch from the edge of the box.

7. To add the paper doll, I looped invisible thread around one of the fastened brads at the shoulder (on the backside of the doll), tied a simple knot, then pulled the thread up (from inside the box) out of the hole with the corresponding shoulder and looped it down (from on top of the box) the other hole and wound the remaining thread around the other shoulder.
Loosely pre-measure your invisible thread ahead of time.

Mine isn’t embellished much but yours could be painted from the background to the trees. It could be full of sparkling stars or bats. And the outside of the box could be wrapped with black paper or painted.

Available and on view tonight through October 20th at Double Punch gallery in San Francisco.

See the show if you can!

My 2nd piece for the It’s Not Over Yet! show at Double Punch opening this Saturday in San Francisco.