30 December 2014

New prints available

I've recently made a available a few prints of the base artwork of my spirit boards that I sale. These are prints of the artwork only and do not have the lettering.

These are available on deviantart and Etsy


The following have been made available:

The Morrighan



Surfacing


The Arrival of Wisdom


Day of the Dead Altar



Witch By Choice


The Thinning of the Veil


The Visitor



Benzaiten, Goddess of All That Flows







Brightest Blessings
Saga




28 December 2014

Holidays and New Artwork

Brightest Blessings everyone! Have you all had a good holiday season?

I sure did! I have the new work area and everything was merry and bright. I decided not to put up a Yule tree this year, too many kittenish cats for that. I have several antique ornaments and I didn't want them ruined.

I did buy a few things to put up in place of a tree. I love the Tomtes and I found a couple here and there. I found myself a lovely little mobile with Yule goats, I made a wreath with my daughter and made some gnomes for it. I saw a lovely idea on Pinterest using ping pong balls on lights and I made that, and they turned out quite well. So, even though I decided against the tree this year, my home was still festive. I also decided to go a new color with my hair. Here's a few pics of everything and links to the pins that I found for these.

First, my new tomte that found a home in front of my fireplace:

Next, my daughter and I made some crafts for our home. We made cinnamon ornaments and turned them into garland.

I didn't really use a pin for this, as I have made these before. I usually start with a cup of applesauce and then keep adding cinnamon until I have a stiff dough. I also put a bit of cloves in. Here's a helpful link: Cinnamon ornaments

Next, I found a pin that used pinecones as the base of a wreath. I had been picking up pinecones for days on my walks with Tesla, my pittie. We decided to make this one, but I also added a few gnomes to it. The gnomes were another pin that I found.

 


Aren't they cute??

Here are the links to the ideas for them. Pinecone wreath and gnomes

Here's the ping pong lights


Link for directions here:  Ping pong 



I found a cute little Yule goat mobile


I made my first Yule log cake! I found a gluten free recipe and I even made the little mushrooms for decoration. 
 


The one that I used for the mushrooms is here: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/meringue_mushrooms.html




And I had my hair colored a beautiful silver color with blue ombre, which I adore and plan to keep for a while. 

 


All the Tomtes and vintage swedish Christmas cards on pinterest had my art wheels grinding in my head and I made a new plaque. I love the look of the vintage cards, some with glitter. This is a 3D plaque. I painted the background picture and then I create the main pic with clay. I made each of the little lights on the tree and strung them on green thread and placed them on the tree. I placed holly around the edge and put the Swedish "God Jul" at the top which means "Merry Christmas" or "Good Yule". This lovely plaque will be listed in my shop this week. I have another that I am going to make, plus I'm going to begin work for the Imbolc edition of Imramma Magazine!

I hope each and every one of you had wonderful holidays with your families and I hope to have more pics soon. In the meantime, here are some pics of my latest plaque!







Brightest blessings,

Saga



07 December 2014

My New Desk

I've been doing a lot of organization work in the home. I'm also trying to work on my home a bit more. I have tons of stuff to do, so this blog will probably be showing my updates for a while and nothing else.

My first act of crafting organization was to build a craft desk. My things were spilling over in the corner that I have them and it has gotten to the point that I don't want to make or do anything. I have to drag stuff out to get to what I need and I had to do something about it.

I saw this awesome craft desk on Pinterest not too long ago. I knew when I saw it that it was just what I needed, only bigger.


Here is the one that I saw:


The original idea is from Ana White, but this is someone's desk they made using the idea on Ana White.


Isn't it just divine? Well, I wanted it. We followed the semi-instructions but I added a few things.  I added length to it, a middle cubbie section, 2x2 for the support boards, and backing to the cubbies instead of wallpaper.

It cost almost 300.00 and I painted it to match my livingroom mural.

Here is mine.




Here is my wonderful hubby building it.


And here it is waiting to be painted.




The top is mdf board, but I wanted it to look like planks. I didn't want to put planks on it, I wanted a solid top, so I'll just paint to look like planks.




Here is the top when I finished it.


I added runes around the edge.


I forgot to mention that I painted the cubbies with oil based kilz so that I could paint them. After painting I put two coats of polyurethane on the whole thing.


Here are the rocks that I started painting on the cubbies. Hecate likes to inspect my work.




And here it is after I have finished. I need to buy the cloth drawers and I may add a climbing vine to the artwork later.








Brightest Blessings,
Saga











04 October 2014

Go To The Sirens For A Craft Post




Today I'm totally making a Samhain Sirens Crafting post! If you want to learn how to make this magical spellbook keepsake box then go

HERE

01 October 2014

A chance to win one of my handpainted spirit boards! It's the Samhain Siren's kickoff!

It's here! It's here! It's time for the Samhain Siren's kickoff! Today is the 1st day of October and with that comes all the yumminess that the Siren's are dishing out!

If you have ever wanted to own one of my handpainted Spirit boards, then today is your lucky day. You can have a chance to win one! I am honored to be the very first giveaway of the Siren season.

Go on over and enjoy the kickoff and then follow the entry the giveaway instuctions. Good luck to each and every one!

This is the giveaway:


21 September 2014

Mabon Funkin Altar Decorations


This article is part of Kallan's wonderful Sunday Stew. Please hop on over and read all the                                 different flavors added by each chef. I know that you will love it!



It's the second harvest celebration and the official beginning of fall! Let's all celebrate with a pumpkin spice coffee! While you're drinking your coffee let's make an altar/home decoration.

This week I'm trying out the funkins. Now, I've never used these. I've seen them for years in the stores, but I've always passed by. I preferred (and still do) real pumpkins. However, I did want something that would last a few years, so I thought I would grab a couple of these and start crafting.

I decided on one white and one orange. I also purchased some fall leaves, fall colored flowers, black wheat, and some orange glitter ribbon.

The first thing you want to do is decide what to put on your funkin. I wanted words on one and a picture carved on the other. I went to dafont.com and found a nice font that I liked. I went with "Here Comes The Sun". It is a nice sized decorative script without too much frill.

For the white pumpkin I decided on a stag silhouette in front of the moon.

I printed it out the size I wanted.


I used transfer paper to put the lettering on the funkin. Just lay the design on the transfer paper and trace over it with a pencil. Do this with both designs.




I know the design I made for the white pumpkin is atrocious (and I'm almost out of black ink) but I only need to make an outline on my pumpkin, so it worked.



Now carve them both. Also cut the tops off, like you would a pumpkin. I'll let you know now that if you have never carved these, the orange was terrible! It seemed brittle and it was harder to carve. The end result carve of the orange one did not have smooth edges. The white one was way easier to carve and it did not make a mess. They both had very heavy PVC smells, which I don't like. When you are finished carving, wash them. The transfer paper makes a bit of a mess. 


There is a caution on the bottom of the funkins that they are highly flammable. You can use lights but only LED lights in them. I'm not going to risk anything since I am also using dry items, such as the wheat in mine. I decide to line behind each of the designs with a bright felt. I'm going to use yellow. I used E-6000 craft glue to attach it to the funkin. I just smeared some glue on the inside, around the design.




These are lightweight and the items that we are going to be putting in them are heavy, so they will need to be weighted inside a bit. I just put a few rocks in each one. 

Next you want to make your arrangement. The black wheat comes with twist ties around it. Keep those to hold your end arrangement together. I used 2 bunches of wheat per funkin. Also, the wheat is quite long. It's up to you how much you want to have standing up, so you will have to trim it. I just put the wheat inside the funkin and kind of measure how much to remove.






When you are finished measuring your wheat and you have it bunched together, tie it with a twist tie to hold it. The other flowers I clipped each one off of the bunch right at the base. Now just arrange your flowers and leaves around the wheat. Use another twist tie to hold the flowers to the wheat. Then put your lovely ribbon around your arrangement and tie a bow.
 

Now, when you put the wheat arrangement inside the funkin it will not be stable, unless you use foam blocks inside. I hate those foam blocks. I stuffed raffia around my arrangements. It worked nicely and my kitties, Gaia and Kissy had a blast.

 


After you are finished stuffing whatever around your arrangement, stand back and look at the awesome that you have made.

Welcome Autumn. Have fun with what you made, put more decor around it. Light some fall candles or incense. This will look nice for Mabon.






Bright Blessings,

Saga