Creative Chaos: October Fest

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Octoberfest Bloghop

*shushes the crickets as she clears away the cobwebs*

Yes, I AM still here. I'm sorry for the long silences between posts, but I just haven't felt the blogging bug biting me >.< But here I am, as promised, to celebrate my favorite time of year :)

Due to far too much rain and cold these past few weeks, I was unable to get out and take photos of all the beautiful golds and reds, and sore feet have put a damper on my long walks in search of the colours that still remain... as of today, the golds and reds are already mostly browns and blahs :( That said, I do have photos to share that I took earlier in the month!

Below are a few shots taken at the biggest fall festival in my area 'PumpkinFest'. These was taken inside one of the big tents, where they were weighing all the giant giant pumpkins and other veggies in hopes of finding a new world record.

The pumpkins were all so large that they had to be move via slings and forklifts! The one in this photo weighed well over a thousand pounds :)

I was bitten by the painting bug a few times this month, and an autumn themed painting was always on the list, but until yesterday, it didn't happen. Even now, it's still not finished but I took some pics to share anyhow :)

To start with, I took red, burnt orange, and antique golden yellow, and just drizzled it in zigzagging lines across the canvas, then took a sponge and dabbed them all together.

Then once it all dried, I took a skinny sponge brush, and added in brown and a soft powdery blue. This about three quarters done now, and completely sponged at this point. Next I'll take the paint brush in and do some detail work, so whenever I get that done, I'll share it again :)

I had several necklaces and bracelets planned and in the works, all with an autumn theme to share with you, however none of them managed to get completed. They're all laid out on bead boards, or still in sketches :( I do however have some earrings to show you :)

Some leaf headpins made by Shelley of Tori Sophia, paired with antique copper wire, and black and bronze tone Swarovski crystals.

Another set of headpins from Tori Sophia , this time layered over some light jade leaves, with antique copper and green swarovski.

A pair of charms that the photo really doesn't do justice too. Also from Tori Sophia, and with antique copper, I added some sari silk bits to the back of them. I did have some golds and browns with them, but the bluey green just popped better.

And of course, what is October without skull jewelry? I made four pairs of skull earrings, but I seemed to have misplaced both the earrings and the photos of them, so here are two of them lol
Above are red swarovski crystals with red skulls - the bigger ones are magnesite, but the smaller ones are from Michaels and the label says reconstituted turquoise...O.o look the same to me, but then they could be... I never bothered to look them up ;)
Below are more of the tiny Michaels skulls, paired with some silver skull charms and links.

And to finish this off, I'll share with you my own, much altered recipe, for pumpkin raisin muffins. I use rice flour in place of regular flour, but changed it back to 'normal' for this post. If you want to use the rice flour as well, just add a quarter cup cornstarch as well.

1/3 cup veggie oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup brown sugar ( not packed)
1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin ( NOT pie filling! I use E.D. Smith's Pure Pumpkin, or when they're in season, I get a couple small pie pumpkins and make my own puree)
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice ( you can make your own by using equal parts ginger, cinnamon, & nutmeg)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Combine all these into a bowl and mix until smooth. Then mix in 1 cup flour, and 3/4 cup oat bran . Once the flour and bran are all mixed in, add 1 cup raisins that have been soaked to plumpness :)

Fill lightly greased muffin pans until 3/4 full, then bake at 350'F for 23-25 minutes.
I use the extra large muffin pans ( texas size, apparently) so they take longer.

There you go :) Some giant veggies, some leaf and skull earrings, and some yummy muffins, which I should warn you, are rather addicting.

Carry on throughout the hop and enjoy what everyone else has to share :) I'll see if I can't have another post up in time for Halloween :D

Click here for the OctoberFest Blog Hop Participants List

Sunday, October 28, 2012

October Fest BlogHop

Yes, another bloghop.. but one I couldn't resist taking part in since it's celebrating my favorite time of year :) Not just October, but all of autumn ! Rita of 'Toltec Jewels' & 'Jewel School Friends', drew together an impressive list of prizes and participants to celebrate the season :)

Being an 'open celebration' we were given the opportunity to share whatever we wanted to - jewelry, photographs, recipes,ANYTHING that was inspired by or practically screamed 'autumn'.

I'd planned on two different hikes this month, the colors and scenery being fabulous and perfect for taking photos to share with you. Hike number one, while lovely, happened to coincide with dead batteries in my camera >.< Hike number two was rained out... and it's 'rain date' was cancelled due to being sick. I do have some that I managed to sneak in on a walk home from work one day... a day that I was hit with the urge to take my camera with me despite that being something I don't usually do. Good thing I did, hmm?

Colours

Autumn Trail

Autumn Gold

Sunshine Leaf

Into The Dark

I recently purchased a big ole box of chipstone and other yummy beads from a lady in Texas .. and among them was some that just kept calling to me. The reds, oranges, browns and creams just screamed 'autumn' to me and so while watching tv one day I started to play with whatever was in front of me... and an idea was born... and blossomed into this

Some time after that was finished, I made some Halloween jewelry pictures elsewhere on my blog here... and after choosing a bunch of beads to do another one, I ended up swapping them out for the same beads in different colors, and making this