The Queen of the Pumpkins

Here she is, the Queen of the Pumpkins, my gift from Candace Navarette at Howling Moons Designs for the Rabbit Hollow Prims Halloween swap. Isn't she marvelous? I like her. I like her alot!


What a face this doll has! Candace used the fat end of a gourd for this marvelous doll and paperclay for the primitive folk art features. So creative and clever! See the tiny gold colored rose earring she has to trim her hat? Notice the black fun fur for hair? And she smells oh so good, like apples and cinnamon!




The Queen's dress looks like vintage fabric, as do her striped pantaloons. The glittery orange and black ribbon trimming her dress is perfect for this doll, and don't overlook the netting and crinkly ribbon bow at her neck. And just peaking out is a big gold and black button on her dress.




A rusty safety pin holds a vintage skeleton key at her sash, and her arms and legs are painted orange osnaburg. Her high heeled boots are also painted.

The glittery tag says it all...she truly is the Queen of the pumpkins!

She really likes to sit on our woodpile and our log fence. She seems very comfortable and looks regal perched in either place.


What a marvelous, wonderful piece of art she is! Thanks, Candace, for making her and sending her my way! And thanks to Sue, Cindy and Kim at Rabbit Hollow Prims for inviting me to this fun party. When's the next one? Can't hardly wait!

Here's a link to Candace's blog post about my gift to her for this swap.

http://howlingmoonsblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/rabbit-hollow-prims-halloween-swap-my.html

And here's a link to the gallery at Rabbit Hollow Prims of the other great Halloween pieces in this swap. Go check it out, you'll love what you see!

http://rabbithollowprims.blogspot.com/2010/09/halloween-witches-tea-party-swap-pics.html

The Raven's Tea Party...my first Halloween Swap piece.

I was invited to participate in a Halloween Art Swap by Rabbit Hollow Primitives and this is my folk art piece, the Raven's Tea Party. Man, what a blast I had making this project! My partner is Howling Moon Designs, and she's already posted it on her blog.

http://howlingmoonsblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/rabbit-hollow-prims-halloween-swap-my.html

And by the way, she's got some wonderful creative stuff on her site, you should check it out!




I knew I wanted to build this piece around a raven holding a tea bag, and when I spied this candleholder in my stash, I knew I was on the right track. After painting it, I wrapped it in bundled twigs, draped gathered tulle between all three branches and added doilies to the side holders.



I made the raven of muslin and paperclay with wire feet and quilted wings sewn on separately with a tea bag dangling from it's beak and a witchy hat on it's head. It is also wearing a tiny skeleton key around it's neck. The tea pot is styrofoam and paperclay and painted with acrylics. The spider is wire and beads. I added fun yarn around the teapot's base. The twig nest around the raven's feet also holds a teeny tiny jack o' lantern I carved from a pumpkin less than an inch across. X acto knife, baby!!

















I painted a scary tree with a crooked fence and a witchy moon with bats on the front side of the teapot, and on the back there's another scary tree in a an old graveyard. Very spooky and perfect for a Halloween tea party.


And what's a tea party without cake? I started with a wedge of styrofoam and some paperclay, then added the dimensional bat and piping with hot glue which I painted to look like ooky black icing. Acrylics made it look like chocolate cake with orange frosting, just perfect. I LOVE the way this piece of cake came out!


As the finishing touch I added this mini garland made by my daughter. The rosettes are made of book paper and the stickers are from Martha Stewart's Halloween collection. She is a clever one, my daughter!

Candace at Howling Moon Designs says she loves her gift and I loved making it for her. I see that she is a member of Eclectic Halloween Artists Group, which I would love to join. Guess I'll have to start campaigning for that honor.

Rabbit Hollow Primitives has posted all the swap projects on her site, go take a look. There is a wonderful collection of beautiful creations on her site, you'll be glad you visited.

http://rabbithollowprims.blogspot.com/2010/09/halloween-witches-tea-party-swap-pics.html

And guess what, I have another candleholder just like the one I used for this project, so I can make another Raven tea party if I want. I love it when a plan comes together!