Creepy Halloween Collages!

If you follow me on Instagram @jeweljeannie , you'll know that I've been doing a series of Halloween-themed digital collages, one for every day of  October.  Today is Friday the 13th and I'm particularly proud of the first one below.  I call it "Movie Monsters Go To The Movies"! 

Below that are a few others I've done, but if you want to see all of them, please check out @jeweljeannie at Instagram!

Digital Collages

I've been very lazy this summer and haven't done too much in the way of my usual craft projects.  However, I did get Photoshop Elements a while back and have gotten into making digital collages.  I'll often make my own greeting cards with them also.

I sometimes use my own photographs as backgrounds and add other images I've collected from Etsy and graphics sites.  There are so many ways to combine visual elements; the possibilities are endless!

Here are some of the collages and cards I've created:

Tea Party

I'm always looking for new items to alter, and it occurred to me that my grandmother had two lovely tea sets just gathering dust at my mom's house.  Mom gave me plundering rights, so I came up with a few things like these:

They were quite a hit with my customers and sold quickly.  Before I released them all to new homes, though, I thought why not make something for myself and the hubby?  I still had quite a few of the fruit-flavored pieces left, including a serving platter and sugar bowl, so I made this centerpiece:

To elevate the small dish above the platter, I painted a little clay flowerpot white and inverted it.  Then I trimmed it with some gingham fabric tape and painted some fruit designs on it similar to the ones on the tea set:

Here is a closeup of the top, made from the sugar bowl.  My mom gave me some faux eidelweiss flowers that I was excited to include as part of the trim.  The blue flowers reminded me of mountain gentian, which is also found in Bavaria.  Since my grandmother was German, I thought that was quite appropriate.  (The tea set was handpainted in Japan, but it's a small world after all!)

A few weeks ago I tried my hand at a "floating" tea cup.  The secret is you use a bent fork and glue one end to the cup and one end to the saucer.  Then you cover up the fork with lots of flowers and fluff so it's hidden and the teacup looks like it's just spilling flowers!

I am really loving all these tea set ideas!  I have to start scouring garage sales to look for some more cool cups and saucers.

Fairy Lanterns

As you may be aware, I am fairy-obsessed.  Surely in another life I was born with a pair of gossamer, glitter-encrusted wings!  This is definitely reflected in my artwork.  Below are a few fairy lanterns I've made.  The dragonfly is a tealight holder.  The others have lights in their lids and operate with a pushbutton on top.  (Loew Cornell makes these fabulous Transform Mason Ball LED Lighted Mason Jar Lid Inserts that operate with two AAA batteries.)

I realize the one below is a mermaid, but mermaids are the fairies of the undersea world!  I glued green tissue paper on the outside of this one:

I used white tissue paper on the outside of these next two, and put some crumpled-up colored tissue paper on the inside to add some special effects:

I realize the one below is a dragonfly, but a dragonfly is the fairy of the insect world!  (Give me time, and I'll give you a reason why every creature is a fairy.)

This next one is Fairy Lantern Deluxe.  Instead of tissue paper on the outside, I liberally glittered the inside of the jar.  Note the wee bottle of fairy dust dangling from it, and the key to the Fairy Kingdom below that:

Fairy nice, if I do say so myself!

Bertolli Beauties

A friend of mine gave me a few Bertolli pasta sauce jars.  They have such graceful shapes - almost like an hourglass - and are embossed with "1865" and some pretty scrollwork at the top.  Often I can't use jars with embossing, as some of it's unattractive or it covers too much of the jar.  These, however, are lovely and lent themselves well to the creation of these ladies:

I started out with some vintage images of women and added some glitter to their outfits.  Then I downloaded some antique-looking labels for the backgrounds.  I added some moss at the bottom of the jars and some flowers at the top, and decoupaged an inspirational message on each.  There are crystals dangling from the top of the jars as well.  I am very happy with how they turned out!  I'm doing a craft fair this weekend, and I almost hope they don't sell because I want one for myself!

Friends, Family & Fairies

I had been using digital downloads from Etsy for the fairies in my fairy jars, but I thought it would be fun to take some old photos and just add wings.  I found an old photo of myself (all dressed up for Easter Sunday) and turned it into a citified fairy.  That is the Chrysler Building behind me, and notice I've been given the key to the city which is on top of the jar.  ;-)

My sister-in-law posted an adorable old picture of herself on Facebook, and I asked her for permission to use it.  I made her into Denise the Daredevil Fairy, racing down hills on her mountain trike:

My mom has a box of old photographs at her house that belonged to my grandparents.  I'm sure there are some really great images in there.  I'm going to go through it and see what other family members I can turn into fairies!

More Captured Fairies

I am really getting into hunting fairies and putting them in jars.  (I swear no fairies were harmed during this process.  They volunteered!)

I purchased a digital download of nine different vintage ballerinas with wings from fringeart at Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/fringeart?ref=l2-shopheader-name

I Mod-Podged them to some cardstock, glittered their wings a little and made a home for them in some repurposed jars I bedazzled.

Here is Celeste, the Starlight Fairy:

And here is Gwendolyn, the Forest Fairy:

These are so much fun to make and I can use whatever odds and ends are in my craft box.  The possibilities are endless!  I used my own photographs for the backgrounds.