I'm on Instagram now!

Hello Lovelies!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm on Instagram now!  In fact, I've been there much more than here, so I wanted to invite you to follow my stream at @paintmyselfpretty.  I'm posting photos of old favorites, new available items and exclusive COUPON CODES!!

So, please.....find me there and say Hi!

The coupon is for 20% off your entire purchase of fun, one-of-a-kind creations....like my Snowball Ornies, Feltie Jacks, Sea Glass Hair Barrettes and Reusable Coffee Cup Sleeves...and much more!

Thank you, thank you for being a part of this Artsy Community I love so much!
Lotsa love,
Cam
 

HUGE SALE Going ON NOW!!

Hello, Sweeties!

I just wanted to let you all know that I'm having a GIANT Sale to clear my shelves for new items in the Fall.

Just enter FABFORTYOFF at checkout for 40% your ENTIRE purchase!

So, this lovely 11x14 painting would be just $38.40!

 

...and this owl art necklace would be just $14.40!!

 

 

What about a sea glass barrette like this one?

Just $10.20!!

I have over 100 items in my shop including a Clearance Section that you would take an additional 40% off of with the coupon code!

Please stop in.  Maybe you can get a little early Christmas shopping done :)
Thank you and big hugs to you all for your support and friendship over the years!

Big Hugs,
Cam



 

That Dead Feeling Continues.....

Day of the Dead, actually :)

I just love painting these girls! They are macabre in their skeletal make-up....but still so bright and beautiful.  I love the flowers and the colors....it is so fun to paint them!

I tried something different from canvas this time.  I thought I'd use some chipboard shapes I bought a while back to make ornaments for the occasion.

 

They can be hung on your altar, a Halloween tree ( I always wanted one of those) or on your walls all year round.

 

I used bits of old and new jewelry pieces to dangle below.  This enamel butterfly was an old pendant that belonged to my Grandma years ago.

The sentiment translates to, "Never Forgotten".

 

 

The flowers are cut from vintage greeting cards.  This one says," Eternal Love".

 

 

I don't know if you remember when Amy showed some of us how to sew fabric onto watercolor paper and use that to paint on?  The original post is HERE.

 

Well, I had a 9 inch square sewn and waiting for ages for the right inspiration to come along.

This is what it became :)

 

 

 

See, color and more color! Love it!

Her message says, "I will never forget you" (thanks for the letter tiles, Micki!)

 

Making the fabric flowers for her hair reminded me that I had some flower brooches in the shop that could use a photo redo.

Maggie helped me :)

 

 

I think they definitely look more attractive now :P

 

I'm trying to keep the Halloween coming, though I know Christmas is at my door getting ready to ring the bell......"Hold on, hold on, I'll be there in a minute!"

 

My Friend, Magaly is having lots of dark, Hallow's Eve fun over at her Blog if you are craving more!

Go visit for a spell...okay, okay...that's an old one...but she is a witch...so it's true!

 

Hugs and happy memories,

Cam

The BIG News!

So........
The big secret I've been keeping.  The one I've been teasing you with.  The one I keep hinting at and then run away giggling to myself......

Well....
Here it is!!!!

 

I'm Published!!!!!!

 

 

My Halloween sculptures made it into this issue!

I don't know if you remember, but those were my first attempt at sculpting....ever!  You can read that post HERE.

 

I submitted them over a year and a half ago and heard just before going on vacation that they were selected!  I have to admit I blabbed a little, but I was waiting....waiting until I could hold the magazine in my trembling hands and shout from the rooftops....

I'M PUBLISHED!!!

 

Can you tell I'm excited?!

I've been so excited, I made new sculptures to commemorate the event!

Before I show you I wanted to tell you that I added a CLEARANCE Section to my store where I drastically reduced a bunch of paintings and other goodies.  I won't be renewing them, so grab them now....stock up on gifts....and use this 10% OFF coupon on your entire purchase to sweeten the deal!

 

Enter CELEBRATEWITHME at checkout :)

 

I gave you this sneak peek on Facebook a couple weeks back.

 

 

This became my very first try at a doll.  This is Mango :)

 

 

 

I love cat paw pads....so he had to have them, too.

 

After I made him.  I tried a different face shape.

 

 

This is "Spats"

Tuxedo cats are special to me now that I own one :)

 

 

These really were labor intensive.  I have one more body ready to apply clay to, but to be honest, I don't think I'm going to tackle that anytime soon.  These may be the only two I ever make. 

Who knows.... 

 

I've been working in clay so much over the past few weeks!

 

Look at these cool pumpkins I made.

I call them my "Sleepy Hollow" Series.

 

(sold)

 

All the text is cut from a vintage copy of the book.

"Sleepy Hollow was famous for Goblin Pumpkins"

 

 

"Sleepy Hollow is the most haunted spot in the world"

 

"shocking things happen in Sleepy Hollow"

 

 

"Sleepy Hollow is full of strange spirits"

 

"Welcome to Sleepy Hollow"

 

These are fun to make.  Each takes on a personality of its own.  I like flipping through the pages of the book and trying to make phrases that go with their expression.

 

...and because Halloween is not complete without a bit of the macabre, I made these:

 

 

4 pairs of fangs for your curiousity cabinet.

 

This little piggy had rigor mortis.....

 

 

 (Sorry, Natasha May) She hates it when I show digits in jars..haha!

I used driftwood as the bones. 

They are perfect for this because they are already discolored and rounded....and the paperclay sticks to the wood easily.

 

They are all in the shop....get 'em while they're hot!

Don't forget to use the coupon code CELEBRATEWITHME to get even more off :)

 

Thank you, thank you to all of you for your support, excitement and friendship!

It makes me so happy to share my life, creative and otherwise, with you!!

 

Biggest hugs!

Cam

 

I've Got 3 Words for You....

I'm so sorry!
Well, those aren't the words I was talking about, but they are oh-so-true!
 I've been away from my blog for far too long....forgive me....pretty please :)

You see, it was Maggie's 7th Birthday last week and we had 2 parties for her over the past 2 Saturdays....one for family...and one for just school friends.  I've been cleaning, planning, cooking, decorating and basically in Party Mode for 2 weeks straight.  I can't wait to get all the photos up here to show you, but that will be another post.

So, now that I'm officially "free", I've resumed my regularly scheduled activities! That means going to the gym. Boo! But also, painting! Yay!

I rescued a whole deck of these adorable flashcards from the trash a while back.

 

I started by gessoing them and adhering some paper to them.

 

 

Then I used my new favorite technique of scribbling on watercolor pencils....

 

 

....and gessoing again over it.

 

 

Then came some stamping.  I have a new "screen" background stamp that I tried here for the first time :)

 

 

Here's where the steps weren't documented so well....haha!  You know how it goes, you start getting to the heart of the painting and it's hard to remember to stop and snap a photo :)

 

 

I nearly finished one before I remembered to stop.

 

I tried something different for me.  I sketched out the faces in watercolor pencil which I later used to add the shading to the face.

 

 

Here they are all finished....complete with touches of glitter....because who doesn't love glitter?!

 

 

The 3 words I have for you are......"Gratitude"

 

 

"Stillness"

 

 

...and "Simplicity"

 

 

Gentle reminders for good vibes :)

All in the shop.

 

I hope my Stateside friends had an awesome Mother's Day yesterday....and that all my friends had wonderful weekends!  I'll be back with party pics soon.

 

Here's a sneak peek ;P

 

 

 

I'll be going now...but just 3 more words before I do.....

Thanks for visiting!!!

 

...okay, and maybe 3 more...

Love you guys!

 

Cam

Looking Sharp-ie

Do you get ideas stuck in your head that you just can't shake?
Ideas that make perfect sense....in theory?

Well, I had purchased some iron-on transfer paper a while ago thinking that I would make tote bags with transfers of my art on them....

Turns out the ironing process, the thickness of the canvas and my patience level weren't a good combination for this project.
So, I thought I'd paint the bags instead.....
sort of like this.....

 

Sorry for all the random pen marks on this sketch. 

The concept was to paint different Dia de los Muertos inspired girls and attach a jersey flower pin to the side of her hair that could be removed to wear on other items. 

 

Like this....

 

 

 The other side would have a pocket sewn on in a matching jersey fabric.

 

 

There were several complications to this idea.  First, she took forever to paint!  Acrylic needs to be watered down quite a bit to flow over the toothy canvas, which meant lots and lots of layers to get brighter colors and full coverage.  I didn't want to ask a lot for these bags....and at this rate, they wouldn't be worth the time I was putting in :(

 

 

The second complication occurred after I gently washed the bag to test for durability and shrinkage.  I expected some....but not only did it shrink, it wrinkled very badly!  I have attempted to iron it 3 different times with underwhelming results.  The painting held up well, though....haha!

 

Here's the size difference after washing.

 

 

So I switched gears and decided to use permanent ink instead....it was definitely faster.

Sharpies are very durable and come in all kinds of great colors.

 

 

I would simply recommend spot cleaning these totes, no biggie...

 

 

Unfortunately, I should've tested the "permanent metallic ink" (not Sharpie brand) pens I've been using on my rocks on this fabric.  It seems they bleed when wet...sheesh!

So, no spot cleaning either....haha!

 

Clever fox Loves the Earth :)

 

 

So, I've got some cute totes available in the shop right now....

 

 

They will happily serve you as long as you follow an important rule (remember that 80's movie "Gremlins"?)

Don't get them wet!

.....but feeding after midnight is perfectly acceptable ;P

 

I also did a few more rocks over the weekend.

 

 

It might be time to switch over to familiar territory again...some safe hair clips or zombie plushies or something....haha!

 

What projects have you tried that didn't quite turn out as expected?

 

All my best,

Cam