Swish, Swish, Poof!

   Sorry this is so late but Blogger and Firefox conspired to make my past 2 days miserable, sigh. But I'm back up and running now so whoohoo!
   I was going to do my utensil into wand project in order of the seasons starting with Winter and moving on to spring then summer and so on, but lately fall has really been calling to me. I've been doing a lot of dreaming about fall weather and leaves changing color (not that I actually know what that looks like- but hey a girl can dream can't she?) and really getting excited for Halloween. So Autumn jumped the ship and swam out ahead.
    Now I used a new technique that I had never used before on these and it turned out pretty well I think.
    The slats in the wooden spatulas kept making me think of trees, so I used a wood burning tool to burn the lines and a few small details for the trees in (ever since Gumbo Soul over at Witchy Gumbo posted her wood burned spoons I've been dying to try it). Then I  used some watered down acrylic paints to wash color on for leaves and grass and then added some details in.

    Then I wrapped the handle in some pretty ribbon that reminded me of fall. Next I knotted some red and orange cording and made a chain of knot work that I wrapped around the handle and glued into place. It reminded me of falling leaves. Here's what the whole thing looks like.

     Since I'm doing these in pairs I worked on one of the forks next. Whenever I think of fall the first thing I think of is Halloween. While I was trying diligently to draw a rabbit for spring (I've really been wanting to do an animal for the forks- the prongs just make me think of ears, lol) a little cat kept peeping out at me. So I gave in and let the cat shine through. And what's more Halloween than a black cat?
    I used the same technique of wood burning the basic details in and then acrylic washing the main blocks of color in and then going back with solid acrylics for some of the smaller details.

  Then I used the same gold and pink graded ribbon to wrap the handle but added a cross wrap of thin black ribbon, double wrapping it at the top and adding a charm bead to mimic a collar and tag for my little kitty.

   

so yet again, sorry. This was supposed to go up yesterday morning but the internet was fighting with me. We've since made up and all should be running smoothly from now on !

My First Award!

 Magaly over at Pagan Culture was absolutely sweet enough to give Witchy Thrifting it's very first award!

 Now to me sweet has a couple different meanings. There's sweet as in 'aawwww how sweet', and then there's sweet in the Dude Where's My Car sense (yes I'm that kind of geek, lol), you know sweet. So I'm going to stick with Magaly's 2 groups of 3 rules, but I'm going to pick an "awwwww how sweet' group and a sweet group.
     This first group are a bunch of bloggers that while sweet in their own ways tend to give me the warm fuzzies on a regular basis:
Tamara over at Riding on A Broomstick. She's a really sweet lady and if you guys haven't heard of the plight of Marvin yet then head on over and help us send some peace to the poor little gator before he gets sent to the summerlands.
Gumbo Soul over at Witchy Gumbo  is one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met and so very talented that sometimes I hate her for it. If you like her creations remember to check out her business FB page so you can get some for yourself =).
 Robin Larkspur over at Wiccan Writes is one of the sweetest gardeners around in both senses. She's working on an absolutely magical garden for her daughters wedding that is absolutely beautiful!

Now this second group are a bunch of women that I would totally envision having an argument about tattoos with:
Dark Mother over at Dark Mother Goddess is completely bad @$$ and totally sweet. She kicks butt and doesn't even bother to find out the names...
Leanna from Can We Have A New Witch Ours Melted totally gives a 'f '. She so totally gives one that it's probably capitalized, italicized, and highlighted, lol.
YellowDog Granny of YellowDog Granny Blog makes getting up on Monday mornings almost worth it to me. She's pretty much how I hope to grow up to be.

So there you have it all, I hope you go and check these ladies out and learn how sweet they all are!

Custom Prayer Candle Box

     I know I dangled a project in front of you a few days ago. Well its finally complete. A custom prayer candle box! We've been working on this for about a week since a lot of the components take a couple days to set.
    It started out as this-

    Your basic frames that we found at the thrift store for about $4.00 each (or less).
     Then we did this to it.

    After all the staples were removed and the artwork taken out we then painted the frame.

  
  Everything goes with basic black. We used black craft paint and did about 2 coats on all sides. Then I got fancy with the silver leafing and sealed it all with some polyurethane to seal it. Then the Hubster made me a nice little open box to attach to the back which got the black treatment too. I then used epoxy to glue the glass into the frame so that it could be moved without the glass falling out. Then I pulled out the Gallery Glass and the leading blanks and got busy. Here is the final result-

  
We added a clasp on one side and hinges on the other so that it can be easily opened and secured.

     Since the art is done in Gallery Glass (I know- I should just buy stock in that company, lol) it can be changed whenever you want so you always have a fresh look or change it for the seasons or occasion. You could also use paper as well but I would not suggest using anything flammable if you plan on putting a real candle behind it. This one is actually from a drawing a did a year or so ago that I really wanted to see in actual stained glass. The frame is meant to hang on the wall and you can put small tapers or tea lights (real or electrical just please don't use real ones if your frame is small) to illuminate the artwork so that it looks like this-

     I am really happy with the way this came out, especially since it was a collaboration of ideas and work between me and the Hubster and coming from his initial idea. This will be going on our wall later today as soon as I figure out which wall, lol.
   And as you saw we have 2 other frames to experiment with and I think we'll be doing some different takes on this idea that are percolating in my brain as we speak.
   So what do you guys think?

Why Thrift?

    Why would I love to go to ratty old thrift shops, or paw through the stuff that other people didn't want on their front lawn?
    Why Thrift?
    My answer to that is simple, yet complicated. The simple answer is because it brings me joy. It brings me joy to hunt through the shop in search of that piece that will spark my interest and get my creative juices flowing. It brings me joy to take those pieces home and in some way transform them.
    The complicated answer is, well complicated. One part of it is that walking through a store and seeing pieces of other peoples' lives displayed trips my curiosity. It makes me wonder about them and what drew them to the objects in the first place. Why did someone own a green leather jewelry case and what did they keep in it?  Why would someone have 15 different cat mugs? What color wall would match fuchsia shelves?You can develop a very interesting view of humanity by looking at what they thought was too precious to throw away. Because that is in essence what you find in thrift shops and yard sales. The things that people couldn't stand to see thrown away but can no longer keep themselves. Sometimes they are things a relative has left them after passing, some times they are things that they need to get rid of to make room for new things to love, but no matter why they are giving these things up at some point someone cared enough about them to have kept them in their home and did not want to see them completely discarded. Which means when I go to pick them up and take them home I am taking on a bit of a trust, to take these things that someone cared about and make them into something that my family will make part of our home, and someday when we are done with them they will return to the thrift store for  someone else to find and make part of their home.
    Another part of it is being able to let my creativity run as wild as I want it to. Would I experiment and try gluing random things to a brand new item that I bought at a store?  No way. What if it didn't turn out? What if I ruined this item I just spent $10-15 on? I just wouldn't do it. I would keep my ideas bottled up and think about what I would do if I hadn't paid that much for the item. Buying items at thrift store and yard sale prices allows me to be as experimental and creative as I want with them without feeling guilty about spending some of my family's tight budget on a project that may not work out how I see it in my head (and trust me there are plenty of those, lol).
    And yet another part of it is my own sense of responsibility to Mother Earth (or Gaea, or whatever name you have for her). Everything that we as humans make or use comes in some way from her. It is either dug from her soil, cut while it is growing from her,  or taken from her seas or sky. No human made product is in reality a product of only ourselves. All of our creations are a product of her substance and our imagination. As we all know there is only so much of this that our Mother is going to be able to stand before too much damage is done. By finding these items and re using them I am, in a very small way, taking something out of the create and discard cycle that our society has created for itself. And I am honoring Mother Earth by not allowing the things we have taken from her to be discarded as worthless.
    So as I said, it's simple and it's complicated- but it's also a lot of fun!
    

Stars and Fire Equals Thrifty Fun

     There's a bigger project I'm working on that is almost complete and I hope to finish it up in time to make it my next post so fingers crossed and light a candle that the glue holds (just you know, not too near the glue, lol). But while I play around with epoxy and screwdrivers here's a cute little project I completed on the side.
     I was lucky enough on one of my jaunts to the thrift store to find some candle holders that were an awesome 5 pointed star shape. They had a lot of them in both taper and tea light sizes (the size of the candle holder thingie on the inside..oh you'll see, lol) and I picked up 3 of each to play with.
     Here are a couple that the Hubby and I did over the weekend using the same painting technique with the Gallery Glass.  These were clear class before we messed with them.

  This is the one that my Hubster did and I just love the way the orange and red make it look like it's on fire. This is one of the tea light sized ones ( I told you you would see, lol.) The edges are red and when it's placed at the correct level the red seems to radiate up through the glass.

This one was mine. This is the taper size and I went with a pearlized white with a red border. Like with the other one the red radiates down through the glass, but the white (especially in the thin layer I applied) adds a pearly sheen to it that looks awesome in the candle light.
    These were an awesome find, and because they had so many I made multiples and the hubby and I are currently having a contest to see who's ends up looking better. We're both working on 2 more and I may just post them all up here for a vote (that's not the big project I was talking about- I am really excited about that and can't wait to show you guys!) to see who wins. I picked up some really cool colors  of Gallery Glass this weekend that I can't wait to see how they turn out. Here's a crafty/thrifting tip- Always check out Michaels and Joanne's websites for coupons. I got a 50% off coupon (for a single item and I picked myself up a $30 wood burning kit for $15- Gumbo Soul really lit a fire under my butt with her gorgeous spoons HERE and I looked for an inexpensive one all over the place but nowhere had any except Michaels) and a 20% off coupon (for the entire purchase including sale items) so taking the 5 minutes to check the websites was totally worth it!
   Have you guys been working on any projects?

On the Hunt: Thrift Stores

   Since I've spent the weekend working on projects that haven't finished up yet and will be revealing throughout the week I figured I'd repost this since I put it up before I bothered to tell anyone about this little project. Enjoy!

   One of the great things about getting Thrifty with it is- dun dun dun...The Hunt!
   One of my favorite hunting grounds is your local thrift store. There are thousands of these fine establishments all across the US and a quick internet search should give you at least a few in your area to choose from. They range from privately owned, to church owned, to big charity ones like the Salvation Army or the Goodwill.
    Some people don't like to give their patronage to a church or religiously affiliated establishment if they wouldn't feel comfortable giving that same organization a cash donation. Personally I at least give these places a browse through because I love the irony of using something that I paid them pittance for to make a beautiful magical object (but then I can be a witch that way).
      The first thing I would do is check my Thrifting Journal (the link to that post is HERE) and my current list of projects so that I know what I've currently got going.  Keeping track of what is already on your plate can help you judge how much room is left for new projects or if you need more supplies for current projects.
       The second thing I would do is set myself a limit. And I don't just mean a monetary one. Once you open up that inner eye to see all of what is available it is really hard not to want to scoop everything up and get started on pixie dusting it into witchy perfection right away. I have to constantly look not just at what money I have available but what time and space I have as well. It's ok to indulge if you see a great deal on an item for a project you have in mind to do later, but make sure that you have the space to store the item without making it clutter and then make sure to put it on the list of projects in your Thrifting Journal so it doesn't get put up and forgotten.
      With those two things done it's time to get out there and indulge in the thrill of the hunt.
      Open up that inner eye(the link for that post is HERE) and let your imagination run. Prowl through the aisles, dig through the bargain bins, and claim the prize that grabs your intuition. Don't plan a route through the store, just wander letting whatever catches your attention pull you. Just keep in mind that these items have lived with people before and can carry some of their energy. Listen to your intuition. If something seems wrong or 'off' about an item you might want to leave it behind no matter how perfect it seems for your project. I also suggest doing a cleansing of any object purchased second hand whether it feels like it needs it or not. Just like you would strip of that hideous paint, it is always best to start with a blank psychic/spiritual slate.
      Get out there and find that diamond in the rough*!


*Cave of wonders and hunky street rat with great hair not included

Glass for The Gallery

    Amongst the prizes that I have found in the past couple weeks were a couple gorgeous cut glass styled bowls.

    I just loved the shapes and designs in this totally sparked off an idea and had me pulling out the Gallery Glass tubes. If you've never heard of it before Gallery Glass is a product that is kinda like liquid stained glass. I've used it before and it's a lot of fun. Usually you plan out a design just like with real stained glass and then squeeze the design out onto a plastic sheet and let it dry then peel it off and stick it where you want it to go. I decided to try a new technique and use the product directly on the glass.
     We used paint brushes and in some places just squeezed it directly onto the bowls. The brush strokes didn't show in the final product and they ended up looking pretty nice if I do say so myself. One of the really nice things about this is that if you don't like how it turns out you can just peel it back off and start over.
     Here are a the bowls that the Hubby and I did.

  This one was mine. I painted in the red with a paint brush and then did several layers of charcoal black to get the smoked glass effect, leaving only the very top rim clear. This would be perfect for an offering dish, or a potpourri dish.

 This one was the Hubsters and was a lot more involved as to the painting. He did each of the different layers separately and then ended with a pearlescent white to finish off the top. he also left the very bottom clear which allows it to be used in this set up-

  Just add a tea light underneath and you have an oil diffuser!
     I picked the bowls up for $1.25 each, and the stand for $0.85. I already had the paints so in total these bowls cost me about $3.00 for both of them!