Sarilyn CraftsWhen you hear hoofbeats…dream of zebras!

Sarilyn is undergoing some major changes!  For a bit you will see only our blog, but soon there will be a fully functional website with categories which encompass all aspects of home and garden.  We will have crafts, art, recipes, gardening tips, home decor, style and much more.  We will strive to make all our projects truly do it yourself and give budget guidelines for each project. You will never see a project with a budget of over $5000, with most being well under, so even your home decor projects are honestly doable for even those of us with small incomes.  Creativity will be the key to success.

Our craft projects will be unique and user friendly, with lots of pictures to help you along the way as well as show you what the finished project will look like.We will also have a newsletter you can subscribe to in order to keep up with all our new articles and projects, so keep checking back, and following our blog so you can watch us grow!

This weekend my husband and I decided to play with our little microwave kiln and make some new fused and dichroic glass pendants and such for the upcoming craft season and to restock our Etsy store.  These are the fused, but unfinished jewelry pieces that we did this weekend.  Some needed some minor retooling (due to being dropped by our daughter), but they all turned out very well.  Now we just need to get to work on the wire wrapping and possibly the silver clay that we are going to finish them with.  I will also be making another series of dichroic and wire serving pieces to sell during the holidays - our stock of those has completely sold out!  They make absolutely wonderful gifts!Sarilyn  will be carrying supplies for glass fusing, including microwave kilns such as we used to produce our pendants pictured above.  Keep checking back if you are interested or contact us via email and we can quote you a price for the microwave kilns.  Ours are larger than most you can find in the craft stores but still easily used in most microwaves.  You will find our prices are quite similar despite the larger size.

With Halloween being right around the corner there is no endto what you can do to get prepared, especially if you are going to be throwinga Halloween party for your kids and their friends, or even if you havevolunteered for the class Halloween Party at school.  These fun treat bags will be a monster hitwith children of all ages, with their layering, textures, and glittering star.

Materials: (Available at Sarilyn Crafts)

·        Orange cardstock

·        White cardstock

·        Dyed feathers

·        Champagne Versamark Watermark Ink

·        Staz On Black Ink

·        Cute Halloween stamps (one large, one small)

·        Prismacolor (or any) markers

·        Glue

·        Dimensional adhesive dots

·        Boning tool

·        Tsukineko galaxy pens

·        Treat bags

·        Treats of your choice

·        Adhesive tape runner

First, cut a 4½” x6” piece from your orangecardstock.  Then score the 6” sidelightly so that you can easily fold your orange cardstock into a 4½”x3” mini card. This will be the base of your bag topper. Unfold this and lay itflat so that the 4½” side is facing you.

Take you small stamp and ink it up with the ChampagneVersaMark Watermark Ink.  Stamp thisrandomly across the front of your orange cardstock.  Be sure to stamp off the edges of your cardsomewhat to add the ramdomness of your design. 

Next take your large stamp and ink it up with your BlackStaz On Ink.  Stamp this onto your whitecardstock.  Allow to dry, or heat withyour heat gun in order to dry this more quickly.  When your Black ink is completely dry, coloryour image with your Prismacolor markers. I prefer Prismacolor because they are alcohol based.  The colors blend flawlessly and leave notmarker lines, and are much cheaper than Copic markers.  When you are done coloring in your designwith the marker colors you desire, take your galaxy pens and add some accentswith these wonderful pens.  On my designI used the yellow one to add sparkle to the star on the cat’s hat. Cut theimage to size. Set this aside.

Take two feathers in colors to match your design and gluethem onto your orange cardstock, making sure the ends are in about 1” from boththe bottom and the left side.  Allow theglue to dry. 

When the glue is dry, take your dimensional adhesive dotsand place them on the backside of your stamped image and carefully place thisonto your orange cardstock  on the leftside, making sure you move the feathers out of the way of the adhesive dots.

Take your treat bag and fill it with any treats you thingwill be a hit with the kids.  Close thetreat bag and staple or tape shut.  Thencarefully adhere the topper to the treat bag using adhesive.

Pass out these wonderful treat bags and enjoy the looks onthe children’s faces!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

This treat bag is made with adults, not children in mind.  It has a touch of spooky sophistication and will be appreciated by all who receive one of these from you.

Materials:

• Halloween or Autumn style scrapbook paper
• Pumpkin colored cardstock
• Halloween Stamps
• Treat bags (I found these at Target)
• Treats to fill it with
• Champagne Versamark Pad
• Memento black ink pad
• Cheetah 2″ adhesive dispenser
• Distressing Tool

Cut your pumpkin cardstock to 4¾” x 2½”. Using Champagne Versamark pad, stamp background image onto cardstock.  Then stamp your Happy Halloween Sentiment and main image onto the cardstock using Memento Black ink.  Distress edges of cardstock until you are happy with the results.

Cut your piece of Halloween scrapbook paper to 5×6″.  Fold so piece is 5×3″.  Using Cheetah adhesive, apply to back or cardstock and adhere to front of folded scrapbook paper (fold facing up).  This is your bag topper.

Fill treat bag with any treats you wish.  Close treat bag and staple.

Open folded bag topper and lay face down.  Using Cheetah adhesive runner, put adhesive on both sides of fold on back of paper.  Place over the top of your treat bag and, using gentle pressure, push bag topper onto bag to adhere thoroughly.

Give treat bags to all of your favorite witches and warlocks!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

We just finished listening to a webinar on Social Network Marketing with Tim Adam. It was a wonderfully informative class and we took several pages of notes! His blog, Handmadeology.com, is filled with so much information it will take me literally weeks to get through it all! He talked about Facebook, Blogging, and Twitter specifically, and in short, the importance of using them all together in order to grow your clientele. If you are looking to do some easy and successful marketing of your handmade items and art, go and take a look at his blog - you will not be disappointed.

Halloween is coming soon and it’s time to start preparing for this popular holiday.  Halloween cards are slowly gaining popularity.  Postcards were very popular for Halloween in the early 1900’s but fell out of favor and the holiday has not been much of a postal coup since.  Now, we are starting to send holiday greetings for All Hallow’s Eve again.  People love getting cards and letters in the mail, especially when they are completely unexpected.

This is one of my families favorites.  I have even assembled this in a crock pot and sent it with my husband to a carry in at work, and he said it turned out just as well as in the oven - in fact, it got rave reviews!

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1/2 C. chopped green pepper
• 1/2 C. chopped onion
• 2/3 C. water
• 1 envelope taco seasoning
• 1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can Mexican (or any) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 6 (approx) flour tortillas, 8 inch
• 1 can (16 oz.) refried beans
• 3 C. mexican cheese blend (or your preference)

In a large skillet, cook beef, green papper and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink;drain.  Add water and taco seasoning; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer uncovered, for 2 minutes.  Stir in the black beans and tomatoes.  Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.Place two tortillas in a greased 13 x 9″ baking dish.  Spread with half of the refried beans and beef mixture; sprinkle with one cup of cheese.  Repeat layers.  Top with remaining tortillas and cheese.Cover and bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

I just finished making my first Halloween mix CD for this year.  It is simply a compiliation of songs I thought were fun and would get me in the “spirit” to start my Halloween projects.  I find that the music of the season I am working on helps motivate me (Not that I don’t love Halloween!!). I can work faster and my imagination soars in the direction the music takes me, as any music can.  My first mix is just some of my favorite spooky, fun, or just classic Halloween music.

• People are Strange ~ The Doors
• The Martian Boogie ~ Brownsville Station
• Wicked Old Witch ~ John Fogerty
• Thriller ~ Michael Jackson
• Marie Laveaux ~Cubanismo
• Hungry Like the Wolf ~ Duran Duran
• Don’t Fear the Reaper ~ Blue Oyster Cult
• The Legend of Wooley Swamp ~ The Charlie Daniels Band
• Moon Over Bourbon Street ~ Sting
• Lil’ Red Riding Hood ~ Sam the Sham & the Pharohs
• Cry Little Sister ~ Gerald McMann
• Purple People Eater ~ Ray Stevens
• Time Warp ~ Richard O’Brien
• Union of the Snake ~ Duran Duran
• Werewolves of London ~ Warren Zevon
• Ghostbusters ~ Ray Parker
• Monster Mash ~ Dr. Demento
• Children of the Sun ~ Billy Thorpe
• Welcome to My Nightmare ~ Alice Cooper (Funny, I don’t remember putting this one in at all!)

While some of these are what you think of as typical Halloween music, they do have a spooky or creepy feel to them.  I will be making some more mood music for the season, as well as our Halloween Party.  They will be somewhat more themed and I will add these as I get them done.  But this list should help get you started in the Halloween “spirit”.HAPPY HAUNTING!!

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This is a mixed media piece that I did using, among other things tissue paper, Fantasy Film, gold leaf, copper powders, and metallic waxes.  It was a very fun piece to do, the worst part was having to wait for everything to dry in between steps.  It started as a plain lotion or soap dispenser and has been made into a mixed media art piece.  It has been permanantly sealed for use and will be for sale on www.sarilyn.etsy.com.This is a demonstration that anything can be made into something unique and special.  You just need to use your imagination and ingenuity.