And We Have Winners!

Time to announce the winners in the Star-crossed Lovebirds Witch BOO't giveaway!

I attempted to make videos of the drawing to show they are on the level. However, I'm no director, so they are what they are. :)

I'm going to share the tutorial drawing results first for suspense, even though we actually drew the boot winner first. My daughter did the honors of being our hand model. There were seven entries for the Witch BOO't Tutorial/pattern, of which 2 were for sharing links.

1. Hullabuoy
2. Creepy_Creations
3. Leah
4. MissingWillow
5. The Cardboard Crafter

bonus entries for shares:

6. Creepy_Creations
7. Leah

And the winners were...



...Creepy_Creations and Leah!! Congrats to you both! Must say sharing links paid off for our tutorial winners. :) I'll be sending your links over to you sometime tonight.

And now for the BOO't! We had four entries for the boot. They were:

1. Hullabuoy

The wind in your feathers, a skull at your back
Highlight your eyes so sexy and black
But alas my love,soon we must fly
For in full scope of these cats we certainly shall die
So beckon our wings to depart from this wall
For our fate shall be written in blood should we stall
And Raven and Ravenette will no longer be
But a pile of bent feathers of you and me.

2. Creepy_Creations

Two little birds kissing on a gate
Along came a cat and...ate!!!

3. Leah

Resigned to our fate We sit upon this gate.
While under the eyes of the moon I will sing a lover’s tune
As we wait for black to announce Their presence with a pounce.

4. MissingWillow

There once was a gal named Miel
Who made witch boots particularly well.
You best keep your money
She won't sell you one, honey
She's giving one (but don't anyone tell).

And...the winner of the drawing is...



...**drum roll here**...Hullabuoy!!! Yay! Congrats to Cathi! Please send me you shipping info and I'll get the boot out to you ASAP. I'll have the printable image ready hopefully tomorrow and will send instructions for retrieving it to each of you via email.

I sure hope these videos are viewable. This is my first attempt at posting my own from my camera. I had to clip it in half to get them to upload.

House Elf Needs a Good Home (Find him on Ebay)

Do you think you can handle your own House Elf?



One of mom's House Elves has been running a muck, and we've decided he needs to go. Under that sweet looking innocent face lurks a total terror. He's getting harder to handle than a freshly caught Cornish Pixie and has sticker fingers than a barrel of Nifflers! You may recall back when I posted about the triplets. We hated to separate them, but this one just isn't playing nice with the other elves here. So, we've decided to find him a family of his own, who can give him the attention he needs to straighten him out.

If you've got what it takes to adopt him, head over to our eBay listing. It will end Sunday, Oct. 23rd in the early evening.

Witch BOO't Giveaway!! Enter now!

WIN THIS BOO'T!!
Or a copy of my Paper Mache Witch BOO't Tutorial!

So, you know how I like to write short poems for my paper mache witch boots? Well, I think it would be cool for all you loyal followers of this blog to take a stab at it this time. Come on, it'll be fun! Don't fret if you're not a wordsmith. It's not a competition. Just give it a try, and I promise you're hard work will be rewarded. You'll even be entered for a chance to win this very boot!



I'm going to have a two part drawing:

WITCH BOO'T DRAWING
One lucky winner chosen from a drawing of all who create verses will win my "Star-crossed Lovebirds" Witch BOO't. Just put a few words together in any poetry form of your choice. I have an additional prize for all who take the time to submit a verse. Not only will you be entered in the drawing for the boot and tutorials, but you can receive a printable digital copy of the "Star-crossed Lovebirds" boot image with a copy of the verses submitted as my personal "Thank You" for being such a good sport. Don't forget to include how you would like your name to be credited on your poem.

Example poem:

"The raven is black. The moon is white.
The birds on this boot better take flight tonight!"
- by mieljolie

TUTORIAL DRAWING
Every follower who comments on this post by either submitting a verse, or by simply letting us know you're "in" will be entered for a chance to win one of two PDF copies of my paper mache witch BOO't tutorial. Those who share a link on their blog or social networking site and comment with the location here, will get an extra entry in the drawing.

This GIVEAWAY will end in one week or Monday, Oct. 24th.

RECAP OF THE PRIZES:

• One lucky winner will win THIS BOOT for submitting a verse!
• Two different winners will receive one of two PDF copies of my paper mache witch boot tutorial just for commenting.
• All poets will receive a digital copy of the image depicted on the boot with a copy of all the verses just for playing.

Okay, so here is what you need to do:

1. Follow this blog (if you aren't already).
2. Comment on this post in any combination of the three ways below before the deadline (Monday, Oct. 24th 2011 midnight central time):


• 
  

A short verse/poem as long or short as you wish (include your name or your Blogger username will be used)

A link where you're sharing this giveaway on a blog or social network like FB, Google+, etc...(for the extra entry in the tutorial drawing) You may use images of the boot or the badge found below.


A note to let me know you are in for the tutorial drawing only.

All of the above

• 
  


3. Have your email address available in your comment or profile for me to contact you if you're a winner. If I can't find your contact info, and you don't contact me within 24 hours of the announcement of the winners, I will draw a new winner. Also, if I don't have an address to ship to within one week of the announcements, I will also choose a new winner.
   
4. By posting, you give me permission to display/distribute you creative writing (with credit given) for free in this post and in print for the other persons who participate.

Here is a badge you can use to share the GIVEAWAY:



Hope that covers everything. Sorry I'm so late getting this posted. Good luck to everyone!

Miss Witch's Annual Party - Witch BOO't

Miss Witch's Annual Party
created by Tiffany Hinnen (mieljolie)

On the top of a hill is the Mortal family's home,
where they're tucked in their beds, cuz they do not dare to roam.

They leave the lights on, even though they're fast asleep
to ward off those who haunt and things that like to creep.

For the spirits prowl tonight. From their coffins they arose,
for a night upon the town in their best Sunday clothes.

Mr. Bones has been waiting for this special night about.
He'll pass through the graveyard as he makes his way out.

He'll visit Miss Witch and her flighty fairy friends,
who host an annual party every decent spook attends.

There'll be black cats and spiders and a crazy bat or two.
Even the Devil may drop by when he's finished chasing YOU!



As you may have noticed above, I've been giving all my boots nicknames and occasionally write quick rhymes for them inspired by the scenes. It was a challenge to incorporate all the elements into the poem for this one. But, I think it's one of my fave poems.

This witch BOO't is a vintage-inspired commission for someone who has been waiting patiently since last year. This particular boot was interesting because she requested specific imagery. A lot of which couldn't be accomplished well with only silhouettes, which I normally use. So, it took me a lot longer to layout and paint. But, I aim to please. There is a witch and some fairy-like creatures on the left sides brewing a potion. A dapper skeleton, Mr Bones, is standing in an arch on the back with a friendly crow on his shoulder. On the right side is a cemetery scene with a spooky house on a hill in the distance.



In front there are eyes peeking out of the laces and "Wicked!" written on the tongue with tiny JOL pumpkins dotting the "I" and exclamation.



On my concept drawing, I had sketched little coffins with skeletons in them, but when she saw them she saw the reverse as corn shocks, which gave her the idea to include a devil chasing some veggie people like that which was popular imagery on vintage postcards.

Thought I'd never get this boot finished with all the detail and the chaos going on here. Sorry, I didn't get any listed for purchase this year. I know some of you have been asking. I had planned to, but you know how life works. It just didn't happen. But, if you can wait, I will have a few for next year.



Thought it might interest some people to see how I went about painting the various stages of this boot. After applying the primer and base coat, I started roughly drawing in the design with pencil. Then I painted all the yellow portions being careful to erase any pencil because it would show under the thinned yellow paint. Then I applied most of the big areas of black before going back and detailing with a small brush and marker. After that, I stepped back to look at the overall layout and color distribution. I added in some black areas to balance out and fill in things a little. Then I was able to apply the varnish to seal it and add the laces and dangling star. Since I had already painted the heel black before drawing out the concept, I went back at the end to paint it. That is why the black under coloring of the yellow is different than other yellow parts on top but matches the lettering on the tongue.



And for my loyal followers, I'm finally going to host a GIVEAWAY! Yes, that's right! I've been promising to post about it for ages. The prize will be the small witch boot in the image just above that I'm calling "Star-crossed Lovebirds". It's an experimental illusion piece, which is still in the process of being painted. I have a wee bit to finish up tonight including adding some stars in the sky and finishing up the birds on the tongue. So, if you're interested in owning this small boot or a copy of my witch BOO't tutorial look for the giveaway post sometime tonight or tomorrow for details!

Hope all of your own annual Halloween parties are as hair-raisingly fabulous as Miss Witch's!

Our Yurtle Got a Face Lift

That's right. Our yurt, which I've been calling "Yurtle", has been undergoing some cosmetic enhancements. You may, or may not, remember the post about building it here.



I've been wanting to paint the white camo top since we finished it. I'd been planning to paint it to resemble a blue turtle shell like those found in the illustrations of Dr. Seuss's "Yertle the Turtle" children's books. However, I was out voted by our family (mainly the daughter) who all wanted a giant mushroom, instead. Oh well, I can be flexible. So, we went with inspiration from the Super Mario video games and painted a red/white pattern loosely based on the Amanita Muscaria.



We also painted the frame red to match, which really livened up the inside. This is actually pretty traditional. We see quite a few yurts online with the red frame.

Additionally, we now have nice wall-to-wall carpet over our tarp floor, when an aunt decided to rip out her carpet to put in hard floors. Score! Then, by pure fortune, I found an awesome bargain on a lovely 10 yard black/gold piece of upholstery fabric for $5! Double SCORE!! :) It is now the inner lining wall. It's getting to be quite a load to hall in our Jeep with all the fabric and such, but I love it. It was wonderful to sleep in this past weekend.



I had stuck little round stickers all over the white patterns in the camo print on top before priming the whole thing in black. Then, I painted the white and red over it. This helped to eliminate the camo print glowing through when we light the inside of the yurt. It turned out really cool. When inside in the daylight the dots light up like white and red stars. And, the outside at night faintly shows the dot stars when the lantern inside is on.

Now, I just need a pretty lamp to hang, instead of the propane Coleman eye sore. I'll also be attempting some mattresses made from the aunt's carpet padding. :) I used some of the padding to make the cushions ontop of the milk crates stools in the second pic above. I'll be covering those with some of the sixty upolstry fabric samples I acquired from another thrift store for another $5. They are beautiful! Should look really cool in the yurt, too. And the crate stools double as containers for our gear.

Can't wait to go camping again here in a couple weeks at TRF. Hope to have the mattresses ready by then. Until next time, happy crafting!