About The Author

Diana Wunderle is a nationally recognized professional artist, and has worked in mixed mediums for over 30 years. Her work has been featured in galleries and exhibitions throughout the United States.

Her home and studios are located in Seattle, WA, where she also teaches classes and workshops.

You can see more of her work at: http://www.dianawunderle.com

Autumn Decorating

Just a few basics will generate hours of seasonal fun, both in the creation and the enjoyment of these simple projects.

Center Piece

Autumn leaves and twigs make a lovely table center piece. If you coat the twigs and branches with flame retardant (sold at Paper-Source.Com) you can arrange votive candles to add a warm and inviting accent.

Tools:

Small pruning shears, Scissors, Xacto Knife, pocket knife, or carpet knife.

Materials:

Optional: Flame Retardent, floral wire, a carved pumpkin, staple gun

Glue

1" styrofoam circle, or substitute an embroidery ring, macrame ring, or even a carved pumpkin to use as a center form.

8-10 small twigs, 6-18" in length, no more than 1/2" diameter. These should have some felxibility left, not too dry to cut and arrange.

Colorful assortment of silk or fresh autumn leaves

How:

Simply trim the twigs to size and arrange on circle form. If using styrofoam, gently pare down the blunt end to point and insert into the foam.

(BE CAREFUL!)

The staple gun sometimes comes in handy for attaching twigs, too.

If using a ring, you can use floral wire and/or glue to attach the twigs to the ring.

Glue colorful leaves to the twig ends.

Another option: cover the styrofoam circle with aluminum foil, stamp printed with the motif of your choice.

(I made one of these for a friend with a photo transfer of her previous year's costume in the center.)

Demonic Doorman

This piece takes a bit more work, but is well worth it.

Tools: Shears, Carpet knife, staple gun

Materials: Black fabric, styrofoam, latex mask, sturdy cardboard, pillow stuffing, glue, floral wire

Cut two forms out of the cardboard, one for the head/body and another for the wings.

I glued some styrofoam to the head area of the cardboard to lend stability for the mounting of the latex mask, and pushed the floral wire through to make a hook on the back to hang it with.

Tricks with Treats

BOO!

Holloween is a fun craft time. It offers lots of possibilities, beyond the carving of pumpkins and making costumes. Decorating your home doesn't have to be costly. Here are a few suggestions that are fun for ages 10-100.

1. Shrunken Heads

Carve faces into apples or potatoes, and brush each one with a coating of lemon or lime juice. Then set them in a sunny window for a week or so. Watch as they are tranformed into tiny, rock hard, shrunken heads.

To make a string of them, (this should be dine before they harden) use an ice pick or kabob skewer to punch a hole from one side through the other. You can use binding string, kitchen twine, or a shoe lace to string them, but you might need a leather or millinary needle to draw the string through.

2. Ghosties

White plastic trash bags, some string, and some of those leaves you've been raking up make for a ghostie haven. Stuff a hand full or two of the leaves (or any other stuffing material) into a bottom corner of the bag, and use some string or fishing line to make several wraps beneath the stuffing wad, before knotting securely. Leave a length of about a yard or so on the end, so you can string your ghostie from a tree branch or the front porch eve. If you don't punch holes, the bags will be fully reusable after holloween.

3. Spooky Silhouettes

Cut shadowy sihouettes out of a roll of craft paper. Black paper is best, for this purpose. Use plastic adhesive putty to stick these to walls and windows. The hanged man is especially fun on a stairwell wall.

4. Cupcake spiders

Make chocolate cupcakes as usual, and decorate with black licorice for legs, chocolate sprinkles (makes 'em fuzzy), and red hots for eyes.

5. Brain in the punch

Mold the jello as directed, and float the jello brain it in a punch made from Hawaiian Punch and Sherbert.

I purchased a brain mold, these can be found at

http://www.sporks.com/ or http://www.prankplace.com/ 

TRY IT

When I teach classes and workshops, I inevitably hear sometone say, "I have no talent, I can't even draw a stick man..." or something to that effect.

The simple fact is, all talent must be developed. One may have a natural ability of any sort, but without desire, practice, and even a little bit of encouragement... talent does not become potential. This is particularly true of creative ability. We simply can not know what our potential is until we give it earnest effort and time to develop.

Creative people often experience cyclical development. The ebb and flow is typically related to other factors in our lives. But, most will find that the desire and the ideas return at some point, and it's fun to hear people tell of these moments of inspirational revelation.

The best thing about creating something with your own hands is the satisfaction of doing it. I know a man who ties flies for fishing... He has no desire to go fishing. He simply enjoys tying the beautiful fibers. He gives them to his friends, on occassion. He has been known to part with a few for a price. (They are in very high demand.) Many will live forever in a glass cabinet on the wall in his study. I have had the honor to visit his study, and the mosaic of brightly colored flies is a sight to behold.

Creativity serves so many human purposes! Whether we are healing, meditating, learning, growing, remembering, imagining, or documenting, in the moments that we create... we are renewed.

Stack some rocks. Cut some shapes out of paper. Throw some paint. Tie a fly. Melt some wax. Bake something. Arrange some sticks. Whatever it is that inspires you... take it in your hands... and TRY IT.