Betsy Snow White Bibliophile

Tag: art crafts and other creations

  • 24 Days of Blogging

    24 Days of Blogging

    I have been making collages and mixed media art since I was really young. I have several large collage pieces up around the house. I also use collage work as witchy work making vision boards/ spell boards. One of my old favorite papers to use for batsh#t crazy headlines and photos was Weekly World News.

    Do you remember this ridiculous publication? They gave us Bat Boy (which there is a musical about), so many aliens, every Elvis sighting, and so much more bizarre esoterica. Weekly World News was a print paper that ran from 1979 to 2007(!?) and was the trashiest and most fun of the “tabloids”. And in researching this I also learned they still have an online presence. In it’s peak WWW had a total circulation of 1.2 million readers. As a child and teen I would often pick one up to use in art projects since they cost…well $.70 in 1989 so not very much.

    I was sitting here doing some collage stuff not too long ago and I found myself reminiscing about the Weekly World News as collage fodder. Of course it has not been in print since 2007, but suddenly I had the thought to check on ebay for old issues that I could pull apart for collage work. Much to my delight there were several bundles to choose from so I received 3 issues from June-August of 1989. They are obviously products of their time; several articles are homophobic, fatphobic, xenophobic, etc. which is a little disappointing but not at all shocking. Some of the ridiculous stories though are so off the wall and farfetched that it feels worth it to rip them apart for their bits and pieces. Below are some of the ridiculous headlines, photos and articles.

    Now I just need a big lot of teen magazines from the 80s and 90s. Any leads?

    “Weekly World News.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Dec. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_World_News.

  • On The Second Day of Blogmas:

    On The Second Day of Blogmas:

    What is your strangest Holiday tradition? Mine is that for the last several years (I seriously don’t know how many.) I have been carving stamps to print my own holiday cards. I can remember doing a Yule Log, Snowflakes, Ornaments, Cookies, Mistletoe and I am sure there are a couple more. I try not to reuse or repeat a design.

    This year I carved two stamps to create my cards. I wanted to be able to easily use multiple colors. I am not going to spoil my card since they haven’t gone out in the mail yet, but I am really excited about them. I am mailing out 85+ cards this year. Once they are in the world I will reveal the design here.

    Do you send out Holiday Cards? Do you like to receive them? Is there a particular design you prefer?

  • What a (creepy) doll…my new Halloween wreath

    My little sister made herself an amazing Halloween wreath earlier this month, and after I admired it she offered to make me one. I accepted at once and this morning she delivered my new door wreath. I am absolutely in love with my creepy evil doll wreath.

    Thank you so much, Traci. It made me squee! I am so excited to show it off.

  • Countdown To Halloween

    Countdown To Halloween

    I bought a wooden Countdown to Halloween from Michaels, and while I am a little late I finally got it painted and ready to go. Better late than never, right?

    It began as just a plain brown house with drawers.

    I painted the house black and the drawers various pastel colors: pink, purple, yellow, green and orange.

    Then I went back and added black and glow accents on the drawers and the roof. It is day time so I will get a glow picture later, but here is the final product.

    I had so much fun putting this together. I am going to run to the store for filler tonight. Plus gifts for my spooky basket buddies because of course I am doing not one but two Halloween basket exchanges. I may have a slight Halloween problem.

  • Anniversary Thoughts – Seven Year Itch?

    Anniversary Thoughts – Seven Year Itch?

    Today is the seventh anniversary of the day I married the best man I have ever met. Seth and I have gone on a great many adventures together in our seven years of marriage (and five years of dating before that) and we will be on many, many more. I cannot imagine my life without him in it. I am beyond blessed and so grateful to have him in my life. Thank you, Seth, for teaching me, making me laugh, loving me so much and for catching me when I fall. My heart is yours for always.

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    Our wedding was a supremely personalized and hand made event and I loved every piece of it. My mother was our officiant and made my jacket, the vests for the guys and the skirt for my niece. Our friend Cliff made the steps leading to the front of the stage and our “cake topper” which was a diorama of Seth and I in our wedding clothes fighting zombies encased in a lovely dragon skin box, with lights. My sister-in-law baked all of our cupcakes and helped with general wedding crafting. My mother-in-law helped us with crafting. My sister helped us with crafting. I made the bouquets and the boutonnieres, designed the programs, etc. Seth made our hand-fasting cord, flowers for the bouquets and our rings out of chain maille plus helping with everything else. Seth and I wrote the ceremony and our vows. It takes an army to create a wedding as beautiful as ours, and we were blessed to have some of the best people involved.

    Photos are all by Capture Life Photography

  • Day 2 – Beautiful Freaks Fest

    Day 2 – Beautiful Freaks Fest

    Not as dark as some, but today I decided to create a pair of actual beautiful freaks. This is an altered journal page. Enjoy the Amazing Lafontaine Sisters.

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  • Art, crafts and other creations

    Art, crafts and other creations

    I had the day off to allow for our plumber to come and replace our vanity in the upstairs bathroom, so I got a little crafty. I had some charms that I had bought to make myself a charm bracelet and I finally took the time to put it together. The charms were tiny tea cups, saucers and such, so I bought some complementary charms and created what I am calling my Mad Tea Party Bracelet.

    I have not made myself a piece of jewelry in years and I am really happy with the turn out.

    This weekend is going to be a long haul of painting and finishing up the minor repairs necessary to finish our refinancing of our house.  Among these things is the painting of the porch floor to black, and eventually coating it with glitter epoxy. Because a black glitter porch is the best thing I can imagine.