'Tis the day after Halloween, was a very fun weekend spent in a home decorated in grand Halloweeny style! Visual and sound effects had hundreds of kids delighted all week!

and NOW it is on with the November! and the hard core holiday crafting begins! This week also begins the Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop, cute button on right will magically change this week as 60 designers use new Sizzix dies to create in their own unique style!

FaveCrafts newsletter today features all kinds of great Holiday Santas and Snowmen to make. Several of them I designed for STYROFOAM TM, in the past ten years I have brought quite a few cheeky cheery holiday guys to life! Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

It's Fowl Friday with Fran & Freda!!! and it is almost Halloween! Around here Halloween is definitely for the birds and our peeps are definitely getting excited! A stray feline did sneak in but... apparently as it is only the head it doesn't seem to dangerous. Freda & I put last minute touches on the table, of course due to Debra's tra la la nature the pumpkin is smiling and the mini quilt piece says "inspire"!

A new baby has joined the peeps so everything has to be explained, like why is this pumpkin white and not orange. Why do the leaves sparkle? Well the real answer is that is what you get when you reside with a designer, nothing is ever the color it is supposed to be and glitter is a fact of life!

Happy Halloween Everyone! Have a safe & spooktacular weekend! Follow the Fowl, Fran & Freda!

Even though Halloween is right around the corner I am surrounded by piles of sparkly holiday fabrics and snowy characters! I am taking time out to paint cheetah spots on some fleece for a costume but mainly I am working on new design ideas and preparing for two upcoming shows. One of my favourite snowman projects was designed for Homearts, a needle felted snowman with reindeer and trees using the easy technique with STYROFOAM TM brand foam as the base. Other foam products do not work as well as they crumble and the wool will not adhere.

I like to decorate more seasonally that way I can keep decor changes in harmony with the natural world outside and enjoy them longer. My snow characters and winter greenery hung with snowflakes remain in place until the end of February. It is also a great time saver and spring cleaning coincides with removing all the winter garb! Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

I was born in the same decade as the Barbie doll although she has definitely aged better and kept that impossible to achieve figure! I remember having my first Barbie doll at age eleven along with a wonderful wardrobe of dresses, shoes and sportwear many handmade by my mother and great aunt. I kept many of the outfits and dolls passing them on to my daughters. They are almost ten years apart in age so Barbies were a big part of the household for many years.

Now I am very blessed to have two adorable little girls become part of my life and they love their Barbies just as much as my own darling daughters did. This weekend I designed Barbie witch outfits from KUNIN glitter felt so their Barbies could go trick or treating. The tiny treat bags hold those miniature foil wrapped chocolate pumpkins, not that the pumpkins lasted very long!

What is most wonderful about the longevity of Barbie and her popularity still with girls is that no matter what changes with each generation there is so much that remains the same. Even with all the sophistication of technology little girls everywhere still want to get down on the floor and "play" Barbies. Life changes but much remains the same. So from this former girl who played Barbies so long ago to my girls and now the "little" girls, thank you Barbie! Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

It's Fowl Friday with Fran & Freda! Fran here, Freda is not up yet, she is apparently reading a new book and was "reading" late. It has a lot of pictures so not sure how much reading she has to do but it is a book and she has it open turning pages. She fell asleep with the book on top of her and it wrinkled her feathers so a long steamy shower for her when she gets up!

So Halloween is coming up and Debra is planning her costume for a party, I think she has forgotten about our costumes. We sneaked into the fabric stash the other night along with Oliver. We found a bin of fabric to choose from with bright colors especially an orange piece for Freda. I want to be a witch and Freda wants to be a pumpkin. Oliver wants to be a lion but may have to settle with the cheetah print we found, maybe a Tarzan look? We wait for date night while Debra is out. Then the scissors and fabric will be in action, add a little fabri-tac glue, glitter and the costumes will ready for party time!

Have a fun fowlicious weekend! Follow the Fowl! Fran & Freda

Today I am off to the Saint John Art Centre for a Life Drawing Class and volunteer with the Seniors Computer Class. On Monday evening I am taking a Creativity Coaching Class to become a Muse leader. These are all new adventures for me and I am stretching myself in my new life. I am also doing my first craft show in years, a holiday show in November at Harbour Station with a good friend and artist Carole Forbes.

I have decided now that cleaning my place takes only an hour opposed to my old life where just removing the cat hair off the curtains took an hour and more to use that extra time to explore new avenues.

What I have noticed is creative people are often caught in overwhelm as we want to do so many things, have so many ideas and often we come to a screeching halt. We are DaVinci's, Renaissance artists who wish to try it all! That is a wonderful way to be, sometimes it just takes editing to begin. In the group Monday night it was suggested to write all your ideas on index cards then prioritize them by which three were the most inviting and choose those to begin.

I wish to do more coaching creative people so the class is working towards that but it is also helping me in navigating this new creative life. The drawing class will assist with the book proposal I am working on. I am enjoying it immensely, the two hours disappears! The craft show is giving me a place to meet people interested in creativity, test out some new ideas, designs and display and introduce myself to my new community.

What I am learning these days is to be mindful and present in my pursuits, to enjoy the journey and explore new avenues of creativity always Following the JOY!

Find time to explore what you have always wanted to try, even if it is only for a few minutes a day or a week. It will fill your creative spirit ten fold. Debra

I like Halloween but I am not a big Halloween crafter. I admit to winter and spring designs being my favourite seasons to create for. Halloween is growing on me as I plan costumes for a party and enjoy all the decorating going on around me! A group of very talented designers  are serving up some great treats with Terrorific Tuesdays! 

A local hotel holds a pumpkin carving contest. This entry just made me smile! EnJOY! Debra, CEO!

Even though fabric is my first love to work with, I also enjoy beautiful papers and mixed media projects. I find when I am working with paper I think of it in fabric terms and my designs reflect that. I had the opportunity to "play" with the Xyron Creatopia TM  System recently and enjoyed trying out several of the components. The adhesive is great and I designed this cute clutch using some fun papers and two pieces of 12" cardstock. I used the Patternz emboss circle design and Cutz to cut the pieces. There are several different cutting edges which are fun to layer! Some colorful buttons finish the design.

This is a full week with several projects, events upcoming. It is hard sometimes not to feel overwhelmed at times and multi-task sometimes with disastrous results! While thinking ahead to the next project I put the iron in the fridge instead of the yogurt. It did fit neatly next to the water pitcher but....not where it usually goes! I read an article about being more mindful and giving full attention to one project at a time. That is my goal this week to give whatever I turn my attention to a full hour at a time before switching to something else. Now if I could just find where I put my favourite scissors...ideas anyone! Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

 It is a special edition of Fowl Friday! Fran & Freda here, well actually Fran here as Freda is off trying out the latest new dance "the blog hop", apparently her thinking it is like the bunny hop! There is a lot of "blog hopping" going on around here. Coming soon the Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop and today the Favecrafts Halloween Blog Hop! Debra is busy with an "art show" today so we were left to post all the blog hop details. Luckily a very cute penguin came to our rescue, he lives with a very talented artist Jen Goode and does he know his html (how to make links) We are linked up and ready to go, before he left I saw him slip Freda his number. They are going to text each other, good luck, her spelling is atrocious! I will keep an eye on her as we all know what happened with a certain rooster from Cape Breton. At least she didn't have to go to Hatch.com for this date!

Now for the Halloween project, this Baby Boo ghost is too cute to resist, so easy to make using a foam egg covered with so soft bamboo quilt batt. For full instructions. To visit more blogs for all kinds of Halloween creatures & creeepy creations just click on the button! Happy FAll & Fowl crafting! Fran & Freda!

What has been the greatest gifts of my work are the amazing women I have met and have become friends with. There are several that inspire me on a daily basis. It is not only their creativity but their generous and brave spirits that are so remarkable. Margot Potter is one of those women who tells it like it is and speaks for so many of us. She "colors outside the lines on a daily basis" navigating a life of creativity along with all the other roles women have. She challenges herself and in turn all those she reaches to strive to be the best you can be celebrating individuality and uniqueness. This week she is guest curator over at Crescendoh, this is Jen Doh's site, "Creative Passion, Authentic Community, Focused Compassion".

The other amazing woman and dear friend I am celebrating this week is Carole Forbes, artist who lives in Fredericton, NB, Canada. She has lived all over Canada and has in the last two years returned home to her roots. She is having a one woman art show at the Fredericton Inn tomorrow, Friday 3-9 and Saturday 9-5. The show is a combination of her art and writing, a personal introspective. I am honored to call both these extraordinary women my friends and to thank them from the bottom of my heart for all they have brought to my life. Follow the JOY Always! Debra, CEO!