Pheww, it's been a very long past few weeks. My husband and I are painting/sprucing up our kitchen, then we relaxed with a short vacation to Hicksville Trailer Palace in beautiful Joshua Tree, CA, back to kitchen painting, then a fun time vending at the Johnny Cash Festival in Ventura, CA and now back to the shop with some new items...a girl's gotta stay busy!

My husband and I on a short but sweet two day vaca at Hicksville Trailer Palace. On this trip we stayed in 'the pony' trailer.

I'm really proud of the way my new mermaid and seahorse plaques came out and the bonus part is that they can hold your keys for you or perhaps your favorite vintage apron!

Now available in our NEW shop! www.charcoaldesigns.com

Free Shipping & Free Gift Boxes This Holiday!

These offers end Friday Dec.16th (at midnight), so don't delay, shop today! www.charcoaldesigns.com

Resin Mustache & Zombie Brains Necklace Just Added To The Shop!

Just added to the shop, handmade resin mustache necklaces and bloody zombie braaains necklaces! Enjoy!

Braaains!! Necklace Only $12.00 Available At www.charcoaldesigns.com

'The Villain' Mustache Necklace Only $10.00 Available At www.charcoaldesigns.com

Celebrate Charcoal Designs' 7th Birthday with free shipping and a free gift until the end of Nov! All orders receive FREE shipping and qualifying orders ($10+ get a free gift)! If you were to purchase one of our new necklaces you will end up paying just $10-$12, and receive FREE shipping and a free gift! Wow! Shop now, these offers end soon!

We're Turning 7! Free Shipping & A Free Gift On Us! Offer Valid Until Nov.30th 2011.

It's been a long and interesting journey, and we're thrilled to be turning 7! To celebrate, enjoy FREE Shipping and A FREE gift on Us! This offer ends midnight Nov. 30th 2011, so hurry on to CharcoalDesigns.Com!

Upcoming Vendor Spots: VOODOO LOUNGE

Come check out the grand opening of the VOODOO LOUNGE Saturday Sept.25th, 2011! There will be bands, booze, art and plenty of vendors. Don't forget to stop by the Charcoal Designs' booth!! All taking Place at THE AIRLINER 2419 N Broadway Los Angeles CA 90031.

www.vonbadsville.com

NEW Mustache & Bone Pins!

Brand new in the shop, your choice of a mustache or shrunken head nose bone pin only $3.50 each!

The mustache fits into most human noses (which means it functions as a pin or nose ornament) however the opening for the bone pin is too small to fit in your nostrils unless your head has previously been shrunk by a professional headshrinker!

Available at my shop, www.charcoaldesigns.com

Ink 'N' Iron + Johnny Cash Festival

It's been such a busy last two weekends, June 10-12th was Ink 'N' Iron at the world famous Queen Mary in Long Beach, where I shared a booth with Kustom Voodoo. We even had the pleasure of meeting Angelo Moore (lead singer of Fishbone!).

Me, Angelo Moore, Jessica (of Kustom Voodoo)

Friend/Model Angie Alamilla with my husband Mike!

Then the very next week we headed off to Ventura, CA for the Johnny Cash festival for an amazing show, I got to see some of my favorite bands The Blasters and X. Exene even sang a song with Phil Alvin, I heart my job! Thank you for all the wonderful customers and friends for visiting with us, it makes it all worth while!

The Blasters!!! Johnny Cash Festival 2011

New necklaces in stock!

New jewelry in stock, including our ever popular 'Demons are a ghoul's best fiend' necklace now available in purple, fink pink and ghoul green! Come see what's new at Charcoal Designs!

Salty Seas necklaces available in blue or red, $14.99 ea.

Pearl, glitter bow necklace with glass pearl chain $27.99

Demons Are A Ghoul's Best Fiend Necklace, $18.99 ea.

Custom, now available in hot pink $15.99

Come visit the Kustom Voodoo and Charcoal Designs booth this year at the Ink 'N' Iron car and tattoo festival in Long Beach on June 10th, 11th and 12th! 280 tattoo artists from around the globe with tons of great punk, rockabilly, and psychobilly bands, you don't want to miss it! Lots of talented vendors will be there, come see our great stuff in person and take home something unforgettable!

New Mermaids & Cameo Jewelry!

Lots of new jewelry in stock! Just added: Mermaid necklaces with a glass pearl beaded chain and framed cameo necklaces with skulls, skeletons and Virgin De Guadalupe!

www.charcoaldesigns.com












Available exclusively at www.charcoaldesigns.com!

New Artwork & Mermaid Necklace!

Available Now At www.charcoaldesigns.com

From Naughty Secretary's latest blog entry!

These are little deers Jennifer commissioned me to make for her daughters very first birthday party, I was very honored to do so and I think Jennifer did an amazing job turning them into colorful magnets for her guests!

Handmade FRIDA Halloween Costume

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! I recently posted a Mexican paper flower 'how-to' so I decided to post some Halloween costume pictures from last night.

My Halloween costume with handmade Mexican paper flowers, hand embroidered 'sugar skull' dress, and new hand cast resin Frida necklace.

Mexican Paper Flower How-To

Last year I made some paper flowers for my wedding reception centerpieces (blogged here) and I made a new batch of flowers for my Frida Kahlo 'self portrait' Halloween costume!

Paper flowers are very inexpensive to make and lots of fun, all you will need is tissue paper, pipe cleaners (or string) and a little bit of time!

Here's what you need:

1. Tissue paper or crepe paper

2. colorful pipe cleaners or yarn

(I chose yarn this time around because I want to tie them around a headband to put in my hair for my Frida costume and didn't want to worry about pipe cleaners poking me in the head) :]

3. Scissors


Start off with square pieces of tissue paper. The more pieces you use per flower, the fuller your flower will look. To make extra large flowers use full sheets of paper, for medium flowers use 1/4 of a full sheet, for small flowers (like the green one I made for this tutorial) cut the paper down even more to 1/8 the size of a full sheet.



Once you have your squares cut (I am using 9 cut squares to make one flower, but you can use more for a fuller looking flower), stack them on top of each other then fold them into an accordion shape.

Cut a triangle shape on each side of your 'accordion'.

Tie a string or wrap a pipe cleaner around the center of your flower. Make sure your knot is at the bottom of your flower (the bottom of my sample flower is dark green).

I like to trim the edges because sometimes my square pieces aren't completely square, this way your flower petals will come out more evenly on each side of your flower.

I also like to cut the tips of the 'petals' into a wavy shape (or cut triangles for a jagged look) to make the petals look more realistic, because flower petals in nature usually have pointed or rounded edges.



Fan out your flower and start to pull each 'petal' towards the center, carefully...

until you have completed a whole side. Once one side is complete, you can move onto the other side.

Once you're finished your flower will look something like this.

As you can see, I went a little crazy. I probably won't be using all of these for my costume but the left overs will be great for shrines, altars, and other craft projects!