Raige Creations

I used to think I wasn't too bad at carving pumkins. I used to think my husband, who is much better at carving than me, was great at carving pumkins.  Then I saw this guy and his pumkins. This pumpkin is good, no question. But when I saw this video of some more examples of the best pumkin carver in the world, Ray Villafane,   my jaw hit the floor and all I could do was just watch and say things like "wow", Oh my Gosh", and "That is amazing" each time a new pumkin was shown. Then, to top it all off, the last sculpture blew my mind. Maybe next year we can carve something better than these. Have a sweetly scary day!

These may look familiar , but they have since been upgraded. They needed a facelift, upgrade, some bling - and the flowers were just the thing. And the are exclusively  in Raige Creations' Artfire Store .  Blue with White Flower for your phone - or whatever You don't remember Gadget Cozies? What are they? They are wool, they are felted, and they cozy up your most prized gadget. It will fit a cell phone, an ipod, your glasses, and many other gadgets that you need to carry. You can hook it to yourself easily, and travel lightly.  Cream and Blue for your Gadget, old or new  I am still working on more embellishments, and will add more as they are finished.  I love making these flowers and plan to add them to as much as I can!  I will even be adding brooches and pins to the mix as soon as I figure out the best way to do that.  Classic Pink and Blue for you I am also working on business cards, finally, and am thinking of incor...

I have always been drawn to this sort of image. The possibilites of what is around the bend on that beautiful path has always intrigued me. It is different for each of us, and it is ever changing. But it always something that makes me stop and think - dream - about what great things I can find when I walk down that lane, and get to that turn, and keep on walking.   Endless Possibilities Can you believe I am lucky enough to say this is the view I am greeted with each day? This is our driveway. So I know what actually is around this bend, but I can still look at it and dream of the possibilites we have here in our new place.  I can actually travel down this lane and turn right, walk up the hill and have a gorgeous view of mountains - for as far as you can see!  Seeing that view on a regular basis is wonderful, and makes me feel like like this next chapter of our lives is full of endless possibilities just waiting for us out there.  And we are ready to expl...

The day after I posted my sad little herb garden , and lamented that the basil was struggling and that I wanted this herb to grow the most, I went outside to check on the pots.  What I found so upset me -extreme vandalism by what could only be the squirrels.  Not only did they dig up half of the basil (and you remember how few were sprouting - only 7 then, and now just 3!), they nearly destroyed all of the cilantro!   All I could do is gasp and yell "Those damn squirrels!!"  And then this song popped in my head - they play such wicked games.   I couldn't find a song called 'those damn squirrels' (tho there are a ton of videos catching squirrels in the act! search that on you tube and you will be surprised!). We were going to get pumkins this week and carve, but after searching youtube and watching this video, and thinking about the wicked squirrels in our yard, I am reconsidering....

I was so excited to try my hand at growing some basil, dill, sage, cilantro, and chives once we moved. I didn't plant anything all summer because I knew we were moving. Once we got settled, I bought some dirt and planted the seeds I had been holding onto since we sold our house way back last year. I started with 4 pots, 2 kinds of basil, cilantro, dill, chives, and sage. My high expectations of pots overflowing with lush, green sprouts were met with this. A sad little potted herb garden. I had 2 different kinds of Basil, so they both went into the big pot.  My daughter was helping, so she filled one side with one kind of basil, and filled the other side with the second kind of basil.  What grew?  Seven.  A measly seven. You can hardly see them in this pot above.  I thought the few that came up were kaput, especially since a squirrel planted something in the pot. But last week I saw some new leaves trying to grow.  So there is hope th...

'Tis that time of year.  Scary ghosts, witches, goblins, and glowing pumpkins. But what do we really know about where it all began?  Read this and you will learn about the long history of celebrating summer's end with spirits and ghosts. IndieSmiles.com » Blog Archive » Halloween – A Summers End Happy Halloween!

With Halloween right around the corner, this song popped into my head and I haven't been able to get it out since. I was introduced to Bow Wow Wow  in the early 1980's with this song, along with the whole British  New Wave  genre. This song is an easy one to get stuck in your head with the tribal drum beats and great voice of Annabella Lwin , who was at the tender age of 14 when this song was popular. Though 'Candy' in this song does not mean Halloween candy, the desire for 'Candy' is unquestionable. This song is actually a cover of the original 1960's song by The Strangeloves , who actually have a funny story. They were an American band from New York who pretended to be from Australia. According to the press releases, The Strangeloves were three brothers named Giles, Miles and Niles Strange who had grown up on an Australian sheep farm. The brothers' faked backstory involved getting rich with the invention of a new form of sheep crossbreeding (the...

Back in April, we found this nest of cute little bunnies. There were so many of them, and they were so small.  We never thought they would make it, with all the cats in the neighborhood, raccons wandering around, our dog scaring the lot, etc.   Time went by, and during the summer we noticed this one kept showing up on the patio even while we were outside. We could move closer to her, and she didn't run off. So we went about our business, she went about hers. She liked to hang out on the patio, thus, dubbed Patio Rabbit. She has grown nicely, loves the clover, and still let us get rather close.  She loves to eat the clover on the other side of the patio. Very pretty bunny. Then come fall, we moved and didn't think much more of Patio Rabbit.  Until one day in September, My mother-in-law called and said Patio had built a nest right in the flower bed, right next to the patio. She would stay there, by her nest next to the patio while they...

I get to hear all these great songs on this radio station I found here in Asheville - 98.1 The River , where they say 'Different is Good'. Well, this video is different. The song came on the radio with the kids in the car one day, and they couldn't understand why I liked it. You try to explain this video to teens, and that this is part of the reason you enjoy the song so much. Not an easy task - they think I am nuts! So now I can show them and they can understand. I hear all kinds of inspiration for Music Mondays on that radio station. But you too can request a song that you would like me to feature - just leave it in a comment here, or you can contact me through any of my stores. Raige Creations on ArtFire Raige Creations on Etsy Raige Creations on Zibbet

I am proud to announce that Raige Creations is now open on Artfire.com - see my new studio here . Artfire is a another online marketplace that supports handmade, but there unique and innovative feature and functions make it feel like they REALLY want your business to succeed.  The features I like, so far, are that I have a 'studio', where you can see all things Raige: my shop listing all the items for sale (handmade AND Vintage), a blog , where I can share my creative musings, and a gallery where I can showcase items that have sold. In my bio , in addition to the usual blurbs about me, I can show photos of more personal things like pieces I loved to create that aren't for sale, or pieces that I just hate to part with. Another features of Artfire.com I really like is that there is no account required to purchase on Artfire. You do not have to sign up and create a password. I think that may help some people I know have access to my online store - they do not want ...

Life in a Northern Town by The Dream Academy. Today is now officially 'Music Monday! Two for Tuesday!!' - Two Vidoes for being one day late. T he first video here is the UK version of this great song is the first video made by Dream Academy.  The second video is the updated version, when the song became a hit in 1985.  It is a song that I certainly don't mind hearing more than once, and it is interesting to see the differences in the 2 videos. So get your sweater, and enjoy! We moved from a northern town to get away from the cold and long winters, but it sure feels like up north down here lately. The kids even said 'it sure feels like New York'. But we haven't unpacked the jackets yet - still not ready to embrace the colder weather.