Mary Beth Shaw and Stencil Girl Products

I am a big fan of Mary Beth Shaw's work.  If you aren't familiar with her work you can check out her blog by clicking on her name for the link.  She also resides in St Louis area which adds bonus points since I consider it to be my second home.  She has a line of products you might like too-Stencil Girl Products
  "Having hand-cut her own stencils for years, Mary Beth dipped her toe into the stencil design business in 2010. Expanding StencilGirl to team up with other artists is the fulfillment of her dream to provide the highest quality artist designed stencils for the mixed media world." (taken from her site)
She also has clear stamps and wood icing which i hear is a must-you can see it used in her book "The Flavor of Mixed Media"-which i do own :)

Halloween Burn project

At least that is what I'm calling it. I saw this technique done on craft wars some months ago and decided to give it a try in my own way.  It just screamed "halloween" to me so i cut my wood in a rough tombstone
shape with a hole in the middle and taped away.  Next came the burning. 
Once I was happy with the look i painted them white (spray paint) and added a black wash.
The tape melts and creates drippy, raised and textured areas.  In person, it looks like bones almost.
The hole was cut out with the intention of adding a mirror with an image in it. Pretty cool effect 
Disclaimer: If you are in my art group and swapping on sunday-look no farther or you'll spoil the surprise :)

after burn

white paint before the black wash

finished

detail

more detail

Pyromaniac

It's no secret I like playing with flames. In the past I have burned paper and wood-probably plastic. I've now added something new to the mix~
here is the result.  I actually have two projects done with this technique but want to wait until after my art meeting to show the other-since some of them will receive those pieces.

Here is the former "birdcage" turned haunted hot air balloon.  at least it will be once it is painted and tweeked.