Carey Burns

Shortly after Christopher Lee died, Michael DeMeng issued a challenge to create a vampire-themed assemblage piece and of course, I jumped at the chance! If you don't know who Michael DeMeng is, visit his website and behold his creations. Swoon over the details of each delightfully dark piece. Go. Now. I will wait. You're back! Good! I decided to alter a 7Gypsies tray I snagged on sale. I'd have a fake vial of vampire blood, maybe a wooden stake, and a Shrinky Dink rendering of Christopher Lee in all his Dracula glory. A not-so-scary Dracula What do they say about best laid plans? I bought a paper doll book of vampires (really, check it out ) and traced him out onto the Shrinky Dink paper. I colored him in and then popped him in the oven. He did not turn out so well. That scrapped the Shrinky Dink idea. Back to the drawing board. I had bought some buttons at the craft store that had hearts with a blade piercing them. Rust was on my mind so I painte...

Worth more than $1.50 I found a tiny plastic baby doll with wonky eyes at an antique mall. He was only $1.50 and wanted to come home with me so I took pity and bought him. Rusting babies and bones He sat for a while until I decided to add a layer of iron paint and then rust him and I wasn't sure what exactly he'd be. I knew he was going to be on a small wooden block, but he didn't have a story yet. A Changeling is born After gluing him in place and pulling other assorted odds and ends around him, he looked sad and sickly...like he was wasting away...and there in the depths of my brain a memory was sparked. This sad, rusted thing was no child. No. He was a Changeling. The spawn of a fairy swapped for a lovely little boy. I opened my scrapbook containing Other People's Family and found the most perfect match! After taking a photo of the photo, I decided it needed to be in color so I tried my hand at giving him blonde...