Carey Burns

Cross-stitch Zombie...Part One Such a cool kit! I purchased this amazing cross-stitch kit a couple years ago, but never got around to working up the ambition to make anything. A long time ago in a world far away, I was in 4-H and my awesome mom taught me the fine arts of needlepoint and cross-stitch. I knew I could do this project, but knew I was rusty in my needling skills. Oh, if only I knew how rusty I truly was! So I should let you know that I just got back from a 3-day trip to Michigan to see the lovely fall scenery and visit our favorite haunted attractions. It is now 9:31 p.m. Today, I cross-stitched in  moving car until the squares of the cloth became a blur and the sun sank too low to even see what I was doing. It was fun and challenging and I know I screwed up a handful of stitches...because I am very rusty. This is as far as I got today, and I'm okay with that. I have all day off tomorrow so I will finish the zombie and work on a super cool craft idea that y...

Paper Doll Zombie She's the cool goth zombie I want to be! Wow, today's craft almost didn't happen at all! I intended on making something nifty out of polymer clay, but insomnia + errands + a road trip and late dinner killed that idea. Thank goodness there was a Paper Source store where I ended up!!! Awesome kit! I brought Glossy Accents and scissors with me, planning on some paper craft at the beginning of the day and found an awesome paper doll kit. Then we had dinner and I had a big, big glass (and a half) of blackberry sangria. And it was after 8:30 p.m. so the crafting difficulty was amped up. I managed to get all of the pieces out of the plastic wrap and punch out a few odds and ends by the light of my phone, but then I gave up. Maybe I can't craft anywhere... That's unfortunate placement... We just got home so I finished my zombie paper doll. If I have time tomorrow (after the Day 17 craft is done) I might make a few more to entertain t...

Six Shambling Zombies! They're coming to get you... Stuff you will need If you have been following each day's craft, thank you and I hope you enjoy what I've been throwing together. If you just discovered my Creep-a-Day Challenge, welcome! So, I woke up this morning intending to create something out of foam core, but wasn't looking forward to wrestling the supplies so I dug through my jewelry bin and found six copper-toned bezels. What to do? A charm bracelet? Earrings? No. Necklaces were meant for today. But kind??? Supplies: Copper-toned bezels Copper-toned ball chain (I used Tim Holtz) Glossy AccentsTM Scrapbook papers Tools: Scissors Marker Flush cutters (jewelry tool) The How: That template is round-ish... Find a marker that is the same inside diameter as the bezel. We're looking for a marker that will fit inside the bezel. Once you've found one, trace around it on a piece of heavy cardstock. This will be your template. Place your template ...

This is my birthday week and staycation all rolled into one.  My goal for this week is to write at least 20,000 words.  I will work on my NaNo novel "Hunting the Boogie Man" and finish up a few other projects and if I break 20,000 words, I will wear a tiara all day on Saturday.  If not...well, the guilt will be suitable punishment enough. My story "Being Neighborly" has been accepted into the upcoming anthology "Zombies Gone Wild" by Collaboration of the Dead.  I'm particularly jazzed about this because the story was slated to be in a different anthology but was killed.  A zombified story about zombies...rock on. Okay, better boogie if I want that tiara!

Turns out my "booboo finger" is actually broken and the nail is turning a lovely blackish hue.  I always have loved black... Even with a busted finger I've been trying to keep busy with reading and writing and submitting.  Black Corners of a Blood Red Room by Patrick Rutigliano is well worth the buy and I'll be working on a proper review to post on Amazon soon.  When I'm done with Autumn by David Moody I think I'll skip genres to true crime.  Too much horror makes Carey go something-something...  On the writing front, I sent a flash zombie piece to Pill Hill and it will appear in Daily Frights 2013 .  Now I need to submit just 9 more stories to different places to meet my 2012 goal.  Oh yeah! Lately I've been having more and more Halloween dreams and think my brain is telling me to start making goodies.  The ideas are there, I just can't make anything out of clay or paper pulp until this finger stops hurting.  Ah well.  A...

It looks like Rapid Decomposition (an e-anthology by Twisted Library Press) is coming to completion!  My two stories "Outbreak" and "Zombie 101" will appear in it and I'm dancing a jig that they will see the light of day.  Happy times! I've been going through all of my stories I've written and realized that my organizational skills aren't what you call "good."  That said, I have tomorrow off and part of the day I'll be culling extraneous copies of anything I've saved.  With any luck, I'll get it all done in a day...I hope! Tomorrow I will also be submitting a couple short stories.  They too became homeless when the anthologies were killed.  Here's hoping they find homes again!