DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

How to make Paper Clay I fell in love with sculpting with paper mache during my first project five years ago. However, I never really found a recipe that was worth the time and effort and mess that it took to get what I wanted. As a result, I used  Celluclay  for most projects. However, I recently stumbled upon an incredible blog called,  Ultimate Paper Mache  where Jonni (the artist and blogger) shares all sorts of tips, tutorials and recipes to help anyone on their way to successfully paper mache-ing. I am blown away by what Jonni can create, but I was especially grateful for the  recipe  she shared on how to make your own paper mache clay. Hot dog! It is easy as pie, quick, and works like charm! For my purposes, I ended up altering the recipe just slightly so that I could get the thicker consistency that I like. Here's my version of the recipe but I strongly suggest popping over to Jonni's site where she posts all sorts of details that you might find

    Moon Festival, Mooncake Festival , or the  August Moon Festival  - they are the different names of the same festival, which is popularly also known as the  Mid Autumn Festival . It is a celebration of abundance and togetherness.   The Chinese believe in praying to the moon god for protection, family unity, and good   fortune. It falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, a date that  parallels  the Autumn Equinox of  the   solar  calendar.On this day the moon is unusually bright, clear and round. Historical accounts are silent about the exact origin of this festival, but as far as the assumption of the  scholars  are  concerned , it is related to the two  customs  in China. The first customs concern the Chinese farmers. China is an agricultural country and farming in China is intricately associated with the seasons. In the ancient times, the farmers used to worship Earth God and prayed for a good harvest when they sowed the seeds during spring. Once again during autumn,

    Under the watchful gaze of crumbling saints and baby-faced cherubs, you hurry down a path lined with mausoleums. Eventually, you pass crops of headstones casting long, narrow shadows in the moonlight. Each engraved with the epitaph of the dead person's life. You run past sunken graves and dying flowers, hoping that the sound you hear is just the wind and you're trying to shake the feeling that something is following close behind you.     Maybe you've never taken a midnight stroll through your local cemetery. But if you have ever set foot in one, you've likely felt a hint of fear and uneasiness that is their legacy. Maybe you were attending a funeral of someone dear and close to you, touring graveyards or simply fleeing things that go bump in the night.     Whatever your reason for strolling among the tombstones, you probably felt something noteworthy about the experience-something different from all the other spaces and places that fill our lives. After