Getting Back into Creating

I haven't created anything for so very long. The other day, I decided I needed to make some simple Halloween ATC's and send them off to my Yahoo! group. Yesterday, I went to Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's for some fall items. I've started up swaps on my Yahoo! group again, and had to make the packets for October's swap. Here's what my kitchen floor looked last night:

 Those are the pieces for the swap. Among the paper and stickers are a couple interesting bits: rubber rats I picked up last year(I only wanted one, but just like the potato chip commercial, you can't have just one), some monster toothpicks, some silk leaves, 3D acorns, some spooky charms, and some orange brads. I can't wait to see what my group creates with them.

Last year, I signed my mother and I up to create something for a festival of trees. Last year when we went, my mother commented that we should make something, and when I picked up the pieces I won in the silent auction, I signed us up. My original thought was to make an art piece for the silent auction, my mother wants to decorate a wreath. She has a great idea, but she has been so busy with things with my grandmother (she had a stroke earlier this year, had to be moved to a nursing home, and last weekend my parents cleaned out her apartment, we don't think we'll be celebrating her birthday next year), I'm not sure she'll have time. I'm still hoping to do some kind of art piece. I think this will be nice:

It's kinda dark, but that back piece is a greenish organza piece folded four times, there's 3 doilies layered on top and an green flower bead in the middle. There's seam binding on the edges. I'm thinking of making it a wallhanging. I'm not sure if I should keep the 4 folds, it looks better than the sheer one layer of the organza, if I do, I'll add some quilt batting under the fourth layer on the back, and some kind of cord to hang it. I think it will be really nice.


I also signed up for a few swaps in my other Yahoo! group today, and am doing the Fall Button Floozies swap again this year.

What are you guys creating?

Under The Sea

The other day, I wanted the ocean, so I started this piece:

I started by mixing a couple of blues and painting the canvas. My first thought was to use some of the massive collection of shells I have. After adding them to the corner, I was looking through some inspiration on my computer and decided I needed a mermaid. The one I chose is from The Sum Of All Crafts blog. After that I decided I needed some seahorses around her. I went to Micheal's, The Dollar Tree, and Making Memories on Wednesday, but couldn't find the right ones. I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and found the blue ones, and decided the yellow one I had to begin with (also from The Sum of All Crafts) would work well. The blue ones are layered paper with googly eyes.
Now, I'm stuck, I know it needs more, but I'm not sure what. I think it needs more dimension and probably some plants, but I don't know where to start.

Any ideas?