Postage Pixie

I worked on this collage last night. I'm not 100% pleased with it. There's some funky stuff going on with the paper the girl is printed on that makes her nose look rather piggish in certain light.

She's currently sitting in one of three fantastic frames I picked up from the reduced counter. They may not be to every one's taste but I sort of adore the classic ornate scrolling. I didn't recognize it at the time but they give the impression of a postage stamp.

I think I'll run with that happy discovery and create some postage pixies to fill them. That will mean this gal will have to be rehomed but hopefully she won't put up too much of a fuss.

P.S. Because I think you're so very nice, use coupon code 25percent and get 25% off your purchase! This offer is valid for a very short time so hurry over to the etsy shop.

Surprises, chocolate and wolves.

On Monday we packed up the truck and headed out to Niagara for a wine function...

 ... at least that's what D thought.

You see D's birthday was the other week and we had a couple of surprises up our sleeves.

Our first stop was actually for a private tour of Chocolate FX located in St. David's, in the heart of Niagara-On-The-Lake! It's pretty fabulous there. The production area is glassed in so visitors can see the whole process and take in the scrummy chocolately scent.

Don't even try to tell me that working in a chocolate factory isn't fun. Just look at this gal!

Afterwards we headed to the showroom for chocolate samples and candy!

Next stop? Look for a cheap motel so dad can get ready for his wine thing...

Or maybe mum and dad lied, there is no wine function, and we're really going to spend the night at Great Wolf Lodge! Woo hoo!

D has wanted to go here for ages but #1 it's pricey, #2 we have a dog and chickens that need tending so we never skip out of town #3 we live 4 hours from the place. Thankfully my mum drove up to take care of things while we were able to save a few pennies for this giant birthday surprise for D.

We checked in and headed to the water park which was fantastic and tons of fun. You don't have to worry about towels, and believe it or not, the lighting is such that not a soul looks pale and ghostly. The down side? The change rooms are pretty lame and we had to pay $20 for a locker for our clothes! $10 is refunded if you return the key before the area closes, but $10 for a locker seems pretty damned steep to me.

It was 5ish when our tummies began to grumble and we decided to get changed and see if our room was ready. We were supposed to be messaged, but we had to go to the front desk to find out our room number. And here's where I get a little ranty...

If I'm paying $250 for a room, for one night, I expect a certain level of quality. The room was clean but... well... look at this....

The kid themed area of the room was terrible. It was badly scratched and looked frightful. I'm sure that they would not allow this type of damage in the lobby... why would they allow it in a child's sleeping area? I'd rather see a plain clean wall than this mess....

... apparently, so would D who chose to sleep on the couch instead. (Note: The couch was a pull out.)

The bed was comfy (though I'm pretty sure it was a double, not the Queen size stated) and I was tempted to swipe some of the lovely pillows but the walls were pretty thin. I'm sure the family above us were tap dancing on roller skates, kids were running up and down the halls, and being located directly beside the stairwell we could hear the 'clunk clunk' of the door every time someone opened and closed the doors. No worries, being a family hotel all that slowed down around midnight. What did not stop was the heating/air conditioner going on and off and waking each one of us several times throughout the night. I'm not sure if it was faulty or what, but it didn't matter what setting we put it on, it was like having a hair dryer go off beside the bed every hour.

And just to rub a little salt in our sleepy wounds...

DECAF?!?! What the hell!

Thank heavens we brought our own food and small store of chocolate and candy to ease the disappointment :P

Happy Dance!

*drum roll please*  I'm thrilled to bits to announce that I'm an official Alpha Stamps design team member!

Each month they'll send me some of their fabulous crafty goods and I get to make glorious messes with them. How lucky can a gal get? Yippie skippy! I can't believe I've managed to trick them into letting me play with the big kids :P

You can check them out on facebook, join in some swappy goodness with their Yahoo Group, or follow them on twitter.

** Phew! It feels good to let that out. I thought I might burst keeping it a secret :)

I've finished up a few more pages of the chunky book I'm working on. I am about halfway through and I'm starting to think about how the heck I'm going to put this thing together. Here's two more pages....

The place seems to filled with half finished projects at the moment. Here's the work table this morning crammed with a fresh batch of mossy teacup towns waiting for their finishing touches.

What you don't see on that table is the HUGE doll house my mum brought for me. The thing is a 2'x2' monster of pure potential... but we'll save that story for next week.

xoxo

Work or play? Hmmm.

Today I'm stepping away from the computer (sort of) and getting down to the nitty gritty of preparing for company. We've got visitors this weekend which means I have to get the house sorted. Perhaps I'll just do it half assed and call it "disheveled dust bunny chic".

While there hasn't been any more work done on the goblin's pub, I am working on a chunky chipboard book. Here's a sneak peek at some of the pages...

I sort of love this one because the vintage card of buttons swings aside to show a little faerie balancing on a stack of buttons with a needle and thread in her hand :)

Needless to say I'd much rather be finishing up these beauties... alas the bathrooms, floors and piles of laundry are all tapping their feet, waiting rather impatiently for me to get back to work.



***Psst: many of the materials used in the making of the above pages come from Alphastamps.com Hop on over and check out the fab collage sheets

Matchbox Shrines and More Signs of Spring

The studio is looking a bit slim and I'm trying to get my act together. Here are my two most recent makings.

 

Isn't he sweet?! I'm kind of in love with him. The base is a large matchbox sized 2.5" x 4.75" He's currently listed in the esty shop here.

I know. You're probably sick to death of seeing this gal by now. Here's the thing, I got to thinking what a nightmare shipping her would be. Those delicate petal wings would no doubt suffer the wrath of the shipping gods. And so I've put her in a place of honor and safety. She's listed in the esty shop here.

I grabbed the camera this morning for spying some more signs of spring. It's funny living here, I can no longer decide what my favourite season is. Seeing things sprout and grow, those bursts of colour, is terribly exciting.

Something I didn't realized I missed so much was opening the windows and hearing the birds sing.

 

The garden is waking up...

It's been unseasonably warm. Even I, who lives to be snuggly warm, wore a tshirt today. The daffodils are sprouting, all sorts of green stuff and buds are making an appearance. I've started reno's on the faerie houses from last year and planning some additions to the little community. The windows are open, the birds are singing. All sorts of things are waking up!

This handsome fellow was found beneath one of our thyme plants. He looks rather serious. I suspect the faeries have put him on guard duty.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Woo hoo! My Irish blood is pumped that it's St. Patrick's Day and I'm looking forward to Corned Beef, cabbage, smashed taters and beer. Scrummy.

While I stuff my gob with boiled foodstuffs here's a couple of new spool faeries to take a gander at. I know the wee one is very similar to the last but I swear it's actually a zillion times better :)

xoxo

A Spool Fairy

It's March Break madness here. Activities have included wading in the stream to build an island, using the back garden as a driving range, doing battle in the front yard. At this moment I'm hiding, stealing a moment away from the kiddo to upload a couple of photos...

I'm a guest designer over at alphastamps.com this month (terribly exciting!). Here's a little Spool Fairy I made using their products: Romantic Perfume Labels Collage Sheet, Wood Mini Spool, Tiny Watch Gears and some Black Dresden Borders. The wings are made from dried flower petals!

And with a penny for size reference...

 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to run off and try to have a cup of tea before being forced down to the water in my wellies again ;)

xoxo

Spring is in the air... again.

A faerie just fluttered by my upstairs office window. We're all, faerie folk and humans alike, hoping todays mild weather marks the begining of spring and isn't just another tease.

Here are some mossy/lichen-ish pics from around the hill. Those little bright bits of colour are lovely.

P.S. Until March 17th you can get free shipping (US and Canada only) when you purchase a Faerie Specimen with the coupon code ALITTLELOVE.

Bricks and Bark

Another update on the goblins pub. I did the stone work on my chimney, got the grouting pretty much done (though there are loads of touch-ups waiting for attention) and now I'm just waiting for the slab on top of the chimney to dry.

I've also made a big dent in the roof work. I took the dog for a bit of a walk around the property this afternoon and picked up loads of twigs and bark strewn around after the massive wind storm this past weekend.

While doing all of this I'm thinking about what to put inside and where things might lead. I've got a few ideas that I want to incorporate but I've got no idea what the layout will be inside just yet.

Chugging along

More pubby updates...

Not much else done on the interior. I've added the window frames and patched up the ceiling and corners and such. My mind is mulling over all of the details I want to include and where they might fit and how in the heck I'm going to make/get the pieces I need.

A giant chimney on the side of the building. No brickwork on this just yet... maybe this evening.

The exterior walls have egg carton stones but no mortar just yet. Still it's coming along....

Just call me Speedy...

I've started on my next wee house, which will actully a pub not a home. I'm not sure how I managed it but I seem to have done a rather large chunk of work on it. Honestly, things have gone rather well over the past couple of days **knock on wood and blink 3 times**

I used THIS fantastic tutorial for the stone fireplace. The stones are made from egg catons!

The Truth

A short while ago I was asked if I'd be interested in doing an interview for a local publication. After the initial outbursts of "Hells bells!" and "Yee Haw!" I warned the writer that I'm actually rather dull and that most of the story would probably have to be made up for interest sake.

Last night the photographer came over to take snaps to go with the article. D was beside himself, and suddenly became very interested in the work his boring old mum does. I told him that he should document what was going on. Here are some of those blurry photos for your viewing pleasure...

Photog: Just work how you normally would.
Me: Umm, I usually sit on the floor surrounded by mess.

D did manage to get just a few photos taken of himself and I'm certain that's all he'll be talking about on the playground today.

 

The photographer was disappointed that my studio was so clean which means I now have a valid excuse for keeping the place a mess.

I sure that any minute now someone will discover that I was telling the truth, that there really isn't anything to write about. Someone is bound to say "Who the heck is this chick and why in tarnation are we writing about her?" Until they figure it out, I'll just play along. :P