Two Turtle Dove Houses

The fab folks at Alpha Stamps are hosting a 12 Days of Christmas event. I'm a lucky duck and got the number 2 to work with. I decided to stick with tradition (sort of) and make two turtle dove houses.

They're pretty darned cute and I'm going to show you how you can make your own!

Grab an old teacup and a chunk of florist oasis. Shave, cut and trim the oasis until it fits snugly into the cup.

Glue the oasis in place and then cover the top with white glue and create a mossy lawn. This is just loose moss, but you could use sheet moss as well.

Next I added some beautiful Mica Fragments - Pearlized which look just like antique snow. You could leave this step to the end but I found it easiest to do it at this point. Now your base is complete!

 

For the little house, I've used Paper Mache Birdhouses. To make life easier I simply pulled out the perch and worked with it as a flat surface.

I covered the sides in different papers from the same colour pallet for interest and added a cute  Ruffle Edge Trim - Cream.

The roof is made using Velvet Ric Rac. Starting at the bottom edge just apply strips. When your glue has dried you can just snip off the extra rough edges.

To hide the cut edge, I applied a Thin Fleur Dresden Border.  That background? It's Aesop’s Fables - Tortoises and Hares Collage Sheet. Using an image for the background is a great way to add visual interest to a piece.

To the peak of the roof I added a Black Zig Zag Dresden Border, and rolled a piece of coordinating  scrapbook paper (this is the reverse side of Botanicabella: Birds in Paradise) and a couple of vintage buttons to finish it off the ends.

Now for the real fun part. Adding embellishments! Whoever said "Less is more" probably wasn't a crafter. Here I've added, Brass Turtle Doves, paper embellishments and Clear Acrylic Bead Sprays.

To create the stand I took a piece of wooden dowling and painted it white. Then I wrapped a ribbon around it (I used  3/8 Inch Iridescent Ribbon). A perfectly striped effect! 

Top your striped dowel with a Small Wooden Box Foot, and affix it to the bottom of the house. When dried, you can push the dowel right into the oasis base and it should hold your house firmly in place.

Finally I added some Christmas Pixies and paper trees to my scenes. I used my new favourite, the Little Darlings CS Sheet. This sheet really is fab! Each of the kidlets appears in twice, once in reverse, so that you can paste it back to back, leaving a clean and neat backside. Add wings and crowns and you're turtle doves will have their very own little pixie guardians. 

Here's the materials list for both houses in case you want to make your very own:

Old teacups, Florist oasis, Glue, Moss, Buttons

Paper Mache Birdhouses • Little Darlings CS Sheet • Small Wooden Box Feet • Gold Fleck Trim 

Velvet Ric Rac • 1/8 Inch Drapey Ribbon (red) • Mica Fragments - Pearlized • Brass Turtle Doves

 • Royal Christmas Red Drop Scallop Trim  • Glittered Holly Berries

  Olde Curiosity ShoppeButterfly Specifics Scrapbook Paper  • Aesop’s Fables - Tortoises and Hares 

3/8 Inch Iridescent Ribbons   •  Botanicabella: Birds in Paradise  • Black Zig Zag Dresden Border

Thin Fleur Dresden Border • Ruffle Edge Trim - Cream
  Clear Acrylic Bead Sprays - Teardrops

 

Yeeeeehhhhaaaa!

I grabbed the mail from the postbox this afternoon and then trudged down to the school bus stop. I was going to flip through my husbands cooking magazine but then realized it wasn't a cooking magazine at all!

Yep! Those are my wee ATC's in Somerset Studio! Christmas came early at the Pixie House :)

Paul Peel

The Art Gallery of Ontario posted a Paul Peel image on fb this morning and it reminded me of our trip to there this summer. Every time the husband and I would gasp at an astonishing piece, well, it was a Peel. I think his work is simply divine and absolutely inspired.

This one, The Young Gleaner, hangs in the Art Gallery of Ontario. It's so full of life. The light coming through the girls hat is astounding. I could stand and look at it for hours.

Here are a few more beautiful Peel's to peek at. Imagine what he would have painted had he lived past 32!

*Dreamy sigh*

If you go into the woods today...

Yesterday afternoon, Mr Pixie, the kidlet and I went for a hike at Presqu'ile Provincial Park. While there, we helped the park faeries spread a bit of magic and left some treats behind...

A gnome hat perched on a log with old toadstools, along with a couple of miniature books for good measure.

And what is that spied on a piece of birch bark? A tiny crown and book of fairy tales!

The place is infested with faerie folk.

We passed a family walking in the direction of the gnome hats while doing our sneaky business. There was an attempt to follow them and overhear their reaction, but they didn't spy the shocking red of those caps.

In the Art Abandonment FB group I belong to, it's common to leave a tag with the work that is left behind. In this case I thought it would spoil the magic for the finder. They are left as if forgotten by wee people with no pomp. If the items are not picked up immediately that's fine, other people will get to enjoy the discovery too.

I feel as though leaving those things tagless, without instruction at all, will absolutely ensure those little things find the right home.

A finder-keeper who loves those things so much, they're willing to swipe them?

Happily ever after indeed.

Santa is on the way!

While our American friends are just now celebrating Thanksgiving, my little town is prepping for Christmas. Last night was Brighton's, Santa Claus parade. Twenty minutes of small town floaty goodness. Yep. 20 minutes. We waited longer than we watched, but that's a good thing! The kids don't complain, feet don't get sore, and all is right with the world.

The beaten and battered school bus below was the 'float' for my kiddo's school. I'm pretty sure it was a left over from the local race track's annual school bus race. How fun is it?!?!

I was really liking the hand drawn signs on the floats.

And finally, the fat man himself. It wasn't the REAL Santa (this one had a fake beard) but he was very funny and quite jolly.

Here's the to start of the holiday madness. May your cups be filled with spiked nog, your wallets not drained dry, and your sanity remain intact. (A little crazy is ok.)

For a cause...

I was asked if I'd like to do some mess making for the Shelter Valley Folk Festival "The Art Project". Participants are given a 5x7 canvas board to create works of art that are then auctioned to raise money. The proceeds go toward community programs including artists in the school. How could I possibly say "no"?

After much struggle with several types of glue... here's my contribution:

The theme this year was "community" so I figured I'd best make a wee village on top of that canvas ;)

Fingers crossed it brings them a few buck-a-roos ;)

Here's some additional info swiped from the site: Shelter Valley's "The Art Project" opens its doors from 6:30pm on Sunday November 25th for one night only, ending the evening with a Silent Auction. The event will take place at the Park Theatre & Performing Arts Centre at 60 King Street East in downtown Cobourg (across from Victoria Park). For more details give Shelter Valley a call at 905-349-2788 or visit online at www.sheltervalley.com.

Knock, knock...

Saw this on my walk to the school bus this morning. I wonder who lives inside. I bet it's cozy inside!

Altered Brooches Tutorial

You may remember a short while ago I created some altered art brooches. Well, I've made another batch and a little "how-to" in case you'd like to make your own. Here's what they look like when complete...

Ready? Here's how....

For the base of my brooches I used THESE SQUARE TINS,  ROUND TINS, and SMALL ROUND TINS  from alphastamps.com.

The tins have a clear plastic window that is fairly easy to remove. Just slice into the plastic with a craft knife and use a pair of pincers to twist and pull the plastic from the rolled tin grip.

The plastic will tear but your tins should be fine. You could keep window in place, but I prefer to remove them. Removing the window adds to the depth and you won't have to worry about the vinyl scratching or not being able to fix items that might dislodge inside.

Using the base of the tin, trace around the edge on the reverse of a decorative scrapbooking sheet. When you cut this out, trim slightly smaller, just inside the line, so that the cut-out will fit into the bottom of the tin.

I like to cut out a bunch in a variety of papers.

Affix your cut-outs to the inside bottom of your tins.

Next, I gather the images I think I might use. These pictures are all from the Tintypes Collage Sheet (my favourite!) and the School Days Collage Sheet. To add a little extra weight, I glue the images on to heavy decorative paper and cut them out.

To soften the cuts, and hide the white of the paper, I run a paintbrush loaded with an umber coloured paint around the edges.

Now I start playing with placement. I mix and match, moving things around until things start to come together. As I keep working, these choices will change. It's good to experiment and go with the flow :)

If you'd like to add wings, hats, colour or other embellishments to your cut outs, now is a good time to do that. Aren't these Small Angel Wings adorable?!?

To add depth, I use two layers of double sided foam tape. Try to cover enough of the back so that the image is well supported.

As you put your items inside, place and replace the lid to see how your composition is coming along. The lid will cover quite a bit of space around the outside edge so it's important to check how well it all fits together before fixing your embellishments into place. In this tin, in addition to my winged girl, I've added Glittered Holly Berries, Tiny Paper Roses, White Rose with Heart Shaped Petals and some gorgeous tiny ivory and pink paper rose buds. It doesn't take much to fill up that tiny space!

Let's start on the exterior. I use a toothpick to carefully add jewellers glue to the of the tin. The rims that held the vinyl window in place are handy for gluing down trim. Here I'm using 2mm Rhinestone Chain which is absolutely perfect for those rounded corners and pretty and sparkly too boot!

 

You can now fasten the lid to the bottom of the tin and work on further embellishing the exterior. For the tin below I used some Plastic Pearls (Strands) and an Artisan Elements Borders Sticker which, although I've left white, can be coloured. It's just the right size for the small round tins.

For this brooch I've used Plastic Pearls, Gold Fleck Trim and Rhinestone Chain.

Keep playing until you're pleased with the results. Work in layers, adding bits and bobs, here and there. When you're done, attach a pin back so that you can wear your new piece of art.

 

Now get out there and show off your handiwork!

For all the products used in this tutorial CLICK HERE.

They're back...

Just a little note to begin...

A number of people have mentioned making a rather long journey to visit "Pixie Hill". I love you for it. I really do! Because I love you so much, I'm going to tell you that you that if your journey is really, very long, please consider waiting and visit during the summer open house. Yuletide will be cozy and sweet and all types of goodness, but there's simply be much more to see and do in the summer. This year our summer open house will be held on summer solstice (June 21st & 22nd - the most perfect faerie spying night of all!) and will include another, bigger, better faerie tour... maybe even a twilight picnic. I am delighted to have you, whenever you come, but if you're considering a long journey, you might prefer to spend Mid-Summer Nights Eve with us. xoxo

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The Pixie Hill faeries took a long vacation to the Gates (our local arts centre) for the month of October. They've just now arrived back home.

My original plan was to continue adding to the site over the month but some stupid germs decided to jump me and that was the end of those grand plans. BASTARDS!

It was really interesting how the 'installation' changed over the course of the month. The wind, weather and leaves altered the site in many ways. I loved the way the leaves made natural camouflage for the littlest houses. Wasn't such a big fan of the larger houses falling over. You can take it from me, if you ever decide to do an outdoor site, you will ALWAYS lose when it comes to a battle with a crafty critter.