Darkly Delightful Bathing Machine for Grim Days at the Beach

The April showers might bring May flowers but right now they are making my landscape rather grim. Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of grim things and rainy days. Rather than fight against the current weather conditions, I'm going to embrace them and make something darkly delightful.

This little "Bathing Machine" is based on the 18th and 19th century change rooms wheeled into the sea by by-gone beachgoers. But what if the Adams' ancestors went to the beach? Or the Munsters? OR MARY SHELLEY OR EGAR ALLAN POE OR... well, you get the point. I'm sure they'd all visit the seaside on rainy days. I'd like to think they had a creepy little space for changing into their wading attire and doing a little fortune telling to see if the water was fine.

Gypsy Soul does have a proper Gypsy Wagon available if you're feeling more ambitious, but I like this little fella. It's a fun kit and there are LOADS of customization possibilities. Travelling snake oil salesman, a tiny portable library, a sideshow trailer... oooh, so many ideas!

Two tips I will mentions.

1. I am terrible at applying hinges so I glued my door in place and ajar. If you do the same, just be aware of the door placement so that you can still add the stairs.

2. I used the Chipboard Shingles - Half Scale Sampler for the shingles. One package is enough to do the entire roof. You might want to position the bottom row of shingles lower than I have. (Don't tell anyone but I think it would have looked a bit better with more of an overhang.)

If you'd like to see the process to create this particular piece, the walk through is available HERE.

And here are all of the supplies I used to create this version of this project: 

Bathing Machine

Chipboard Shingles - Half Scale Sampler

Round Table & 2 Chairs

Leafy Corners
Faux Metal Number Plates 1 to 25

Miniature terrain grass
Moss and faux flowers
Bead caps
Thin Looped Dresden Border
Black Zig Zag Dresden Borders 

Paper straw

1/8" doweling

Graphic45 - Rare Oddities
Acrylic paint

Glass marble

Miniature Novena 7 Day Spell Candles.

It's FINALLY spring and I have a head cold. Despite my nose is being an absolute jerk, I've been working away, making a butt ton of these adorable miniature novena candles.

They are in real glass and made with real wax but there is no wick so they cannot be burned. But really... gah! they are just so cute!

I've made a whole range of Saintly ones.

Like my favourite dude Saint Expeditus.

Our Lady of Guadalupe and a slew of others.

You can check them all out in my etsy shop. 

There are also a bunch of wee magic 7 day candles too.

Who doesn't need a tiny Jinx Removal candle?

If you don't know which saint or spell you'd like, but want need some miniature non-burnable candles for your doll house I have a discounted listing for 4 randomly selected candles available.

And now I am off to edit video and do battle with my sinuses... it's a hardcore rockstar weekend!

Pretty Flip Book

It crossed my mind to use this standing flip book to create something practical . I had thought of maybe a daily "to-do" list, or daily affirmations and meditations. That didn't happen. Practicality went out the window and I just made something pretty.

I dug deep into my paper hoard and used papers from my Graphic 45 days. I've used a mish-mash of older collections, I mostly used Botanical Tea and Time to Flourish.

I added a little sort of nest of flowers at the base... again busting the stash!

Assembly was SUPER simple. I only have two bits of advice... 

1. Be wary of adding a large design element at the top. It's so temping, but it may hinder the flipping of the pages.

2. When assembling the base leave the areas that slide together unembellished. This will help the pieces to fit together much more easily.

You know, I've always been more of a silver fox than a golden girl... but this gold dresden may be  swaying me to the other side.

Most of the butterflies I've used have been fussy cut from the G45 papers, but the ones below are stickers from... the dollar store! Aren't they pretty?!

The flip book comes with 6 chipboard pages so there is loads of room to play and experiment.

I was rather heavy handed with the dimention on the pages and there was still loads of wiggle room. You could easily add plenty of your own additional pages.

Want to make your own pretty flip book? You'll find the supply list below.

Supplies List:

Standing Flip Book
Faux Metal Number Plates 1 to 25
Graphic 45 papers
Metallic Dresden
Twig Vine Garland
Paper flowers
Flatback pearls

A little extra something

The author of my very favourite magical books ordered something from me the other day. Woo hoo!

It gave me an excellent excuse to make tiny versions of her books to tuck into her package.

It's also an excellent excuse to let you know about her work. If you're interested in magical things, Judika's encyclopedic books are a wealth of information. 

Buy some books! Learn some magic! And have a beautiful day my lovelies xoxox