Miniature Book Charms

A while ago I had the brilliant idea to return to YouTube. It's something that I have a love/hate relationship with. I love making. I love helping other people to realize that they can make stuff too. But, I'm not a huge fan editing and technology loves to be a pain in my butt. 

I set myself a lofty goal: two tutorials a month. I planned a years worth of projects. I bought the supplies. I made notes! I did research!!!! I was all set.

And, it didn't happen.

Turns out there are things far more important to me than YouTube, like walking my dog, making home cooked meals, putting fresh linens on the bed, reading a book and drinking a latte with gingersnaps in the afternoon. So I'm setting myself a much more realistic goal of one project every month-or-so. No schedule. No pressure. No "like and subscribe". Just making and sharing for the joy of it.

This 'month-or-so' project is a tutorial for mini book charms. They are CUTE.

Making this tutorial was wrought with disaster. I got sick (I'm sure there's heavy breathing and coughing in the video tute). My ring light crapped out. My microphone was an absolute wiener. And one of my little charms actually go run over by a car! Cross my heart that's true. I attached this charm to my boot strap and it fell off while I was on a walk. Came across it on my way back home and it had been violated by a vehicle... but held up remarkably well.

This project is fairly easy and the tutorial should be a great jumping off point for you to add your own flair and create something that warms your bookish heart.

I made keychains, necklace pendants, bag charms and earrings with these cute little things.

My absolute favourite from this make were these book earrings. Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaids Tale" (my all time favourite) for one ear, and Madeline Miller's "Circe" for the other.

You can find the full tutorial HERE on YouTube

Here are all the supplies I used, all of which can be substituted to suit your own needs:

• Air dry clay (I used DAS)

• Acrylic paint
• Satin clear finish
• Mini printed versions of your favourite book covers
• Mod Podge

• Jewelry findings

• Disposable eyeliner brushes

• Wooden Pottery Rolling Stick Guide

Those linked products are NOT an endorsement of those specific listings/sellers. I simply included them to give you a jumping off point if they are something you're interested in.

Making Mandrake Roots

I think just about everyone knows the screaming baby mandrake roots from the Harry Potter series. But, the lore of the mandrake spans back thousands (Yes! Thousands!!!) of years.

My first brush with the mandrake was in a book of witches on my mothers bookshelf. Those creepy little human shaped roots were the pinnacle of magical herbalism in my young mind.

Mandrake is mentioned in the Bible as a fertility aid. In Roman times there was a ritual in which the harvester would swear, being as rude and lewd as possible whilst gathering the roots. It was during Medieval times that the idea of a nasty screaming root became popularized. It has been used for everything from an aphrodisiac, hallucinogen, anesthetic, poison, to lucky charm. It is far more than a prop from a fictional film series.

The mandrake has a long, complex lore that any weird history nut would find fascinating.

I've made many little mandrake roots over the years and now I'm sharing my process for creating grumpy potted mandrakes so you can make them too.

Pop over to my YouTube channel for a full walkthrough (just forgive the abysmal lighting, I'm working on improving my set-up). You can find the video HERE.

Supply list:

• Sculpy II (feel free to substitute with your preferred material)

• Aluminum foil

• Clay pot

• Acrylic paints

• Faux leaves 

• Glue

• Mosses (real and fake)

Glowing Fairy Cottage in a Jar

While chipping away at some new projects for you, I stumbled upon the cutest project from one of my favourite YouTube accounts, The Miniature World of Kit and Cabooders. Check out their Glowing Autumn Scene in a Jar and see for yourself why I immediately had to create my own.

Aside: Why the heck do fairies and jars go together so well?

I grabbed that inspiration by the hand and created my own version. It's not exactly the same, but created in the same spirit as the original. Everything I used was on hand, with supplies already in my stash. 

Now, I'm not saying don't go out and buy some adorable fairy jar supplies... I'm just saying that sometimes it's really nice to just use what you have, to make do, and not have to run out to buy more more more.

In my version I used the following supplies:
• glass jar and lid
• battery powered tea light
• small piece of foamcore (corrugated cardboard would work too)
• florist foam (use a sponge in a pinch) 
• Sculpey oven bake clay (you could make your cottage out of anything at all!)
• a twig and other accessories (acorns, tiny paper leaves, wee mushrooms)
• faux grass/greenery (i.e. flocking, moss, wool fiber, felt, ribbons, fabric)
• glues of various types
• paints

This project comes together really quickly, rather easily, and the end results are just adorable.

To see my tutorial for this project pop your cute bum over HERE to my YouTube channel

Have a lovely day, my beautiful friend.

Fossilized Fairy Footprints

 

Oh my word.

Being a gal who loves history, folklore, artifacts and making magic, this project is the bees knees. I hope you think so too.

First I made tiny feet, then pressed them into clay (DAS) along with some leaves, let it dry, painted her up, then tagged and framed the artifact. 

I mean, how sweet would this be as gift to a believer in the fair folk?!

To be honest, this isn't where I intended this project to go. I had other plans. Perfectly good plans! But, as often happens, my project took me elsewhere. That's kind of a great thing though, as now I have a couple of extra projects in my back pocket for the future, and a perfectly good reason to keep those little fairy feet I created safely tucked away. 

(I realize putting things in a safe space is actually the very worst place to keep them as they always go missing, but we'll cross our fingers this doesn't happen.)

And as sweet as the framed artifact is, how freaking magical would it be to allow someone else to discover, uncover, one in the wild?!

 

Imagine stumbling upon fairy footprints nestled in a bed of moss. Or maybe just poking out from under the earth, dusted with soil. Sure, you'd have to take extra caution so that the elements didn't destroy your artifact... but oh the magic of it!

If you'd like to jump on the crazy wagon and make one for yourself you can find the YouTube tutorial here. Just remember to keep your fairy feet for future projects!

Have a splendid day lovely internet friend!