When the stars align

First things first, this is a secret. So, shhhhhhh!

I know, the internet is the very worst place to post a secret... but more on that later.

So I made these collages. They're just small. Around 3". They are made with scraps of paper and words cut out of the most fantastic old trashy book which is crammed with lovely phrases.

BUT... there's more to this story than just 6 little collages. You knew that.

A year or so ago I left some tiny books around my town for strangers to find. A very short while ago, I left some toadstools. Then, on Sunday, one of my favourite arty fellas, Michael DeMeng, started a facebook group for creative folks to post their art abandoning missions and I was inspired to do it all over again.

So those 6 little collages were packaged up, ready to be given up to the fates to find their rightful owners.

This time (unlike the other items which had had no contact information at all) there is a tag on the package which includes an email address that the finder can write to, revealing the fate of the little gifts. There is no name or other telling information... just an email addy and the promise that the message will be passed along.

While placing one of the packages last night a storm was quickly blowing in. There was literally forks of lightning in the sky that stopped me in my tracks, but being totally brave, and not a scaredy cat at all, the package was placed.

It didn't take long before I got a message from the finder of that package! Part of it reads: "I am an artist as well and currently trying to find my way back to my artistic roots. Ironically I was just taking a break from cleaning out my "studio"...and voila! A gift. It couldn't have been timed any better. The element of surprise and the joy of having faith in the universe."

Please consider doing this... just once. Make something and leave it to the fates to find its home. You'll be amazed at how good it is for the soul.

Back to the secret stuff. I know some of you live close by. Please, if you happen to know someone who finds one of these packages, DON'T tell them who it's from. I'd keep it to myself but I'm hoping that sharing these types of posts will inspire others to do the same.

Now, get out there and abandon some art!

In case you're interested, here's a better look at all of the collages....

Hey! You made it all the way to the end! Happy mid-summer to you and yours. I hope you're blessed with the most magical fairy filled night. Check back tomorrow for photos of our celebrations :)

An old ballet slipper

I never took ballet as a girl but ballet slippers have always held a sort of romantic mystique for me. Even I, who would gather earthworms, make mud pies, and walk through cemeteries was not beyond leaping and twirling, quite certain I could be a prima ballerina.

Those pretty shoes and the graceful ladies jumping about in them were (are!) a wonder. Is it so hard to believe that a pair of pixies might take up residence in one?

The moon, ladybird and toadstools are handmade from paperclay. The pixies and butterfly are cut from paper. The night sky is made from painted old book pages and gleaming with glittery goodness. The acorn and moss are natural. The measuring tape is vintage. Phew!

A few little things

The first little thing...

... a tiny door! It's only around 2" tall and it opens to reveal this itty scene.

Here's the link for the kit I used as the base: Mini Parisian Door Shrine Kit. There's sooooo many possibilities for this tiny thing.

Also in little news...

More fairy activity around 'the hill'. Sometimes it's the little things that let me know that the fae are about. We've had fantastic firefly displays, gorgeous wildflowers blooming and the birds are all aflutter. The foxglove is starting to bloom, which always turns my mind to the wee folk.

I'm sure the wee folk have also been having their way with our dog, Padfoot. They must be coaxing him into picking up things he ought not to because he's become TERRIBLE over the past week. He even tried to pick up a toad and gave us both a nasty shock when he started foaming at the mouth. Thankfully he's safe and sound but what a fright!

To catch a faerie...

Tomorrow I'll be showing at Casa Dea Estate Winery in Prince Edward County. They're celebrating their third anniversary and part of the festivities includes opening their banquet hall to local artists to display their work.

In preparation the last few days have been hectic. I don't have anything packed and didn't get everything done that I wanted to accomplish. What I did manage to do was put together something I've been thinking of for a while... a faerie spying kit.

Isn't it cute!?! There's loads of stuff crammed into that vintage glass topped jar including a little handmade cheesecloth net, faerie sight stone, a scribble book with assorted papers for note taking, and a blend of faerie attracting herbs. There's a bunch of other useful things for attracting faeries in there as well.

Don't worry, I've included a note of warning about the keeping of faeries in jars and the pinching that may result.

How to Hinge a House ;)

I made these little hinged birdhouses a short while ago. They remind me something the Victorians might have kept as love tokens... or maybe memorials... creepy buggers ;)

Anyway, here's a quick 'how to' if you'd like to make your own.

With Alpha Stamps Chipboard Birdhouse Shapes as a template, I cut out four houses, using complimentary papers, for each house I want to make. (Side note: I have totally become a Graphics 45'er) To make one house you'll need to cover the front and back of two chipboard birdhouse shapes.

Leave one house intact, this will be the interior background of the house.  The second house you will slice into four parts as shown above.

Glue the two outer most edges to the base house shape.

Now you'll want to glue some hinges into place. These ones swing in the correct direction. Here's some things to think about when attaching the hinges...

• align the swing of the hinge directly over your cut
• use strong glue and let it dry completely before trying to open your house
• make sure your hinges swing in the correct direction!
• do not glue the moving part of the hinge! Keep your glue to the edges.
• for a stronger piece use two hinges on either side
• stiff hinges are more likely to cause problems opening and closing the doors.

To finish off the hinges I added some tiny nail head stickers.

Now open those suckers up and embellish to your hearts delight!

The faeries are out and about!

The faerie folk here are getting rather excited about the upcoming summer solstice. There's been loads of activity over the past few days. Lots of found objects like butterfly wings, bright blue feathers and empty robins eggs. Tiny toadstools dot the lawn. And there are more butterflies here than we've ever seen before!

There's been toads aplenty these past couple of weeks too. I am sure that they are the watchmen of the faerie world. This grumpy fellow was particularly put off by our presence and I'm certain I heard him say "Hrmph!" when I snapped his photo.

If you happen to be in Prince Edward County this Saturday, June 16th, stop by Casa Dea Estates Winery and say 'Hiya!'. They're celebrating their 3rd anniversary and have opened up their banquet hall to local artists. There'll be lots to see, do and taste so drop in and see what all the hub-bub is about :)

And the winner is...

Congrats to Lizbethem who won the blog hop giveaway!

Thanks so much to all who entered and to my fellow design team members for giving away such grand stuff too!

The tall trees loomed

I recently took part in the Wicked Forest Matchbook swap over on craftster.org. Here's what I made for my fantabulous partner...

The base is the small matchbox. There's tiny little mushrooms on that little mossy lawn.

And when the sun goes down the cottage lights up with a flickery glow.

New Needlefelted Fellow

We have moles. They aren't nearly as bad as they were last year, but once in a while the tell-tale hills pop up on the lawn.

Mole hills are fascinating. They are like a very, very, very slow eruption. The earth ever so slowly pushing up.  Strange indeed!

Here's a little needle felted mole I've made over the past couple of days. His fingers and toes are made of paperclay. He stands just a smidgen under 2"!

He's not very photogenic I'm afraid. He's rather much more lovely in real life. He's listed in the shop here.

Meet the Alpha Stamps Design Team Blog Hop!

I mentioned a few days ago that I've had birds on the brain. This month the folks at Alpha Stamps sent along some new Collage Sheets for their Birds in Hats Swap. The birdy images are really, really nice and the Just Hats Collage Sheet is fabulous. You can click the graphic at the right for more information on the swap.

Being part of the Alpha Stamps design team has been grand. It's pushed me creatively, I've used some fabulous products I may not have tried otherwise, and I'm totally smitten with all of the other talented team members. It's a real pleasure to be in their creative company and I'm chuffed to take part in this "Meet the Team" blog hop.

If you aren't familiar with my work, most of my making is heavily influenced by old stuff, dust, history, folklore, nature, fairy tales and nonsense. I adore funny looking people in old photographs and I think that vintage paper is just about the nicest thing there is. I draw inspiration from every nook and cranny I can... from Georges Méliès to Monty Python to the moon - it's all fair game.

Anywho, below are the two "Birds In Hat's" coasters I created for the new swap theme. If you leave a comment below (be sure I can contact you) you could win the pair of them! Easy peasy. Check back on Monday, June 12 to see if you've won!

 

Now, don't forget to hop on over to the next Alpha Stamps Design Team Member Blog for even more chances to win some fabulous artwork by some very talented folks!

Seriously. Go. Now!

Pretty Pillows and Plenty-o-pork (Warning-Meat Images Ahead)

I've spent a week making stuff and doing very little cleaning. With my granny heading back to our house for a last hurrah before she leaves for England, I figured I better get the place gussied up.

Most of my morning was spent cleaning our white couch. Let me just say, if someone offers you a white couch, just say 'no'. This bit of advice is particularly helpful if you have children... or a husband who likes to garden and get muddy. My granny thinks our giant white suite is rather fancy. I think it's a fancy pain in the bum.

Anyway, that big old white thing is starting to show it's age and to distract from the gross areas that defy cleaning I thought I might make some pretty floral pillows.

Awww, so pretty. So flowery. So good at hiding the hideous marks on the sofa. D disagrees and said "What have you done!?" The dog was also agitated and barked at them a bit. They'll get over it.

More pretty pillows and you'll notice there's some manly activity going on in the background.

While I enjoy good food and can bake like no-ones business, my husband is a true foodie. His latest obsession is Charcuterie (fancy meat things) and boy is he obsessed. As I type, he is messing up my kitchen, lost in fleshy bliss, working all sorts of magic with a half pig fresh from the abattoir. (Isn't that a fantastic word?! Much nicer than slaughterhouse.)

Anyway, here's some of the mans new 'toy' and the thing that will give me peace and quiet for the next two hours...

Yay pork!

Birds and other little things

I've had birds on the brain recently. Between that robin banging at our windows and Alpha Stamps "birds in hats" swap and sale every things aflutter.

Here's a few new little paintings I just finished up...

 

Chickadee - Original Painting Acrylic on Canvas 4"x4"

Listed here

Sparrow - Original Painting Acrylic on Canvas 4"x4"

Listed here

Tiny Apple Blossom - Original Painting Acrylic on Canvas 2.2" x 1.5" 

 Listed here

Forget-me-not - Original Painting Acrylic on Canvas 2.75" x 1.9

 Listed here

 

Forget-me-nots are some of my favourite flowers. Because that particular painting is far from perfect it's listed at just $12. A pretty good price for an original work on canvas... even if it is teeny weeny :)

Pretty Wedding Traditions

Timing is everything. My husband bought a bucket-o-stuff at an auction recently and inside there were several  tiny horseshoes. Soon after I was asked if could make a wedding spoon and horseshoe for a young couple. Fate?

There's lots going on in those two little things. Birch bark and bay leaves for protection. A lucky sixpence. An antique iron nail to ward off the baddies. There's even a four leaf clover hiding in that jumble on the tiny little horseshoe.

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the tradition of giving a spoon and/or horseshoe to a young couple. When I got married I received a simple wooden spoon and a plastic horseshoe that had been given to my mum and dad one their wedding day. I carried it with my bouquet (along with a chocolate star wand!)

Awww, look how cute me and the mister were :)

xoxo

Moonbeam Marge

Moonbeam Marge,
had a large
jar to catch the stars in.

Lid screwed tight,
with all her might,
she'd wish for limes and sloe gin.

xoxo

Limited Edition of 5 Handmade ACEO's listed here.

More nonsense

Over the past week or so I've been trying to come up with another nonsense poem. I've written plenty of terrible stuff over that period. Today however, I have managed to come up with something fabulous that I can't share just yet because it isn't nearly done.

I shared the little bit I do have with the kid and husband at the dinner table. They both rolled their eyes and shook their heads. Because they don't have any taste at all that means it's brilliant! Woo hoo! Keep your fingers crossed that the rest comes a little easier and I can share it sooner than later.

Until then, here's another ACEO set completed!

They're hand cut, sanded, painted, assembled. A limited edition of 6. Listed on esty here.