Through the woods...

The Halloween fun is starting early at Alpha Stamps. This month's kit theme is "Little Red Riding Hood", a delightfully sinister fairy tale. When I saw these Creepy Chipboard Tree Cut-Outs... I knew just what to make.

I've taken a Graphic 45 8x8 Matchbook Box and used papers from An Eerie Tale to embellish. Inside there's a spooky encounter between Little Red and that Big Bad Wolf using The Wolf At The Door Collage Sheet.

Perhaps my favourite part is the Mini Lantern with Battery Pack which gives the scene a a nice and creepy glow.

I'm also rather smitten with this Lion Head Handle that adorns the top of the box.I think he's a perfect finishing touch.

Want to make your own? Here's an easy peasy link to all the supplies from Alpha Stamps.

Or the items listed separately:

*August 2014 - Little Red Riding Hood Kit
*Little Red Riding Hood Add-On Kit
8x8 Matchbook Box
Creepy Chipboard Tree Cut-Outs 
Mini Lantern with Battery Pack
Sheet Moss
Lion Head Handle
Metal Hands
Ornate Metal Key Holes - Antique Brass
Trinkets & Baubles Adhesive Pearls Cream
Graphic 45: An Eerie Tale, Unsolved Mystery
Graphic 45: An Eerie Tale, Captivating Characters
Graphic 45: An Eerie Tale, You Bewitch Me
Graphic 45: An Eerie Tale Wicked Whimsy


 

Tresors de Luxe Shabby Sachets

These little shabby sachets are super cute and so simple to make. Layers of cheese cloth are sewn into little pouches (use a zig-zag stitch to prevent too much fraying) and embellished with Tresors de Luxe lace, filled with dried petals and lightly scented with essential oil. I've tea stained mine for a vintage feel, but they would be just as pretty left white. 

These ones will be tossed into my linen closet to make everything smell lovely. I think I'll make some more to tuck into presents during the holidays and make my gifts smell nice too.

Supplies
Ivory Venice Lace for Bridal LA-020
Shabby Chic Flower Embellishment
Ivory Venice Embroidered Fabrci Lace Trim LA-079
Ivory Venice Lace LA-081
Cheesecloth (available at the grocery store)
Buttons
Jute twine
Petals for filling
Essential oils for scenting

Mailable Graphic 45 Mother Goose House

Graphic 45 challenged its design team members to create something inspired by a pin on Pinterest. I saw THIS collaspable cardboard house and immediately had the urge to shrink it down :) So I've created my own version from G45's Mother Goose.

I often post things in via snail mail and this seemed like the perfect way to send something nice to my little friends overseas without breaking the bank. 

Everything collapses flat (the house, the characters) and tucks neatly away inside the envelope. Easy peasy! 

I’ve used Mother Goose for my little house, but I am certain that An Eerie Tale would make for a super haunted house!

Psst, I’ve used a folded banner triangle attached to the back of the characters to help them stand.

Supplies

Mother Goose:

A Pocketful of Posies

Spot On

Little Boy Blue

Ring Around the Rosies

Nursery Rhymes

Mother Goose Alphabet Stickers

Mother Goose Stickers

Mother Goose Banners

Mother Goose Tags & Pockets

** UPDATE: For those asking for a tute, I'll try to put something together soon-ish **

The Secret Garden altoid tin miniatures

The Secret Garden tins are complete! Below is a pretty good pic of the front, inside and back of the tins. Each has a slightly different arrangement and selection of flowers and leaves and moss, but they are all quite similar.

I am rather smitten with these little gardens. They are bright and cheerful... as they should be! Many of the flowers inside are from Alpha Stamps, who have a great selection of pretty little flowers. You can also purchase Blank Altoids Tins  from them as well.

Inside each of the tins is a tiny handmade robin. Here's one before it was placed...

I love robins and know that they are very good friends with the faeries in my garden :)

And here's the whole lot lined up in a pretty row.

Five tins created in a all. Four are available for purchase and listed in the etsy shop HERE.

******

P.S. A quick update on the 221B Baker St. / Sherlock tins... The very last tin, the one numbered 10/10 in fact, is now in England and will be auctioned shortly by The Undershaw Preservation Trust to raise funds toward the restoration of Sir Conan Doyle's study. This is the very last chance to purchase a tin! No others will be made. No more are available. The money raised is for a great cause, helping to preserve  history and honor a very important believer of faeries. I will keep you updated.

Shabby Altered Canvas for Tresors de Luxe

I love little things. Small things. Things you can hold in your hand. Tiny treasures,

Here I've taken two small canvas' and embellished them with vintage images and tea stained Tresors de Luxe lace to create some small shabby treasures.

Each of the little canvas' has a length of ribbon or twine to hang.

The larger of the two is just 4" square.

The perfect size for using up tiny bits of leftover lace. I can't bear to throw anything away abd sometimes just a tiny scrap adds the perfect touch.

The tiniest canvas is very small indeed at 2" square.

I think they are darling little things and can't wait to find a nook to tuck them in :)

Supplies

Ivory Flower and Pearl Trim GL-150  

Dusty Rose Fabric Shabby Chic Roses PF-018 

Ivory Lace Trim LA-115Lace Trim LA-005
Lace Trim Fabric LA-176
Venice Lace Trim, Ivory Lace

Ivory Lace Trim, Venice Lace

Rustic Light Blue Shabby Chic Flower Embellishments FL-097

4" canvas

2" canvas

Vintage Buttons

Jute twine
Fancy Aunties 2 Collage Sheet

Graphic 45 and Scrapbook Adhesives Blog Hop

I have a pretty darned great project to share with you today (there's even a tute!) and it's all a part of the Graphic 45 & Scrapbook Adhesives Blog Hop happening this entire week.

Hop along with all the links and comment on each of the blogs, then enter to win a great prize pack of Come Away with Me (one of my new favourites) and Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares. Graphic 45 will announce a randomly chosen winner this coming Monday, August 4, on their blog. 

Here are today's hop spots:

The Crafty Power Blog
Graphic 45 Blog
Nichola Battilana – Canada **YOU ARE HERE!**
Rhea Freitag – USA
Romy Veul – Netherlands 
Angela Ploegman
Erica Houghton 

And now for my super cool old school papery project.

I took some of that fabulous Come Away with Me and a bunch-o Scrapbook Adhesives, drafted a papery pattern, then smashed them together to create this...

A nifty old school paper rocket ship!

 

This project started out as a really simple tube sort of rocket… which I hated! Half way though that project I knew it was terrible. I looked at it and sighed. BUT I was determined to make a rocket. A super cool old school rocket! So, I started from scratch and drafted this pattern.

 

I’m not going to lie, this project IS fiddly. It’ll take some squishing and pushing and bending of paper… but I think the results are totally worth it.

 

Here are the supplies you'll need:

Come Away With Me

> Wanderlust

> Pleasure Trip
> Come Away With Me

> Come Away With Me Stickers
> Come Away With Me Tags & Pockets

Shabby Chic Ornate Metal Brads

(By the Sea > Gathering Shells used for the flames)
Scrapbook Adhesives Dodz
Scrapbook Adhesives Adhesive Sheets
Scrapbook Adhesives E-Z Squares Dispenser
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares
Sizzix Thinlits #658865 Susan’s Garden Poinsettia
Fine red glitter
Good quality white tacky glue
Rocket template

And the Snap Guide tutorial can be found HERE.

"In space, race doesn't matter, nationality doesn't matter. In space, you see the world as a globe and you don't see the boundaries." — Maggie Aderin-Pocock 

Tins, tins, tins...

I've started on two new sets of tins.

A big fat hint for the first set:

It's Chairy from Pee-wee's Playhouse! There's lots of planning, sorting and figuring going on in my head for this set. Pee-wee is my childhood hero so I want everything to be just-so. In other words, this one is going to take a while.

While all of this plotting and sorting was going on another set just sort of happened...

The exteriors are just about done and today I'll tackle "The Secret Garden" interiors.

Have you ever read 'The Secret Garden'? In spite of being about two really horrible children (ok, they turn out just fine in the end) it's chocked full of really lovely quotes. Here's a few lines I've been posting over on the Pixie Hill facebook page.

Hope you have a lovely Monday! Mine is rainy and cool but I plan on having a nice day anyway :)

Easy Breezy Fairy Garden with Petaloo

This sweet fairy garden is simple enough for children to take the lead and make creative decisions with just a little assistance.

For my base I've used the lid of a small kraft cardboard box. For the lawn I've cut a green dish scrubbing pad to fit and glued it into place. You can build your fairy garden on (or in) almost anything.

Next, I wrapped the sides of my box with Petaloo Fancy trims. Tip: use Score-tape or other double sided tape to speed things along and avoid the drying time of glue.

A short piece of Small White Picket Fence is added. You could make your own out of toothpicks, popcicle sticks or even twigs. I've applied it with hot glue... be very wary of little fingers near that sticky molten mess!

Now for the fun part. Adding the blooms!

Keep adding and layering Floradoodles and Velvet Hydrangeas. Scrunch them up, fold them, squish them into place! I also added some Petaloo Brads and Petaloo Floradoodles Velvet Butterflies to my little garden.

I included a tiny cottage which I stole from a wooden train set, but you don't need to include one at all (more room for flowers!). For the finishing touch I've put a stone path leading up to the door. To create the path I simply squirted a squiggle of white glue and sprinkled fine gravel over it. When dried I shook the excess loose. You could just as easily glue a path of pebbles or even a trail of sweets :)

And that's it! A simple little project that little hands can take big part in :) Be sure to hop over to the Petaloo blog for more great kid crafts.

Floradoodles
Velvet HydrangeasPetaloo Brads
Petaloo Floradoodles Velvet ButterfliesPetaloo Fancy trims
Small kraft box (or base of your choosing)Green scrubbing pad
Small White Picket Fence
Tiny house
Fine gravel

The truth, a mess and annoying footnotes.

I've blogged about this before, but I think it's worth a revisit since the question still arises fairly frequently.

"How do you find the time to do everything?"

The simple answer is, I don't.

If you broke into my house and had a stroll around you would find: dishes on the counter, piles of laundry in various locations, socks waiting to be paired near the fireplace, a shipping aftermath on 'the good' dining room table (see above), and many more messes dotted around the place. There is dust, spiderwebs and dustbunnies.

And I'm ok with that.

There are not enough hours in the day for me to accomplish all of the things I'd like to do. I have to make choices. Creating usually takes priority but some days, like today, laundry wins out. I don't do it all, not by a long shot! So long as you're happy with the choices you make and the priorities you set, it's all good.

You may remember I said I wanted to do some reading. Upon the recommendation of many (and due to the fact it happened to be sitting unread on my bookshelf) I started Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

I'm over 200 pages in and I just can't do it. The book sits on my mantle staring at me, the thought of picking it up makes me wince. I want to like it... everybody likes it!... but truthfully I find it terribly annoying. The footnotes do my head in. And so, sadly, I'm calling it a day on Good Omens. *sigh* Book one a total failure.

A spot of cleaning, then I'll hunt for a new title. Something completely clear of footnotes would do nicely.
 

Jewel Jars with Graphic 45 and Core'dinations

I created these jars as prizes for the annual fun fair at my son’s school. They call them Jewel Jars around here. Little jars packed with goodies of all sorts like candy, school supplies, and small toys.

Using Core'dinations Lemon Chiffon, Spring Green and Robin’s Egg in combination with Graphic 45’s Mother Goose collection I’ve spruced up some inexpensive plastic jars. I’ve gone easy on the embellishments, making them a quick fun project that will appeal to little prize winners at the school… but you could absolutely run with the concept and decorate to your hearts content!

I think these would make adorable shower prizes or party favours. By changing the papers you could match the theme of your event.

Supply list:

Humpty Dumpty
Twinkle Little Star

CheckersSpot On

Mother Goose 6x6 Patterns & Solids Pad

Mother Goose Flowers

Mother Goose Chipboard Die-cuts 1

Mother Goose Tags & Pockets

Core'dinations:
Lemon Chiffon
Spring Green
Robin’s Egg
Plastic Jars
Googly Eyes
May Arts Ribbon
Assorted Petaloo Darjeeling flowersLittle gifts and prizes for filling jars

Check out the Graphic 45 blog for some amazing projects by my fellow design team members :)

Dainty Lace Fairy Slippers

I created these delicate things during the summer solstice, or mid-summer night if you prefer. What better time to craft a pair of dainty fairy slippers!

The soles of these slippers is thick cotton canvas, providing a solid base to support the lacy tops. The uppers are created with White Venice Applique Lace with a heel of Ivory Embroidered Fabric Lace Trim.

I've used snippets from this Ivory Flower and Pearl Trim and Ivory Lace Trim with Multi Colored Sequins and finally finished the darlings off with leaves swiped from Tresors de Luxe's Shabby Chic Flower Embellishment.

I think any fashionable fairy would be pleased as punch to have such a pretty pair of slippers, but they'd also make a beautiful gift for a baby shower or even a 'just because' present for someone who believes in fairy magic.

Supply list:
White Venice Applique Lace  LA-134
Ivory Embroidered Fabric Lace Trim LA-092
Ivory Flower and Pearl Trim GL-150
Ivory Lace Trim with Multi Colored Sequins  LA-121

Shabby Chic Flower Embellishment FL-021