Happy May Day!

First thing's first... HAPPY MAY DAY! I love May Day. To me it signals the true arrival of spring. The buds are bursting, the daffodils are blooming and everything seems so lovely and fresh. I'm absolutely jealous of people who live in areas where it's celebrated in a grand style. I think next year I might have to erect a May pole and invite a few people over to dance with me :) No matter that my celebration is a bit quiet... I'm still send you all great big wishes for wonderful golden opportunities and much happiness in your households :)

Second... that little ducky is Professor Dukinschnof. He's a new friend at Pixie Hill and soooo flipping cute. My husband is very worried about this fellow because he's become a bit of a pet rather than potential confit. Here's a bonus photo of the Prof. giving me the "Seriously? More photos?" side-eye.

Thirdly... last night I hobbled together a little retail display for my Cellar Fairy cards. I think I'm going to improve on the design then make a few more for my retailers as it looks rather tidy.

And finally...

Check out the sneak peek of the new paper collection from Graphic 45. It's a bit of a departure from their other collections but I couldn't be more excited about playing with them. I've got a number of ideas bumping around my noggin' already!

A French Bundle

I wanted to create a special introduction project for Graphic 45. Inspired by their new French Country Collection, I've made a little memory bundle.

This particular collection stirs my imagination to think of clean bed linens, table cloths and curtains in a little French cottage. So, I thought to myself; "Imagine visiting a cottage in Provance and finding a bundle of memories tucked into an old dresser drawer!"

The bundle is tied together with a bit of matching blue ribbon, it is not bound. I wanted this piece to appear to gathered over time rather than formed.

When untied the you can explore the contents of old photographs, old French stamps, vintage postcards and even a love note.

Each of the 'pages' is actually an ATC. I thought that perhaps each card could represent a different memory or experience.

 A beautiful night time adventure...
 

An evening with friends...

Special people met along the way...

 When finished, the viewer can collect all the bits, bundle it back up, and tuck it away for someone else to discover.

GRAPHIC 45 HERE I COME!

Have you heard? I MADE THE GRAPHIC 45 DESIGN TEAM! Woo hooooo!

I can hardly believe it. What an honor! WHAT A THRILL!

Check out the entire design team and all of their fantastic work.

Alberto Juárez– Spain

 Anne Elisabeth Rostad - Norway

 Annette Green– USA

Arlene Cuevas - USA

Clare Charvill - United Kingdom

Denise Hahn - USA

Denise Johnson – USA

Karen Shady – Australia

Maiko Miwa – Japan

Maria Cole – USA

Miranda Edney – USA

(Me!) Nichola Battilana – Canada

Olga Struk – Ukraine

Rhea Freitag – USA

Romy Veul – Netherlands

Susan Lui – Singapore

P.S. Did you notice my Alpha Stamps design team mate Rhea Freitag also made it? 

Go Alpha gals!

Fairy Fashions and Early Birds

I was going to post this later this evening but I'm terrified to leave my desk for fear the the delivery man will arrive. I KNOW that as soon as I get up and hop in the shower there'll be a knockin' at the door and Padfoot will be barking like a maniac and I'll have to run downstairs dripping wet because the package that is arriving today should have been here two weeks ago and I needed it before yesterday! So I'm sitting put and posting this project a little early instead. 

On to the fairy fashions...

Aren't these adorable! I created them with Alpha Stamps April French Fashion Kit. The dimensional mushroom stickers aren't included in the kit but they are sooooo fantastic. They are a little bit sparkly in the very best magical sort of way. Absolutely one of my new favourite products. *SWOON!*

NEWS FLASH! Alpha Stamps is having a giveaway of EVERYTHING you need to create these fairy fashions... including those divine mushroom stickers! CLICK HERE

Here's a gander at each of the frocks....

Also, I have a new collage sheet exclusive to Alpha Stamps called Just Wings. It's so brand spankin' new that you're getting an extra sneaky peek because it won't be announced until tomorrow!

I readily admit that I created this sheet for completely selfish reasons. I really, really want to play with some translucent wings so I made these thinking they'd be pretty with the light shining through them. And, because I like bang for my buck, I've crammed that page with as many pairs of wings as possible. There's over 50 pairs of wings on that sheet! I can't wait to see what lovely things are made from it :) 

Graphic 45 Design Team Audition - Part Deux

I am so totally tickled to have made the second round of the Graphic 45 design team auditions. I visited A LOT of other audition posts and I've got to say that I feel extremely lucky to have squeaked in. I do wonder if perhaps it wasn't a mistake. If was a mistake, I'm going to make the most of it ;)

For round two I knew I wanted to do a tutorial. Spreading the crafty joy is what it's all about after all. But what to do? Luckily, the stars aligned and shined a bit of inspiration my way.

I was watching the movie "Hugo" which is a semi-fictional account of Georges Méliès. In the film they talk about his glass studio. Below is a picture of the real thing. Isn't it magnificent?!

It just so happens that earlier in the week my friend Danni posted this project: a cd case greenhouse!

Faster than you can say 'shenanagans' I was off to find some old cd cases at 1:30 in the morning. BUT I think that late night bumping around was worth it. Here is the finished project...

So, want to make your own?
Here's the viddy how-to



And HERE is a pdf template sheet and material list to help you along.

xoxo

Ice and Toadstools

If you drove our streets this weekend you would have thought a tornado came to town.

Ice and freezing rain coated everything in sight.

Sure, it looks pretty, but one step outside and you could hear the trees falling all around. It was pretty terrifying really. The power flickered on and off for a few hours until finally we lost all juice. We were one of the lucky ones though as we regained power in just a couple of hours. Friends were without power still yesterday!

When things seemed to settle, we walked around to assess the damage. Lots of limbs and small trees down, a big mess to tidy. Again, we were very fortunate, nothing too big fell here, no major damage, and we were all safe.

This birch at the bottom of the hill snapped and Mr. Pixie agreed that it would make for some rather nice toadstool stems. Birch rots fairly quickly, so they won't last but a couple of years, but here's the resulting toadstools...

Aren't they the cutest?!? Those are metal mixing bowls, spray painted red and screwed into the end of the chopped birch posts. I'm totally not clever enough to come up with this myself and absolutely swiped the project from My Paper Inclination.

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Just call me "Flash"

Last night, while watching lightening from the first thunderstorm of the season, I made two little mailboxes. This morning I was excited to get them installed... but quickly came to realize that the ground was still frozen and everything quite damp with the thaw of winter. No worries, they have found perfectly suitable temporary homes.

The mailboxes will occasionally contain miniature mail for anyone willing to open up those little boxes. A little souvenir for the brave and curious. I absolutely believe that those traits should be rewarded once in a while ;)

Speaking of mail. I haven't abandoned those little letters yet but will very soon.
Here's the second letter in the series...

My sweet girl Cedar,

Your uncle and I were elated over the news of the arrival of Little Acorn. What a delightful name! We cannot wait to see the darling for ourselves and have decided that once your Uncle Thistle heals, we will make the journey to your mossy spot for a visit.

Yes, your Uncle Thistle has injured his foot. Mrs. Merryroot was correct, it was a misadventure with the chipmunk that did him in. The facts are rather fuzzy and I suspect that your uncle is attempting to hide details of the shenanigans for fear of my wrath. 

That man is far too old to be playing about, but he is part imp and you know what they are like. They simply will not be stopped.

Give your little Acorn a squeeze from both of us. We will see you as soon as we are able to travel.

With love,
Great Auntie Primrose


P.S. Sieglinde you can find all sorts of free calligraphic handwriting fonts here at dafont.com.  I do find that a lot of them need a little 'help' with spacing and sometimes they don't contain all of the extra characters for punctuation, but once in a while you'll find a gem.