Flying Bee Theatre with Some Bonus Gorey Goodness

If you spied the Alpha Stamps newsletter this weekend you might have seen a little "Flying Bee" threatre embellished by me. I did a little more work on it for an Edward Gorey themed swap, adding characters from the opening sequence of "Mystery" milling about on the stage. I know that Edward wasn't exactly known for scribbling bees and wasps but his black, white and yellow pallet sort of lend themselves to buzzy thoughts.

Here is the completely finished piece...

The shrine/theatre size is tiny, but very workable at 4-3/4" wide x 3-5/8" tall x 1-3/4" deep.

And a good and proper inside gander...

What did I use?

Masonite Theatre Shrine Kit
Small Theatre Curtains Collage Sheet
Graphic 45 Papers
- Graphic 45 French Country Rendezvous
- Graphic 45 Kraft Reflections Straight to the Point
- Graphic 45 Communique Shutter Speed
Brass Flying Bee
Thin Fleur Dresden Borders - Black 
Baroque Dresden Borders - Black 
Egg Cup
Metallic Mini Brads in 3 Colors

Mother of All Craft Shows

I have a love/hate relationship with craft shows. I love meeting people and talking about my work. I hate lugging my gear all over the place. I decided this year that I would not do any craft show events.

Then I saw a juried show called 'The Mother of all Craft Shows' with proceeds going to Fixed Fur Life. Ah, what the heck...

So this Sunday I'm off to sling my wares at the show at the River Inn in Corbyville/Belleville and I'm kinda excited about it. I'm so excited I even made some new stuff!

Loads of little Pixie Books... blank inside so that the users can actually write in them :)

They are quite tiny!

And there's some new little fairy bottles too. 

Anyway I'm quite excited and if you happen to go, stop by my booth and say 'Hiya!'

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