Tiny Little Shadowbox Houses

Recently I've been playing with new materials and techniques. I made a slew of little colourful houses and moons with Apoxie Sculpt not too long ago and wondered what to do with my townful of little abodes. 

I enshrined them in Tiny Little Shadowbox Houses and they are cute as buttons!

The exterior of the boxes were covered in dreamy blue-hued scrapbook papers. The inside lined with old music sheets and painted in a black to cyan ombre.

A sprinkling of glitter to create a magical stary night and a wee clay moon popped into place above a group of tiny colourful cottages.

A little bit of gold embossing powder adds nice little finishing touch to the edges.

The Tiny Little Shadowbox Houses come in a four different sizes, each one just the right size to hold in your hand.

While these little shrines aren't perfect, I love that they show off something new. Here's hoping the new year will bring even more new little creative adventures to show off.

Tiny Little Shadowbox Houses

Scrapbook paper

Old papers

Acrylic paint

Glitter

Gold embossing powder

Moss
Apoxie Sculpt (houses, mushrooms and moons)

Free Photo Friday

Once a week I share an old timey photo from my personal collection. Feel free to use them in your mess making, art and crafting.

The images are not polished and left in their grungy, smudged and speckled glory. Just how I like 'em! Without further ado... 

Do NOT sell, give, or distribute the images as your own, digitally or printed, alone or as part of a collection, collage sheet or group. BUT DO absolutely make stuff with them and sell the stuff you make. If you share your project, a link is appreciated.

Violators will be turned into toads, given warts, all the bad stuff... I mean it... It won't be pretty. 

Artwalk Alchemy Holiday Sale

I have been absolutely swamped with holiday prep and stress. Creating took a bit of a back seat to baking and painting over the past two weeks. I even painted the flipping ceiling in my kitchen and made a gingerbread house from scratch (never again). My annual Christmas meltdown came early. It might seem mad but I'm glad I hit the breaking point because that's the moment I start to let go and enjoy the holidays. Oh anxiety, you are a cheeky bugger.

ANYWAY... I've mentioned before that I'm an instructor with Art Walk Alchemy 2020. 24+ projects offered over the course of 2020. Here's my wee project that will pop up in March....

A tiny cottage inspired by Irish faeries!

There's loads of other great projects offered throughout the year and I'll be participating as a student in many of them. I. Can't. Wait.

If you're considering signing up, right now you can get the whole years worth of classes for $89 US when you use the code XMAS89 at checkout.

And now, if you'll pardon me, I'm going to stuff my face full of carbs and look lovingly at my wonky Christmas tree.

Free Photo Friday

Once a week I share an old timey photo from my personal collection. Feel free to use them in your mess making, art and crafting.

The images are not polished and left in their grungy, smudged and speckled glory. Just how I like 'em! Without further ado... 

Do NOT sell, give, or distribute the images as your own, digitally or printed, alone or as part of a collection, collage sheet or group. BUT DO absolutely make stuff with them and sell the stuff you make. If you share your project, a link is appreciated.

Violators will be turned into toads, given warts, all the bad stuff... I mean it... It won't be pretty. 

Free Photo Friday

Once a week I share an old timey photo from my personal collection. Feel free to use them in your mess making, art and crafting.

The images are not polished and left in their grungy, smudged and speckled glory. Just how I like 'em! Without further ado... 

Do NOT sell, give, or distribute the images as your own, digitally or printed, alone or as part of a collection, collage sheet or group. BUT DO absolutely make stuff with them and sell the stuff you make. If you share your project, a link is appreciated.

Violators will be turned into toads, given warts, all the bad stuff... I mean it... It won't be pretty. 

Free Photo Friday

Once a week I share an old timey photo from my personal collection. Feel free to use them in your mess making, art and crafting.

The images are not polished and left in their grungy, smudged and speckled glory. Just how I like 'em! Without further ado... 

Do NOT sell, give, or distribute the images as your own, digitally or printed, alone or as part of a collection, collage sheet or group. BUT DO absolutely make stuff with them and sell the stuff you make. If you share your project, a link is appreciated.

Violators will be turned into toads, given warts, all the bad stuff... I mean it... It won't be pretty. 

Krampusnacht! A shout out to the naughty list peeps

Tonight, the evening of December 5th, is Krampusnacht. It's Krampus night!!!

Kramps and Saint Nicholas head out this evening, with Krampus punishing terrible children and Saint Nicholas leaving a pressie for good little ones. (If you're wondering what the heck is St. Nick doing out this early, December 6th is the feast day of Saint Nicholas in Western Christian traditions.)

I love all the Krampus images I've seen over the years and have been meaning to do some Krampus pieces for a good long while. While I didn't do all the things I wanted to, I got my act together and managed a little bundle of Krampus goodness this year.

There's Krampus' sack that he shoves bad children inside with his chains and bells dangling. There's a golden switch to beat awful children. A lump of coal (which is far better to receive than being dragged to the underworld and eaten). And a Krampus  head ornament made with paperclay and a some wool roving for whiskers and eyebrows.

A better look at all those goods. 

Aside: black is an absolute bugger to photograph and definately on the naughty list.

I was going to do a whole thing on the history of Krampus but to be perfectly honest, no one really knows his origins and there is a big steaming heap of misinformation out there. We can all agree that he's a pre-Christian relic that has managed to survive 100's of years through the age old tradition of trying to keep rotten children in line.

Speaking of rotten kids... what's with the coal?

Again, no one really knows. Which is weird because there are a bunch of Christmas-time figures who dole out coal to naughty boys and girls in a bunch of different cultures. Perhaps it's because it's a necessity rather than gift reward? Who knows. 

I thought it would be fun to dole out some coal this year. I've included a little coal label on my Merry Little Christmas Labels download and used it to package up some bit of coal (ok, it's charcoal, not real coal, but I know you won't rat me out). I've used little vials with wide-ish necks to put wee lumps inside. And that cellophane bag has chocolate lumps of coal inside for those who aren't completely awful.

I really kind of love these drawstring teabags I picked up that look like wee sacks. How cute would they look dyed red?!

While it's super fun to hand out reminders that we're all a little naughty, don't forget to encourage goodness (and not by beating the evil out with birch twigs). So, my Notes from the North Pole, a nice list notification download, will be available for just $1 until Christmas morning.

I have no idea where to plonk this fact, but I think it's too fascinating not to include so... Many old depictions of Krampus show him with one cloven and one human foot. No one knows why. 

OK! Go, behave, and I wish you all the best tonight. Here's hoping you're not whacked with the Krampus switch and shoved in a sack. You're lovely so I'm sure you'll be fine.



P.S. I only made a few Krampus ornaments and have already given most of them away so there are none available this year. Sorry guys!