Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Fairy Butterfly Shrine

There are a whole whack of tiny shrines sitting on my work table waiting for something to jump inside of them. This particular shrine is much bigger than those tiny ones.


Inside is lined with vintage dictionary pages and a paper fairy sits inside.


The roof is covered with birch bark from a felled tree from our property. And that lovely round wooden piece at the peak is a piece from a vintage french lottery game.


Overall shrine measures approximately 7.5" wide, 9.5" tall, 2" deep.

The Fairy Butterfly Shrine is available HERE



Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Twinkly sky and mushroom garden shrine


Are you ready for Christmas? I am not. Not even close. But I've been keeping at the making.


Base is a wooden box and pedestal. Glittery night sky over vintage music papers. Wee house was pit fired in the back garden at Pixie Hill. Tiny toadstools are handmade from paperclay.


This wee thing measures approximately 3.5" wide, 6" tall, 2.5" deep.

The Tiny Night House Shrine is available HERE

Friday, December 01, 2017

Jollymaker's Toy Store Window

It's December and I am not prepared for the holidays. Not one little bit! Despite not being holiday ready, I managed to churn this bad boy out.


Jollymaker's, a wintery toy shop window.

The base for this piece is a 10 inch bay window (available from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts) which has been turned upsidedown. Although it's intended as an add-on to other pieces, I thought it was a great stand alone option for creating a piece both smaller in display size and a smaller creative commitment.



And this piece did come together relatively quickly! The brickwork is simply THIS scrapbook paper. Absolutely no fussy about on this one.


The fancy iron work that borders the top of the piece is Half Scale Widows Walk Fencing.


Inside I've made shelving and packed it with all sorts of sweet little toys. (That rocking horse is amazing btw! Like an old fashioned iron toy.)


The Jester Jack-in-the-Box Toy there is pretty sweet too!

The windows are transparency sheets cut and looks rather lovely and frosty... as a winter window should!


No toy store window would be compete without a Toy Plane and Sailboat SetTeddy Bear or Train Set. There's all that and more in that little space. It's amazing how much you can fit in a small area with a little organization.


Approximate overall size of this piece is 10.7" tall, 6" wide, 2.5" deep.

Jollymaker's is available HERE.

Want to make your own toy shop? Here are some of the bits I used:

10 inch bay window
Classic Christmas Chimney Bricks Scrapbook Paper
Half Scale Widows Walk Fencing
1 Inch Iridescent Snowflake Ornaments
Fluffy Winter Snow
Frosted Mini Green Sisal Trees
3mm Brass Flat-Back Studs*
Tiny Wrapped Gift Box Ornaments - 1/2 Inch
Wrapped Gift Box Ornaments - 3/4 Inch**
Miniature Clay Dough Peppermints
White Iridescent Snowflake Garland
Mini Holly Leaf Garland
Jester Jack-in-the-Box Toy
Miniature Red Wagon*
Painted Rocking Horse
Miniature Toy Plane and Sailboat Set
Mini Clown Jack-in-the-Box
Tiny Resin Teddy Bear
Tiny Train Set
Xylophone Pull Toy

Peg Doll Angels and Fairies with Tutorial

It's that time of year again when I itch to make some adorable little peg dolls. Honestly, how sweet are they with their cute striped legs?!?!


Normally I stick to fairies but this year I've mixed things up a bit by adding angels into the crew.


I'm not normally an angel person... but I can't resist a sparkly pipe cleaner halo.


Looking for wings? Might I suggest the following collage sheets?



I really like using tufts of wool roving for the hair. In a pinch you could use some cotton batting, heck you could use a cotton ball! You might even unravel some yarn or use some moss for their locks.


Just don't get hung up on making these perfect. I think they're so much more fun and charming with their imperfections. It gives them personality.


One word of caution: I use black gel or ink pen to add detailing. There have been times when certain inks react with certain paints. Save yourself some potential heartache, make a sample doll and ensure your ink/paint like one another and don't bleed, run, blur.


AND although I am aware of how brilliant you are, if you need help putting these adorable girls together I've created a video tutorial you might find useful. It's HERE over on my youtube channel. Go, watch, help me earn a fraction of a penny.

On to the list of requirements!

Wooden clothes pegs
Acrylic craft paints
Black gel pel or fine tip liner pen
Wool roving (or other hair substitute)
Wingy things such as:
Acorn caps
Silver Pipe Cleaner
Tulle trim
Embellishments
Hot glue