Red Spotted Toadstool

The fantastic craftylittlemonkey over on craftster.org was very kind and very generous, and sent me a fantastic package of goodies which included a glorious bell jar with a wooden base.

I decided to make a red spotted toadstool to go inside. It looked awfully lonely in there so I built a ladder. Then I thought there needed to be a reason for the ladder and toyed with the idea of putting a telescope and star chart on top but space was pretty tight up there. So my husband said "Why not make a wee paintbrush and bucket of paint? After all, how else do you think those toadstools are such vibrant colours."

And so, believe it or not, I listened to my husband. Shock of shocks!

It's snowing! SNOWING!

Okay, so I slept through the snowing BUT the kidlet did wake me up before 7:30 to drag me to the window to see the absolutely perfect layer of white stuff.

Everything is covered in ice and snow. And it's gorgeous!

and just look at those perfect little paw prints!

*dreamy sigh*

Padfoot thinks the snow is a new toy just for him.

D's sled on the other hand is his mortal enemy :)

**Excuse the double posts between here and the Pixie Hill blog. I'm going to squish everything together soon. **

Cannibal Snowballs and Peggy Fairies

Where are the days going? November is breezing past like nobodies business!

Just a couple of small things to post...

A couple of years ago I made some emotional snowballs. This year I made some cheeky ones. At least one of them is a cannibal.

I also made some very simple, but very cheery Christmas fairies.

I think they're rather cute :)

Now, it's 3:20 and I've been working so hard on dull design work that I'm still in my jammas so I gotta run! Cheerio!!!!

Faerie Specimens

It's going to be a glorious day. It's Friday, we're going to the Santa Clause parade tonight and I made something cute. Really, stinking cute. Quite possibly the worlds best stocking stuffer :)

They measure around 1.75" tall. Teeny weeny!

Each are numbered and have their own specimen description.

No. 001.11 - Faerie House and Toadstools, found in the Eastern field beneath a large pine tree

No. 002.11 - Faerie House and Toadstool, discovered beneath the rows of brussel sprouts 

No. 007.11 - Ladybird and mushrooms collected from a mossy stump on the South hill. 

No. 003.11 - Faerie House and Toadstool, plucked from a spot very near the compost heap.

P.S. Here's a pic before the labels to give you a better idea of the size of them.

These aren't in my esty just yet because I think I'm going to hoard them for our open house. If I can capture some more I might list one or two in the shop.

...and it's done!

The Storyteller's House is complete!

The base measures just 10.5" x 7" and the house is around 18" tall. There is a boatload of stuff going on in this house. Some of my favourite things are...

The mossy roof with toadstools, rabbit hole and lost kite.

Paper flowers in the window boxes.

Milk bottles.

The mud trail from the door to the tiny little boots.

The three tiny mice that scurry about the roof.

The teeny weeny letters on the table and the wristwatch clock on the wall.

You can see all more photos on the Pixie Hill Studio facebook page.

Pretty little paper flowers

I'm this close to finishing the Storyteller's House. There's a lot of outside stuff that needs to fiddled with, one of those things was making little flowers for the exterior flowerboxes.

Totally inspired by this flower tutorial... I've made a tutorial for lazy crafters with chunky fingers :)


Cut a bunch of round-ish shapes out from tissue paper (I got a whole stack for .99 from the Asian market). These were a bit smaller than a dime. Don't be too picky... nature is perfect in her imperfection.

Stick a bead at the end of a pin. This is really helpful because otherwise the tissue will tear.

Push the pin through a couple of 'petals' and push them up till they meet the bead.

Using your thumb and finger, pinch and roll.

Repeat. Add petals. Pinch. Roll. A bit of crumpling is good too.

Very soon you will have something like this...

Push a crimping bead tight against the bottom of your flower to hold it all in place.

Ta da! A pretty bed of roses/peonies in no time at all!

Use fewer red oblong petals for a poppy...

Cut/fray the edges of your finished flower, then crumple it up a little to make carnation/mum sort of blooms.

I wasn't bothered about the pin head showing, but if you could always paint it to match the bead if you like, or even just give it a dab with a Sharpie (thanks craftylittlemonkey).
 
Happy making!
 
xoxo

Lest we forget.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

~ John McCrae

Moving Messes and Moony Goodness

Although I have a bazillion things on the go and lovely ideas floating around my head, my fingers have decided to be difficult. Things just aren't going as swimmingly as I'd like. Glue and string, ribbons and glitter have decided to go on strike and not play nice. So I took the hint and left all the making alone today, cleaning out the studio space. This basically means I moved all the crap in the studio into other rooms and made them messy instead.

One of the things I have been working on is some  paperclay snowballs. In the spirit of being a pain in the bum some of them decided they didn't want to be snowballs after all and became moons instead.

They are pleased as punch to be moons. Just moons. No fiddling about or funny business with these fellows. When I attempted to make them into mobiles, with a glittery night sky and twinkly stars, they became difficult too!



I suppose that some days it's best to take a hint and leave well enough alone :)

The Stash-busting Foundations of Tinsel Street

I've been seeing those little sparkly Putz houses everywhere and I'm in love. Being a glitter-holic I jumped right on board and decided to make my own little glittery homes. Because I do everything with far too much enthusiasm, eyes closed and with both feet, I've got a dozen dreamy abodes on the go. There's a candy coloured Christmas village in my future.

The best thing about these wee places is that they're made from cut up cereal boxes and decorated (in large part anyway) with items that are sitting in my stash that have been largely ignored... except for the gorgeous butterfly sent by rackycoo *swoon*.

I realize that this is a Christmassy sort of post, but rest assured, although I'll be a tad coo-coo for Christmas early this year, I solemnly swear that I Remember in November also. Be sure you do the same :)

Once upon two times...

I don't think I ever showed off these gentlemen. They've just finished telling me their stories. I'll tell you, but don't go spreading it around... they might be slightly embarrassed by some of it and gossip is in rather bad form isn't it.

Colonel Whatsit. He prefers to be called "The Col." as though he were the only one. He is a tiny bit arrogant but that's only to mask his insecurities. Mostly he's very nice. You can tell he's a good egg because he carries sweets in his pocket and secretly shares them with children who are slightly naughty.

Available here

This is Professor Quant. No one is certain what he is a professor of, but he is always in a hurry and seems to be quite busy, so he must be very important. Quant forever seems to have something else on his mind entirely, and usually looks a little bit sad, like he forgot his lunch on the counter top. In reality he's pining for the beautiful Ms.Eliza Pennybottom. He believes wholeheartedly that she is far too beautiful and exuberant for the likes of him. Ms. Eliza quite likes the Professor and thinks he is a true gentle man. She imagines that his touch would be warm, soft and somehow electric. What a shame that he's too shy to ever dare profess his love. Silly bastard.

Available here



The Storyteller's House Update

I've been working away on The Storytellers House and have two rooms almost done. It's been all stops and spurts with this one. Giant chunk done one day, nearly nothing the next. Here's a peek at what's brewing...

The 'study' is almost done.

The reading room is almost there too. The lovely thing about nonsense is that it doesn't matter one bit if there's a pumpkin patch growing beneath a beanstalk inside a tiny house :)

That little rocking chair is one of my most favourite things. I bought it at an auction house last year for around $1. It's fairly fabulous.

That's it for the house for a little while. I've got to let my ideas simmer before moving forward. Besides I've got at least 1,324 projects in an unfinished state waiting for some attention.

xoxox