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.

Pixie Postage & A Story in Nine Parts

Dearest Aunt Primrose,

Hope all is well with you and Uncle Thistle. We heard about uncles misadventure with the chipmunk last month when we bumped into Mrs. Merryroot at the market. We were all very concerned about him and made wishes for his rapid recovery. I do hope they worked!

We have some rather wonderful news to share. There has been a new arrival to our little mossy patch. Last Thursday a tiny winged girl arrived. We have named the wee thing ‘Oak’. Being that she is such a little thing at the moment, and the Oak is so very big and mighty, we have taken to calling her ‘Little Acorn’ until she can properly fit into her name.

Perhaps when the weather clears we can attempt a visit to the woods and introduce you to the little one. It has been far too long since we have seen each other.


Much love,
Cedar Nimblewill

The April challenge in the Art Abandonment group I belong to was to abandon a piece that included poetry in celebration of National Poetry Month. Although not exactly poetry, I figured some creative writing wasn't too far off the mark. Here are a series of nine miniature letters, each one telling a part of a little story. They'll be dropped here and there around Brighton over the next week or so.

 
The envelopes are handmade, the paper tea stained, and I even designed the little stamps to go on the envelopes to say "Pixie Post" and things of that sort.

The writing on each letter matches that on the envelope. Each character, or voice, being assigned his or her own typeface. The envelopes are all sealed with wax with a "P" seal.

Rather than bombard you with all of the notes at once, I'll share them over the coming week or so.

AND because I think that finding a little letter would be thrilling... AND because I think letter writing is pretty damned lovely... I'm going to install a mailbox or two at Pixie Hill. Visitors will be able to check for mail, and if they're very lucky, take home a souvenir! We'll install one at 'The Gates' too when the faeries visit my Brighton Arts Council friends this summer.

If you'd like to take part and send a letter (or two... or ten) to the Faerie Folk at Pixie Hill, you can send them to this address...

Nichola Battilana
attn: PH Impish Dept. of Customs
134 Bullis Rd
Brighton, ON K0K 1H0
Canada

A couple of things to keep in mind...

• You cannot actually post miniature mail. You'll have to pop your letter into a larger envelope for it to make it's way here.

• Because the recipient may be a child, I'm asking that you DO NOT seal your little letter. All material will need to go through the PH Impish Department of Customs before being placed.

• In return, I'd like to add you to my Christmas card list so be sure to include your return address :)

*SMOOCHES!*

Captured!

Looky what I captured! When I was cleaning last Sunday, I spied her trying to hide under the sink. After some coaxing (and many cake crumbs) we came to an agreement.

"You can stay as long as you like but you mustn't hide under the sink. You might get hurt! Instead, I'll make you a little nest of moss and pretty baubles."

She nodded in agreement. Living under the sink isn't any fun at all.

Want to make your own captured faerie specimen? My 'Winged Things' collage sheet is available exclusively through Alpha Stamps. Even better? Here is the entire list of supplies to make your own!

This weeks newsletter is jam packed with Imps, Monsters and Fairies. It's so bright and cheery and absolutely lovely.

World domination one step at a time.

Zippity-flipping-doo-dah! I made the first round of the Graphic 45 design team auditions!

I am absolutely giddy. Seriously. If you happen to be near the house today don't peek in the windows because I will very likely be breaking out into a song and dance. Although this is most definitely an expression of joy, my dance moves and singing have both been known to cause severe damage. Safety first!

Speaking of safety, my working studio is a disaster! While I do my computer design work in the downstairs studio, upstairs is my little working sanctuary. It's was such a complete hazard that I'm sure it would have required police tape in just a day or two. I spent some time last night revealing the floor and, believe it or not, this is the improved state...

Still shameful but I do know where everything is. It's a sort of messy organization. I can guarantee you that when it's spic and span I'll be unable to find a single pair of scissors.

Anyway, now that I've found the floor, I'm on a mission to see if there's a table under that heap in the middle. Wish me luck!

Fashion Shows and Spring Cleaning

This month, Alpha Stamps is offering up a package filled with items to celebrate French Fashion. Here's the wee papercrafted postcard I created with that theme in mind...

My favourites items? Foliage Bees Epoxy Stickers very cute. I'm sort of on a bee kick at the mo' so I'm all over these. I'm also smitten with these Bluebirds and Flowers Stickers. To be honest, I'm not much of a sticker person, but these are all sorts of sweet. AND the Ambrosia Marigold Scrapbook Paper is very pretty.

Speaking of fashion... Last week I cleaned out my drawers and closet and realized that I don't like very much that's in there. I don't think there's a single item that looks anything like the amazing clothes that I drool over on pinterest. My husband said "Well why do you buy the clothes you do?" To which I replied, "Because I buy what's cheap and fits (kinda)."

Anywho, I'm tired of it. I've got it in my head that within two years I will rid myself of the junk that is currently 'my wardrobe' and transform it into a pin-worthy wonderland. This may very well be a pipe dream and remain on my to-do list forever... but at this moment it's forefront in my mind.

What about you? Is fashion and style important to you? Do you dress for comfort? Do you manage to look good AND remain comfortable? Or do you not give a hoot and wear jamma pants to the Walmart? Inquiring minds want to know!