I stayed up wayyyy past my bedtime last night. I totally lost track of time making these toadstools. Cross my heart, I looked at the clock and it said 5am! Oops!
After a nice sleep in, today was spent doing chores (I now have clean dishes but the floors are still a wreck.) and making potted fairy gardens. Yesterday during our gallivanting, I picked up some miniature roses and this pot of clover. How could I resist?! Look at all those four leafed beauties!
Still in my jammas I went wandering on the lawn and harvested some mosses, pinecones and stones.
The results are pretty dang cute. Three little magical gardens have been completed and are ready for the market next Saturday :)
I'm not too proud to admit that this year has been a bit difficult for me creatively. I've been creating work. I've even made some things that were quite nifty... but I've kinda felt 'disconnected' with my work.
Anyway, I finally feel as though I'm getting back on track. I've got one or two projects I can't show off just yet, but I also made something just for the hell of it that I think you'll like. Some very important altered awards
Ever since seeing the Tim Holtz trophies shown at CHA I've had it in my head that I wanted to create some altered trophy cups. I found these babies in the party supply section of my local discount shop, four for $1.25! I've simply grunged them up with a bit of acrylic paint.
Each little darling has a sentiment taken from vintage book pages that reflects the gentle nature of these 'awards'. How nice would it be to receive an award for twinkling?
The base of each of the awards is just a simple wooden block that has been gussied up with fabric, ribbon, buttons and burlap.
Just a funny story that makes me look like a complete dip. I'm editing video today and my phone keeps ringing. I answer it and no one is there. It happened no less than a dozen times. It's really driving me flipping nuts because editing is one of my least favourite jobs and I have to stop, and retrack before starting again. I call Mr Pixie to see if he is trying to call me. Nope. I check all the phones to see if they are charged and not giving a low battery signal. They're all fine. I start to worry the call is coming from inside the house *Oh the horror!* ... then I realize the ring is from the video I am editing, not the phone. I need coffee and chocolate.
I created this little chipboard reliquary while playing with my stash of Gina's Designs Lasercuts.
Although I run like hell and scream like a ninny when one comes near me, I do have a soft spot for bees. Can we talk for a moment about THIS be in particular?
It's all sorts of spectacular. It's big and beautifully detailed. I've dulled up the brassiness of it with a wash or two of dark paint, which also enhances those little details.
There were a number of requests for an image transfer tutorial after posting my Petaloo project the other day. There are LOADS of videos and online tutorials available demonstrating this technique. I learned by watching others and you should absolutely view a number of tutorials, get as much information as you can, then experiment for yourself.
I've done a fair bit of my own experimenting over the past week and put together a quick video tutorial with a basic 'how-to', a couple of variations, and the results using different materials.
Here are a few points I didn't include (err... yes, I forgot) but are worth a mention...
Paint
In my demonstration I show an example where a wood block is primed with a wash of white paint before applying the transfer. I think this looks fab and provides a solid base, creating greater contrast in the finished image. Keep in mind that you will be saturating and rubbing your piece. Will your paint be able to hold up or rub off and take the transfer with it? Just some things to keep in mind.
Heat
Some people say that heat may help the transfer. You can create a weak transfer with heat alone after all. When I attempted to speed up the drying process with a heat gun the results were not pretty. I would even go so far as to recommend avoiding hot water when removing the paper.
Patience
It really does pay to wait. I know others have had success lifting the paper soon after application but in my trials I found that the longer I waited wait, the stronger the transfer was. Let that sucker dry!
More Patience
Let your piece dry before applying a top coat or sealant. Some of those paper fibers can be pretty sneaky! By allowing the piece to dry you can spot those smokey, foggy areas where some paper residue has been missed. Simply re-wet that area and rub the paper away. When satisfied with your piece after it has dried apply a fancy pants top coat or simply apply a layer of gel medium or Mod Podge.
Practice
In this case practice doesn't exactly make perfect, but you will learn a lot! Don't expect perfection. If you are okay with some distressing and having fun with your mess making, the entire experience and results will be much more satisfying.
Once in a while things come together so easily it sort of feels like cheating… that was the case with this little box.
I began by simply painting all of the edges and corners of an ATC book box black.To the top of the box I added Artisan Style Decorative Flourish, the sides areThis Old House.
Finally, a set of those fabulousClaw Feet. The top has an amazing chunkyFancy Handlethat I’ve affixed in the upright position. A little bit of distressing on the edges and the whole thing is complete and looks really elegant.
Now to decide if I should use this fab little box to store these cute Artisan Style ATC’s or maybe some fancy costume jewelry!
It's a market with 20ish local makers and artisans. It's going to be great :) The people participating are amazing and have absolutely gorgeous stuff that I am proud to show off.
If you're near my part of the world on May 2nd you should totally visit because...
A) It's almost Mother's Day and I pinky swear that you will find the perfect gift.
B) Supporting local artists and small business is good for the soul.
C) It's at Casa-Dea Estates Winery. They have divine bubbly wine that you can buy and take home to celebrate the fact that you are awesome for shopping at the market and buying local.
D) It's FREE for crying out loud!
Still not convinced?!? Here's the outstanding list of participants...
Come check out the market page on Facebook and help to spread the word by liking and sharing all the beautiful things.
Have you ever tried your hand at wood transfers? I spent some time this weekend playing around, moving images from paper to scraps of wood. I suspect the people who created the tutorials I followed used some sort of voodoo because my results were far from perfect. No matter, I like vintage distressed images so imperfection suits me just fine.
After transferring the vintage image I created some areas with a crackle finish, a dash of glitter, dresend scrap butterfly and finished the piece off with a bow ofCrochet Lace Fancy Trim and some sweet tealSugared Botanica Mini's.
Now to pillage my husbands workshop for more little pieces of scrap wood!
Even if you aren't a fan of the sweet stuff, you can certainly appreciate the vibrancy of it technicolour packaging... maybe there's even a memory or two of nibbling sweeties as child.
When I first saw the Marion Smith TIMEKEEPER papers in my design team box my immediate reaction was to create a masculine steampunk something-or-other...
... but the pretty ANTIQUE EMPORIUM tugged at my imagination and said "No! Make a frilly something for a steampunk lady to hide her treasures!" I know better than to argue with the voice of my inspiration.
And so I present this funky lady's box. The base is aTrinket Box from Gina's Designs. I've fussy cut ANTIQUE EMPORIUM so that those floral elements remain in all four corners. Believe it or not, that handle is a broken chess piece. I applied a small element from the TIMELESS collection and applied a glossy accent layer to make it shine and give it a finished look.
The interior and sides of the box are embellished with papers from Marion's Junque Gypsy 6x6 paper pack. They Gypsy papers pair well with the Timeless collection and add a little more femininity to the piece.
Although you can't see them, there are four tiny feet under the box, giving it a bit of 'lift'. The piece is finished off with a bit of Petaloo's natural burlap trim and a few ornate keys affixed to the handle of the lid.
Now I just need to hunt for some treasures to fill my lady's trinket box!
With this piece I wanted to create a sort of pretty window, maybe something you’d stumble upon in an abandoned cottage, maybe something you’d find in an old gardeners home.
I’d imagine those small bottles to be filled with seeds and essential oils. The labels on these vials are various stickers from the Time to Flourish collection.
I’ve sandwiched some elements between the provided layers of vinyl which gives an wonderful ‘floating’ effect.
You’ll notice that I’ve placed the window box on a stand (which is simply a rectangle of cut thick masonite). This creates a more stable base and allows me to add these fabulous claw feet!
Be sure to hop over to the Graphic 45 blog and check out the current giveway!
Ever since coming across this pinages and ages ago I've wanted to create my own sort of fairy tale tower from a Pringles can. Pringles were on sale the other week. I ate all the chips. There was no excuse not to forge myself a Rapunzel tower.
The bricks are created using egg cartons. The little flowers and vines are from AlphaStamps.com. The mushrooms are handmade. The roof is paper. The base is wood with a black Thin Fleur Dresden Border.
One of my favourite bits is the little stained glass window.
I have several more Pringles cans laying about. I'm sure there'll soon be an entire kingdom of Rapunzel towers at Pixie Hill :)
I'm pretty excited about my first project for GinasDesigns.net. Being a sucker for small things I was keen to play with the Bagatelle Boxes. I had a few ideas but the fairies were demanding and I ended up with these fairy dust shrines.
Don't they look like they just came out of a fairy godmother's cupboard?! The boxes come in six different sizes and can accommodate various sized bottles and vials. You can purchase a set of bagatelle boxes containing two of each size, or buy them separately.
For this blue bagatelle I've chopped up a plate from the Keys & Plates Shape Set to create the feet. You can see a demo of how this is done in the tutorial video listed below.
And just in case your handwriting is a little bit iffy, I've created an entire sheet of little labels of Fairy and Pixie Dust to fit all manner of little bottles and vials.
I've created an entire collage sheet of teeny Fairy and Pixie Dust labels which are available exclusively via AlphaStamps. The sheet contains over 100 labels in a variety of styles and sizes to fit all sorts of little glass vials. Some of them are extremely tiny. A great buy (if I do say so myself) if you're planning on making multiple fairy dust pendants as gifts or for sale.
These cute little vials will be featured in my first project for Gina's Designs this Friday. If you believe in magic I think you'll like what I have in store! Be sure to check back for the adorable project and step by step video tutorial.
Small Thing Number 2
I jumped at the chance to play with the new Little Rococo Boxes Collage Sheet. The sheet includes miniature boxes suitable for tiny fancy hats, fairy crowns, shoes and cakes. Being a fan of sweets I opted for the latter.
Believe it or not, those cakes are made form paper. I simply made a sort of stubby tube, capped the end, and applied tiny beads and acrylic accents. A healthy slathering of Diamond Stickles for the icing and you've got yourself a fancy fairy cake ;)
