The Pixie Schedule 2015

2015 is well under way and I've finally gotten around to scheduling some dates for events and workshops around this old dusty place.

 Here are our open dates for summer 2015:

Saturday, June 6 • 11 - 4

Saturday July 4 • FAIRY TOUR OPEN HOUSE • 11 - 4 

This is the big one. If you're making a drive to visit this is probably the day you'll want to come.

Saturday, August 1 • 11 - 4

I've also scheduled a few studio workshops. They'll be very small, and take place at Pixie Hill. You can see the listings HERE. Private visits and workshops may also be arranged (depending on scheduling) by shooting me an email at [email protected].

Paper Rosettes for Graphic 45 with Tutorial

When I created these rosettes it was with Mother’s Day in mind. Mothering can be a thankless job. The cleaning, the laundry, the dishes, the cooking, the cuddling, the worrying… it often gets done with little recognition (although cuddling is it’s own reward). 

I think a rosette, a first place ribbon, and a little “Thank you for cleaning the toilet, mum.” would make those thankless tasks much more bearable.

Placed on top of a big fat present would be pretty nice too.

These rosettes are created (mostly) with Precious Memories. There’s a dash of Botanical Tea, Home Sweet Home, and Couture too. Really, I just played with all of the collections, using the coordinating colours as my guide. Finished off with some Petaloo flowers, ribbons and burlap tails.

But I also created this rosette with Botanical Tea for a video tutorial to show you how to create your own.

Here are the supplies you'll need for the piece created in the tutorial:
Botanical Tea > Sweet Chamomile / Birds of a feather / Herbal Infusion
Time to flourish chipboard
Spellbinders® Nestabilities® Decorative Elements “Royal Circle”
Petaloo Crochet Lace Fancy Trim

Petaloo Darjeeling Dahlias
Hot glue

And a few more to show off.... 

Supplies used in non-tutorial rosettes: Precious Memories:

Baby's Breath

Cherish

Cutie Pie

Pupp Dogs' Tails

Precious Memories Journaling Chipboard

Precious Memories Decorative Chipboard

Precious Memories Sticker

Botanical Tea Sweet Chamomile

Couture Alphabet Stickers

A place in time stickers

Spellbinders® Nestabilities® Decorative Elements “Royal Circle”

Petaloo flowers and blooms:
Botanica Petites

Botanica Blooms

Botanica Spring Berry Clusters

Darjeeling Dahlias
Darjeeling Petites
Fancy Trims: Burlap
Crochet Lace Fancy Trim
Misc ribbon

Hot glue

Padfoot Gets a Treat: Barkn Up the Green Tree

Something a little different today... our dear pooch, Padfoot, will be taking over. He was asked to do a review of some treats by Bark'n Up the Green Tree and since he doesn't have his own blog... well, you get the picture.

Bark'n Up the Green Tree, produces holistic vegan, gluten and nut free dog treats. She also creates cute (I mean really cute) hand-crafted apparel, collar accessories and collars from up-cycled and re-purposed materials. Paula, the creator behind Bark'n, is super nice too ;)

First we tried 'Rootalious' containing ingredients to "improve digestion and skin allergies" like sweet potato, carrots and coconut oil.

Pads could not wait to try it. 

Next up 'Garlic and Peppercorn' to "help against allergies". 

Having terrible allergies to just about everything (including chicken and his own dander), Padfoot was super excited about this one also!

The last one we sampled was 'Sparkling Fresh' with ingredients to freshen your furry friends dog breath.

So, how did the tasting go? 

Let's be honest, Padfoot IS a dog so he's pretty easy to please when it comes to treats but he definitely has preferences. We gave him a good sample of each to try first, then laid a bit of each for him to pick what he liked best. He quickly swooped in and grabbed the Rootalious and took off like shot to eat it in peace before gobbling up the others... but that might have been because it was the biggest piece and he is a greedy bugger.

In a blind test, where he could only smell the treats, he chose the 'Sparkling Fresh'.

Like I said, he's a dog and easy to please, and I knew he'd enjoy them. But then this happened....

I found Padfoot in the kitchen staring and bag of leftovers on the table. I'd say that's a pretty big seal of approval!

Feeling a bit bad for the old boy we gave him a few more pieces. He's usually pretty good at holding treats on his nose but failed miserably this time, preferring to gobble up the goods rather than impress us.

Padfoot's verdict? It's safe to say he loved his Bark'n Up the Green Tree treats. If you've got a furry friend please check them out and support an amazing small business.

P.S. I should mention that my kid thought they sounded so good he also tried the treats. He didn't like them as much as Pads but I reminded him they are for dogs, not boys.

When Things Get Out of Hand or Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Fairy Journals

I made a few of these Fairy Journal books and pencils and quickly snapped this pic while packaging them up. Folks seemed to like it.

Then I thought I'd make a smaller batch.

Sure they're small... but do they still open? Yep!

And then I thought, "Well just how small can I go?" So I went smaller again.

And I kept going!

But do those ones open?

Yep! Even the most itsy bitsy teeny weeny one, which measures just 2mm x 3mm.

I'm going to try to make some pencils for some of the smaller ones before listing them for sale. (The very smallest ones will not be listed.) The "larger" ones are already available in the shop.

AND finally, last year I did a limited number of year one Hogwarts textbooks.  Do you remember them? They were sorta cute :)

The first year texts (the ones pictured above and below) are sold out, but I'm starting work on the year two textbooks this week. (Helloooo, Gilderoy Lockhart) If you'd like to be guaranteed a set, you can preorder them HERE. Otherwise there will be a handful available for purchase, and when they are gone, well... they're gone.

French Country Curio Box for Graphic 45

When I was a child my father would often take me all sorts of museums. Perhaps that’s where my love of old dusty things was sparked. I still love visiting those places, pressing my nose against the glass of artifact filled cabinets. 

I’ve created my own display of neatly presented everyday artifacts, appropriately labeled “Miscellaneous” and embellished with some lovely French Country paper that I’ve been hoarding.

The box itself is an inexpensive shadow box that I've gussied up with Graphic 45 papers.

I’ve kept things simple here and have been reserved in my adornments, which I think compliments the organization of the bits and bobs inside my little curio.

And be sure to stop by the Graphic45 blog to check out all of the inspiration by my design teamies :)


The supply list:

Graphic 45 FRENCH COUNTRY Rendezvous

Graphic 45 FRENCH COUNTRY Montage

Ornate Metal Keys

Ornate Metal Label Holder

Antique Metal Door Pull

Wooden Box

Misc Items for box (clothes pegs, twine, buttons, small scissors….)

One Little Thing - Blue

This week I'd like to challenge you to use the colour blue in your one little thing.

Have fun!

Of Summer & Bees Triptych

It's the first Friday of the month which means it's my turn to share a project and tutorial using some GinasDesigns.net products. Here's what I'm sharing this month...

An altered art homage to the coming days of summer, warmth and honey using Gina's Triptych - Arch Top.

The bottom of this piece is embellished with three Faux Metal Number Plates which are flanked with some copper brads to give them a finished look. 

I've created some honey in the chipboard Honeycomb embellishment I added,  and while there are some chipboard bees included in that set, I couldn't resist using this divinely detailed bee charm to top off the piece.

I've added a few teeny weeny buzzy things too.

And because everything looks better framed I've mounted my triptych in an 11 x 14" shadow box.

I'm not going to lie, this piece took a while to create. The process isn't exactly difficult, it's just time consuming to achieve the right look. I do have a video tutorial of the process but for time sake it's been edited to the bare bones. If I've missed something and you have any questions feel free to ask :)

THE SUPPLY LIST
Triptych - Arch Top

Faux Metal Number Plates

Copper BradsHoneycomb & Bees Medium
Giant Bronze Bee Charm 
Small Bronze Bee Charm 
Slider Beads
Paper Butterflies
Acrylic Paint
Mod Podge
Aleenes Tacky Glue

Vintage images*

*Note: When looking for images for your artwork try using the search term  "vintage public domain portraits". The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs collection is a great resource. Just be sure to double check the Rights And Restrictions before using any images you find.