Floral Shoppe Mushroom House

Floral Shoppe was the the Graphic 45 collection I was most excited about playing with. They are beautiful and lush and elegant and I just cannot gush about them enough. They are absolutely gorgeous! So, of course, one of my first Graphic 45 projects as brand ambassador puts those floral pretties to good use!

I took a simple wooden greenhouse from the craft asile at the bargain store, and covered it with Midnight Medley along with a chipboard tag.

I've added some decorative hardware with a Metal Door Plate and Knob and some Stamped Metal Brads. I've also added some metal feet to the bottom of the box.

I know it's not over the top covered with loads of embellishments and decorative elements... but I love the elegance of this wee piece. I think the paper just sings for itself.

What's inside you ask? Well, I thought about keeping jewelry inside, but my favourite sort of elegance is the type that goes hand in hand with eccentricity. This little greenhouse would belong to an old biddy who grew magical toadstools in her spare time.

The interior is covered with Old Curiosity Shoppe, tags and and fussy cut butterflies.

Inside, a collection of clay mushrooms and toadstools!

Note: While I normally use Paperclay for my mushroom making, this time I used DAS Junior air dry clay. It was under $3 at Walmart and I thought 'what the heck'. It's very similar to polymer clay, but doesn't need to be baked. I find my hands too hot for most polymer clays (it melts and gets mushy in my hands) but this was really fun to work with. 

There's a little space in the middle which I am saving to add a real small potted plant.

For the curious, here's the before.

And my transformed pretty Floral Shoppe mushroom house.

Inspired? Here are all the bits I used in making this wee greenhouse.

Floral Shoppe
• Papers, Tags and Stickers

Old Curiosity Shoppe Deluxe Collectors Edition• Papers and Tags

 Graphic 45 Staples: Metal Door Plates and Knobs 

Graphic 45 Staples: Stamped Metal Brads

Small Wooden Greenhouse
Metal Feet
DAS Junior White Air Dry Clay
Sheet Moss
Faux Moss
Small Wooden "Clay" Pots
Acrylic Paint
Glue

A new Pixie Hill resident

This post has nothing to do with fairies or crafting or magic.

It has everything to do with this little fellow that I fell madly in love with last week. 

This tiny bunny is named William Oliver Nigel Kennith Yellowbottom.

(Wonky for short.)

He is just about the sweetest little floof in the world!

He's slow but curious.

He has a wonderfully mellow personality and it quite like Padfoot in every way but appearance (though they are both adorable),

He also never stops eating.

And that nose never stops twitching.

Wee Sewists Shrine

A wee sewist's shrine for AlphaStamps.com today.

I've used an Altoids tin for the body of the shrine, and the lid is being used as the base. I've used an old chess piece as the stand, but an old spool would work well too.

Speaking of spools... I've put a couple of vintage spools at the base as well as a few little buttons.

Inside, that's a 3 Inch Miniature Dress Form. I've applied a coat of gesso and then painted it white. To get it to fit inside the tin properly I've trimmed the base of the form. To cut it to size, I heated a blade and sliced through the plastic.

The tiny side table is made by gluing a Flat Round Wooden Bead atop a wooden finial. On top there are a Small Brass Scissors Charm, Tiny Thread Spools and a snip from the Mini Button Cards Half Sheet.

Want to make your own wee sewists shrine? You can find all of the AlphaStamps bits I put to use HERE.

And here are all the individual supplies:
Blank Altoids Tins 

Small Brass Scissors Charms  3 Inch Miniature Dress Form 

Flat Round Wooden Beads  

Tiny Thread Spools - Set of 5
Small Wooden Spools
Miss Betty Vintage Thread & Sewing Scrapbook Paper
Altoids Tin Insert Frames - Scalloped  

Altoids Tin Roof  

3mm Rhinestone Chain - Pink Mix  

Iridescent Plastic Pearls (Strands)  

Crystal Rhinestone Stick Pins  

Pear-Shaped Pearl Stick Pins - Gold  

7/8 Inch Fancy Fan Ivory Lace  

Moments in Time 6x6 Paper Pad    

Mini Button Cards Half SheetHalf Scale Books & Things Collage Sheet 

Floral Phone Holder for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts

This month I decided to make something a little less elaborate, but it's one of my favourite products from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts: the Tablet/Ipad/Phone Holder

I have three of these Phone holders around my house and I use them every day.

I know, I know... "but I could just prop my phone against something." That's what I thought too, but I really do love my little holders, use them daily and find them so useful.

Plus, it's a fun little project to work on. A little project to express your own style that takes up just a short time, a very few supplies, and is practical! Woo hoo, right?!?!

I've made a quick video walkthrough with a few tips like adding embellishment to the far edges rather than the centre. You can find it HERE 

You can get as elaborate or restrained as you like. Create something to suit your own style and tastes... but here are all the supplies I used to create this version of the Tablet/Ipad/Phone Holder.

Tablet/Ipad/Phone Holder
Lace Frame
Graphic 45 Floral Shoppe - PINK LILIES
Graphic 45 Floral Shoppe - Chipboard Tags
Thin Looped Dresden Borders - Pink
1 Inch Curly Paper Roses - Variegated Yellow Pink
Butterfly Charm
Acrylic paint

The Potions Room

As per usual I was making things, then got distracted, then made something else.

And this potions room happened in all the making.

Ok, not so much a room as a wee magical corner... but BAM! It happened.

There are a boatload of magical ingredients mentioned in Potter potions on those shelves.

There's a nice wobby stack of bottles (looking very much like the stacks of containers in my tupperware cupboard.)

Tucked atop there are important scrolls, magic books, a pillar candle, toadstools and a crystal ball.

The bottom door do open, but I've left them empty. I thought it would be fun, in case someone wants to hide a surprise inside.

The Potions Room is listed HERE

But if you'd like to create your own magical corner, here are a bunch of the supplies I used to create this piece:

Corner Room Box
Mini Oak Hutch A whole whack of stuff from HERE
Old Fashioned Grocery Cans
Little Potions Collage Sheet
Fairy Godmothers Cupboard Collage Sheet
Handmade and Set of Miniature Books (to make your own check out my Miniature Openable Book Tutorial)
Tiny Wooden Bowls

This isn't a complete list of all the doodads used in this piece. Some elements are old or odd bits. Have a poke around AlphaStamps miniatures selection, there's loads there. Have a wander through your local $ store and see if there are wee things you can plunder. For the rest, hobble and cobble bits together to fit the picture in your head.

Punch and Judy Theatre

Today I have a wee Punch and Judy theatre made with goodies from AlphaStamps

I made a Punch and Judy theatre eons ago (there's a tute for that one too) but this one is larger and much less fiddly... and slightly less violent.

If you aren't familiar with Punch and Judy it's a sort of violent puppet show which can be dated back to just before the 1700's, reaching a height of popularity during the Victorian era. More recently, they have a bit of a shout out in Gone Girl.

To look at these two you'd think butter wouldn't melt in their mouths... you'd be so wrong!

To make this piece I began with the Punch & Judy Theatre kit. Then covered it in Red & Ivory Narrow Stripes Scrapbook Paper. I've actually added two headers here. One attached to the rear from the Punch & Judy Theater Collage Sheet. A second one on the front of the the theatre from the The Grand Guignol Collage Sheet.  I think it gives a good feeling of frantic fun, perfectly suited to Punch and Judy.

The wee Union Jack flags are a public domain image I scaled down and attached to toothpicks. So fancy, Nichola!

The wee figures inside are removable.

  

Once again I get super duper fancy with my techniques  by simply folding the "stick-end" of the image from the The Grand Guignol Collage Sheet. Easy peasy!

I finished off the piece with some red dresden trims because everything is better with dresden. (I would trim myself in dresden if at all possible.)

And that is it! Fairly easy and you can make this project with all the bits found HERE. Or here are the supplies bit by bit:

Punch & Judy Theatre
Arch Top Theatre Facade
Half-Round Dresden Borders - Red
Punch & Judy Theater Collage Sheet
Red & Ivory Narrow Stripes Scrapbook Paper
The Grand Guignol Collage Sheet
Thin Looped Dresden Borders - Red

Additional supplies:

Toothpicks

Glue
Union Jack image
Black acrylic paint

Happy Toadstool Friends

I've been cleaning my studio and trying to complete items that haven't received all of my love or attention. I made these mushroom guys ages ago but wasn't completely happy with them. They'd wobble and their tops refused to stay put.

During my cleaning I rediscovered them and FINALLY got them sorted out. Their tops are now firmly in place and they are far happier paired in a tiny mossy plot than they were plonked on a surface.

They're made of polymer clay and sit on a mound of real and artificial moss.

I do think they're much happier together.

Just look at how content they look nestled next to one another!

Except this dude. This guy wants to smell the summer air and feel the sunshine in solitude thank-you-very-much.

All the toadstool guys are available in my etsy shop HERE