Free Photo Friday

Once a week I share an old timey photo from my personal collection. Feel free to use them in your mess making, art and crafting.

The images are not polished and left in their grungy, smudged and speckled glory. Just how I like 'em! Without further ado... 

Do NOT sell, give, or distribute the images as your own, digitally or printed, alone or as part of a collection, collage sheet or group. BUT DO absolutely make stuff with them and sell the stuff you make. If you share your project, a link is appreciated.

Violators will be turned into toads, given warts, all the bad stuff... I mean it... It won't be pretty. 

Free Photo Friday

Once a week I share an old timey photo from my personal collection. Feel free to use them in your mess making, art and crafting.

The images are not polished and left in their grungy, smudged and speckled glory. Just how I like 'em! Without further ado... 

Do NOT sell, give, or distribute the images as your own, digitally or printed, alone or as part of a collection, collage sheet or group. BUT DO absolutely make stuff with them and sell the stuff you make. If you share your project, a link is appreciated.

Violators will be turned into toads, given warts, all the bad stuff... I mean it... It won't be pretty. 

Words of wisdom freebie

It has been a rough, rough couple of months here. Death, death and death with a few dashes of stress and bullshit, and a handful of deadlines thrown in for good measure. I know a lot of people come to my page to escape all that sort of thing so I've been pretty mum about the misery. To be honest, I don't want to vent here... this is a nice safe place for me too. 

Don't worry, I'm not about to start dumping on you. 

It's just that all this crazy has put things into perspective. There are life lessons that as an adult I should know, but needed a kick in the pants to remember. I thought I'd make some little journals filled with those lessons, simple words of wisdom. Maybe make one for my kid, maybe abandon some for strangers to find.

I'm not done making my journals, but I thought I'd share my list with you in case you wanted to make your own (or perhaps to remind you to love yourself).

You should be able to download the full res image file above just using 'save image'. Download and feel free to use in your making.

Be good to yourself xo

Potages Cauldron Shop

I'm embracing my inner Potterhead once again. This time I've created a miniature version of "Potages" the cauldron shop located on the North Side, Diagon Alley, in the Harry Potter universe.

I've used a 7 by 7 Corner Room Box as the base for my little shop. I've also added a
Double Window Ornate on both the inside and exterior of the 'building'.

The signage are printouts pasted to thick board with small brad heads added to the corners.

Simple trims, which are just various sized strips of card cut from a cereal box, are a super easy way to create a finished custom look.

Wooden floor was created with coffee stir sticks, stained with washes of acrylic paint. And how perfect is that wallpaper with it's pattern of tiny spiders?! That's "It's Elementary" from Graphic 45s Master Detective Collection. Scrapbook paper makes excellent room box wallpaper.

To fill my shop, all sorts of little cauldrons. I even designed some products for proper cauldron upkeep like wax, cleaner and polish. To be honest, those little packages put me almost a whole day behind... totally worth it :P You can download the collage sheet to create these at the bottom of this post.

Want to create your own Potages? Or maybe a shop from your own imagination?! I have a video walk-through for creating the basics of this room that might help you in making your own masterpiece. You can find it HERE

Finally, here are supplies used in my wee cauldron shoppe:

7 by 7 Corner Room Box 

Double Window Ornate

(Pssst... if you're in the UK you can order from gslcutsuk.com)

Black Plastic Cauldrons

Metal Cauldron or Pot

"It's Elementary" Graphic 45, Master Detective Collection

cereal box card

thick card

wooden stir sticks

acrylic paint

drywall compound

small metal brads

transparency paper

glue, glue, glue
Cauldron Shop Printable (ta dahhhh, see below)

Have fun!

Potterific Magical Fruit Stand

Any time I'm asked to do a project, my mind immediately wonders if I can turn it into something Potter themed. It's an illness. A compulsion. An obsession! I might need help.

AlphaStamps: Nichola, do you want to make a miniature fruit stand?

Me internally: Was there fruit in Harry Potter?

Yes... yes there was.

But first, the stand. I've taken the Small Peddlers Cart and added a roof to it. Nothing fancy, just some card-stock and then more card as shingles. I've also added a shelf (again, simple card-stock) so that I could achieve height with the products I placed inside. I really wanted to chock this little cart with loads of goodies!

There's a patch of moss on the roof (because it's damp up there) and a few toadstools have sprouted. The toadstools were handmade with Creative Paperclay and the 'moss' is Green Turf Grass and didn't go nuts with it, a little sprinkling in the corner was plenty.

Check out the "Snow Owl Apples" sign on the front from the Tiny Labels for Crates, Jars, & Cans Collage Sheet. Totally looks like Hedwig!

But now for the goods...

Look at all that little magical goodness. I will admit to taking some liberties with the fruit / magic / Potter theme to fill out this scene... but I'm pleased! 

I've included Dirigible Plums, which look like orange radishes. They grow upside-down and are believed to help people believe the unbelievable. Elongated pinched up pieces of Creative Paperclay with a snippet of faux foliage poking out of the top.

Another Potter specific reference, self-peeling sprouts. Made with tiny balls of polymer clay with small cuts made into the surface. Its the paint doing all of the work here, making these simple balls look very sprouty.

Poison apples. Ok, not a part of the Potterverse, but being a big part of fairy tale and folk lore I think they should absolutely be included in a magical fruit cart.

Same goes for toadstools. If I were visiting Hogsmead I would be totally disappointed if a grocer did NOT have spotted toadstools available.

There's a lot of extra stuff tucked here and there on that cart: lemons (for Snape's lunch), a little potted mandrake, candy apples (which I'm almost certain Dumbledore would have bought on the spot. He did have a sweet tooth after all), pots of jam, little jars of citrus and a pie on top... because why the heck not? Ask my husband, pie is magic.

I'm quite pleased with that little cart and it's magical goods. There were about a million pieces that went into making it. Below is a list of all the supplies I used, but you can find them all in one place HERE.

*Deep breath* Here we go:

Small Peddlers Cart 
Fruit Paradise 6x6 Paper Pad
Glossy Accents (mixed with red paint and applied to apples for 'candied' effect)
Creative Paperclay

containers: 
Miniature Wooden Crates
Tiny Picnic Basket - Half Scale
Tiny Chipboard Crates - Set of 2
Even Tinier Chipboard Crates - Half Scale
Flat Miniature Bread Basket
Miniature Resin Bowl*
Even Tinier Bottles
Red Jam Mini Resin Jars
Grape Jelly Mini Resin Jars
Orange Marmalade Mini Resin Jars
Ghoulish Green Mini Resin Jars

greenery: 
Spring Green Lichen Mix
Green Turf Grass

misc fruit:
Tiny Resin Strawberries Cabochons

Tiny Resin Cherry Cabochons

Mini Cherry Pie

Mini Pears

Green Apples - 1:12 Scale

Mini Lemons
Mini Oranges
Red Apples - 1:12 Scale
Tiny Basket of Tomatoes or Apples
Polymer Clay Lemon Cane

Polymer Clay Orange Cane

Polymer Clay Lime Cane

Collage Sheets:

Pick Your Poison Half Sheet
Tiny Magic Books & Potion Labels Collage Sheet

Vintage Beer & Soda Labels Collage Sheet
Tiny Labels for Crates, Jars, & Cans Collage Sheet
Miniature Garden Supplies Collage Sheet
Cafe Bottle Labels Half Sheet

You're also going to need a little glue, paint, and extra cardboard

Phew!

Free Photo Friday

Once a week I share an old timey photo from my personal collection. Feel free to use them in your mess making, art and crafting.

The images are not polished and left in their grungy, smudged and speckled glory. Just how I like 'em! Without further ado... 

Do NOT sell, give, or distribute the images as your own, digitally or printed, alone or as part of a collection, collage sheet or group. BUT DO absolutely make stuff with them and sell the stuff you make. If you share your project, a link is appreciated.

Violators will be turned into toads, given warts, all the bad stuff... I mean it... It won't be pretty. 

Free Photo Friday

Once a week I share an old timey photo from my personal collection. Feel free to use them in your mess making, art and crafting.

The images are not polished and left in their grungy, smudged and speckled glory. Just how I like 'em! Without further ado... 

Do NOT sell, give, or distribute the images as your own, digitally or printed, alone or as part of a collection, collage sheet or group. BUT DO absolutely make stuff with them and sell the stuff you make. If you share your project, a link is appreciated.

Violators will be turned into toads, given warts, all the bad stuff... I mean it... It won't be pretty.