Captured Fairy

Hi Everyone,
I caught a fairy! You can see her here and over on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts blog!

Jess

Shine like the whole universe is yours

I love dancing.  I should say I love to watch people dance.  I took dancing lessons for many, many years but you would never know it.  I am just not meant to dance.  My sister was a beautiful dancer.  She danced right up until she had her first child.  I think sometimes she forgets what a gift she gave us when she danced.  I wanted to make her a little something special for Christmas.  Check it out over on The Robin's Nest, but don't tell her! It's a Christmas gift.

Ornament bonanza!

I have been a busy bee making a ton of Christmas ornaments.

These tiny deer head ornaments were at Joann Fabrics.  I got one thinking it was cute.  When I mounted it in the frame and put a wreath around his neck I went out and bought two more(it was all they had).  

The frames are from Michael's.  They were originally pink, but I painted them to work for my project.  

They are so adorable I can't stand it.  

Ok.  On to the next one.  A few weeks ago I went to the Over the Roof Top show at Sweet Salvage.  My sister saw some scrabble tile ornaments and wanted to get some.  Secret confession time:  I have a Scrabble tile issue.  I hoard them.  I love them.  Whenever I find a game at Goodwill or Savers I grab it.  I told her to hold off and I would make them for her.  

I hope she likes them.  

You can see a sneak peek of my holiday decor.  You will get to see the whole house decorated in an upcoming blog post.  

What have you been crafting?

Jess

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

After being sick for over a week, I finally felt well enough to go back in my craft room.  This little box has been sitting around for some time now.

The plexi glass top slides off so you can get to the insides.  

I started by pulling out some Christmas bits to see what spoke to me.  I ended up going with a pink theme, rather than traditional reds and greens.  With my major inside pieces picked out I grabbed my paints.

A very light wash of pink went on the entire box.  I started very light and went back in to make it a stronger paint finish, not just a wash.  Once I had the entire piece painted I went back and flecked the box with the off white.  I also used Tim Holtz's distress paints in Brushed Pewter and Tarnished Brass.  

Now it was time to layer up the inside.  I pulled pages out of an old dictionary and glued them down with Matte Gel.

Once they were glued down and dry I did a wash of the off white paint just so the words weren't so prominent.  

Flecked the paint inside too.  

Now to make it pretty.  I just love bottle brush trees and plastic ballerina cake toppers.  

I dyed the trees pink using Distress Stains in Pickled Raspberry and Worn Lipstick.  I watered the stain down a bit and then just dipped the trees in until they were a color I liked.  Then I got out my mercury glass beads and pearls to decorate.  

The ballerinas are cute, but I wanted them to be a bit fancy for the shadowbox.  I grabbed my sari silk and dyed that to match the pastel colors.  

Worn lipstick and antique linen made the pink silk.  Broken China and a touch of Peacock Feathers made the blue.  I just wet the silk using my spritzer and ran it through the colors that I had smudged on the craft sheet.  I dried them with my heat gun. 

Fancy party dresses.  

Now I just had to put everything in the box.  

I had some of these vintage houses that used to be part of a light set.  I put some mica snow on the roof and the base.  The ballerinas got glittery crowns and shoes.  The background also got some Christmas remnant rubs.  I just tossed them in there randomly.  Once I was done I realized I made it too fat for the plexi glass top to slide back in! Now I have a piece of plexi glass for another project.  

I added one more ballerina to balance things out. 

 I got the Merry Christmas tag in the dollar bin at Michael's.  The star pin is jammed into the wood and holding up the tag.  

I think this will make a lovely addition to my Christmas decor.  I can't wait to pull it all out.

Have you been by The Robin's Nest? They have a great store and fun blog too.  Great tutorials.  

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Linking to:

Simon Says Stamp A Walk Down Memory Lane

Inspiration Emporium Happy Holidays

Meet Hazel- Compendium of Curiosities Photo Tinting Challenge

She's a lovely witch isn't she? 

This is just a tiny wall hanging I made using a beer coaster.  The photo is tinted according the the technique you can find in the Compendium of Curiosities III.  

An industrious sticker frame surrounds her. A vial label and remnant rub gave her her name.  An itsy bitsy spider crawls down the side to add a dash of Halloween creep.  Crinkle ribbon was died to match her pumpkin.  

This challenge is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie.  If you haven't ordered from Linda you must run to her site.  She is so prompt AND she sells at 20% off MSRP!  

As always you need to stop by to see all the other creations on the lovely Linda Ledbetter's site.  She does this challenge just because she and the Curiosity Crew love to create.  

In addition to the CC3 challenge Hazel will go in the finishing touch challenge on the Simon Says Stamp blog,  the Mixed Media Monthly Ribbon Challenge.,  Frilly and Funkies Halloween Challenge, and Rhedd's Creative Spirit- October Challenge

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Compendium of Curiosities Challenge 7

Time for another CC3 challenge! Linda Ledbetter's hosting another challenge.  This time the focus is painted industrial. Inspiration Emporium is the sponsor this round.
 It's been disgustingly hot here and I felt a bit of autumn would be welcome.

I wish the glitter frame had photographed better.  

I think my favorite part of the frame are the creepy vials in the corner.

This is the last of my vintage brass name plates.  These were an awesome gift from a crafty buddy.

I hope you like my bit of fall.

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Pretty Banners for your craft room

Last night I went to Michael's.  I had a gift certificate that was starting to burn a hole in my pocket.  I didn't have anything in mind to buy and I stumbled upon tiny wooden banner pieces.  Best part was they were only 29 cents each!  I bought a bunch and came home to see what I could come up with.  A while back I made a big banner for my daughter's room.

I love the way it came out.  It's so feminine and pretty. I honestly have no idea where I bought these banner pieces.  They were in my stash from the scrapbook convention.  The chipboard letters are from Hobby Lobby.  The glitter is Martha Stewart.  The flowers on the "A" and the "T" are Prima.  The flower on the "K" I made with old crepe paper. 

      

The little bird is Melissa Frances.  I colored the beak and highlighted the wings with Distress Markers.  The pearl embellishments are from Want 2 Scrap.

The new banner is tiny compared to this one, but it took me longer to make.  Sometimes I think working on a large surfaces makes me work faster.  The smaller surfaces take so much longer to find the right size embellishments.

My walls are a warm tan color so it is hard to get a photo that doesn't look gold.  I love this.  I think the black paper really makes the glittered letters pop.  I started by coloring the back and edges of the triangles with Shaded Lilac distress ink.  The chipboard letters are from recollections.  They were already glittered blue, but I didn't want to use blue for this project.  I used a mixture of Martha's Purple Spinel and Purple Sapphire.  

Of course I took close ups of each letter too.

These purple flowers have been rolling around in my flower box forever.  The middle one was the perfect size.  The two on the end were cut way down and smooshed to make the perfect bud. 

The bling is from Want 2 Scrap.  The black paper is from Pink Paislee. The brad I used on here is part of the coordinating collection.  

Yay! Tiny pompoms make me happy.  The rest of the embellishments on here are all brads that I trimmed the prongs off and glued down. 

This bling is from Prima. 

More coordinating bits on the side.  Buttons from the stash.  Vintage back and white trim on the top.  

Vintage millinery flowers flank a large silver Prima flower.  A little more bling from Want 2 Scrap.  

Here is where I create.  Messy, but I love it.   

What have you been crafting? 

Jess