Mermaid Silhouette Luminary

The weather has been absolutely glorious here and my pool is all glistening ripples. I'm going to be taking advantage and become a total mermaid this summer. I created a little something to encourage my sea maiden ambitions.

I've used an simple, straight sided vase as a base for my luminary. You could absolutely use a jar for but this was inexpensive ($2) and the was no mucking around to fit your hand inside. 

I've used a spray to frost the glass and tinted it with washes of acrylic paint. You can see my process by visiting THIS video walkthrough.

I've placed two figures from the Mermaids Shape Set inside my vase. The firgures in this set are quite sizable, so if you're working with small jars I'd recommend considering the Mermaids Miniatures instead.

I've added shells. cheesecloth, and unraveled twine at the base of my luminary, as well as a Word Tag. There's some wired glass baubles that poke out here and there and look wonderfully like bubbles.

For a seaweed effect, I've used snips of the Leafy Swirl cutouts.

You could add an led candle inside the vase, or a string of lights, but I think it looks rather pretty just sitting in front of a bright window... especially one that overlooks the pool and reminds me to jump in, make a splash and mermaid my heart out!

Here are all the bits I've used for this project:

Mermaids Shape Set

Word Tag - Travel (coming soon)

Leafy Swirl Cutouts
• Rustoleum Frosted Glass spray

• glass vase

• acrylic paint

• sea shells

• cheesecloth

• twine

• wired glass baubles
• glue

And HERE is where you can find out how to put all the bits together.

Honey Bee Shadowboxes

While I can often be seen running, arms flailing, yelling "get lost" to wasps (in not so lady-like language) honey and bumblebees are welcome visitors in my garden.

Just look at that buzzy bum in the chive blossoms!

Inspired by my pollinating visitors, I've made a couple of sweet honey bee shadowboxes.

With Fold Up Oval and Fold Up Box Rectangle boxes as my base, I've added beautiful yellow papers from Graphic 45's Floral Shoppe. Inside there's a pretty image of a vintage lady, a pinch of moss and paper flowers.

For the exterior I've used Honeycomb & Bees. The bees have been painted and have Transparent Wings added. A tiny bit of black fuzz finish off these chippy bees.

The interior background is vintage music paper with a splash of white and blue acrylic paint.

Want to make your own? I've created a video walk through for you to follow along and create your own. You can find it over HERE

And here are all the bits you'll need:

Fold Up Box Oval 

Fold Up Box Rectangle

Honeycomb & Bees

Graphic 45's Floral Shoppe

Transparent Wings 

Paper flowers

Moss

Vintage portrait images (These are the ones I used)

Glue

Foam spacer squares

Black flocking

A note about the flocking: Don't buy a pound of flocking for this project!  You really only need a very small amount. A few pinches! If you can find it, "Ultra Fine Flower Soft" will work well for the bee fuzz. Or search for miniature landscape "scatter" or "static grass" and you should find something suitable.

Sweet winged dressform

I've started this blog post a million times. Trying to come up with a good explanation, a reason for this project. The truth is, there is none. It's just a fun silly thing that happens to be pretty.

And you know, that's ok. Why does there need to be a reason to create something other than the urge to do so?!

 So I've made this pretty frock using a Dressform Hang Up as a base.

To it I've added a pair of wings from the Wings Assortment

And nestled a piece of the Victorian Corners 2 set onto the bodice (it fits just right!)

I've layered silk rose petals and tulle for the dress portion, simply hot gluing them in place. A bit of glitter, paper flowers and a heart embellishment and voila! you've got a sweet little something. 

If you need some guidance to create this piece, I have a video walkthrough HERE, but rest assured it's easy as can be.

Here are all the bits you'll need:

Dressform Hang Up
Wings Assortment
Faux Metal Number Plates 1 to 25
Victorian Corners 2

acrylic paint

paper flowers

silk flower petals

tulle

glitter

glue

Pretty Standing Flip Book

It crossed my mind to use this standing flip book to create something practical . I had thought of maybe a daily "to-do" list, or daily affirmations and meditations. That didn't happen. Instead I got down to some serious stash busting!

I dug deep into my paper hoard and used papers from my Graphic 45 days. I've used a mish-mash of older collections, I mostly used Botanical Tea and Time to Flourish.

I added a little sort of nest of flowers at the base... again busting the stash!

Assembly was SUPER simple. I only have two bits of advice... 

1. Be wary of adding a large design element at the top. It's so temping, but it may hinder the flipping of the pages.

2. When assembling the base leave the areas that slide together unembellished. This will help the pieces to fit together much more easily.

You know, I've always been more of a silver fox than a golden girl... but I had a bunch of dresden in my stash and I might be swayed to the other side.

Most of the butterflies I've used have been fussy cut from the G45 papers, but the ones below are stickers from... the dollar store! Aren't they pretty?!

The flip book comes with 6 chipboard pages so there is loads of room to play and experiment.

I was rather heavy handed with the dimention on the pages and there was still loads of wiggle room. You could easily add plenty of your own additional pages.

Want to make your own pretty flip book? You'll find the supply list below.

Supplies List:

Standing Flip BookFaux Metal Number Plates 1 to 25
Graphic 45 papers
Metallic Dresden
Twig Vine Garland
Paper flowers
Flatback pearls

Forever and Always Romantic Shadow Box

For all my love of horror films, foul language, and filthy sense of humour, at my very centre is a squishy old timey romantic core.

I had it in my mind that to create a kissing booth. Something fun and flirty. Instead this terribly lovey dovey vintagesque smoochy kissy thing appeared.

I've used a Square Shrine Shadowbox as the base, and added other elements to fancy it up.

I've taken the largest piece from the Flourish Medallion Set, chopped into quarters and set in each corner. Damask Singles decorate the inside background and the frontpiece.

Although you can't see them here, the hanging ribbon is attached to the piece by looping through two Clock Hands.

A heart shaped cutout is layered with fussy cut flowers and and a sentiment from Graphic 45's Sweet Sentiments collection.

The glorious vintage I used is free and available from thegraphicsfairy.com BUT If you have a smoochy someone, perhaps you could use something a little more personal.

Want to see how I put it all together? I have a video walk through available HERE

And here's a list of all the bits you'll need to make your own vintage smoochy lovely shadow box.

Square Shrine Shadowbox
Damask Singles
Flourish Medallion Set
Little Heart Frames
Clock Hands Shape Set

Old paper
Vintage image from thegraphicsfairy.comGraphic 45's Sweet Sentiments
Paper Flowers
Ribbon
Half back self adhesive pearls
Paper Butterflies
Paper flowers

Acrylic paint

Glue

Perpetual Happiness Calendar

Sometimes, I need a reminder to breathe more than I need to recall that it's Sunday the 29th of October.

So I've taken the Gypsy Soul Perpetual Calendar Bracket Style and turned it into a Perpetual Happiness Calendar.

Instead of days and dates, I've replaced them with reminders to kick ass, to sparkle, and included images of some of my favourite things like Christmas robins, Van Gogh and pretty ladies in pink.

Both sides of the cards are decorated to give lots of variation. When the mood strikes, I'll select new cards, reminders to inhale/exhale, to think nice thoughts and encouragement to keep at it!

I've added gold and pink dresden trims and colourful fun bits of sparkle.

With little angel feet to hold up my happiness.

If you really do need to remember what day it is, laser cuts of the months, days and numbers come with the Perpetual Calendar Bracket Style

Or you can set them aside and decorate the inserts with your own joyful reminders.

I've created a short video with tips on putting together this piece. You can skedaddle over HERE to see it. 

The list of requirements!

Perpetual Calendar Bracket Style

Scrapbook paper
Dresden Trims
Cherub Metal Box Feet Set
Oak leaf charms
Gem/Jewel bits and bobs
Washi tape
Stickers
Glitter
Glue

A Spooky Little Neighbourhood

Halloween is just around the corner so I thought that this month I'd make something spooky for that sweet holiday. Using products from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts,  Canvas Corp and 7Gypsies.

I've used the Cabana Row Houses as my base. There's 5 in the set and so you can create quite a nice little haunted neighbourhood!

Some of the houses are covered using papers from 7Gypsies. Some are simply painted white, decorated with Architextures™ Parchment Rub-Ons and then distressed.

Each of the houses uses pieces from the Miniature Bookplates Shape Set as windows. Creating the rooves was super simple with burlap pieces from Canvas Corp

There are plenty of embellishment opportunites. I've used Faux Metal Number Plates 1 to 25 but don't forget the larger Faux Metal Number Plates and Gears Shape Set would be super cool for a steampunk haunted neighbourhood. Go check out all the shapes available at Gypsy Soul and I'm sure you'll find some inspiration.

For a final touch I've added plastic spider and ants from the halloween aisle at the dollar store. 

Want to make your own? I've created a walk through with some simple practical tips HERE.

And here are the goods I used in making my own little spooky neighbourhood.

Cabana Row Houses

Faux Metal Number Plates 1 to 25

Miniature Bookplates Shape Set

7Gypsies Paper

Architextures™ Parchment Rub-Ons
Burlap from Canvas Corp
Plastic spiders
Vintage images
Twine/Ribbon
Acrylic Paint
Hot Glue
White Glue

Magic House Box Shrine

Small things are often jam packed with magic. Take buttons for example. I am 100% certain that buttons contain infinite amounts of magic. How many of us have memories of grandma's button tin? There simply MUST be magic in those little wonders.

This month I've used Gypsy Soul's Mini House Room Box to create a space to celebrate these small bits of magic. A place to tuck away thimbles and stones and buttons, all those precious tiny things that hold big memories.

There's LOADS of room for personalisation with this project. 

My Faux Typewriter Keys spell out MAGIC but you could order keys to spell out a name create a personalized memory shrine or choose to spell out a word that is particularly sentimental to you and really make this project your own.

I've put some tiny feet on my shrine but you could easily add hanging hardware to the back, or a length of ribbon or twine for hanging.

And check out the roof detail! If you make mini houses the Chipboard Shingles are a lot of fun to play with.

The assembly for this piece is super simple, but just in case you'd like to see how I put it together, HERE is a video walk through to guide you.

Products used in this piece:
Chipboard Shingles - Half Scale Sampler
Mini House Room Box 4 Cubbies
Faux Typewriter Keys Gold
Victorian Corners 1

Winged Heart**

Spring Fairy Altoid Tin

It's spring and my blasse mood is giving way to fairy dreams as the weather warms and the green shows through the grass. Swoon!

This month I'm going to show you how to create this pretty little altered Altoid tin with a sweet surprise inside.

On the outside I'm using an elmement from the Altoids Inserts Fairy Tale Frames,
Art Deco Corner Set and Faux Metal Number Plate.

I've used paper from Lemoncraft, but you could use any paper you love and make this project entirely suited to your own tastes.

Inside, I've used more elements from the Altoids Inserts Fairy Tale Frames. Behind the frame I've layered elements and images to give a dimentional effect.

This project is pretty dang cute and fairly easy to recreate, but I've made a demonstration video with some pointers that you might find useful.

Ready to make your own? Here's all the baubles and doodads you'll need:

Altoids Inserts Fairy Tale Frames
Art Deco Corner Set
Faux Metal Number Plates 1 to 25
Blank Altoids Tins Scrapbook Paper (I've used Lemoncraft's Forget-me-not)
Glue
Gesso
Acrylic Paint
Glitter
Other Embellishments