DT Margarita Glass Robin Nest Spring Home Decor

Have you ever happened upon an area where the earth is reclaiming an old once-loved property?  Seems like some type of magic is at play.  The paint has started chipping and becoming weathered, decay has set in; yet, little plants and moss have started growing in obscure places.  Forest vines and ivy are veining up bases and through cracks of structures.  

On my last visit to the Dollar Tree I was surprised to find a very thick Margarita glass, it looked out of place among the thin glasses on the shelves.  When I picked it up, the shape reminded me of an old, white iron bird bath I had seen on an abandoned property on the edge of a forested area.  Patina, dirt, vines and moss had over taken it, but a recent spring rain storm had left clear water in its normal murky basin.  Birds were once again flocking to it for a drink.

I tried to recreate the patina in my mind's eye using gesso, chalk paint, and ink wash.  Some dried moss and Baby's Breath with a few feathers made the plastic "robin" eggs look like a viable spring nesting spot for a happy bird.  

I didn't have vines and ivy, but I did have paint, twine, dried moss and … parsley.  Yep, right out of the spice cabinet:  Parsley.  Here is the end result.  It actually only took me a little over an hour to make, well, 2 .. but part of that was watching Supernatural reruns 👻

This is the BEFORE picture - Margarita glass and foam circles from Dollar Tree

Hershey’s Nugget Gift Holder Step Box using Crafter’s Companion Fairy Enchanted Forest

Need a cute presentation for HERSHEY NUGGETS?
Here's a link to the video tutorial (part of it is showing some I made and the other half of the video is the tutorial).   NUGGET Stepper Gift Box Tutorial .  They are actually fairly easy to make.  I had seen several projects using step boxes but they were always "square"- since Nuggets are rectangular I had to make a pattern  If you get one of these from me and you notice that it's mostly the toffee ones, don't judge! 😃 I can't resist the almond and milk chocolate ones.

Most of these in the images are decorated using #CraftersCompanion dies, papers, stamps.  But there's a little #TimHoltz and #MarionSmith products as well.

Altered Little Wood Box with Prima Mold Resin

Every time I take a glue stick out of my little box, I always think it needs a revamp - what a better date than on January1st.  I pulled out some resin pieces - the larger one from a Prima mold and the little Charlotte dolls from a mold I made years ago.  Add on some Tim Holtz Patina and some paint... a few tiny glass pearl beads and some ground Parsley to look mossy — now it’s just my style.  Fun way to start 2020-HAPPY NEW YEAR

Buffalo Check Snowman Stacked Boxes with Rusty Jingle Bells (Loaded Envelopes Galore)

I've been really slacking on keeping up my blog!  Here's a quick video that I made in the weeeeee hours of the morning (literally like 4am) in the freezer room so I didn't wake up anybody - so I could mail it off to my swap partner.  LOvED MaKiNg it.  STACKED SNOWMAN BOXES

Doll House Fairy Garden Miniatures : Mermaid ( IOD) Fountain with Resin Water, Armillary, Gate Columns inspired by Heather Tracy at Thicketworks

Sometimes it's so easy to just post photos on Facebook to friends that I forget about keeping up on blogger posts.  Recently I have been binge watching tutorials by Heather Tracy and I feel like I have been in a mixed media class that I paid hundreds to attend -- I've learned so many techniques.  Here's a link to her videos Heather Tracy - Thicketworks .  You will definitely be excited to learn from this amazing mixed media artist.  Here's a couple things I've made following her tutorials this past month.

The mermaid and  fountain embellishment are resin pieces I made using molds from Iron Orchid Designs (IOD).  The fountain is approximately 7" tall.   Real Reindeer Moss and crushed parsley make for amazing "aged" moss.

The water is actually "clear" resin.  The basin and "algae" as well as the gray faux fountain patina are colored with #SpectrumNoir alcohol markers and acrylic paint.

I unrolled some Dollar Tree twine to make vines and following the Thicketworks tutorial using foam board, these tiny columns will make a great addition to an upcoming diorama.  The columns and armillary are approximately 4 inches tall.

Can you believe that Armillary is just cardstock strips?  Here's Heather's tutorial for the Armillary .  I may redo this one to make a bigger "table" more like the one in her tutorial but for now I'm on to another video of her wonderful creations to learn some new skills.   

#ArtfulEvidence 6x6 Girl on Swing in Swirling Stars ( Tim Holtz) Die using #CraftersCompanion Inks and gold glitter paper

Inspired by Rachel Black's FB Group - Artful Evidence (Week 37 inspiration:  Stars) where everyone gets a wonderful push to create a 6" x 6" piece of art is a great way to start the day.   I used Tim Holtz' die, Swirling Stars, and Crafter's Companion Spectrum Noir Inks to create the background.  The stamp set with the tree, swing, girl (3 separate stamps) is one that had no manufacturer or artist listed that I bought on Ebay for a dollar earlier this summer.   The glitter gold cardstock is Crafter's Companion Luxury cardstock. which has become my favorite glitter and foiled cardstocks for over a year now.  So much fun.

Sometimes I get a little frustrated and don't finish a project - but knowing that it's only 6" square keeps me focused he often helps me get the JUJU flowing. 

Clear Christmas Ornaments with Transparent Crafter's Companion Stamped Images & Feathers

For over a decade I have seen multiple ornaments with images inside that were printed on clear sheets.  After finding inexpensive clear plastic ornaments (2 for $1 at the Dollar Tree) I had to give it a try.  I stamped some #CraftersCompanion  images onto the transparency, using a permanent black ink (StazOn Jet Black) and allowed a few minutes to dry. Cutting a circle around the image, I just estimated the size of the interior of the ornament. I'm sure more precise crafters would measure (which I would advise). I left a little tab at the top so when I rolled the circle up, dropped it into the ornament, that I could grasp the tag and pull it out to cut in any needed adjustments.  Added some thin feathers behind the image, attached the top with hot glue and decorated with beads, ribbons and more feathers.  I just love how this quick project turned out and it was cheap enough that you can make multiples for the tree or use to decorate gifts. 

Summer's Last Hurrah - Necklace using Crafter's Companion Embossing Folders & Spectrum Noir alcohol markers

outside lighting  

Decided to do something a little different.  I had a thin scrap of copper craft sheet metal leftover from a past project.  After running it through some Crafter's Companion embossing folders (French Lace & Butterfly Trellis), I formed the metal into squares and the one I ran through the French Lace folder, I formed into a cone.   Since I love big bold jewelry decided to put it all together with some beads, charms, chains and make a farewell necklace to summer.  The added color on the metal is where I just touched alcohol markers by Spectrum Noir  to some of the raised areas from the embossing.  It's always fun to make a few items out of the comfort zone.

inside lighting

Shadowbox card FAIRY and Mushrooms in the Forest using Crafter's Companion & Spectrum Noir - Sheena Douglass & Donna Ratcliff stamps & dies

Had the most fun time making this!  I made a little shadow box (about 6" x 6.75" ) out of chipboard first.  Then made attachments by folding ridges (almost like you would for a mini abum) to add scene layers 

 Used the Crafter's Companion Luxury Cardstock for the sparkly purple/gold trim and glued gold leafing fur NUVO to the edges

Just LOVE LOVE Sheena Douglass' Fanciful Fuschia stamps and dies for the flowers, but I attached them to floral wire and used floral tape so they could be used 3D.

the "grass" in front is a mixture of different colored reindeer moss and cheap green pompoms from Walmart just cut in half and hot glued onto the chipboard.

Made a simple card with Donna Ratcliff's fairy stamps and Sheena Douglass' Christmas Deer die (cut the deer out and just left the trees)

Added ribbon, reindeer moss and little mushrooms everywhere 

the 3 little white rocks .. are .. just .. 3 little white rocks :D :D 

Hope she likes it.

Crafter's Companion Fanciful Fuchsia stamp die set by Sheena Douglass coloured with Spectrum Noir markers

I just can't get enough of playing with this stamp/die set from Crafter's Companion, designed by artist Sheena Douglass.  I stamped the images with Spectrum Noir FINESSE alcohol-proof ink (the BEST for alcohol markers I've ever used! not even a spec of ink on my markers or moved by the ink) onto Spectrum Noir Watercolor paper.  Then used Spectrum Noir alcohol markers to colour the images.  After cutting out with the matching dies I used some stylus tools to roll the flowers and glued them together with hot glue.  Instead of using the "stem" stamp that came with the set, I decided to make them even more 3D by sticking a floral wire in the top of each flower (again with hot glue) and wrapping the wire with green floral tape that I found at the dollar store.  The turned out wonderfully! Such little eye-candies! #CraftersCompanion #SpectrumNoir