Welcome to Fairyland

We have houseguests this week! Which is why it's been so long since my last post, and probably a little slow to get another one up after this. I've been busy getting the house ready - guest room cleaned, craft room "in order," and everything put away that shouldn't be out in the first place.

I did give myself some time to make this hanging for the guest room door. (I apologize for the terrible photos - we finally got rain here in TX and I waited until then to take photos!)

I used a piece of recycled chipboard for the base and covered this with a piece of Prima "blooming happiness" paper and a layer of peachy pink tulle. I added stitching around the border of the paper.

I printed out the vintage image, which I had altered by adding "Welcome," and then centered it on the background. I added some Stickles here and there to make the fairies sparkle. Then I added a ribbon border and started layering on the flowers - some vintage and some new. Here's a closeup of the "bouquet":

I added a hand-dyed crinkled seam binding hanger and tied on more vintage trims to complete the piece. Then I made a nighttime dash to Walmart to find those little sticky hooks so I could hang this on their door.

Dreaming of Paris

I just finished my boxes for the Speckled Egg's Petite Inspiration Box - Paris Edition swap. Here are the boxes I made for my swap partners. They are boxed up and ready to go to their new homes with my swap partners.

Last week I shared my in-progress boxes. Here they are, all ready to go.

I covered the matchboxes in vintage wallpaper that is covered in big beautiful peachy-pink roses. They happen to match the Webster's pink Bloomers trim perfectly, so I had to add some on there. I added a little glitter here and there to the wallpaper, tied on a pink tulle bow, and attached the soldered charms that I made.

But what good is a box with nothing inside? Here's a peek at some of the contents:

I wanted to keep a pink and white theme. I covered the "drawer" with vintage French text from a dictionary and a Paris magazine. I lined the drawer with a vintage handkerchief. The little "bonjour" envelope holds butterflies made from more vintage French text, and assorted ephemera. I made the tissue pattern flowers and the hand-dyed seam binding. I included a vintage millinery flower, buttons, charms, and beads. And who wouldn't love that adorable pink ballerina? I made an extra box that I'll put up for sale in the shop soon.

I hope my swap partners like what I made, and I can't wait to see what they created! I'll share photos of those boxes when I receive them.

Postage Stamp Tags - Tag Tuesday

I played along with this week's Tag Tuesday prompt: postage. I made two tags that incorporated postage stamps and a "mail" theme.

On this first tag, I adhered part of an old letter to a shipping tag and gently aged it with some Distress Ink. A friend of mine sent the stamped image to me, so I cut her out and made her "Jeanie." I stitched on pink lace at the bottom and added a coordinating pink stamp and ribbon loop at the top.

"From Paris With Love" uses printed canvas as the tag. I embellished it with sequined fabric, an Eiffel Tower image, tulle, flowers, antique button, and other bits and bobs. My French postage stamp finishes off the piece. I tied multiple trims in brown and black at the top.

Fun with UTEE

I took a class last week at my local scrapbook store, Anthologies, on different techniques for using ultra thick embossing enamel (UTEE). I have a large bottle of UTEE and have used it once. This class taught all sorts of uses for the stuff. Here are photos of the little things we made. CAUTION: I attached these to tags when I got home and made up my own descriptions for them. They are not "technical" terms by any means.

All techniques were done a heat resistant non-stick craft sheet.

Our first technique was to coat a piece of chipboard with a few coats of heated and layered UTEE and then use a rubber stamp to impress an image into the still-warm UTEE. After it cooled a little, I rubbed some Perfect Pearls onto the image.

Next, we cut out an image printed onto ordinary printer paper and adhered it to a piece of chipboard. We then applied several coats of melted and layered UTEE to achieve a smooth, glassy surface.

This is a very similar technique to the one above. We stamped an image onto cardstock using Staz On ink, then applied several coats of UTEE. Then we put the stamped and glassy heart in the freezer. After about 20 minutes, we took them out and bent the paper until the UTEE cracked.

This next item is one of my favorite techniques. The instructor called it "cloisonne UTEE." Again, several coats of UTEE melted and layered to get a glassy surface. Then I put a couple of colors of Perfect Pearls onto the warm surface. Then I heated the UTEE again and while it was still warm, used a swirly pattern rubber stamp with gold pigment ink to stamp into the UTEE. I heated this once agian to smooth out the UTEE and blend the stamped image a little.

For the rest of the projects, we used a Melting Pot to melt UTEE and pour it. This was messy, and I knew I'd make a mess with it.

The instructor had flexible molds, some purchased and some she made with Mold and Pour. We poured the melted UTEE into the molds and let them cool. Of course, I over poured and had a messy glob of UTEE on the side of the molds, so my molded UTEE does not look as good as it could. 

This next one was my least favorite technique. We applied UTEE to paper or silk flowers. We dipped a flower into the melted UTEE (the large red flower). We also tried the technique by applying powdered UTEE (from the bottle) onto the flower and heated to melt (the small white flower). I thought the dipped flower was a mess and didn't turn out well at all. I didn't like this technique, don't like the way it looks, and don't see why I would ever need UTEE-coated flowers. But, several others in the class really liked it.

We also used UTEE for image transfer. This was a really cool technique. We cut out an image printed onto ordinary printer/copier paper, and then poured the melted UTEE onto it. After it was completely cooled, I soaked it in water to dissolve the paper. I had to "scrub" it off a little, but now I'm left with a transparent image transfer. How cool is that?!

This was another favorite technique. We had a printed image down on our craft matt. Placed a small cookie cutter over the image, and then poured the melted UTEE into the cookie cutter. Let cool, and then pick up the cookie cutter. By this time, the UTEE in the Melting Pot was turning yellow from being heated too long, which is why my charm is not clear (like UTEE should be).

Finally, I thought this technique was awesome. We made faux soldered charms using UTEE as the "solder". We took a printed image and sandwiched it between two 1"x3" glass slides. We dipped each edge into the melted UTEE and let cool. Then we painted over the dried UTEE with a silver paint pen.

I learned a lot of really cool techniques, and also some things that I wouldn't attempt again. I plan to put my UTEE to use soon!

Summer Sale in the Shop

As a special Thank You to my Zunky Chic readers, I'm offering a discount on everything in my etsy shop. For 1 week only, you can get 10% off all vintage items, and 20% off all jewelry!

To receive your discount, enter "ZCreaderSale" in your Comments to Seller upon checkout. I'll refund your sale price through PayPal after you complete the transaction.

Sale is good today, June 21, 2010, through Sunday, June 27, 2010. Happy shopping!

Bead Swap Jewelry

Last week, I showed the beads that I received from my swap partner Heather in the My So Called Junky Life's bead swap. I made a necklace using the majority of the beads.

These beads look so pretty together - so much nicer than I was able to photograph. It's a large piece - the cross pendant is 2 1/4 inches long.

I even had enough beads leftover to make a pair of earrings. I added all the sterling findings and the turquoise beads.

Again, these were also tough to photograph. Here's a photo of them dangling.

If you have any tips for taking great jewelry photos, I'd love to hear them. It's so hard to get them positioned correctly and get enough light and get a good photo...

Father's Day Card

Father's Day is this Sunday. I find it so difficult to shop for gifts for my husband, but my dad is even worse. He never tells you anything he wants, but after a holiday he has all these things he "needs" to buy. Lately, I've been sticking with gift cards so when his need arises, he has money to spend.

Here is the card I made for him.

I used some older Anna Griffin paper and painted a border on it using Shimmerz paint. I received this paint in a kit a few months back and have never used it before, so I wanted to give it a try.

I used Martha Stewart velvet ribbon with a wood grain pattern embossed on it, and layered a piece of vintage crochet trim on top. I made the flower using a couple of different punches. I punched the scalloped circle from an old book page and the circle from a scrap of the background paper (the reverse side). I cut the leaves from a Graphic 45 punchout.

Finally, I typed the sentiment on the margin of an old book. Two of the edges were already distressed (being in an old book), so I carefully distressed my cut edges using a nail file.

Swaps

I have been so neglectful to my blog lately! I've been busy and haven't had a lot of time to create. I'm also participating in several swaps, so most of my creativity is going there. Here's a peek at some of them.

My friend Julie and I did a casual little junk swap. Here are the goodies she sent to me.

I received three of those little bottles - each is filled with a different color of vintage sequins! She also made the adorable card, which I neglectfully cut out of the photo.

Next up is My So Called Junky Life's bead swap. I was partnered with Heather from The Speckled Egg (who happens to be hosting the next swap I'll tell you about). We were to send a focal pendant and 20 beads to our partner. Heather did not disappoint. Look at this beautiful, vintage, yummy goodness I received.

This is only a portion of the beads she sent - I already started working on stringing many of the beads into a lovely necklace. I'll share that once it's finished.

Next is The Speckled Egg's Paris Petite Inspiration Box Swap. I'm still working on these, so here's a peek at the work in progress. The box:

And the contents:

And finally, I'm participating in a handmade "girly" swap with some of my scrappy friends. Since I haven't mailed this to my partner yet, here's a teeny tiny peek at what I made.

Happy Birthday Lily

Today is little munchkin's 3rd birthday. She's growing so much and learning something new all the time. I won't get to see her again for a few more months. And she loves her Aunt Er-ca so much!

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, and Happy Birthday

Our nieces' (Lily and Angela) and nephew's (Jason) birthdays are all within one month of each other. I try to get them each something unique, but similar to what the others are getting. It makes for some exhausting shopping! I made these three cards to send along with their gifts.

My darling Lily will be turning three this year, and I'm not able to travel to her party. Here's the card I made for her.

I used my Cricut to cut the party hat out of Basic Grey "Sultry" paper, then I added magenta Stickles to make the polka dots. While the Stickles were still wet, I sprinkled some star glitter on it. I made the paper banner at the top and cut the hat's ruffle from crepe paper.

Next up is little Angela's birthday, who is turning two this year. The papers are all Basic Grey "Sultry", and the rhinestone butterfly is from Jolee's.

And finally is Jason's birthday, who will also be three. I made a similar party hat card, but with "boy" colors.

Treasure Hunting

Today is Friday! And for me, that usually means planning my weekend to fit a flea market, estate sale, or antique mall into my schedule. This weekend is no different, and there are so many to choose from that I will have to pass on a few.

I wanted to share some recent treasures that I found while I was out hunting.

Fluffy millinery blooms...

Vintage trims...

Old thread spools and this sweet pin cushion...

And one of my favorite finds - a bag full of vintage glitter and sequins! Can you see the gold stars? And that precious little bit of sea blue glitter? Ahhh... a thrifty crafter from days gone by saved these little bits for just the right project.

There is also a package of the most sparkly pink sequins. I poured them into a special jar to save... for just the right project :)

Imagine

Here is my final project I created with the June Anthologies kit. The kit includes this 4"x4" bare canvas. I was so excited when I first saw it, because I knew I wanted to created a little altered project with it. I just had to gather my ideas.

I finally decided to turn the canvas around and use the back side (that the canvas is stapled to) and make a tiny shadow box. And oila! My Fairy Ballerina now has a stage on which to perform.

Here's what I did:

1. I painted the canvas with a quick coat of pink craft paint. As the canvas dried, I coated the chipboard word with glue and glitter.

2. I went through a little art book that I have, looking for an image for her backdrop. This painting (of ancient Rome I think) was perfect. Now I started decorating the "stage."

3. I cut a piece of the gorgeous dragonfly fabric in the kit to create the curtain. I used upholstery tacks to hammer it onto the canvas frame. I used a small gold tassle from my stash as the curtain tie-back. Then I trimmed the top and opposite side with the gold trim in the kit.

4. I gave my vintage ballerina her fairy wings (an old millinery butterfly from my stash) and adhered her inside the box. I gave her "spotlights" with a few clear rhinestones from my stash.
 

5. I adhered the glittered chipboard title to the bottom of the canvas and added a scrap that gorgeous brown trim from the kit.

6. I added a hanger made from ribbon in the kit and added a strip of buttons from my stash down the side.

This is one of my favorite projects and is already hanging up in my craft room. I need to get a few more of these canvases and create some fairy friends for her.

Anthologies Kit Reveal

The June Anthologies kits are now on sale! This kit is full of the Pink Paislee Queen Bee line, plus a few other unexpected surprises! I had so much fun playing with this kit. Here are the layouts I created.

For this first layout, I used the Worker Bee patterned paper as my background and layered the Bee Hive scalloped paper on top. My embellishments include a Queen Bee journaling pad sheet, die cuts, and cork buttons, Jenni Bowlin butterfly, flower made from Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage ribbon pleat and brown felt, and a few of the flowers and trim in the kit. The only items from my stash that I added were the button and baker's twine.

I really enjoyed getting to scrap some of these old photos of my grandmother. I haven't done a heritage album before and frankly, I think I was turned off by the "brown" look of most of the traditional heritage products. The muted greens, grays, and yellows of the Queen Bee collection were PERFECT for these photos.

This next layout features another photo of my grandmother; this time as a young girl. I used the Honey Bee patterned paper as my background and didn't want to add a lot to the layout because of how lovely this paper is. It looks like faded and worn wallpaper. As soon as I saw it, I knew this photo with the parasol would be perfect.

I made paper roses from the patterened papers in the kit, added a journaling pad sheet, and made the ribbon pleat using ribbon and fabric in the kit. Everything on this layout is included in the kit.

This last layout features photos and an advertising card from an antique fair we went to out in the country. The advertisement matched so perfectly with the Queen Bee line. I printed my photos in black and white and started layering on the embellishments. I used the Honeycomb patterened paper and a couple of the transparency embellishments in the kit. To balance the journaling strip (and cover a bare spot next to the photo), I created a vertical ribbon cluster from leftover trims in the kit.

Because each of these layouts has a soft, worn, vintage feel, I used my old typewriter to create the journaling on each.

I have one more project that I created with this kit. I'll share that one tomorrow.