a miniature Christmas magic shadowbox...

I know, I know, Halloween isn't even here yet and I'm posting about Christmas!

 I can't help it, we got the cutest Christmas paper pad in from Carta Bella and I just had to make something with it. The pad is called Christmas Wonderland and it's got the cutest tiny Christmas prints and sweet little deer on it. Along with the adorable pad, I used one of our brand spanking new Mini Wood Printers Type Tray Shadowboxes to make a sweet little display of some of my favorite holiday things.

The shadowbox is pretty small, about the size of a photograph (4"x6"), and didn't have any feet to stand on or a hook to hang it with so I decided to use one of the small easels that Prima Marketing has started selling. It's a perfect fit for the shadowbox...

I love the way it makes the whole thing look pulled together and complete.

If you come in a bit closer...

you can see some of the fun miniature things I used in the cubbies. There are wrapped gifts, old books, magic potions and yummy things to snack on. I dug up an old deer and some Scrabble tiles from my stash to add some nostalgia and topped the whole thing off with a lovely embellished "pine" swag.

Not gonna lie... I had so much fun working on this it inspired a second project, using the same shadowbox, that will be featured in Sunday's newsletter ;)

Now, if you just can't wait for Sunday to do some shopping... here's a link to my supply list to get you started.

Thanks for stopping in and celebrating the upcoming Christmas season with me!

"24 Carrot Farms" a miniature farm stand...

A while back, at Alpha Stamps, we got these cool wooden boxes, from Maya Road, in. Leslie put them on the website but they didn't really sell very well. I thought that was kind of a shame because they were really awesome. Leslie told me to take one home and see what I could do with it. After a bit of pondering, and some supply gathering, I turned that box into a sweet little farm stand.

Just look at those tiny apples! Don't they look delicious?

I used paper from two new 6"x6" paper pads to cover the box and table. The adorable carrot print is from Echo Park's Homegrown pad. I love it! And all that beautiful wood grain, on the floor (which was the lid of the box) and on the outside of the stand, comes from Bo Bunny's Heritage pad.

 The box is just over 7" tall so I had to be creative with the use of my 6" paper. I think it adds a nice touch to have some of the wood grain going in a different direction.

 While I was creating my little stand, I decided to design a couple of collage sheets to use on it. One of the collage sheets has all of the signs, bags, and boxes for a farm stand called 24 Carrot Farms. There's even an awning to fold and glue together. Speaking of awnings, did you notice that handsome crow standing right above the awning?

The other collage sheet I designed has tons of produce crate labels as well as can and jar labels. You can see them in use in the photo below on the tops of two crates and on some bottles and cans.

Me being the crazy cat lady I am, I just couldn't help myself and added a couple of cats and a grape stealing rat to my scene. One of the cats is asleep in a stack of towels. The other is lounging next to the peaches :)

The rat is so tiny he's hard to see, but he's making off with a big bunch of grapes over by the pumpkins, lol. He's had to drag his sweet booty (grapes) all through the straw on the floor to make his escape.

Looking back on the beginning of this post, I have to say I'm quite pleased with what I was able to do with the box I took home. I really like the way my little farm stand turned out and I hope you've enjoyed the tour I've given you of it. If you'd like to build your own tiny little farm stand here's a link to my supply list.
Thanks for dropping by and enjoy your day!

Vintage Sewing Vignettes...

I work for Alpha Stamps so I'm often asked (or volunteer!) to do a sample that uses new products. This month I was asked to be a Guest Designer, which means I received the same box load of Vintage Sewing/Cat themed goodies the Design Team received.

Yiiipppeeee!!!!

So here's what I came up with to showcase these inspiring products...

First up is a sweet shadowbox filled with lots of miniature goodies and some adorable kitty images from a vintage sewing advertisement.

Don't you just love that tiny vintage sewing machine!?!

I must confess to designing a collage sheet of Mini Sewing Notions to use along with the other goodies I was given. I just couldn't help myself, lol. All of those button cards, boxes, and the pattern envelope are easily made with the collage sheet and some glue. Of course I added tiny buttons and spools too, but Alpha Stamps has them available for you too!

My next project was a sweet vintage miniature sewing basket, well two sewing baskets as I love them so much I just couldn't stop at one! It's as if you found a miniature copy of your Grandmother's sewing basket :)

This one has an adorable Japanese Cat Button on the front!

I made the tiny pincushion/button keeper from a Tiny Jewelers Tin. It was super easy to make. I simply broke the glass out of the lid of the tin, glued pink paper inside, cut out a 1.5" circle of ultra suede, ran a running stitch around the edge of the ultra suede circle put a small ball of cotton in the middle and gathered the edges together with the running stitch to form a pouch. I then glued the pouch into the lid with the majority sticking out, glued some Dresden Trim around the edge and boom, there it is ;)

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post! If you'd like to check out some of the awesome goodies I used to make these little sewing vignettes go here. Please leave me a comment if you enjoyed my post, all comments are greatly appreciated :)

Mr Mouse's Holiday House...

I collect dollhouse miniatures and I adore mice, so this little vingette was a natural. I was inspired by the sweetest little fairy garden chair and table we got in at alphastamps.com for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday extravaganza. Leslie had planned on having a miniature day as one of her sale themes so tiny things kept arriving at work and I kept grabbing them up as fast as I could!

After taking home sooo very many little lovelies, I was asked to produce a sample piece of art with them... such a sacrifice, I know. I decided to use the wonderful Prima Birdhouse I had been hoarding in my stash and to make a collage sheet with tiny holiday bags, tags and packages so I could have a tiny tree with all the trimmings.

 

 

Now I just need to find a cooperative mouse to hang out in my holiday house ;-)

Goodbye Halloween... Hello Christmas!

Whew! This year has just flown by. I can't believe I was making Halloween goodies just a few weeks ago and now I feel the need to start making things for Christmas.

Last night I whipped up a couple of Christmas Cat House Ornies to start off this years round of Holiday crafting. These ornaments are super fast to make and pretty darn cute (if I do say so myself). Of course you don't have to make Cat Houses... you could make Santa Houses or Reindeer Houses or whatever your heart desires. But, do use the faboo Die-Cut Chipboard Houses with Windows from Alpha Stamps to make it waaay easier on yourself!