little framed fashion boxes...

I loooove making miniature vignettes in small boxes or large boxes or room boxes, etc. So, when we received a lovely pink and dark grey paper pad (with a fashion theme!) from Prima Marketing, I immediately started assembling a few vignettes (in boxes) in my head, lol.

I knew I wanted to use some shoe boxes and hat boxes in my vignettes, so, I took a look at a collage sheet I designed a few years back and decided to revamp it to work with this project. I removed the cake/pastry boxes from the sheet and added a glove/scarf sized box to the sheet instead. I recolored one of the shoe boxes pink so now there are four. AND everything remaining was resized to work with 1:12 scale miniatures as the original boxes were more playscale (or Barbie) sized.

I really like the resulting boxes and how they work with the pair of 1:12 scale metal shoes I painted a few years ago.

 The paper pad I used to "wallpaper" my boxes had so many cute images I had to frame one! Doesn't it look great with all of the boxes and pink tissue paper? The glove peaking out of the hat box is from my "A Lady's Boudoir" collage sheet and I used lots of other images from that collage sheet to complete the sweet dresser top vignette box below.

The above vignette box is done in 1:24 scale using the absolutely adorable 3 Inch Miniature Dress Form. I can't believe how cute this dress form is, and I love it even more with a strip of "lace" wrapped around the bottom. The pearls are a strand of super tiny ball chain I found while looking for finger nail decorations somewhere on the internet. I made the round hat box by gluing some of the paper from my paper pad onto a small tread spool and adding a bit of dresden trim. The "poster" on the wall behind the dress form is from the same paper pad.

 My last box portrays the top of a lady's dresser. The lovely ivory and gold jewelry box featured in the vignette is filled with vintage cabinet cards cut from "A Lady's Boudoir" collage sheet and a sweet bit of tiny gold chain along with a scrap of lace to mimic a handkerchief. I'm not really sure where I got the standing mirror but we do have a similar one available here.

All three boxes were framed with wooden frames I painted black. I am seriously running out of space to display miniatures and boxed vignettes so these were made to hang on the wall. I simply glued a picture hanger from the hardware store to the back of each frame and will hang them on my wall in the formation shown.
Thanks for stopping by and reading my post, it is always appreciated. My supply list can be found here.

Christmas?! It's not even Halloween yet!!!

Those were the words I uttered when asked to do an ornament sample using the 2017 November Kit. I really wanted to squeeze every last bit of Halloween goodness out of October before ever even thinking about Christmas. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, so I started listening to Christmas music and got crafty :)

I made this first ornament using the Ornament Frame Set - Round and Retro Xmas Round Ornaments Collage Sheet from the November Kit. The paper is from the Tim Holtz 8x8 Kraft Paper Stash - Christmas, I really love the Tim Holtz Stash Pads because they are a nice weight and have such wonderful vintage images and patterns. I also used a Clear Plastic Round Dome on this ornament so it could be a "shaker" ornament.

Notice how the Santa image in the photo above is obscured by tiny clear micro beads, inside the plastic dome, when the ornament is moved or shaken. Alpha Stamps had a kit with shaker ornaments last year, too. You can see the many ornaments I made with last years kit (and other available components) on this blog post.

My favorite thing about this ornament is the pleated Cream Ribbon with Velvet Polka Dots I used to add a frill to the edge. It looks like it was complicated to do, but, because this ribbon holds a fold really well all it took was hot glue and folding (in little pleats all the way around the back of the ornament) to accomplish.

 My second ornament uses many of the same supplies as the first ornament but I did use a different ornament shape. It is Ornament Frame Set - Bauble and it is quite nostalgic in shape. So I just had to use this wonderful nostalgic paper from the Tim Holtz Christmas 8x8 Paper Stash!

I think the paper is perfect with this sweet snowman image from the Retro Xmas Round Ornaments Collage Sheet. Using a snowman image made it pretty much mandatory to use lots of snowflakes, such as the Flat Back Clear Iridescent Snowflakes and the Tiny White Snowflake Buttons. Of course I really had to apply lots of snow drifts with my trusty Dimensional Snow Writer.

To top it all off, I used a Christmas Snow Essence label from my Tiny Little Christmas Labels Collage Sheet applied it to a 3cm Tall Bottle with Cork with a few strips of Super Sticky Red Liner Tape - 1/8 Inch and added some snow (Flower Soft in Polar White). I think it looks adorable nestled in among the snowflakes and Maidenhair Fern Pick - Platinum.

I hope you are inspired to start making Christmas ornaments now, even if Halloween is still around the corner. Just think, you will be able to use them on this years Christmas tree!

My complete supplies list is available here.

 

 

Only 58 days until Halloween!

We are getting really close to Halloween so it seemed like the perfect time to roll out a Halloween themed monthly kit at Alpha Stamps. I had the honor of designing the collage sheets for the kit and it was so much fun... I made an extra one (not in the kit). It is called Little Demons and has lots of sweet demons to add to your Halloween crafting. (Just imagine making a cute banner or wreath with these cuties!)

I made a couple of ATCs with the kit components and some of the new things hitting the website today...

The card above uses the awesome Bat Border ATC Card that comes in the kit along with collage sheets, paper, ribbon and tiny buttons, oh my!

 I used the new Dragon Arch ATC Card for this one, and I really love how it looks :)

Both ATC cards were designed by Leslie, Alpha Stamps owner extraordinaire!

If you'd like to see a list of all the goodies I used on my ATCs, click here. 

But, WAIT!!!

There's a rumor going around that Alpha Stamps is having a Halloween SWAP!!!

I'm not sure of the details, myself, but, I bet you could find out by going here.

wise woman's apothecary cabinet...

The Oxford Dictionary defines "wise woman" as a woman considered to be knowledgeable in matters such as herbal healing, magic charms, or other traditional lore. That is the kind of woman I envision using this apothecary cabinet.

She would keep all of her herbs and other ingredients in well labeled, tightly covered, glass jars so nothing would be misplaced or misused.

 She would have lots of books, scrolls, and papers to fill up those two large drawers, and yes, sometimes, to leave stacked on the worktop. Her mortar and pestle would be well used and perhaps a bit dented.

 Her apothecary cabinet would be kept orderly and well stocked.

I used the brand new and wonderfully versatile Storage Hutch and 4 Inch Wide Chest of Drawers - 2 Drawers as the base for my apothecary cabinet. A bit of Dresden trim, some box feet and four skulls, used for drawer pulls, helped give the cabinet a spooky style.

Using my recently designed Tiny Little Grimoires Collage Sheet I made an open book to display on the cabinet worktop. I took photos while I assembled it so I could do a little tutorial to share :)

Carefully cut out the following pieces from the collage sheet. You will also need to cut out a piece of patterned or colored paper to use as a backing to the book cover.

 Glue the backing paper to the back of the book cover, print or color side out.

Trim off any excess paper.

 Ink the edges of the book pages and the cover.

 Score the pages as shown below.

 Glue the first set of pages as shown below.

 Using a large wooden dowel or a pen, bend your pages as shown, to give them the curve of open book pages.

 If you want a ribbon book mark, glue a thin ribbon to the book as shown.

 Next, glue the curved pages into the middle of your book as shown.

 They should look like this from the side.

 Continue to glue the curved pages on top of each other until you have a stack you like.

 It will look more realistic if some of the pages are slightly offset and a corner or two is bent.

 Next, glue the ribbon in place as shown.

 Then, using sharp fabric scissors, cut the ribbon to size and trim the end into a v shape.

 Glue a couple of papers on top if you want your book to look like it's in use.

 There you have it! Just a few simple steps to making an open book for your miniature scene :)

I hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for taking the time to read it. If you would like to view my supplies list, it can be found here.

pocket grimoire...

Happy July! A new month means a new monthly kit at Alpha Stamps, YAY! The July kit is called Matchbox Cabinet Kit and it comes with an adorable Matchbox Cabinet. Using the kit, as it comes, you can create a cute little kitchen cabinet with all kinds of vintage grocery items. Now I've been in super Halloween creating mode so I didn't really wanna make a kitchen cabinet BUT... the matchbox cabinet, in the kit, has some witchy potential sooo... I made a couple of collage sheets to turn that cutie into a pocket grimoire...

 So small it could fit in a pocket, but open it up and it's BIG on witchy goodness!

 So much witchy goodness, it couldn't be contained and I just had to decorate the top...

and add a cauldron of bloody bones to keep on the side.

If you're wondering how I assembled my cabinet, here's a quick peek:

 I used a piece of design tape to make a little handle on the cabinet door.

 I covered the inside of the cabinet door with paper.

 I used masking tape to attach the cabinet door to the cabinet. I had already assembled the cabinet and painted it with black gesso. After I applied the masking tape I inked the cabinet door edge.

 I applied design tape to the inside of the cabinet door to cover the sticky masking tape and to make it look pretty :)

 Then I cut out one of the cover images from the new "A witch's Grimoire" collage sheet and glued it onto the cabinet door...

 If you look closely at the above photo, you will see that the cover image is slightly larger than the cabinet door. This is so that the cover image covers the cabinet edges when the door is closed.

Once the door was attached I applied paper to the rest of the outside of the cabinet and decorated the side with a strip of design tape and an image from the collage sheet.

All of the papers, scrolls, labels and books were created using just the two new collage sheets: Tiny Little Grimoires and A Witch's Grimoire. (To assemble the books please see this tutorial.)

By the way, I always use Super Sticky Red Liner Tape - 1/8 Inch to attach the tiny labels to the bottles. It's so much easier to use than glue and keeps the labels attached better too :)

Thanks for stopping by and reading to the end! I hope you will consider making you own pocket grimoire. To help you on your way, here's what I used...

Supplies Used

Tiny Little Grimoires Collage Sheet
A Witchs Grimoire Collage Sheet
White Resin Condiment Bottle
Matchbox Cabinet
Pickle Jar with Lid
Amber Resin Potions Bottle
Even Tinier Bottles
Mini Black Cauldron
Bloody Bones
Miniature Tequila Bottle
Small Amber Resin Potions Bottle
Bottle of Dragon Tears
Super Sticky Red Liner Tape - 1/8 Inch
Mini Pine Fern
Metal Letter Opener or Dagger

Krylon Gold Leafing Pen

Black Gesso - 1 Ounce Bottle
Tim Holtz Design Tape Set - Aristocrat

getting back to my roots...

I've been doing a lot of multi media and three dimensional art lately and felt the need to do something a bit simpler and more collage-y. So, I grabbed one of the adorable Hidden Drawer Book Box - ATC Size and a brand spankin' new Saucy 6x6 Paper Pad and got to work creating this sweet "Let's Eat" shrine.

With the exception of one tiny little pitcher of milk, the whole thing is made of paper. Some of the paper is from a new collage sheet I created just for this project. It has lots of kitschy images of food and people eating and goes great with the Saucy paper.

I also begged Leslie to have a little set of chipboard kitchen shapes cut, thus giving birth to Tiny Kitchen Items :)

Don't they look adorable painted black?

Inside my little shrine is a darling little girl, dressed for Sunday dinner, with a straw hat perched jauntily on her head. It appears dinner is just being served...

Haha! Looks like my kind of dinner! Yummy cupcakes and a glass of milk, what could be sweeter? And there's that tiny Pitcher of Milk I spoke of earlier.

On the back is an old advertisement for sugar...

 I hope you enjoyed my kitschy sweet Let's Eat shrine and it will inspire you to either go out and eat a dozen doughnuts or, better yet, make a shrine of your very own!

Here's a link to the products I used ;)

Shaker Ornaments!!

Shaker ornaments are all the rage right now, just search Pinterest and you will see tons of examples. But how can you make them yourself? Well it's easy with the awesome new Chipboard Ornament Layers from Alpha Stamps. These babies are fun, easy and are only limited by your imagination!

I whipped these up in a couple of days with most of the time devoted to glue drying time.

Look at that, the backs are as pretty as the fronts!

 Let's take a closer look at each individual ornament, shall we...

 This beautiful snowy scene was created using Deer in Woods Ornament Layers, silver and white paint, recycled sari silk ribbon and lots of glitter and sequins.

 I created this simple distressed ornament using Tim Holtz Christmas Tidings 8x8 Paper Stash, Stairs Christmas Morning Ornament Layers, and Hanging Stockings Ornament Layers. I made it double sided by gluing the two die-cut inserts back to back with a sheet of cardstock in between.

 I did the same double sided trick with this ornament using Christmas Delivery 6x6 Paper Pad, Ice Skaters Ornament Layers, and Flying Sleigh Ornament Layers.

Since I created two double sided ornaments I had leftover outer rings and clear plastic domes. Not wanting to waste those parts I decided to use a couple of collage sheet images from the new Gnome & Mushroom Ornaments Collage Sheet to make up an additional ornament...

 Isn't it adorable! I love gnomes and mushrooms! And snow, and moss, and buttons...

 In order for the images to be glued to the outer ring when creating this ornament sandwich, I had to leave a bit of white paper around the edges. Don't worry about seeing it when finished, though, as it is covered up once you glue it to the outer ring.

 Since it is necessary to keep the parts flat once you put the glitter in the dome, I traced a line around my roughly cut collage image so I would know exactly where to place the image once the glue was applied and I was ready to attach it :)

I truly enjoyed making these ornaments! It was fun finding stuff to put in them to shake around. My main ingredients for all of the shakers were Flower Soft - Polar White, a fine white iridescent glass glitter from my stash and 1mm Micro Beads - Clear AB. In addition I added sequins, tiny buttons and polymer clay cane slices depending on the theme of the ornament. You can see my complete supply list here.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope I inspired you to go make some shaker ornaments for yourself :)