a dia de los muertos (day of the dead) cat mermaid shrine??

Well, why the heck not? I love cats, day of the dead shrines and mermaids are really apropos right now. Last but not least, Alpha Stamps is doing mermaids this month and I really wanted to participate (not be left out, lol). So, I created a collage sheet with mermaid parts to fit the awesome Articulated Mermaid Paper Doll so you can make this...

Isn't she cute?? I love her, she has so much attitude! Anyway, you could just make a mermaid (or two) with the new collage sheet and be done with the whole thing... or you could make a whole day of the dead shrine to house her in!

 I made a shrine because I really do love day of the dead shrines and never need an excuse to make one.

 The shrine is composed of an Arched Shrine Shadowbox, a Balcony Balustrade - 12 Inch, and a brand new Stairstep Shrine Base. Plus a whole bunch of brightly painted doodads...

I used the Tiny Scalloped Shingles or Scales Stencil - 5x5 Size to add some texture to the top of the shrine base...

Of course I used Nuvo Embellishment Mousse - Aquamarine to push through the stencil because this stuff is the most amazing thing on the planet! Not only is it awesome to paint with and dimensional enough to hold its shape through a stencil, it is iridescent and comes in some luscious colors too!!! It's now available in nine colors at Alpha Stamps. (To see the colors I used click on my supply list for this project.)

 I attached my little mermaid to the interior of the shrine by gluing her to a couple of Small Wooden Spools then gluing the spools to the shrine wall. Makes her look like she's swimming around inside the shrine :)

 Someone has left her a yummy offering of chocolate mice and some lovely marigolds (which are really Tiny Paper Roses - Orange because I have yet to find miniature marigolds). The chocolate mice were made by a lovely miniaturist in England. I purchased them a few years ago on eBay.

Thanks for stopping by and reading all the way to the end. I hope you enjoy making your own day of the dead mermaid kitty and shrine :)

Alice in the library... and outside

 Alpha Stamps has a new monthly kit for May and it includes this awesome Gatefold Window Card.

 I used two of the gatefold window cards to make a sweet little double sided Alice in Wonderland shrine. On one side there is an outside scene with fake grass and a window box and lovely pink roses. You can view the library through the window...

 if you look closely you can see the Cheshire cat sitting on a shelf in the bookcase.
Btw, I used the Finnabair Art Extravagence Rust Paste Set to paint the window frames and the flower box because I swear I'm in love with this stuff!

From the side you can kinda see both little scenes...

 The flip side of my shrine has a library scene and you can look outside. I used the Alice Plays Croquet Collage Sheet for my outside view. 

 You can tell you're in the library because there are stacks of books everywhere.

The White Rabbit is looking a bit puzzled by the butterfly sitting on a stack of books and perhaps by the mushrooms sprouting out of the floor.

Those wonderful framed paintings are cut out of one of the papers included in the May kit :)

If you'd like to see a complete list of the supplies I used click here.

 Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. I hope you have a fun and creative day!

Sugar Skulls...

It's been a while but Alpha Stamps is resurrecting swaps! First up is a sugar skull swap and boy am I ready! I even created a collage sheet for the occasion. Here's what my swap entries look like...

Yes, I used my new collage sheet all over them! I also used plenty of glitter and other goodies from my stash and from Alpha Stamps.

My favorite of this group is the devil.

I think he's pretty handsome with his gold tooth and faux suede horns.

While I was working on my sugar skulls, I kept thinking about this years Dia de los Muertos (or Day of the Dead) festivities. The cemetery where my Mom is buried is open for Day of the Dead vigils and will place a lit candle on the grave of your loved one for a small fee.

I like to go out and spend some time graveside with Mom on this night and decided to make a traditional shrine to decorate her gravestone along with the traditional marigolds.

I think she'll love it :)

If you're wondering where I got the lovely white skeleton, it's actually one of the plastic skeletons we sell at Alpha Stamps. It started out black but quickly became white with a coat of gesso and a couple of coats of white spray paint.

I hope you'll join me for the sugar skull swap, you can find all of the details here.

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!

Kitschy Bitch Television Shrine...

New and fabulous at www.alphastamps.com is the Altered Metal Frame - Television! I am in LOVE with this kitschy little shadowbox! It's the perfect shade of mid-century aqua and looks like an old TV with rabbit ears. I adore kitsch, so I begged Leslie to carry this frame from Prima Marketing just so I could create something totally over the top and tacky as all get out. I even created two new collage sheets for the occasion and dug up all the red and aqua treasures I could find in my hoarded stash.

 I think we can all agree the resulting shrine is pretty tacky, gaudy and lots of fun. It was also very easy to create as the back of the shadowbox opens up so you can easily apply paper and other decoration. My favorite thing about this piece is the letterpress letters that spell out kitschy along the top. I used some red acrylic paint on them to make them really pop.

If you'd like to create you own version of this "masterpiece" click here for a list of the supplies I used.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've enjoyed this little bit of kitsch.

a Shrine to the Holy Mother and Mushrooms...

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful and loving mothers! May your day be fill with love, art and happiness.

I've created a reliquary shrine to a rather well know Mother for this special day.

I painted a vintage plastic icon to look aged and enshrined her in a wonderful House Shrine Box Kit from Alpha Stamps. I love the way she looks set off by the papers from the Junque Gypsy collection.

I didn't stop there though...

To the back of the shrine I added a sacred heart reliquary I made with the fabulous new Relic & Artifacts Casts designed by Sandra Evertson for Prima. I'm totally in LOVE with Sandra's collection so you will be seeing lots of these used in my upcoming projects. I used Golden Liquid Acrylics to paint the heart and hand and they take the paint like a dream. Also featured in this reliquary is the new Castle Towers Reliquary - Single from Alpha Stamps.

Since Spring is slowly taking root around here I've been thinking of mushrooms...

I made this little fairy house shrine using a plastic mushroom that I added a door to and painted.

Last but certainly not least I made three potted mushrooms because mushrooms are just so cheerful and make me happy.

The fairy house shrine and mushrooms are available in my Etsy shop here, but the Holy Mother Shrine has already been claimed by a friend.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing a bit of your day with me. Here's a free image to use in your own mushroom art...

 

a haunted sunken ship shadowbox in a miniature suitcase...

It looks like a miniature suitcase with buckles and labels and all of the other things you'd expect a suitcase to have... But, when you open it up there the similarities end...

Inside awaits a tiny haunted world from a past era when sailing via ocean liner was all the rage. Unfortunately, for our occupants this ship is resting somewhere on the bottom of the ocean.

There is lots of luggage in this stateroom including a nifty steamer trunk stuffed full of travel things (such as the tiny passports and tags).

The occupant of this stateroom is a bit indisposed at the moment. It doesn't look like he will be finishing his breakfast anytime soon.

I hope you've enjoyed my little sea journey. I created it with stuff I got at Alpha Stamps, including a new collage sheet with the luggage boxes I designed exclusively for Leslie (the Queen of Alpha Stamps). To help you put the boxes together, I created my very first Snapguide Tutorial. It's super easy to follow and I hope you will make some sweet little luggage boxes for your own artsy project.

Marie's Boudoir... a shabby chic shadowbox...

If Marie Antoinette were living today, I bet she'd be a shopaholic shabby chic fan...

Using this awesomely shabby chic shadowbox, made by Prima Marketing and available at Alpha Stamps, I created a miniature scene depicting a corner of Marie's boudoir.

I needed lots of bakery, shoe and hat boxes for my scene soooo... I created a new collage sheet full of boxes too. The boxes are super easy to put together and look adorable with a bit of tissue paper or some yummy faux sweets in them.

Here's a list of supplies I used in making my shadowbox. I hope you enjoyed my post and wanna go make your own version of Marie's boudoir or her tea table or her favorite shoe store...

a shrine to the creative process...

 

Click here for a list of the yummy supplies I used ;)

Edgar Allan Poe and a witchy room scene...

We recently got some spooky new craft supplies in at Alpha Stamps and I volunteered (and by volunteered I mean I threw myself on the box and begged) to create some Halloween sample art with them.

Up first is a gravestone triptych honoring Edgar Allan Poe and his, maybe, mistress Frances Sargent Osgood. I used the new and fabulous Paper Mache Tombstones Set as a base for my triptych and covered it with paper from Carta Bella's Spooky Collection. I love Carta Bella paper, it's just the right weight and their designs are always fresh and colorful.

I added the niche to the middle gravestone using the same basic technique I used to add the shelves to the Step Into My Parlour triptych. The little books are the same ones I show you how to make in my Tiny Little Book Tutorial. Most of the other supplies I used are available at Alpha Stamps and you can find a handy dandy list of them here.

Next up is a "room box" that is not actually in a box at all...

This was super easy to make. I simply covered a Large Wooden Theatre Base and some wooden cube blocks with paper (again using the Carta Bella Spooky Collection). Then I spray painted a new Miniature Garden Bench black. Hand stitched some cushions for the bench. Then glued everything together with hot glue. The skeleton and the "Spirited" bat sign on the front are wonderful dimensional stickers made by Jolee’s Boutique (another of my favorite companies!) I love to incorporate dimensional stickers into my art projects. Sometimes I take them apart to just use the pieces or like I did here (with the skeleton) use them in a way that's a bit "outside the box".

If you'd like to create your own skeleton room box or just really need some of the awesome arty bits I used... you can find the product links right here.