Halloween 24/7

Yep. You know how you get a little itchy when you haven't done something Halloween related in a while?
No? Really?
Well, okay. But just to mix things up a bit, it's Halloween in May at my house.
Here's a fun thing I made using Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts super-sturdy-do-anything-on-'em Chunky ATC Blanks. I love these things. They are just about indestructible and put up with a lot of mixed media, sanding, painting over and general artsy masochism.
This is a straightforward project, so I wasn't so hard on the poor things this time, but I like the visual effect.

  They are fairly simple but I like the stark contrast of the black trees (I used the 3D Chip Board Tree-3inch and just a little black silhouette of a Halloween critter (which I just drew in with a good black marker) with some borders I cut from the Graphic 45 Rare Oddities Ephemera Cards.
Easy, but effective.
Here's where it began...

I then covered the fronts of the ATC's with my chosen papers.

I cut the borders from the G45 papers and cut the trees in half. I painted them black (some are white in the photo, but later I changed them to all black).

Please note that the borders are larger than the ATC's and that is okay.

Setting aside the trees to dry, I flipped the ATC's over, lined them up and glued a ribbon down the center of the ATC's, leaving enough ribbon at the top to loop over as a hanger.
Do a dry run of the frames on the ATC's with the frames and ribbon to make sure you've left enough space for you to glue the frames on to the ATC's and not have them overlap.
I chose to have very little space between each piece, but you might like more of the ribbon to show between each one. Your choice!

After the ribbon dried, I glued the frames and the trees on the front, making sure the frames were centered as best I could make them on the ATC's. 

After the trees dried I drew in some simple Halloween shapes with a pencil and went over them with a very black marker.
I chose a bat, a cat and a spider, but you can let your creepy critter flag wave here and choose whatever you like.

Not to waste, I finished off the backs with the center pieces I cut out of the G45 ephemera cards.

Simple but effective.
Going for the simple design that has visual impact.
Hope you like it!
Thanks for dropping by.

SUPPLIES:
Chunky ATC Blanks
3D Chip Board Tree-3inch 
Graphic 45 Rare Oddities Ephemera Cards
Ribbon
Black paint
Black marker

Toilet Paper Roll Night Lights!

What do you do on what feels like day 750 of quarantine? You make toilet paper roll night lights and put a little glow out into the world.
Hello all my wonderful Make and Take ladies! I sure have missed seeing you all.
In lieu of us all gathering together I have made this picture tutorial of a craft that just makes me smile. I hope it does the same for you.
I love all of you and can't wait to see you in person again.
Okay, let's do this!!

This is a fun and super easy way to upcycle something that we all have in our house and a nice way to use up bits and scraps of ribbon and whatever else you want to embellish your loverly toilet roll.

The basic things you need to make this craft.....

1) A toilet paper roll
2) A sheet of craft paper (you can use copy paper if that is what you have)
3) White paint
4) Black paint
5) Glue (Elmer's, Aleene's or any white glue will do)
6) A battery tea light
7) Bits of ribbon and silk or paper flowers (All the ribbon came from WalMart and the flowers were left over from another project. Most of us have a few silk flowers somewhere in the house...don't be shy about using large ones if that's what you've got. They look adorable!)
8) Black Marker (I used a Sharpie)
9) Scissors

Yay! Let's play with crafty stuff! Here we go........

Toilet paper rolls. Or paper towel rolls you can cut to the heights you want. If you've got 'em use 'em!

Draw windows on your wee TP Tower of Power with your black marker. Use a pencil if you need to practice

Cut the windows out with a pair of sharp scissors. (If you are doing this with a child, you might want to do this bit for them.)

 Give it a coat or two of white paint- I did two coats. Set aside and let it dry.

NOTE:
I used wax paper I taped down to my work surface and poured a small amount of paint directly on the wax paper. It saves a lot of clean up!

Okay moving on...
When the paint is dry, put a dab of black paint on your wax paper and paint around the inside edges of your windows and paint little frames/window sills around each one.
You can use your marker for this bit if that is more comfortable.

Next step might look weird, but it makes a big difference.
Take your marker or you paint brush of black paint and paint along the bottom edge (the base) of your tower.
Doing this will fill in any bits of white that might show after you add you ribbon and you don't have to go in afterwards and try to fill in the white bits.
It doesn't have to be super tidy, just do your best to make it neat and just a thin lie at the very bottom. Set it aside for the moment.
Have a piece of chocolate!
Or maybe a couple slices of apple and some cheese.
That is so perky.

 Next we are going to work on the little roof and the base.
First the roof. make a pointy little cone by doing this.....
Draw a circle that is 2 1/4 and cut a quarter-size slice of pie out of it. Graph paper helps, but you can eyeball it or use the bottom of something round as a template.
Like this.....

Put a thin line of glue down one side of the 'pie slice' and bend the other side to meet it to form a cone. Use a paper clip to hold it together until it dries.

 Next step.....paint the roof and the base black and let them dry.

Now comes the SUPER FUN PARTS!
Oh, how I love embellishing things.
All my Make and Take ladies know how this part works.
There isn't really a plan to this. I sort of compose what I think looks nice out of the scraps of ribbon and flowery bits I hunted around for and play around with how they look on the pieces before I glue anything down.
Then I start sticking stuff down. I start with the ribbon on the base of the tower and then painted and decorated the wee roof.

 I DID NOT glue the roof on the tower. That come a bit later. If you painted dots or stripes on your roof, let that dry before you put on flowers or beads or fringe or anything else. Paint first. Let it dry. Add embellishments and details.

 It's also easier to add details to your tower before you glue the roof on, but I kind of did both as I wanted to add more (like the flowers I drew).
All the details that are on the tower, the arches and decorative stuff around the windows I did with a Sharpie marker

When you have your tower detailed the way you like it, glue the roof on by applying glue around the top edge your tower and pop the roof on taking care to make sure the roof isn't on wonky unless that is what you want, then go for it!

And you are essentially finished. You don't want to glue the base to your tower or you won't be able to turn your tea light on and off. You can, however, glue the base to the top of something fun like a little candlestick (see picture below) or anything else you think is fun or you happen to have on hand.

Once you get one of these under your crafty belt, you can make a million variations, so use your imagination and craft something uniquely you!

EXTRA
Here's a quick flower to draw step-by-step.

Thank you so very much for visiting!

Be kind to your sleeping heart

Sometimes we all need to remember to be kind to ourselves. To go out into the world, take a deep breath and reconnect with the bigger picture.
This week I've used the Vintage Triptych Florentine to make a peaceful and (hopefully) charming little reminder to do that.

Here is where I started...

I used the Vintage Triptych Florentine and Stamperia's 'Forest' Scrapbook papers.

Using the pieces of the triptych, I drew and cut out the papers I chose for the front and the back of the piece.

I used linen hinging tape to connect the triptych. I like taping both front and back, it makes a nice strong connection and remains flexible. I left about a 1/4" gap between the side and the middle to account for the addition of the scrapbook papers and still allowing for the piece to close properly.
Make sure your pieces are the placed straight across the bottom, otherwise when you stand the triptych up, it will be wobbly.
The above picture shows the first two pieces of tape already applied.

When I apply the second pieces of hinging tape, I use a folding tool or even a ruler (whatever is handy) to press the tape into the center of the 'hinge' before I stick it down to the side and center piece. This way there will be no gaps, the tape stays together and looks tidy.

I glue my papers down on both sides of the triptych. I painter the center frame cream and glued it down. I used a gold ink pad and a brown one around all the edges of the triptych.

The Kingfishers came from a rice paper collage sheet. I cut them out and attached them using matte medium. (I used Liquitex Matte Medium)

Using a piece of tracing paper, I practiced writing my quote and working out the placement of the words.....

I used a permanent black marker and wrote them over the arching center, used matte medium over the top of the words and after it dried, I inked up the words to soften the black words an dhelp them become a part of the whole.

After the inside dried, I flipped the piece over and glued a soft velvet ribbon the the center back piece ONLY of the triptych. I made sure the ribbon was high enough not to block the image of the fox. (which I cut out and glue in place from a piece of the paper collection and forgot to take a picture of)

I glued two pretty brass stamped leaf ornaments on either side of the front flaps of the triptych and added white paint dots as extra detail to the inside and the outside of the piece.

And there you have it! Thank you fro stopping by and don't forget to breath!

SUPPLIES:
Vintage Triptych Florentine

Additional supplies:
Stamperia 'Forest' scrapbook papers
Ciao Bella Rice Paper Collage sheet (the kingfishers)
White paint
Ink pads
Black permanent marker
Velvet ribbon
Brass stampings

Another Tiny Thing

I am going through a phase of making small things. Well, some of them are smaller than usual. Lora here for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts with a very small birdhouse.

Here is a picture of it in my hand for scale....

And the back..

It was a fun, simple project and in the end, I really like how it turned out.
Just a couple tips on construction:
I started out with the Little Bird House.

I assembled it, primed it with gesso and sealed it with varnish. I will often do this even if I put paper on things later-it seals the chipboard from moisture and gives the piece a longer life and it becomes a pretty tough surface to apply all kinds of techniques to if you wish. This is not a step you have to do.
I set the little house aside to dry for a bit and took a small block I had (about 1/2 square) marked the center and drilled a hole in the it the size of a 1/8 inch dowel.

I papered all sides of the house except the bottom, which I drilled another (same size) hole in for the other end of the dowel. I used a scalpel to refine the hole.

I did not attach the dowel to the birdhouse - I left that until the last in order to make embellishing the wee thing a it easier. I papered the little block and stuck the dowel in that end after painting it white.
I used a gold ink pad to age up the edges of the bird house and the block, a tiny bit of scrap Dresden to trim out the gables and a couple of scraps of paper added to the house, like the stamps on the roof and the feather on the back for extra detail.
I then glued the house on the dowel.
I snipped some twigs off of my old dogwood tree and glued them upright on the dowel. I also glued a tiny twig into the lower smaller hole on the birdhouse for a little perch.
Then added moss and tiny rose buds to the piece.
The last thing I put on was the tiny little robin with a dab of glue.

I really like this tiny little thing.
I hope you make one!
Supplies:
Little Bird House

Wooden dowel
Wooden block
Stamperia Garden scrapbook paper
Dresden trim in white
Tiny rosebuds
Moss
Twigs

Thank you very much for dropping in!