18 February 2011

Clothespin Picture Holder { tutorial }

I'd like to share a quick and easy craft that my little sister and I made-- I call it the Clothespin Picture Holder!

Addie keeps coloring her coloring pages, and wanted somewhere to display them. I wasn't fond of the idea of having a ton of coloring pages taped to our wall. The clothespins let you clip as many pages as you want on; you can then switch which ones go in front.

You will need:
  • clothespins
  • mod podge (or your choice of glue)
  • (optional) stamps
  • wall stickies

This would be a great craft to do with your own siblings (or, in the case of parents reading this, your kids).

Adelynn did almost all of this on her own!!!

First, find your clothespins and say hello to my little helper




...and the handy supplies. (Hi, handy supplies!)

 Cut out rectangles to glue on the clothespins. Adelynn decided to use two different colors.

Mod podge (or whatever glue you use) the papers to the pins.

If you have Mod Podge or other decoupage glue, paint the glue ontop of the paper, too.

(Optional) Stamp and cut out some pretty design. Glue this on the top of the clothespin, the bottom, whatever. Adelynn chose the top.

Attach the wall stickies. I used 3M strips (they don't hurt the wall or furniture, and are stronger than ticky tacky). 
I cut the strips in half so they fit on the clothespins.

RANDOM HELPFUL TIP: if you ever want to use wall stickies for lightweight objects (posters, light corkboard, random crafts), cut the strips in half. They work just as well and you only use half the amount.

Stick the clothespins on your wall (or the side of a dresser!) and hang those "masterpieces" right up!

See all my other posts on creative decorating/organizing!

Let me know if you try it! Leave a link in the combox (comments box) with a link to your own blog post or to a picture!

16 February 2011

Happy {Late} Valentine's Day!

Our family doesn't do much for Valentine's. Dad usually buys Mom some roses and we cook some nice deserts. (We all need deserts, right?)

Yes, this was a fun little craft of mine. Instructional post coming soon...

This Valentine's, however, Dad was on a business trip and we had my sister's Little Flower's Girls' Club meeting at our house! Soooo... I felt like sharing some pictures.


I had some of the most delicious tea in the morning; a bestie :D from my old town sent it in a pretty little box. I pulled out the only teacup in the house and enjoyed the sweet taste of rose petals, lemons, and who knows what else.

Dad bought Mom some stunning roses the night before Valentine's day, when the prices are insane, just because he loves her so. :D

As always, I took advantage of the photo ops that bright red roses bring...





CUPCAKES! Well... for the little girls. Which picture is better? I can't decide!

I did Adelynn's hair in a heart-shaped braid, just because I can. Because she's my little doll, now that I'm "too old" for "real" dolls, LOL! I used these instructions from A Story of a Princess and her Hair. And I'm going to try this one soon, too.

 The craft this month was a flower hair barrette. (We got messages crossed; we thought the "virtue of the month" for the Little Flower group was "purity," hence the white flower, while it turned out to actually be "piety." Oh, well!)

This was really easy to make.

  Hair barrette
  Glue dot
  Flower petal (they painted glitter on it)
  Glue dot
  Flower petal
  Glue dot
  Flower Petal
  Glue dot
+   Rhinestone
___________________
= Flower hair clip


The glue dots are small enough that they stick to the flowers only; not the hair. I'm wearing one right now. ^_^ It looks pretty with those strange little curls I get when I don't brush my hair.


The "older sisters"-- all around my age-- came over and I discovered that they like dress up as much as I do. :) :) :)

Someone brought over these sweet candy roses!

Just for fun...




I had a very fun day, even thought it meant cleaning all morning and getting a full day behind in school. :)

So, that's not much of an arts/crafts/jewelry/writing/otherwise-creative post.... But it's fun!

11 February 2011

The Befores

You're going to be seeing much non-jewelry random-craftiness around here.

Do you know why?

Because, dear Fairy People, you expressed interest in how I'm decorating!


I'll introduce you to my bedroom first. Then comes the craft room. :)



Now, I was very excited about moving to our new house. My bedroom, which I share with my 7 year old sister, is very big. I wanted to decorate our room just like Arwen's from Lord of the Rings.

(pics here and here)
(More inspiration HERE, elf room in Rivendell.)
Very Art Noveau.



Then came some hitches in my "plan." I realized how much it would cost (waaaay too much). My sister didn't like the idea too much. And my parent's weren't big on me going decorating-overboard when I will be moving out for college in a couple years.


So... new plan! Our bedroom has become the furniture cast-off room. Anything old or unwanted or scratched gets to come in here.




Top: First couple of weeks at the new house. We were orginally going to keep it like this and jigsaw some headboards for the beds.

Below: In the process of moving furniture around









I get to do whatever I want to the room! 

In the spring Dad will help me paint the furniture (not the walls, though, but I do have a mural planned).

Addie and I have a color scheme. Thankfully we both love blue, she can stand green, I can stand purple, and cream is pretty basic and girly.



Other than that, our room will be a true mash-up. I want Elvish, she wants Princess. I also like your typical bright, bold, teen designs, while she favors the pastel little girl look.

We also have some Chinese decorations that Dad brought back from a business trip, so we've got an Asian look going. Plus some shabby chic and "wrought iron."


We're going to have it all!

Hopefully the color scheme will hold it together, but you know what? That's not the goal. We just want a fun and beautiful room to enjoy! Who cares if it is eclectic? (Haha, I mistyed that as "electric.")




People are always telling me that they don't know where I get my talent. No one else in my family is particularly good at arts and crafts. (Aside from my grandma, who only did a little bit.)

Well, I know where I get it! (At least the creativity part). DAD. He's an engineer with the biggest imagination in town.

Adelynn's "Princess Tower Bed" with a "dungeon" underneath is made from an old bunk bed. Dad had built it for my brothers years ago but it was in bad shape.

So he turned it into a loft bed and perched it (screwed it) on top of a dresser we got from the old Newman Center when they were demolishing it.

Yes, that furniture need PAINTED. I do not want dark green. :D

I've still got my pastel fairy quilt. :) Dooooon't like pastels but it's still pretty. Adelynn's just-begun dollhouse is on her desk.




Here is my school desk and bookshelf. I homeschool and do all of my work in my bedroom.

Funny story-- the bottom two shelves of that dresser are full of doll clothes and accesories. My grandma likes to sew doll clothes... alot. :D

And the side is entirely covered with stickers (Addieeeeeee!) which I can't seem to get off.

And the window shades are both broken, but maybe fixable.

And the bullein board squares? A $5 find at Staples, because it was a bit beat up.


Now, as far as decorating our bedroom goes, it's going to be DIY. I'm just a teenager with no job aside from my jewelry Shoppe (and I probably won't have a job for a long time; Dad prefers the idea of summer college classes over a boring summer job that doesn't pay all that much, and I actually agree).

I don't like to bug my parents to buy every neat thing I see (um, rephrase that, I'm not allowed to pester and I know better than to eye the expensive stuff).

So I am going to decorate with CRAFTS! And ART! And.... it's just HAPPINESS!

There aren't going to be any "after" pictures. It's an ongoing process and I'm going to keep making stuff for forever, I'll never be "done." Not knowing me!

You will be seeing all these crafts all over my blog soon. :) 




The Craft Room/ Art Studio

 Yes, I tend to make a mess.

(So, remember how I made a v-log a couple of months ago? I was going to show you the craft room but decided the video was too long. So now you get to see that footage. Excuse the UMMMMM at the end.)


(If you can't see the video-- for some strange reason, it's not embedding the right way-- you can see it HERE.)


Here you can see part of the basement. We've built a double-sided "wall" of bookshelves in the middle of the basement, and you can see part of it here. You can also see how we dry out our snowclothes. :)

...and... that desk and all the mess is my "studio!"

 I cleaned up a bit:


OK, so the craft room is not mine. I'm the only one who uses it, though. :)

Would you believe that we got the nice, big Jeep desk for free? The people who owned the house before us no longer wanted it.

This is where I do all jewelry, crafts, and art.

I'm going to be sharing cheap, easy, and (hopefully) creative organization tips on the blog!

My first tip-- to stick the lightbox ontop of the bookshelves. It frees up lots of space on the desk.

Also, don't leave cardboard boxes on the floor. Because then the basement might flood when the well goes crazy and then you'll have a mess to clean up and it will smell like mold.




Please CLICK HERE if you would like to see the posts about my bedroom and the craft room! (The link will automatically update with any new posts).

08 February 2011

Much Ado at the Shoppe of Faeries

I know I've said this already, but don't forget about VALENTINE'S DAY!
(or an excuse to buy red and pink pretties)







And all pre-Valentine's orders get a sweet freebie in the package... I'm not telling what it is. All I'll say is that it is something chainmaille-y. :D


Dearest Fairy Peoples, do you see the little "leave a note" button at the bottom of this post? The comments box? Yes?

I'm going to ask you to please, please, pretty please visit my Shoppe. I've been changing the graphics around at the Shoppe. I would like your honest opinions! So if you have a few moments to spare, I would really appreciate it.

Please visit the Shoppe and let me know what you think about the new look!


I've been featured in an Artfire Collection! (These are just like the Etsy Treasuries). This is the first time I've ever been featured! :)

This collection was made by MaggieMays. I have to say that I've never thought of my silver and red circlet in this context, but it goes pretty well! :)





...aaaaand, for those of you who are fond of elves, fairies, costumes, and pretty jewelry...
I'm working on several new designs. This will include some pretty costume jewels (such as circlets, earcuffs, elf ears, fantasy pendants, etc). I want to test the designs to make sure they work properly, so it will be almost a month before they are released, but I wanted to get you hyped up! :)

05 February 2011

Of Magazines and Randomosity

Because I didn't feel like titling this post " New I&F Issue and Not-So-Craftsy Updates."


Do you like King Arthur, Camelot, and Valentine's Day?

Then you really, really need to check out the latest issue of Ink and Fairydust!

For those who don't know, Ink and Fairydust is a free Christian teen e-magazine full of faith and creativity.

I've been working very hard on I&F as a... *drumroll, please* comic strip writer, illustrator, webmaster, assistant photographer, assistant graphics artist, occasional article author, and ex-column writer. (The "Artist's Corner" column is discontinuted.)

Kinda proud of the "Lady of Lancelot" background. (Uh, not dishing for compliments! Just letting you know that is a very complicated type of background to make and I'm glad it worked!)

Speaking of comics and illustrations, we have new openings! I can't do all the artwork... :)

Ink and Fairydust is looking for a second cartoonist and a part-time illustrator!










Now for some tons of updates (and lots of questions for you, dear Fairy Peoples):


AmandaBeth is generously hosting my giveaway! Please be sure enter, and visit her blog (which is spectacular).


Since the giveaway went live (just three days ago!) I've gotten 30+ new followers. (That 100 follower goal doesn't look so far off now!)

New followers, I hope you'll be sticking around! :) I post about practically everything art-related here... from jewelry to tutorials to crafts to photography to art... Check out my previous posts to see what I've been up to lately!

I have several tutorials up my sleeve! (Yeah. We'll pretend I have a magician's sleeve, k?) Only a couple for jewelry-- but I've been systematically destroying Unwanted Books from the Thrift Store Sale and making Awesome Crafts out of them. You know that has to be good. :)

Would you be interested in having a linky at the end of each tutorial, so you can share crafts that you've made with that tutorial? I'm also thinking about making a tutorial navigation page.
I've also been doing lots of decopauge. I've been in a crafty mood lately... It's like a disease, it totally takes over...


I've gone all crafty and have been decorating my bedroom and the "craft room"... decorating with crafts. :) Would you like me to blog about that?



Check out the Uncommon Sense podcast!
I recently made several graphics for them. I do so love the Chesterton Society, and I'm going to be able to go to the Conference this summer!
(G.K. Chesterton has got a place on my bookshelf right next to Lewis, Tolkien, and Jane Austen.)

A sample of some of the graphics


How is the blog loading for you all? I've been adding many new features, and want to make sure I'm not overloading it.


How is the Faerie Blog loading?



Who's ready for Valentine's Day?
We don't do much around here... but my little sister is having her Little Flowers group (kinda like Catholic girl scouts) over on Valentine's day.


I've also been making Valentine's-themed jewelry-- all available in the Shoppe! Please be sure to order soon so it will reach you in time!

(Did I mention that any pre-Valentine's Day orders get a special little treat in the package?)

I'm not saying what it will be... Nope, it's not this necklace. :) But something just as good...

And just a little update on life around here: za basement flooded this morning (well, the entire concrete floor got damp) because our water softener drain froze and the emergency drain spilled. So.... the craft room is not really useable at the moment. I'm also hoping our giant wall of bookshelves isn't hurt.

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