More Alice

Here's the other Alice project I mentioned in my last post. I took a 2" chipboard cube and a couple of great Alice collage sheets and this is what happened: a little Alice trinket box. I used metal hinges for the lid, and a brad for the front closure. (I clipped the prongs off the brad and attached it with E6000 glue.)

Back image:

When you open the box, you find the instigator of the madness that was Alice's trip down the rabbit hole: the White Rabbit himself. This tiny white rabbit used to be grey, but I painted him with gesso and gave him a nice red bow tie. He's inside a 1" chipboard box, which is supported by a tiny spool in order to give it the appearance of floating. Alice was living a relatively boring life up until she met the rabbit, which is why I made the inner box bright and colorful within the black and white interior of the larger sized box. Wouldn't you want to follow that rabbit too?

For a complete list of Alpha Stamps supplies, click here!

Floral Box with Hinged Lid

Every now and then I like to do things differently. When I saw the ATC Window Box Shrine kit that Alpha Stamps carries, I thought it would make a neat little box. So I embellished it, set it on its side, and added metal box feet. Now the front door is a lid! I backed the "window panes" with some contrasting colored paper before adding a pretty spray of spring flowers. I like the dimensional look of the top under the flowers.

Inside, I made a little tag book of sorts. I used a ball chain, so new pieces can be added any time.

The tag book consists of a bead and charms, a couple of different sized tags, and two different sizes of a chipboard cage with solid back (2" and 3"). The wires of the cages were colored with silver metallic Sharpies, and the backs were covered with images from the Blue Birds collage sheet. I used spray mount to attach the fronts to the backs. The birdhouse charm on the last tag is hung in a little window. I used a little E6000 to hold the bottom of the charm in place on the bottom of the cutout ledge.

Here's an aerial view of the paper flowers and leaves stacked up on the top of the box:

I think it makes a pretty nice set for spring. For a complete set of supplies I used in making this project, click here.

Corset Trading Cards and Storage Box

When I saw this month's new collage sheets from Alpha Stamps, featuring corsets, for some reason I thought of baseball cards. Wouldn't it be funny if young girls in Victorian times collected and traded corset cards? With that in mind, I designed a set of cards to look as though they had been handled and poured over, and perhaps traded with friends. This photo shows the fronts of four of the cards, and the back of one, plus a fancy box I made for storage. I used the same corset ad on the backs of all the cards.

Making the cards was fun. I started with cream colored card stock, cut it to ATC size (2 1/2" by 3 1/2"), and slightly rounded the corners. I dabbed the top with Antique Linen Distress Ink, and then roughed up the edges using a Paper Distresser. After I layered on the images from the collage sheets (plus a measuring tape and a number for each card), I bent corners, folded edges, and sanded down the images.

The finished cards. Not only do they look old, they actually feel old!

I felt they needed a special box for storage, so I decorated a 3" Chipboard Memory Box using a pretty striped paper, pieces of a doily, and some pearl garland. The top finial was made with an old toy wheel I had, plus a painted wooden ball. Some painted wooden finials made perfect feet.

A pretty little scene cut from scrapbook paper makes a nice surprise on the inside of the box. The cards fit the box nicely, if you store them at an angle. If you'd like a complete list of products used for this project, click here.

Corset trading cards: collect them! Keep them! Trade them with your friends!

Night Circus Memory Box

A good friend of mine gave me the book "Night Circus", and I absolutely loved it. Recently, I received a 3" memory box from Alpha Stamps, and decided a Night Circus theme would be just the thing to bring it to life. Here's the finished project:

It started out looking like this:

I painted the box black, and then covered the sides with striped scrapbook paper. I then added a border at the top, cut from contrasting paper. Images from a circus collage sheet (also from Alpha Stamps) were cut to fit. I punched out a few orange stars, and then added small seed beads at the tips of all the banners.

The legs were painted and distressed wooden candle cups, and the top finial was made with a wooden egg cup and a large wooden ball, also painted to match. I found the hinge (after much looking!) at Home Depot. Score!
Front:

And the sides: 

 If you haven't yet read "Night Circus", you should definitely add it to your reading list!

Three Little Kittens

I have a hard time keeping the Vintage Cats in my etsy store around this time of year, so I made a few new ones. It's funny to see how the faces have evolved in the last couple of years. I had started making their mouths so huge! When I pulled out the original cat this year, the difference was really striking. Here's the first cat I made, back in 2007.

And here are the three I just made. With this set, I made the mouths smaller than I recently have been, but they're still way bigger than this original.

I think the newer cats look less constipated, don't you?

Dancing Elephants

I love it when I get custom orders on Etsy. I just made a set of three ballerina elephants for someone whose niece is expecting twin girls. She ordered an extra one for herself in hopes that some day she'll have a granddaughter.

I wish her good luck!

Ahoy! Long Giraffe Silver Sailing the High Seas

I just completed my first custom order on Etsy! Someone who liked my pirate elephant wanted a scurvy giraffe. I really had fun making this one. Like his elephant friend, he has an eye patch and a peg leg. His little paper hat is so tiny, that for good measure, I gave him a golden earring.

He takes his pirating job seriously!

I really tried to get a good closeup of his face, but it's too dark here and my camera is not cooperating today.  Arrrrrrrr!