Norman, the Reluctant Knife Thrower's Assistant

Here's what I made today. It's Norman, who would feel MUCH better juggling than standing there having knives thrown at him.

  

Norman isn't too comfortable being the knife thrower's assistant, so he is doing his best trying to impress the ringmaster with his juggling. He's definitely got his eye on the balls! Constructed with vintage blocks, a plastic funnel hat, some fimo clay and a hand painted paper maché trinket box, Norman is a two part little circus scene.

 Here he is, away from that dreaded knife thrower's wheel!

New (old) Toy!

I went thrifting today, and had some great luck. I got several old wooden alphabet blocks, a big bag of vintage white buttons, a glass jar filled with wooden spools, and a small beat up looking hardware shelf with plastic drawers (rusty blue metal!).

Here's the best thing, though...I saw this wooden stacking toy from the 40's the last time I was at a local antique mall. I drooled over it then, but it was too expensive. It was still there today, but on sale! It's mine now. I just love it so much. Look at that patina.

LOVE!

Christmas in July

 Christmas is still months away, but it's always fun to see a little Christmas in July, right? Here's a small Christmas angel shrine I made. It measures around 4 3/4" by 4 1/2", and is made from a masonite shrine kit I got from Alpha Stamps. I added the cardboard doors to make room for a couple more angels (images from an Alpha Stamps collage sheet), and gave the shrine some sparkle with glitter accents, gold Dresden trim, and shiny foil wrapped packages. The feet of the shrine are made from gold bead caps, and the top arch is a rusty bottle cap I found in a parking lot.

Here's a closeup of the angel in the middle. See her sparkly glitter headband and the glitter ornaments on the tree?

 And, if you're one of those people who like to see what's going on in the back:

I have such a huge list of things I'm dying to make: Christmas ornaments, more circus tins, Halloween items...I need more hours in the day!

Clown Star

Here's my latest circus tin, this one on two stripey feet and sporting big shiny stars that I found under my daughter's bed while cleaning out her room. Of course I took them. They're mine now.

I used little wooden candle cups for the legs on this one. After I painted the stripes, I aged them both with a little ink for that beautiful grungy carnival feel.

The clowns are stacked for a bit of dimension:

 

 

And, the back is decorated with a couple of circus posters. Funny story: it wasn't until I was getting ready to post this picture that I noticed I had made a mistake and the posters were upside down. Doh! Luckily, I was able to peel off the top layers of them and replace them with two new posters, right side up this time. That will teach me to leave a project partially done overnight and not check for orientation when I start it back up!

Happy holiday weekend, USA! I hope everyone has a great Fourth.

Circus Elephant

 Michaels is now carrying adorable paper maché animals, including elephants! I went and picked up a few, and here's what I did with the first one: I painted the elephant grey with pink ears and cheeks. I had some great G45 polka dotted scrapbook paper, so I mixed up some colors to match the paper and painted a little blanket with a heart on her back. I painted a paper maché star box the light cream color, and then painted orange-y stripes on the sides. I then glued some more of the scrapbook paper to the top of the star. Once all that was dry, I used some inks to give the box and the elephant a little age and depth.

 Here's where the importance of being a magpie comes in: I found her little rubber ball a few months ago in a parking lot. Yes, they laughed at me when I scooped it up, but who's laughing now? Look how the color goes great with the rest of the piece! It's perfect! I attached the ball by sticking a sharp needle up through it, and then down through the trunk. A little dab of E6000 keeps it secure.

Here's her backside...

 

                                                                                                              ...isn't her bum so cute?

"Castor": A Young Witch

 A good friend of mine sent me this old specimen box from a nature museum (it used to have a fish in it, but it does not stink!) I love it so much that I felt it needed a little witch inside of it. The writing on the back wall was originally on the outside of the box, but it looked so great that I had to invert the back and have it show. I also love that the box was originally hand made out of some other cardboard, so it has type showing on all the interior sides.

Basically, the box itself is so beautiful that I thought I'd keep it simple. I added a vintage image of a young witch from Alpha Stamps, a couple of little watch part bottles, filled with black and orange glitter, and a stack of tiny dice. I cut the word "witch" out of an old dictionary. See the type on the side of the box? Lovely.

The back is taped on with tissue tape. I love the way the tape looks, but it's not as sticky as I'd like, so the tape is actually glued on.

And here it is, ready to hang!

 As always, thanks for stopping by!

Tutorial: Vintage-look Halloween Cat Trinket Box

Let's make Halloween cats!

Here's what you need:

a round paper maché ornament and a paper maché box, black and orange scrapbook paper, black Fimo clay, Mod Podge, some pipe cleaners, ribbon,  an ink pad, hot glue and E6000, and paint and brushes. Let's get started!

 

Draw on your eye and mouth areas, and paint them with white or cream colored paint.

 Paint the lips and nose orange.

Paint in the black, and add details such as the eyes, teeth, and freckles, as on the cat on the left. Once those are done, take a dry brush with black paint and brush it around the edges, in the freckle area, and on the teeth, as on the cat on the right.

Then, using the cream colored paint, paint the whiskers and add some highlights to the nose and lips.

 For the ears, take a marble sized ball of black Fimo clay and shape it into an ear shape. Make sure the bottom of the ear will fit on the round head of the cat. Bake according to directions and when cooled, paint the inside of the ear with the cream paint.

Now let's do the box.

Give the lid of the box a good coat of Mod Podge and place it face down on the paper you have chosen for the top. Carefully cut around the top with an exacto knife.

Paint the bottom of the box black. Measure the side of the box from the bottom of the box to right where the top of the lid touches, and cut a piece of paper to fit. Ink the edges of the paper before you attach it to the box with Mod Podge. Coat this side, the bottom of the box, and the top of the lid with Mod Podge to seal. (Option: Instead of covering the sides of the box, paint the them with black stripes.) Wrap a ribbon around the side of the lid and make a little bow tie. Attach with glue. (I like to use E6000 with a dab of hot glue to hold in place until the E6000 sets.)

 For the party hat, make a cone template and then cut out your desired paper and glue. Attach a black pipe cleaner around the bottom of the hat with hot glue. Watch your fingers! Stuff the hat with a little tissue paper to make it less likely to crush, and then glue the hat onto the top of the cat's head. Once the hat's in place, glue on the ears. Put a dab of E6000 on them, and then a little hot glue to hold them in place while the E6000 sets.

 

Glue the head onto the top of the box, and then glue a pipe cleaner around the bottom of the head where the neck would be. This will help stabilize the head.

 

Embellish the hat and the front of the box with buttons, die, trinkets, or pom poms...whatever you like best. Have fun with it!

 Here's looking at you!