Welcome to the Nut House

Hello, and welcome to the Nut House. A squirrel lives here! This whimsical mushroom house kit from Alpha Stamps almost made me forget how effed up 2020 is. Almost. At least it was a fun distraction.  

The house comes with a niche, so it's easy to make a front room. A little sugar glider has moved in, and he brought a large acorn along with him.

The squirrel is very happy in his new home. The staircase is designed with two steps; I added a little landing at the doorway. 

This squirrel appreciates a nice garden. The yard is made with a combo of Field Grass, Green Turf Grass, Leafy Green Underbrush, and Clump Foliage, which makes for beautiful red flowers along the path. The path is composed of Miniature Brown Path Pebbles and "stones" made from egg cartons (click here for a tutorial on making egg carton stones).  Oh look, there's some mail!  

The mailbox pretty easy to make. The bottom of the box was made from a rectangular shutter that was included in the door and window set made especially for the mushroom house. I painted it black and then glued a strip of black card stock to each side to make the rounded top. Once the top was in place, I put a thin bead of glue on the back of the box and set it on the card stock. Once that glue was dry, I carefully cut around the edge to make the back of the box. In the photo on the right, you can see how the door was made: a piece of the card stock is trimmed to fit the opening, with extra paper to go up under the bottom. This will allow the door to open and close. The flag was attached with a tiny brad.

The mailbox stands on a painted wooden spindle. The enclosed letter is written with a .05 pen on typing paper, and the envelope was made with the same. The "postcard" is a label from a collage sheet, mounted on thin cardboard and trimmed. That's a teeny tiny letter! It's pictured below on a 1" grid.

A little bit about how the house was made: once it was decorated front and back, and the niche was in place, I cut strips of paper to finish the sides. All it takes is a thin line of glue on the sides of the cardboard to attach those pieces. It's best to do a little bit at a time, so you can hold the paper in place while the glue dries. My house isn't exactly uniform, and some parts were wider than others, so I cut the strip a little wider than necessary and lined it up with the front of the house. After the glue was dry, I carefully trimmed the excess paper in the back with an x-acto knife.

Here's the house in position on the base. It's easy to put the mailbox in place, as the spindle it stands on has little pegs at each end. I punched a little hole in the base to insert the peg. A dab of glue holds it tightly in place. This is the time to draw the sidewalk in, so you know where to put down your stones. I made the sidewalk before gluing the mushroom down. Once the sidewalk was done, I glued on the mushroom and  the yard was "planted" using white glue.

I hope you enjoyed looking at the Nut House. Need supplies? Click here!

Faux Florida Vacation

Oh, coronavirus. We are still sheltering at home. As of today, it's been 121 days since our lives were normal. Since we most likely won't be traveling any time soon, I used this month's Alpha Stamps kit to make a little faux Florida vacation home. It's the next best thing to actually traveling somewhere other than my own backyard. And look, some of my friends are already there!

The front is hinged at the bottom, using green paper. On the outside, it may look like there's not much to this little house, but when you open it up, it's a true tropical vacation. The beaches are crowded, people are splashing in the waves, and some lucky guy even caught some fish for dinner. Bonus: no social distancing required.

Don't miss the cute little crab charm in the lower right corner of the niche!

Nothing like a comfy chair and a good book (plus a bucket full of cold beverages!) to make my faux vacation the perfect place to relax.

Here's a closeup of the niche and those cute miniatures.

The front panel of the house is held in place by the flag pole, which is actually a glass ball sewing pin. It's just gently pushed through the apex of the roof, right in front of the house facade. To allow the panel to drop down, you just have to lift the flag. You can just see the pointy end of the flag pole circled below.

I'm so in love with the floral paper and vintage Florida postcards combination. It's busy and fun and exciting, which is unlike my life at home right now. Someday we'll travel again, but until then, this little faux vacation house will have to do.

For a complete list of supplies, click here!

Tiny TV

This new tv from Alpha Stamps: it's 2" wide and about 1 3/4" tall. Adorable! I love making tiny things. There's just something fun about fiddling around with all the little details.

The antennae are made from balled straight pins, the knobs are made from a watch gear and a couple of brads that are designed to look like screws. The bottle features a label from a collage sheet, and the mug is actually a ceramic bead.  Hey, looks like it's time for a Western!

This tv is obviously from a different era; so you know there's no fast forwarding through the ads. Just when you remove your beer and get comfy, dangit! It's a stinking commercial!

  

Here's how this little tv works: the cowboy show fits into a tiny slit in the top. The image has a tab on it, which is folded down. The beer bottle and mug are glued onto the tab to keep it flat on the surface of the tv.

 

The tab is covered with the same paper as the tv set. I was careful to match the patterns so when it's in place, it's almost invisible. The top edge is colored brown with a colored pencil to blend in more with the top of the tv. I did have to cut into another image on the collage sheet to create this tabbed piece, but attaching a tab to the back of the image would have required a thicker, more noticeable slit in the top of the tv.

To accommodate the cowboy show, I used thin shirt cardboard to help separate the front of the tv from the next layer of tv inserts. NOTE: at this stage of construction, I cut out the Western image thinking I would attach a tab later. My thoughts originally to put a different "show" on the back, but when I started thinking about how the tab would look, I realized it was more important to me to be able to camouflage the tab. Luckily, I had another collage sheet with that same cowboy image, so I cut it out with the tab in place, like you see above. 

Here's the inside of the tv in progress.  The legs are colored with a Copic Marker, and the front and back have the patterned paper in place. The back of the tv has a scrapbook paper sky, and a woman who is very excited about that hot dog. On top of that is the first of the cardboard inserts that help build the sides the tv. I cut the woman's hand from the image and removed the spoon she was holding. She's now able to wrap her hand around that hotdog bead. The arm is glued to the insert, and the inside edges and the fronts of all the inserts was blackened with a Sharpie. You don't have to be too neat for this step. I sure wasn't! NOTE: The tv kit comes with two inserts, so if you use one kit, your tv will not be as thick as this one. I used an extra insert from another set to make this tv, due to the size of the hot dog bead.

Once the steps above are complete, it's time to glue all the parts together. Below you can see the glued up tv from the back. The space between the arrows is the slit for the Western image. I put washi tape on the front to show that lines up to where the slit will start and stop. The tape will serve as a guide of where to cut the slit out, once the top is covered in paper.

To cut the slit, center the paper on top of the tv, and glue down the top only. Fold over the washi tape. This will let you know where the slit in the top needs to start and stop. Measure the thickness of the front panel of your tv, and using a sharp x-acto knife, gently push through the paper and cut the slit. I wiggled the blade back and forth a bit to make the slit wide enough for the paper to fit comfortably. Once the slit is cut, gently remove the tape.

 

If you use a busy paper for your tiny tv, that tab will blend right in!

 

Oh no, not another commercial! For a complete list of supplies, click here.

Secret Garden Altoids Tin

We're still sheltering at home and only going out for essentials; my great escape is working in my yard. Consequently, my yard is probably looking better than it has in years. Which leads me to my next project: A secret garden within an Altoids tin. For this project I used Stamperia's Oriental Garden Paper, plus some other fun supplies from Alpha Stamps. I am in love with this paper!

At the outside, only a door. Welcome to the garden.

I mounted the welcome sign and the stones around the door onto thin cardboard to give them a little depth. The door itself is attached to the surface of the tin. These Stamperia papers mix and match so beautifully. I'm such a fan of turquoise and red.

When opened, you can see the beautiful garden scene. It's spring, so buds are beginning to open and the leaves are starting to appear on the trees. The paper on the lid (left) was actually a cream color; I used a combination of Copic Markers, ink, and a white colored pencil to match the background color of the paper on the right. The butterflies wings were folded and only the bodies are glued down, which makes them 3D.

 

The Gothic Tree insert fits just under the lip of the tin, so the tree and fence make a beautiful frame around the scene. 

That paper! Even the back of the tin is gorgeous.

A few notes on construction: After the tin was covered in paper, the decorating began. The tree insert (top) was painted around the border to match the background paper, while the iron fence was painted black and given "highlights" with a white colored pencil. I glazed the fence to make it shiny. The tree was left the chipboard color, and details were added with colored pencils. Laser Cut Miniature Ivy was painted green and glued onto the fence. Tiny plastic plants were cut apart and glued to the back of the tree branches.

Above, the image of the woman was adhered to the back of the tin with foam tape. Rose buds, moss, and a couple of small bushes were then glued into place.

To attach the rosebuds, I used pliers to bend the wire stem into a little base. That base was just dipped into white glue and attached to the bottom of the tin.

Once the flowers were all set, the insert was put into place. I trimmed a hair off the top and bottom of the insert, because I kept putting it in the tin and pulling it out to check the position of the foliage. Having it be just a little smaller made it easier to manipulate, and it still fits snugly inside.

I hope you enjoy my secret garden. For a complete list of Alpha Stamps supplies, click here.

Covid-19, A Little Journal

Like most of the world, I have been sheltering in place for the last 34 days (yes, I'm keeping count). Crafting has been great entertainment, and one might even say, therapy. Making this Covid-19 journal certainly was that for me.

I cut up a lot of newspaper in the making of this book; the background paper for all the pages was created by gluing articles about the virus to the covers (made from a House Shaped ATC Frame set), and each of the pages, which are thin cardboard cut to size. I gave each page a thin layer of acrylic paint, a little ink, and some paint details. The type fades into the background, but if you look closely, you can still see lots of what it says. Anyway, enough chatter, let's look at photos.

The front cover. Hopefully this conveys the feeling of being stuck inside. I started out with just the "metal" bars, but then added the red arch to make it seem more restrictive. Even that didn't seem enough, so I added the "call again" emergency tape. Part of the beauty of having tons of collage sheets is finding something that just works. That emergency tape is actually a small cigar band image from the Mini Cigar Box Trims collage sheet.  Like all of the type throughout the book, with the exception of the snarky captions, the "COVID-19" title and the "shelter-in-place" type were also cut from the paper.

 

The expression on this face is everything.  All she needed was a mask, which I drew with colored pencils on a piece of typing paper, then cut out and glued down. My light table came in handy to show the shape of her face and and enable me to make the mask fit properly.

The bars on the inside started out as a decorative gate; I just cut off all the ornamental part, shortened them up a bit and painted them grey. Jail cell!

I don't know about you, but my husband and I are definitely enjoying some special snacks during this time, including Cheez doodles and peanut M&Ms. We are taking care not to overdo it, though, unlike this poor woman, who is obviously lacking a bit of self control.  Definitely a "state of emergency". I found this image of Cheez Doodles online, and sized it to fit. The tiny doodles on the left hand page were drawn with colored pencils.

As someone who really doesn't mind spending a lot of time at home (when it's by choice!), I did note that other than not having the option of going out, some things hadn't really changed. I did, however, quit using a hairdryer and wearing makeup and jewelry, and we do seem to go through the alcohol faster than usual.

It can be hard to be isolated with family members for long periods of time. I think this page is self-explanatory. Not to worry, though, so far no one here has needed severe "correction". This knife was drawn with a silver Sharpie.

And the back cover. I'm sure you agree. For a complete list of supplies, click here.

*I hope that neither you nor any of your friends or family has been infected with this terrible virus. Please know that this book is not meant in any way to make light of this serious pandemic. My family has been very strict in socially isolating, and this is just my way of coping a bit. Stay safe out there!*

Let Us Crown Him Triptych

Here's a quick little 3" tall triptych I put together recently. The image is from one of my favorite collage sheets: Saints and Sinners. So many great images to play with! The triptych is covered with "heavenly" paper, and the edges are painted with a gold metallic paint. The "Let Us Crown Him" caption was cut from an old hymnal. I painted over it a bit to make it blend into the background, and then went over the letters with a fine black pen. Gold sequin stars and a golden halo complete the heavenly look.

The back is finished in more of that lovely paper. For a complete list of supplies, click here!

Lotsa Rabbits, an Altered Tin

Here's a little project I just threw together while social distancing. I have always loved the alphabet scrapbook paper I used, and wanted to do something with it. I found another nice paper with lots of letters on it that looks pretty good with it, so this little tin came together pretty easily. Once I had it covered, I used images from Alpha Stamp's Vintage Toys collage sheet. (If you purchase the digital version, you can resize the images as necessary.)

Look at all the bunnies!

Here's the inside, currently filled with miniature carrots. How apropos!

I should go through some of my other old scrapbook paper and decorate a few other tins. Alpha Stamps has blank tins for decorating, plus the collage sheet and baby carrots. Click here if you need supplies.