Luck O' The Irish Freebies

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Dress Form Ball Wishes

Though I'm just a modest lttle fairy dress form,

I didn't want to miss

Carol's Ball....

Here's wishing this years estate sales, thrift stores and flea markets

bring me a "big girl" dress form

before next years ball!

 

More Springtime Greetings

These little side by side matchbox chests

 are quite addictive....

...particularly this time of year

with an abundance of sweet springtime images.

This is one of my absolute favorites!





Springtime Greetings

What a sweet swap hosted by Melanie in our

 Marie Antoinette Mail Art Group!

This little matchbox chest is constructed by adhering two

of the small 32 count matchboxes side by side.

You then sandwich those between two pieces of matboard.

I decorated my Springtime Greetings box in an elegant Easter theme.

After scouring my collection of images I chose this beautiful lady and her sheep.

I framed her with an ornate white resin frame

and surrounded her with lovely blue, brown and ivory paper and fabric flowers.

The finishing touch.... a sparkly blue butterfly.

 

Inside our boxes we were to include our greetings.

 I made these mini collaged cards on matboard.

 

I finished the sides in this shabby tulle floral trim

and my box is ready to travel.

 

You simply can't send a matchbox creation

without some goodies tucked inside!

 I am soooooo ready for Spring!!!

Easter Image Freebies

Hard to believe, especially with our wintry weather here in upstate NY,

but Easter is right around the corner.

Hope you'll find a creative way to use some of these lovely Easter images!

 

 

 

 Happy Pink Saturday!

New Swap for Spring!

Spring...the time of new birth...that does include fairies you know!

Let's celebrate the arrival of spring with a

 Fairy Children Tag Swap!

 

I've already started making mine...

Won't you join me?

 HERE

 

Mademoiselles in Sepia

I have always adored sepia images, so when Terri announced a

French Ladies in Sepia ATC swap in our

Marie Antoinette Mail Art Group

I was in.

Collaged onto beautiful French frame backgrounds I had such fun embellishing

with vintage laces and trims, paper and fabric flowers, ribbons and pearls..... 

 

 

 

 

Can't wait to see my returns!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I don't do a lot of decorating for Valentine's Day but it's always fun and inexpensive to do a feather tree makeover.
I printed some Valentine images, punched holes and gave them tinsel hangers for quick & cute ornaments.
Some I edged with pink glitter.

The garland is a $1 spool of tinsel trim from the Dollar General and I wrapped some pink rosebuds from my stash on the branch tips.

I enjoy pulling out my antique valentine collection and admiring them as if it were the first time seeing them.
Packed away for a year, it's easy to forget how truly beautiful and intricate they are.
I display them on vintage mirror trays (love those things, always picking them up at garage sales!).

I hope you enjoy them. 

 

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day
my dear blog friends!

Sharing Some Valentine Love

In the

 Marie Antoinette Mail Art Group

Terri hosted another one of her fabulous tag swaps,

this one honoring Valentine's Day.

These are the lovely tags I will be making into a

very special Valentine tag book,

Lisa

 

Terri

 

Kris

 

My tag

 

The Valentine Spoolie Swap

in my flickr group was most definitely embraced by the participating artists....

This is the adorable spoolie I received from the sweet and talented

Erica

 

I grabbed a couple of others to share...

Lynn

 

Michele

 

If you'd like to see more of these incredible Valentine pieces,

you can visit the group's photo pool

HERE.

Wishing you all a happy

Pink Saturday!

A Special Kind of Valentine

We're swapping Valentine spoolies in my flickr group

and this is what I came up with for my partner

Erica.

I painted a large vintage spool white, then covered it with a pleated white satin.

The next layer is a gathered white swiss polka dot sheer trim,

then a pink twill xoxo trim.

I used pink pearl strands to trim the top and bottom of the spool.

Next was the challenge of creating a mixed media assemblage on top of the spool!

I used three red glittered puffy heart picks for the backdrop.

The image of the sweet Valentine clown is printed on heavy photo paper.

I trimmed the top of her hat with red tinsel, gave her some puffy angel wings

 and her own Valentine flag.

The top of the spool is edged in pink bling.

I love when a project involves different materials and the element of design.

This project did just that and was a lot of fun! 

 

If you'd like to see more Valentine spoolies,

look through the group's photo pool

HERE.

 

Thanks again to

Lynn...

the inspiration for this swap.

 

I'm linked to

Beverly's

Pink Saturday.

Wishing each of you a very happy pink Saturday!

 

White Inspiration

I recently hosted a

 Winter Whites Inspiration Matchbox Swap

 in my flickr group.

Create a frosty matchbox for your partner and fill it with lots of white inspiration.

I ended up with two partners as one of the group members asked to participate after the swap closed.

Lucky me.... double the lovely returns!

 

These are the boxes I created....

and I had such fun filling them with wonderful white confections...

glitter vials, bleached bottle brush trees, mother of pearl buttons, laces, florals, beads...

and the almost mandatory frozen charlottes!

 

Sandi created this beautiful box for me. So difficult to capture how truly beautiful it is in all it's sugared sweetness.

And all the wonderful whites and silvers inside....

I thought the feathers were an especially nice touch!

 

This is the box I received from Michele.

Stunning with it's flap closure, pearl feet and many embellishments.

 

Here's a top view...

just a glorious mix of textures!

 

And loaded with tons of inspiration

in frosty silvers, whites and ice blues.

 

There's nothing like swapping with blog friends!

 

If you can't get enough of whites, follow my link to

Blissful Whites Wednesday

hosted by Becky at Timewashed.

 

More Valentines....More Whites

I am loving working with a neutral palette these days, so was thrilled when Kimberly announced her
 I'm Dreaming of a White Valentine Day Tag Swap.

I started with a gesso background, then layered with an image of a lovely victorian lady in white standing alongside a white heart, layered with scrumptious ornate lace.

The tags were each finished with a pearlized white heart surrounded by a pouf of tulle and creamy fabric flowers, then accented with icicle stickles.

These were very difficult to capture by camera.

Wish I could send one to each of you!

Valentines a la Marie

My tags for a swap in the

Marie Antoinette Mail Art Group

(click on picture for more detail)

I added lots of fussy little touches for a soft, romantic feel....

as any self respecting French tag

 needs to have!

I'm linked with Beverly at

How Sweet the Sound

for

Pink Saturday.

Wintery Whites

My offerings for our Winter Flower Swap in the

Marie Antoinette Mail Art Group

The Last of the Holiday Gifts

I certainly was blessed this holiday season with many lovely gifts and giveaway wins from my beautiful blogging friends. I've shared them in the last several posts and these are the final few.

 

One of the sweetest friends I've made is Katherine of

Chatelet.

Her blog is full of love and inspiration so if you haven't visited already you have something special to look forward to!

Katherine sent me this precious handmade card

packaged in a sheer handmade envelope.

 

And knowing my love of Christmas and the many trees I decorate,

she also made me this stunning ornament.

Thank you Katherine!

 

I've long been a fan of Shari's art. Her blog,

Plays with Paper

shows her unique style and diverse artistry.

I fell in love with her altered winter bottles and was fortunate to win this adorable snowman bottle.

And it's a plus that he fit perfectly into this existing vignette.

Thanks Shari!

 

Another giveaway win made it's way to me all the way from Australia

 and the talented hands of Suzy, of

Suziqusthreadworks.

Her collage work is perfection and I adore this piece more than I could ever express. If you love textile collage and mixed media as I do you will get lost in Suzy's blog for endless hours.

Thank you Suzy!.

 

To these women and all my blog friends who were so kind and generous to think of me this holiday season, I offer my heartfelt gratitude.

Your beautiful gifts are cherished and each has a special place in my home as well as my heart.

Sharing Some Valentine Love....New Swap!

Don't you love blog inspiration? I am always in awe of my blog friends' ideas and talents.

One of the very first blogs I ever visited was

Trash to Treasure Art.

 Many of you are already familiar with Lynn and her beautiful creations. Not only is she super talented but also super gracious. When I stopped by for a visit earlier today and saw her newest valentines I immediately emailed her asking permission to use her images and host a swap in my flickr group (where she's been a long time member). Not only did she respond with an enthusiastic yes, but she was also the first to sign up for the swap!

By the way, all of these gorgeous spoolies are available for purchase in Lynn's etsy shop.

Sign-ups are now open in my flickr group. You have to be a group member to participate. To learn how to do that follow this LINK and directions for joining are on the group page.

Come make and swap a Valentine Spoolie!