Craftcyle Party on April 3rd; Vintage Book Pennants

April's Craftcycle Party is going to be fabulous! Join Meredith to make your own vintage book pennants, and customize them with your own message or paint treatment.

These pennants would be great for a child's room, or a special event (how about a 'happy birthday' pennant for an adult friend, filled with images from her favorite childhood books?)



Watch Meredith's video to learn more. Register or learn more about the party here. 

Paper Sale

Carol Owen Spirit House workshop

We are very excited to welcome back Carol Owen for another class. This two-day workshop will show you how to construct a 3-d shrine, including niches and drawers. You'll learn collage and surface treatments and finish your shrine with imagery you bring to the class. 

If you haven't seen some of Carol's shrine work in person, these are compelling tiny structures. They can be placed on a tabletop or hung on a wall. Create a shrine to memorialize a family member, tell the story of a pet, share a personal history or remember a trip you took. The story you tell will be highly personal and your shrine will be a one-of-a-kind. Carol is an engaging and exacting teacher and she'll encourage you to make your very best work. 

This class is open to all skill levels.

Click the image to learn more or register. 

August Project of the Month

there is still time to make a Decopatch Lantern at our work table. This $5 project is a great way to learn how to use Decopatch papers to decorate your life. The waterproof glue/varnish is easy to use and so permanent. These lanterns can hang outside or in. 

Join us any day in August to make this project!

Adding words to your jewelry...

This necklace by Deb Averitt features the word 'naughty' hidden between the paper circles...read her blog post to find out why she chose that word.

This necklace would be a great entry for the Wellness Words challenge over on Tracy Statler's blog Make Bracelets!

Oh, wait, the necklace says naughty. Okay, maybe NOT such a great project for that challenge...unless that is your wellness word? Hmm...

New Tutorial - Tiny Lights

This tutorial uses some lovely Cavalini papers and a bit of our safe craft resin to create tiny, sparkly lights. Aren't they sweet? The talented Jane Mormino created them, and wrote the directions, just for you.

See the full tutorial here.

new tutorial - the Sunset Silk necklace

This pretty necklace tutorial can be found here.

New Silhouettes Template

We have some really, really pretty silhouettes now available on the website. They are perfect for our bezels and cab settings, or you could put them in lockets. I love the classic look of a silhouette. I remember as a child sitting on a stool, trying so hard to be still, as a light was aimed at my profile and an artist traced my image onto paper. I'm pretty sure I wiggled a good bit, but I do remember that my profile looked perfect when it had been cut out of black paper. I think my hair had even been tidied up a tad.

In addition to the silhouettes we also have a video showing you how to use ecopoxycraftresin to affix images and sparkly crystals to bezels and settings...click the picture above to see it all!

Thanks to Alison for creating these sweet silhouettes...

New Valentine's locket book templates

 

click here to see the template and the project ideas

Planning Ahead! International Charm Day

I have written before about International Charm Day, a holiday devoted to sharing and enjoying handmade charms. This holiday was created and is promoted by Amber Dawn, a charm and polymer clay artist who runs the world's best charm swaps and creates the tiniest cupcakes imaginable. I was recently featured in an interview on the Charm Day blog and I shared the directions for this easy-peasy book charm there. Go read the interview. 

And International Charm Day is April 28th. How will you celebrate?

Reconnections Mail Art with Patti Digh

I have a friend I wish I kept in touch with a bit more. I adore her, but time and louder demands keep me from picking up the phone on a regular basis.  I dream of writing her long, insightful letters with prosey details about my life and beautiful snap-shots of my children, but somehow the actual paper and pen is too daunting. After all, since I haven't written her a letter in a long while (okay, ever!) I want to make it a good letter. No, I want to make it a great letter. A masterpiece. A letter to treasure and keep wrapped in a pink silk ribbon, tucked in the corner of the top drawer of the dresser and taken out for frequent re-readings.

I can't just jot down a few lines and say 'hope you are well!' I am frightened by what the poet Etienne Mallarme called le vide papier (the blank sheet) and the idea that my chit-chatty words aren't quite enough for a letter to a friend I haven't written to in years.

You too?

So, this is where Mail Art can come to our rescue. Mail art is collage (usually) that is mailed. Artists create round-robin mail art extravaganzas that go on for years and become layered with meaning and import. We are not going to stress ourselves out, a la Etienne. No, we are going to sit down in a room with Patti Digh and eleven friends and make a collage-y bit of mail art that will be mailed, after the class, to that friend. Patti is one of those writers who makes you think that you, too, dear friend, can be creative and accomplished. For me, I am thinking that being in the room with you and my friend's address and Patti will make la terreur de le vide papier disappear!

All you need to bring is the current address of that friend. We'll take care of the postage!

Class details are here. Call to register, spaces are limited. 919-834-6260.

the perfect wedding bouquet...

My husband and I have been married for 19 years. Our wedding, way back in the dark ages, was just perfect for us - lots of friends and family in a casual outdoor setting with good food, laughter and a very fancy dress for me. I had two Diva Bride moments. I wanted dark-purple cloth napkins (totally un-rentable items in Ohio in 1991. Thank you Mom and Aunt Beth for sewing 110 napkins!) I also wanted an all-white bouquet of giant lilies. No greenery. No ferns. No spikey leaves. That was also almost un-heard of in 1991 in Ohio. The florist went against my wishes and slipped in some ferns but because of the high heat that sunny August day I ended up being happy she had. The lilies shed their petals as I walked down the aisle, unintentionally dramatic, until I stood under the trees next to my husband with a green bouquet of ferns and lily stems. Of course, that could have 'ruined' my wedding if any of the magazines are to be believed, but it really didn't matter.

I love it when I hear of couples who create their own fabulous wedding days that reflect them. Afternoon, pig-picking, blue grass wedding with a preacher in overalls? Great! Midnight, all-black Goth wedding with kabuki bridal makeup and Wiccan priestess? Awesome. Saturday morning Baptist church, white dress and veil, Reverend Miller officiating? Tremendous.

Hopefully, you'll only do it once so I think you should make it as memorable as possible.

This bouquet that our customer Sarah told us about was part of what I imagine was a sweet and memorable day. And I bet the flowers didn't fall apart!

Sarah hand-folded flowers and added watch parts, typewriter keys and vintage rhinestone centers. The bride, Sarah, is a librarian and the couple has 'more books than two people should own!' They chose meaningful pages from favorite books and sheet music from their days as musicians to create origami-folded flowers for the bouquet. The vintage rhinestones add a bit of sparkle to the bouquet. I love the way Sarah watercolored select pages to match her lavendar shoes and magenta petticoats. Sadly, she didn't include any shoe-and-petticoat pics for us to drool over!



Congratulations Kevin and Sarah!
oh, Sarah's etsy page is www.ForgottenThings.etsy.com
go check it out!

Fancy the Tarot?

These teeny tarot cards are back. The company we had been purchasing them from ran out-it seems the stock had been sitting on the shelf for decades when we fell in love with them and we ran through them without knowing they were vintage. These are new, but have the same comic-book color saturation and detailed imagery in a tiny package. For when you just want to know a little bit about the future, or for tiny crafty details. Designers have sealed them under resin, placed them in lockets and even used them in bezels. What will you do with yours?
See the cards here.

How to decoupage with Decopatch

Toothbrush Valentines Idea

I love this sweet little toothbrush Valentine idea from Kathleen at Twig&Thistle. She has a PDF you can download with several messages on it...how nice to put this on a new toothbrush in the bathroom as a surprise. You could even do this for a good friend on their birthday or other special day...with different messages, of course!