Tiny Couture Witch Hat

Hello All,

I've been back in the craft room and it's been a ball!  I am obsessed with making these tiny felt witch hats and then decorating them in different witchie themes.

I found a pattern online and then customized it to the size I wanted.  These are just under 5" tall. Each hat is cut from felt.  I hand sew the cone and use Spellbinders Nestabilities large circle dies to cut the brims.  I cut three brims, two from felt and one from card stock.  I cut tabs in the bottom of the cone and glue them to the paper brim which is sandwiched between the two pieces of felt.  The cardstock layer gives some stability to the brim.  I also include a ring of  26 gauge wire so I can bend the brim as needed.  Here's what I have so far.  The hats on the pedestals:  A Murder of Crows (left), Deadly Nightshade (center), and Death's Head Moth (right).  The black and white striped one isn't finished but it's so cute, I couldn't help but include it.  These are going to be invitations for a ladies tea!  Each guest will receive a hat box (made using my Cricut) with one of the little couture witch hats inside:

The tag was also made using the Cricut.  It was my first "print then cut" project!

I'm debating whether or not to color up the logo.  I'm also trying to decide how the party details will be conveyed.  I'm leaning toward tucking a small card inside the box with the logo on the front.  My favorite hat is the Death's Head Moth!

It has a black tulle veil and the moths are actually sporting a skull head embellishment (Darice)!

The moth was cut using the Cricut Art Nouveau cartridge and I layered gray and black Bazzill card stock so I could lift the wings.

The Deadly Nightshade hat has a beaded spider that I made from glass beads:

The spiderweb was cut on the Cricut.  I like the idea of the Murder of Crows hat but it's not couture enough - LOL!  But seriously, after looking at the pictures, I want to see if I can add a little more to it. I love the idea of it so hopefully I can come up with something to improve it.  The crows and branches were cut on my Cricut and the feathers are from Spellbinders dies.

I'm also hoping that 3 crows constitutes a murder otherwise I guess I just have an attempted murder - hahahaha.  Each crow has red embellished eyes.  The fuzz you see is from the felt; I didn't realize how much it pills - bummer!

Have a great week!


Edited to add I'm linking up!


Made in a Day, Merry Monday Linky Party

Halloween Treat Boxes!

Hello All!

**updated to add a THANK YOU! to MADE IN A DAY Halloween Spooktacular Linky Party for featuring my witch boot floral arrangement this week!  There are so many awesome ideas in this party you have to check it out! **

With Halloween just a couple days away, here are some treat boxes I made.

There are 16 of them

I used several different stamps but the sentiment was the inspiration :)

"When all the world is sleeping and the moon is riding high, if you peep between the curtains you'll see witches flying by."  It's from Waltzing Mouse Stamps.  The witch is from one of the dollar stamps sets from JoAnns a few years ago.  The black cat is from Hampton Art Graphic 45 Clear Stamp Set Happy Haunting Halloween (I just masked off the moon).  The gate is from a Penny Black clear stamp set called "Haunted Halloween" .  The tree was cut on my Cricut (October 31 cartridge).  The moon is a Spellbinders circle die and embellished with Stickles yellow glitter.

The box is from Mygrafico from Lindsay's Stamps Stuff - Halloween Favors Set.  I modified mine to hold two Ghirardelli mini chocolate squares.  I sponged white cardstock with gray, blue and purple ink, on both sides and then printed the template on it.  I hand cut them and the assembled them (so the template lines didn't show).  They are very simple to make and I'm impressed with how sturdy they are.

Happy Halloween!

I'm linking up!

MadeInADay, Halloween Spooktacular Linky Party

A Little Monkey Business

Hello all.

I finished the diaper cake for my niece.  One of her friends is expecting twins --a girl and a boy!  The nursery theme is monkeys.  This is the cake I came up with.  I was going to make two individual cakes, one all pink and one all blue but I had a difficult time finding monkey-themed baby items so one big cake became the plan.  All the monkeys were cut and layered using my Cricut and three different cartridges:  Create A Critter, Baby Steps, and New Arrival.  I used Bazzill cardstock but the pearl paper is by Recollections.

Since I had to mail this bad boy, I just stuck to diapers, receiving blankets, and paper decorations but the top layer is a box and the storks are mounted on cake poles that have been glued to a round piece of cardboard.  It creates a sort of lid for the box and I stashed some baby items in there --two sets of onesies, two sets of booties, and two sets of Johnson & Johnson baby lotion and wash.

Here's a closer look at the decorations:

And one more all together:

Have a great week!

Antique Hexagon Cabinet and Other Amazing Finds!

Hello All!

Yikes!!!  July is here and I am just getting around to posting for June!  Here's what I've been up to :)

My sis called and asked if I could get a diaper cake together for a jungle-themed baby shower for a friend of hers but I would have to hustle because I'd have to have it finished within a couple days and it would have to be mailed.  After a moment's panic, I got to it.  This is what I came up with:

Since I was going to ship it to Shell and she would be putting it back together before the shower, I wanted to make it as easy an assembly as possible.  I snapped this pic to help her get an idea of what she could do with the decorations and baby items.  Unfortunately, she didn't get a pic of it at the shower.

It's amazing how great thrifting is this time of year.  I have heard seasoned thrifters say these months make for fuller hunting grounds and since this summer marks a year I've been going regularly, I'm totally getting what you have been saying!  I have come across some wonderful treasures.  Case in point; this antique hexagon cabinet:

Oh my word.  Isn't it awesome!?  So, this is how she looked when I happened across her and because she was also sporting a price tag of $199, I would have to hold out for a discount day to buy it.  Even though 30% off Thursday was just around the corner, I was fighting myself to not just bring it home with me.  I mean, c'mon, who wouldn't fall for those sexy angles and awesome bun feet? ;).  Amazingly, no one did and even more amazing, I held out.  I waited for discount day and ended up paying even less than 50% off!  Here she is, at home:

*SWOON*  The shabby-chicness you see is all her.  I like hand distressed furniture but must admit, there is something about age-induced shabby that cannot be imitated.  Those bun feet do me in.  She stands at 6.5' tall and is 31" wide.  Unfortunately, it was locked and there was no key included.  It takes a skeleton key so our hopes were high that we'd have one that fit it but alas, no luck.  Dan ended up removing one of the panes of glass and removed the whole mechanism.  We're still holding out hope to find a key that will fit.

I dug these out of a bin at the GW outlet.  They are marked Derby SP Company and are Dutch Repousse silver plate candlesticks.  Beautiful. 

The detail is incredible:

And although I think the musicians are a tad creepy, I can totally appreciate the detail in them as well:

This piece was on my thrift bucket list:

Well, not specifically a pitcher but rather the pattern!  It's Heisey glass "Ipswich."  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it sitting on the shelf at Salvo.  It was $10.

This guy came from B-Thrifty.  It's concrete and was painted --badly--particularly the eyes!  So, I gave it a couple coats of spray paint:

I love him!  When I first brought it in, and before a new coat of paint, I sat him down in the family room (where he is in the pic) and our cat Sushi was totally spooked by him!  I'm telling you, it was the crazy eyes Mr. Hoots had before the makeover - LOL!  Sushi would creep by him, all stealthy like, and then peek around the sofa at it and then arch his back and crouch and stalk him - totally hilarious!  Once, he finally got the nerve up to swat at him and then he took off running for his life.  It was incredibly entertaining!  But, he and the owl must have made a truce somewhere along the line because now they're totally cool:

The owl and the pussycat :) 

So, Shell loves hearts so back at the beginning of May I found this sweet little dish:

Simple and pretty AND it had a little opalescence going on.  I gave it to Shelly.  Then lo and behold, just last week, I found this:

Now we both have little heart dishes!  Very cool.

My final share is this:

Thrift stores don't sell pets...unless they're really awesome toys!

It's a Takara Breezy Singer Parakeet and I got him for 50 cents.  He works perfectly; he was just missing his little stand.  He tweets, moves his head and his tail feathers - I adore it!  I have been wanting a parakeet but with two cats in the house, it's not the best idea so this is a perfect fit!

Lily hasn't figured him out just yet - LOL!

I'm linking up!

The Thrifty Groove:  Thifty Things Friday

Minnie Mouse and Antique Furniture

Holy Cow.  It's the end of March.  I've been MIA :(  But I do have some things to show you!  First, my sis asked me to make some invites for her for a friend of hers.  Her daughter, Taylor, is turning 2 and she likes Minnie so I made these:

Inside:

Then I made 30 little faces:

For the tops of clear favor boxes:

Now I'm finishing the banner!  I haven't taken on any other crafting requests because I am trying my hand at reupholstering.  Dan and I are working on a Bergere chair we got for $10 (the wing back chair in the background is in decent shape and I am intimidated to try reupholstering it until I have more experience).  The Bergere chair is in rough shape and I figure anything done to it would be an improvement:

This is the other project -- this Victorian beauty.  It was already like this so I guess someone was going to try recovering it.  I'm going to have to paint it as some of the wood is in pretty rough shape.  Doesn't it exude character!?

Look at the gorgeous detail:

We also found this sweet vintage china cabinet:

I am not certain where to put it but when I saw this:

FIRE SALE!  75 smackeroos means that I will FIND a place for it :)  I love the detail on it:

So pretty!  It came from Two Times New a few weeks ago.  But two weeks ago at B Thrifty,

I saw this for 50% off ($20):

 Particularly this:

Plus the caning is in perfect condition.  It came home with me too.  At the same thrift, (and at 50% off) we bought an antique bed:

It's in spare bedroom which doubles as the "hoarder room" but that's going to change, thanks to this sweet bed!  Look at those pretty little curves and those legs!  I am going to try to refinish this (rather than paint it) only because it is in pretty decent condition and the wood is so pretty.

The new (to us) furniture is great motivation to paint and it's so fun to look at colors and combinations --even differ room lay-outs!  I haven't finalized the wall color yet but I already have the bedding and the mattress.  I figure that will help me make a final decision on wall color, etc.

So that's what's been happening here; what have you been up to?

I'm linking up!

From My Front Porch to Yours, Treasure Hunt Thursday, #100!

Apron Thrift Girl, Thrift Share Monday

The Nifty Thrifty, This is Thrifting

One Wicked Surprise!

Hello All!  Although it's been quiet on my blog, I sure have been busy!  Dan and I got a thrift trip in this past weekend and we found a Bergere chair.  It will need plenty of love and by that I mean lots of work and I am very excited about the challenge.  There's a lot of tension at work with the sequestration looming so I am grateful for the distraction of a new project (not to mention an awesome old chair!).

I will keep you posted on the progress...

OK, onto the invitations!  I was commissioned to make Wicked the Musical themed invitations for a surprise sweet sixteen birthday party and I had a ball with this project!

I used a free clip art image of the logo, printed two copies for each card,  and cut and layered it with foam squares:

 "
Each logo was framed with a "bubble frame" cut using my Cricut and the Elegant Edges cartridge.  I used DCWV glitter paper and purple foil:

I hate the pictures are so crappy!  I usually use my sun room for a light box but since it's been gray and rainy, I used my actual light box and it's pretty lame!

The cards are pre-cut Bazzill cardstock A7

What a great theme for a party!

Happy Friday everyone.  I hope you have a fabulous weekend :)