100 Pretty Things

My New Christmas Card Design, Available On Zazzle!

2011-11-18T19:31:00.000-05:00

Humorous, Funny Marie Antoinette Christmas Card by sugarpapershop
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New Items in my Etsy Store

2011-08-04T21:31:00.001-04:00

Just a little update to say I've added a few more items to my Etsy store. I'm just waiting for that first purchase to get the ball rolling.....so as a little incentive, if you are one of the first 3 to purchase an item in my store, you can use the coupon code "prettythings20" to get a 20% discount on your total purchase! This offer is only appearing on 100 Pretty Things - this is an exclusive offer for those of you who have been taking a peek at my blog. Thank you!

Also if your order is over $60 you will get free shipping too!

I hope you'll decide to at least take a look at my new shop. And thanks for the continuing support....

Thanks again to all my friends and followers!

Corinne
xo

My New Etsy Store!

2011-07-24T19:11:00.000-04:00

Hello my friends, I feel terrible that it's been almost a year since I posted anything. Boy that year went by fast! It's just that my "day job" has been keeping me busy, along with all the irons I have in the fire.

I have just started a new venture - a jewelry store on Etsy that I'm very proud of! It is called Itty Bitty Posies and features jewelry inspired by nature with a vintage twist. You can check it out here: http://www.ittybittyposies.etsy.com/ I hope you'll check it out and forgive me for being so quiet for so long! I promise to try harder to keep in touch from time to time.

Thank you and have a wonderful day!

Corinne

Project # 48 - Titania's Gift

2010-09-04T11:58:00.000-04:00

"I have a present for you." Titania said to Cecily one bright, lazy afternoon. She sat on a toadstool basking in the sun - one of her favourite things to do. She gave a sly smile and beat her wings with excitement.

"Well, what is it?" Cecily asked, for she couldn't imagine what it could be.

Titania flitted into the air and did a loop-de-loo. She flew behind the toadstool she had been sitting on and brought out the most beautiful pair of purple fairy-made slippers! They were very soft and delicate, and they were covered with sparkly, beaded flowers. They curled up at the toes and had fringes woven from spider webs.

"Titania, they're wonderful!" Cecily exclaimed - she couldn't believe her eyes. "But they won't fit on my feet" she said sadly.

"Then wear them on your fingertips!" Titania exclaimed, and then she burst into gales of tinkling laughter.

Cecily laughed too. "Well, I will then!" And so she did.

Project #47 - Cecily's Secret Book of Fairies - A Show Beneath the Willow Tree

2010-09-04T11:26:00.000-04:00

Cecily ran out into the garden one June morning heading towards her favourite willow tree and the secret place she visited with the faires. It was very early in the morning for her to be up and about, but Cecily found that that was often the best time to see her fairy friends.

Just then something swooshed through the air right by her ear, but it was gone before she could see what it was.

Swoosh! There it was again. Then, Swoosh! Again! Cecily stopped and looked around her, a little bit annoyed now, as it seemed like she was being teased.

Just then she noticed a curious little purple-red bird sitting on a branch nearby; it was eyeing her carefully with its bright black eyes. Then Cecily noticed the bird was wearing a crown! She shook her head. Fairies, she was used to seeing, but a bird wearing a crown! That was different. And then she was even more astonished when the bird opened its beak and began to talk instead of chirping. "I'm so excited!" The bird whistled in its cheery high pitched voice.

"About what?" Cecily asked, completely forgetting that she was talking to a bird wearing a crown.

"The fairies are putting on a show today! And Titania is the star!"

"Well, that is exciting!" Cecily joined the little bird in its enthusiasm. "Is that why you're wearing a crown?" she asked.

The bird looked decidedly put out. "No." She said with annoyance. "I'm wearing a crown because I'm a princess." Before Cecily could comment further the little bird said, "Come with me, it's just about show time."

Cecily followed the little bird underneath the willow tree and saw a little stage set up in a bed of pansies. There was a little purple curtain as cute as could be, and a crowd of fairies gathered round, most of them sitting on toadstools and overturned acorns.

Suddenly the curtain opened and there was Titania, resplendent in the early morning sun. She flitted her wings so that they sparkled in the sunshine, and she zoomed around in circles, so fast that you could hardly make her out. Then she would pause over the flowers, and hover like a hummingbird, showing off her beautiful wings some more. The crowd of fairies and woodland creatures went wild, clapping and cheering and whistling. Cecily clapped her hands loudest of all and agreed with the others that it was the most fantastic show she had ever seen.

Cecily wanted to talk to Titania and congratulate her on the entertaining show. She peeked behind the purple curtain, and to her surprise, she saw some other fairies tucking Titania into her little bed, which was woven out of spider webs and lined with flower petals.

"Shhhhh...." said a small pixie. "She's tired herself out and needs her rest." Cecily couldn't help but giggle. Titania was such a show boat. "Okay, I'll come back later." she whispered, and went skipping back into the house.

Update

2010-08-22T21:41:00.000-04:00

Thanks to my friend Terri who pointed out that she was no longer able to leave comments on my blog - sorry about that. I had a spammer leave a comment that was difficult to get rid of, and I tried to make my settings more secure, but I didn't mean to shut everyone out. I've hopefully changed it back to the way it used to be, and I hope you will all continue to leave your wonderful comments for me. I will just have to individually delete inappropriate comments.

For those of you who contacted me about the loss of my friend, thank you so much, I really appreciate it. Today was the visitation, and it was difficult. Tomorrow is the funeral. I will get back to posting about Cecily's fairy book as soon as I can. Thanks again for your understanding, and rest in peace to sweet Rosie, whose life was tragically cut short last week in a car accident. Rosie's sister has been one of my best friends since I was about 10 years old, and Rosie is the same age as my younger brother - they were good friends and he is taking it very hard. We all grew up together, and we just can't believe that Rosie is gone.

Rosanne "Rosie" O'Brien

I've definitely learned that you need to make the most of each day, and make sure everyone you love knows how you feel about them. Rosie had her whole life ahead of her, and she will be deeply missed.

Sorry for the gap in the fairy story...

2010-08-21T14:57:00.000-04:00

Dear blogging friends,

My intention was to continue the Cecily's fairy book story every day this week until the whole book was revealed.

Unfortunately early on in the week I received the terrible news that a childhood friend was killed in a car accident. I have been in shock since and trying to deal with my grief.

I will continue Cecily's story very soon.

Thanks for your understanding,

Corinne

Project # 46 - Cecily's Secret Book of Fairies - Fairy Songs

2010-08-18T10:00:00.002-04:00

This is a continuing story - please see my older posts for the beginning parts of this story

*Warning - there are vintage images of nudity in this post*

Cecily lay slumbering underneath the willow tree on a rather bright spring day. She was enjoying the warmth of the sun on her skin and the softness of the grass beneath her cheek. She dreamed of tea parties where fairies swam in cups of tea, and gardens where baby fairies watered the bluebells.

Gradually Cecily became aware of a droning sound. It started softly and then grew. It sounded like a tiny orchestra tuning up before a concert.

She slowly started to wake up and noticed the sound getting louder and louder. She blinked a few times in the sun and saw a fairy standing on a toadstool nearby, playing a violin.

"Good morning." Cecily said, "Who are you?"

"Shhhh", the fairy said loudly. "Can't you see I'm trying to play?"

"I am sorry." said Cecily. And she grew silent, listening to the soft, almost mournful sound of the tiny violin.

Slowly, like silky dandelion pods blowing on the wind, little fairies and pixies began to appear around the toadstool where the fairy was playing the violin. Some sat on twigs and rocks, and some lay down in the grass. Some climbed in the tree, and some flew overhead in the air.

And then birds began to land on nearby branches, and they started to sing in tune with the soft string music.

Fairies really are a musical bunch, thought Cecily.

And then the fairies began to dance and sing, and the ring of them beneath the tree was alive with music and laughter and whistling and humming.

It was the most divine music Cecily had ever heard.

She started to gather flowers and leaves, and she wove herself a beautiful fairy crown.

Now I feel at home here, Cecily thought, and she lay down again underneath the tree, and fell into a sweet, deep reverie. The music playing on around her into the afternoon.

To be continued...

Project # 45 - Cecily's Secret Book of Fairies - Fairies Love Tea

2010-08-17T10:00:00.002-04:00

This is a continuing story - please see my last 3 posts for the first parts of the story

*Warning there are vintage images of nudity in this post*

On Saturday Cecily got up extra early and went down to the kitchen to find herself some breakfast. She was pottering around, clinking this and clanging that and whistling to herself as she often did when she was happy and didn't have a care in the world.

Just then she heard a little splashing sound. She cocked her head and she heard it again. It was coming from behind the teapot! She pushed the teapot out of the way and to her surprise, she saw a fairy taking a bath in a cup of tea!

"You are very brave." Cecily told her, "And you're lucky that I'm the only one who saw you. How would you explain yourself if my mother had come downstairs and found you first?"

The saucy fairy stuck her tongue out at Cecily and said, "I like taking baths in milky cups of tea - it keeps my skin fair and soft and it's always nice and warm."

"Well you had best be off." Cecily said with some alarm, "Before you are seen by someone else."

The fairy didn't seem worried at all.

"Didn't you know that fairies love tea?" The fairy asked.

"Well, no." Cecily replied. "I had never really thought about it before."

"Well, we do love tea, and the only way we can get it, is to come into the kitchen when someone has left a window open. I'm having a very nice bath just now and I really don't want to leave" the fairy pouted. She sat on the edge of the teacup and fluttered her wings.

Cecily was becoming more alarmed by the minute. She didn't know what to do....

...and then she had an idea. "What if I bring some cups of tea out into the garden, and we can have a nice tea party under the willow tree."

"Can I swim in my cup of tea?" The fairy asked.

"Of course", Cecily laughed. "It's your cup of tea, you can do what you like with it."

And so Cecily packed up the supplies for the tea party: some pretty teacups, some milk, a lovely tea pot full of tea, and of course some nice cakes and a cup of sugar.

As a finishing touch, she made a little banner, that said: "Fairies love tea" to hang between the flowers.

She put everything into a picnic basket, including the naughty fairy who loved to bathe in cups of tea, and they headed off into the garden, and an afternoon of swimming in tea.

To be continued...

Project # 44 - Cecily's Book of Fairies - The Baby Fairies

2010-08-16T10:00:00.002-04:00

Please check the last 2 posts for the beginning of this story.

The next morning Cecily ran down to her favourite willow tree and sat expectantly for ages, hoping that today she would see another fairy. She sat and she sat and she sat, and she didn't see anything. She closed her eyes, and let herself become sleepy. She opened her eyes - she didn't see anything but flowers, and bugs and trees.

But just as she was about to stand up and run off to another part of the garden, she heard the most delightful sound. It was the sound of tiny voices singing. She listened very hard, and the singing grew a little louder.

Suddenly 2 little baby fairies appeared together, happily skipping and singing in their baby voices. They began to water the bluebells beneath the tree (because even baby fairies have their jobs to do). They had the prettiest purple wings that sparkled in the sun, and their hair was as white as fleece.

Cecily tried to hear what they were singing, and she caught: "Fa la la and away the fairies the go!"

Cecily found she had to draw and write very quickly, because although the fairies were babies, they moved very quickly indeed. And before she knew it, they were gone again, with a "Fa la la and away the fairies go".

To be continued...

Project # 43 - Cecily's Secret Book of Fairies Begins

2010-08-15T11:17:00.001-04:00

This is a continuing story - please see my last post for the first part

*Warning: vintage images of nudity in this post*

As Cecily sat beneath her favourite willow tree, she opened the book she had stolen from the library and noticed the title page, which said: "Lady Audley's Secret". How perfect! she thought. And she carefully crossed out the 'Lady' and 'Audley's', and neatly wrote in 'Cecily's' and 'Book of Fairies' under the word 'Secret'. Now the title page read: "Cecily's Secret Book of Fairies".

It's off to a good start, Cecily thought as she began to doodle and draw and write down her observations. She pulled a picture of herself out of her pocket (which she had also stolen from the library as it was tucked away in the drawer of her father's desk) and glued it onto the first page.

Just then Titania happened along with a rather sullen looking companion. "Hullo!" Cecily said, "Who is your friend?"

"This is Crabapple", Titania replied. "She is annoyed because Peasblossom splashed her wings with dew and they are feeling rather sodden."

"Oh dear." Cecily couldn't help but smile.

Crabapple wasn't the prettiest fairy Cecily had ever seen, and the sour expression didn't help either, but somehow Cecily was charmed by Crabapple's annoyance and her lovely purple wings which were quickly drying out in the sun.

Cecily decided that Crabapple would be the first fairy she would write about in her book, and so she spent the rest of the afternoon drawing and writing about what she had seen. Crabapple was rather a tall fairy, so Cecily tucked her likeness inside the book and made her image into a pop up, which could be made to stand up on its own at any time. She created a tab that said: "pull here to see a fairy".

And there was the image of Crabapple, complete with sodden wings.

After adding a bit of this and that, Cecily's first 2 pages of her fairy book were complete. She smiled - they looked lovely. She vowed she would go to the garden again the next day, and see what she could see.

To be continued....

Project # 42 - Altered Fairy Book Cover - Cecily's Secret Book of Fairies

2010-08-14T18:04:00.001-04:00

I am so excited to share this altered book project with you. This altered book was a large undertaking, so I'm going to divide up the different elements of the book and make them different pretty things projects.

Today I am blogging about the cover of the book which is a little sneak peek as to what the rest of the book will be like. I can tell you that purple is the main colour used throughout the book. Every day for the next week or so I will reveal new page spreads from the book, and I hope that you will be intrigued enough to keep checking back and watch as all the pages inside are revealed. I'm very proud of this project and I look forward to any feedback you might have.

Let me start by telling you a story. Once upon a time (May 12, 1875 to be exact), there was a little girl called Cecily, who found herself on a spring day rather bored with nothing to do.

She ventured into the garden and started to daydream among the flowers. She was feeling rather dozy and decided to lie down underneath a willow tree, when a gentle, little creature appeared on the grass beside her. After rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Cecily was surprised to see a perfect little lady with fairy wings standing next to her cheek. Cecily sat up straight away and demanded to know who this little person was.

"Why, I'm Titania, Queen of the Fairies", came the haughty reply. And you were crushing the little bluebells that I carefully planted just yesterday morning. She flitted into the air and began to circle Cecily's head.

"I am sorry", said Cecily quite seriously, "Please forgive me."

"Of course I will!" said Titania and she began to dance most charmingly amongst the bluebells, who really were none the worse for wear.

And so began a beautiful friendship. Every morning afterwards, Cecily would run to the garden with great anticipation, and lie down under the willow tree so that she might see Titania again.

Day by day, as the trust and friendship grew between the new pair of friends, Titania started to introduce Cecily to some of her fairy friends: Peasblossom, Mustardseed and Cobweb, to name a few. They all had wonderful adventures together and Cecily was never bored again.

One day Cecily decided that she would chronicle her fairy adventures in a book, so that she could share her stories someday with her children and grandchildren.

She stole into her parents' library one afternoon, and found a perfect little book, called "Tales and Sketches". Cecily stole it to use for her own, and started to fill its pages with stories and pictures of the fairies she had met.

She decided to bind it for safekeeping, and so she lovingly wrapped the book with one of her velvet hair ribbons, and fashioned a clasp from a delicate, golden brooch to secure it with.

She showed the book to Titania one day, who was most interested; as she walked across the cover to admire it more closely, she inadvertently left little golden footprints behind her. Cecily found that the footprints would not rub off, no matter what she did, and she decided in the end that they were just the right detail left as they were, as the book was about fairies after all.

As the years went by, and Cecily grew up, she saw the fairies less and less, but she always knew that they were there. She finally packed her little book away, and though she had children and grandchildren to share her adventures with, she had by that time forgotten about her little book and it lay hidden away for many years. Finally one day the little book was found, and it was sold at a vintage bookstore to an artist who took it home and treasured it as much as Cecily had. As it was now the year 2010, the artist decided she would like to share Cecily's stories, and she decided to do what most 21st century artists do, and so she blogged about it.

Part two tomorrow.....

Sorry for the long silence

2010-08-14T11:56:00.000-04:00

Dear blogging friends,

I'm so sorry that I have not been able to post for quite awhile now. There have been a number of things going on that have made it very difficult for me to work on any pretty projects and/or blog about them. I'm so sorry to my loyal followers who have sent me words of encouragement and support. Unfortunately it looks like I won't be able to complete 100 pretty things within the calendar year of 2010, as I had originally planned. I will attempt to complete the projects but there will no longer be a time constraint.

Thank you to those friends who have continued to reach out to me, and I hope to have some more projects listed very soon. I hope you're all having a wonderful summer.

With many thanks,

Corinne

Project # 41 - Rococo Boudoir Model Pieces

2010-07-02T09:00:00.008-04:00

Here is another project inspired by my theatre design background. These are model pieces I built in 1/2 inch scale fit for a lovely lady's bedroom. For those of you who don't know, if something is built in 1/2 " scale, that means that for each 1/2 inch measurement on the model pieces, it equals a foot in reality.
I've used an image of Marie Antoinette in this little tableau.

The pieces include a dressing table and chair, a modesty screen and a door.

I have always enjoyed model building - I think I'll have to do some more!

Project # 40 - Soldered Necklace, Lovely Lady

2010-07-01T09:00:00.000-04:00

This is a soldered necklace I made using glass microscope slides and layers of collage.

I added a piece of a broken earring to the front of the necklace and hung the pendant from a silver chain.

This is the back of the necklace.

Project # 39 - The Raven, Mixed Media Collage

2010-06-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

This is a very large, square canvas that I covered with pieces of oval shaped papers in different sizes and in different shades of white and ivory and other colours that fit the general colour scheme. After finishing the background I added a pensive raven sitting on a branch in the lower right hand corner. He was cut out of black paper.

This piece was a lot of work, but I like how it turned out. It is now hanging above my TV!

Project # 38 - Comic Book Wallets

2010-06-28T09:00:00.002-04:00

Here are a couple of wallets I made using Archie comics and packing tape - they also have velcro closures. They are so easy to make and are very useful. And they're water resistant (though not water proof!) These are 2 different styles. One is like a wallet and one just has a big pocket inside.

This one I've been keeping receipts in. I made it like an actual wallet that you would keep money in, with a velcro flap that folds across the front. (There are some hot spots in this picture).

This is the front of the wallet.

And this is the back.

Inside it has pockets that are handy to keep just about anything in; try - herbal tea or tea bags and sugar packets or coupons in your purse.

This is a picture with some notecards tucked inside just to show the pockets a little better.

I have always been a big Archie fan - Betty is my favourite character!

This one has a big flap folded over a pocket and I used a Hallowe'en edition of Archie. Again, this is handy for tea bags, coupons, receipts, love notes, whatever you like!

This is the front.

This is the back.

And here is the inside with some herbal tea tucked into the pocket. You can see the black velcro in this picture too.

Project # 37 - Fairy Mixed Media Canvas

2010-06-27T17:10:00.001-04:00

This is a large mixed media piece done on canvas. It features a fairy with a blue bird in her hand, lots of flowers, some real vintage stamps and a pink tape measure.

And here is a close up of the fairy.

Kilts, kilts, kilts!

2010-06-11T10:46:00.001-04:00

Due to popular request I'm posting a photo of the wedding party from my brother's wedding so you can see all the handsome men in kilts! My brother is fourth from the right (the groom), my sister is next to him on the left and I'm second from the left at the end. I made all the bouquets - the bride's bouquet was featured as one of my 100 pretty things.

New posts coming soon!

Recipe - Lavender Shortbread

2010-06-04T13:40:00.000-04:00

I thought that I would share the lavender shortbread recipe my mum and I used to make the shortbread for my brother's wedding - it was a bit hit and a great cookie for summer tea parties. You can use this recipe as a base to make other kinds of shortbread too. The other day I made a batch where I substituted the lavender for a bit of orange extract, lemon zest and some chocolate chips. It was really tasty too.

Lavender Shortbread

* This recipe makes 2 batches

1 1/2 cups butter, softened (room temperature is best, let it sit out for awhile before you use it)

2/3 cups sugar

2 tablespoons lavender flowers, chopped finely (you can usually get culinary lavender from your local health food store)

2 1/3 cups flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Cream together the butter, sugar and lavender with a mixer until light and fluffy. (It makes a big difference in the shortbread to really beat it and get it as fluffy as you can - this will create shortbread that melts in your mouth!)

3. Sift the flour, cornstarch and salt then add to the above mixture and beat until well mixed.

4. Divide the dough into two, flatten into discs, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (I leave it about half an hour).

5. Roll out the dough to 1/2" thickness using a floured rolling pin and floured board.

6. Cut the cookies out with cookie cutters - we used small hearts. Don't make the cookies too big as the shortbread will just crumble after it's baked. One trick we discovered is that if you refrigerate the cut out cookies for about 15 minutes before baking, they will hold their shape better in the oven.

7. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes on parchment covered cookie sheets, until the cookies are slightly golden around the edges. Do not overbake as you will end up with shortbread that is very hard.

8. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

OPTIONAL: When the cookies are completely cool, dust with powdered sugar.

This recipe is super easy and doesn't take a lot of time. Homemade shortbread cookies make a lovely gift - they are always a bit hit and store bought shortbread can be very expensive. Have fun!

Project # 36 - Thank You Box - Nozze di Figaro

2010-06-04T12:16:00.002-04:00

I do love my decorated boxes! They make great gifts because they're handing for storing receipts, bills or other paper bits or for my mixed media friends they are a good spot for trinkets, beads and odds 'n ends.

This box features some silhouettes from the opera "Nozze di Figaro", or "The Marriage of Figaro".

This box was filled with some of my homemade shortbread and given to a friend of mine as a thank you gift.

Shortbread recipe to follow!

Project # 35 - Pretty Purple Headband

2010-05-29T09:00:00.002-04:00

I just learned how to make these lovely fabric flowers, so I decided to attach them to a purple headband.

I sewed pearls into the centres of the flowers and left the frayed edges alone. I like the slightly shabby look.

Although I'm not wearing the purple headband, I thought I'd post this picture of me at my brother's wedding. Sometimes it's nice to have a face to put with the blog posts! By the way, I did the flowers too - you can see a bit of my bouquet here.

Project # 34 - Wedding Cupcakes

2010-05-28T12:08:00.000-04:00

My mum, my sister and I made 94 cupcakes for my brother's wedding. It was a lot of work but they turned out to be a big hit - they were delicious and went very quickly.

Because purple was the main accent colour of the wedding, we frosted some of the cupcakes with violet coloured icing. Mmmm.....

They were perfect bites of sugary goodness!

Project # 33 - 3 "Merci" Greeting Cards

2010-05-28T12:02:00.001-04:00

These are 3 little thank you cards I made for 3 of my friends. I used images from Darvahlous on Etsy and added the stamped word "Merci" at the bottom. I also added some little paper butterflies and paper "lace" made with one of my fancy paper punches.

Project # 32 - Homemade Lavender Shortbread & Stamped Glassine Packaging

2010-05-28T11:50:00.000-04:00

As mentioned in my previous post, my mum, my sister and I made A LOT of shortbread for the favours at my brother's recent wedding. We made some plain shortbread and we made some lavender shortbread in honour of my late grandfather who grew lavender in his garden.

We cut the lavender into heart shapes, some small, some larger. The kitchen was so wonderfully fragrant with the smell of fresh shortbread and lavender lingering all day.

We put the shortbread into little glassine envelopes which I stamped by hand. I used four stamps for each glassine envelope and I made 100 of them! It was a lot of work but the end result was lovely.

This was a Scottish wedding complete with kilts and a handfasting ceremony, as both families are Scottish. I got a lovely thistle stamp from Blossom Arts on Etsy, which I used on the packaging, and I used green and purple ink to stamp the thistles with.

The glassine envelopes were filled with shortbread and tucked into the flowery basket I made. I'm happy to report that there was a lot of shortbread left over, so we've been enjoying it with lots of cups of tea!

Project # 31 - A Pink Flowery Basket for a Wedding

2010-05-28T11:38:00.001-04:00

My brother got married last Sunday to his lovely fiancee of 13 years. My mum and my sister and I made quite a few things for the wedding to help out, so I'm going to post some of them as some of my "pretty things". This was a basket I decorated to keep the wedding favours in. My mum, sister and I made shortbread as the wedding favours, which is shown in another post.

The main accent colour for the wedding was purple, so you will see lots of that in these projects. This is a basket that I decorated with flowers, butterflies, ribbon and a bird to hold the shortbread that we made.

I took some pictures in the garden as it seemed to look at home there!

This is the basket filled with the little packages of homemade shortbread.

18th Century Lady in a Blue Dress

2010-04-28T22:55:00.000-04:00

As promised, here are some pictures of the 18th century inspired doll I made for my step daughter. She is a bit shiny because of the glue I used when I made the papier mache. I'm still learning about papier mache and other materials so hopefully will be able to make some changes the next time I use papier mache.

Anyway, here she is - what do you think?

Project # 30 - Box for Paint Brushes and Pencils

2010-04-28T17:38:00.000-04:00

I bought this lovely narrow box as a clearance item at a home decor store, and decided that it would be perfect to keep paint brushes and pencils in.

I recovered the outside of the box with scrapbooking papers and there is a magnetic closure on the flap piece that folds over the side of the box.

For the top of the box I used a lovely image of a Regency lady and my usual layered collage style.

The finishing touches were a velvet millinery leaf and a small vintage button. I really like this one...I'm tempted to keep it!

Marie Antoinette Doll - As seen in "Marie" magazine

2010-04-26T12:34:00.001-04:00

As I mentioned in my faux cake posting, I have been unable to make any pretty things or post to my blog for a little while now. Thanks to those who have continued to check for new projects - I hope to catch up very soon. In the meantime I thought I would post something for my readers to look at while I get back to work in my studio.

If any of you got the Somerset Studio publication "Marie", then you may have seen the papier mache Marie Antoinette doll I made that appears on page 88. I was a little bit disappointed that they didn't have a good picture of the whole front of the doll, but I was just so thrilled that my Marie made it into the magazine.

For this Marie doll, I chose to make her dress out of the pages of a vintage French book and I tried to make it as historically accurate as possible. Some of you know that my background is in set and costume design for the theatre, and I've done a lot of studying of period costumes.

On the back of the dress I added "Watteau pleats", which were quite popular at the time. They were named after the period artist Watteau, who liked painting this style of dress in his portraits.

This doll is not one of the 100 pretty things as I did not make her this year, but as I mentioned I just thought I'd put her on the blog until I can get caught up with my pretty things projects.

After I made this doll, I made another one dressed in blue that I gave to my step daughter; she loved this original doll so much I just had to make her one of her own. She is 9 years old and I'm proud to say that she can correctly identify images of Marie Antoinette! Perhaps I will post pictures of that doll too if you're interested in seeing her.

Project # 29 - Faux Bunny Cake

2010-04-26T12:04:00.000-04:00

Okay, I know it's a little bit past Easter and I'm sorry for the delay in posting this - I've been unable to make anything or post to the blog for a couple of weeks now. Thanks to everyone who's been checking in the meantime! I promise to try and catch up as soon as I can.

This faux cake was made for a swap hosted by my friend Cassandra over at My Artful Adventures; it is a fun project to do, but I found it difficult in that I've never really decorated a cake before, and it's a very similar process. It's hard to see in this picture but there's glitter on the top of the cake. My cake didn't turn out as well as the ones Cassandra makes, but I think it turned out okay.

This little cake is full of art goodies and will hopefully be in its new home very soon!

Vote for me in the Frenchkissed challenge!

2010-04-12T17:57:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned when blogging about my most recent "pretty thing", the rosey, Regency pop-up I made for project # 28 (Marche avec les belles roses) has been entered in a competition over on Trishia's Frenchkissed blog. If you like what I've done with the rose image, then I hope you'll make a stop by Trishia's blog and vote for me! Here is the link:

http://frenchkissedpostcards.blogspot.com/2010/04/vote-for-your-favorite-artist.html

Of course you can vote for which ever entry you like, I'm really not competitive at all! :)

I love seeing the entries made by the other talented artists - everyone who used this rose image came up with something completely unique. I hope you'll check it out, and whether or not you decide to vote, I thank you all for your support and for continuing to read my blog!

I'll be back with a new "pretty thing" very soon....

Happy Monday everyone!

Project # 28 - Marche Avec Les Belles Roses - A Frenchkissed Contest

2010-04-05T20:14:00.000-04:00

My good friend Trishia over at Frenchkissed is having a contest open to everyone using a particular image she chose from the stock of thousands of images she sells on Etsy. This is the image she is asking contest participants to use:

I decided to use the image and do double duty - I have entered my artwork in Trishia's contest and I'm also numbering this piece as my 28th "pretty thing".

This is what I made

The rose topiaries are also from Trishia's Etsy store which you can find here.

This is a pop up I designed to look like a vintage Valentine. I hope Trishia likes it!

For those of you who are feeling inspired now, please enter Trishia's contest using the image above. I am looking forward to seeing what some other artists do using this image.

Please click here for full contest details and to download a large version of the above image for your own use.

Have fun!

Artist Class Garden Party Starts Today!

2010-04-05T20:02:00.000-04:00

Today is the beginning of the spring session of Artist Class and what fun we're going to have! My project is a Victorian inspired cone puppet that you can completely customize. My very first "pretty thing" was a cone puppet I made of Alice falling down the rabbit hole. These are pictures of that project.

All of the images used to make the Alice puppet will be provided. I will also provide you with lots of other options including a bunny and the images for this flower fairy cone puppet

And here is a picture of more of the projects being offered

This Garden Party session is filled with great Artists, charming projects and loads of extras - plenty of them designed to entice you into a springtime garden-fresh mood. Shake off the grey and throw open the windows, this is your time to push aside any lingering gloom...and bring your creativity to life.

The price of a session of Artist Class is normally $59.00, but Garden Party is just $49.00 - $10.00 off the original price. Then, with my discount code (100prettythings) you'll save $10.00 more.

You'll pay just $39.00 in all!

Artist Class Garden Party is held from April 5th through May 1st. New projects post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Special daily extras will be available every morning; there's always something new.

So much is offered that it can't be finished in 4 weeks! That's why every project is downloadable to be saved; and the blog is open for a full 6 months. There's plenty of time to play on YOUR schedule.

Click here to register and to get full details of all the projects: Artist Class Garden Party.

Hope to see you there!

Project # 27 - Bridal Bouquet for my Brother's Wedding

2010-04-05T19:42:00.000-04:00

I made this bouquet for my soon-to-be sister-in-law for her upcoming May wedding to my brother.

Sarah's favourite colour is purple, so I made sure to incorporate that colour and I wanted it to have a spring feeling to it. This bouquet was made with faux flowers, pearls and beads and I also added some sparkly white butterflies. The best part is that Sarah can keep her bouquet forever to remind her of her special day!

Sarah was thrilled with her bouquet and now I'll be making a few more for the bridal party.

Spring is finally here - yay!

Winner of my March giveaway!

2010-04-01T10:25:00.002-04:00

Terri Gordon has won my March giveaway - Memories of Marie. Congratulations Terri! I will get your package out to you in the next couple of days.

Project # 26 -- Little Fairy Mixed Media Collage on 4 x 4 Canvas

2010-03-26T07:00:00.002-04:00

This is my own illustration of a fairy that I added bee wings to and surrounded with flowers. The canvas is 4" x 4" so the sides are covered in antique sheet music and distressed with paints and inks. The word "fairy" is stamped across the bottom. My sister already has this little artwork on display in her room!

This is the painting I turned into a fairy.

Project # 25 -- Scottish Inspired Purple Floral Wreath

2010-03-25T14:47:00.000-04:00

This project was a special request from my mother for my grandmother. My 90 year old grandmother is in a long term care home and my mother wanted something cheerful and a little bit Scottish to hang on her door. This is what I came up with! I started with a twisted twig wreath and some faux foliage and flowers. I wove the ivy, pussy willows, flowers and of course thistles into the twigs and hot glued everything. I topped it off with a purple and green tartan bow.

I hope she likes it! This will be going on her door very soon.

Project # 24 - Madame Pieinskya Sees All!

2010-03-19T11:22:00.000-04:00

Another Hallowe'en project that I'm about to send in the mail to Stampington.

I drew and painted a portrait of a ghosty lady psychic I call Madame Pieinskya (Pie-in-sky-a) and put it into a small gold frame. I glued a jointed skeleton with rhinestone eyes to the side of the frame so that it dangles and the joints all move and rattle.

Underneath the frame is a ouija board with a polymer clay skull and candle sitting on it. To the right of the frame is a polymer clay raven sitting on top of a pile of books, the top one is called "Forget Me Not", which I thought was kind of appropriate.

The whole tableau is on the top of a trinket box covered in black and orange paper and tied with a ribbon. Fingers crossed Stampington likes it!

Project # 23 - Victorian Baby Girl Canvas

2010-03-18T11:29:00.000-04:00

Here is a mixed media canvas with a Victorian photo of a lovely baby girl. I just love the sweet expression on her face. An antique key, two metal findings and a strip of lace were added too.

The background turned out to be really interesting, it looks like old leather in person, I don't think the camera quite captured that. I used a crackle technique that uses white glue, which is very cost-effective and I'm very pleased with the results. The instructions for this very simple technique are below.

* First paint on your "base" color (the color you want the cracks to be) and let it dry

* Apply a layer of white glue. The thickness will determine the size of the cracks (use a thick coat for large deep cracks - a thin coat for smaller cracks)

* Don't let the glue dry completely, just let it get tacky (5 min or to touch)

* Apply a final contrasting paint color "top coat". Be sure to load your applicator with paint to cover in 1 stroke because overlapping paint strokes will result in no cracks

* Once dry, apply sealant to your art project for protection

See, easy!

Project # 22 - Fairy Bed made for Titania, Queen of the Fairies

2010-03-13T12:02:00.000-05:00

I really like this project. I decided to make a fairy bed for Titania, Queen of the Fairies from a Midsummer's Night Dream. I spent a couple of days collecting bark, acorns, twigs and other natural items, only to go in a different direction when I started on the bed. This bed had to look like it was fit for a Queen.

The bed frame is covered with birch bark (taken from the ground, not peeled off a tree) and is made with wire, beads and a cheesecloth canopy to look like a spider web.

In Shakespeare's story there is a magical flower that causes a lot of trouble. If you get pollen from the flower in your eyes while you're sleeping, you will fall in love with the first living creature you see when you wake up. For those of you who don't know the story, Titania awoke from her slumber and first saw a weaver called Bottom, who had temporarily been given the head of a donkey. Titania of course fell madly in love with him right away, until the enchantment was later removed. I decided to include the flower head hanging over Titania's bed with a canopy hanging down around her.

I took some pictures of the bed in my garden, and I love how the light makes it look quite magical. I like to think that Titania would be impressed.

Project # 21 - The Raven Holds the Key

2010-03-11T20:56:00.000-05:00

This is a project I made that I'm going to submit to Stampington for the 2010 Hallowe'en issue of Somerset Studio. The title is a metaphor - the raven holds the key.

I know it's a little early for Hallowe'en projects, but I wanted to share this before it went in the mail.

The raven is made from poymer clay with beads for eyes and wire feet and the chair I found at a local thrift store. I "reupholstered" it with jack-o-latern scrapbooking paper. A little crown on the raven is the finishing touch.

Project # 20 - Pretty Pommander Ball

2010-03-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

I think that this pommander ball is really elegant, soft and beautiful.....and it's made from coffee filters! I don't think you can tell at all.

I took 200 paper coffee filters (from the dollar store) and tea dyed them. Some were dyed just with tea, some were dyed with a mixture of tea and a drop of red food colouring. I hung the ball from a pale pink ribbon, and I hung the same ribbon from the bottom of the ball - I added a pink bow and a chandelier crystal. I think that this looks so nice hanging outside (weather permitting). This project would be great decor for a wedding - my brother is getting married in May so maybe I'll make some for that.

If you want to make one of these balls for yourself, hop over to this blog where I got the idea and instructions: http://alicew.typepad.com/thoughts_from_alice_w/2010/02/somerset-life.html Alice's ball has more pink than mine, which I would probably try to do more of myself next time I make one of these. Aren't they lovely?

My Shoe Tutorial will be taught at Paper Cowgirl! Texas, June 2010

2010-03-08T16:25:00.002-05:00

For any of you who are going to be in Texas in June (or want to be!), you must check out the Paper Cowgirl altered art retreat! Although I've never attended myself, which I am VERY sad about, I've heard that it's tonnes of fun and the projects are so very cool! A case in point - the organizer of the retreat - a lovely lady called Cindy - is going to be teaching my paper shoe tutorial as a "make and take" project. Yay! I SO wish I could attend in person to teach it, but alas, my funds won't allow it this year. Maybe next year I'll make it down to visit my new online friends.

For more information and full details and photos of all the projects, click this link and it will take you to Cindy's blog: http://papercowgirl.blogspot.com/

Here are the participating artists and their blogs:

Lisa McIlvain - Mixed Media Art Tags http://tarnishedandtattered.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Babcock - Altered Bird Trinket Box http://glittermyday.blogspot.com/
Mendy Mitrani - Digi Class http://mendytexas.blogspot.com/
Dale McClain - Sea Inspired Shadow Box http://www.dalemclain.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Stewart - Beautiful 4th Banner http://jenniferstewarts.blogspot.com/
Ann-Denise Anderson - Victorian Boots http://www.whimandfancydesigns.blogspot.com/
Angela Berger - Shabby Classy Necklace http://www.filigreemoon.blogspot.com/
Chantal Johnson - Inspirational Tag Book http://www.chantaljohnson.blogspot.com/
Laverne Johnson - "pocket" book -- http://riversidestudios.blogspot.com/
Deb Taylor - Found and Rebound (fabric covered journals) http://diddebdoit.blogspot.com/
Cindy Gilstrap - La Petite Boutique Altered Canvas http://cindygilstrap.typepad.com/junqueart/
Corinne Clark - French Paper Shoe - you're here! ;)
Sandra Feazel - Beeswax/Painted Canvas http://7thststudio.blogspot.com/
Joanna Lewis- Feathered Friend Collage http://www.sweetfinds.typepad.com/

And again, just for reference, here's an example of the shoes that will be taught:

Project # 19 - Pretty T-Shirt

2010-03-08T10:38:00.000-05:00

For this project I took a plain white t-shirt that I bought and ironed on a piece of my own artwork. I then embellished it with ribbon, lace flowers and pretty white trim.

This artwork is "je t'aime" (I love you) and was originally an ATC which I sold through my Etsy store. The "je t'aime" has been covered up with the lace flowers, but I think it still looks very nice.

I'm going to refrain from wearing it myself because I'll be selling it at the end of the year....but I might have to make another one just for me!

Project # 18 - Collaged Bracelet

2010-03-03T08:00:00.001-05:00

This is a wooden bangle style bracelet that I covered in layers of collage.

I layered scrapbooking papers, dresden foils, vintage images and book pages to create this unique one-of-a-kind bracelet.

After the first layer of collaged elements I added a light wash of buttermilk coloured paint to soften some of the colours, then I added another layer of collage elements featuring birds and flowers.

I finally coated it all with a layer of Diamond Glaze to make it strong and shiny.

March Giveaway - Memories of Marie

2010-03-01T18:55:00.000-05:00

For my March giveaway, I'm doing another piece of artwork that has been published. This time it's a piece I made that I called "Memories of Marie", yes, another Marie Antoinette artwork! This piece was submitted for consideration for Stampington's "Marie" publication. This particular piece did not make it into "Marie" (one of my dolls did), but to my surprise it was published in the Summer 2009 issue of Somerset Studio Gallery.

The magazine features the front of the piece, but what you can't see is that inside is a sketch I did of Marie Antoinette coloured with pencils and watercolour paints, and there is a pocket with some items tucked into it that I imagined could be found on Marie's dressing table - a perfume bottle, a lovely shoe, a fan and a silver mirror.

To be entered for this giveaway, please leave a comment in response to this post. I will announce a winner at the end of March. Thanks for playing everyone, and good luck!

Project # 17 - Whimsical Bird House

2010-03-01T18:27:00.000-05:00

This project was inspired by a book that I like very much. It is called The Art of Personal Imagery, and it's by an artist called Corey Moortgat. I highly recommend it, there are a lot of beautiful pieces of artwork in it and I felt inspired to try Corey's mixed media painting style on this bird house.

I collaged some pieces of brightly coloured paper to the birdhouse after applying a coat of gesso. I was going to paint over the paper but found that I really liked the colours and didn't want to completely obscure them, so I did a little bit of painting and then used a charcoal pencil to bring out some of the details and to add some doodly elements (is "doodly" a word?) I think that all the bright colours are very cheerful, and I like to think that some pretty little bird would like to make this her spring house.

February Giveaway Winner! Marie Antoinette Paper Doll

2010-03-01T11:00:00.000-05:00

My February giveaway winner is Kate! (Auntie Cake!) Congratulations Kate, please send me your address information at: sugarpapershop@gmail.com so that I can get the paper doll sent out to you ASAP.

In case any of you wonder how I determine the winner: I put everyone's name on a little piece of paper, crumple them up, put them in a bowl and draw out one of the bits of paper. This makes me feel like I have a hand in picking the winner (no pun intended).

Congratulations again to Kate and thanks to everyone for playing. I will be posting another giveaway very soon.

Project # 16 - Jelly Bean Pail

2010-02-26T12:41:00.000-05:00

This is a fun little project made from an oatmeal pot. I love recycling/upcycling so when I finished eating the oatmeal out of this little container I decided to turn into a jellybean pail. I like bright colours and this project reminds me that spring is coming - hopefully soon!

By the way, the jellybeans were delicious!

Project # 15 - Kate Greenaway Toy Theatre

2010-02-21T13:08:00.000-05:00

For those of you who saw my post about my score at the antique store - here is my first project using some of those images. For those of you who missed that post, I found some amazing Kate Greenaway illustrations from a first edition copy of Marigold Garden. I wanted to do something special with these images, so I took inspiration again from my theatre training and made a Kate Greenaway toy theatre! The scenic backdrop was painted by me, but all the other images I used came from my "new" Kate Greenaway illustrations - they are so cute! The images I used all came from different pages but I think they all look like they go together in my idyllic little scene. I've taken lots of photos to show the depth of the theatre. I'm very pleased with it - what do you think?

Front view. Even the floral garlands on the front of the stage are from the Kate Greenaway book.

Top view - this shows the depth of the stage. I had a proscenium arch that I was going to use but decided that this particular toy theatre looks better without it.

View from the front slightly to the side. Notice the girls chasing the little dog - they weren't originally in the same illustration together.

This side view helps show the depth of the stage. The elements on stage can all be moved around. Perhaps I will scan and print some other images so that there are even more stage elements to choose from.

Another view of the stage.

The little girl peeking out from the manicured shrubbery is in focus in this picture.

I like this picture showing one of the little girls in front in focus - this picture helps you imagine what it would be like to be on this tiny stage!

Project # 14 - An 18th Century Fashion Paper Doll

2010-02-17T07:00:00.001-05:00

This is another 18th century fashion paper doll which is similar to the Marie Antoinette doll I have offered up as my February giveaway. This lovely lady is called "Mademoiselle Innocence", because she is so sweet! She is made from my own drawing and painted with watercolours. Her gown is made from scrapbooking papers, lace and ribbon. She has a feather and a rhinestone in her hair.

Project # 13 - Lovely Purple Candle

2010-02-16T11:42:00.000-05:00

This project is a paper wrap for a candle. I love making these - they look so pretty as an instant centrepiece on the dining room table, or on a little side table keeping you company while curled up with a good book. This candle wrap was made with vintage papers and an embossed image of a gold crown. Of course this paper wrap must be slipped off before the candle is lit - it easily slides on and off. You can do the same kind of decoration around a glass candle holder and it is just stunning - and it doesn't need to be taken off before lighting.

It's hard to tell from the pictures but each layer of paper is 3 dimensional.

Score at the Antique Store! Amazing Kate Greenaway Illustrations

2010-02-15T11:42:00.000-05:00

There is an amazing antique place in Cambridge, Ontario that my fiance and I love to go to. It is called Southworks Antiques, and it is over 30,000 square feet of antiques and collectables! It always takes us a couple of hours to go through it, and we always find some wonderful things to buy. This weekend I had one of those rare antiquing experiences where you come across something truly extraordinary - a diamond in the rough - something that makes your heart race, and you pounce on it before someone else comes along and snatches out from under your nose!

One of the first things I came across on this particular trip was a stack of pages from an old book - each page carefully packaged inside a plastic sleeve. As soon as I saw the first page on the top of the pile, I immediately recognized the artwork of Kate Greenaway. For those of you who don't know Kate Greenaway, she is considered by many to be the most famous childrens' illustrator of all time. You can read more about her on Wikipedia here.

I picked up the stack of pages: they were large - 8 3/4" by 10 3/4", and appeared to be truly antique - softly browned and dark around the edges. The dealer had marked the pages simply as "Victorian book plates". The price was $1.75 per double sided page! I started rifling through the pile and was so excited by the beautiful illustrations. There were 21 pages and I bought them all. It would seem that the antique dealer didn't know what they had, as the price of the pages was too good to be true.

When Perry and I got home, we started researching our pages on the Internet. Fortunately, the title page was included in our collection, so this made it easy for us to find the date and particulars of our lucky find. Well even we were surprised when we realized that these pages are from a first edition of one of Kate Greenaway's most famous books, "Marigold Garden". It dates from 1885 and features woodblock illustrations coloured by Edmund Evans. There are several pages missing from our collection, and of course the individual pages are not as valuable as they would be if they were still bound inside the original book. Still, the pages are in excellent condition and they are gorgeous. I'm still so surprised by our stroke of good luck and I'm still admiring all the illustrations we scooped. At some point we will clean up the images in Photoshop and list scans of them for sale in our Etsy store.

Now I know that this is not a post about one of the "pretty things" I have made, but I am just so excited about these illustrations that I couldn't resist sharing them with you.

Project # 12 - A Pretty Altered Bottle - Silver Glitter Keeper

2010-02-10T11:13:00.001-05:00

This is a glass bottle I decorated with papers, ribbon and a crystal dangle. There is a lovely jewelled frame around an image of an 18th century lady which sits atop the stopper. I imagined this as a perfume bottle on a Queen's dressing table filled with a heady floral fragrance, but really it is a place to put some silver glitter inside! It gives it that extra sparkle factor too! I'd love to know what you think!

Take my 1st poll - trends in mixed media

2010-02-09T11:35:00.001-05:00

Hello mixed media friends. I'm curious to know what you think the next big trend will be in mixed media/altered art? For sure a big one the last couple of years has been Marie Antoinette. I myself love Marie and have made lots of Marie themed artwork. Now I want to know what you think - by understanding what's becoming popular in the field, I can try and gear some of my pretty things projects towards what people want to see. If you vote in my poll, leave me a comment letting me know you have done so, and I'll enter you in my February giveaway. If you've already left a comment for the giveaway, this will give you an EXTRA chance to win! If you chose "other" as your answer, please leave a comment letting us know what you think the next big trend will be!

Thanks for playing everyone! The poll is located at the top of the left hand column in this blog.

Tailor Made Pretty Shoes!

2010-02-08T19:36:00.001-05:00

I know I've been posting a lot of pictures of paper shoes, but here's one more post for you shoe lovers out there! Taylor from Petite Paperie was the first person to make shoes using my templates - what a relief they worked! She did a beautiful job, she left the toes pointy, which I love, and she had the clever idea to turn the shoes into Valentine candy holders! Brilliant! I recommend having a look at her lovely blog: http://petitepaperie.blogspot.com/
And it's not too late to register for Artist Class where you can make some shoes yourself! Use code 100prettythings for $10 off the registration fee.

More "pretty things" coming soon...

Fashion Challenges - Coco Chanel - Project # 11

2010-02-06T12:54:00.000-05:00

This is the second of my three fashion challenge projects - it's a Coco Chanel travel sewing kit. I used a large size matchbox, covered it with tartan paper (like I said, I'm loving tartan at the moment!), added an Eiffel tower charm, a piece of a broken pearl earring, a piece of black sparkly fabric and a picture of Coco herself. Inside the box is a travel sized sewing kit. Keep your fingers crossed for me that Stampington wants to publish this!

Here is a top view

And here is a little bit of information about Coco Chanel:

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist philosophy, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her an important figure in 20th-century fashion. She was the founder of the famous fashion brand Chanel. Her extraordinary influence on fashion was such that she was the only person in the field to be named on TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

And of course, I had to make one of my paper shoes! This one incorporates an image cut out of a fashion magazine as the insole.

Fashion Challenges - Fashionista Judy - Project # 10

2010-02-06T12:45:00.000-05:00

I love submitting artwork for consideration for publication with Stampington - especially Somerset Studio. Recently they put out a call for fashion themed mixed media projects, and I managed to come up with three! The deadline for Stampington to receive submissions for this challenge is February 15th, so if you want to submit your own artwork for consideration, click here for the details.

This was my first project - a papier mache mannequin figure that I dressed in a fashionable tutu style dress. I think it's very girly - what do you think?

I'm really loving plaid at the moment!

February Giveaway! Marie Antoinette Paper Doll

2010-02-04T11:21:00.000-05:00

Since I had such a good response to January's giveaway, I've decided to do it again! This time I'm offering up a paper doll I made of Marie Antoinette which was published in Somerset Studio Gallery, Winter 2010 issue. This doll was my own drawing which I painted with watercolours, I then made the dress with different papers, ribbon and lace. She has two tiny rhinestone earrings and a rhinestone in the sparkly feathery ornament in her hair. I have attached some scans of her in the magazine.

If you are interested in winning this Marie paper doll, please leave a comment in response to this posting. I will let the giveaway run all month and I will pick and announce a winner March 1st. Have fun and good luck!

Yummy Cupcake Stand! Project #9

2010-02-03T22:03:00.000-05:00

I just finished this cupcake stand, which I will call a "faux" cupcake stand because really it's just for show. There isn't a protective finish on the top of it so really it shouldn't be used for food, but it would make an excellent display stand for a tiara!

Actually, my good friend Cassandra has just started a wonderful blog called Sugar and Spice. For a small fee you can subsribe to her monthly ezine through this blog, which is filled with projects, downloads and other goodies. I have signed up to take part myself and the first project is faux cupcakes! They would go perfectly with my faux cupcake stand! If you're interested in signing up for Cassandra's blog please click on the button in the side bar of this blog. And in the meantime, let me know what you think of my cupcake stand!

The image with the cute lamb on the top was all done digitally in Photoshop - I'm learning a lot! I then printed it out and glued it to the lid from a round box. I painted the edges of the lid with pink and white paint and glued on some white ric rac. I also added pink glitter around the top edge and to certain parts of the image, like the little birds and the ribbon around the lamb's neck. I painted a wooden candlestick with pink and white paint and then glued blue tulle around the underside of the top part - it looks like a tutu on my cake stand. I then hot glued sequins here and there in the tulle to give a bit of sparkle, and finally I added a satiny pink bow to the front edge of the cake stand. And voila! It is ready for your favourite tiara now....

Artist Class Starts Monday February 1st - I hope you'll join us!

2010-01-31T21:11:00.000-05:00

Just a reminder that Artist Class starts tomorrow - Monday February 1st. For more details please see the information in the left hand column of my blog. Here is a picture of the projects that will be included just to tempt you!

My paper shoe will be one of the first featured projects. I hope you'll decide to come and join us! Remember you can use the code 100prettythings to get $10 off the registration fee. For the whole scoop and registration please visit the Artist Class blog: http://greenpaper.typepad.com/artist_class/

Giveaway Winner!

2010-01-31T11:44:00.000-05:00

The winner of the pop up shop is Paulette from Paulette Designs! Congratulations Paulette! Please drop me an e-mail with your mailing address and let me know if you would like the corset shop or the patisserie. Thanks everyone for playing, I love all the comments, and check back soon for another giveaway!

Project # 8 - Dreamers Often Lie - A Play on Words

2010-01-30T14:00:00.003-05:00

As some of you know, my background - formal education and experience - is in theatre design. I particularly love Shakespeare and I'm such a fan of his work, his themes are so universal and are very relevant today even after more than 500 years! When I left theatre school in the UK, I was lucky enough to work at the Royal Shakespeare Company for awhile. It was truly a dream come true. I am happy to go to any performance of any Shakespeare play, but my particular favourites (it's so hard to narrow the list!) are in no particular order: Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, A Midsummer's Night Dream, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew and Hamlet. I think that all of these are on the top of a lot of lists of favourite Shakespeare plays.

This particular artwork is based on a Shakespeare quote which is a clever play on words: " Dreamers often lie" from Romeo and Juliet. These words are spoken by Mercutio when he's speaking to Romeo. Here is the exchange between them:

ROMEO

I dream'd a dream to-night.

MERCUTIO

And so did I.

ROMEO

Well, what was yours?

MERCUTIO

That dreamers often lie.

ROMEO

In bed asleep, while they do dream things true.

You may recognize the Victorian image of the little girl who also appears in my blog banner. I just love this image of this girl, and it is so perfect for this piece because she looks like she is day dreaming. This artwork is meant to reflect some of her fanciful day dreams, like a cupcake garden, a bunny musical band, a baby fairy on a teacup and a

little fairy lady standing on a rose. The moon smiles over the whole scene.

I started with a shadowbox and added the elements in at different depths to create a 3-D scene. I added some silver pen strokes and a bit of glitter.

I like how this turned out and it's on display in my studio. I'd love to know what you think!

My Paper Shoes are now on Etsy!

2010-01-29T12:48:00.001-05:00

I just thought I'd drop a line to let you know that I've listed some paper shoes in my Etsy store. Also, if you are considering signing up for Artist Class, I'm posting some pictures here for encouragment. These two shoes were made by my fiance's daughters, aged 9 and 13. This project really is not very difficult and now the kids want to make more shoes - they're very addictive to make!

More Shoes! Getting ready for Valentine's Day

2010-01-26T01:24:00.001-05:00

As I have been mentioning on my blog, my pink paper shoe is going to be one of the tutorials featured in the upcoming Artist Class (you can sign up through the link to the left and use code 100prettythings for a $10 discount on the registration fee) I decided it was a perfect opportunity to create some shoes with a yummy, sweet Valentine theme. So here are some pictures of the 3 new shoes I made along with the original pink one.

They are actually much more sparkly and vibrant in person, but this gives you a good idea.

You can see some of the glitter better in this picture.

And finally, here's a tartan one I made for Robbie Burns Day!

I think I'm addicted to making these shoes! I would love to know what you think - which one's your favourite?

Little Pastry Shop!

2010-01-24T14:46:00.000-05:00

Okay, in my quest to make a selection of little pop up French shops, I now have the little pastry shop to add to the collection. For those of you who have entered the giveaway for the Beaux Corsets shop, you can choose whether you want the corset shop or the pastry shop.

This shop is mostly yellow and features a sweet image of a mother and her toddler entering the patisserie. I think it's quite sweet! (No pun intended!) I will now put it up for sale in my Etsy shop.

A different view

This is a scan of the shop windows. All of the goodies were hand drawn by me.

Happy Robbie Burns Day! Project #7

2010-01-24T14:36:00.001-05:00

Monday January 25th is Robbie Burns Day (Rabbie Burns to the Scots). My mother is Scottish - she is from a little place in the north east of Scotland, called Lossiemouth: it's a really beautiful place. I've always been very proud of my Scottish heritage, so I had to take the opportunity to do a Scottish project for this occasion.

Lossiemouth

When I was a little girl, my grandmother took me to a Robbie Burns celebration every year. Before dinner, the haggis was put on a velvet cushion and piped in by a bagpiper and a procession of people. They would read the Burns' poem, "Ode to a Haggis", and the haggis would be cut with a ceremonial sword and then served. Much to my grandmother's disappointment, I never wanted to eat the haggis, because I knew exactly what it was!

Haggis

In addition to Robbie Burns suppers, I attended many clan ceilidghs, highland games, and kirking of the tartan celebrations. I did Scottish country dancing for years and was lucky enough to make a number of trips to my mum's home town. In my youth I once spent 2 months travelling all over Scotland, and it was the trip of a lifetime - I will never forget all the beautiful scenery, the friendly people, and the pride in being of Scottish descent.

This project is a little wooden tray that I spray painted gold, and then collaged images to the inside of it. Really it's just for decoration, I wouldn't recommend actually putting a steaming cup of tea on this tray. I bought some antique Scottish sheet music ages ago and was just waiting for the perfect project to use it.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Robbie Burns, he was Scotland's most famous poet, and he lived from 1759 to 1796. He was only 37 when he died from a rheumatic heart condition. He is considered to be the pioneer of the Romantic movement in poetry, and his work influenced other famous Romantic poets including Wordsworth and Coleridge. One of his most famous poems is "My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose", so this is why there are red roses featured on this tray.

In 2009, the Scottish public voted to decide who should be named the Greatest Scot of all time. On St Andrew's day the results were reported, and Robert Burns was officially voted as being the Greatest Scot of all time, narrowly beating William Wallace, Scottish Patriot and Independence campaigner, for the title.

If you are interested in hearing this poem as a song along with a slideshow of images of antique Scottish art, check out this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBCQMWMbeMU My Scottish mum loves it!

Project #6 - Ooh La La - Pink Paper Shoe

2010-01-20T11:45:00.002-05:00

This pink shoe is pretty enough to be worn by Marie Antoinette herself - except for the fact it's made of paper! I made this shoe using templates I drew myself, so it truly is one of a kind.

This shoe was made from velvety flocked bright pink paper, some white "paper lace" which I made from one of my very nice paper punches. It has an image of Marie Antoinette on the top of the heel outlined with some silver German glass glitter (the best kind!). A lace flower with a pearl and a bright pink ribbon bow completes the look. I think it looks very fashionable - what do you think?

If you would like to learn how to make a shoe like this, you can sign up for "Artist Class", which is an online educational mixed media event starting February 1st. Mary Green from Green Paper is hosting this event - it was a huge success last year. Please check my blog for more details of what's involved and how to sign up. If you would like to go to the Artist Class website, click here. You can use the code 100prettythings for $10 off the cost of registering.

One of the only personal items of Marie Antoinette's to survive to this day is a simple satin slipper with ruched ribbon trim.

When Marie and her family fled the Revolutionaries in August of 1792, she lost her shoe in the street and had no time to stop and retrieve it. This solitary shoe was salvaged and is now housed in the collections of the museum of French history, the Musée Carnavalet – the majority of the queen’s wardrobe which was not looted in the riots which followed, was later dispersed through public auction, scattering the evidence of the queen of luxury’s indulgences to the four winds. Unfortunately much of what belonged to the Queen and her family was destroyed after she was executed, so all that's left to chronicle her exquisite taste in fashion is left only in painted pictures and portraits. The Queen's love of fashion led in part to her downfall and that of the French royal court. If you would like to read more about how fashion and politics interplayed during Marie's reign as the ultimate trendsetter, then I highly recommend reading "Queen of Fashion", by Caroline Weber - an excellent book.

1st Blog Giveaway! You can win your own "Beaux Corsets"!

2010-01-18T15:09:00.001-05:00

I have been wanting to do a giveaway on my blog since I began, and I think the perfect first giveaway would be to give someone a free "Beaux Corsets" model, which I will assemble and package carefully and send it along in the mail! If you are interested, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post and let me know you'd like to be entered in the draw. I will randomly pick a winner on Sunday January 31st. If you can't wait and want one now, please go to my Etsy store where you can purchase one! Thanks everyone!

Project #5 - Beaux Corsets, Pop Up Corset Shop

2010-01-17T20:48:00.002-05:00

I am so excited about this project, which has been on my mind for a very long time. For those of you who don't know, my background is in set and costume design for the theatre, so this is a project inspired by that part of my artistic experience. I used to love building scale set models, so this project is a version of a set model. This is a 3D pop-up of a lady standing in front of a corset shop called "Beaux Corsets". All of the background and stage elements were hand drawn by me, scanned into Photoshop and digitally coloured. The lady figure standing in front of the corset shop is from an 18th century fashion plate. The elements were cut out and glued together. This model stands 8 1/2 inches tall, and I hope that this is the first in a series of these little shops. I will now be putting this particular version up for sale in my Etsy store. If you would like one for yourself, please visit my store: http://www.sugarpapershop.etsy.com/

Beaux Corsets, French Corset Shop

A bit of a closer view

Side view

This is a scan of the back piece

Project # 2 - Update - Another Letters Box

2010-01-12T18:15:00.001-05:00

I really enjoyed making the letters box that I did for project #2 - so I made another one! This one was made for someone as a gift, and so it's not technically one of the "pretty things", but I thought I would share this one with you too. The original box, "pretty thing" #2 is on the left, and the new box with the typewriter is on the right. Let me know what you think!

Project #4 - Digital Collages - Fairy Ballerinas

2010-01-11T16:41:00.000-05:00

Until recently I didn't know how to do very much in Photoshop. I knew how to crop, how to rotate an image, and um....that's about it. With the help of my clever fiance and two Photoshop books my knowledge has grown leaps and bounds just this past week.

I used to have to print out absolutely every element I wanted to use in a collage. My favourite tools were my scissors, glue and ink pads. Now I know how to digitally cut things out, how to layer them, and oh! how to use the opacity tool to beautiful effect. These 3 examples are my first ever digital collages and I really like how they turned out. Soon I will be using these images to make tags and greeting cards which will go up for sale in my Etsy store. I would love to know what you think of these fairy ballerinas, and if you have any Photoshop tips you'd like to share, please leave a comment below.

Just a background note for interest. These ballerina images are of a famous 19th dancer called Marie Taglioni. The Victoria and Albert Museum (located in London) provides the following charming bit of information about her:

Marie Taglioni was the greatest ballerina of the 19th century, famous for her portrayal of ethereal, inhuman spirits. At a time when many men idealised women, her characters symbolised ideal womanhood - feminine, spiritual, ethereal and unattainable.

Taglioni is dancing on pointe (on the tips of her toes). This is first recorded as an acrobatic trick in the 1820s; that it became an essential part of the ballerina's technique was mainly due to Taglioni and the choreography created for her by her father, which used it expressively to suggest character and mood.

If the dress were longer, Taglioni would be in the height of fashion; the fitted bodice, full sleeves, conical skirt and elaborate hairstyle are typical fashionable wear of the early 1830s. Even her shoes are little more than evening slippers of the period. As pointe shoes, they gave little support, the only stiffening being a little darning at the back of the toes; the modern pointe shoe, with its flat, blocked toe, did not develop until later in the 19th century.

You can visit the V & A's extraordinary website here: http://www.vam.ac.uk/

Project # 3 - Sweet Pea Wall Hanging

2010-01-07T12:17:00.002-05:00

I just finished project #3 and I'm very pleased with it. This is a little piece of artwork glued on a piece of thick cardboard and hung from a satiny mint green ribbon. The image of the little girl I used is from my friend Trishia's Etsy store. She sells lots of vintage images that can be manipulated for use in a multitude of art projects. You can see her Etsy store French Kissed by clicking here.

This is the original image I used:
Here are the pictures of the finished artwork:

Here is a copy of the Victorian calling card that I used for the border in this piece. Grab it for use in your own artwork!

Have a great day!

Project # 2 - Letter Box

2010-01-07T11:00:00.010-05:00

With a nod to Anna Corba, I made a little box to store treasured letters. I printed out a huge number of Victorian trading cards and collected together some vintage papers, and I carefully chose the right combinations of papers for each side of the box. I collaged them all together and added a vintage button on top. It says "letters" on top of the box but of course you can put whatever you like inside.

If you aren't familiar with Anna Corba's work, I highly recommend getting one of her books, which can be purchased through Amazon (see my store link to the right) or through Chapters. I have her "Vintage Paper Crafts" book and it is full of beautiful projects. Her other book is called "Making Memory Boxes", and I don't have it yet but it's on my wishlist!

I had to show some restraint when making this box covered in old papers. It is usually my practice to ink the edges of every piece of paper I use in a collage. I really like what I will call the "elegant, tattered, shabby" look. Using ink on the edges of the papers makes the object look truly antique and usually makes the different elements "pop". I was determined to make this without inking any edges just to see how it would turn out. What do you know? I quite like it without any ink.

If you like the Victorian trade card image that I used for the top of this box, you can find it free of charge at http://www.graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/ Check out her post from Friday September 11th for this particular image.

Little Queen

2010-01-03T20:33:00.002-05:00

Little Queen, originally uploaded by 100 Pretty Things.

Hello Friends,

I have finally set up a Flickr account to show off some of my artwork - much of it has been sold through my Etsy store. I hope that you will click the link and take a look at some of my other artwork. You will see that I have a fascination with Marie Antoinette!

My online store can be found here: www.sugarpapershop.etsy.com

Project #1 Is Here!

2010-01-01T21:44:00.022-05:00

Dear Friends,
I have finished project #1 right on schedule...only 99 more to go!

I first came up with the idea for this project several months ago when Stampington set out a challenge for artwork inspired by Alice in Wonderland. I ran out of time and didn't meet the deadline for submissions, but I still wanted to bring my original idea to life.

This is a cone puppet toy, otherwise known as a pop-up puppet, a type of puppet which became popular in the Victorian period. Normally these puppets have fabric "skirts" that are attached to the top of the cone, but I left that bit out as I like my pop-up puppet as it is. I thought that "Alice down the rabbit hole" made a perfect subject for a pop-up puppet, as it looks like Alice is falling down the rabbit hole when the dowel is raised and lowered.

I recently re-read the story of Alice in Wonderland in its entirety once again, and it really is an inventive and engaging story. Now you can read the book for yourself at Open Library - a great website where you can search for and read classic books online for free (or download them on to your electronic reader). Check it out here: http://openlibrary.org/

Alice in Wonderland has remained consistently popular since it was first written, and thanks to a new Tim Burton film version coming out in March 2010, Alice is ultra fashionable once again.

You can check out the trailer for the new movie here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeWsZ2b_pK4

And if you're an artist yourself, grab this free graphic to use in your own artwork!

Best wishes for 2010,

Happy New Year! Let's get going...

2010-01-01T00:22:00.012-05:00

Hello friends,
Here's wishing you all an outstanding 2010! I hope the New Year brings you lots of joy.
I just wanted to post a message to say that project #1 is well under way, and I expect to be posting the results on Saturday January 2nd. Please check back and let me know what you think! In the meantime, here is a little clue:

Best wishes,

Here we go!

2009-12-29T14:27:00.025-05:00

Thanks for visiting my blog and taking a peek at the art challenge I've set for myself in 2010. This next calendar year is going to be my year of art! More specifically, I will be making 100 pretty things in 2010 and sharing my adventures along the way with you.

Here are my self-imposed rules:

1. I must create 100 pretty things in 365 days - or during the calendar year of 2010. The challenge begins January 1st 2010 and ends December 31 2010. I will attempt to do an average of at least 2 projects a week but the schedule may change as the year unfolds. Ultimately I must finish 100 projects.

2. The items I make must be "pretty", which I know is subjective, but as this is my challenge, I will use my own aesthetic sense in determining what is pretty. You may disagree with me, and I hope that whether you agree with me or not, you will leave a comment letting me know your opinions.

I will also be using the definition of "pretty" as defined by dictionary.com, which says in part:

pleasing or attractive to the eye, as by delicacy or gracefulness: "a pretty face".
(of things, places, etc.) pleasing to the eye, esp. without grandeur.
"pleasing to the ear: a pretty tune".
pleasing to the mind or aesthetic taste: "He writes pretty little stories".

3. The projects will all be "mixed media" or "altered art". Mixed media can be described as an artwork in which more than one medium has been employed. For the purposes of this challenge, not every project will incorporate more than one medium in its creation, but the span of projects over the year will incoporate a lot of different media including but not limited to: collage, drawing, painting, sewing, soldering, beading, jewellery making, photography, paper sculpture and digital composition. "Altered art" can be described as a form of mixed media artwork that changes something from its original form into a different form, altering its appearance and/or meaning. Altered books are very popular wherein a book (usually vintage) is cut, torn, glued, burned, folded, painted, added to, collaged, rebound, rubber-stamped, drilled and etc. The end result is a book that is totally different from its original form. A search for "altered book" on the Internet will yield many examples.

4. Each project will be photographed and the details of its creation shared via this blog. I will include project tips and techniques and from time to time will share free copies of copyright free images that I'm using in my own artwork. Check back for these free graphics as they will appear throughout my blog over the course of the year. I will include information for each project as to what my inspiration was, and also any other interesting information such as historical background on the subjects used. I will also provide links to other interesting websites such as those relating to the content of the blog and also other artsists whose work I admire and take inspiration from.

5. This one is more of a goal rather than a rule. I will attempt to stretch my abilities out of my comfort zone on a regular basis. I have never blogged before today - never even left a comment on a blog, so I'm plunging in and giving it my best go. I have a super expensive digital SLR camera but don't know how to use it properly, so I'm hoping that by challenging myself to take interesting photos of my own artwork, I will become a very good photographer. I am not good at image transfer techniques and my sewing skills are terrible, so I will be pushing myself to try new projects incorporating these elements, and the results whether good or bad will be posted here. I barely know how to use Photoshop or any other image editing software, so again, I'm hoping that practice will make (nearly) perfect! Please bear with me.

I really want this to be an interactive, interesting blog and I'm looking for as much participation from my audience as possible. I hope that you will check back with me throughout the year and let me know honestly how you think I'm doing. I would love any and all comments and suggestions, and I will try to incorporate ideas suggested by others reading my blog. I humbly thank you for sharing this journey with me.

Happy New Year! See you after January 1st!