Petite Inspiration Box Swap, Nesting Edition...

Heather of Speckled Egg hosts a wonderful swap in which four players decorate large match boxes and fill them with vintage goodies. The creativity that is shown in making the match boxes is amazing. Check out the Flickr site here for a real treat...

I am always excited to see different styles that people have in their art creations.`

I participated in her Valentine Edition swap and am now ready to get busy working on the Petite Inspiration Nesting Swap. I may show you a bit of that as I go along (though I don't want to ruin the surprises) but I will show you what I did for the Petite Inspiration Box Swap, Valentine Edition...



I decorated the covers of the boxes with a beautiful piece of red silk velvet (hint...Fabritac is a great glue). I have a small collection of vintage Valentine's cards and was told by an antique dealer that this one was from the twenties. I love the sweet scene! I put that on two thick sheets of cardboard so it would be raised, and put German silver glitter on the sides. I had purchased hearts with German silver glitter and I placed those on different places of the boxes. I used various kinds of vintage lace to further decorate the boxes. Some of the laces were tinged with a bit of colored paint on the tips.



The inside of the boxes were painted with silver paint. I then filled the boxes with all sorts of vintage treasure. I have a lot of vintage lace which I wrapped in circles like tiny bonbons. I put a little button or flower on top of each so it would look like they were decorated. Underneath the "bonbons," I put other bits and bobs...charms, vintage papers, a set of Valentine flash cards from Cari Craft, German scrap and all manner of doodads. Everyone got a plastic box of vintage beads, as I have quite a large collection. I tried to include at least two of each so my partners could make some earrings.

It was a lot of fun and I am finding myself doing three different boxes this time. My partners all seemed so different so that seemed appropriate.

So today is the day I really get busy on these. Onward and upward!

-Suz

I'm Late!!! I'm Late!!!

For a very important date! Oh dear, Karla Nathan's Alice in Wonderland Tag Swap was due yesterday. I even got a call from my friend, Donna, asking for Karla's address and still didn't catch on. I was busy wrapping little gifts for Karla and her daughter, Sugarwings, and putting different colors of tissue on the package and different kinds of ribbon. Oh, you know the play that we do!!! When I realized that, right then, March 10, was the due date and I had one hour to get to the post office (and had not taken pictures!) I had a mini-breakdown. The biggest hurdle was the pictures. Kat was here and came to my rescue.

I had a lot of fun doing these tags and trying to be "just a little different." My goal since Silver Bella has to try to push myself a little bit farther and do my best work.

As luck had it, I found four wallpaper books at my new favorite store, Art Scraps, in St. Paul. I would guess they are from the seventies and but one had some nice "old fashioned" blue paper that just matched my Alice's...yes, there are two. I am slowly gaining some "real" vintage wallpaper but not enough to use. I am hoarding it!

Here is a picture of both sides of my card, 

with an old illustration of Alice and one 

from the new movie. 

This picture better shows some beautiful antique dishes I own. The one on the left was painted by my great-grandmother, Rose Daniels, about a hundred years ago. I simply love the shape. The china on the right is Limoge which I inherited from my Nana Carol.

This is a nice "melange" that Kat did. You can see the old lace at the bottom. I am becoming a lover of old lace and old embroidery. The lace on this piece is so very fine and beautiful!

Here is the front, which says.

"Mirror, Mirror on the wall.

Who's the fairest Alice of them all?"

I used a little literary license here...we get to be creative, right?

Then there is the lovely mylar mirror. I got a big sheet from Art Scraps for one dollar! This stuff is a bear to work with, though. It picks up any little fingerprint, dust scratches it, so on, so on. But it looks rather cool here!

And here is the "new Alice." It says (from the book)

"You are Absolutely Alice. I would know you anywhere"

I added the,"ME" So, I guess she is the fairest. At least this was my opinion at the moment, especially when I saw this phrase. 

Whew! It is off in the mail. I am only wishing I saved one for myself...I never seem to do that. I sent a book to Karla and her grandaughter, Sugarwings. Not before I used the book for Karla to copy that 

"new Alice." 

Thanks, Karla!

(And thanks, Kat, for the photography help. You are a gem!)

-Suz

The Annual Woman's Retreat

This is my dear friend, Donna, and I. We have just finished doing the "Chicken Dance." Why, you ask? The answer is simple...it was part of the frivolity of our annual woman's retreat, of course! Just a bit of nonsense that we add to an annual retreat that combines spirituality, arts and crafts, great food, walking in the beautiful outdoors and is held at a wonderful center in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota.

Last year, our theme was "Nesting." We like to love to decorate to match our theme (us being Silver Bellas and all ;-)) and even have all the accoutrements match (the file folder, the name tag, the journal, the pencils, etc. etc. etc).  This lovely banner was made by Hope Mallott, my swap partner in the banner swap hosted by Kari Ramstrom, Artsy Mama. It was part of her wonderful "A Year Of Color."

Our "serious time" included journaling, discussions, music and poetry around the life cycle of the bird (metaphorically, us as women).We ended with discussions about leaving this world, including the great tunes, "Why Walk When You Can Fly" and" I'll Fly Away." This is me being serious...

In the evening, us Mama Birds, had a Mamma Mia dance contest, followed by the movie. That's where the chicken dance came in (we didn't win but we thought we were pretty cute). 

This is our tenth year of doing the retreat and it will be held in (gulp) five weeks. We are busy getting ready. Donna flew in (like a bird-haha) last week to help plan for "Walk In Beauty." We spent five days busily planning, making assignments for leading sessions, discussing and making lists for "fitting crafts" and tearing our hair out when it didn't seem it fit together. In the end (as is typical) all turned out well. Donna left on Monday (I was so sad as were the furbabies who were treated to daily walks). We both have a lot of work to do but I trust it will all fit together. I will fly to Rapid City several days before the retreat. This year (for the second time), Kat is going to assist us. We are so pleased. She is so creative, fun and a great help. 

I promise I will have pictures...you can trust that some will be really funny!
-Suz

A Very Special Gift

I came home today and was met by my daughter, who told me,"Mom, I have something special for you. You are really going to like it." The gift...a blog for the two of us! I cannot tell you how delighted I am! I have wanted a blog for so long. I am an insatiable reader of blogs and have often been asked by those in the crafty crowd, "Do you have a blog?" For a long time, having a blog has seem "out of my reach."

When I went to Silver Bella, everyone had blogs! They all had darling little cards they exchanged called "Moo Cards," (miniature pieces of art) and the address of their blogs and etsy stores. I was dazzled. Now I have an Etsy store and a blog!

I felt the same way about "swaps." There was something about being in a swap that "legitimized" you as a person who was "good enough" at art and craft. I was terrified to do my first swap and had my whole family help me put my May Basket together to get to Canada on time. Being in Kari Ranstrom's "A Year of Color" helped me feel much more comfortable with joining swaps.

The last swap I did was Heather's (Speckled Egg) Petite Inspiration Box Swap. It finally seemed relaxed and fun and I really enjoyed making my boxes. You cannot see the material on the boxes (it was a beautiful piece of dark red silk velvet) nor can you see what covers the hearts (beautiful German silver glitter) but you can get the idea. I felt proud and felt that I was "good enough" to be in a swap.

Thank you, Kat, for the best gift that I have had in ages- a blog!

-Suz