Window Display Sneak Peek

Looks like a mess right now, but I think its going to be super cute. I'm also really excited about a table/desk that is going into one of the windows. Here is a sneak peek of it:

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April Newsletter

Spring is here! And that means….flowers! We have a fun paper flower wreath DIY featured, but first, all our exciting news:

Thanks so much to the ladies who attended the Altered Book Class on April 10th, you guys did awesome! 

April 21st: Intro to Scrapbooking Class! Been thinking about starting a scrapbook, but just don’t know where to begin? We will introduce some tools and techniques and finish one page layout. Please bring 1-3 photos that you want to use. $20.00 (paper trimmer, adhesive, paper, and embellishments included) 2:00-4:00pm

April 26^th: 4-5 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

April 27^th: 6-8 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm

May 3^rd: Spool of Kindness Class! Altered art wooden spools with messages/greetings wrapped around and held in place with an enclosure. Perfect way to brighten a day! $15.00, all materials included. 7:00-9:00pm

*We are not scheduling a repeat class for the month of May, but if you are interested in one of the classes we have had in the past and know of 2-5 others interested, please let us know and we will schedule a class for your group.

Our featured project this month is a springy paper wreath with paper roses on it. Start with an extruded (rounded edges) styrofoam wreath in whatever size you like. Rip out quite a few book pages from an old book that is not valuable to you (can be found at a thrift store or garage sale). Begin ripping the pages in small strips lengthwise so that you have long but skinny strips (the wider the strips, the more your pages will wrinkle). Using PPA glue, brush glue on the back of a strip of paper and wrap it around the wreath. Keep tearing strips of pages and gluing until you have covered the entire wreath. Wait for an hour for it to dry thoroughly. Then brush PPA over the top of the entire paper-covered wreath. Let it dry. While it is drying, make your paper roses. I made some from cardstock and some from book pages (cardstock is easier, as the book pages rip easily). These are the paper roses I demonstrated at the library and have posted a youtube video on facebook and the blog on how to make them if you prefer to watch it done. Cut a circle out of the paper (about 4-6 inches) and beginning on one side cut a spiral shape into the circle, leaving a small circle (1-2 inches) in the center of your spiral. Next, begin rolling the tail of your spiral in until you reach the middle. Let it go. After it loosens to your desired size, put a dot of PVA glue on the circle in the middle glue the rest of the rolled rose to it. Make as many roses as you want on your wreath. Wrap ribbon or paper raffia around your wreath gluing it in place. Attach your paper roses sticking decorative stick pins through the center of the rose into the wreath. Attach ribbon or lace around the top of your wreath to hang it with. Enjoy your spring wreath! (PPA, PVA, cardstock, and paper raffia are available at the store)

P.S. Watch for great Mother’s Day/Graduation sales coming up and our facebook contest!

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Paper Rose Tutorial

There are tons of beautiful paper flowers out there and I see more and more everyday on Pinterest! They are such a beautiful, yet affordable way to decorate with flowers. I've done complex folded origami ones and crepe paper ones that require a lot of gluing and cutting, so what I like best about the roses we show you how to make here is that they are super simple and still look beautiful. Enjoy!

Or here on youtube.Tweet

March Newsletter and list of Classes

It’s so gorgeous outside, almost feels like summer instead of spring… And spring doesn’t even start for another week, we’ve been so lucky! And we’re lucky to be able to share all of our spring news with you!

March 22^nd: Keepsake Box Class! Create a beautiful keepsake box for little treasures and mementos that can be kept on display. $25.00, materials provided, but you may want to bring some of your keepsakes to use as a reference for the theme of your box. 7:00-9:00pm

March 24th: Image Transfer Class! Create beautiful altered art using different techniques and mediums for transferring images onto surfaces (mainly soft gel). $25.00, mediums and materials provided but please bring a small image that you want to use. (works better for beginners to start with something small) 2:00-4:00pm

March 29^th: 4-5 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm.

March 30^th: 6-8 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm.

March 31^st: Friends of the Library Demonstration on making paper flowers! At Valentine Public Library, 10:00am.

April 10^th: Altered Book Class! $20.00. Mediums and materials provided, but feel free to bring any photos, quotes, or embellishments you want to use. An altered book is an existing book that is glued, stamped, painted, collaged, and cut and/or torn. 7:00-9:00pm

April 21^st: Intro to Scrapbooking Class! Been thinking about starting a scrapbook, but just don’t know where to begin? We will introduce some tools and techniques and finish one page layout. Please bring 1-3 photos that you want to use. $20.00 (paper trimmer, adhesive, paper, and embellishments included) 2:00-4:00pm

To bring a little spring inside, our featured project this month is a succulent book planter. We first saw the idea on greenweddingshoes.com and realized that it was the same concept as the Altered Book Frame we had a class on last year. Start with an old hardcover book that is 2 or 3 inches thick that you are ok with cutting up. If you want book pages showing instead of the inside cover, open a few pages before you draw the rectangle that you will cut out. Measure and draw pencil lines with a ruler to create a rectangle in the center of the page, leaving about an inch to 1 and ½ inches around the edges. Take a craft knife and begin cutting along your line. You will cut through about 5 or 6 pages at a time. Continue cutting (this will take a while!) until you are about a ¼ inch from the back cover. Then place a cutting mat between your last page and the cover so that you don’t end up cutting through the back cover. Cut through the rest of your pages. Next, you will wire the pages together so that they lay flat and are more solid. To do this, pull back a few of the pages on top and drill through the rest of the pages. Drill 2 holes about 1 inch apart on three sides of the book (6 small holes total). Run thin wire down through one hole and up through the one next to it and twist the wire together on top. Do this with each of the three sides. Then using PPA glue or mod podge (we recommend PPA), glue down the back page to the back cover and glue the few pages without holes over the rest of the wired together pages so that you can't see the wire. Seal the inside of your hollowed out space with glue too. When that dries, line the space with plastic wrap. Sprinkle a few pebbles in the bottom. Next, fill your space with cactus or succulent soil. Poke some succulents in the soil and fill in any extra space with moss. Because there is no drainage, and succulents do not need much water, you will only need to very infrequently water it with an ounce of water. We have these two planters for sale in the shop:

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Keepsake Box

So excited about our Keepsake Box Class on March 22nd! There are so many things you can do with these boxes! I used Webster's Pages Sunday Picnic papers, Graphic 45's altered art box and metal tag, and a Tim Holtz curio knob and glass vial. Such a fun project! I'm imagining so many other possibilities with different papers: baby keepsake boxes, gifts for bridesmades like this one, a place to keep and display all your sweet little antique findings like vintage hankies, and so much more!Tweet

Spring Is Coming!

So excited for spring, what a gorgeous day outside! I'm sure we'll get more snow, but so thankful for the beautiful days that promise that spring will soon be here!Tweet

Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek of a few things going into our spring window displays. So excited to see how it all turns out!
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February Newsletter

Happy Valentine’s Day! February is a very busy month and we are so excited to share our news with you! Thanks to everyone who came out to our 1 Year Anniversary Celebration on the Bull Bash! And thanks to all of you for being the best customers ever, you are so inspiring and encouraging by your awesome creativity and support for our store, we love you! You are the best Valentines we could ask for J.

February 16^th: Altered Book Class! $20.00. Mediums and materials provided, but feel free to bring any photos, quotes, or embellishments you want to use. An altered book is an existing book that is glued, painted, collaged, stamped, cut and/or torn.  It is “relaxed” art.  You don’t need to be an expert to create pages that you’ll love. 7:00-9:00pm

February 23^rd: 4-5 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm.

February 24^th: 6-8 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm.

March 10th: Image Transfer Class! Create beautiful altered art using different techniques and mediums for transferring images onto surfaces (mainly soft gel). $25.00, mediums and materials provided but please bring a small image that you want to use. (works better for beginners to start with something small) 2:00-4:00pm

March 22^nd: Keepsake Box Class! Create a beautiful keepsake box for little treasures and mementos that can be kept on display. $25.00, materials provided, but you may want to bring some of your keepsakes to use as a reference for the theme of your box. 7:00-9:00pm

 Our featured project this month is a romantic vintage hanging postcard that we have for sale in the shop. Perfect for a sweet Valentine. Using soft gel medium, we transferred a vintage image on to an old playing card. We then adhered the playing card with PPA glue onto a Papaya postcard that we sell in our shop (come as a set in a tin). Next we added embellishments, stamps, and pieces of torn tissue paper. Finally we punched holes and set eyelets with the Big Bite Crop A Dile, and strung wire or ribbon through the top. 

(Sorry this is a little late and I still can't seem to get the picture to post, which is why its late, so anyway if you would like to see a photo of the project please check it out here on our pinterest page.) 

Thanks so much and hope you had a great Valentine's Day!

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January Newsletter!

 

Our 2012 year is starting off awesome, hope yours is too! We are so excited to share all our news with you!

January 19th: Image Transfer Class! Create beautiful altered art using different techniques and mediums for transferring images onto surfaces (mainly soft gel). $25.00, mediums and materials provided but please bring a small image that you want to use. (works better for beginners to start with something small)

January 26th: 4-5 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm.

January 27th: 6-8 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm.

February 11^th: One Year Anniversary! Lots of great sales, drawing, and treats!

February 16^th: Altered Book Class! $20.00. Mediums and materials provided, but feel free to bring any photos, quotes, or embellishments you want to use. An altered book is an existing book that is glued, painted, collaged, stamped, cut and/or torn. It's "relaxed art." You don't need to be an expert to create pages you'll love.

Our featured project this month is paper covered vintage suitcases. Mom has done a wonderful job of covering two suitcases for sale in our shop. She used cutter bee scissors, a craft knife, PPA glue, and paper (all from the store) to create gorgeous finished products. She measured and cut the paper to size, using the craft knife to go around small areas like the handles.  Tip: Press the paper down over the metal hardware, rubbing it to create an indention in the paper so you can see where to cut it. Cut it slightly bigger so that you have some room to work with the paper, you can always trim it down as you go. Then she brushed PPA glue on the back of the paper, in small areas at a time, and stuck it down, smoothing out bubbles and wrinkles as she went. She then let it sit over night to make sure the glue was thoroughly dry before applying the first coat of PPA over the top of the paper covered suitcase. She applied three light coats of PPA over the suitcase, allowing each time to dry (about an hour) before adding the next coat. Finally, she sealed the whole surface with a coat of spray polyurethane.  The cream and pink suitcase was made using a set of Papaya Fine Paper Wrap, and the map/adventure suitcase was made using 12x12 sheets of 7 Gypsies paper. They make awesome decorative storage containers that can used for so many things. They can also be stacked on other vintage suitcases, a tray table, a small bench, or luggage rack to create a beautiful end table.

We hope you have a great day!

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December Newsletter!

We hope you are having a wonderful December and are excited to share our news with you!

December 29th: 4-5 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm.

December 30th: 6-8 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm.

January 14th: Alcohol Ink Class! $25.00, includes applicator, 3 bottles of alcohol ink, blending solution, and tags and tiles. 2:00-4:00pm

January 19th: Image Transfer Class! Create beautiful altered art using different techniques and mediums for transferring images onto surfaces. $25.00, mediums and materials provided but please bring a small image that you want to use. (works better for beginners to start with something small)

*Holiday Hours: Open until 8:00pm on Thursdays, open from 1-5 on Sunday the 18^th, open until 7:00pm on the 19^th – 23^rd (until 8:00 on that Thursday)

Check out our awesome coupon sale! Lots of great deals for Christmas, simply click here and print!

Now that I’ve got some of my Christmas shopping done, I’m excited about wrapping presents! Not excited enough to do all my brother’s for him (he usually asks me to wrap a ton gifts the day before Christmas J), but excited to get creative with my own. Love to use vintage items and simple things to wrap and decorate gifts and I really liked this blog post on One Charming Party about using simple things to wrap gifts. Click here to see their great ideas! If you don’t have any of those items at home, we have some great simple items at the shop to wrap with too. Baker’s twine, burlap, handmade tags, and paper ornaments make great package decorations!

If you are not as into the handmade gift wrap look, we also have some high quality elegant Christmas gift wrap from Madison Park Greetings and Wooster and Prince!

Happy gift wrapping, and Happy Holidays! We wish you the merriest of Christmases this year! Tweet