Glitter Retreat - Part Two

I'm so behind on posting! Glitter Retreat was over a month ago, so I'd best show the rest of my photos. If you missed my first post with my swap creations and links to Cindy's Paper Crown Glitter Retreat posts, you can find it here. Today I'm sharing what I received from the three swaps, and a peek at the swag. 

First up is the bracelet swap. The bracelet I received was made by Pattye, and I love it! Here's a pic someone took when I received it (borrowed from the Paper Crown blog.)

The bracelet is leather and stamped with some of Catherine Moore's Character Constructions stamps. It's very cool.

Swap two was the Embellished Slipper swap. I received Sharon's slipper, made from one of her friend's ruffled honeymoon scuffs. She covered it in pink roses, buttons, and pink and yellow seam binding. The front is finished with a rhinestone crown. So very cute!

We were to fill our shoes with French brocante goodies, but Sharon went above and beyond and gave me a Vera Bradley tote bag with a cute metal bin and so many great goodies!

She included lots of French-themed stamps, stickers, and other embellishments that will be perfect for completing the French journal project from the retreat. Soaps with a cute dish, a pretty towel, buttons, ribbons and so much more! 

The last swap was the paper doll swap. Mine came from Kathy, and has one of my favorite quotes on the front. The tag is pretty and multi-layered and I love it! Anything with birds, you know!

As I said in my last post, the Character Constructions paper doll creations were amazing! 

Now, for the swag - and what a lot of swag there was! We were totally spoiled - not only with delicious French style home cooking, beautiful class creations, and so much fun, but also with many wonderful gifts and treats. 

This is just a portion of the lovely things we received. Each instructor provided a little gift as well as lots of extras in their class kits. A couple of people brought little fun things for everyone, and we received gifts at each of our field trip stops. Everyone received a huge French market basket that Cindy filled with fun things from Paper Crown, and our bags were full as we headed home. 

I'll be looking forward to next year's Glitter Retreat! 

Glitter Retreat 2016 - My Swap Creations

Glitter Retreat 2016 was wonderful! The best classes, fun swaps, and the decor was amazing! Cindy has several detailed posts about Glitter Retreat on the Paper Crown blog - I've provided links below to them all - so I'm going to focus on the swaps and the swag. For this post I'll show my swap creations.

There were three swaps, and I joined all three. Swaps and classes seem to be just about the only time I make anything anymore so I join when I can.

One was a paper doll swap, using Catherine Moore's Character Constructions stamps. I used my oldest and one of my favorites of the stamps for this project. The wings are from a piece of scrapbook paper. I had used the rest of the paper several years ago but didn't need the wings at the time so saved them for something special. It's hard to tell in the pictures, but the wings are textured and glittered.

Since the theme was French Flea Market, I used the French 'create' on the little banner. 

A bit of filigree metal for a crown, some aqua rhinestones, and a bit of lace were my finishing touches. I was pleased with her but compared to some of the creations for the swap, I am a rank amateur! If you visit the Swaps link below you'll see what I mean. The other creations were simply amazing! 

There was also a bracelet swap. I copied a bracelet I love that a friend had given me several years ago. 

In spite of my lack of wire wrapping experience, it turned out fairly well. I love the vintage beads I had on hand and the little MOP heart charm. 

I had a little doll train case I had found years ago at an estate sale. It was perfect as a case for the bracelet with the addition of a couple of French tags.

The last swap was a embellished French slipper swap. After looking for several weeks I didn't find anything particularly French, so used a sequined pump from the thrift store.

I added rose trim around the top and lined the inside with vintage wallpaper trimmed with a beaded flourish. The front was embellished with a black ribbon rose shoe clip with a vintage earring in the center. On the back I added a frog closure. 

Inside the shoe we were to place items that might be found at a French brocante. I included lace, buttons and other embellishments in a little bag, vintage black sequin and net trim, gold foil Dresden pieces, and a bit of vintage millinery.

Everything was secured inside the shoe with a swath of black tulle. I had French tissue paper, and French tags were tied to the bag with seam binding. 

My camera was broken when I took these photos, so please excuse the poor quality. A new camera has been secured and I'll have better photos in my next post of the fun things I received from the swaps.

Here are the promised links to the Glitter Retreat 2016 posts on the Paper Crown blog. Enjoy!

Day 1

Day 2

Decor, Field Trips, and Class II

An Evening in Paris

Class III and Lunch Decor

Class IV and More

The Swaps

April Finds

Things seem to be picking up in estate sale land. There was a sale a few weeks ago about an hour away in a home that had been occupied by the same family for around 100 years. It just happened to be the same town where we rescued one of our Bassets, Henry, so we have fond thoughts and were happy to make the drive. 

I didn't buy a lot, but did find things I love. The small 70s suitcase is in great condition but...I didn't notice the front zipper was broken until I got to the car. I'm hoping it can be repaired. The tablecloth has some stains but lots of clean areas so will be a good cutter. I can't resist vintage slips, especially in pink. They usually sell quickly. I just got a few of the hankies and dresser scarves that were available since I already have so many, but the one with sweet birds and a flower garland was a must-have.

Someone used lots of pretty vintage millinery flowers to decorate this doll hat. I'll be removing them to use on projects and in inspiration kits. I was excited when I first saw it, but when I turned it over...

I saw that they had also decorated the underside of the brim! What a great find, and the price was great, too.

This little guy also came home with me. These are pretty readily available online and there are probably reproductions, but this one appears to be original to the 1940s or so. Pretty much everything in the kitchen was from the 1960s or before. It's in excellent condition, so hopefully someone in Etsy land will fall in love with him.

This 1940s Horsman bride doll was purchased this past weekend while I was at Glitter Retreat (more on that in my next few posts.) She was at a local consignment decorating store, and was half price at their sidewalk sale but still more than I usually pay. I bought a few other things and left her behind, but just had to go back for her. She'll be going to Etsy as soon as I clean her up a bit. 

My room is piled with things, so I'm not sure why I'm anxious for more estate sales. I need to list what's already here before buying more. 

We finally broke down and got a new computer (NOT an HP! Never again!) and then my camera broke. I'll be blogging and listing with iPhone pics until I replace it. It was fairly inexpensive and gave me thousands of photos over the last six years, so I can't complain.

Glitter Retreat posts coming soon!

Vintage Dragonfly Snippet Roll Swap - Part Two

In my last post I shared the snippet roll I made for Vintage Dragonfly's recent snippet roll swap. Today I want to share the beautiful snippet roll that JoAnne made for me. 

Isn't it lovely? Every little detail makes me happy.

I love how she used the large key as the hanger, and the sweet little rose print on the fabric, plus that pretty pin and the vintage pearls.

Look at that sweet little Miss with her crown, and the pretty trims with just a touch of pink. JoAnne's style is what I aspire to - the true spirit of snippet rolls. Mine always get too precise and organized, in spite of my best efforts. Too many years of making clothing, I suppose, but I'll keep trying to achieve this look that I enjoy so much.

Every element she used is something I love, and it all fits together perfectly. 

Thank you, JoAnne! Your wonderful creation is proudly displayed in my craft room.

Vintage Dragonfly Snippet Roll Swap - Part One

JoAnne at Vintage Dragonfly hosted a snippet roll swap last month. I knew that I wanted to make something using images from the 1900 Home Needlework Magazine from the treasure box that I purchased last year. 

The magazine included a story on the latest fashions and fabrics, with wonderful hand drawn illustrations of period dresses. The artist inserted actual photos of women's faces. 

I used the images on some tags last fall, but thought they'd be perfect for this project.

I tried lots of bits and pieces and struggled to find the right amount of black. Ultimately, less turned out to be best. The black and cream striped ribbon is probably my all-time favorite and was ideal for this.

It turned out to be less about "snippets" and more about just finding something that looked good with the images, but I still love the end result.

I had trims that were very similar to style of the hemlines of two of the dress images so I just had to use those.

For the back I used ads from the magazine. I re-sized them to be more uniform and to fit on the fabric.

Here it is all rolled up and tied with seam binding.

In my next post I'll share the beautiful snippet roll JoAnne made for me. 

What I need is more swaps. They motivate me to create, and that always makes me happy. I've joined three swaps for the upcoming Glitter Retreat and can't wait to get started!

A St. Paddy's Day Pocket Letter

Laurie sent me a beautiful Valentine-themed pocket letter last month, and I responded with some St. Patrick's Day creations for her. 

The Graphics Fairy had many great images to choose from so I included several. The velvet bow came from a vintage hat, and had been on my work table for some time waiting for the perfect project.

The first row has a tiny green millinery flower and some vintage buttons with a Graphics Fairy image in the center.

Row two includes two Graphics Fairy images, plus a bit of bling in the center pocket.

Row three has lace snippets, millinery, a bit of a rhinestone and floral necklace, vintage buttons, and ribbon rosettes.

This was my first pocket letter and it proved to be a bit addicting. I finished the front and just couldn't stop, so I filled the back side of each pocket, too!

It was too hard to decide between the images of the ladies and I could only use one for the tag, so I included two more for Laurie. Some of the papers were purchased specifically for this project, but it was surprising how many green bits there were in my stash. The flamingo card is a bit out of place, but I knew Laurie would like it and it was a perfect fit.

Laurie was in a recent swap where participants exchanged ribbon dolls and that inspired me to try one on this tag. 

The flower "badge" came from more bits from my table and a fun button I had just received, and I had to include some trim, of course, and a bit of beautiful velvet.

Someday I hope to have more vintage finds to share. I'm a bit flummoxed by the lack of good estate sales so far this year. They've all been too high-end and "new" for this vintage loving soul.

In the meantime, hope you've enjoyed seeing these bits of green. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Fabric Marbling - Possibly Even More Fun Than Paper Marbling!

The talented Chris, who has taught several paper marbling classes at Paper Crown recently, taught a fabric marbling class last month. It's hard to describe just how blown away we've all been with these classes. You splatter paint onto treated water, comb and swirl, lay the paper or fabric onto the water surface, and get something amazing every time. 

Here are Chris and Cindy prepping the water for their next prints.

The printed fabric was placed on newspaper to dry. 

Here are some closeups. 

I'm not sure who created this next one, but I love it. 

And here are my four. The colors are a bit more vibrant than they look in the photos.

The fabric, a lightweight cotton broadcloth, isn't stiff at all. The fabric can be heat set with an iron, and is then fully washable. It could be used for so many things - if one can bear to cut it up!

Of course, a lot of prep work goes into this process before the class. Chris has to spend several days treating the water, prepping the fabric, mixing paints, and many other things. She does all the hard work, and we have all the fun. Thanks, Chris, and thanks to Cindy at Paper Crown for asking Chris to teach!