Spring Friends Collage

I'd like to share this collaged postcard I made for Dawn in our Paper Whimsy group. The theme is Spring Friends.
This is Emma. She loves Spring. An only child, she enjoys swinging in the garden and visiting with friends, real and imaginary....

Emma's dress is embellished with antique lace and tiny beads. Images are Paper Whimsy and Land of Enchantment.

A Blissfully Wand-erful Swap

Wendy, of Bliss Angels, hosted a Spring Wand Swap that provided a bit of spring fun and magic for all of us lucky fairy girls. After receiving our fairy names (you can find your own at The Original Fairy Name Generator site) the wand making commenced.
My fairy friend was Gossamer Corndancer, aka, Amy of
Ruby Moon Art.
Isn't this a wonderful piece of creative whimsy? A wooden spoon all decked out in buttons, satin ribbons, ruffled crepe, lace and a sprinkle of glitter.
I, Bindweed Rainbowfilter, in turn wanted to make a wand fit for a Spring Fairy Queen.
Using a chopstick that I gold-leafed, I attached some white feathered wings and an embellished frozen charlotte wearing a jeweled crown. Hanging as the backdrop was shabby, sheer ribbon adorned with topaz crystals and strands of chunky gold stones. The wand top was finished with a transparent berry bead and pearl stickpin.

Thanks Wendy, or should I say Petal Elfweb, for a magical and most unique swap experience!

Happy Easter

Friday Easter Bunny Freebie

This working full-time stuff is really cutting into my creating and blogging time! Just wanted to pop in and wish you all a happy weekend and share another sweet vintage Easter image...

New Reveals & New Swap Announcement

There are some really great altered matchboxes being posted in my new flickr swap group. You can visit by clicking on the sidebar image, announcing the next swap, Treasures of the Sea.Imagine the possibilities!!!
This group is open to all US and Canadian swappers (sorry, it's a cost of postage barrier). Join us and give it a try. They're small, fun and very addictive!

The super talented Lynn, of
Trash to Treasure Art,
was my more than generous partner in our current Things With Wings swap.Isn't that a stunning box? I can't believe the amount of goodies she managed to cram in there. And the tag and butterfly were unexpected extra-special gifts!

Jeanie, of All My Art was the winner of my blogiversary giveaway and I can now reveal what she won. This is one of the large matchboxes that I covered in burlap. It's kind of an interesting display. I didn't know where it was going when I started but it kind of came together nicely. Lots of ribbons and trims, glass beads, metal beads, tulle, real bird feathers, a vintage miniature nest and bird, even a stick.. a little jute fringe trim on the sides, and hopefully lots of things Jeanie will have fun with...

Oooh La La, It's Time for a Tutorial

Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday! My guest artist for April is papercrafter and scrapbooker extraordinaire, Sandi, of Maximum Embellishment. With the "all things French" theme popping up everywhere, Sandi's French Memo Board Layout is timely and tres magnifique!

This is the perfect solution for a second page in a two page vintage or heritage layout - use those small photos which don’t make a page all in themselves but go along with your subject matter, for displaying and storing related ephemera.

Supplies:
1 12x12” Bon Marche – Graphic 45 Fashionista Line
1 6x12” navy blue cardstock
2 yards ½” navy blue ribbon/vintage seam binding
4 regular size navy brads 9 mini size navy brads
Navy ink
¼” double-sided tape - this is important, nothing works as well adhering ribbon or fabric to paper.
Zip Dry glue - this is one of the best glues to use paper to paper, it won’t cause your paper to warp and like the name it is quick.
Craft knife and a sharp “hole poker” to use on the ribbon.
Work with a good ruler and preferably on a self-healing rotary mat.
Directions:
A. Ink the Bon Marche paper on all four edges.
B. Laying the 12x12 paper flat, adhere a small piece of double-sided tape (DST) along the top left and bottom right sides. (No need to take off the top paper until you are ready to adhere the ribbon.) Center the ribbon into the top left corner diagonally and run it down to the bottom right corner.
Don’t make it too tight but don’t leave any ease. Do the same thing from the opposite corners. You will have a large X.
This is where working on a rotary mat is helpful.
Adhere a piece of DST along all edges at 6”. Run the ribbon from the 6” point on the left side to the bottom middle. Keep turning the paper and do this on the remaining three sides. As you move along the ribbons will cross at the 6” mark.
C. Cut four ½ x 12” strips from the navy cardstock for the frame. Adhere the first strip across the top of your page and the remaining strips one after another, trimming the edges to fit with a craft knife.
D. Using a sharp poker to make holes first insert the mini brads at each crisscross and the regular brads into each corner.

If you would like to tell Sandi Merci for sharing this, pop over to Maximum Embellishment. Sandi's blog is fun to poke through and you'll want to enter her RAK giveaway while you're there.

Some Sunday Easter Image Freebies

Please stop back to meet this Tuesday's guest artist on Tutorial Tuesday!