Studio at Zoe Cottage: 2010

Monday, December 13, 2010

DAY 6 Holiday Sale: Altered Dominoes

Today our Holiday Sale features these cute little altered dominoes for only $3. each! The photos truly do NOT do these justice! The domino is first decorated with inks, then various embellishments are applied with a permanent non-toxic glue. Finally, wire and beads create a slide for your choice of ribbon, chain or other hanging device--they each come with a coordinating ribbon to hang from a tree, but these sell elsewhere for $20. as pendants.

You can use your imagination for other uses--from package decor to key fob. They are really very cute, and have delighted each person who has bought them. You can see the whole batch of them over on the website.

We are still offering free shipping through the 15th. The discount and the shipping will be refunded to you after the sale is processed. Alternatively, you may contact me by email and I will figure the price for your purchase and you can pay directly with PayPal.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Address Book II

I decided to spend a little time in my craft room today--the first time since the sale!-- and I made an address and phone book like the one I made before, only covered in paper instead of fabric and it has about 1/4 the ribbons on the spine (hence is only $10. instead of $20!)

I designed it so there is a pocket on the front for a book or two of stamps, so you won't have to look for them when writing a letter. I rummaged through my old foreign stamps and found some with birds on them to go with the bird design on the paper I used for the cover. They are all old and canceled stamps (one is from the US, one from Poland, one from Czechoslovakia, and I am not sure where the other one is from as it is printed in the native tongue and I don't speak it.)

The interior has tabs for the alphabet for ease of use, and the print is large to allow for ease of recording and reading the entries. There are spaces for about 20 entries per letter.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Unique Gift Event Set Up

Here are some photos of "the night before the big sale" at Miller Manor!

These are frames from The Organic Bloom. They have grown so fast that they are not really selling retail anymore, but since they said they would be at this show before they took off (5500 fans on Facebook!) they are selling these for us, and will honor orders placed at the show... although she had no cards, flyers or price sheets to hand out, since they have sent them all off to potential wholesale buyers!

Here is their whole set up. The piano made a nice little display spot for them!

Next up is Diane Barfield's Jewel Reflections set up. Dichroic glass jewelry is her specialty, and she has some lovely pieces for sale.

This is just a few of her pendants. There are also sets with earrings, and...

these beautiful cross pendants. Some of the colors are really just beautiful. I likey. :)

Here is the table in "my" room. Caramels in the basket (I had already sold a bag!), Ornery's Oats granola in the tins, and Molasses Sugar Cookies in the boxes.

Here is a panoramic view of the whole dining room where all my things are set up.

Pine cones, journals, checkbook covers, luggage tags, frame and shadow boxes are on the shelves.

Magnetic memo clip boards, a few magnetic dominoes, and full sized embellished clipboards.

Altered Dominoes! LOTS of them!

Christmas Dominoes and altered tins and bottles.

Fibers, mini-journals, Address and phone book, coupon tins, and note card sets.

Yard stick airplanes and more note card sets.

The card rack. With LOTS of cards in it!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Studio is Clean!

I can't remember when the last time my studio was cleaned up. I have had a side table set up for so long I forgot how big the room was without it! I took it down, put away all the stuff, and reorganized a lot of it. After Thanksgiving, I will work in here again, but for now, it is going to just stay clean and orderly!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Phone and Address Book

The photo isn't very clear, I took it with my phone, but here is an address/phone book I embellished today... A friend encouraged me to do some of these, so a few weeks ago I bought some at Office Depot to experiment with. This is the first one. It was very time consuming, and the fabric/paper and embellishments rather expensive as those things go, but I was pleased with the result. $20

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Misc Cards and Kids Sets

Goodness! Some of these papers and embellishments have been in my stash so long I bet the manufacturers even forgot about them! :)

Amazing Shoes $5

Six Autumn Greetings $18.

BG Autumn Greeting Set (set of 6) $15.

Bob and Larry 2 Card Set (I have two sets available) $2.50

Bob and Larry Set of 8 cards (four of each paper) Blank with no sentiment $10

Monsters (set of six blank cards with no sentiment on the front) $8.

Shadow Boxes & Frame

Here is the latest set of photos from my recent project. (Next will be new cards...) As you know I have been on a "use it up" mission this year. This chipboard frame had been in the stash for at least three years, maybe longer. I recently found the My Mind's Eye Lil' Robots papers and just this week found (on the clearance table!) a set of Maya Road Robots. The robots were clear plastic cut outs, and I knew they would not show up unless I colored them. Since they were sheer, I first had to paint the backs of them all white. I used a sharpie poster marker for the backs, and sharpies and slick writers for the fronts.

The chipboard swirl that encircles the opening was unfinished, so I used a glitter glaze on it. In my mind it represents a wire running through and "connecting" all the robots together. There are little "gears" (by Little Yellow Bicycle) and wire with tiny jingle bells attached at various places--just things a kid might need if he decided to build a robot... The frame took me HOURS to make, so even though it is "just" chipboard, it is still $25. I think it would look really cute in some little boy's room, or on the desk of a techno geek. :)

Next, I unearthed a set of three (only two are done) small shadow boxes. I found them at a garage sale, so they are recycled in a sense. The top one has a rub-on embellishment affixed to the top of the "glass" (it is actually plastic) and three random print flowers with square embellished brads as centers. The paper background has a very subtle ledger print on it so as not to distract the eye from the text. It is called Random Acts of Kindness, measures 4X7, and sells for $6.

Jonathan Swift penned, "May you live all the days of your life." This little shadow box measures 4X4 and has the clear text attached to the inside of the "glass". A lovely butterfly perches on the corner of airy leaf paper. It is called, Live all the days and sells for $5.

Next up, I am posting photos of two different 12X12 shadow boxes that I have made for Ornery and myself. I am posting them here so you can have an idea of what I can do for you! Cost will vary depending on how many trinkets and embellishments are involved, but I love doing these for people! If you are interested, email me and we will talk...

The top one has a lot of personal notes in it. I did one for one woman that contained (among other things) a photocopy of the advertisement that she put in the personal ads of the local paper. It generated a LOT of interest, and landed her a stellar husband! Everyone has a story to tell, and there are often little bits of paper you don't want to lose track of--we can incorporate them into a beautiful shadow box like these.

This is one I just made yesterday. I covered the chipboard swirl on the right side with some very old hymnal sheet music, and used more of it beneath one of the prints. This one would be much less costly to make because it has a lot less stuff in it.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Baby Cards

Today I added some new cards to the collection--a theme I don't very often make, so my embellishments were somewhat limited. These are to welcome a baby... Cards are $3 unless otherwise noted.