Bragging Today On Vanessa Witschi

One of my customers sent me some pictures of her project and I just had to brag about it. She used my wings image printed on acetate for her absolutely darling little Fairy Mermaids... and as you know I LOVE fairy's. This one sold in just a few hours but if you wanted one I am sure she would make a special one just for you :)

 

Check out Vanessa Witschi's website Mermaids Dreaming 

A close up of the wings

Sun and Sea Summer Fun Free Printable Two New Digital Sheets Available Too!

I did two new digital collage sheets for my little Etsy store and I had a couple of images left over. Some will be for the free bonus that I always send along with my sheets however along with a little preview of what is new, I thought I would post a summer fun freebie for my blog post this week :) they are just so cute with there little sail boat!

Feel free to pin the thumb above but please do not pin the actual download. I would like everyone to stop by here to download it so they don't miss all my other fun free downloads

Here is a little preview of the summer fun sheets I did by special request. They are available in my little etsy store now. You can use the key word "sea" in the search link at my shop to find them. If they do not show up they have been sold but will be relisted shortly!

 

Vintage match box dispenser made into a place to keep and display beach pebbles found on a special trip to the beach.

Enjoy! Inka

Paper Circus and more!

As much as I have told myself that I had enough vintage papers... I have paper fever! I just can't resist purchasing a find like this! Nine sheets in all but only seven are Circus theme. They are from an early 1900's woman's magazine that offered a center fold of paper toys each month. The Circus sheets are bound for Collage sheets in my little etsy store. However I do plan to offer the others as free downloads on my blog. Two are Christmas theme so they will have to wait but you can expect the others to be showing up soon :)

If you love Circus and would like to make some art examples for my listing page with these just email me using the link on my right hand sidebar. I will be taking the first two or three so you could get them free!

Studio Progress

I wanted to wait and show pictures of the completed studio but things are not going quite as quickly as I had hoped. I keep apologizing for not posting and making up excuses, but the truth is my health has not been great. I had hoped that I could keep up but it really has slowed me down. So I am going to have to just admit that I just can't keep up the pace I have in the past. I love sharing my free printables and I do have so many goodies to share so please forgive me and I will post them as often as I can. Once I get the work on the studio done, I should be able to get some goodies up a little more often.

This is what I started with. I found this awesome bedroom set on craigslist. It had fallen off the truck while being moved so it was in sad shape. The amour's door was missing and someone had put shelf's in it to use it for a bookshelf. There was trim missing on top. a broken drawer in the bottom that did not even match and one foot was badly worm eaten. The trim on the headboard had been busted and some of it was missing. There was a foot board too but it did not get into the picture. The set of drawers were missing some of the nobs and had the top replaced with an odd marble.

But my hubby is handy dandy. He cut the top down on the amour to eliminate the missing trim and also because it was too tall for my studio. The foot board had the same carved feet as the amour so it took one from it and replaced the destroyed foot on the amour. Then he took out the drawer and replaced the shelf's with some oak that he stained the same color. Since I haven't gotten to the decorating stage, it is covered with junk so the finished picture will have to wait.. but it is good!   

Then hubby used the headboard and the piece that went across the bottom of the foot board to make me a desk. We used legs from a table that I had picked up at the thrift shop and some antique picture frame trim that I had found at a yard sale a long while back. He designed a keyboard mechanism so that it disappears up under the desk when not in use.

I have ordered a glass top to fit but for now I am just using a glass cutting board to protect the top until it comes in. As you can see by the pictures, I had a hard time choosing the wall color but after painting three times, I settled on chocolate brown :))

 

 

These baskets have really taken me some time since there are eight of them. I found them at Homegoods and made some altered art fabric liners for them. I will be putting on some antique library label holders on them too. They are sitting on an old wardrobe trunk that I also found on craigslist.... but more on that later :)  

My Table Top Mannequin and Bortree Corsets Paper Doll Free Printable

I really have a treat for you today :) I don't know if you have noticed but I always try to post something that goes along with what I am working on. Well I have been working on my studio. I had planned to make one big post with all my studio projects but things are taking a bit longer than I had hoped... so I thought I would just start posting some of my smaller projects.

I bought this mannequin bust on ebay but as you can see it is not quite my style. A redo was in order. I hated the thought of having to sew a new cover so I thought I would try painting it first. Because I did not want to loose the softness or texture of the fabric, I used some textile medium with my acrylic paint and gave it a whirl... it worked! I added a candle stick to the bottom and then had my son cut me a stencil that I took from one of my favorite paper dolls for the wording.

It now has a home on top of my favorite project so far.. but more of that later.

 

The paper doll that I took my inspiration from is an advertising paper doll for corsets made by Bortree manufacturing. I hope you love her as much as I do :)

Feel free to pin the thumb above but please do not pin the actual download. I would like everyone to stop by here to download it so they don't miss all my other fun free downloads

St Patrick's Coleen Free Printabe

She's a bit of a flirt, is this Colleen,

With her roguish eyes and bouquets of green,

The sight of this maid so blithe and so gay

Cheers all Irish hearts on St Patrick's Day.

Feel free to pin the thumb above but please do not pin the actual download. I would like everyone to stop by here to download it so they don't miss all my other fun free downloads

Tattered Lighting

Although I have not been blogging much and I had a ton of junk going on, I still somehow found time to do a few creative things around the house and I thought I would share one of them with you today.

I finally got hubby to run the electricity for the wall sconce I picked up on ebay. The shade it came with looked ridiculous. It was an oval but it hit the wall and was obviously too large. I wish I had taken a picture of it before...

So I picked up a round shade at the thrift shop and removed the paper from the wires. Then I cut a third off the back and straightened the wire that I removed, resoldered it back on so that it now had a flat side to go against the wall. Then I wrapped the entire frame with strips of torn muslin.

I sewed on sections of fabric and lace from my scrap bin, added some kewl buttons and...

I ended up with this... I was pretty happy with the outcome.

This is from the side. I wanted you to see how I sewed some of the scraps inside the frame and some on the outside of the frame... it really worked for that tattered effect I was after.

I have been up to a few more projects too! I think I mentioned I was working on a major redo of my studio so here is a sneek peek.

and this is a peek and one of the projects that I am working on too. This is a before glimpse however. I will be posting the before and after of all the projects soon!

Vintage Halloween Hats Printables

My little grandson has been keeping me pretty busy. I know this picture is a little fuzzy but it was so cute I had to share it. It is pretty hard to get computer time because this little guy always wants to play on the computer but the time I have had has been spent scanning some of my recently acquired collectables to reproduce them.

 

 We have been busy making lots of faux vintage stuff for our Halloween party too. This yeas as always our theme will be "Vintage Halloween" All of my actual vintage collectables are placed on display but I do my best to reproduce everything I can to actually use. I just won an auction for some crazy awesome vintage Halloween collectables too! I am a frenzied mess waiting for them to arrive. The Graphic for these little hats is in my little etsy store.
 

I'm Backkkkk ....... is anyone still out there???? Oh and Baby printable

Where the heck have I been!... I know, I know! When I went to California to move my mom and sister to Idaho I thought I could get them packed and ready to go in two or three weeks... and I had this stupid idea that I was going to be able to post from there. Little did I know that they had turned into HOARDERS! Not the filthy type you see on TV but the pack rat type that has stuff everywhere. When I was growing up my sisters room was always decorated very minimal, neat as a pin. Mine was the huge mess... boy have times changed. I have tried to stay close over the years but a lot of day to day life is missed over the phone. I think they had at least 5 of everything and my sister did not want to let go of anything. We just could not move all that stuff! It was like pulling teeth to get her to put just one of each 5 into the donation box. I worked from the time I got up until the time I went to bed. The only breaks I took were to fill orders for my little etsy store. I even ate most meals as I packed. After about 5 weeks we were ready for the movers. When I got home I slept for about a week... literately :)) When I finally woke up I discovered while I was gone my computer mysteriously defunked. I had all my graphics saved to flash drives but I did not have my programs to work with them.... I got that fixed and then life got in the way once again.... baby watch! However things are coming together now... my mom and sister are here in Idaho, my computer is working and my grand baby was born today. Of course I had to post a picture of our new little JJ!

 

So I am back and I will try to make up for being gone over the next few weeks!

To start with I am posting this darling little baby graphic to celebrate the newest little member of our family.

Feel free to pin the thumb above but please do not pin the actual download. I would like everyone to stop by here to download it so they don't miss all my other fun free downloads.

Beautiful blooms!..

Yes... I am still here in Idaho
The best laid plans... lol. Since my last post I was informed that my niece in getting married. So my sister and I decided to delay the move so we could attend. As much as I wanted to get this move over with I am at least home when my Peonies were blooming.

Not only that... check out this vintage fencing at a local antiques store and the bed rails at a local yard sale. Since my back yard is already has a wood fence ... what could I want that for! ¯\(°‿o)/¯ 

 

I have several projects in the works in my back yard. The vintage fencing is one and another one will be utilizing these windows we found on Craigslist. I will be posting more on that soon too!

Eagle Fun Days... NOT! Free Carnaval Printable

Things have just been crazy around our house, with getting the after winter yard work done and moving my studio to make room for my sisters arrival there just has not been time to breath but we had our grandson Saturday so we took the day off and went to the Eagle Fun Days. OMGosh I will never go again!!! I had expected it to be similar to the Emmett Cherry Festival and as I said... NOT. First of all we arrived and could not get within a mile of the place. But having promised our grandson a parade and carnival poppa put him up on his shoulders and we made the long trek to the parade route.

With my feet already killing me we watched there dismal excuse for a parade. It was a total joke consisting of Firetruck, Ambulances and nice cars. There was a couple of clown cars from Zamsows and a helicopter car and lots of acrobatic troupes followed but a bunch of kids with super soakers wetting everyone down. But our grand baby is 3 so he didn't know any better and he had a blast. We consoled ourselves with "that is what counts"... lol

Then there was the carnival. It was over a mile away from the downtown area where the food court and their few vendors were... so another long walk. It was located on a vacant dirt lot that was covered with goat heads. Seriously, the soles of my shoes were covered solid with them. It also only had about 8 - 10 rides and a "midway" of a few games. Each ride cost about $2.75 and it took them over 5 minutes to load the ride then they ran the ride for only 1 minute : / Quinton was only big enough for 4 of them and I even had to ride one or he could not get on... so I squeezed my rather large "blank,it,e blank" onto the obviously too small seat so he could ride. Quinton however was delighted, he had no concept that grandma paid over $5.00 a ride so he could ride each one twice...lol

Tell this kid it was a disaster! Still.. if you are in the area, my advise is to skip "Eagle Fun Days" it is too spread out with no parking. Just save your money for the "Emmett Cherry Festival" the following week. I would have but I am leaving for California so I don't think I will be here. I will miss it though. All the kids in our family usually but the wrist bands so the cost is cut down quite a bit. It has a cute little parade that goes right by a lovely tree covered park were all the food booths, vendor booths and carnival is located and it has lots of parking. The entire thing has twice as many food booths, carnival rides and vendors and the cost is just about the same.

 

 

This came from a very small Victorian die cut. There printing techniques were not the greatest either. It doesn't really meet my usual standard of quality although I did touch it up as much as I could. But it fit the theme and if you don't try to print it too large it should work for a lot of things.

Feel free to pin the thumb above but please do not pin the actual download. I would like everyone to stop by here to download it so they don't miss all my other fun free downloads

I'm Published!

Whooo whooo! 

 Just out in Somerset Gallery is an article on Steampunk Birds. Several months back Lynn Stevens of Trash To Treasure Art hosted a play day in her lovely studio. Several friends got together for a day of artistic bonding, wonderful mocha lattes (made by Lynn's wonderful hubby) She hand carved us all a bird blank to start with and we went from there. It was a wonderful day and one I will always treasure!

This is my bird... I really think my pictures are better than the magazine :)) but they were trying to get all of them at there best angle so that makes it a little harder to photograph.

Our article did not make the the preview so I made a little preview for ya! ... Enjoy!

Spring is in the air .❀·:·º°:·❀¸..°º:·..❀

The snow has melted but it was an unusually harsh winter. The little gnomes in Inkaland were feeling a bit dreary.

So I took them shopping and bought them some new outfits and then we spent the day doing a bit of spring cleaning... we even gave our front doors a makeover.... yes... I think we are ready for spring.

I am so excited to see everything green and blooming! And once again happy little gnomes tidying things up.

Serving Up Silver Platter Paper Dolls

Did you know you can have yourself made into a paper doll? I have not had these listed for some time but just decided I would list them again. These are dolls I did of some of my friends sometime back but I just made some new sheets that you can steampunk any paper dolls with so I used them. This is such a fun idea... Just because I used my paper dolls you really can use any paper dolls.

I just love tarnished silver and I have been looking for ways to merge my art with my decor! Anyway... every time I see a piece of old silver plate in one of the local resale stores... I just have to buy it! Since I don't have a lot of storage in my little house, I have started to just put it on the walls.

Recently I discovered that magnets will stick to some of them. You do have to be careful though, not all silver plate platters will accept magnets. It depends on what base metal they were made with so test them before you buy them. Here are a few ideas I have come up with to give them a little more pizzazz. I have use the magnets to attach old photos and papers, I have added magnetic hooks to hold my jewelry

Or how about hanging scarfs on those hooks!

 

 and now of course... I am dressing them up with paper dolls.

 

 

I just added some magnetic strips to the back of my dolls and instant steampunk decor! These are kinda a grown up version however this would be such a fun way to decorate a little girls room too.

I colored them with watercolor crayons and then added some printed graphics from some of my other collage sheets to steampunk them out. I also added some real gears, feathers and chain to give them an additional layer of interest.

Change is in the air :D

Spring time always brings such wonderful changes... but change is not always fun :0

I just changed my server and now have a new email address. If you have tried to reach me with no reply that is why : / Please update your address books :D Click the link on the right hand side bar to get updated!

Vintage French Pierrot Marionette Clown Puppet

I have been so crazy busy! I did do a couple new collage sheets for circus theme art and gosh the examples the ladies on the list made are extraordinary! I have also done a new vintage puppet sheet with this guy on it.... now available in my little etsy store.


 

 

DIY Vintage Bohemian Chic

I hate to keep repeating myself but just for any new followers I will... lol. I lived in a Victorian home in California for 20 years. At that time I love Shabby Chic, but as I aged so did my love of color. When we moved here several years back, I decided for the first time in my life that I wanted new things. We had a house built and I bought the main furniture new. I still had a few old pieces that I just could not give up but I thought I could mix them with the new and come up with my "style". I just felt like I was living in a hotel, so I looked at my art (since that is what I love) and noticed that I just love things that are earth tones, old, rusted, tattered and worn. Looking around the net I discovered what I really wanted was something between Steampunk (Victorian with a futuristic twist) and Vintage Bohemian... I think I am leaning more toward the Vintage Bohemian.

 

 I had a ton of those vintage pink rose shabby chic sheets in storage... just not my style anymore. So I got out my bottle of brown dye and went to work. They came out more of a mauve than they did brown but I still loved them. I think they totally look great on my bed and I really feel I have captured that Gypsy feel with the mix of textures and colors. I also had not realized how much I missed the feel of those vintage cotton sheets... there is just nothing like them :)

The Count's Castle

I have been working on this for some time now. I actually started the graphic's for it last year. I had wanted to do it for Halloween but time flew by and I knew I was not going to make it. So I started a Nutcracker theater, thinking I would have time to get that done before the Christmas season. Well that did not happen...lol
 

So off season or no I tend to work on my holiday projects year round because as you know by now, if I don't then it doesn't get done :)) I am calling this one "The Counts Castle" but I do intend to make some completer sheets for it in the future. Then it can be dressed for "The princess and the pea, Sleeping Beauty (a friends idea) and yes of course Haunted Halloween! It also might be a fun place for Marie Antoinette and her court to live.For those of you who have purchased the digital kit from my little etsy store, I also wanted to do a quick rundown on how I made it. I started with an old jewelry box from the local thrift shop. Then I cut a hole in the top. I left this kinda big so that it would be easy for little hands to maneuver the puppets.
 

Then I covered the box with the brick paper also in the kit. My box measured 7 inches high and 10 wide so the background paper was longer than the interior wall. Instead of wallpapering it to the back and bending it around the corners, I bowed it and just glued it in along the sides. I loved how it gave it a real theater feel.
 

I did the puppets, facade and the towers as I always do. I printed them on brochure paper but you can also use a light weight photo paper. Then I used spray glue to attach it to a medium weight matte board. You can purchase medium weight matt board at your local office supply store or just use the light weight gift boxes you get at the dollar store. Cut all the pieces out and sand the edges with a emery board..the heavy ones for artificial nails.
 

I curled the towers up and attached them to the sides. You can make them more pliable by pressing it against the corner edge of a table, in a sawing motion move the tower from side to side and it will start to curl, then go ahead and roll it into a tube. This way you will not get any wrinkles or bends in the matt board. Be sure to use a marker on the edges of all you pieces too. That way no one will see cut cardboard on the edges. If you do it right, it will be hard to tell it from a die cut image.

I have used some little wire puppet stands for display I used the picture from My Gotcher theater so you can see what the stands look like. Wands for "The show" and stands for display :) Don't forget to put a tab on the back of your doll to hook your wand to.