November 2017

When you come across at Christmas cottage with a FLYING SANTA AND SLEIGH, plus it is a music box, can you say no??? 

I almost did, because it was waaayyy too red for me.

And a decapitated Mr Claus isn't very festive.  But I knew glue and paint could solve that.

White chalk paint and glitter can work magic.

Along with fake snow paint, mica flakes and some bottle brush trees.  Oh, and an friendly angel.

Much better! I'm glad I didn't pass it up at the flea market. It was only a quarter and it took very little time to redo. The sleigh flies in circles to the tune when it is wound up, so the grand fairies love it, of course.  

This was in the same quarter pile, and I liked it as is. But while I had the paints out…

It got a redo too.

The Santa is an old, red flocked guy, whose suit got a dose of silver glitter.

I then filled the sleigh with vintage toys and goodies, making sure I'd used plenty of glue.

I think I prefer silver glitter to red for his suit, it is very festive.

This sleigh got a major makeover. This is the after.

And here is how it started out at an estate sale.  How could I say no to those reindeer??? All it needed was love, hope, and lots of glitter.

I pulled everything off, emptied the sleigh and started over, covering the base in white velvet instead of the green feathers. The sleigh is redone in bronze glitter, and the presents were replaced with various vintage pieces spiffed up with white paint, glitter, and mica flakes.

Before…

His suit was covered over in cream velvet taken from a vintage jacket I'd bought for myself at Goodwill and wasn't wearing any more. (No sewing here, I just cut up the jacket and pieced it onto him, then glued them down.)

His belt is brown velvet with a nice, old buckle.  The beard was changed to fluffy, white wool roving.

The scroll on the side is from a broken chandelier. My studio is filled with odd bits and pieces like that, thinking I'll use them someday for something.  And usually I do.

The best and final touch? I sat it on the dining table and surrounded it with good friends!!

 

PS- I'll be in Mexico(!!!!!!!!!!!!!) for a few days over Thanksgiving, but will have a limited number of extra Snowbird Song kits to sell when I get back, along with some other holiday foofies.

 

I fell in love with these two guys' shiny suits when I came across them in the bottom of an estate sale box. 

But I thought that they deserved to have that red felt upgraded to something that was as glam as their golden garb.

A little bit of tinsel, rhinestones, buttons, and lace was all it took to get them all gussied up.  Now, I'm tempted to play the creepy, but creative, sneaky spy game with them.   Or at least, have them on some overnight adventures to surprise grand fairies in the mornings. We'll see.  I sure enjoy the pics on FB and Pinterest of what other elves get into.

 

PS- I'll be in Mexico(!!!!!!!!!!!!!) for a few days over Thanksgiving, but will have a limited number of extra Snowbird Song kits to sell when I get back, along with some other holiday foofs.

Sometimes I wonder if I have too much time on my hands and I should just go and get a real job. Because I find myself obsessed with odd crafting ideas and get carried away.  

What on earth made me think this old picture should be the Clauses?

Who knows, but once I did, I started Clausing up other pictures of elderly couples from the past.

And gaudy-ing up the frames for them. This one is in a shadow box made from the lid of an old jewelry box.

This grandpa and his lil cutey got a redo too.

They even got a new little sister.

This one is my fave, though. I love those old, oval frames with rounded glass. This one had an eagle on it that had broken over time.

I tried to chip off as much as I could and keep the wings to make an angel from the leftover bits.

I  backed her with heavy chipboard covered in vintage wallpaper and added some glitter, plus leaves from an old Christmas corsage and a mini bottle brush wreath.

Santa got a twinkle in his eye with white, opaque ink, and I highlighted his beard with it too. 

I was soooo happy with the way it turned out, and hung it up right away.

Then, it crashed down and the lovely, old curved glass shattered.   That glass was the whole reason I started on this instead of tossing the frame in the trash.  Oh well.  I'm still displaying it as is.

And I'm embellishing more sepia pictures.  It is good to find a use for the old couples and grandpops I come across in my stash of pictures. I usually go for just the pretty girls and babies, unless I need a wicked witch.  Now, I can add Santa to the uses of old photos.