Past Blog Posts:
Glass Bottles ON SALE (+3 Art Projects with New Goodies!)
Filed under Art Projects, Bella Ayers, Caroline Ouzts-Hay, Featured Artwork, Giveaways, Nichola Battilana, Sale, Tutorials
Note: most of the links on this post no longer work, as we moved to a new Web site in 2018. However, you can see the supply list items from Caroline’s project that are still available on the new site.
A short intro before Design Team Coordinator Miz Bella (Kim Ayers) introduces a sweet project by Caroline Ouzts-Hay AND one she made herself!
NEW SALE: Glass Bottles! From the cute little vial on Caroline’s artwork, to (take a breath…) preorders on the Tim Holtz Mini Mason Jars… ALL the glass bottles are on sale now through Sunday night (April 5th). See them all here!
And I’m continuing the FREE Gift with Order announced on Sunday: Miniatures Matchbox (in honor of TWO adorable miniatures projects by Teri Calia and Nichola Battilana).
AND keeping with the miniatures theme, a reminder: FINAL SALE DAY on Dollhouse Miniatures! The Sale ends TONIGHT (April 2nd at midnight PST)!
March is over and we’re not quite ready to release the April kit just yet so Design Team Member Caroline Ouzts-Hay has created a dreamy little Mermaid Altered Tart Tin Trinket Box for you.
“Tart tins are so pretty. You can do practically anything with them and end up with a gorgeous piece. Because of this it is hard to think outside the box sometimes, to use the shabby chic tins in a new way.”
For the base of her project, Caroline used two of the New Shabby Chic Tart Tin Frames. These are cream with rusty and antiqued look and are a very generous 3-1/4″ diameter, and already being distressed is an added plus (and time-saver!)
To create the main focal point, Caroline used a mermaid from the Caribbean Blue Mermaids Collage Sheet, Clear Acrylic Bead Sprays – Asymmetrical, Cream Pearl Assortment and Stitched Leaf Ribbon – Moss Green.
“To create the blue spray on the top cover I took 22 gauge wire and coated it with hot glue. While the glue was drying I mixed three different colors of 1mm Micro Beads – Aqua, Clear and Turquoise Pearl, in a small container. I coated the dried (and bumpy) hot glue with a thick fast drying glue and rolled it in the micro bead mixture. Ever so gently I pressed the beads into the glue and set it aside to dry.”
See the painted architectural flourishes on the side of the tin? Caroline cast them with the Silicone Mold – Architectural Flourishes and hot glue! Pretty clever, don’t you think? Then added a few Tiny Real Seashells and a brass charm finish off the opening.
Here’s the list of items used in the Mermaid Altered Tart Tin Trinket Box, and you can visit Caroline’s blog to see more pictures and to find out how she created the inside of her treasure box. (And remember to come back and enter today’s Giveaway Drawing for most all the parts to make your own Mermaid Altered Tin!)
A quick aside for a beautiful little Paper Moon Shrine (and video tutorial!) by Design Team Member Nichola Battilana! (Using her own New Theatre Clouds Collage Sheet!) Yay! Short and very sweet… go check it out! OK… back to Bella, for an intro for her own project (including felt animals Bella made, too!)
The Little Dreadfuls’ Outing
(See photos below.)
On the first day that Spring finally came to the South, Little Olive Dreadful loaded up the youngest Dreadfuls from Mockingbird Manor and off they went, including the very, very naughty children. It seems that yesterday they ran off to the old cemetery (by themselves!) and were raising the dead; having tea parties with them and all without any adult supervision. Those silly children know they’re not supposed to raise the dead without an adult present, such naughtiness!
To make the car for Little Olive Dreadful, I used a Shabby Chic Tart Tin Frame and set it on 4 Vintage Ribbon Spools that I painted black. The wheels are the 20mm Rhinestone Flat-Back Setting; to get the gum drop look I used hot glue in the middle of the settings and then quickly poured 1mm Micro Beads in Turquoise Pearl and Pink Pearl over the glue. (Do it quickly and don’t go for perfection or you’ll end up ruining 3 of your settings like I did!)
The carts that the little mice sit in are made from the top of a Paper Mache Treasure Chest. The top of the chest was cut off, and then cut in half. Under each seat is a 1/8 Inch Wooden Dowel with a Wood Mini Spool at each end of it, then a ‘gum drop’ wheel attached to each end. Each seat also needed a Wood Mini Spool laid on its side, glued on the bottom behind the dowel so that the car was balanced and wouldn’t topple over. (The same for the birdcage, it required a 1-1/4 Inch Wooden Wheel laid on its side so that it wouldn’t tip over.)
Not wanting the little mice to fall out of their cars, I took one of the frames from the Sweet Paris Wooden Frame Set and snipped it in half, then cut it down to size (for handle bars). Those were covered in 1mm Micro Beads – Clear AB.
To get the naughty children to stand up (in the cage… see below) I cut the two reverse images out of the Little Darlings Collage Sheet and glued each set to a Mini Wooden Clothespin.
Here is The Little Dreadfuls’ Outing Supply List. (And I have to add a final note: Bella forgot to mention that the gearshift is a mushroom!)
Hooray for the Mermaid Altered Tin Giveaway!
I decided (of all the pretty artwork choices today) to choose these items from Caroline’s Mermaid Altered Tart Tin Trinket Box (note: that’s a link to photos of all the supplies):
– Shabby Chic Tart Tin Frame (TWO of them)
– Caribbean Blue Mermaids Collage Sheet
– 1mm Micro Beads – White Pearl
– 1mm Micro Beads – Turquoise Pearl
– 1mm Micro Beads – Aqua Clear
– Tiny Real Seashells in Tin
– White Plastic Pearls (Strands)
– Stitched Leaf Ribbon – Moss Green
– Medium Glass Trumpet Flowers – Sapphire Blue
– Clear Acrylic Bead Sprays – Asymmetrical
– The Sea Fiber Set
– Cream Pearl Assortment
To enter the Mermaid Altered Tin Giveaway drawing all you have to do is leave a comment BELOW on this blog post TODAY OR TOMORROW (the deadline is 11:59 pm PST, FRIDAY, April 3, 2015)!
Don’t forget to leave your (hello! correct) email address, too, so I can contact the winner; your email address does not need to be made public. Note: I’m offering free shipping, too, but only within the USA. International shipping will still apply.
Please be patient! Spammers try to post crap here a lot so comments are moderated. So if you don’t see your post in the comments section, be patient and check back in a few hours before re-posting it, please!
After midnight, I’ll randomly pick the winner (via Random.org). So check your mailbox on Sunday morning to see who won and for the next Giveaway and Newsletter!
Hey, who won the Rococo Boxes Miniatures Giveaway? That would be Barb! Please check your email for my message about getting your mailing address.
What a fun mermaid giveaway. I could have a “swimmingly” good time with this collection!
Love the miniatures!!!
I do love anything moon, sun and stars….and bunnies, hearts, smilie faces, shall I go on.
This project is so cute and the colors are great.
Little Dreadfuls is delightful! LOVELOVELOVE their transportation! SO adorable!
You are killing me with all of the glass bottles sale! I am a sucker for all glass bottles and will have to hope the ones I so adore are still available when I have the money to purchase them!!! Fingers crossed!
So hoping that I am the Barb who won the giveaway! Off to check my email to see if I am!
Just so creative!! THe minis are so cute!
Yes please!
Ooh, what a lovely giveaway! Caroline’s artwork is dreamy! Thank you for sharing.
always have loved mermaids and now i see i will have to get those tart tins.
Those tart tin frames are perfect! Love, love, love them :o) Going to check out the bottle sale now……….
Love the Mermaid set you chose!!!
So fun! Love the whimsy and just gorgeous! So fun, adore the mini tins! Thanks so much!~kim
Love the mermaids!
Super cute mermaid!!
I am enchanted with this giveaway!
I love minis. And mermaids and moons. Such great stuff today!
oh how completely adorable! I love the lil’ dreadfuls outing! so sweet and creative…made me smile! Sure would love to win some mermaid stash today…thanks for the chance. 🙂
Mermaids are some of my favorite creatures. Thank you for the oppurtunity to win this giveaway.
Love this little tin and those little dreadfuls are sweet!
I hope this giveaway floats on over to me.
cool!
Adorable! I love your giveaways. Thank you for the opportunity to win.
The aqua pearls are lovely!
Away to the sea and mermaids.
Mermaids! Hooray! Just in time for warmer weather! Thank you for the opportunity to enter the drawing.
Such pretty things.
What a wonderful give-a-way!
Gorgeous creations!
The collage sheets are just beautiful.
Just simply gorgeous!
Love our “sea sisters.”
I’m crazy about the mermaid!! But I gotta tell you…that little ‘train’ by Miz Ayers is the BOMB!!! OMG I love it so much!!!
This is SO up my alley! Happy spring!🌈
I love mermaids and would love to be artistic with this kit and fantastic giveaway!
I love mermaids and this project is adorable!!
Another wonderful giveaway.
Thanks Alpha Stamps
for the chance to win .
Wow! Really creative! Love the miniatures. Wonderful giveaway!
have been a mermaid all my life! Thanks again for the opportunity!
I want everything!! Love the projects 🙂
Great giveaway! All aboard the Easter Bunny train!
So cool–never thought of using a tart tin that way!
I absolutely love the Little Dreadfuls’ Outing train! So clever and beautiful! Great projects again as always. Thank you ladies!
This newsletter is packed with wonderful ideas! Who doesn’t love mermaids?!? Thank you for another fun-filled kit!
How fun. I am loving all these goodies!
ready to go south
I can’t get over The Little Dreadfuls! Could they be any more wonderful? So cute in their little vehicle.
This looks like a real winner for any collage or shadowbox for the sea!!
Beautiful, simply beautiful!!
So nice to see the mermaids and colors of the sea after such a cold and snowy winter! Wonderful giveaway, thanks!
I was thinking mermaid all day today…..lol…how is that for goose bumps…..lol
So pretty and such fun goodies!
I LUV Mermaids!!!!!
What lovely things today. I love the Bunny Train, it’s so imaginative.
The mermaid theme is so very cute . Thanks for the opportunity.
I love mermaids!!!
I love the little mermaid tin,so adorable.
Oooh ooh ooh! This is just the inspiration I need to complete some tins I have! A for Adorable!
Lots of cool stuff on this post!
I love Love LOVE the Little Dreadfuls!!!!!!!
Do NOT start getting me turned onto stuffed animals – I’ll put a hex on you…but these are just ADORABLE!!!
Lovely!
What a beautiful project !
Beautiful!!! I discovered your site recently through a post on Pintrest and can’t get enough. Love the projects & blogs. The selection of supplies is amazing with unique items that I can’t wait to create with.
I love mermaids. I have them everywhere in my house. This is a beautiful project.
What a wonderful treasure!
Wonderful! I love the shabby chic tart tin frames.
I love the mermaid, the fibers, the beads!
Adore Nichola’s Paper Moon Shrine!
I’d love to get my fingers on this giveaway so that I could pass it on to a friend who’s a mermaid fiend.
mermaids in the beautiful sea
You always have the most wonderful projects to share with us.
PS. Are you ever going to get back into holding swaps? I miss them.
Marilyn
You can lead a tart to water, especially a mermaid tart!!!
I am so excited that there is a mermaid giveaway! I hope I win!
I love the mermaid projects! Fingers crossed!
Pick me please!
Mermaids, very fun!!!
How lovely! It makes me yearn for summer…
Lately I have really begun to like Mermaids, and I make mermaid dolls. This would be such fun to have and make!
Gorgeous projects from the DT and a fun giveaway, thank you!
love the dreadfuls and the mermaid!
I love the mermaid in the tin. The way it is constructed is so clever
My favorite theme ever; I love mermaids!
The Mermaid give-away makes my heart sing! My hope is to sink AND swim with her!!
I love
those mermaid. Thanks for giving me chance to win.
I want to be a mermaid. Love the moon box tutorial! This is all good stuff. PLEASE pick me!!!
Oh ! so uplifting, love all the colors !
melody
Love the great ideas.
love mermaids!!!
Love mermaids, so magical.
Mermaids are right up my alley. Love this project.
Lovely little tarts!
Super giveaway !!!! Happy Easter to all!!
Would love to win!
So cute!
This week is great, I don’t know which of the three I like the best. The mermaid is beautiful, I absolutely love the paper moon shrine and those Dreadfuls are so fun. Love the kids in the cage and the animals in charge. So much fun.
Love the Paper Moon Theatre.
Fun Fun!!
Oh please take me back to the sea.
All the things I love!
LOVE THE MERMAIDS AND BEAUTIFUL COLOR TEAL!! Fingers crossed lol!!!! levanahsun@gmail.com
I love everything about this kit from the color to the mermaids.
Too bad I didn’t find this until 12:03 on the 4th! I love all the miniatures and the mermaids!