Winter has arrived in here in Minnesota. It is a blustery nine degrees outside and as dusk settles, the wind is rattling the windows of our turn-of-the-century home.
In other words, it is a perfect night for crafting and for playing with the deep blue, purple, white and silver colors of Winter’s Solstice. Read the rest of this entry
There are so many delightful ceramic Christmas villages that people display this time of year. While I have occasionally been tempted to begin such a collection, I have remained true to the Putz houses that stem from an earlier era.
These Japanese-made cardboard houses adorned with sparkly materials, tiny bottle brush shrubbery and cellophane windows were mostly made between 1930 and 1960.
At the heart of my Putz village are the worn and slightly tattered houses that I played with as a child. Since I was born after that timeframe–I am old enough, I don’t need to add on extra years–they were tattered and torn even then.
Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts featured how I made my own little home fashioned after these Putz houses. Here’s how I did it:
Nothing sets my heart aflutter like Christmas decorations made from the 1940s-1960s.
Since this era was before my time and people typically collect things from their childhood, my infatuation may not make a lot of sense. But as the youngest child of older parents, most of my family’s Christmas decorations came from the 1940s and ’50s.
It’s true what they say, good things do come in small packages. At only 6 x 6 inches, this holiday album might be small, but it is packed full of goodness.
You can see how to make it by checking out my tutorial at Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.
Let’s face it, doing the laundry would be so much more fun with a retro pink washer and dryer. Read the rest of this entry
What is this packing light you speak of?
I just don’t “get” people who manage to pack light. Even when I travel to the family lakeside cottage less than two hours from home, I manage to fill an entire minivan with vital stuff I simply cannot live without.
This particular postcard, which I made as part of the “Postcards from the Road” set I created for the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts/Canvas Corp Match Up, drives home this point. Read the rest of this entry
I was thinking about the AALL Challenge #1 Europe one day and inspiration came to me throughout the day. First, while visiting my elderly mother, I spied the family Bible–a massive tome in Swedish that no one in our family can read. Later, while preparing photos for digitizing, I came across both a stoic picture of my Swedish ancestors and a colorful picture of my own multicultural children with impish looks upon their faces. The day concluded with racist hate spewing across the news channels. Read the rest of this entry
I didn’t know parrots were bullies until I created this little altered art project for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts. Hopefully not all parrots are such big meanies, and these guys are just a bad lot.
As you can see, they convinced this dim-witted lass that she can fly–that’s why she is precariously on the edge of the house, readying to launch herself into the air. Read the rest of this entry
The lifelike qualities of the Architextures mixed media embellishments almost demand a new kind of altered art tag.
You can see my unique answer to that call on the 7gypsies blog.
Spooky things come in small packages. Take for example this Altoid tin that I altered into a Halloween mini album. Read the rest of this entry
