K&E Victorian Display Placard Décor

Talking about wedding gifts, most often they're generally gifted in either white or colours that depict happiness and purity. For this instance, I chose a something different. As I didn't get to attend one of my friends' wedding last year due to the pandemic where large scale event was prohibited, I didn't manage to gift her something. Took me this long, and I decided to repurpose and customize one of my past artworks to do up this simply placard décor for her and her newly-wed husband.

I die-cut several of the first letter of their names, "K" and "E" using Tim Holtz alphanumeric dies and glue them together to make it thicker; as if they're chipboard thick. Bend them a little to fit into the slightly curve surface of the heart. Added more glitter, some mica from Prima and top it up a little golden crown. Finally, add a strip of Bible verse (Ephesians 4:2-3) for them at the bottom of the placard. 

The corners of the glass are pretty sharp and I don't think it's wise to gift something that will likely prick your finger. In order to protect them, I covered them up using Graphic 45 ornate metal corners and glide them with some gold gilding paste. 

I added the lovely couple names and their wedding date behind within this little ornate plastic frame I've in my stash. Took me some time to figure out how to mount onto glass without a need to break the glass to fit. Glossy accent is the key and they do hold well without changing the colours and design elements I've done on the placard. This is part where I adhere the placard onto the glass using plenty of glossy accent. They dry clear without leaving much residue unlike some solvent based glue. Plus point is they're actually quite strong!  Added some golden flat pearls and ornate corners that I die-cut from Graphic 45 policy & decorative die.

Oh well, I might be sieving through my past artwork and will try to repurpose them as gifts or other projects. For now, this artwork of mine has finally found a home for a newly married couple. I wish them all the best in their marriage!

 

Magical Kewpie Post Tags

Perhaps my first rather familiar encounter with Kewpie was probably from a bottle of mayonnaise that's widely known as Kewpie Mayonnaise by Kewpie Corporation, a Japanese food manufacturer who popularize the condiment. I might have some personal "close up contacts" with Kewpie dolls while I was young however they didn't get into me till I had some Kewpie Mayonnaise! In fact, Kewpies are comic strip cartoon characters created and developed by Rose O'Neill, an American cartoonist and illustrator in 1909. As little as I know about Kewpies, I believe everyone of us has somehow have some sort of childhood encounter with them.

Well, I really have to say they are really cute! When I received my Graphic 45 Christmas Magic collection, I was delighted to see so many cuties within the collection and those Kewpies just caught my attention. They are way too adorable that I had to come up with something. Kewpie Post is what came into my mind back then. Combining with my love for flying matchboxes, I came up with an idea that they can "fly off" from the tags... 

Therefore... Using those cute little Kewpies as Post Dolls, here is what I've come up with...

My initial intention is to make the tags as a whole piece, without any separating elements or parts to them, but this seems like it would have probably "defeated the purpose" of adding wings onto the matchboxes. To make them removable and "flyable", I used magnets to "adhere" them together. Notice how these flying matchboxes "flying away" from their "bases"? That's practically the idea behind.

I used a variety of floral embellishment from mulberry ones to die-cuts holly leaves to create levels of dimensions. Used loads of metallic gold and iridescence here; from fanciful dollies to glittery flowers and ribbons. It's all these shimmerings elements that make the project stands out and not making these Kewpie dolls doing their job in vain.  

"Tis the Season" wreath is a stamped image from Graphic 45 previous Christmas collection, St. Nicholas, which I coloured with colour pencils to create a wreath base for the flying mtachbox to land onto. Subtly choosing colour pencils as my colouring medium to create this distinction, making the process in creating this tag a more "dimensional" one. After much thinking and searching for the right embellishments, I decided to make my very own tassles and insert them as "tails" to match the whole design using the metallic gold crochet yarn I found in a box of yarns and strings. 

Not forgetting these cute little Santa helpers, who play a vital part in making these magical Kewpie Post tags a more interesting one. They are also "removable" with magnets adhered at their backs where they can "jump" onto the wreath base on the tags or back to their respective matchboxes. Added a little jingle bell within each drawer adds some jingles as I pull the drawers. Since it's for this holiday season, I'd think this will add in some fun to the entire project.

Here is a very short and sweet video I made very last minute to show how the entire mechanism work with those magnets incorporated into this project:

Last but not the least, I kept the back of the tags as simple as possible so as not to complicate the design so much. I've provided some tips over at Graphic 45 blog which I didn't share it here. Though I'm a little late in sharing the story behind about this project, be sure to check the tips out at Graphic 45 blog to find out more. As usual, below is the list of supplies I used for this project with links to where to get them:

• Graphic 45 Christmas Magic Collection
• 12" x 12" collection pack  (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com) 
• 12" x 12" patterns and solids  (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com) 
• 8" x 8" paper pad (Blitsy,  (Scrapbook.com) 
• Ephemera cards (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Graphic 45 St. Nicholas Cling Stamp 1 (Tis the Season)
• Graphic 45 Metal Dies & Staples
• Regular tag, gears 
• Square tag, clock
• Antique brass stamped metal brads
• Clearsnap Decades Dye Pad (Venetian Lace)
• Spellbinders Metal Etched Dies (Fancy tags 2, Opulent ovals)
• Tim Holtz Mini Holiday Greens Thinlits (Scrapbook.com, Sizzix) 
• Tim Holtz Kraft Stock Metallic 8" x 8" Gold & Silver Cardstock (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Finnabair Art Alchemy Metallique Wax in white gold (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Glossy Accent (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Own stash (jingle bells, butterflies clear stamp, sparkling flowers, metallic gold dollies, organza ribbon)

A Bride-to-Be Card for the Gorgeous Bride

"Happiness blossoms where seeds of kindness have been thoughtfully planted."

I'm not sure who actually came out with that quote, nonetheless it's a thoughtfully penned phrase and I'd think it doesn't really cost that much to be kind. It's all about the thoughts that count. One of my lovely sisters-in-Christ, Sarah is getting married real soon, and in celebration of her upcoming Wedding, a group of us decided to throw her a bridal shower. I was therefore tasked to do up a card for her.

And here is what I've made for her, which was already presented to her 2 weeks ago during her bridal shower. Garden Goddess was my immediate choice of paper collection simply because ladies in general love flowers and have somehow wished we could be one of the most gorgeous ladies in a beautiful garden. I'd love to have such moment as such.  

"The flower doesn't dream of the bees. It blossoms and the bee comes."

~ Mark Nepo ~

That's the core message for Sarah. And this is how much I love to use this collection for weddings! Full of blossoms, flowers and quotes as such. For beauty blossoms from the inside, that's where happiness come within! When the flower blossoms beautifully, the bee just come. This reminds me of Proverbs 31:10-31, The Virtuous Wife which describes a woman of exceptional character and worth. This really serves as a very good guide for women in how to become like one. Likewise, a good search list for a man to seek after such woman.

To adorn and frame up those lovely messages, I pulled out one of my Spellbinders die kits and use them for the very first time. A little shout out here for Spellbinders lovers - get a 15% first for your first club kit subscription. Key in CLUB15 under promo during checkout. Don't miss it! It's only good till this month end.

Gold foil cardstock is my favourite friend now! Trust me, they are the MUST HAVE cardstock in your stash simply because they serve as very good matching base and elements for all your elegant cards. A touch of it will just sparkle the whole thing up.

A card itself is never enough to be gifted alone, and this is where the matching pattern and solids come in place to play a vital role - an envelope. I just felt "naked" for the card and perhaps some "coverings" will be good. When it was all done, I found them to be very good...

Before Graphic 45 discontinued matching alpha stickers, I've loads of them all given by them as part of my DT package previously before I make a come-back to re-join them for this year. It got so much that I just stored them in a huge box thinking it's probably one of the items that I hardly will use. Well, it came in handy at such a point that I believe it'd be good to personalize the card for Sarah. The alpha stickers came from the Time to Celebrate paper collection; the closest match I could find and it matches the whole theme seamlessly.

I've included some useful tips over at Graphic 45 blog. Do remember to hop over there to find out more. And yes! Sarah is glad to receive this! To end of this entry for today:

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy. They are charming gardeners who make our souls blossom..." 

~ Marcel Proust ~

Isn't that lovely? I just love how these quotes matches the paper collection. Below are a list of supplies I've used to do up this card which you may be interested to know where to get them:

• Graphic 45 Time to Celebrate alpha stickers
• Graphic 45 Garden Goddess Collection
• 12" x 12" collection pack (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• 12" x 12" patterns and solids (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Ephemera cards (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Chipboard (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Graphic 45 antique brass stamped metal brads 
• Spellbinders Club Kits (Fancy Floral Frame set)
• Tim Holtz Kraft Stock Metallic 8" x 8" Gold & Silver Cardstock (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Finnabair Art Alchemy Metallique Wax in white gold (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Golden trim ribbon (own stash)

That's all for today! And I know I've not been really updating as often, but I do honestly appreciate for all of you who are avid and faithful followers of my works, patient enough to wait for my works. I'll be updating really soon!

Grow Where You're Planted; The Carrots Spa

It's May and it's coming to mid of 2018! Time really flies super fast! So fast that within a blink of an eye, April is gone! Oh well, been really busy busy and busy for the past 2 weeks. Though there was a little sad news along the way, I had a good rest in between before I get myself to create.

Therefore, for the beginning of the month of May, I'm sharing this cute little diorama project as part of my pilot also the last for Tresors de Luxe DT project, as Lucy has decided to disband the blogging team. Quite sad to hear as this don't seems to work out for her in a way. However, I wish her all the best. I'm also using some of the flowers and pastel papers from Little Birdie Crafts which are generously gifted by the owners of the company for me to try.

I got a carrot! #HereIsMyCarrot #BunnyUnderConstruction

A post shared by Katie Z. (@katiezoeyho) on Apr 1, 2017 at 5:09pm PDT

I made this wool-felt bunny last April, supposedly for a Easter project. As it can be seen here, it wasn't attempted at the end. Rather, for a good whole year it has been decided on a different form of project. It has been quite some time I'm attempting a diorama project, but for this it's probably one of a very different style I'm trying out for the first time. It's also my very first attempt using hand drawn illustrations on a diorama project, as if the bunny is in a cartooning carrots world. Hmmm, that's practically the idea behind. Well, took me a while to figure out in how to blend in the elements.

This is a long overdue work in progress project and I managed to get it done. Phew! One project off my PhD (Project half-Done) list! And here I present The Carrots Spa, where this cute little bunny guy get himself planted within and grow!

So here is the little guy, submerging himself in this cosy little mud tub of spring greenery filled with carrot sparkling essences. And a big carrot besides him! Look how glittering those carrot essences are in that wooden bucket?

Imagine the whole carrot spa is situated deep under the barrow, a place where the bunny can go under to have some relaxing time, out from the outside world. Isn't this too cute in the little bunny world? I've this little imagination at the back of my mind as I created this. Simply couldn't wait to complete that wild imagination of mine. And I managed to dig it out. 

  

The spa interior and mud tub are furnished with luxurious vintage laces and the wall is hung with huge loads of carrots illustration; all drawn and painted by me. The floor is well carpeted with green bushes that will give your soles a warm cushy soft feel, good for bunny feet! This really shows how much care was taken into consideration.

Foliage and clusters of various flowers draping from the top to the back of the spa, as if they are the fauna and flora planted within, derived from the earthly ground above. A cute little wooden ladder by the side for anyone who wish to climb up to view the lovely flowers above.

I've done up a very short video orientation on this project which was filmed at the very last minute without much planning as I thought perhaps it might be better to show how the project is like in motion. Well, it seems that the lighting wasn't that great and I apologize that the video is a little fuzzy to view. Nonetheless, I'd still very much wanted to share it, hence decided to go ahead.

Here are more pictures of this guy in his mud tub!

Hmm munch munch the munchy carrot!

 The mud tub is altered from an espresso cup which I got it in a $2 shop.
I love such good deals! 😄

The bunny in his carrots sack!

Bucket of carrot sparkling essence, overflowing with glitter!

Oh well, so much more I'd like to tell the story in details but I think this is good bite size. Otherwise, you peeps will be bothered by my lengthy story. Below is an extensive list of supplies I used for this project with links to various sources in where to get them. Sometimes, there's some great deals and discounts offered by Amazon.com and it's one of the places where most of the past season products are still very much available. 

List of Supplies:

• Finnabair Art Basics heavy gesso in white (Amazon, Scrapbook.com)
• Finnabair Art Basic clear gesso (Amazon, Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Finnabair Art Basic modeling paste (Amazon, Scrapbook.com)
• Finnabair Art Basic light paste (Amazon, Scrapbook.com)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink in brushed corduroy (Amazon, Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Prima Marketing Watercolour Confections: The Classics (Amazon, Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Prima Marketing Watercolour Paper Pad 3 (Amazon, Blitsy)
• Prima Marketing Shabby Chic Treasures Metal Door Signs
• Prima Marketing Metals for Wood Plaque (Amazon, Scrapbook.com)
• Prima Marketing Cigar Box Secrets Laser Cut Wood Icons
• Ranger Sticklers (glitter glue in orange peel, dry fine glitter in paprika)
• Little Birdie Crafts flowers and pretty pastel papers
• Tresors de Luxe ivory lace trims and fabric chiffon flowers
• Miniatures (wooden kitchen accessories, ladder)
• Spanish moss

That's it for today, and I'll be back soon for upcoming projects. Too many to show and I can't wait to share. 💖

Buxom Garden Fairies Trio; From the Little Garden

Few years back, I bought a bag of mini wooden sconces thinking perhaps I may use them for some of my miniature work. As usual, there's always a grand scheme of plan at the back of my mind hardly get executed for whatever reasons. Many years has passed, it's only very recently I managed to recall I still this bag of unused mini wooden sconces. Well, it's always not good to hoard, and I feel it's time to use them. 

And here I am, using them for this month Ephemoire's project with a video tutorial. Bringing you these cute little buxom fairies!!! Aren't they whimsically cute?

Each of these little buxom fairies has their very own colour to represent themselves, as indicated by the various rose colours attached to them, as if each of them is in charged of the colours they are assigned to. They are like the guardians of the little garden they're in, ready to prune and sow the seeds within their little garden in order to be fruitful. Oh! How fun and delightful they are? 

Here is the video process in how I create them... 

A little close-ups of these lovely buxom fairies. I'd suppose they'd need extra wings, hence the bigger ones behind them so that they can flutter and dance as they sing.  

I hope these little buxom fairies have made your day and have given a little inspirations. Below is an extensive list of supplies I used for this project with links to where to get them if you're interested in getting them:

• Ephemoire digital images (French vintage ephemera overlay, Marie Antoinette style buxom ladies)
• Finnabair Art Basics heavy gesso in white (Amazon, Scrapbook.com)
• Finnabair muscial notes acrylic clear stamps
• Ranger multi medium in gloss (Amazon, Scrapbook.com)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink in brushed corduroy (Amazon, Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Knotted wood edger chalk ink
• Docrafts acrylic paint in Linen
• Graphic 45 Botanical Tea rubber stamp
• StazOn midi in spiced chai
• Dusty Attic mini flourishes
• Acetate sheets
• Wood fillers
• Own stash (mini wooden sconces, floral stamens, green foliage, miniature roses, toothpicks)