Sugar & Spice for Girls, Snips & Snails for Boys

"What are little boys made of?

What are little boys made of? 

Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails, 

That's what little boys are made of. 

What are little girls made of?

What are little girls made of?  

Sugar and spice and all things nice, 

That's what little girls are made of."

Yes it's a nursery rhyme which some of us probably had sang it before when we were little... And this is what the entire theme is all about in Graphic 45 Precious Memories collection... While gifting can be the most easiest job of all, but thinking of what to gift can be one kind of a headache at times...

Using the rhyme as an inspiration source, I created these little ATC gift boxes for boys and girls for today's Graphic 45 blog post...

Sugar & Spice for girls, Snips & Snails for boys; that's what’s inside these glass vials... Housing them within these little drawers, they are ready to be gifted to any boy or girl... Cute enough to amaze them and small enough for their little hands...

Venetian Masquerade Carnival Curio Shoppe

One fine sunny day as I was trying to screw and boggle my creative brain cells, I was struggling to think of something imaginative yet whimsical enough to tell a story. When the release of what's happening for this month Alpha Stamp's kit, a moment of doing up a Venetian theme diorama struck my mind. Hah! And I managed to hunt down one mask in one of the local thrift stores. The moment I'm back home, I started spending hours researching and watching videos on how Venetian masks are made by various artisans across Italy till the extend I seriously want to learn how to make one, forgetting I need to do up a project not a mask. I almost went nuts over this.

Nonetheless in the midst of this creative chaos, I managed to pull myself back and start creating. Using billions of Alpha Stamps supplies, I transformed the mask I bought and a wooden box into one Venetian shoppe. Presenting here is my very own imaginative Venetian Masquerade Carnival Curio Shoppe owned by this man known as "The Man who Knows" for this week's Alpha Stamps newsletter project highlight.

Shop close...

This Man has a pretty much unique curio shop (I should say) because he has this gigantic Venetian mask mounted on top of his shop. As you enter his shop, your soles will be welcomed by the velvety touch of this exquisite polish Persian Regal carpet. I'd have to warn you to enter the shop bare-footed as you cannot afford to dirty his expensive carpet. What houses inside his shop are various curio items ranging from a variety of carnival masks, buttons & badges, clocks & watches, jokers posters, 4 of a kind, a Hurricane lamp, a Magician top hat to even a Holy Bible... Along with this shop, he has a trunk of various clown masks, props and shoes. What he'd always bring along with him is his little black suitcase containing various Magician wands that you wouldn't want to miss getting one. And interestingly, he loves riding his penny-farthing bike around and tend to keep it in his suitcase.

Ever wonder how did The Man place such a huge mask and keep it in place on top of his shop? Well, he used his 2 stinky rich elephants to hold the mask, for such elephants are stinky enough to hold the mask upright due to their rich gold plated bodies. Indeed their trunks are equally useful enough to hold the brass chain, allowing The Man to close his shop with ease. They are plain stinky rich, so why not fully utilize them? That's what The Man thinks.

I hope you have enjoy the little story behind this curio shoppe. Tutorials in how to create miniature Magician wands and the black little suitcase are at the end of this entry together with a list of supplies.

Have a great day ahead and happy curio shopping.

Shop opens.

This diorama is available HERE.

One stinky rich elephant at work.

A bird eye view...

Another bird eye view.

Curio items for sale.

Blinks and drapery...

The Man with his trunk and little black suitcase.

The penny-farthing bike he rides...

Tutorials in creating miniature Magician wands and altering a blank matchbox into a little black suitcase

Click link to follow - How to Create Miniature Magician Wands

Step 1: Gesso the entire matchbox including the inside with black gesso. You can use black chalk paint or those cheap black acrylic paint if you do not have any black gesso.

Step 2: Paint a layer of pale gold acrylic paint (Daler Rowney no.708) on the matchbox. This will gives an old gold colour.

Step 3: Use some black ink, brush a few strokes onto the gold painted surfaces and blend evenly with a brush. You can use black calligraphy/pigment ink. I'm using Clearsnap Smooch pearlized accent ink in Tuxedo here for an extra shine. 

Step 4: After blending, this is how it will look like. You will still be able to see some gold beneath, however in general the suitcase is in black with a little magical shine. 

Step 5: On a piece of black cardstock, cut 2 strips of ~1/8" in width and paint a thin layer of pale gold acrylic paint over. These will be straps and handle for the suitcase.

Step 6: In order to strengthen the matchbox drawer, line the inside of the drawer with black cardstock.

Step 7: Use the strips prepared from Step 5 above to build the straps and handle for the suitcase. And you are done making yourself a black little suitcase! 

A more detail step-by-step tutorial in how to create matchbox suitcases using papers can be found on one of my Snapguide tutorials here...

Supplies List:

• May Run Away &  Join the Circus Kit 
• Reversible Clowns Collage Sheet  
• Vintage Magician Collage Sheet 
• Clowns #3 Collage Sheet  
• Carnival Scrapbook Paper – Sideshow  
• Chipboard Steamer Trunk  
• 2mm Brass Flat Back Studs  
• 3mm Brass Flat Back Studs  
• Faux Suede Sheets 
• Narrow Gold Fleur Dresden Borders 
• Wood Finial Chess Pawns
• Small Wooden Finials  
• Blank Matchbox
• Fancy Gold Buttons in Tin
• Clock face Buttons - Tiny
• Pocket Watch Brads
• Silicone Mold – Architectural Flourishes
• Creative Paperclay
• Acrylic Tophat –Small
• Miniature Hurricane Lamp 
• 3cm Tall Bronze Elephant Charms 
• Bronze Playing Card Suits
• Nouveau Goddess
• Antique Queen Mask Charm
• Victorian Bicycle Charm
• 25mm Round Antique Bronze Setting 
• 18x13mm Oval Filigree Setting
• Raw Brass Flourish
• Brass Jump Ring Mix
• Tim Holtz Damask Regal Flourish Embossing Folders
• Golden Rod Sticklers
• Platinum Sticklers
• Mini Lacy Banner Flags
• Small Gold Hinges with Screws 
• Brilliance Pigment Ink in Galaxy Gold
• Molding Paste
• White Gesso
• Black Gesso 
• Glue N Seal
• E6000
• Dusty Attic Chipboards (Small Masks, Vintage Clock)
• Bo Bunny Clockworks
• Shimmerz Paints (Vibez - Egg Noggin’, Coloringz - Night Moves, Inklingz- Miner, Miner, 49er)
• Zva Creative Flourish Crystals
• DMC Lumina Crochet Thread (L677, L3821)
• Daler Rowney System 3 Acrylic Paint (pale gold no.708, rich gold no. 707)
• Cire A dorer gilding wax in classic gold
• Own stash (wooden box, mask, box feet, brass chain, gold diamond pearl chain, 1/8" satin ribbon, glitter ribbon, gold cord trim, black feathers, black cardstock, miniatures - holy bible, oval mirror) 

La Rosa Especial Artist Trading Blocks

Somewhere not too long ago I was busy pinteresting and found a lot of works using ATBs, aka Artist Trading Blocks... It's till recently when I got myself into Alpha Stamps DT I manage to get access to some of these blocks... 

As I excitedly received my first batch of blocks, as usual my excitement is far more than ideas, it took me quite a while to come up with something... As I was imaging French Ladies sewing meticulously in a room filled with roses, I decided to use Pion Design's Alma's Sewing Room paper collection and From Grandma's Attic French Ladies pictures for this... I came up with these shabby chic ATBs duo... Using monochrome colours with a touch of pink, I'm trying to catch one of an old French feel and get these done up as La Rosa Especial... 

These pictures actually don't do much of a justice as I had used quite a huge amount of Shimmerz products together with various Finnabair's mixed media range to give this vintage shabby French look... A lot of teeny weeny details such as the beauty of micro beads and glitter are not captured well, mainly due to the reflective nature of these products... However I'm listing them up for sale on my Etsy shop, and if by any chance you'd like to own them, feel free to get one home...   

This piece is available here...

This piece is available here...

List of supplies:

• ATB Wood Blocks
• Medium Wooden Finials
• Candle Stick Holder
• 3" Candle Stick
• Acrylic Beads Sprays
• Platinum Sticklers
• Finnabair Art Basic (heavy white gesso, light paste, soft gel) and Art Ingredients (micro beads - silver)
• Prima Marketing 6" x 6" Floral Petite Stencil
• Prima Marketing Antique White Frames
• Prima Marketing Cigar Box Secret Acrylic Stamp
• Shimmerz Paints (Inklingz -misty morning, pink-a-boo, tarnished treasure, Shimmeringz - baby breath, Coloringz - night moves, Texturez - crushed coral, Dazzelerz - spun sugar)
• I Am Roses Mulberry Roses and Lilies
• May Art Ribbon

P.S. I'm entering this project for MAY IAR Challenge...

Home Sweet Home Cards

I don't deny the fact that I'm pretty sucks in making cards... After viewing so many beautiful cards on Pinterest and on various social media, I just simply don't have the cut in making cards... LOL!!! Nonetheless, I'm still able to make cards but on a very simple basic level...

On today's Graphic 45 blog post, I'm sharing these set of Home Sweet Home cards using 2 of the cut aparts... As I find them rather attractive, I'd like to see them pop... Hence, I made these cards using the concept of paper tole where various elements are cut and layer on top of one another... These cards look simple to make, but it seriously took me hours to cut them apart and re-assembled them back together... Phew!!! Not an easy task...

Rococo; Marie's Sentimental Pouf Constructed Art Workshop

After teaching for coming to a year plus, I started to move towards to technique based teaching where I'll have more interaction with participants... It's also a channel for me to develop and share more interesting techniques and ideas to my fellow crafting peeps and make their mind blown away by the amount of creations I can develop... 

As far as I'm concern, coming from an Artist's point of view I probably didn't get fairly paid for the amount of work done to bring these to the craft table... However, that's not my main agenda... What's really amazing during my entire craft teaching adventure is that I got to meet people who truly appreciate what I've done and the things I'm doing... This is one of my greatest accomplishments in life and no amount of my previous corporate years can compare to this...

For my next upcoming Prima class with Made with Love, I'm gearing away from the usual projects most people are doing. Influenced and inspired by Rococo, a form of late Baroque artistic movement, I'm taking Marie Antoinette's sentimental pouf as one of the main element for this project... It's not something overly done, yet subtly enough to own a little Rococo... 

You will get to learn how to build and construct this hanger from scratch using wood plank and chipboards using Prima Epiphany paper collection and some images from Marie Takes Tea collage from Alpha Stamps... There'll be some mixed media involved and I'll be teaching to create a vintage baroque texture look using gilding wax... At the end of the day, you will take home this hanger which you will be able to use it as a decor piece for all your jewelry and accessories...  

I hope to see some of you around...