Another great finds for my miniature glass figurines collection

My visit to Ukraine was very productive in terms of finding new items for my collections. First of all I was able to buy handmade magnets, than I found store with tens of miniature glass figurines. I spent a lot of time while trying to figure out which ones I wont and finally came up with fox (some of my friends think it is squirrel but I made executive decision that it is fox), smiling moose and giraffe. 

 

Mrs Claus Sewing Room: Christmas Stocking

Welcome to Mrs Claus Sewing Room! Today I am glad to introduce Jennifer - sewing artist and a little bit enchantress. She spends her days sewing and creating beautiful handmade items that will bring joy and happiness to you and your family. Especially at Christmas time because she creates amazing Christmas Stocking:

In Jennifer sewing room they call these Santa Socks, because Santa likes to slip them on when it is especially chilly at the North Pole. Plus they are super cheery and wonderfully soft they make him smile with glee when he wears them. 
The following one is a beautiful stocking made with off white brocade fabric with a lovely red floral print. This stocking would make a lovely addition to your elegant Christmas decor.

If you prefer something funky and fun, next one is created for you! The stocking is a black and white leopard print low pile faux fur. Cuff is a bubble gum pink fuzzy faux fur!

As well as regular items you can have custom item with 1 name monogramed on the cuff. The colors of your stockings and cuff and the direction you would like your toe pointing can also be customized.

Except of  Stocking you can also find tree skirts, gift wraps, ornaments and fabric cards in Mrs Claus Sewing Room.  I like the idea of fabric cards. It's really something unusual and warm. Imagine how your friend or family member would feel seeing it in their mailbox. 

All above and more Christmas stuff you can find by clicking on most comfortable for you link below:

Mrs Claus Sewing Room on facebook
Mrs Claus Sewing Room on wordpress
Mrs Claus Sewing Room on etsy
Mrs Claus Sewing Room on blogspot
Mrs Claus Sewing Room on twitter
Happy holidays!!!

New magnets for my collection

Everybody knows how I love magnets. More than magnets I love only handmade magnets. And more than handmade magnets I love only handmade magnets from Maryana Ostroglyad. Couple months ago I found her art work on Internet and decided that I must have couple. 

I have visited Ukraine in the end of October and bought these two perfect, beautiful, cute magnets:

If you like them you can order them too.

Thread Christmas Ball Ornaments

Source http://www.tsmirna.ru/

Lets continue with Christmas ideas and Christmas Ball Ornaments. Today we will create Christmas Ball Ornaments using threads. Here is the result:

Materials
1) Threads
2) acrylic finish
3) napkin with Christmas ornament or any Christmas picture you like
4) fabric stickers 

Step 1. Put thread on the inverted glass vase covered by food wrap film.

Step 2. Cover threads with acrylic finish

Step 3. When you get a semi-sphere using brush put layer of finish and press it using layer of wrap film. Your thread should soak with finish.

Step 4. Let it dry. You got elastic semi-sphere.

Step 5. Repeat steps 1-4 to got one more semi-sphere.
Step 6. While you waiting semi-spheres to dry cut out Christmas ornament.

Step 7. Put Christmas ornament on finish.

Step 8. Put to semi-spheres together.

Step 9. You can put them together using thread, glue or using fabric sticker.

You are done. You can create ornaments that have any form, any color and any picture on it using this tutorial as the base. In the end I would like to say thanks to Smirnova Tetiana who spent her time to create pictures and text for this tutorial. You can find more tutotials on her web-page: www.tsmirna.ru

Holidays Quilted Ball Ornaments

I am glad to start series of Christmas post. I love this holiday. All handmade artists try to create something unusual, extraordinary and original. Christmas Ornaments can be different colors and made from a lot of materials: glass, plastic, wood and even fabric like this one

This amazing ornament was done by Kathi, on etsy her shop is named unclebuyme as well as her web-page. 
Why Uncle Buy Me? Its long and sad story. When Kathi's sister was pregnant her husband bought her a HUGE box filled with two shopping carts worth of toys and items from Toys R Us. After their nephew was born her husband would always buy the best gifts for him -- and so -- he would appropriately call him: Uncle Buy Me! Kathi's sister passed away from breast cancer at only 43-years-old with a then 9-year-old son. She will forever remember the long days and nights sitting with her sister at the hospital making quilted ornaments, decorating hospital room and hanging the ornaments from IV pole. And so, the name Uncle Buy Me is in honor and memory of Kathi's sister. In Kathi's shop you can find some brest cancer awareness ornaments:

Next quilted Christmas ornament features sprigs of green pine needles along with tiny brown pine cones and red dotted berries on a crisp white background. There are alternating rows of a patterned brown along with brown and sparkling green topping bows. 

It's impossible to imagine Christmas without poinsettias. This quilted ornament features beautiful red ones, green leaves and brown pine cones. 

Ornaments are not only for Christmas. You can use them as decorations and gifts for any holiday: Independence day, Thanksgiving Day, Easter.....and all these ornaments can be found in Kathi's shop.  As an example this is the Thanksgiving Day Ornament and you still have time to buy it.

Some important notice - you can save money on the ornament price and on shipping by buying from the website www.unclebuyme.com. Happy Holidays! 

New look for your old laptop

Source http://www.livemaster.ru/dekupazh-na-noutbuke

Sometimes you wake up in the morning and understand - colorful, taste, juicy summer is gone. Fall came again and brought with her cold wind, rains and yellow leaves.. Sweet summer memories are faded away day after day and even your lovely laptop looks really boring.
Are you sad?  Stop it. You can save a piece of lavish summer for all year or even more and at the same time give new look for your old laptop:

Materials:
1) napkins with picture you like
2) acrylic paints
3) glue and finish 
4) brushes and roller sponge
5) laptop

Step 1. Clean up your laptop using something that removes fat. You can use napkins for cleaning up laptops. Try to put your pictures on laptop. IMPORTANT: first put main components, then small ones. After you decide how to compose your pictures carefully move it somewhere where you can see it.

 

Step 2. Now you need to make a background - base layer for napkins. You need acrylic paints, brushes and/or roller sponge. Put a layer of paint. Choose color that fit your picture. Let it to dry. Put another color emphasis using the sponge where it is needed, in this tutorial these are places where jug, grapes and flowers will be located. 

 


Step 3. Let paints to dry. Cover your laptop with glue-finish. IMPORTANT: layer of glue should be thick. Carefully put napkins on the laptop and using center-edge movements attach it to laptop. The sequence of putting picture parts should be the same as in first step: the biggest ones, smaller, the smallest. Let it dry and than cover with finish. You can add some details using paints or markers. Let it dry again.

 


Thats all. Now you have this amazing laptop and be sure all you relatives and friends will ask you to create similar one for them. In the end I would like to say thanks to Alena Prohorova for creating this tutorial, good pictures and descriptions. 

Wall Clocks by JesselynJoy

The main event of last week is ending of Daylight Saving Time. So today we talk about time, but actually clocks. Let me introduce today's featured artist Jesselyn  - 32 year old artist from Orange County. She really loves many different forms of art. In her etsy shop we can found wall clocks, journals and original art work. Everything she makes is really beautiful. But I was inspired by here wall clocks.
Her wall clocks are delicate and tender. She loves birds, to her they represent freedom and simplicity, so you will see them in a lot of her work. This is good example:

This little bird sit on a branch and soaks up the sun in this beautiful large clock. This bright 24" by 24" diamond shaped clock will not only tell you the time, but also will brighten your room and make you smile. It is hand painted with red, yellow, orange and black acrylic paint and lightly textured with joint compound on a thin piece of wood. 
The floral ornaments on Jesselyn Joy are also amazing. Check out this beautiful clock:

This is a leaf green wall clock with silhouetted branches is hand painted on a  vinyl record, slightly textured with joint compound.
Next ones also have floral ornament and made from wood:

Jesselyn have traveled all over the world and much of her inspiration comes from those experiences.

She also works with Children at Risk all over the world, so at times her Etsy proceeds will go to support that work. So you can add some functional art to your interior and help child at the same time. There are clocks for any taste in her shop. 

Looks like animals: unusual animal shaped furniture

Today I would like to share with your result of my surfing on internet. All furniture you will see below is created in shape of animals, from animals or idea is inspired by animals.
First of all let me show you sofa that looks like cat. Unfortunately I was not able to find designer name as well as I was not able to figure out is it real or Photoshop. Also no link for it - I sow this picture in couple sources and looks like all this web-pages were not original ones. 

The author of next two sofas also unknown. But they are really nice and much more positive than first one. 

Of course in this post should contain something created by Sebastian Errazuriz. It is famous designer, and one from his latest furniture ideas is The Duck Lamp. 

If you are inspired - here is his web-page Sebastian Errazuriz. He creates really unusual things. Also google for his "teddy bear coat". 

Next designer that like animal theme and creates furniture is Michel Haillard. These zebra stools are named Aby&Gael II (what had happen with Aby&Gael I?)

There are a lot or similar projects on his web-page: michel-haillard.com/. 

Eiko Ishizawa designed a bear looking sleeping bag. It is not a furniture but it is nice:

Not only sofas can have animals shape. Company Ibride has a great variety of animal shaped tables, shelves and other stuff. For example:

Do you think that you already have seen most extraordinary furniture? No, you haven't. Let me finish this post not with meat furniture. I found it here trendhunter.com and really don't know where you can order such furniture if you like it. Check out this web-page. It has a lot unusual, extraordinary stuff and ideas. 

Sources: http://animal.ru/; http://meetsebastian.com/; http://www.michel-haillard.com/; http://eikoishizawa.com/; http://www.ibride.fr/; http://www.trendhunter.com/

Miniature glass figurines

I spent whole Wednesday in the airports and plains so I missed my Wednesday weekly column "invited guest". This week my post will be a little bit different. At first it is Friday. At second this post - looking for artist, not promotion of artist. Looks like in addition to magnets and license plates I start to collect miniature glass animals. Now I have four of them: lady bug, cat, crab and penguin. Here they are:

So I started to surf internet to look for the masters who do such beautiful things and what I found - a lot of stores, a lot of collectors, a lot of stories but no official web-pages of masters. Is it really sad. I also can be blind or stupid so if you know such web-pages just let me know. I would like to feature persons who can do such beautiful things in my blog as well as be their regular client:-) I want to by handmade stuff directly from artists not from persons who do nothing to create it.
What I found its couple shops (the links are in the end of post) that sell the hand-made blow animals, birds and other miniature figurines made by artist from Russia and Ukraine (St Petersburg, Moscow, Lutzk). The figurines presented at these shops are really nice and you know what - you will never find two similar ones.
They differ in shape, size, colors because they made by people not machines.

 

The only manufacturer web-page I found is Factory of Author's Glass. This factory produces wide variety of glass products: miniature glass figurines, glass souvenirs, sculptures, window stained glass. All products are hand-blown and handmaid. They have amazing figurines in their store but the bad news is - you can order only huge number of them (100 - if you order one figurine or set of 60 figurines).  See below some examples of of tiny animals and birds:

   

Here are the shops I found where these nice tiny things are sold:
www.chinaberry.com
http://russian-crafts.com/
http://glass-zoo.com/
http://www.therussianshop.com/
http://www.ukrsteklo.com.ua/
www.artglass.in.ua
www.cncraftandgift.com/
www.laskaglass.com/