Green people: handmade, renovations, design

Underwater World Hand Painted Glass

2012-01-15T07:20:00.000-08:00

This new glass was not created only by me. My friend started to work on it for her son and drew octopus, fish and seaweeds. The problem was in her outliner. She had a bad one so she didn't like her art work and gave it to me.
I left almost all underwater creatures she has drawn except couple that was covered with thick rubber-looking outliner. Those were deleted using hot oven and sharp knife.

After removing those parts I drew Nemo, jellyfish and octopus on the glass base and started painting.

Something was wrong with this glass, I have never had so many problems with painting anything. Paints, outliner and my hand just did not want to be with this glass.

I was painting and removing what I had painted, I almost broke this glass itself twice... This was tough but I did it. Finally it was ready and was presented as a gift to my friend and her kids. I hope they like it.

The pictures have a bad quality because my camera stopped working recently, so all pictures were made using my cell phone.

Writing Cabinet Renovation

2012-01-06T05:19:00.000-08:00

New 2012 has started and my New Year resolution is to put more attention to this blog, find more ideas and create more handmade things.
I haven't posted anything about furniture restoration and renovation for a long time. Just haven't seen anything I would like to share. I found this writing cabinet renovation couple days ago. Just compare these pics.
Before

and after

This writing desk was born in USSR about 60 years ago but after renovation it looks like new. I like bright colors and fresh look. It's really good for children's room.

The renovation was done by LiveJournal user asa_asa. Here you can find more details and how to. BTW it's not first asa_asa renovation I am writing about. This toys cabinet was renovated by her as well.

Miniature glass figurines - 6

2011-12-12T20:22:00.001-08:00

Two more glass figurines in my collection. They came from Ukraine.

New Year Gift from my sister - Knitted Dragon

2011-12-12T20:19:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year 2012 is the Year of the Water Dragon. There are still about two weeks before New Year but I already got my first gift. This knitted dragon was made for me by my sister. Unfortunately I will not see her till the next spring or even summer so she gave me this cutie earlier.

This baby-dragon supposed to bring happiness and good luck in my life all next year and years after.

I really like it. Thanks, sister!

Travel book - Ukraine

2011-12-11T16:28:00.000-08:00

Here are new pages for my travel book. This time they are related to my trip to Ukraine. I didn't bring too many tickets, brochures, etс this time so it's only five pages.

First page contains list of clothing I planned to take. I had very small suitcase filled up with gifts so need to be minimalist.

Next two pages are about my #1 city in Ukraine - L'viv. This city is fantastic!

Last two pages contain memories about road trip to Uzhgorod, Chernivtsi and road-trip:

Grapes. Wine. Glass

2011-11-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

I have finished painting glass #2 from the new set. Here is the first one, if you missed it. I decided that this set will have name "Harvest time" and I'll paint leaves, grapes, pumpkins and something else:) Probably apples but I am still thinking about it.
What is more natural than having wine glass painted with grapes? :-)

This glass is a kind of experimental. I have tried different brushes, new paintings, new outliner. Some of these experiments were not 100% successful. So there are small defects. Probably if you don't know where they are you wont't even notice them. But I know. I see them and it makes me a little bit upset.

Last leaf....

2011-10-31T05:24:00.000-07:00

We had snow this weekend. In October!!! In New Jersey!!! A lot of trees still have green leaves. It was really mind-blowing: green, gold, yellow, red leaves covered with white snow. Winter is coming and it's impossible to stop it. Really soon all gorgeous leaves and wonderful colors will be gone except one last leaf. Live Journal user macka_gothika found a way to save a warm piece of fall. These lovely leaves are brooches. Amazing, isn't it?

All these leaves are for sale. You can buy them here also you can visit online store to see or/and buy other creative art works made by macka-gothika.

Halloween is coming

2011-10-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

This year I am kind of busy for handmade hallowing ideas hunting but some hallowing stuff is impossible to miss. These pumpkin-shaped earnings are so cute and so "for the season".

The author of these little pumpkins is felliniya. There are a way more nice handmade girlish things in her blog.

And finally - yes, these earring are for sale:) You can contact felliniya using this e-mail nekrofilija@yandex.ru

Peak of Colors - Hand Painted Glass

2011-10-06T06:34:00.000-07:00

I have finished painting of one more wine glass - Peak of Colors. This is first glass for new hand painted set. I still have not decided how the next glass in this set will look. I have two options: make all set using Autumn theme or make set using seasons of year theme. Anyway here it is. Glass inspired by a colorful death of summer...

Next picture is the look from inside. This glass is for white wine and I suppose that pale color of wine will accent colors of glass.

Orange Box

2011-09-21T05:47:00.000-07:00

I found master class on how to make this box long time ago while surfing the internet. I don't know who was the first invented how to make small boxes from oranges. This is useless but totally organic (except acrylic paints). So if you have time, wish to paint something and have an orange you can do such box:

First of all you need an orange. Cut it and eat it. Then put halves of orange skin in boiled water and add two table spoons of baking soda. Left it for 12 hours

Now your orange skin is really soft so you can put it over glass and fix using rubbers and let it dry a week or two. After two weeks you'll get two halves of your future box

Now it's painting time. I chose India patterns because I want to practice to paint them for a long time.

When you are done with painting cover your box with couple nice layers of finish. I added zip lock to my box but it was also just an experiment and practice.

My travel book experiment

2011-09-09T06:25:00.000-07:00

I love to travel as much as I love handmade. It's been a while since I got back from wonderful European vacations. I would like to save my memories and all these nice small things I usually bring from gateways - tickets, maps, postcards... So I've put them together and made some kind of a travel book. "Some kind" because it's my first experiment with travel book. I've seen a lot of them way better then mine.
Page about the city I liked the most - Český Krumlov

Kraków pages. We started our trip in this city:

Next destination - Bratislava:

The following page is my favorite one. I tried to show Bratislava atmosphere without putting any words or Bratislava's landmarks...

Next one - Vienna, city of luxury and coffee:

And last one - Prague...

There are other pages in the book, but they don't deserve to be put

All about pillows

2011-08-23T16:38:00.001-07:00

I don't write about such stuff but a good friend of mine, Nataly, just opened her shop on etsy. I would like to help her in her business at least with some promotion. And finally I like pillow covers she makes. These are two reasons why I desided to write this post.
Brand new shop is filled with a lot of pillow covers of any style. They are cute!
My favorite item in this brand new shop is this flower print pillow. It's fresh and bright. I love such things.

Next one I would like to highlight is elegant and romantic set of three pillow covers "Time to Dream". Black and white colors are simple and perfect in their simplicity:

And last one I want to put here is funny, fashionable, a little bit punk pillow cover.

So don't wait, check Trendy Dreams Shop on etsy to find stylish and elegant custom made designer pillow covers, drapes, valances, bedspreads, blankets and anything else you want:)

Butterflies coffee cups

2011-08-17T06:10:00.000-07:00

My new glass-painting work, now butterflies. It is birthday gift for my another friend. I hope she'll like it. It was much easier to paint these cups than paint wine glasses set I gave as a gift for my another friend. Looks like soon all my friends will have cups or glasses from me:) This set name is "Butterflies" and here are "Night butterflies"

and "Day butterflies"

Kitchen Cabinet Renovation

2011-08-10T06:19:00.000-07:00

I'm back. I was really busy last couple weeks and totally had no time for this blog. But now I have a lot of new materials, so...
Furniture renovating is infectious :) This cabinet renovation was made by my really good friend. And first of all I would like to say thanks to her. She spent a lot of time and efforts to make this great renovation, and share with me step by step instructions and pictures. Thank you, Nadiya. And I miss you!
When I first saw this piece of junk made from pressed wood it looked like old ugly cabinet. So here is "before" picture:

Next time when I met this cabinet it was like brand new and stylish, as we can see on "after" pictures

So how it was done...
First step in any renovation, remove all old finish and painting. So take the sand paper (start from using 60 and then use paper with higher numbers to make your sanded surface smoother)

Next step - covering cabinet with base color. In this case it was white acrylic water-based painting.

When base coat is dried it's time to cover cabinet with couple nice layers of paint you would like your cabinet be. So take beige acrylic paint and put couple layers of it.

Time to be an artist. Take pictures you like, for example these gorgeous peacocks, and print them out

Take pencil and lead them where they suppose to be

Using acrylic paints add colors to your painting:

When your painting is completed cover all cabinet with water based finish. Don't buy a cheap brush or painting roller for it, because cheap ones can leave traces and hairs on your cabinet. Put couple of layers of finish, one is not enough to protect painting from damages.
Last step - attach new cabinet handles and you are done. Instead of old cabinet you have brand new piece of art in your kitchen.

Gilles Eichenbaum Garbage Lamps

2011-07-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

Gilles Eichenbaum is a French Designer who makes amazing lamps from old cookware and other thing that definetely was not designed to be lamps.For example this lamp has name "Domestic Affairs" and it is made from iron and cake pan:ase 8.5 x 18cm.

My favorite lamp has name "Aubade". Gilles used kettle to create it. I really love this metal lacework. It looks so fragile and elegant

"Blanquette de Veau" is night-light made from aluminum pot. Gorgeous!

More of these cookware lamps and other lamps made from most unexpected things you can find on Gilles Eichenbaum personal webpage www.garbage-vpot.com

New art deco look of an old table

2011-07-08T07:18:00.000-07:00

Great idea if you have some old table and a lot of old magazines or advertising in your mail-box. This "how-to" and table itself was created by my namesake Iryna. There are almost no explanations how to do some steps but a lot of pictures are really helpful.

First step for every renovation project is cleaning up and removing old finish using sand paper.

Next - take your magazines and tear pictures you like.

Using glue attach them to the table

Blot table with black acrylic paint:

Cover your table with couple layers of finish. Of course you should let each layer to dry before to put new one

Your table is ready

Knitted Furniture from Patricia Graf

2011-07-06T06:36:00.000-07:00

Looks like knitting is an inexhaustible source for inspiration for designers and furniture makers. Earlier I have posted knitted chairs and knitted wallpaper. Today I found couple more unbelievable pieces of furniture related to knitting. These two amazing things were created by Patricia Yasmine Graf - young German designer.
This crocheted stool has warm cozy looks and moreover it has integrated footwarmer. Great idea for cold winter evenings.

This crocheted easy chair is comfortable, beautiful and functional as well. It's tentacles can hold remote control, magazine or anything else you need to relax.

More cool furniture and creative accessories can be found on Patricia web-page www.pyg-design.de.

Table and maps... if you like to travel

2011-07-01T06:54:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but I always bring from all my trips pack of maps. So here is a great idea to get rid of them and decorate some old table.
First take the table and sand it. Then clean up all dust.

Take maps you like and cut them to the pieces. Cover table with glue and put pieces of map like it shown on the picture.

If your table is not square cut paper a little bit like it shown on picture above. Try to avoid bubbles and wrinkles when attaching paper to the table.

Let table dry and cover it using finish. Better to use water based finish because oil based makes spots of grease on your maps.

Let first layer of finish dry, sand it with finest sand paper and cover it with finish one more time. That's all. Now you have perfect table that saves your memories about wonderful trips you had for long-long years.

I found this table here http://yaliliya.ru/post133612264/, but I believe it's not original source, so if you recognize your idea - let me know, I'll be glad to put your name as author name of this travel table.

Rupert McKelvie’s Missing Pieces Table

2011-06-29T06:03:00.000-07:00

Except of furniture renovation and all other handmade I love putting together jigsaw puzzles. Today I found my twin soul who loves furniture and puzzles as much as I do - Rupert McKelvie. He is a British designer mostly working on furniture design and other home decor.

Once upon a time he had jigsaw puzzle set with missing parts, so he decided create something useful and complete from these pieces. I believe it took a lot of time to put this puzzle-table. There are 4800 pieces from Arc de Triomphe, Winnie the Pooh, night sky and Taj Mahal puzzles.

Rupert McKelvie says "I was all too aware of the frustration of nearing the end and realizing there were ‘missing pieces’. It became something that would never see completion". So as we can see some times frustration can easily transform to inspiration.

I have put puzzle with train into the box long time ago because I lost a lot of pieces, so now I am thinking to create something like this awesome table :)

Cupboard Door-Gone-Art Desk

2011-06-24T06:09:00.000-07:00

Author of this idea is Autie. She invented and created these funny and useful tables from real junk.

Guess what is the source for these tables? Doors from old cabinets. Kids love art and their own craft table inspires them to do more and more. Children can seat on the floor and draw because of short table stands. Table top that can be opened is another great idea. That gives you space for paper, pencils and other crafts.

As I mentioned before for creating such kid table you need doors, stands, paint, base, sand paper, screws, drill and everything you think will be useful for decorating.

First step is sanding of doors, you should remove old paint and/or finish. Clean up the door. Attach stands. If there are no door hinges you should attach them too. Now it's time to decorate. You can do whatever you want, for example you can use decoupage as Autie did.

Step by step instruction and more pictures can be found here www.u-createcrafts.com. This web page contains huge amount of all kind of handmade and decorating.

Palette and brushes earrings

2011-06-22T06:06:00.000-07:00

Usually I don't post jewelry. I like handmade jewelry a lot and many many really cool earrings, rings, bracelets, necklaces can be found on Internet but there are a lot of another blogs about all this things. Actually more than half of my jewelry is handmade but here I would like to post only one my set. I just got it from Kiev

They are COOL. When I've first seen them I said I must have it. I didn't even care what it was. First I thought that it's a pendant :) But who cares what it if it's so cute. Not only my eyes like them, my ears also like these earrings because earrings hooks are silver, not metal. I'm allergic to metal so I am really glad to have such a creative jewelry made from high quality materials.
The author of these art-earrings is Julia, she lives in Kiev, Ukraine and her earrings make me want them all. They are one of the kind and I've never seen something like this.
These earrings I also just love

So eventually this post is also about furniture:)
More Julia's art creations can be found on her web page http://www.julees.com.ua/ or in her LJ blog http://julee-s.livejournal.com/. All her works are simply beautiful.

Furniture for car lovers

2011-06-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

All my previous entries were some kind of "girly". This post for men. I am sure the heart of each man will be touched by this furniture. Actually my heart is broken too. What men love so much? Almost so much like a girls? Cars. I believe most of them will be even glad to sleep in their beloved cars and .. now they have such opportunity. This sofa is designed especially for car fans:

There are two young designers from Poland - Andrzej Sapierzynski and Lukasz Siodmok. And they are geniuses. Do you know a boy who does not want such armchair? Do you know anybody at all who can stay calm when see it? Probably I am overreacting but I always do when I find something breathtaking.

For such sofa and armchair you definitely need some special coffee table

Amazing. That's all I can say. And this is not everything that they can do with cars and furniture. These guys designed office desks and standing lamps and can do custom design for you. There is even a picture on their web-page with some explanation how they create such things. So if you liked it and want to find out more go to http://www.la-ds.com/.

Some amazing clocks from some really old(odd??) stuff

2011-06-15T06:16:00.000-07:00

I met a wonderful and creative person just couple days ago. Her name is Olga. She loves to create beautiful things from some old junk stuff. Mostly her art creations are made in steampunk style. For example these earrings

But I just LOVED her clocks. They are amazing. Just take a look at this one made from ... an old chair:

I believe every artist would like to have such piece of art in his/her studio. These clocks are inspiring to create more and more beautiful things.

The next one - has nothing glamorous, even name. These clocks are named "Antiglamour". They made from vintage clock parts, vintage frame, suit-case wheels, chain....

And the last one I really love - "Cuckoo clock". Vintage door, vintage clock parts, bakelite bird, old key.. what is the common for all these things? Almost nothing except all of them together are really rare and gorgeous kind of clock.

I liked and posted these three clocks because I have never seen such clocks, they are just mind-blowing and one of a kind. And they fit the format of my blog just perfect. There are more Olga's art at her personal web-page www.olgaclockworks.com. They are also beautiful, I really recommend to take a look.

Old fence = Home Decor for 4th of July

2011-06-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

I have seen this piece of home decor during my trip to Wellsboro, PA. It was shown in antique shop window. I like the idea and I believe it's not a problem to do such flag to decor home before 4th of July. We need piece of fence and blue, green and white acrylic paints. Now I am thinking about where to find piece of fence :)

All six: Meadow wine glass set

2011-06-08T06:11:00.000-07:00

Last post about my glasses:) I promise. Just some pictures of all six together. To see pictures of each one click here

Knitted wallpaper

2011-06-07T06:13:00.000-07:00

One more knitting idea for those who love knitting more than anything else: knitted wallpaper. It looks really psychedelic but cozy. I am not sure that I can or/and want to live in such interior. This idea can be great for rooms where you don't spend a lot of time.

If you are real fan of knitting you can start making these wallpapers and in a one-five years you'll have a new look for your room :) But if you just love these wallpaper you can by them here www.couturedeco.com. They look really realistic, nobody feels the difference before touching it.

Pictures source www.couturedeco.com/

Old Chair

2011-06-06T05:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, the rule is working: if I found something interesting, like a chair, I'll find couple more amazing chairs:) If you have old chair like this, you can throw it into the garbage

or you can do something like this:

LiveJournal user amazonka-city has chosen second way and got a wonderful chair:

If you liked this chair you can find more works of amazonka-city here

Source: http://amazonka-city.livejournal.com/

Cut Chair from Peter Bristol

2011-06-03T06:35:00.000-07:00

This chair looks just unbelievable. The most crazy thing that you can sit on it. The plate under carpet makes this chair stable and safe to sit, stand or anything else you can do with chair

This unique and mind-blowing piece of furniture was designed by Peter Bristol, you can find more pictures of this chair and other amazing inventions in design by visiting his web-page http://www.peterbristol.net/

Wine glass 6 - Pansies

2011-06-02T06:56:00.000-07:00

I did it. I almost done with my glass set, at least I done with painting all glasses. I just need couple days to let last one to dry to be able to cover all set with finish. Then couple more days and I should give them back to my friend. Actually I am a little bit late - it's supposed to be Christmas gift. But later is better than never:)
I started to paint them in the middle of February and it took more than 3 months to paint them all. Of course I have not painted them all the time, I have vacations and tight schedule at work, etc. But it's a lot of time anyway.
Here is the last one - Pansies:

Amazing handmade folding-screens

2011-06-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

Whether the folding-screens are furniture? I have never thought about it... But anyway, I found couple perfect handmade examples of it in Svetlana Fadeeva blog.

This one is named "Corset". Vintage pictures and lacing are really stylish and of course require the room to place it to be stylish.

One more in vintage style, this one is my favorite:

Next one is for Great Britain fans, traditional for this country patterns, famous phone bots make your interior elegant and British (don't forget to speak with accent when you buy it to make your interior and you look consistent :)).

These folding-screens and a lot of other handmade treasures you can found in Svetlana's handmade shop.

Knitted Chair

2011-05-27T06:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was looking for some crochet "how to" to create my post about marionettes and look what I found - knitted chair. Great idea and really nice and cozy look. Unfortunately I don't know who is the author, hope she (or he) does not mind that I put them to my blog.

Source http://magic-thread.com/

Marionettes: where to buy, how to make

2011-05-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

She came from Czech Republic, her name is Maria and she is a good witch. All who knows me personally knows that my nickname is a which name and also I have nickname flame_witch in LiveJournal, so witches are kinda my mascot.

Why I am posting it here? In my handmade blog? Because it's a handmade, at least I was told that :) And because I like it a lot.
Czech traditional marionettes are usually hand carved from lime wood. I have very simple one but there are marionettes that have movable mouth and ears and have much more than four strings. I found two shops with amazing puppets: www.djepeto.com and www.handmadepuppetdreams.com. Creating marionette is hard and delicate workmanship, but everything is possible and here is some tutorial how to make simple but cute marionette.

To create this fluffy baby ostrich we need
1) fluffy knitting yarn;
2) crochet hook, size 12;
3) polyester batting;
4) couple jersey patches;
5) 2 buttons for eyes;
6) threads for embroidery;
7) 16 inches long wood rail;
8) pressure sensitive paper;
9) scissors, threads, nails, hammer, needles, awl.
Step 1. Neck Kniting. Make 40 chain stitches, and than 3 rows of single snitches. Fix the thread and left thread around 7 inches long. We need this part of thread to attach head to the body later.
Make legs: make 80 chain stitches and 2 rows of single stitches.

Make body: create 20 chain stitches and 10 rows of single stitches. Do not cut the thread. Take your rectangle and fold in half. Put edges together using slip stitches

Reverse, fill up with the polyester batting, attach edges to each other using slip stitches.
Make head. Create 5 chain stitches, make circle with 1 single stitch. Make 1 row of single stitches. In second row add one more single stitch in each second stitch. In third add one more single stitch in each 3rd stitch; in 4th row put 2 single stitches in each 4th stitch, and in 5th row put 2 single stitches in each 5th stitch. Make 4 more rows, fill up head with the polyester batting and finish your crochet work.
Step 2. Cut off jersey beak and paws parts. For beak we need a triangle with 3 inches long sides. Paws are almost oval, 3,5 inches long and 2,5 inches wide. Sew paws and beak. And fill them up with polyester batting.

Step 3. Put together all parts using thread and needle. Attach eyes.

Step 4. Take two threads 40 inches long and two threads 20 inches long. Attach these threads to the top of head, paws and tail using needle. It is better to fix needle in three points on paws or you can add some weight to the paws. It will be easer to control your puppet.

Step 5. Make the control bar. Take wooden rail and cut it to half (8 inches long each). Make cross using 2 nails, you can cover your control bur with pressure sensitive paper. Make holes using awl on the end of each end of cross. Run thread or fishing line through holes, fix it. You are done.

I would like to say thanks to user ledenika. She created this tutorial and made pictures. If you like knitting, crochet, embroidery and a lot of others creative, cute and handmade things visit her blog http://ledenika.blogspot.com/.

Glass 5 - Dandelion

2011-05-24T06:21:00.000-07:00

I finished fifth glass. One more and freedom, no more flowers:) Glass number 6 already is in progress and I hope to finish it this week

Moo-oo Candle Holder

2011-05-20T06:07:00.000-07:00

There are couple things people can look forever: fire, sky, water. You can look to the burning candle for hours moreover if you put your candle in cute candle holder made by yourself you can look at it for a days.
Here is tutorial how to make such candle holder:

Materials and tools:
1) IKEA (or any other cheap) wood photo frames with glass;
2) acrylic black and white paints;
3) glue;
4) spackling paste;
5) gloss and matte finish (spray)

Here is a good example of frames we need:

Step 1. Using glue put together skeleton of future candle holder (use just frames without glass). Then put spackling paste on it, create a bold stoke. Pay more attention and put more paste on corners and joint. Let it dry for a night.
Step 2. Paint it with acrylic paints and cover it with gloss finish.

Step 3. Now you should create picture on glasses, you can just print picture you like and put it under the glass. Than using glass paints and glass outline re-create this picture on glass. After picture is ready and paints are dried cover glass with matte finish.

See couple more examples of candle holders made using exactly the same technology below.

For this one decoupage was used, pictures on glass are cut of from napkins:

For this one the same frames were used, they just lay down one on top of another. branches and grits were used to make a texture. After all it was covered with gold spray paint (good hand made Christmas gift).

And last one:

I would like to say thanks to SoffiaShark LiveJournal user who created all these candle holders and this tutorial.

The source http://soffiashark.livejournal.com/64682.html

Miniature glass figurines - 5

2011-05-19T12:38:00.000-07:00

New items in my miniature glass figurine collection. I brought them from Ukraine.

The dog:

The Sheep

And the bull:

Glass 4 - Cornflower

2011-05-18T05:58:00.000-07:00

Back from vacation, back to blog and back to painting my wine glasses set. Actually I painted this one before vacation but I had no time to post it.

Just two more glasses to paint :)

Glass 3 - Poppies

2011-04-13T06:05:00.000-07:00

Aren't you tired to see my amateur glass painting each week? I am a little bit tired from painting it. But three out of six are done. Here are first one, second one and finally third one:

This one I like more than others and I even don't know why. It was fun to paint it and it was really easy. Time was going so quick when I worked on it. I just started and two hours are gone.

Hope my friend will like this one as much as I am. Because I would like to leave this glass for myself to be honest. First two - no, they are not mine, but this one - like part of my soul. If I love my friend a little bit less I will never give it to her:) But she is really one of the best friends and best persons I have ever met.

I believe I need to wait for one sunny day to make pictures. They look great in sun light. But it's raining in New Jersey all time this spring. Do you know where is summer now?

Now summer and spring are only on my glasses. Fair Lawn - this is how I am going to name this set of glasses.

Wine glass 2 - Daisies

2011-04-06T06:09:00.000-07:00

I've finished my second wine glass. Second one was more easy to paint. And much faster as well.

What I figured out that there is no really wide choice of glass paints. Looks like this type of crafting is not very popular. And I understand why:) So if you know good glass paints and know where to by them - let me know. I don't like mixing glass paints because they became dry really fast. So I would like to have more gradations of basic colors.

Finally look inside it. I like it even more from this, wrong side:)

Starting work on the third one - poppies. Hope it will be finished soon. To see glass I painted first click here

Wall Clocks

2011-04-04T06:13:00.000-07:00

So my suspicions that interesting stuff of one type is found by me by one by one in a row are confirmed. Just last week I posted some stained glass wall clocks and find out a new beautiful one from blogger Ulia Drugynina. She is a Moscow designer and decorator. Here is amazing clock she made and shared with us

You can buy this clock of find a lot of gorgeous art creations made by Ulia here.

Lamps, clocks and more....

2011-03-30T06:04:00.000-07:00

It's interesting. Looks like if I start writing about something, for example about stools or lamps I'm constantly finding more and more amazing examples of this things. Last my post was about silverware ceiling lamp and right after posting I found some more lamps I I'd like to share.

Do you think that picture above is picture of somebody's interior? Yes, it is. But... this is just a part of "interior" lamp:

This lamp was created by Yevgenia Homyachkova. She is really creative handmade master, she makes lamps, wall clocks, mirrors and many other things. Next her creation can be added to my old post about furniture and home decor that looks like an animals. I believe it will be great in African style interior:

Are you thinking about decoration of your rustic cabin? If so next two lamps will be perfect find for it:

As I said before Yevgenia aslo creates wall clocks. And I don't even know what she makes better, just one example to inspire you

This wall clocks were made in stained glass technique. And I like it so much!!! Yevgenia is very productive handmader so if you wish to see more her art works or buy something you can do it by visiting her LJ blog, her picture gallery or her shop.

Old Silverware = Fantastic Ceiling Lamp

2011-03-23T06:06:00.000-07:00

This is the one thing that I couldn't even imagine. The ceiling lamp made from spoons? Sounds crazy, but looks gorgeous and creative. It's perfect for kitchen, dining room or bar.

The process of creation is easy and fascinating, you'll enjoy it even if you have never done anything like this.

Step 1. We need set of silverware (will be good if each peace has hole in handler) and old lampshade frame.

Step 2. Now you should remove fat from all spoons-forks-knives you are going to use. You can do it by wiping them with some alcohol containing liquid. Let them dry and cover with base layer of paint. It is more easy to use spray paint for metal or plastic.

Remember that it is really better if you paint silverware outside your house. Paints and finishes are not good for you and your pets.

Step 3. When everything is covered by paint and dry(you may need couple layers of paint and should let each one dry completely) put on your ex-silverware craquelure.

You can buy craquelure in any crafts store. Remember you could add only one thin layer of craquelure and be sure that you put it in one direction.

Step 4. When the layer of craquelure is not sticky anymore (time depends on which craquelure you bought but usually it's 20 minutes) put top layer of paint, color should be contrast to basic one. Paint silverware in the same direction that you put craquelure on it. You can use for top layer acrylic paints.

For example, in process of creation this ceiling lamp white base was used(spray paint for metal) and black acrylic paint for used as top layer.

If you did everything correctly (and I'm sure you did) in couple minutes you'll see nice cracks on your silverware.

Step 5. Fix paint with finish. You can use oil based finish or water based finish. Also you can choose any type of it: satin, gloss, etc.

Step 6. When parts of your ceiling lamp are drying you can work on your lampshade frame. You can paint it, you can add any beads, chains, crystals, flowers, anything. The only one limitation here is your fantasy. For this lamp decorative chains, black beads and crystals were used.

Step 6. Put together all your parts and attach silverware to frame.

Lamp socket for this ceiling lamp you can buy in stores like Home Depot or Lowes. This tutorial was prepared by chesta-fiesta and originally posted here.

Wine glass - handpainted

2011-03-10T06:01:00.000-08:00

My really good friend ordered the hand painted set of glasses as a gift. I don't like glass painting but the idea was really interesting. I started. First one was the most terrible one, it's not too easy to paint on stuff that has not so simple shape and glass painting requires a lot of patience, accuracy and some glass painting skills that you can get only by painting glass.
Let me show my first painted glass in my life. I know that it has some (or probably a lot of) defects but I proud for myself that I did this. The first one is Sunflower glass. Here is it:

I already finished 50% of second glass - Camomile one. I'll show it to you soon

One more stool

2011-03-09T06:08:00.000-08:00

Last time I had a lot of posts about stools' remodeling and renovation. I don't even know why. Hope it's the last stool in row. Next time I'll post about another furniture piece, I promise.
The summer memories inspired vikulin to create this stool for kids. Summer rain, grandmother, milk and all other childhood memories make this stool so cute, so warm and tender:

A lot of other handmade ideas and lessons can be found in vikulin Live Journal blog. This particular stool can be found here. By the way - this stool is for sell, so if you really like it you can buy it.

Miniature glass figurines - 4

2011-03-02T06:02:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I visited Museum of American glass. And I found new animals for my collection in gift shop of this museum. My new findings are the smallest ones I have.

To see the rest of my collection click here.

Broken Stool = Mosaic Table

2011-02-24T06:07:00.000-08:00

There was the following stuff, to be honest some kind of garbage:
1) broken stool without a top
2) cut circle from table top
3) some Polymer Clay circles-flowers
4) two ceramic tiles - white and light blue
5) rods
But if we put everything together.... we can have perfect stylish mosaic table:

All steps of this transformation you can find on the picture below. First of all attach circle from a table top to the stool. Scratch table top and cover it with tile glue. Put on the glue polymer flowers and pieces of tiles. Before you start putting mosaic on glue put it together on the another table. Glue is drying fast so you have only about 15 minutes to transfer your mosaic from one place to other. If you don't use ceramic tiles you can use which best fits your material. When done with mosaic, efface the surface and cover it with oil based finish twice.
Next steps are not required, there is the place for you fantasy and view of your future table.
Take piece of bagging and remove some threads from it. Attach it to the ex-stool. Curve rods and nail it.
Add paper-mache roll to the table edge. Cover everything with bronze spray painting. Put some craquelure and cover everything with black painting. Now you have nice bronze cracks. Cover places you painted with water based finish.

Here is more detailed picture of table stands:

Thanks gashula for sharing this master-class with us. By the way she also makes nice handmade dolls that can be found in her blog.

This master class was originally posted here.

Cabinet for toys

2011-02-23T06:11:00.000-08:00

One more furniture renovation that I really like. There was old and boring cabinet and there was no money for new one as well as no place for storing kid's toys. But if you have taste, some time and some painting skills, you can have perfect cabinet that looks better than new one. So here is "before" picture:

And here is "after" picture:

Looks way better, doesn't it?
This renovation was done by asa-asa and originally posted here

Creative and environment friendly handmade gift for Valentine's day

2011-02-10T06:08:00.000-08:00

You can do such unusual creative and environment friendly gift for your honey using old bulb.

Materials and instruments:
1) Old light bulb
2) piece of wood
3) wire
Step 1. Open base of bulb and remove contents.

Step 2. Make hearts from wire:

Step 3. Using glue attach bulb with hearts to piece of wood and write down a love expression.

Your cute and funky gift is ready.

Source: idecorator.ru

Handmade valentines: make it by your own hands

2011-02-09T06:02:00.000-08:00

St. Valentine's Day is on next Monday, but it's still more than enough time to create very special valentine for your very special one. Below you can find some ideas and "how to's".
First idea - box with the kiss. For the laziest ones. Take any nice small or big or even huge box. Decorate it with harts, or kisses. If you are the lazy champion, you can just buy nice red box, if not you can cut out hearts, flowers and kisses, buy a lot of small valentines and attach them to the box or buy ready heart shaped stickers and put them to the box

Thats all for this idea. After preparing your box you should come to you Valentine, open box, kiss the air in the box and quickly close it. Your present is ready:) Give it to your sweet hart.
Next idea - Be My Valentine garland:

Step by step instruction you can find here.
Next idea - aromatic valentines made from salt dough.

To create such cute valentines we need:

- cup of flour

- 1/3 cap of salt

- 1/2 tbs of corn starch

- hot water

- fragrance oil

- food color

Mix water and food color. Add water to mix of starch, flour and salt. Brake dough with fragrance oil. Sculpture anything you like (for Valentines day it's probably should be hearts) and put it to the dry and warm place. Let them dry for couple days and then put them everywhere.
I like pop-ups cards a lot. So here are couple ideas for them.

If you like these pop-ups you can find how to make them here. There were simple ones. The following requires a way more time and a little more skills but they are really gorgeous:

The templates for these cards you can find below. The larger size is available after click on the picture.

That's all for today. I'll continue tomorrow:)

Sources: www.zhenskayalogika.ru; cosmocricket.blogspot.com; www.designspongeonline.com; http://aauumm.ru/post128809409/; robertsabuda.com; blogs.mail.ru

Miniature glass figurines - 3

2011-02-03T06:04:00.000-08:00

Here and here I already posted some of my miniature glass figurines, but after all holidays my collection has grown and I have couple more cute miniature animals.

Dragon:

Frog #1

Cute pink pig:

Bluebird of happiness

Frog #2 (frogs figurines bring money in your life by feng shui so more frogs more money:))

Just dog, but I like him:)

Orange parrot

Green turtle

and white rabbit:

Blue Handpainted Stool

2011-02-02T16:03:00.000-08:00

I have not been here for a while as well as I did not post any "how to's". But I'm back and today I would like to show you how to create such a beautiful blue stool. Here are before and after pictures. Amazing, isn't so?

Let's start. Take old and ugly stool:

Next - remove old finish and painting using sanding paper or sanding machine, clean up stool and paint it. Acrylic blue painting was used in this case. You need to put couple layers for brighten and smoothen color.

Now we need to add some decorations. You need to buy some shims and paint them.

Add some patterns to the stands and attach shims using silicone glue or any other adhesive for metal, plastic or wood. It's better to use transparent glue. That's all:

Using this approach you can decorate anything in your home, and make it stylish and full of art.

I would like to say thanks to lendigoo for creating this tutorial and sharing it with us.

Source lendigoo.livejournal.com

Unusual and creative office spaces - 2

2011-01-26T06:02:00.000-08:00

Last week I posted some unusual and creative office spaces. I still have a lot of work and looks like one working weekend is following by another, so lets continue with finding something funny, relaxing and a little bin crazy in offices. Let me start with this perfect wooden table:

It was created by Marlies Romnerg, grad of Utrecht School of Arts. She named this unique piece of art - Diar diary 1.0. It's real computer embedded in wooden desk. I am really inspired. Let's continue with desks or cars... or desk and car in one piece:

Unfortunately I did not find the creative soul who designed this. Sometimes pictures go through the web from page to page and it's really hard to find out original source. This is true for the next desk as well. Work desk in shape of piano looks really classy and fancy.

Do you want your work place to be mobile? So you can use this idea: home office from the cart.

You can find the guide how to create this one here. It's in Russian but these are mostly pictures so it will be clear.
Still need more mobility? Here is whole portable office:

It's named Kruikantoor and designed by Tim Vinke. Looks like he also created the following one, but I am not 100% sure. The furniture below was created from palettes:

I believe it's enough for today, if I continue to work over weekends I will continue to look for some creative office spaces, just kidding. I believe enough is enough at least I didn't see anything that looks really good on internet except that I've already shown.

Sourses: www.marliesromberg.nl; vov4ip.ru; www.impactlab.net; future-designs.ru

Unusual and creative office spaces

2011-01-19T06:02:00.000-08:00

I am completely tight up with my job. It's only one thing I can thing about now:) so today's post about really creative, unusual, funny and totally insane office buildings and work spaces.
Let me start with capsules from OfficePOD company. The designers of this company created this mobile office, you can put it in your home, in the garden or anywhere you like to work.

Another creative person Sophie Kirkpatrick designed really cute table. If you want you can put down cover and be alone in crowded office, or just don't see colleagues you don't like too much:)

If you need some exercises or need frequently change your location in office you can use this scooter desk from Yanko design studio:

Need to lose some weight? Check out Walkstation from Steelcase:

To be honest I prefer laying on my sofa or couch, not walking:) Next one office furniture piece was designed for peoples exactly like me - ErgoQuest Model 500.

I also like the idea of 6 screens, I have two at my place and it's totally not enough for me.

Now lets talk about decoration of space around your table. Are you feeling like commandos? Here we are:

Always have dreams about castles, knights and princess? Next work space is for you:

Now lets talk about the offices. Do you like this cabin?

It IS the office. It was created by Peter Frazier and he named it 'Office on the Forest Edge'. If you like nature and would like to work laying down on the grass you should send your resume in Japan company Hakuhodo.

Next one is my favorite, unfortunately I don't know which company owns it:

That's all for today. I wish you great and productive day!

Sources: www.officepod.co.uk/; www.sophiekirkpatrick.co.uk; www.yankodesign.com; steelcase.com; www.officeorganix.com; altfast.ru; themoderncabin.com; dizstyle.ru

Mad Tea Party - Invitations

2011-01-13T06:04:00.000-08:00

No tutorials or how to today. Cause couple days ago I and my really close friend had a Birthday, so we through a big celebration in Mad Tea Party style. So we need a crazy ones invitations for it. I decided to make them in tea pot shape and all they are different. Today I would like to show them to you:

I downloaded templates in internet, cut them out and added some laces and flowers:

Woodland Happy Tree Bookshelfs

2011-01-12T06:08:00.000-08:00

More and more creative and funny furniture in new year, see what I found:

This is not just bookshelf, this is enchanted Woodland Happy Tree Bookshelf! This shelf was made by cute little gnomes and fairies and it's smiling! And there is shop filled up with such amazing and magic things: bookshelves, shelf stands, bookends, display shelves... Want to take a look? Here is the link http://www.etsy.com/graphicspaceswood

Take a look on this Happy Flower Shelf Stand - perfect piece for a baby nursery, children's room or anywhere in your home. The Daisy Flower has a ready smile and would love to be planted on a shelf in your home.

The Woodland Happy Tree Display Shelf is half the size of original children's bookshelf design, making it perfect to display collections or cherished family treasures in any room of the house... he's not just for the kiddies anymore!
Versatile size allows Herbie Jr. to be hung on the wall or sat on a tabletop. He is a completely freestanding tree! Oh, and the cutest part... the spook hole is cut through the trunk and becomes an adorable picture frame. There's a plate on the back. Simply remove the plate and put your child's photo, artwork or whatever you'd like over the top. Kids will love changing this out and putting different pictures in there!

If you liked all staff above and would like to add some magic to your everyday's life visit the graphicspaceswood shop on etsy, as well as other shops and pages of these furniture fairies: decals: http://www.graphicspaces.etsy.com; print: http://www.graphicspacesprint.etsy.com; www.twitter.com/graphicspaces; www.facebook.com/graphicspaces

Graffiti cabinet

2011-01-11T06:18:00.000-08:00

Graffiti and Shabby Chic...to be or not to be? As for me it looks at least strange. How do you think? Of course it's stylish and very creative but to be honest can you image interior where such piece will look good? I can't.

source http://community.livejournal.com/dezain/

Cabinet decorating

2011-01-06T06:12:00.000-08:00

Do you have boring pale cabinet like this?

Do you like it? I suppose the answer is no, so let's create something magic and bright. We will need:

Decoupage cards
Acrylic finish
acrylic outliners
glitters
boring cabinet

Step 1. Take decoupage card and cut out picture. You can also use napkins instead of decoupage cards. Using acrylic finish attach pictures to the cabinet. Take brush with finish and smooth attached picture.

Step 2. Take outliner and paint branches. Add leaves and flowers.

Step 3. Draw butterflies and fill up their wings using glitter.

Step 4. Take brown acrylic paint and draw tree trunk. Make some texture by adding outliner lines.

Thats it. Instead of ugly old cabinet you have magic one.

Good luck!
I want to say thanks for this tutorial to Tatiana Smirnova. She created this master class and shared it with us. You can find a lot of her other amazing artworks on her web-page: www.tsmirna.ru

Modern Arks Furniture

2011-01-05T06:09:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to everybody! I am back and I have a lot of new perfect art works finds, a lot of new "how to" stories, collectibles and vintage stuff to share with you.
I found this furniture on internet long time ago, but as everybody I was too busy with Christmas, New Year and my Birthday. I'm glad that I left all these holidays behind and I can get back to my blog and my work. So the first form Modern Arks Furniture shop will show you the main idea of all furniture you can found in this store: vintage boxes and "Modern Arks" base

Unfortunately it is sold out. Modern Arks re-purposes items to create one-of-a-kind pieces. Furniture, artwork and other goods are created by mixing a modern design aesthetic with beautifully recycled antiques. The character of these historic relics remains intact, while creating a new and useful product that is truly unique.
The following coffee table is really cute. It is made from large depression era shoe crate and combined with the "Modern Arks" base featuring Eames style, mid-century hairpin legs to create a truly unique coffee table suitable for any decor. The use of authentic antique crates ensures that no two of their coffee tables are alike and re-purposing these historic wooden crates ensures they are appreciated for years to come. This box features german writing on the top of it from the residents of the Harmony society in New Harmony, Indiana.

The Modern Arks Furniture also creates original artwork using wood and ink and are constantly creating new pieces that fit with our established aesthetic. This is the good example of their art works and this sentence makes me think about my life for couple minutes:

I hope you are interested in this shop and like items from it as much as I do. More items for sell can be found on etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/modernarks. They also have the web-page http://www.modernarks.net/.

Coffee can = Gift "box"

2010-12-22T06:06:00.000-08:00

I made this gift container for my very good friend. Hope she'll enjoy it. Such type of "gift boxes" is good for small and fragile gifts or gift sets (chocolate, coffee, figurines....)

So materials:
1) Empty coffee can

2) Christmas themed napkins. We need to cut out pictures from them:

3) Glue

4) Acrylic paints

5) Thin paper

6) water based finish

Step 1. Make a texture. Mix glue and some water and attach thin paper to your coffee can. Let it dry

Step 2. Cover your coffee can with acrylic paint. Let it dry.

Step 3. Attach cut out picture to jar using water-glue mix. Again let it dry

Step 4. Using acrylic paints add some details, shadows and accents to picture. Let it dry.

Step 4. Cover your jar with water based finish.

Here is the result:

Thats all for Christmas 2010. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Spring Christmas tree

2010-12-21T06:10:00.000-08:00

Last Christmas related post for this year. Ok, not last:) Probably there will be one more. But it's definetely last post about Christmas trees. Today I would like to share these really amazing Christmas trees. They are made from real junk.

They are amazing and were created by Cammie. She shared "how to" with us in her blog. Step by step tutorial for first one can be found here and for the second one - here.
She has shop on etsy, where a lot of vintage and recycled things can be found as well as handmade jewelry. Check it out.

Paper Christmas Tree

2010-12-16T05:24:00.000-08:00

Inspired by all unusual and creative trees I found on internet I decided to create one to bring Christmas spirit to my office. Here is the result:

If you like it here is step by step "how to".

Materials

1. Thin paper. I used the one that usually is put in the shopping bags in fancy stores and in the boxes with shoes:

2. Cone. I bought it in Michaels store but you can make one from thick paper or cardboard

3. Glue. I used glue gun

4. Spray paint (optional)

5. Garlands, ornaments, etc. (optional)

Step 1. Tear paper to make rectangle pieces

Step 2. Bend each piece and fold the corner like it shown on the picture below

Step 3. Attach each piece to the cone. Start from the bottom.

When you done you'll get something like this

Like it? If so you are all set. If no - you can cover your tree with paint and add ornaments, garlands, snowflakes....I cover my tree with silver paint leaving the spots where we can see paper color and putted garland on it.

That's all. Merry Christmas!

More and more about Christmas: Felt Ornaments

2010-12-15T05:13:00.000-08:00

Lala Golovata is Ukranian artist and she lives in Hmelnyckiy. Mostly she is working in dry felting technique but embroidery and beading also are her passion. Today I would like to show you Lala's Christmas ornaments. They are cute and tender. Felt boots are my favorites:

Huge variety of colors, sparking beadings....

They are worm and cozy and looks great on the Christmas tree:

Except boots I definitely love biscornus that Lala is making as well. Biscornu is a small 8-sided, stuffed ornamental pincushion. Embroidery, beadings and a lot of others techniques are used for their decorating. Lala's biscornus are delicate, soft and looks fragile like snowflakes. Gorgeous!

This time of year any post cant be done without a Christmas tree. Today we have three and they are felt brooches.

More Lalas art works can be found in her LiveJournal blog - lala-golovata.livejournal.com. Visit Lala's online store www.fintiflu.com/lalagolovata/ to buy amazing things you have seen above or contact her via e-mail golovata@gmail.com

Seasonal Glass Figurines: Santa Claus and Snowman

2010-12-14T04:50:00.000-08:00

I found one more shop where I can buy miniature glass figurines: lookingglassworld.com. Luckily it is located in USA. Figurines in this shop is a little bit lager than those I bought in other places but they have really high quality and made with incredible attention to details.

Christmas is almost here so I have bought Santa Claus and Snowman. They are CUTE:

There are two more Christmas figurines in this shop: Rudolph and Angel. They are beautiful but all figurines in this store are a little bit expensive so I am going to ask Santa to bring them to me as a gift :)

Handmade Christmas Cards

2010-12-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

Christmas tree - check, Christmas wreath - check, Christmas stocking - check, Advent calendar -check, Christmas ornaments - check....What else? Christmas cards! I just found couple really awesome in pony-gogo LiveJournal blog

Why are these cards are so special? Because all of them have a SECRET. These cards are not just like any other cards, they bring happiness for your special one.
Each card has Happy Word on the back of card (these words can be any words you want). You cant see these words, they are invisible but you will definitely feel it.

More and more amazing cards for any occasion can be found here: http://pony-gogo.livejournal.com/

One more cute Christmas tree

2010-12-08T06:24:00.000-08:00

Source community.livejournal.com/master_klass

These days everybody is thinking about Christmas and I'm not an exception so let's create Christmas tree.

Materials:

1) paper for base

2) fabric, ribbons, lacing, paillette

3) acrylic paints

4) clay

5) double sided office tape

Step 1. Cut out the paper сone, put it together using office tape.

Step 2. Sculpture the star, paint it using gold paint. Cut fabric, as result you should get strips. Stitch it and add ribbons, lacing, paillette.

Step 3. Paint cone. Using double sided office tape attach rushing to cone.

Done!

I would like to say thanks to ryzhyj-mash, who created this tree, made pictures and shared it with us!

Most Creative Christmas Trees

2010-12-07T05:38:00.000-08:00

If you want something new for this Christmas here are couple ideas how to decorate Christmas tree.
Lets start with most traditional tree. For decorating a lot of peacock feather and related colors were used. Butterflies and unusual colors and finally peacock on the top.

Next Christmas tree was designed for shops, the form allows to have trees and a lot of space for customers in the same time. You can also use it for leaving more space for gifts:)

For this Christmas tree you should be a fan of Grolsch beer. Or any beer. And work hard to collect all this bottles before Christmas. This trees are made from empty beer bottles and empty beer cans.

Christmas tree for everyone who loves to read paper books. Now we have iPads, iPhones and all this stuff so it is harder and harder find home with real book. Be extraordinary:

Do you have rung ladder? If so you have a Christmas tree.

What? You have no ladder in your home? ok.. what about paper stickers?

All of the following trees are look good and taste good. Be aware - your guest (or you) can left from last two Christmas tree nothing in couple hours.

Do you love sushi? And know how to cook them? If so next one is for you:

Don't like sushi? What about candies, cookies and marsh-mallow?

You think you have seen all? NO! Potato tree, pasta tree, grits tree and banana tree:

If you have a lot of ties you can also use them as Christmas tree:

Plastic bottles. You must hear a lot how many of them pollute our platen, so be green and save trees and planet, use bottles for Christmas tree:

Two christmas trees that you see below can be a little bit expensive.

Too expensive? So there are budget trees: gloves, junk and wood, one from pencils and one cloth hanger

Cardboard tree:

Feather tree

Lamp tree

Tree for crochet work artists:

Trees for geeks:

And finally money trees for everybody:

Sources: www.beauty-code.ru; smoking-room.ru; interfax.by; liveinternet.ru; xage.ru; jtadams.multiply.com; ua-wedding.org.ua; he4to.ru; halfme.ru; cheapwholesalejewelry.com; curiousphotos.blogspot.com

Christmas tree ideas... lets start

2010-12-03T08:57:00.000-08:00

The main attribute of Christmas of course is a Christmas tree. There are a lot of ideas how to decorate it or make it. This idea looks awesome for offices. You can put some Christmas on your desk. Check out: Christmas trees made from magazines.

They are really elegant and can be good decorations for home as well. The author of idea is Maryna. In her LiveJournal blog you can find more really cute handmade stuff: http://infanta-m.livejournal.com/.

Handmade Christmas Wreath: a lot of simple ideas.

2010-12-02T06:17:00.000-08:00

Let's move to the next required Christmas attribute - Christmas Wreath. Today's how to is collection of ideas and some useful notes about making the unique and unusual decoration piece. Christmas Wreath can be really sweet. The first idea I would like to share with you is Candy Wreath

For making this tasty wreath you will need: candies, plastic hoop, ribbon and scotch tape. The following two pictures will show you how to put candies to wreath:

One more sweet Wreath

And "howto" for it in pictures:

Next one - is Ice Wreath. Unfortunately this wreath is good for you if you are leaving in the place with really cold weather.

Why? Because it is really made from ice. You will need: round pots or plates, red berries (cranberries for example), green leaves, ribbon. What to do: pour water in the pot or plate. Put smaller pot or plate in center (you can add water or put something heavy in it to avoid floating). Add berries and leaves to water and leave in cold place for freezing. When it totally frozen put some hot water on pans or pots to separate ice and containers. Attach it to door or gate using ribbon.
Next one for those who love crochet work. I am sure you know better than me how to do this. Because I have no idea:)

Do you still have your Thanksgiving Wreath? Just cover it with silver paint and you get Christmas one. Kidding.

For this one you need: maple leaves or any other dry leaves, better if they have different sizes, white or silver ribbon, cardboard, scissors, glue, silver acrylic paint. Cover leaves with acrylic paint. Let them dry. Cut out ring from cardboard, attach leaves to this ring, use ribbon to put it to the wall or door.
Totally the same idea is used for Buttons Wreath. Use buttons instead leaves and you will get this stylish wreath. You also can paint your buttons using acrylic paints.

More ideas: paper one, fleece one and satin ribbons wreath:

Christmas wreath made from party balloons.

To make this one you need: a lot of balloons, base for wreath, hooks, ribbon (as you see ribbon is default material for making wreath). Here is the step by step instruction in pictures:

Last one for today - from newspaper. How to make - use the way we created the one of buttons:

Sources: liveinternet.ru; ininteriordecor.com; mamavfartuke.ru; superdekret.ru; lifenatural.ru; www.verin-dom.ru;ideidekora.ru; original-ideas.ru; babyblog.ru

Advent calendars

2010-12-01T06:07:00.000-08:00

What comes up in your mind when you're thinking about Christmas? Christmas tree, ornaments, snowman, Santa Claus, Rudolph, stockings, and advent calendars. Advent Calendar is a special calendar. It is used to count the days of Advent. In our days they are mostly are made for children and have many "windows". One window is opened everyday. Opened windows reveal poems, pictures, stories or small gifts.
These calendars are known from beginning of the 19th century and since that time they changed a lot. Now you can find calendars made from wood, fabric, paper. Any form, any size.
I found these amazing calendars in the HanHan's Stitching etsy shop. The artist has passion for embroidery by hand and always enjoyed all needlework.
This calendar will provide enjoyment for your family for years to come. It's a perfect gift for children!

Next one is even more lovely and cute. I LOVE it. Just take a look:

There are a lot of great handmade items in HanhansStitching shop. I am definitely sure - you can find something that was made just for you if you click here.

Another great finds for my miniature glass figurines collection

2010-11-29T08:29:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-24T08:24:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-22T06:44:00.000-08:00

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.