Wonder-ful Wednesday

I have to confess I have a small (maybe not so small) addiction to subscription boxes. I have tried and gifted everything from lifestyle boxes, to beauty products....and have tried to narrow it down to just my favorites. Recently a new box showed up on the market and I was fascinated. Most subs (that's the lingo for us addicts) have a general description of contents,,,beauty products, lifestyle, fitness, clothing, geek etc..but this new box....promises.....and adventure. An adventure? A box of wonder from Wonder and Company where they encourage you to "unbox a story....and wonder what if?" How can one not be intrigued by such a query? Today I received a mysterious little package in the mail...approximately 9 inches long it was an average looking brown box, but the stamp on the side gave me a clue that this was no ordinary package.

Wonderful Objects it promised.....so I opened the box carefully...

Opening the box finds a parcel wrapped in tissue paper..

The contents unwrapped, all coordinate, hint at a surprise still to come...

This faux advertising flyer for Icarian Flight School (Icarus in Greek mythology who made wings of wax and flew too close to the sun) It features a beautiful old fashioned/steampunkesque graphics and tear off tabs at the bottom for things like "jet pack" and "hot air balloon".

There was also this interesting receipt..for flight lessons and flight goggles, indicating payment due of 3 white crow feathers (fallen not plucked)

And these amazing googles! They are metal with a fabulous faux painted patina. They have dark glass lenses. These are fantastic! They just feel so..special! I tried them on and the lenses are super dark and gave my lights a green tint. 

The last thing in the box was this little paper note...

The note says Dear Friend,

The wonderful objects you requested are soaring your way soon.

That means, this is not even my box of wonder....this is just the prelude to my box of wonder!!! Can you even imagine??? I am so excited!!! I can't wait to see what comes "soaring my way soon"!

Any guesses?

The details....

Unbox a Story with Wonderful Objects subscription mystery box for whimsical adults delivered every three months and filled with high quality wonderful objects designed to ignite your imagination.

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$72.00 - $259.00

FREE shipping

So far I am impressed!

Bebe K Studio

I just love it when my customers send me pictures of what they have made using the lovely ribbons they purchase from my shop (www.tintiaratrims.etsy.com). When I am out and about on my buying trips, I love to find pretties, things that speak to me, and usually I can think of a few ideas for projects of my own. I sit here every day, cutting, packaging and shipping out people's orders, and I am often delightedly surprised. Sometimes by their color combinations....things I would never put together, but as I sit and cut their order, I think how lovely they look together, and wonder what the finished product is going to be...cards, jewelry, aprons, scrapbooking, altered books....And sometimes when I am lucky, I get to actually see, and today I thought I would share.

Kelsey from Bebe K Studio...Unique hats, headbands and photo props (www.bebekstudio.etsy.com), contacted me with the above photo. She gave me the address of her facebook page :Facebook.com/bebekstudio  and I popped over to take a look, and was delighted to read the description of this sweet delicate headband. It is so dainty, yet she used at least 3 different ribbons from my shop. Can't you just see this gracing the tiny bald head of a wee one? Tugs on my mommy strings to think about it! I sure miss those days. I then couldn't help myself, so I went back over to check out her shop and drool over the sweet baby pictures, and found some more pretties using ribbons from the shop...

I love this gray pleated ribbon anyway, but here with the center focal it is sublime.

And look at this pretty violet headband, I know my purple girl would be in heaven with this one! These are just a few samples, her shop is a feast for the eyes, if you want to find something really special (or just drool over really darling babies) just head on over to www.bebekstudio.etsy.com you won't be disappointed! xo

Altered Tart Tin Ornament from the Studio Stash

I love vintage. All things vintage. I prefer to call myself a collector, rather than a hoarder. I am quite orderly in my house. I don't like clutter. I make my bed every morning. I chase after the kids to pick up after themselves. I go through my closet constantly to purge. My studio is orderly too....everything sorted in labeled totes and boxes...but purge? No way! I never know what I am going to need or when I am going to need it!! I went through a candle making phase a few years ago and collected all kinds of vintage containers to pour them into. I was rummaging around for some Christmas ornament inspiration, and ran across some little tart tins....perfect! Some scraps of scrapbook paper, a few gems and embellishments, and voila...some really cute ornaments from 'just some stuff I had lying around". I found these really ugly napkin rings at a yard sale years ago. They were gaudy, and strange but they were only .25 for 10, and I liked the little sequin covered bottle brush trees on them. So I ripped off the trees, added them to my stash and tossed the rest out. I was so glad I rescued them, when I saw how cute my ornaments came out!

Vintage tart tin, scrapbook paper circle, stick on gems, tiny text stickers, vintage mica snow, distress ink, seam binding ribbon, tiny brass star charm for the top of the tree, and the little bottle brush trees. 

Rockin' Around the Block

One of my new favorite alterables is the simple form of a wood block. I happen to have a little stash of vintage wood ABC blocks, and I dug into them for some inspiration. W is for Winter.

The Front of the block. I used the original blue W, sanded it a bit to lighten the color, added distress ink, 

and coated the W with clear glass glitter for an ice crystal effect.

One of the sides, collaged with tissue tape, edges sanded and distress, and a 

felt snowflake layered with clear glass glitter and a little gem to finish it off.

This side was was covered with Christmas themed tissue tape, and some vintage style ephemera snippets, a little  silver glitter star with gem and dusted with vintage mica snow flakes.

This side was covered with a vintage style sticker, edges sanded and inked and a little Stickles for

dimension.

And these two photos show the top of the block. I layered two vintage buttons on the bottom

a large one, a smaller one, and topped it with a vintage chandelier prism. I liked the icicle knob effect that it gave to the piece. Of course I sanded and inked the edges and dusted the edges with that glorious vintage mica snow, that I pulled from my stash! I really liked the way it turned out. a tiny piece of art to tuck on a shelf. After I had already glued the buttons together and onto the block, I thought that I could have put some snow, or beads under the bottom button as it domed up quite a bit. It would have given it a little movement/snowglobe effect. Good thing I have the rest of the alphabet still to work with!

For the Birds...

I have been busy swappin' again, and this time it was for a Lucky Parcel. For those of you that are not familiar with Lucky Parcels, they are a selection of items gathered together with a particular them, and are place in a container of some sort that also depicts the theme. The theme for this particular Lucky Parcel was birdies. I made my partner a little birds nest necklace with come copper wire and freshwater pearls, and then  I stamped a little muslin bag with a birdcage to keep the necklace in. I included a package of Prima birdies for her own crafty projects, a cute little notebook with birdies on it, and some Heidi Swapp bird stickers. I needed something cute to package it all up in, and just couldn't find the right thing, so I decided to whip a little something up. I took a brown bag, cut the top off, inked it up a bit, added some Tattered Angels sprays, a couple of die cut birds, a seam binding handle, and some trim scraps, and Voila! A few minutes and I had a one of a kind package for a "tweet" friend. (Sorry I couldn't resist) Oh, and what does that G have to do with birds? Absolutely nothing, it is the initial of her first name :o)

Spooky Garland

It is almost Halloween and we have been busy decorating our chateau. The girls and I love to decorate for Halloween, and just about every room ends up with a special touch, from the tiny skeletons hanging from the chandelier, mouse silhouettes going up the stairs, cloches filled with dry moss and skeleton bones and all the usual front porch decor. Even with totes full of spookalicious treasures, I can't help but want to make a few extras to finish it off. I decided to make a layered paper garland. 

The Spooky Garland

Canvas triangles from Maya Road, Pink Paislee and &7 Gypsies papers

layered with vintage book pages, vintage glass glitter covered chipboard, tulle trim, bakers twine, singed tulle flowers and more!

I used Tattered Angels mists in 3 colors on the canvas, added black zig zag stitching, and inked the edges with Distress inks. The black flowers are layers of singed tulle with black brads in the centers.

I used 3 layers of paper on top of the canvas, also inked and distressed. Fringed tulle between the letters, tied onto bakers twine, and topped with extra embellishments :o)

Ribbon Samples for Petar