Bird and nest cloche

So, what did I do with that nice BIG candle pedestal leftover from yesterdays post that I decided NOT to use in the silver candle project?

Ah~ha!  A cloche that fits perfectly!

And a little ceramic bird that fits perfectly on top of the cloche!  (attached with some e6000)

Now for the nest.  Well, first some BROWN paint on the pedestal.  The black just wasn’t doing it for me.  I hand formed the nest with some Spanish moss and worked in a little bit of green moss.  *GLUED the nest to a small circle of cardboard, which was in turn glued to the pedestal.  Then hot glued the eggs in place.  *(Theft-proofing!)

I actually kind of like how it looks with the top set to the side.

But it’s really meant to be displayed like this.

Now that I am looking at it all finished, I’m thinking it would have been cute to tie a little tea stained tag around the top.  Oh well, maybe next time.  This one is already in my space at Stars.

You’ll notice I had to make the nest VERY flat around the edges as the cloche had a very fluted base.  Just be sure to ‘test fit’ you cloche over your nest before gluing things down.

And here it is, in my space at Stars.

In a little table top vignette with other nest and bird decor items.

Those sweet little birds fit on a LOT of different cloches I had in stock!  Now if I can just fine MORE of those little birds!!

This project listed on Shanty 2 Chic’s ‘I Made it Without my Hubby’ linky party.

 

Faux Finial Frenzy!

I haven’t posted many pictures of these babies because I am saving them up for me next e-book.  (Gotta sell some of my “how to’s”  every once in a while to afford to buy more craft supplies!)  But I’ve been spending SO much time on them that I don’t have much else to share right now. 

So, here are pictures of some of the faux finials I’ve been creating lately:

 

 

 

 

The tall vase above is a real poured concrete piece.  The rest are my ‘faux’ designs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bunny above is ‘the real deal’.  A poured concrete garden statue.  The balls are my ‘faux’ process.  Pretty close, eh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch for the complete how to e-book coming soon!

Linking up to Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous for Less blog.

And Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home.

Cloche crazy!

I’m joining the winter cloche party over at  A Stroll Thru Life.

I peeked in on a few of the others participating and there are some beautiful cloche arrangements, with all kinds of fun things displayed inside.    Since I make mine ‘to sell’ (previously in our own retail store and currently in our space at Stars Antique Mall in Portland, OR) I don’t  “fill” mine as elaborately.  But I do have a LOT of different ideas and arrangements for you to explore.

I went back through a couple of years of photos to find all of these; so many of them are long gone to new loving homes.  I do, however always keep several stocked at Stars and at the shows we do in the spring and fall.

 

I did fill these little ones with three chocolate truffles.   The base is composed of a silver napkin ring topped with a silver coaster.

 

 Care to guess what it is that I’ve used for the ‘skirt’ on these???

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Cute little crown from Dollar Tree last year.

 I sure wish I could find more of thses darling little ‘bon bon’ candles.  I scored a couple of boxes of them at the thrift store back when we had our shop and they were ‘that perfect little something’ to put in the cloches.  I had them priced separately, not really wanting to sell the bon bons.  Alas, a gal came in one day and bought up every single one of them I had.  Went through the whole store and emptied all my cloches!  I was so sad to see them go that I didn’t even ask her what she was going to use them for!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, these aren’t cloches, but apothecary jars go so well WITH cloches for displaym I just HAD to share this picture of some of my fun apothecary jars.  These are currently for sale at Stars.

 

BLOG PARTY: 100 ideas under $100.00

In keeping with my resolution to join more blog parties this year, here’s another great one to check out! Even if you don’t want to participate, it’s worth a trip over to Beyond the Picket Fence to see all the wonderful and inexpensive ideas submitted.

Check it out over at Beyond the Picket Fence.

NOW, for my submission, hmmmmmmmmmmmm. . . . . what shall it be????

I think I’m gonna do THIS ONE!

Click on the link above to see the whole post and the ‘how to’.

This pair of angel wings was fairly fast and easy to make, AND total cost of the project was UNDER $3.00!

MATERIALS USED:

Fabric rose petals from Dollar Tree $1.25

Be sure you get the 300 pack of petals. They also have smaller packages (100 pieces) in the wedding supply section.  But they get the bigger packages in for Valentine’s day, which makes this time of year the best time to try this project.  I used one package of 300, plus a handful from another package.

Aleens tacky glue  (always have it on hand!)

Poster from Dollar Tree $1.00

I bought the poster and used the cardboard backing for my wing backing.  I tried the styrofoam poster board (also from DT) but it took a long time to cut.  Either would work okay though, and the price is the same.

How cute would it be to hang a pair of these above a child’s bed with a little ‘Guardian Angel’ tag or sign?

Power of Paint party @ Domestically Speaking blog

One of my New Years goals is to ‘put myself out there’ more in the blog world by joining in on some of the blog parties etc that I always see going on. For the past five years while we had the store to run I really didn’t have time to ‘get involved’ in extra curricular stuff like that. NOW that I am stuck at home all the time with no one to talk to but the cats, it’s time to reach out and PARTICIPATE.

Happened upon this blog, Domestically Speaking, from another blogger wo recently left a comment in my blog. And lo and behold, a blog party extolling THE POWER OF PAINT. So, here I go . . . . .NOW to just decide WHICH paint project to enter?!?!

After much searching back through my blog, I decided to enter THIS PROJECT.

I chose it for the simplicity of it.  No fancy finishes or extra glazes, finishes or techniques; just PAINT.

I probably entered it totally INcorrectly on the hosting blog.  SORRY, I’m a virgin at using McLinky!  I think I’m supposed to post their icon here on my blog, but I can’t figure out HOW.  There is a button to download and a code with it, but not sure I know how to do that.  Here goes:

Now I’m gonna go check out all the OTHER entries and get some inspiration.