Head count

My mannequin head collection started with these three vintage ones.  The one on the left, I covered with torn vintage dictionary pages, and mounted on the round wood base from a cheese board.

You can see how I made the tallest one in the center HERE.

The one on the right I actually left ‘as found’; just added a bit of spray varnish to prevent further ‘shedding’.

I made this one last year from a NEW styro head that I bought at the craft store.  Not really caring for the look and feel of styrofoam, I covered with paper mache then sanded to smooth it out.  I glued a glass bowl to the bottom of this one and spray painted the whole thing a flat white.

The reason I ‘add things’ to the bases of these heads is to give them some ‘weight’  and a broader base,

so they don’t tip over too easily when used at a show or in my booth.

Here is my latest addition to the collection.  Found this vintage head at an estate sale and it was a very WEIRD shaped face!?!  Very flat nose bridge and very BIG eye sockets . . .and NO mouth!  Looked like an alien head to me!!

I covered this one with vintage sewing pattern pieces.  Just tore up an old pattern into small pieces and applied them with white glue.

For the base on this one, I glued on a vintage wood bowl that I had painted black.

Just a little bigger than the base of the head is a perfect fit.

Modeling one of my newest crowns.

And the gangs all here!  Displayed on the shelf above my bed until they are called to duty.

And the all white one is now ‘on duty’ in my booth at Stars in this just added crown display.

I’m ‘test marketing’ assorted sizes.  I’ve made small and full size ones before, just not displayed and sold them at the same time.

Will be interesting to see which size sells better.

The small ones, for just decorative use.

Or the bigger ones that are actually wearable.

Candle stands make cute displays for the smaller ones.

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Some are ‘bear’ size.

‘Almost’ vintage cherub size.

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I wish I could find more of this vintage, WIDE, eyelet lace.  I tea stained it and stiffened it before adding the embellishments.

Yes, this is what I use a lot of those crepe paper rosettes for.

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These crowns are now available for purchase in my booth at Stars.

My favorite little model, PRICELESS!

More crafting . . .

Vintage wicker picnic basket, as found.

And here after a ‘five minute dry brush paint job’!  I LOVE dry brush painting!

The latches and handles take a ‘little more time’ to work on, but STILL it’s a very fast process.  You’ll find the instructions for dry brush painting under my FAQ’s category.

I just might have to KEEP this one for myself!

Thrifted gallon jar without the lid (which usually means they are CHEAPER!)

  I just added some burlap ribbon (Hey Beth?!? Recognize this stuff???) satin ribbon and old keys to dress it up a bit.

Big ole jars like this are very useful for displaying small stuff in my booth at Stars.

Cloches with metal shell on top.  I’m not really sure WHAT these metal shell things were originally.  They are quite heavy, and have a ‘slit’ in the top, so maybe place card holders?  These cloches already had a little ‘stem’ , so I  glued the knob on top of the stem, then wrapped the stem with ribbon.

Making some ‘full size’ vintage sheet music crowns.

This one is mine, and displays on the wire hat display in my living room.

This one is for sale at Stars.

Slightly smaller ‘Winter Queen’ crowns are also for sale at Stars.

Front of crown.

Winter Queen tag hangs slightly off to the side.

Happiness Queen crown for sale at Stars.

Silver plastic glittered crown.

The plastic glittered crowns are ‘real’ size and for sale at Stars.

Black plastic glitter crown with silver tinsel trim.

You probably already noticed these table top trees in the last pictures from Stars.  These are just closer up views so you can see the decorations.    Lime green metallic tree with ice blue decorations.

Light blue tree (was white, I spray painted it blue!) with lime green and clear blue decorations.

LOVE how these 2 trees look side by side!  Sure wish I had a third tree to round out the grouping!

Little cherub candle holders in the front.

I filled the candle holes with ‘soft’* styrofoam peanuts and glue.  (* the soft styro peanuts are more spongy, as opposed to the ones that CRUMBLE and make a mess if you scrunch them!)

Took the bases off some little flocked white bottle brush trees, added a bit more glue to the candle hole and inserted the trees into the compressed styro.

LOVE the face!

A snowflake and gem for the top of the tree, and a crown for the cherub OF COURSE!

Better shot of the white tree tops.

One for sale and Stars and one for my etsy shop.

Sweet white cherub with little bird and little crystal angel mini candle holder; just add crowns!

Vintage porcelain baby shoes and bleached green bottle brush trees.

Stuffed the shoes with the soft popcorn styro peanuts and glue like the previous project.  removed the base from the tree and glued  and screwed it into the styro in the shoe.

Little stars on top are the perfect finishing touch!

Thrifted finial with added embellishments.

Recent custom orders; your input please

I frequently get asked WHERE I get all my ideas from.  Sometimes things just “POP” into my head; usually in the middle of the night!  Sometimes it’s a process . .  .trial and error until I evolve to something that works.  And of course I get inspiration from all the other amazing artists and upcyclers from around the word via the wonderful WWW.  And sometimes ideas . . . some of my BEST ideas come to me via CUSTOM ORDER REQUESTS.

I make and sell quite a few basic ‘welcome’ signs in my etsy shop.  Had a customer ask to have the above one custom made.

Once I’ve figured out the proper spacing of the letters on a custom sign order, they are pretty fast and easy to RE-produce.  I’m thinking of having some like this ‘ready made’ to sell in my etsy shop.  But I’d probably change it to ‘Welcome to our home”.  Do you think such a sign has enough ‘general appeal’  to make more?  Do you like “my” or “our” better?

You already know that I am a little “crown crazy”.  Hard to believe that there was a crown that I hadn’t already made right?  Actually I HAVE already made crowns this big; just haven’t sold them on etsy!

And here’s why . . . SHIPPING!  They weigh practically NOTHING, but they do require a fair amount of ROOM to pack.  And they are very delicate.  I charged $12.95 per crown and it was $7.00 to ship them.  And it would have been MORE to ship if I hadn’t convinced the buyer to allow me to make the 2 crowns so that would ‘nest’; thereby making a smaller box suffice.

And I really worry about the box getting CRUSHED and them getting damaged in transit!  If I tightly pack them with wadded up newspaper shoved inside it will UP the shipping cost considerably.

So the gal who custom ordered these 2 crowns agreed to be my ‘guinea pig’ so to speak, on shipping these.  So I should soon find out how well they ‘traveled’.  I just padded them in one layer of bubble wrap and that made them fit securely in the box.  The other consideration is that if I have to go out and BUY more bubble wrap to ship these, I’d have to raise the price a bit.

So, what do YOU think?  Is $12.95 for a crown and $7.00 for shipping too much?  What if shipping was even MORE, like $9.95?  (can you believe that shipping costs are going up AGAIN the end of January?!?!)  I just HATE the thought of ‘setting myself up’ for more of ‘those emails’ from potential customers asking “WHY is shipping so much on this item?!?!”  sigh

10.27.2012 EDITED TO ADD:  I just heard back from the purchaser of the 2 crowns and they arrived in perfect shape.  So, that’s ONE worry I can cross off my list!

Crowns for sale in my etsy shop

You KNOW I have ‘a thing’ for crowns, right?  Well, if YOU feel the need to crown any of your favorite items, you can now buy my little hand crafted crowns in my etsy shop! 

I’ve got sets like this, with one tiny silver glitter crown and a bigger vintage sheet music crown with clear glitter.  AND pairs of JUST the little silver crowns.  AND set of FOUR of the tiny vintage sheet music crowns like on these birds below:

Little crowns ape packed in tiny protective boxes for shipping:

What ELSE besides little birds, could you put a crown on?  I’m so glad you asked!

You can put them on birds that sit atop glass cloches.

And on birds that sit on tall pedestals.

On just PLAIN birds.

On little birds that stand nest to framed pictures of eggs.

On a vintage Madonna bust with other embellishments.

On some other birds on pedestals.

On little nesting birds.

On little feather birds.

Birds used as wedding cake toppers.  (this is a faux cake I made to use with the cake platters I make and sell)

More feather birds.  Or bird Christmas ornaments!

Birds on burlap wreaths.

On cute little cherub figurines.

On resin birds  . . .

Then paint that resin bird and crown black  and add a “Nevermore!” tag for Halloween decor.

Add them to the cherubs on a vintage dish.

How about some HOT PINK glitter birds with crowns?

Piggy banks!

Feather bird in a shadow box.

Vintage cherub candle holder.

Little teddy bears!

Altered cherub wall collages.

TINY altered cherub wall plaques.

Primitive folk art grubby angle dolls.

MORE altered cherub plaques!

On little birds under glass cloches.

On blue birds of happiness.

On cherubs that are on altered heart shaped candy boxes.

On little birds mounted atop pretty gift boxes and little show owls.

And last but not LEAST, this cute little vintage soap dish that I use to hold my business cards!

Am I in need of a ‘crown intervention’???

Speaking of crowns

Because you KNOW I love collecting them AND making them!

All these crowns have been in my big booth at Stars since just after the spring show.  They were just ‘scattered about’.  

It finally occurred to me that they just might fit in this little white cubby shelf.  PERFECT!

NOW you really NOTICE that they are there!  (in my wall space)

Meanwhile, over in the big booth I’ve changed things up quite a bit too.

Created an entire ‘dessert buffet’ display on the rustic tables Michael built.  Don’t you just LOVE the crisp white with the weathered grey??

All kinds of assorted cake plates and pedestals, and stacks of small dessert plates.

Assorted bases for different heights on the stands with dome lids.

A smaller 2 tier stand can stack on top of a bigger plate to create more height to your dessert display.

A few single cupcake pedestals.  Here a clear one on top of a white platter.

 

I made a couple of  ‘DESSERT BUFFET’ signs too.

A little old step ladder adds interest and ‘layers’ to the display.

 

 

Dessert buffets are becoming very popular at weddings, so I added one of my wedding signs to the display too!

Stop by and see what else is new soon!

 

Paper Halloween crowns

Handcrafted cardboard crowns.  (I re-use old cereal boxes to make mine!)

Cardboard crown covered with black patterned scrap-book paper; medallion made from vintage sheet music.  Halloween Queen tag printed up on my computer and hand torn, then stained the edges; and a nice big black feather!

Vintage sheet music crowns with hand formed black chenille embellishments.

 

 

 

And with a little more embellishments!

 

And hop over to my Dollar Diva blog to check out some more crowns using these Halloween images I found at Dollar Tree!

On a ‘shopping hiatus’ for the ENTIRE month

Not really New Years resolution, but an absolute necessity. Since closing the store at the end of last summer, my craft room is bursting at the seams with supplies and half-finished projects. I’ve GOT to focus on paring the mess down.

There is SO much stuff that it’s actually stifling my creativity. So I’ve just been ignoring it and going thrifting. Not good. I’ll be able to use all the recently thrifted items in our bigger space at Stars and to sell in the spring show; so it’s not like I am hoarding stuff for no good reason.

I have to FORCE myself to do this. And I’m not very good at working on ‘just one thing’ at a time. I was adding jute to some vintage bottles and decided to do some little jute balls too. Which led me to making some string balls. Which led me to want to use up some on my wood spools and cover them with string too. But first I had to stain them all because they look too new. Then I found some black plastic spools and decided to cover them with old sheet music, which I had sitting out form having recently made crowns and top hats and angel wings covered with sheet music. Which made me think of Valentine’s day stuff so I started making red felt hearts to attach little word tags to. And since I’m liking the cottage look more and more, I had to make some tan and ivory colored hearts. And try some with buttons instead of word tags. And speaking of tags, I need to stain up a bunch of tags too!  And if perchance we have a dry day come along, I’ve got a pile of stuff out in a storage shed waiting to be spray painted!

‘nuf said?

No shopping for moi!