::Artist: Peony & Parakeet::

his handmade paper caught my eye ages ago. It's so detailed and vibrant. Paiva offers a tutorial on how to create papers of your own, but I'm not sure it's possible to replicate such beautiful colour and texture.

 Blog:::Peony & Parakeet::

::Artist: Leonid Afremov::

Some things just make my eyes so very happy. Leonid Afremov's paintings are one of those things. So vibrant and full of movement and life. He does all his work using scraping tools. No brushes. That's what gives the paintings those chunky bursts of colour.

I contemplated investing in a print, but will have to really think about where it would fit into my home. I think his paintings would be bets displayed on a white wall. Alone.

 His site: ::Leonid Afremov::

::Artist: Laura Gunn::

I love her because she paints my favourite flowers: Poppies & Magnolia's. And she does it well. I hope to try my hand at painting on a large canvas, and this is the kind of things I could see myself attempting.

 Laura's Blog: ::Paint In My Hair::

Her art has been made into several Fabric lines that I adore as well. They seem to be hard to find here in Canada, but I'll keep searching.

::Lotte Reiniger::

I've paid homage to the work of Jan Pienkowski before. Recently, while looking through some of his art work I mistook some of the pieces for his, when they actually belonged to a woman named Lotte Reineger.

Lotte was a German animator in the 1900's. Her exquisite silhouettes were used to animate several films in her time. She put as much detail into her work as Pienkowski does. It's no wonder that she has been a source of inspiration to him.

I will have to try and capture one of Lotte's silhouettes on a lantern one of these days. . .

. . . If my hand holds out for all of the detailed cutting!

::Wildflower Field Lantern::

"Paper Cutouts" by Helen Leroux-Hugon & Juliette Vicart is full of great silhouette ideas. Some are incredibly detailed, while others are simple enough for anyone to tackle. I turned one of the simpler silhouettes into a lantern.

::Tiered Tea Platter::

One of the funnest things about Tea parties is the food display. Three-tiered platters are classic. I made my own using glassware from the dollar store.

~ Three-Tiered Tea Platter
1. Pick out large plate as a base.
2. Pick out a small plate for a middle.
3. Pick a small bowl for the top.
4. Finally choose two candle holders, small cups, wine glasses or, in my case, candy dishes.
5. Glue each layer on top of the other using Super Glue.
Voila! Load it up with pretty food.

::Shell Ornaments::

nspired by our summer trip. . .
Shell Ornaments.

::Woodland Fairies Lantern::

A few years ago I made THIS.
I adapted it and made a lantern for a friend’s baby.

::Wood Pallet Shelf::

Old beat-up wood is a personal favourite. One of my greatest misgivings about building new was that we would be working with new materials. But, given time, I've found ways of making the place look older than it is. More wizened. When I stumbled across an old wood pallet behind the garage, for example. I remembered seeing this:

 And we got to work. It was really muddy, and huge & ungainly. But we wrestled it into shape by prying off certain board and replacing them in structurally-sound places. And up it went onto our bathroom wall. It was so fun to collect narrow-enough items to perch on the "shelves."

::Purse Tags::

urse tags! The inspiration came from the tiny butterfly mirrors. I found them, loved them, bought them, then didn't use them for awhile. I think they are meant to put in lockers or on walls in a cluster. But I decided they would be useful for the discrete art of checking ones teeth for green bits in public. 

• Cut sturdy cardboard into shapes.
• Paint one side with your own mini-art, or simply podge a favourite image. On the other side, glue on a decorative paper.
• I spray-lacquered both sides. Then I lined the edges using tin tape.
• I punched holes, hammered in an eyelet, and added ball-chain. (make sure you buy chain that will fit the diameter of your eyelet.)

Mirror:
For the mirror, I stuck two mirrors back to back, then had holes drilled through both. I added the mirror to the chain and fastened it.