Shakespeare Inspired Polyvore Sets

I decided to make these in tribute to some of Shakespeare's best works! 

View Midsummer Night's Dream Set on Polyvore!

View Ophelia Set on Polyvore!

View Juliet Set on Polyvore!

LOOK I'm Snow White!

So, I was EXTREMELY honored and excited when my friend Bobby had asked me to be a part of this conceptual art show he was going to be involved in.  I am such a fairytale fanatic, I didn't even have to think twice when he asked me.  He is a SUPER talented photographer/videographer, his work is just insane! 

Here I am portraying SNOW WHITE in one of his pieces for the Flipside Fairytale Show and Auction

Please check out more of Bobby's work 

HERE

A little more about the Flipside Fairytale Art Show

"FLIPSIDE FAIRYTALE ART SHOW AND AUCTION is a artistic look at classic fairytales from a point of view that even the Brothers Grimm could not imagine. Each artist has created art in their own styles, portraying classic fairytales as they see them. A dark, but elegant mixed media series by Addison Vincent, consisting of a six paneled storyboard of classic fairytales rolled into one new story. Fantastic photography and a short video collaboration by Bobby Bates. A colorful, illustrative, painting collection by Jacob Petraitis. In addition to the main artworks for the show, each artist will be auctioning pieces from their main collections. This will truly be a weekend that should not be missed."

Warren Legion Art Show, July 28, 2012

So my friend Shannon usually hosts a lot of shows at this VFW up in Warren, NJ, and they usually always have to do with music, which is AWESOME! But this particular show was a lot of fun cuz she had tons of bands play, as well as showcase original art by local artists.  I was excited when she had asked me to be a part of it, and it didn't take me long to jump onboard! 

For this show I entered a lot of framed prints of sketchbook pieces that I have done over the last few years.  Back in 2009, while I was in LA for 6 months, I didn't have access to all of my paints and craft supplies which I had left back home in NJ, so I had bought a small Crayola watercolor palette, a few ink pens, some color pencils, and a glue stick. These few little items actually kept me very busy, as I did watercolor washes in my sketchbook, and then did magazine collages over the color wash. I embellished these pieces with crazy ink line drawings, and color pencil shading.  I think it was then when I had started to find my sketchbook style.  I still love a lot of those pieces I did in LA, to this day, and continue to do more of the same type of sketchbook pieces. They are just so colorful and fun, and when people see them, they go WOW, that ink work is awesome! I love that feeling...

More recently, before the whole Walking Dead craze had started to sweep the nation like a zombie plague (pun intended!), I was obsessing over zombie inspired art so I decided to create zombie like portraits, where I would take model faces from magazines and paint over them to turn them into zombies...

This lasted for a short while, and then I moved on to something that was even more fun! Sugar Skulls! 

Below are a couple pieces that I had done, where I used the same technique.  I would just take models faces out of magazines, paint over them to make them look like sugar skulls, and then I would ink line over them to give each one a unique detailed look! I would also collage the background with newsprint and magazine print to give it a bit more texture, and I'd sweep over it with some acrylic paint on a brayer. 

The art show was overall a BLAST! I chose not to sell anything, cuz I felt like I couldn't really part with anything just yet.  I think that is my biggest downfall as an artist.  Naturally I want to keep every single thing I create, but truth is, I am running out of room to keep these things! :-P

Well Till Next Time!

Magickal Birdhouses

HELLO LOVELIES!

How are you enjoying your spring so far!? Mine has been pretty lovely for the most part. I have constantly been creating, sewing, painting, getting my hands all messy, trying to set aside more time for reading, and more therapeutic time for myself...

I have spent all last week working on my new line of Birdhouses, which I plan to sell in my Etsy store, along with my magnets, and cookie jars. My store isn't ready just yet, there is still a bit of work to be done, but I figured that I would post the product pictures up cuz I'm so excited about these birdhouses, I can't contain it any longer!

Here is the first one!

The back of this one is from some Francesca Lia Block xeroxed book pages I had lying around. 
She is one of my favorite authors :-) 

Here is some side detail...

And the other side...

Here is the second house...

 This is actually the first one that I made about a year ago, when I was just testing out the idea. 


You can tell, cuz there is not as much detail on it as far as decoupaged book pages goes...

 

Up close on the bird...

The Third House 
This one came out much better than I had anticipated!
 The fence was a bit tricky,
 but I think I nailed it pretty good :-D !

I decided to adorn this one with extra long lace,
for an enchanting effect! 

The little bells sound so magickal! 

 Here is the butterfly detailing on the top!

Here is some up close detailing of the fence, 
more bookpages by Francesca Lia Block.

I love how that last line , finishes off the bottom of the fence

"We painted our face with RAINBOWS" 
from the book Psyche in a Dress

Here is one of my FAVOURITES!!!

Pink Bird nestled in an turquoise sparkly home...

With a dreamy pink and white circus top,

adorned with my favorite Prima Flowers

Extra long lace, little bells sound magickal in the breeze...

Sideview...

      

Closeup View

 

Next we have a birdhouse, which is identical in structure to the last one, but this one is Sunshine Dust Yellow, with a Black and White sparkly circus top

'

Up Close on the circus top detail, 
more Prima Flowers :-)

 

Ribbon & Bell accents

Last but certainly not least, here is a little experimentation I wanted to try. I found these amazing plain wooden birds at the craft store, and I thought I would try my hand at one.  So I decided I would paint/decoupage and embellish one, just the way I did with the birdhouses...

   

 I was on a roll with all the ribbon draping with the birdhouses, that I thought it would only make sense to add some ribbons and bells to this too... 

And the little bells sound so soothing in the wind...

   

 The wings are decoupaged with more FLB pages 
( LOVE HER!)

 

With a paper napkin for the tail, and a sparkly rhinestone for the eyes... 

 Pink sheer fine glitter was used for most of the body...

 

I used much thicker grade turquoise glitter for the underbelly...

You should see my craft room with all the glitter I've been using on these things! It's like a fairy exploded in there!! The stuff is so messy, but I personally think that Glitter makes everything better!

I bought 2 more plain birdhouses at the dollar store, as well as twig rings, I am thinking of making fairy headdresses :-) Stay tuned for more , as well as links to my Etsy store, once I am ready to post everything!

Tonight I am going to work on painting some lids, and sewing some more cookies for my birthday cookie jar!

Til then, 

Love, Trust, & Pixie Dust!

Samantha's Communion

I cannot believe that my goddaughter is already grown up enough to make her Holy Communion! 

They grow up so fast...

My cousin had asked me to take some pictures of her in her gown on Easter...

It was so windy that day!! But I managed to get a couple good shots of her, enough to do a nice photo manipulation.  My aunt (Samantha's Grandmother), makes party favors where she puts images on candles.  So I designed these 2 pieces below so she had options to choose from!

She went with the Angel image, which I am really happy about cuz I LOVE how it came out 

:-)

She ended up using these candles for the centerpieces at the hall after the ceremony. 

They look really beautiful once they are lit , because it illuminates the whole image on the candle!

I would really love to do more things like this, for milestones/parties...

Fantastical Finds!

Hello Lovelies!!

So here is some stuff that I found while out exploring this past week! I am SUPER EXCITED to finally get on the ball with my art, and my mental/physical health. This morning I went for a wellness exam at my new Dr... I had some bloodwork done so my arm is a bit sore :-( So I figured I'd post some sweet stuff to sweeten up my day...

It's so funny that I found this Macaroon Recipe book, cuz I have been saying for quite some time now, that I want to try to make these so bad!! This book is ADORABLE and has so many awesomely unique recipes I CANNOT wait to try!! I heard Macaroon making is quite the challenge, so maybe my challenge can be perfecting them! This book was in the BARGAIN BOOKS section at Barnes & Noble!

Here are some fake plastic birds that I found on clearance at AC Moore. I plan to use them for the spring/summer birdhouses I am going to make to sell on my Etsy Store!! I am SOOOO excited about these...

Here is a wine stopper which my mom had bought for me at the

Christmas Tree Shoppe.

We went there to get more teacups for her candlemaking, and we saw this during our venture, so she scooped one up for me.. $3!!! LOVE IT! It is currently topping a bottle of Chocolate Red Wine,

by the Chocolate Cellar

Those were all the finds for this week, but I also wanted to share with you all some of the projects I will be working on this spring. I could not sleep last night, so I thought the best thing I could do to rid my mind of all the stuff I have to do , would be to write it all down, so I have some sort of plan to follow. I'm starting to give myself deadlines to meet, this way I can ensure that I will get things done!

On that note, I think I will go work on some Cookie Jar stuff, before I have to go to work today! It's a GORGEOUS DAY! Have a great spring day everyone!

Alienore's 3rd Birthday Party (BLOG PARTY!), Hosted by Papillon Bleu UK

HELLO LOVELIES!

It has been awhile since I have done a blog party , but I could not think of the perfect time for me to jump on board again! Spring is in the air, my creative juices are flowing, and I can never say no to a miniature party...

Click the banner above to visit Alienore's Blog Party Page for more information on how to attend !! And won't you join? It will be so much fun!

See you there!

Justina

xoxo

Cookie Jars for Etsy Shop

Hello Lovelies!

I hope your winter season has treated you well. I know I have been missing in action once again, but this winter was definitely a hardship in it of itself . I was sick for a majority of a December & January and it was just not fun. Flu, upper respiratory infection, you name it, I had it. I had rid mysef of my illness finally around mid to late January , but then my grandmother, who had been sick for a few months at this point, had taken a turn for the worse.

My mom was back and forth from North Carolina a lot, and I think my body and mind took a turn for the worst. My anxieties and fears were heightened, I had tingling sensations in my limbs, I lost a lot of sleep, had at least a few panic attacks a day. It was a lot for me to handle. On top of that , my hours at work had been cut , I lost a few schools which effected my paycheck tremendously , had no health insurance... it was just a very depressing couple of months.

Come February, my mom had come back from taking care of my grandmother in NC, and the morning after my mother got back, my grandmother had passed on. As much as I hate to say it, when she passed, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I was just happy that she was finally at peace, and is now in heaven with my nana and pop pop. I just want to thank all the friends and family who supported me through that tough time. It means so much to me...

In Loving Memory of Joan E. LaSpata

May 19, 1938 - February 13, 2012

Rest in Peace Grandma, Love you Forever my Butterfly Angel <3...

Most of February and March was kind of a rebuilding period for me. I picked up more hours at work, started at a few new schools which helped out tremendously! My mom is helping me pay for my own health insurance, I've been working on my Etsy store products!! Don't think I have forgotten! This is a mission I will conquer! I am determined to get my store up and running, even if it takes me a little longer than planned. Life is funny, it always throws you some curve balls, and sometimes things get put off... but you just gotta get back on the horse and keep riding! My friend Marie had started school, so she became too busy to help me out with my store, but my mother found out about Etsy, and she is super excited to be helping me out run my store, and she is even going to help me out by creating some up-cycled candles to sell in the shop!

Here are some of the products I've been working super hard on!!!

COOKIE JARS!!

My bed is my factory... and a mess...

My materials , felt, mason jars, glass beads...

All of the glass beads are hand stitched one by one, onto soft felt cookies...

My beautiful bead color scheme for my Citrus Summer Cookies...

Cutting out my cookie circles , and prepping for beading...

Here is how they look, once they're beaded ...

Citrus Summer cookies, with matching Lid Fabric underneath :-)

They are then placed into Mason Jars for packaging...

Here is how they look in the jars ... Strawberry Sugar Cookie on the left, and Citrus Summer on the right

The next post I do will cover the Jar Lids :-)

If you have any requests on what kind of cookies I should make, please share! I would love to hear input... So far I have made the Strawberry Sugar Cookies, Citrus Summer, Christmas Gingerbread, and Chocolate Chip Cookies! These are perfect for a make believe game of Tea Time!!

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