I got a question the other day about how to layer papers when it comes to mixed media. Of course, I’m new to all this and still experimenting, but I’ll tell you how I usually do it. The question specifically was about if I layer the papers first, or after the picture “gets going.” The answer is both.

I’ll show you what I’m working on now. I found a collection of papers that I like which included pattern paper, sheets from an old music book, and pages from an old palmistry book. I got some of these pages from estate sales, and some from that great library sale I went to a few weeks ago.

I took the papers and covered two different canvases with them. I usually cover a couple canvases at once, so that I can just pick up one when I’m ready to paint. At this point, I just put down papers where I like them and where they feel good to me.

After the papers are down, I think about the picture. Since I’ve got these cool palmistry illustrations on these, I may paint something related to it. Or not. I haven’t thought about it yet, but I’m going to try and finish these for next week so you can see it from beginning to end.

I like starting on a canvas that is covered like this. Even if I cover up most of the words or whatever, I like having them there underneath the picture. But the layering doesn’t stop there. It all depends on what you’re trying to do with the picture.

For the “Addicted to Love” picture, I kept the layering in the background. I just put different colors on top and painted the picture over it. I liked where the background layering peaked through and didn’t feel the need to add to it.

For the “Keep an Eye Out for Someone Special” picture, I did some initial layering and then a lot afterward. I just keep layering until I liked the final design. If you want some really good examples and tutorials, artsy blogger June has a ton.

So in terms of layering, it all depends on your picture and what you personally like. I find myself pulling back sometimes because one too many layers can ruin a picture for me. The great part about this type of medium is that if you feel you’ve “gone too far,” plop another layer on and start over. The more you experiment, the more you find your own personal style.

I’m playing with mixed media this week, and calling this one “Addicted to Love” after Robert Palmer’s famous video.

Of course, my girl here is just a little bit more frumpy than those girls in the video, but frumpy needs attention, too! LOL

I started with a canvas and put different papers on it, including music sheets, patterns, and book pages. Then I added some yellow, red, and orange color.

After that I started painting my girl. She has her hair slicked back and her eyes shut. Perhaps she is grooving out to Robert Palmer in her mind. You never know.

Finally, I added her lips and dress. She’s a bit “thick” around the middle. Then again, aren’t we all? But I like her anyways.

It’s winter, which means I can’t do my bigger glass sculptures because the smell and toxic-ness of the glue is too much to do in the house. So I’m experimenting. I’m trying to work on some smaller glass projects so I can use a different glue and do them in the house. Here’s the latest obsession: glass mushrooms.

I want to do a sculpture garden come spring, so I’m getting ready by making a few of these little mushrooms. I found a deal at an estate sale a few weeks ago, where they had these awesome green dishes for just ten cents a piece. You can’t argue with that.

Aren’t they pretty? And lucky for me there were three “tops” and three “bottoms.” How nicely that worked out!

To make them, it’s so easy it’s ridiculous. Put glue on the bottom part, which will be the “stem” of the mushroom. I used the same glue (Simple-fix Outdoor Glue Pen) that I used with my cupcake plate stand. The glue is supposed to be water resistant, but is much less toxic than the stuff I used for my garden sculptures. I use the ultra heavy stuff for those because the glass is a lot heavier, and because our weather here is really brutal. So I’m still experimenting. I think this glue will work out fine for these.

Place the “top” on the mushroom, and let dry.

Viola! You have a few glass mushrooms for your garden.

I’m way behind on just about everything this week, including new craft projects. But I did manage to go to the local library sale and pick up ten books for under a dollar! Yessiree! That’s the way to get ‘em. Especially when you’re going to craft with them.

Well, I guess I did do one “crafty-ish” project this week. I made these cute Packer truffles for the game.

I even put them on my new cupcake plate stand. But then, my team imploded upon itself, and there was much sadness in Packer Nation. I had the hubby take the truffles to work because I couldn’t bare to look at them!

So… back to the library sale….

Library sales are great if you’re a reader or looking for new books to read or give to friends, but they are really valuable if you’re a crafter. Take a look at that pile I have. Quite a variety. Each book is old, and some have odd or cool illustrations, which will be fun to craft with.

Next time you go to your local library sale, look for books that have:

• Poetry. It’ my personal preference, but poetry is always lovely to put on things. Even if you can’t see it and it’s in the background, I still think it adds something special.
• Interesting print inside.
• Maps.
• Cool or weird illustrations. There is a palmistry book and a home plan book in that pile that have some really interesting pictures. It will be nice to craft and paint with them.
• Foreign words. I like using foreign text in crafting, and that German language book in my pile will work out for that.
• Lots of dialog. Pages with a lot of dialog in them work out well, especially when you can cut out a certain word or phrase to focus on for your picture.
• Books that are old.  Older books really have a charm to them, and sometimes, information that makes you giggle. This is especially true of “advice” books that are 50 or 60 years old. I have one from my grandma about how to “make a man his dinner” that I love so much.

I got this fortune a while ago from a lunch date with my hubby, and it said “Keep an eye out for someone special.” I just loved this thought. I know, Chinese fortunes are dorky and made up, but I dig them anyways. You do too, right? Admit it!

Anyways, I decided to make a picture and use the fortune. I gathered a few other things I wanted to use, like pages from books and a few lines of poetry from one of my poems. I began gluing them to the canvas.

I added some patterns and other papers.

When I had all the papers on, I started on the picture.

Added some more paint layers…

… added more colors and paper… and decided that I wanted her glasses thicker…

… then to finish it, I put the Chinese fortune in the middle-ish of the picture.

I’ve returned from my vacation (or more appropriately, staycation) and that means it’s back to gluing glass together. My obsession continues! For this project, I picked up some vintage dishes at Goodwill. I loved the pattern on these and thought they would make for a pretty cupcake or candy stand.

Aren’t they cute?

The entire lot cost me under $2. So this is a very cheap project to do. First, I played around with the plates to see which would together well for the stand. You’ll notice that I have a bowl in this mix. I don’t usually use bowls for this type of project, but I loved this piece, and found a vintage water glass that I could use to boost up the next plate. This layer can be for napkins or candy, as its deeper than the others.

Don’t be afraid to play around with this project. Let the pieces determine the height and dimensions. You don’t always have to have a plate for a plate stand! I mean, really, is someone going to tell me, “Cherie, get that bowl out of there!” I doubt it.

Once I figured out which pieces I wanted to put where, I got to gluing. Again, I’m using a Simple-fix Outdoor Glue Pen like I did for the picnic plate veggie stand. I like this glue because it’s easy to work with, non-toxic (very important when it comes to things that are going to be around food!), and it’s very easy to work with.

I put the glue on, and then wait a few minutes for it to set. Then, I put the cup down where I wanted it, and glued the other side.

You might find that some glue oozes out after you put the cup down. This means that you probably had a little too much, or you moved it when you set it. As you can see, I did that with this cup. It’s not a big deal. You can use a damp paper towel to wipe off the excess.

If some of the glue hardens on the plate, you can wash it off after it’s set. (But make sure it’s fully dry – which means a couple of days.)

Keep gluing layers and placing them on the stand.

This is the layer with the bowl. As you can see, the glass will give the final layer some nice height.

And viola! Cupcake stand complete! I like this project because you can use up some miscellaneous plates you have around or find at flea markets, or just grab a couple at the thrift store when you see them.

Remember those house ornaments I made with felt? Well I had some leftover and wanted to do another ornament project with them. I thought about it for about a split second because I’m a total Eiffel Tower nut. So I knew I had to make one that looked (somewhat) like an Eiffel Tower.

I have an Eiffel Tower collection, and I am so obsessed that I even have a blog about all those cute Eiffel Tower collectibles. I also like the color blue. So I quick sketched out an Eiffel Tower:

Gathered my leftover ribbon and felt:

And cut out two Eiffel Towers:

Then stitched out some detail with embroidery floss (along with the date):

I added a ribbon to the top, put the back on, and hung on the tree. I did a quick stitch with regular thread to sew the front and back together. And here it hangs on our tree, right next to the cheesy cinnamon stick Santa I made several years ago.

Recently I spotted these adorable birdhouse necklaces in Handcrafted Jewelry, and I knew I wanted to make them.

The only problem? I couldn’t find all the materials I needed. I could get the small blocks easy enough, but had a devil of a time finding the triangles for the roof. I also didn’t have anyone to cut the block into the triangles, and don’t have the right tools to do it myself.

Darn.

So I did a search, and found this adorable Etsy shop with a kit. In fact, if I’m not mistaken I think the Etsy shop is from the same artist that had the birdhouse necklaces in Handcrafted Jewelry. Now, normally I wouldn’t use a kit, but I really wanted to make these for a few people, and could not find them anywhere. The thing is, I bought the kit for the birdhouses, but she also pre-drilled the tops and included papers so you could make the whole thing. So then I ended up using everything in the kit, which isn’t exactly what you want to do when you’re a crafter, but I love these little necklaces so much I just had to. Plus, I’m not going to sell them but give them as gifts.

So, if you’re looking to make these, I’ll show you what I did. They are super easy to do. First, get small blocks and triangles. The magazine these were in gives you exact dimensions, but you can really make them any size you want. Pre-drilling the tops is a good idea and will save on hassle later when you need to attach it to a necklace.

The kit I used came with a bunch of different papers, but obviously you can use whatever you want. On one of the sides I also put a family picture over the paper. It’s teeny tiny, but it’s there.

Then, cut out all the papers to fit the different sides of the blocks. You’ll want to cover the base and the roof.

Glue them on. (I used matte Modge Podge.)

Let them dry.

Then assemble. I used the same glue that I had used for that veggie stand I made, and it worked out great.

Then, put the screw eye in the top. You can also coat the finished product with polyurethane and sand the edges if you’ve got any rough spots. A simple chain necklace works nicely for these.

I think I’ve mentioned here in the past about the homemade ornament exchange that my cousins and I do every year. We’re all over the country so it’s nice to get something from them made with their own hand every year. It makes me feel like they are right there with me to celebrate Christmas. Last year I made some paper houses that had a picture in them from when all of us were little. This year I also made a house ornament (I secretly think I’m addicted to making houses. But not as addicted as I am to gluing glass together.) There is something about little houses that I absolutely adore. Anyways, I saw these cute felt houses over at Bits and Bobs, and wanted to make some of my own.

First I got several different pieces of felt in brown (for the door), black (for the roof), and white with sparkly stuff (for the windows and snow), along with blue, purple, teal, and red for the actual houses. The original blog had some directions and a template, but of course I skipped that and just cut out the pieces the way I felt like. (Felt like! Get it? Cuz I’m working with felt?) All of this is to say that you can make these any size that suits ya. They work regardless of how big or small you want to do them.

First, cut out the pieces for snow, door, roof, windows, and the base of the house. Remember that you’ll need two of some of them for the front and back of the house.

I found it helpful to cut out several at once, so I could just start assembling them all.

Then, sew on the pieces. I used regular white thread for some of it, and black thread for the roof and to assemble. I used small stitches and did it by hand. You can see the stitches, but it doesn’t matter, because the whole thing has kind of a homemade look to it anyways. When you’re done stitching on the pieces, use some embroidery thread to make a border for the windows and a doorknob for the door.

Then, sew on little beads here and there for the snow. I found this part the most putzy of all. Still, it was an easy thing to do each night in front of the TV.

As you can see, I also added the date on the back of the house. Use white embroidery thread for this.

Then, stitch the two felt pieces together, and add a little bit of stuffing. You don’t want them overstuffed, but just enough to give it some heft. This is where I also stitched on a piece of ribbon to the inside of the house.

And viola! You have some finished houses!

I am amazed that I got these done in time to actually mail with Christmas cards. Last year I was so behind on everything. So this should be a nice little surprise for my cousins. (Unless they read my blog and can see this, which, as any blogger knows, probably isn’t the case!)

As you know, I’ve been a little obsessed with making glass garden sculptures. So in my quest to continue gluing things together now that the weather has turned cold, I’ve decided to make a few cake plates. No saucer or teacup is safe!

I’ve been experimenting with glue and supplies. For indoor, usable, plates like this, you need a non-toxic glue that can also withstand water. While you can’t put these plates in the dishwasher, you can wash them by hand, so I wanted a glue that would hold up. I used Simple-fix Outdoor Glue Pen, and it has worked really well. The glue is non-toxic and eco friendly, and it was a dream to use.

For the plates, I found this cute set at Goodwill. These plates cost about $2 total. I liked the look of them together and plan to use this tower for veggies and dip.

I’ve been experimenting with using different stemware and such between plates, but these had such cute little cups that I decided to use them instead. (It leaves less room for putting things on the plate, but since I’m using this as a veggie tray, it will work out okay.)

The tutorial for this is pretty easy. Glue the pieces together and wait! You want to glue both sides, and then wait a few moments and stick them firmly together. You can also do each layer one after another without waiting for the previous layer to dry.

To find supplies for this type of project, look at thrift stores or rummages and experiment a little with different designs. I’m working on a few more so you’ll see them here going forward. I don’t usually do “matchy matchy” but for this one I did. You may also decide to use glasses in between the plates in order to give it more height. It depends on what you want to do with it and how you want to use it.