Over the Top Studios

Paper Nests and Feathered Friends

Okay, it must be spring because I can finally go for a  walk. It has been a while here in Seattle and there has been other opportunities but just until yesterday that the skies and my schedule opened up at the same time. 

I noticed some Robbins busy at work in my backyard. It seems they only have one thing on their minds and one alone, building nests. Their instincts tell them to build or cease to exist. There is an urgency to their task. Tireless they work finding a twig here or a leaf there. I have chickens and until recently sheep. Each spring my chickens molt and my sheep got sheered. Needless to say the nests on my property always have a soft lining of feathers and wool. How they decided on which pieces they use is a mystery to me. Do they use the same criteria i do? If they did their nests would be built from paper. I thought for a moment to scatter vintage music sheets on the ground around the barn and see if they would scoop it up and weave it in to their nests with the same beautiful craftsmanship they demonstrate with the feathers, twigs and wool. They probably have better common sense than I do. Like one of the foolish three little pigs a house built from paper would surely crumble; especially in Seattle. But wouldn't it be beautiful? In the fairytale, whimsical land that I create in a paper nest makes perfect sense... and while I am at it why not add glitter, crepe paper and yellow doves.

I gathered up some supplies to make my own nest much like my feathered friends. They did look at me a bit strangely as if to say, "Hey! out of our supplies" but there is enough to go around. My nest rests atop a sturdy platform of branches glued to a base made from chipboard that has been decorated with musical sheets. The nest is made from twigs, moss, paper, vintage flowers and German glass glitter. Thinly cut strips of music sheets weave in and out echoing the same songs the birds fill my yard with. Glittered leaves and crepe paper cherry blossoms add sparkle and color letting me know it is the beginning of spring. A banner declaring "Happy Spring" is just about to be added to the framework of the nest.

My Mother's Day Page is in the background. I will post it on Wednesday.

I must confess that when I started the nest I thought about doing it the old fashioned way, like the Robbins: no glue gun, but half way through I realized that I needed my gluegun. I guess the Lord has gifted each of us with an instinct or skill, the Robbins have their weaving skills and I have my glue gun skills.

  

You can catch a glimpse of our barn and garden in the background. What a beautiful day!

Spring Banner from Lasting Memories

New K & Company Line at Lasting Memories.

All the fun embellishments!

  

   

Right of the bat I want to apologize for the sub par photos. Usually my husband Tim takes all my pictures with his amazing equipment but today he was so busy with other things I didn't want to bother him with this so I got out my trustee Nikon Coolpix and shot my own using only my flash and room lighting (it was a cloudy day as well, snow even) Like I said, Tim would usually take out all his studio lighting, fancy lenses and so forth not to mention his photographic knowledge and expertise and take amazing shots, today you will have to suffer through these. Like I said I was at Lasting Memories (my favorite scrap booking store) a few weeks ago looking at what cool things they had gotten in since CHA and I stumbled upon the new Cut and Paste line from K & Company. It is so playful and retro in feel. It does not scream spring like some of the other papers I saw but I like that about it. The colors made me feel warm inside: the way I used to feel on warm spring days in California as I ran down the ice cream man waving a quarter. Yes, I am that old! I picked up a four different 12X12 pattered papers from the line along with a bag filled with laser cut images that complimented it. This was the best deal in the house $5.95. There must be over 100 laser cuts from tiny buttons to jumbo bingo cards, I will be using these for a long time. I had picked up some lettering there a few months ago in the bargain area (Lasting Memories has a great bargain area and they are always updating it) I loved it so much I picked it up in several colors, I used the green ones here. When I got home I laid out all the supplies I had purchased and then started looking around my craft room for fun embellishments. I love to add dimension to all I do, layers of things and I am not afraid to go big.  I had seen a banner recently where they added lots of crepe paper and naturally loving all crepe paper I took out my scraps.

1. Start by laying all your supplies out and taking inventory, then map out the way you want your banner to look. You don't want to over embellish one flag and leave the next without. See what you have to use and decide where you will use it

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2. I started out by embellishing each letter with a little glitter glue to make it pop. While you let that dry start laying out each flag. I made a patter for the flag out of tag board and then cut out 6 more for the SPRING banner. These flags are pretty small about 7 X 5 inches. You can also use the die cut machine at Lasting Memories to cut these out of tag board, I just didn't get back to do it in time.

3. Using your flag piece as a pattern cut out the paper to fit on top and glue them to the tag board using a thin layer of Elmer's glue.

 4. I made crepe paper circles to add dimension to my letters, I also decided to go with one color for every flag to create continuity but you can do whatever you like. I taught you how to make these in February for the Valentines Cone project so you can refer back to that tutorial. Then the fun begins! Start layering, adding color and fun embellishments. Keep in mind balance as well. Youwant to be somewhat symmetrical when it comes to balance. In other words don't put a whole lot of embellishments on the last few cards and just a little on the others. Try out things and when you have each letter just the way you want it start gluing. I used a lot of hot glue and dimensional.

 

The bird is pretty big and not the exact color blue but it works!

Each letter has a little something in the center. This one has a raspberry flower.

The bicycle is a laser cut and the pin wheel is a leftover party pick.

Fun Fringe at the bottom and crafting flowers add charm. The border at the top is trim from the fabric store.

My favorite, a 5 cent fuzzy chick and paper umbrella from a drink remind us that Spring can sometimes still be quite wet. What a "Cootie Patootie"

More fun fringe and fabric store trim.

At the end I punched very small holes on either side of each flag and ran a 7 foot piece of pink seam binding through them to string my banner together. Do not make the holes too big, just big enough to get the seam binding through with a little difficulty. You don't want it to slide too much. I hung mine across my fireplace on the hooks we use for Christmas Stockings, again - forgive the images.

There you have it - a fun SPRING banner you can make in one afternoon. This paper line is so much fun and so detailed I found myself having to do little more to it. Remember, let you imagination fly and you will be surprised what will happen. I never would have thought the chick and umbrella would work but once I put it together I loved it and it became my favorite part of the banner. Have Fun and I would love to hear your comments on this.

My Dream Journal

Okay, I feel terrible about not blogging to you all in over a week. I missed it so much. I have been working day and night to get ready for the Wedding Extravaganza at Common Folk Co. April 18th, more information about that to come. For now, if you know of anyone getting married you may want to tell them to "Save the Date" there will be lots of great, one of a kind items for brides, bridesmaids and their big day in general.  Also we will have a very special guest that day you won't want to miss. I have had some spare time to craft (other than cake toppers) and I was inspired by a notebook I saw in a store not so long ago. It had a beautiful image of an angel on the cover and the Eiffel tower on the back.   It made me think of my dream vacation.  I love all things French from the food to the furniture but sadly I have never been to France. We wanted to go a couple of years ago but we were out voted by our kids, and their friends, and we ended up in Japan. Now, Tim and I are looking at being "empty-nesters" this fall and finally France may go from being my dream vacation to my spring destination in 2010. Later that evening, I was running through images and found one of actress  Miss Billie Burke taken in London. The image is very French. I then found an old postcard of the Eiffel Tower.  I decided to put together my own Dream Journal, one that I would fill with all my wonderful mementos and souvenirs of France. Tim helped me enhance the images in Lightroom and then enlarge them so that they were exactly the right size to cover the front and back of an old journal I had. I used an existing one but you can also buy blank journals at Ben Franklin for roughly around $3.00. I wanted the image to look like a painting so I used canvas paper also from Ben Franklin, it is a bit pricey, $2.99 for (1) 8 1/2X11" sheet. The canvas paper really soaks up the ink and gives your image a rich look. My journal was small, so I was able to only use one sheet printing both images on it. Now you have to have a decent printer to achieve the quality I have, we have a Canon MX 850, it's middle of the road and it worked great.  I set the printer to high quality, plain paper and I printed my two images. I then cut them out and glued them to my journal using a thin layer of bookbinders glue that I applied with a paintbrush. You have to work quickly at this point because the glue will dry. You don't want to use too much glue or the result will be a soggy image. After it dried I wanted to give it some sparkle so I got out my "Stickles" clear glitter tube and highlighted the images wherever I wanted. I let that dry and then added the French ribbon and bling to the front. I then realized I wanted to keep going so I decided to pull out some old scraps I had sitting around and I scrap booked my two first pages. Just random images of France, or my idea of it. I love the way this ended up and I can't wait to tuck it into my nap sack and take it with me on my travels. Somehow whenever I think of myself in France I'm always  riding a black bicycle with a wire basket on the front: flowers, cheese, baguette and wine tucked neatly inside. I am wearing black slim pants and a red and white striped t-shirt. I look suspiciously like Audrey Hepburn. Seriously, the neat thing about this is that you can use any kind of image from a drawing to a photograph so the possibilities are endless. A Final Note:  Make sure you practice on printer paper before you print out the final image on the canvas, it may save you some money.

 This is he front, the image is a bit washed out in the photo but trust me it is very vibrant in person.

 From behind

The first two pages. I used a ton of scraps and as a result my pages ended up a bit thick but thats alright, I like it!

St Patricks Day craft

I found these plain paper "Pots of Gold" at Jo Anns last week and thought I might dress them up for St. Patrick's Day. This is nice as a small centerpiece or maybe one at each place setting for your Corn Beef and cabbage dinner on March 17th.  It also makes a nice teachers gift filled with gold covered chocolate coins. Even better take the green coins, attach a broach pin to the back, and give them to the teacher as "Emergency Green" pins to hand out to any of those unfortunate kiddies who may show up at school laking a bit O' green. She/he would probably appreciate it more than the chocolate.

I started by getting out my Cremacoat paint in evergreen and giving the paper mache pot a couple of coats inside and out. Looking back I probably should have painted it gold for more POP. Green will do though. I printed out a copy of the vintage postcard I put up earlier this week just big enough for the front of my pot. I then cut it our and embellished it with green and gold glitter. I rimmed the top with green mini garland by Bethany Lowe and then took some green garland and wound it around the handle. I filled it with green excelsior, chocolate coins, green beads and green plastic coins. I also found a mini green and gold glittered pot of gold and put that inside with an old Irish Blessing attached. The whole thing took about 25 minutes and $5 dollars to make. I could probably make another 3 or 4 with the supplies left over. This is a really easy project and could be done with any paper mache box you find. Wrap it up in a cello bag and tie it up with a green ribbon and a tag shaped like a shamrock. People will think you are so clever and crafty. That's all for now, take care and don't let any of that silly Friday the 13th stuff get to you.

Cupids Lovebirds

  

 I was feeling a little creative yesterday so I started to look around for a quick Valentines project. I had ordered a bunch of birds for my hats and crowns and they finally came over the weekend. I had forgotten I ordered five dove lovebirds thinking I might incorporate them into my wedding toppers. What is more romantic than two white doves beak to beak. They reminded me of an old Valentine. I grabbed a small heart shaped box I found at the craft store for 99 cents and painted it pink on the outside and white with pink stripes on the inside.  While it was drying I glittered the beak and wings of the birds and attached a small hot pink heart to their beaks along with a Dresden arrow from Blumchen. To hide the edge and dress it up I printed out "I Love You" over and over again on card stock and then cut it out using a pair of Provo Craft scissors with a scalloped edge.I then trimmed it with more Dresden paper. Using pink crepe paper I made a pink medallion for their silver nest to rest upon. Everthing got hot glued on and Presto!- a romantic gift for my Valentine. It was fun and easy to make, my only problem now is what to put inside. My first thought was candy but I now think I will fill it with a sweet love note for my Valentine. I still haven't come up with the perfect gift for my one and only this year. I am running out of time, but I am sure it will come to me. I will let you know after the holiday as not to spoil the surprise!

Candy Box Quick Project

I love those old fashioned candy boxes of the 1800's. There is something about their ageless beauty that attracts me to them. I always try to imagine the giver and the lucky reciever, were they newlyweds, husband and wife or just cupid struck lovers. As I brush my hand over the box and draw it close for further inspection I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I can almost smell the delightful hand made confections that filled them. Today most candy is sold in plastic boxes and the chocolates come off an assembly line. Perhaps that is why I am drawn to the antique stores for the originals.  I wonder if the Victorians new that 100 years later their candy boxes would be sought after by collectors and old romantics like me. Since they are hard to find why not make one on your own. I had an old jewelry box about 3.5"X3.5" inches laying around, the perfect size for four bite size truffles or chocolates. I had the idea of cutting a heart out slightly bigger than the box, one for the top and one for the bottom. I used regular pink card stock but you could use even heavier chipboard if you like. I used pinking shears to cut the edges (just like those Valentine boxes of long ago) and then applied glass glitter to the edge.

I pulled out some scrap booking supplies and got to work. The chipboard frame is from Technique Tuesday and the scroll from Maya Road "Scrolls". I applied the glitter. The bird is from Bohemia. I used vintage music sheets for the background and an old velvet hydrangea petal and pink pearl on the front. The rest are just stickers I had laying around. After I decorated it just the way I wanted I hot glued the top of the jewelry box to the top of my new candy box. In this case I added a pink ribbon between he two layers. I do the exact same thing for the bottom, adding another ribbon there and now I can fill my box with chocolates and tie it with love.

The finished piece is lovely and personal. A great gift for a teacher, girlfriend, child or Bible Study Leader. Oops! I may have spoiled the surprise. You can also make these as large or small as you like with only your imagination to limit you. Altogether this took me 20 minutes to create. I think I will make more.

Valentine Party Cone

 Valentines Day is just around the corner and what better way to celebrate the holiday than with a Victorian Valentine Cone you can make at home. These cones have been around for over a century and it is traditional to fill them with candy and gifts. Place one at each setting or hang them from the back of a chair as a sweet hostess gift. The possibilities are endless. They are easy to make if you take it step by step. Here is what you will need: 1 12X12 Card stock, 2 pipe cleaners, an image for the front and assorted embellishments, 45" crepe paper, 18" ribbon, two sided tape, glue gun, stapler, 10" garland( I got at party supply store), needle and thread. I have included a cardboard cone I picked up at Packaging Specialties to help roll it. If you don't have one that's okay.

Grab your 12X12 card stock and with the point facing you measure up the right side 9" and make a mark, do the same on the left. Draw a curved line from one point to the other and adjust until you have a it right. Now cut out the cone. Next get read to ruffle your crepe paper with your needle and thread.

I am using vintage crepe paper sold in a sheet but the rolled ones from the party supply store work fine. Place a knot at the end of your thread. Start at one end  about 3/4" from the bottom and sew along the edge with a running stitch. Your stitches should be about 1/2" long. Gather gently as you go along. You want to end up with about 10" of gathered paper. Tie it off.

With the wrong side facing you, place a strip of two sided tape along the right side of the cone from top to bottom. If you have a cone mold just roll the cone starting on the left side to the right and you are done, if you don't have a cone just roll the paper from right to left. You want about 4-5" overlap at the top, this will help make your cone sturdier and will be just enough room for your 10" of ruffled ribbon and garland. Secure edges with a staple close to the top.

Now lets attach the ruffled edge and garland. Find the back seam and start there. Place a small amount of glue along the upper edge of the cone. A zigzag motion about 1" high works best. Also, work in short lengths attaching ruffle a little at a time keeping it gathered as you go along. Now attach the garland on top of the ruffle hiding the stitches in the same manner.

  

For the sweet ribbon behind the image I cut strips of vintage piano sheet music into 9X1/2" lengths. Two for this project. Gently curl the strips around a pencil starting at the top and working down. This makes a gentle curl. Using your glue gun attach the pipe cleaner around your image.

Find the seam and make sure it is in the back. On the front of your cone attach the paper ribbon to the front of the cone crisscrossing them like an "X"  and attach your image on top of that. Using the last pipe cleaner punch holes on both sides of the cone and feed the pipe cleaner through turning the tip up to secure. Wrap one of your 18" of ribbon gently around the wire leaving an equal amount on both sides. Do the same with the other piece working in the opposite direction. You can now tie bows on both sides.

For the small banner in the front. This is just card stock. On my computer I printed out "Happy Valentines Day" in Verdana font at 15. I cut it out and banner cut the edges. I then attached it with a dot of hot glue. I also attached a glittered red heart I found at the craft store. You can finish off any way you like. The finished product is below. Isn't it lovely.

Fill with crinkled paper and goodies.

There is our project. I hope you enjoy it and make many more as gifts. Let me know if this tutorial was helpful and leave me a comment or question.