Folk Art Inspired Christmas Tree. Paper Wings And Give-away

This Year I'm inspired by the Country primitive folk art . I found these sweet dolls published by Country Living magazine 1995. They call it Homespun Archangels, made by James Cramer, he used architectural fragments to create the wings; I think they are adorable. It makes me think about a loving mother making a doll with fabric woven by herself, using the material that she found around the house, to make something special for her little girl for Christmas because she couldn't afford a porcelane doll. I really like the idea of dressing the dolls with vintage christening gowns. What a good idea for displaying a vintage dress collection.

I made the dolls but I didn't used the architectural fragments for the wings because I considered it too heavy for the Christmas tree. I really like their primitive folksy look.

I took this picture from the Country Living magazine; they are photographed by Keith Scott Morton.

To keep the vintage theme, I made this garland of vintage pocket books. I printed some vintage photos and glued them on hardboard paper to display them on my Christmas tree and mantel as well.

I was curious about how to make feathers. I found a great blog called: Todolwen.  She has a wonderful tutorial on how to make these feathers. Click here to visit her. After visiting her beautiful blog I decided to make this pair of paper wings . I really love how they turned out.

Last year I made this wreath made of book pages, click Here to see the tutorial. I decided to make angel wings with the same concept. It was dificult to find hymn books. I found one made on 1941 with yellowish pages. I was stretching those pages :) in order to finish the seven pair of wings for my tree. It's incredible how many pages are needed to make the cones for the wings, I had to use another hymn book that I kept for another project and I had to dye the pages with coffee to make it look old like the other 1941 hymn book.

This is my Angel wings Christmas tree in the family-room.

 I used some hollow eggs and I decorated them with vintage print. You can find all these free prints on The Graphics fairy blog.

Now the Give-away.

After making feathers I decided to give-away nine feathers in diferent colors. I found out that these feathers are actually sold at Etsy--three feathers for $10. I don't sell the feathers, I just wanted to show my appreciation for all your beautiful comments. You can use them as a embellishing for your Christmas presents, bookmarks, or use them as an ornament on those feather trees with other paper ornaments. etc.

Just leave a comment on this post. This Give-away ends December 18-2011. I will announce the winner the next day December 19-2011. "Only for U.S. Shipping addresses"

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THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED

From the deepest place in my heart I'm wishing you a Happy Christmas full of joy and that this New Year will bring you the most of :"...success of perseverance...pleasure of working...dignity of simplicity...worth of character...power of kindness...influence of example...obligation of duty...wisdom of economy...virtue of patience...improvement of talent...joy of originating." ~Bulletin~

Shabby Chic Inspiration

I read somewhere--and I'm paraphrasing--that "We should look in the past in order to accomplish something extraordinary". I really agree with this phrase because when we look at our surroundings and appreciate the beauty of nature, the song of the birds, the warm sunshine upon our faces, etc. we try to keep the feeling of joy, and happiness that emanate from it. The artist captures the image of what he is seeing and reflects it on canvas, giving it his own interpretation of what he is seeing and feeling. In the end, all of us are trying to emulate, and imitate what is already created in front of our eyes. I try to imitate what is good for me and gives me joy. In the scripture we are exhorted to emulate Christ's life so we can be what our Father in Heaven expects from us, and live in harmony with His Spirit. That gives me joy too. So we are inspired by others in what is created and by looking in the past to conquer what makes us happy. What makes something original? The wonderful thing about art is that if we place a rose in front of five artists, each artist will capture the rose differently, and so each painting will differ. That makes the painting unique. Even though when we try to reproduce a painting it is really difficult to paint it exactly. In painting clases all the students are following the same instructions to paint a painting and each one turns out diferent from the others which gives me pleasure and joy because each of us have a divine nature, a personal sense to see and create things, and that makes us unique--and we all can learn so much from others. I think its wonderful.

 I visited Shabby chic Couture and everything is just beautiful. I love her accessories-accents, but like Dave Ramsey said : That's below the line... in other words, its not in my budget. I decided to make the items that I would like to buy and make them my self. I didn't spend a penny. I looked around my house and I found all the materials that I needed. I bought some canvas at 50% sale last year.  

I used watercolor, it was so much fun to play with the colors and to spash them on the wet canvas; each time that I spashed watercolor my little boy shouted: "Rain!!!" For me the secret of working with watercolor on canvas is to use a hair-dryer, the air will mix and spread the color making  the effect that you see above. I used a  wet sponge instead of a brush to apply the watercolor. Tip:Wet the canvas before applying the watercolor and have fun mixing it with the hair-dryer. 

To paint the dresses I used acrylic and applied it with my art knife. I didn't use brushes in this project. If you want a heavy texture you could use oil paint.

The color palette that I used made a great combination with my mural on the ceiling. The good thing about making my own Laurence Amelie Tutu painting is that I can customize it to my own taste. I painted a big pink rose and a little rose brooch on one of the dresses. 

I painted this beauty in watercolor on canvas, I signed this painting because its an original of mine. One year ago I went to a painting class of Wet On Wet Bob Ross oil technique and we painted a beautiful stormy sea. All the students signed their paintings but I didn't sign mine because for me it was a reproduction of Bob Ross' Painting, not an original.

Being inspired from Shabby Chic I made my own round petticoat pillow. I added a rose on center. I then crocheted a pillow.

I found a round light lamp shade for free. I tore it a part and I kept the two rings of the lamp shade to make this Dreamcatcher, I decorated with paper butterfly. I love it.

You can find wonderful tutorials in YouTube on how to make your own dreamcatcher.

I made this rosary out of acorns. Mother nature and the squirrel shared some with me :)

I opened the holes with a drill with the smallest drill bit. I used two pieces of wood and glued it together with wood glue.

I displayed it on my garden conservatory.

This is the last rose bouquet that my garden will produce. I pruned my roses and they are ready for winter. I will not enjoy their sweet smell until next year, I'll miss them.

I wish you success in all you do and remember  that only you put the obstacles in your way to creativity. I know that you can accomplish anything you want because all of us are daughters and sons of the great creator, yes, our Father in Heaven.

~Have a wonderful day ~