Little Pink Studio

Tuesday tutorial: Pretty paper pockets (revisited)

Hello! I hope your week has started off well! This past weekend, my husband and I were back in Nashville helping our oldest daughter find a new apartment. Her first choice fell through, so we needed to quickly find something else. I personally think she will be much happier with her 2nd choice. :) (which was always my first choice since it's gated...) We'll be moving her in right after Mother's day. It's really an exciting process, renting her first non campus apartment. We've definitely been filling up our pinboards with decorating ideas! I also have my niece and nephew this week, so it seemed like the perfect week for a "rerun" tutorial.  And with Mother's day just around the corner, these sweet little paper pockets may be just the thing you're looking for. 

So, here we go:

I made these little paper pockets with the idea that they would be a great party favor for a girl's get together. I was thinking they would be great filled with bits of lace and ribbon or other little trinkets. The best thing is that they can be made with scraps and something we all have in our homes. (tissue paper rolls) Now, if using tissue paper rolls seems a little yucky to you, then just cut down some paper towell tubes. 

The list of supplies you will need is above, but I left off a permanent black ink pad. For the images, I used my hat club cube stamp, as I love the different female images on the stamp. 

1. Using a foam brush, paint your tube. I painted the inside edge as well. 

2. Once the paint is dry, add a bit of strong adhesive to the bottom of the tube, and pinch it shut. I used a little bit too much glue as you can see in photo 2, so just wipe a bit off if you need to. 

3. Pinch it closed and use a little clamp to keep it closed until it dries. 

4. While your tube is drying, tear a bit of fabric scrap and stamp your image onto the fabric. 

Once you have your tube painted, glued, and your image stamped, just start adding layers of your vintage lace and fabric. I used a lovely old ruffle along the bottom of all of mine, and then layered on some pretty scraps. I wanted my pockets to be all white, but they would be lovely in a variety of colors.

Embellish your pockets with bits of vintage millinery or buttons. 

Once you have embellished your pockets and are happy with them, simply punch a little hole on both sides at the top, thread your large jumprings through and then attach your vintage bead chain to the jumprings. I couldn't really photograph that process, but let me know if you have any questions. 

You could also add pretty charms or other buttons to the charms as well. 

That's it! These sweet little pockets are ready to fill with treats, or flowers for the ladies in your life on Mother's day, or even to hang on the door of your neighbor for May day! I can imagine these little pockets filled with vintage lace, and vintage millinery. Perhaps some petite rolls of vintage paper tucked inside would be sweet too? 

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know, I'm happy to help. And if you make any pockets like this, I would love to see!

Happy crafting, Cerri xo

Tuesday tutorial: A little paper play

Hello! I hope your week is off to a great start! Today's tutorial is a bit less of a tutorial and more of some simple tips and such. 

One of my favorite things is when the gals in my family get together to craft. It's always a really special time, and I wish we made it happen more often than we do. However, because my Grandma (now 87 years old!) has limited dexterity, and my sister in law is very new to crafting, we will a lot of times use kits. Often I will just put together kits myself, but sometimes, I will grab some simple looking scrapbook or paper crafting kits from the scrapbook store. Of course, then I bring out all the vintage things I can find in my studio that I think will coordinate. I always love to add the vintage elements and mixed media things that I love. So today's projdect started out as a simple scrapbook kit, and I've added paint, sanded papers, added vintage ephemera, and bits of vintage lace, as well as some super cute images. 

Unfortunately, I could not find the packaging for the scrapbook items, so I do not remember who made these products, but I can say the scrapbook itself was made simply from kraft card stock with regular copy paper stapled inside for the pages. Super simple, and something you could easily create with materials on hand. 

On the cover, I added some blue paint. Note: I almost always use latex paint, you know, regular old house paint. I love buying the sample pots in all sorts of pretty colors, and I find that latex paint dries super fast on paper. I also like the texture of the paint a little better than acrylic paints. 

I added some layers of both the scrapbook elements as well as some vintage book paper, a vintage doily, and vintage lace. The gorgeous blue rose element was a scrapbook element that I sanded to make it look older. I loved the little girl image so much, I actually used it twice in my book! 

On the inside cover, I simply printed an image I loved and adhered it with a bit of glue and some gold dot washi tape. 

This page has the sweet image I shared here on the blog last Friday, some vintage book paper that has been painted over, a very old paper doily, and a scrapbook embellishment. 

I sanded the rose down to take away the glossy finish, inked the edges a bit, and stamped some pretty script words. (the words blend more than they show in this photo)

Here's that image again. (this time I printed her much larger and added a vintage lace bow to her dress)

I used layers of the gold script washi tape to create an extra layer over the polka dot scrapbook paper. 

More paper doilies, and washi tape as a background here too. 

Old book pages, some rub ons, printed images, paint, vintage lace, and a great vintage doily make up these pages. 

See that vintage netting with the flowers wrapped around the vellum envelope in this photo? I have had that for years! I think I got it from a Teresa Collins class at CHA several years ago. Ha. Talk about hoarding, right? 

For these two pages, the scrapbook paper that came with the kit was a dark brown floral paper. I used a blue paint and painted over most of the page. I added some book pages, painted and inked over those a bit, then added the printed images. 

I made the rose/doily embellishment a pocket by simply adhering the bottom and sides to the background pages, but leaving the top open. That allowed me to slide in come little envelops for extra notes. 

The background pages here are just printed book pages again covered with paint. I added some washi tape for added texture. I adhered the little girl holding flowers so that she would overlap slightly onto the next page. I added another envelope over part of her image and added some scrapbook embellishments as well as some vintage lace. 

And how cute are these two "sitting" on a doily wall? 

So, that's it. A fun project to do, plus I loved taking the scrapbook elements and mixing them into all of the vintage stuff I love. I also loved that everyone's book turned out a little different, as they used other materials and had ideas of their own. My sister in law adds photos to hers to make it more of an actual scrapbook. My favorite thing is to watch my Grandma just take off and do her own thing. It's precious. 

Happy crafting, Cerri xoxo

Some pretty new finds

Hello! I hope you've had a lovely week. Lately, my husband and I have made a few trips to Nashville, where our oldest daughter is in college. Most recently, we helped her search for a new apartment. It feels good that she still wants Mom's help and input with these decisions in her life. :) Love that, and I loved helping her look for apartments. Remember what that was like? Looking for your first non campus apartment? It's exciting. 

Anyway, I always try to stop at an antique shop or two when in her area and thought I would share some of my most recent finds.  Clearly, I am a creature of habit, and always drawn to the same things..But really, can a girl have too many vintage linens? Especially embroidered ones?

And I am always a sucker for anything ruffled. Always. 

I see some handmade ruffles in my shop's future. :)

I have an idea for these little sweeties. 

And lately, I have been buying up all sorts of vintage fabric. I have some mixed media book ideas in mind. 

I totally fell in love with this gorgeous framed floral. The photo doesn't really show the lavender tint to the frame, and you'll have to excuse the glare, but isn't it lovely? 

What have you been finding lately? Any exciting plans for the weekend? 

In case you have creative plans in mind, here's a sweet little image to inspire. 

Happy weekend! Cerri xo

Pretty Petunia

Hello! I have had a few emails about our Pretty Petunia kit, and I wanted to pop in today to let you know I was able to restock them. I believe there are currently 3 left. 

There are only a couple of these sweet little kits left as well. 

They're both a great project for a rainy spring afternoon. :)

Be back tomorrow with some new finds!

xo, Cerri

Tuesday tutorial: Spring Lives Here

Hello! I am happy to finally have a tutorial to share today, but first I have to say that my heart goes out to not only the lives lost, and the people injured yesterday in Boston, but to all of those affected. All are in my thoughts and prayers. 

During the Christmas season, I found a few of these sweet little Napco angels, and since I never did anything with them then, I decided they would become spring fairies instead. When I think about a make believe world where it would be spring all of the time, I think of fairies, flowers, pink mushrooms, glitter, and sparkles. That is exactly what I attempted to capture in this little assemblage. 

You can check etsy, ebay, thrift stores, or antique shops for the little angels, and if you can't find any, you could also substitute for a printed image. 

You'll want to punch a scalloped circle out of chipboard or sturdy cardstock. Cover those in vintage fabric, and then trim out your scallops. Adhere a circle to both the bottom and top of your vintage spool. 

The photos of how I made the garland the fairy is holding did not turn out, but simply take a piece of your pink and white twine, and glue flowers sequins to one side and the little circle sequins to the other side. (I used the Spring Mix sequins ) 

Once you have created your sequin garland and it has dried, simply glue the garland to your fairies little hands. 

Glue your fairy in place. Then cut apart your paper posies and cut the stem from your mushrooms. Add a line of glue around the fairy and the top circle and layer your flowers, mushrooms, and more sequins in a pleasing manner. 

To make the banner, I simply created a little banner using picmonkey, printed that on cardstock, and carefully cut it out. To create the "poles", I rubbed glue all over two toothpicks and wrapped them in pink and white twine.  Once the banner is dry, add glue to the back of your fairy and glue in place. I added a flower on both sides behind the "poles" to provide extra support.

Tear a strip of vintage fabric and tie a bow on the bottom of your spool. Embellish that with another flower and some flower sequins. Once everything is dry, embellish the whole thing with Stickles glitter glue! I used Diamond and a bit of Gold on the wings. 

That's it! A bit tedious with placing of the tiny items, but easy to create. 

I was able to put together a few kits for this project, including the vintage fairy and all of the elements used. If you prefer that, you can find those right here. 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and please, if you create one, let me know. I would love to see. 

Happy crafting, Cerri xo

Cute new stuff in the shop!

Hello! I hope your week has started off lovely. I was super excited by the box of super fun stuff that arrived on my door stop yesterday. This Memory Files album by Heidi Swapp is really one of the cutest albums I have seen in a long time. It's filled with patterns, die cut pages, plastic pages, and all sorts of cuteness in fresh, modern pastel colors.

There's al kinds of cuteness perfect for your scrapbooks, art journals, and other paper crafting projects. Take a peek right here. 

There are lots of other new and lovely items as well. Love these ombre ribbon roses..

And these darling vintage dolls from the 1940's-1950's. They were originally given as prizes at carnivals, I can think of all sorts of ways to repurpose them, can't you? 

Some cute new washi tapes!

Mister Huey mists!

And a super sweet party dress rubber stamp. Doesn't it remind you of a vintage prom dress? I was thinking it would be great to stamp on muslin bags and use as party favors. It would also be cute used from prom, spring, and bridal paper crafting projects. 

You can see all these and more new items right here.  I hope you'll stop by and take a look. 

I hope to have a new tutorial for you on Thursday this week. 

xo, Cerri

Petite May Basket Swap

Hello! How is your week going, so far? I wanted to host an Easter basket swap this year like I have done a few years in the past, but with being sick so much I was unable to get to it. A couple of years ago I participated in a petite May basket swap and it was lots of fun, so I decided to host one this year! I know it's a bit short notice, but I think we can do it. 

I gathered some inspiration from flickr, where the May basket group was hosted and here are a few of my favorites. 

(All of the original photos and links can be found right here. Many of the photos belong to ladies that are no longer blogging so I wanted to be sure to link to the source of the photos)

Lots of gorgeous inspiration there, right?

This will be a one on one swap, unless you would just like to have more than one partner and if that is the case, let me know. To participate, you will need to create, alter, OR embellish a petite basket and fill it with the kind of art goods your partner would love. I want each basket to be special, with attention paid to the smallest of details. (Like packaging things sweetly, etc.) NO JUNK. I don't want anyone to fill their sweet little baskets with things they just don't want anymore, but rather treasures that their partner will love. 

All baskets will need to be in the recipients hands by May Day. (May 1st) 

If you'd like to join, and can can meet the expectations, then please shoot me an email telling me your name, address, where you can be found on the web, and your likes or style. Send the email to cerri at thelittlepinkstudio dot com. Also, please be sure to let me know if you are willing to ship internationally since our time is short.  I will take sign ups only until Sunday evening so then I can quickly assign partners. I want you to have plenty of time to get your baskets ready. 

I do hope you will play along, I just love a good swap, don't you?! Please feel free to add the button at the top to your blog and I'd love for you to share if you would like!

Cerri xo

PS, I almost forgot to mention: If you have a 12-13 year old gal that would like to play along, please let me know. My niece loves to do swaps with me, and I know she would love to play along for this one as well. 

A home for Pretty Petunia

Hello! Once again, I disappeared on you unintentionally. If you can believe it, I have been sick AGAIN. Yes. Really. I have been sick more in the past couple of months than I have been in the past couple of years combined. Normally, I get sick once in the winter, and MAYBE once in the spring and that is it. This go round was a sinus infection, lovely cough, and double ear infection. Fun stuff. Ha. But, I'm on another round of antibiotics and feeling a bit more like myself again, so that is enough talk about being sick!

This is the little project I was working on..right before....a sweet little home for Petunia. I was thinking of exactly how I would want my home decorated if I was a pretty pink bird, and I think this is it. 

I would want my wires wrapped with strips of vintage fabric, and of course embellished with all sorts of sweet candy colored notions. 

I would have to have bits of vintage lace, and yoyo's, darling little hanging beads, bows, flowers, bits of millinery and more...

So, I put together a hand full of kits to create your own home for Pretty Petunia. They include everything you need, including a pre assembled cage base and all of the sweet, vintage bits. There's just a few of them, and you can find them right here. 

While you're there, you might notice that I added some lovely spring sequin mixes because I just can't get enough of those lately. 

You might also notice that all of your favorite rubber stamps have been restocked, and there's a sweet new addition. 

There are also restocks in our laces, and glass glitters as well! 

And lastly, here is a sweet image just for you to use this weekend!

Happy Easter! I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your families!

Cerri xo

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hello! I hope you're having a lovely weekend. Sorry to go missing again this week, sometimes life just gets in the way of our best laid plans, right? Anyway, I have this sweet little playing card in my collection and scanned it for you today. I thought you might enjoy it. 

If all goes as planned, I have lots of fun things to share this week. (Including a sweet new project kit!)

Cerri xo

A mini book

Hello, and happy Friday! Any exciting plans for the weekend? I think the Mr. and I are going to go see Oz, but other than that, I'm planning a weekend in the studio. I have some ideas, and finally am feeling up to creating again. Yay! 

So, this is the little book I made while in Nashville with my Mom visiting my daughter. We were all only allowed to bring one craft bag, so that was a fun challenge. I also bought a few things at the Archivers there, and I wanted to use a mixture of some cute Valentine things I found there in conjunction with my favorite, go to vintage items. 

There are a lot of photos, so I'll try to talk less. :)

I used used canvas for my pages, and just sewed them together by hand with embroidery floss. Easy, peasy. 

So that's my little book.  liked the mixture of the vintage things with the new scrapbook embellishments. As I was working, my Mom was working on something else, but liked what I was doing so I quickly put together a kit for her and snapped a bunch of photos with her phone so she could make one too. I haven't heard if she made hers yet though...So, Mom, have you? :)

Have a lovely weekend, I'll be back Monday, and I WILL have a new tutorial for you on Tuesday. 

And just in case you're working on something Easter related this weekend, this might inspire. 

xo, Cerri