Little Pink Studio

How about a Tuesday tutorial?

Hello! I can hardly believe how fast January is flying by already! I would like to keep up with the Tuesday tutorials I started during the holiday season, and to start off the year I'm reposting a little project I created for Joli Paquet a couple of years ago. It might give you a jump start on thinking about your Valentines. So, let's get started.

Do you have lots of scraps of lace and trims? This project is a great project to use those scraps and make some pretty Valentines! I sewed my Valentines, but you can certainly make this project using your favorite adhesives if you prefer not to sew.

 

Gather your supplies:

 

Canvas sheet (I used Frederix canvas that can be found at Michaels, but you can also use cardstock if you prefer)

 

paint

 

Scraps of vintage laces and trims

Coordinating seam binding or ribbon

glue dots

Sewing machine (or your favorite adhesives if you prefer not to sew)

 

foam brush

 

paint brush

 

vintage china doll OR your favorite images (you can do a search for the china dolls on etsy if you don't have one in your stash, I saw several sellers with them)

 

Hot glue or othe strong adhesive (I use The Ultimate glue)

Satin wings

Begin by cutting a heart shape out of your canvas or card stock. Then brush a layer of paint onto the heart. And set aside to dry.

While your canvas is drying gather your favorite scraps of lace and trim. Cover your heart with glue dots that will help you keep your laces in place while you sew them on. Lay your trims over the heart in whatever manor pleases you.

 

Begin sewing your scraps to your heart. I stitched around and around the heart until my stitches had covered the whole thing. I did my best to go in a heart shape, but as you can see, that didn't always happen and since I was using a light colored thread that was ok.

 

Once your trims are completely sewed on, you'll want to trim off the excess. I think it is easiest to do this from the back so that you can just follow along with the shape of the canvas. Save those scraps for making more Valentines!

Next, since my vintage china doll reminded me of a cherub, I wanted to give it some wings. To add polka dots, just dip the end of your paint brush in your paint and dot onto your wings.

 

Once your wings have been polka dotted to your liking you'll want to glue them to your china doll using either hot glue or another strong adhesive. I use The Ultimate glue. This glue is always in my studio as it will bond just about anything and takes the place of hot glue for me! Besides my Coccoina glues, it's my very favorite glue. You then attach the whole thing to your heart. I chose to place it in the center, but you can put it anywhere you would like!

Once my "cherub" is in place, I punched some holes in the top of the heart and strung the seam binding through. Tie a bow at the top and hang it somewhere it will make you happy. :)

That's it! A great way to use up those vintage scraps of lace! You could further embellish your scrappy Valentines with words, or vintage millinery flowers. 

This is another Valentine I made that year using the same technique, but with a vintage image instead. 

Have fun, and I would love to see any scrappy Valentines you have made. 

xo, Cerri

A Christmas Nest

Hello! Welcome to another Tuesday Tutorial, I hope you will enjoy this tutorial today, as I think it is one of my favorites so far!

I started out with this sweet bird shaped votive holder. I was able to purchase several of these earlier this year..you know one of those, "I'm sure I can use this for something" purchases. I knew I would probably want to create some sort of assemblage piece in it, but the ideas never came and I almost sold these in our yard sale this summer! So happy I didn't! Ok, so I'm not exactly sure where you would find something just like it, but I'm sure you can find a bird votive holder at Michaels, or maybe even your dollar stores? 

Anyway, to prep her, I added some Diamond Stickles. (Diamond and Platinum are my go to favorites every time..) I added a little to her wings, and as you can see in the top photo, I later went back and added quite a bit more to her tail feathers, etc. A Christmas bird does need to be glittered now, doesn't she? 

I then glued in a little paper shred to the area that would normally hold a candle.  

Save and print this sweet little gal onto cardstock. 

Cut her out and using a chalk pencil, give her some rosy cheeks. 

I added a little Platinum Stickles to a bleached bottle brush tree. (later I also added more Diamond stickles)

I also have these little vintage bottle brush tree picks, and I used two of those in this project. I trimmed them to size, and covered them with the Diamond Stickles. Now, if you don't have access to vintage tree picks, you could use some smaller bottle brush trees, lightly bleach them out so they're not such a dark green, and trim the bristles to give yourself a more narrow tree. 

I also glued some vintage pearls to the trees and then glued the trees and my little nest pixie into the paper shred. Add a few vintage pearls to the shred as well, and cover them with a bit of the Stickles. 

Here is another view so you can see how she is "leaning" against her white tree, and the smaller trees are behind her. 

I gave the bird a little bow using vintage tinsel trim, and added more Stickles to her, and she was finished! Now, I also think a little banner with a holiday sentiment would also be a cute addition to this Christmas nest, and I may add that later. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask, I'm always happy to help. Also, if you have made any ornaments from any of the tutorials, I would LOVE to see, so please share!

I was able to put a handful of these kits together for you, and they're located in the shop.   The kit contains the lovely bird candle holder, a printed pixie, white bottle brush tree, and two vintage botttle brush tree picks, vintage pearls, and vintage tinsel! All you'll need is some strong adhesive and your favorite Stickles glitter glue. (or regular glitter and glue) 

Be back soon with some more ornament inspiration from around the web, er Pinterest that is.. :)

xo, Cerri

Tuesday Tutorial -Pretty party dress!

Hello! Sorry for my absence last week, it was a rough one for me. But, I'm back today with a new ornament tutorial for  you. 

A couple things to note about this tutorial, first the sample most commonly used in the photos is a larger version than the ornament itself. Same idea, same process, this one was just easier to photograph the steps. Second, not every step was photographed, but I'll do my best to explain the steps. If you have any questions, feel free to email me! 

I started out with these great little honeycomb bridal dresses I found at Joann's a couple of years ago. I'm not certain if they still have them, but if they do, they were in the bridal section. (this is the actual ornament size here) You will also need some vintage wallpaper scraps, a spray bottle, Glimmer Mist in your favorite shade, Gold Stickles, adhesive, and some boiled tea. 

1. Boil a little tea and once it cools pour it into a spray bottle. 

2. Snip off the cardboard ribbon "tail" that was attached to the ornament. 

3.  Trace the bodice of the dress the best you can onto some vintage wallpaper scraps and then glue the wallpaper over the existing cardboard bodice. 

You may not get this exactly perfect, so go back with your detail scissors and trim around the bodice some more. I covered both sides as my dress will be hanging from the tree and I wanted it to be pretty on both sides, but that is optional. 

**It's important to take this next step in steps and go slowly. The honeycomb paper is fragile and you do not want it to tear.  

4. Open up the honeycomb dress and begin spritzing the dress with the tea. Let that dry a little. I just let it dry natural, but you could possibly use a heat tool if you don't hold it too close to the fragile paper. 

5. Once you have the desired shade with the tea, then spritz with your glimmer mist. It's ok if the edges curl a little, that only helps the dress look more "aged". You can gently blot with a paper towel if you need to, but don't spray so much that the paper is soaking wet.  Let dry. 

6. While your dress is drying, prepare a little millinery flower by spritzing it with Glimmer Mist. Tie a silk ribbon around the "waist" and glue your flower in place. 

7. Once the honeycomb is dry, lightly go over your dress with the gold Sticlkes. Platinum would be beautiful here as well, depending on the colors of your vintage wallpaper you chose. 

You could add a little sentiment around her waist with paper, and then hang on the tree by the clothes hanger. If you didn't want this to be an ornament, you could also add a name and use it as a place setting. 

I have put together a handful of the ornament sized kits for you. Included is various vintage wallpaper scraps, the dress ornament, vintage millinery, and silk ribbon. They can be found right here. 

Also, I wanted to share with you a variation of this tutorial we did a couple of weeks ago. 

I used a gold ornament and some bits of vintage lace, gold Stickles, and a sweet angel image. (this is one of the ornaments I made my swap partners for Cassandra's ornament swap, but I'll tell you more about that later) 

One last thing, I have had so many emails about the sweet little globes and various other new items that sold out so quickly, and I have good news! I was able to restock! There are more globes, more bell shaped glass ornaments, more of the cottage and farmhouse ornaments, and more mini trees! Yeah! They're all on their way to me as I type this, so I have already listed them back in the shop! I ordered a ton of the globes as I can see those being used for projects way beyond Christmas, but the other items are limited and will not be restocked again this season. There are also a couple of the kits left as well. 

Be back soon! And yes, I will be continuing on with the Tuesday Tutorials throughout the rest of the season as promised. :)

Quick, cute, and easy Christmas ornaments

Hello! Welcome to our 2nd ornament tutorial. Before we get started I wanted to let you know that all participants in the stocking swap were emailed last night with their partner information. We ended up have a few more than 20 ladies sign up. (I just couldn't turn anyone away. :) If you emailed me your information, and did not receive partner information last night, please send me an email asap. 

Ok, so on with our tutorial! This was a huge favorite over on Joli-Paquet last year, and so I thought I would  share it here this year. I love quick and easy, but rewarding crafts during the busy holiday season, and this one is just that. 

So, let's get started!

Gather your supplies:

You're going to need some snow flake ornaments found just about anywhere. I purchased mine at Target a couple of years ago, and I'm not sure if they had them this year, but you can find similar ornaments I'm sure. . 
You will also need some lace scraps, Stickles glitter glue, (I used and adore Platinum), a little bit of tinsel, and some vanilla posies.

You'll also need some strong adhesive, (I used The Ultimate glue which is my number one go to glue for anything that really needs to stick.) scissors, and Glimmer Mist. I used a little Tattered Rose, and Creme de Cocoa for this project. Old Lace, Vintage Pink, or Tea Rose would also be great color choices.
That's all you need. We're ready to get started now.

First, spritz your snowflakes with the Glimmer Mists. You can see here how the Creme de Cocoa gives the bright white snowflake a subtle "aged" feel. The pink can be used as lightly as you would like. Some of mine ended up a little more pink than I wanted, but it's ok, we cover up quite a bit of the snowflake. Set those aside to dry.
Here are two images you might like to use.

Both of these images are from my stash, but some of the other ornaments I will show you use images I purchased on etsy.  There are several wonderful sellers on etsy that have beautiful images, and plenty of free images on the internet.
You can click on these images to make them larger, then right click and save to your computer. Open them up in some sort of editing program and crop them into circles. For the smaller ornaments I cropped my images to 2", and for the larger ornaments I used 3" circles. I printed some of my images on cardstock, and some on fabric. The fabric just gives a softer image and texture.

Use your circles as templates and also cut yourself some circles of vintage sheet music. 

Glue your image to the front of the snowflake. If you're not using The Ultimate glue, you will need to use some sort of strong adhesive as the glitter makes the image difficult to stick.

Glue your sheet music circle to the back. (you can really use any kind of paper here, even more cardstock) This is simply to cover any of your work from the front and to give the back a nice finished look. You can also sign and date your ornaments here.

Add a little scrap of lace.

Cut and trim a little piece of tinsel. Glue it in place on top of your lace.

Glue on a little paper posie that has been lightly spritzed with a touch of Creme de Cocoa and Tattered Rose Glimmer Mist. This ages the posies beautifully.

Then, outline your image with the Stickles. When the Platinum Stickles dries, it looks just like tarnished silver. I love it. I also added a little dot of Stickles to the center of my flower. That's it! I told you that was easy!
Now, you can add a length of ribbon, or lace to the top of your ornament and hang on your tree. You could leave the ribbon off and use these as gift toppers. Hang a bunch of them in the varrying sizes from your chandeliers or ceiling for a Christmas party. Lots of things you can do with them!
Here are a few variations.

For this larger ornament, I printed my image on cardstock, and cut random bits from my vintage lace stash. I then just glued those around my image, layering until I was happy with the look. I topped the lace w/ Stickles, making sure the rough edges of my lace was showing. I added 3 posies to this one as it's quite a bit larger.
That is it!
I really hope you enjoy this little project. If you have any questions, please let me know, I'll be happy to help. I would of course love to see any ornaments you might make!

 

I have created a limited number of kits for this project, and you can find them here. The kit includes the materials (and more!) to create 3 ornaments. I've included various size snowflake ornaments,  bits of vintage and antique lace, several vintage images to choose from, (and already cropped for you!), vintage sheet music, vintage style silver tinsel, and paper posies. 

Also, make note that this weekend (November 18-20) is our online open house! All of the new Christmas products will be available for sale, including several kits! I have some lovely sponsored give aways, and lots of holiday inspiration! I'll share more as the week progresses. 

See you soon! Cerri xoxo

The bird waltz ornament

Hello, and welcome to the first ornament tutorial for the season! I'm running a bit behind today..but it's just been one of those days. Anyway, I'm excited to share this ornament tutorial with you, and hopefully you will love it too. 

Here's what you'll need:

Small, inexpensive resin frame. (you can find various frames like this at Michaels for around $1)

A petite craft bird

Glimmer Mist--you can use any shade  you would like, really. I chose one with a golden shimmer. Creme de Cocoa, Walnut Gold, Old Lace, any of those would be good choices.

Craft paint. I used Ivory and Sandstone. Use any paint you have on hand, it can be craft paint, latex paint. Whatever. I used a couple of different colors to give the frame some depth.

Foam brush, or paint brush. 

A bit of old tinsel

Some tiny pinecones. I purchased mine from Julie Collings on etsy.  You could also use a number of other embellishments here..little leaves, millinery, buttons, etc. 

Mica flakes

A clear drying glue and a sturdy glue. I used the Ultimate glue for the entire project, it does both. 

A little bit of sheet music.

A tiny paper clip, and a little ribbon.

And the following image. 

Just print that out in the size you will need to match your frame. I printed mine on cardstock, and think that would work best. 

Ok, so let's get started. Ready? 

Remove the glass or plastic from your frame and pry off the backing. If your backing doesn't want to be pried off, that's ok. Just cut off the part that opens and the little stand. Now, I save those because I think they're very handy to glue to a small collage back to make it stand up..but we won't need it again for this project. If your frame is a crazy, bright orange, you might want to use a little spray primer on it. 

There, that's already better. Sorry orange lovers, I'm just not a fan. 

Now, with your sponge brush, you're going to just dab on some more paint. Make sure you smoosh it into the crevices of the frame. I used the ivory first, and then went over it with the sandstone color. Set that aside to dry.

While your paint is drying, use a little glimmer mist on your bird, and your  bird waltz image. 

Honestly, I don't think you can tell here, but the next step after your paint is dry is to spritz on some Glimmer Mist onto the frame. Get it in the crevices and blot off the extra. You might want to do this a couple of times. It give more dimension to the frame, and adds a little shimmer too. 

Now, adhere the image to the back of the frame and trim off the excess. Add a little glue and mica flakes to both the outer edge of your images and the inner edge of your frame. 

Once you have added your mica flakes, glue on a piece of old tinsel, and nestle your little bird into that. I then added some of the teeny pincecones, and added a bit more mica to my birds feathers and tails. She just wanted a bit of extra glam. 

Any questions so far? We're almost finished!

Glue a tiny paper clip to the back of your frame and finish it off by glueing some vintage sheet music over the whole back. Tie a little tie with string and once it's all dry, it will be ready to hang!

And a couple more images of the first one I made. 

I was able to put together a handful of kits to create this ornament. The little kits will come complete with everything you need except your Glimmer Mist, paint, and basic supplies. They include the vintage bird, frame, printed sheet music, vintage sheet music, pine cones, old tinsel, mica flakes, and tiny paper clip. 

The kits will arrive packaged in a hand stamped muslin bag that makes it a lovely little gift too. :) They're available right here. 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and please come back next Tuesday for another. Coming up this week will be more holiday inspiration, and previews of the holiday shop goods I will have in store for you next week! 

If you make this ornament, I would love to see your rendition of it! Please post it on my facebook wall. 

Happy crafting! Cerri xoxo

PS, I will try my best to have the tutorials up early on Tuesdays, I hate for you to have to wait around. :)