Creations From the Stash

This past weekend, I was able to hit another wave of making things for The House! I sat down to do one thing in particular and ended up doing these things instead!

So, recently, I was in one of those stores where there are shelves upon shelves of jam, spices and other kitchen doo-dads when I spied napkin rings made out of this viney stuff (my technical terminology is amazing, I know ...):

This is or is not recognizable as I already deconstructed it before taking its picture hahaha oops. I actually don't know if it was a napkin ring or something that sits at the base of a taper candle, but you get the picture. In the store, it seemed to be "the right size" for a wreath on The House, but, of course, perspective can be way, way off when away from mini land, so you can assume it turned out to be giant. Hence, the immediate deconstruction! I pulled the pieces apart, realigned them in a smaller circle, and voila:

I have a little stash of the orange and yellow pieces from other projects I've done, so I glued them on there for more color. You'll see this hanging at Thanksgiving!

Speaking of holidays, with Halloween right around the corner, I was inspired to make these:

I've had the purple stuff for a couple of years and haven't ever used it. I'm not even quite sure what I was thinking when I bought it except that it was purple and only a dollar. More than once I've thought I should just throw it away, but my box to stash floral things is big enough for keeping it to not be a nuisance. You can see it in this pic on the left:

I used Beacon Quick Grip glue, which is a bear to work with but certainly does the holds-strong-fast job wonderfully, to close the ends. And, I used spray glue to get on the glitter. Just a few pumps of Artminds Spray Glue around the front, and pinches of glitter until I was happy made it look fabulous! Rookie mistake alert: If you purchase a bottle of spray glue, store it standing the bottle up rather than on its side if you ever want the glue to come out of the pump again. Ask me how I know ...

I also had these embellishments that I bought at a scrapbook store three years ago ...

... and decided the spiders were the perfect touches to complete the wreaths! The ghosts are crazy cute, but they were a little big for this project. A little dab of the Quick Grip stuck those little guys right on ... probably forever! (Have I mentioned how strong that glue is?) You'll see the wreaths hanging in a few days!

Speaking of scrapbook store finds, I recently purchased a small box of flower embellishments for which I had no specific plan. I was inspired this weekend to also make this:

I used the scraps of "vine" from the deconstructed napkin holder to create a wreath base and then just covered it with the flowers until I was happy with it. The Quick Grip glue did its magic for me so I could make this easily without things slipping. I figure this is the wreath to hang between Summer and Fall to transition the seasons!

While on a wreath roll, I made one more! Recently, I found a plain, grapevine wreath in box of floral things I got at an estate sale that I had not yet rummaged for all of its pieces! I love such surprises! Stashes are good ... In the mode of transitioning seasons, I decided the front door needs something to put up after Christmas. So, I sprayed the found wreath with the spray glue and covered it in blue glitter. From there, I picked through a stash of Winter sequins (bought at that same, three-year-ago scrapbook store visit) to get the snowflakes. Here's the outcome:

At first, I only put a ring of snowflakes around, and it looked AWFUL in every way. Like, embarrassingly awful. So, I decided to just start layering them until I was happy. And, now I am. 😊

So, the last project I made about a month ago making it random to have here. But, here it is. 😊 I was checking out a miniature Facebook page when I saw a number of paintings someone made for a dollhouse attic. There were so many, and they were SO cool. One in particular caught my eye because the apparent size of its canvass looked like ones I recently put in my own stash (4" x 2"). I thought the seascape I was looking at on the Facebook site could be perfect for one of them. I showed the picture to The Hub who said, "HOW does someone paint that so small?" to which I said, "Challenge accepted."

It appeared the painting in the picture was made with oils and by someone with much better technique than I, but I cracked open my supply of acrylics to give it a whirl:

Booyah. Seascape. And, just like I had no idea what I was going to paint on those canvasses, I have no idea where this will be hung in The House. 😄 That's all part of the fun!

Stay tuned to see the decor in action!