GoodThingsSmallBoxes Etsy Shoppe Grand Opening!

YAY YAY MY ETSY SHOPPE IS OPEN!

GOOD THINGS SMALL BOXES   

GRAND OPENING GO GO GO 

I can't believe it but it is happening!  In 2011, it was great idea.  In 2012 it became a desire. From 2012 to 2017 it became a goal. 2017  it was something I had procrastinated on. 2018 its time had more than come!  Step by step, and finally there it is, a place to share and sell my crafting ideas and creativity.  

Go check my items and let me know what you think. Are my prices too high, too low?  Improvements, kudos, constructive criticism welcome.

Dragon Pins Various colors

Glitter Christmas Ornament

Gift or Keepsake Box

I Love Coffee Java Pin

Polish Szopka

Vintage STYLE Christmas Ornaments

Vintage STYLE Christmas Ornaments

MORE MORE MORE AND MORE TO COME!

GOOD THINGS SMALL BOXES

HOLIDAYS CRAFT BLOG CATCH UP!

CRAFT CATCH UP!   
I don't know why I don't craft and blog, craft and blog. I do one or the other and forget the other part. It's not a good way to build followers.  I thought I would catch you up with my crafting endeavors.  

I started looking through my camera roll for my St, Patty's Day gnome, and realized how much I did not share.  I have updated the Peanuts, Welcome Great Pumpkin display with pictures.

For Thanksgiving I did several items.  From Craft Klatch on YouTube, I decided to make a centerpiece of pumpkins and a sign.
Craft Klatch with Mona is a great channel. Mona crafts different things, but a majority of things I have viewed have been made with resin.  In fact, it is from her channel that I learned about resin and how to use it.  This craft project is not resin, but it caught my eye.

Mona used styro pumpkins she got at a Dollar Store and painted and fixed them up in her usual flare!  I used two deli fruit bowls that I had on hand. I painted them to look like pumpkins, added wire tendrils and sat them in real leaves and curled orange ribbon on a painted white tray.  This way the flat, open bowls did not give the half pumpkin away. I did do Mona's  "Happy Thanksgiving" sign as she did in her tutorial.  The result:

I added paper leaves cut from my Silhouette Portrait.  I made the signs from glued popsicle sticks.  It was an amazing hit!

Mona also inspired me to design a pillow cover/sign on burlap that sends the message of Thanksgiving: "Be Grateful.  I drew the letters by hand. Now, I'm thinking maybe I should crewel stitch them!
                     

I recommend you visit Mona's channel. She is a wonderful, adventurous crafter and her tutorials are very detailed. She shares what she has learned and improves on her methods.  She is a very warm person and I feel like I am right in her crafting corner with her. I love her motto "Life is too short not to shimmer so grab your glue and your glitter."  If my floor isn't showing flecks and shines of glitter, I'm not crafting enough!  Love that glitter!  You can find #CraftKlatch on YouTube Craft Klatch

Every Thanksgiving, I see the figures of polyresin pilgrims and native Americans representing the first Thanksgiving.  I have always wanted a set, but seems the budget gets short close to Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Why is that? !!!
So last Thanksgiving, I decided to give it a try.  I ordered a facial push mold and made the faces.  Then, taking wire, I fashioned the body shapes of a man and woman pilgrim. I dressed them with scraps of material and felt, gluing them on the figures. I sew, but this seemed the most efficient way to fashion their clothes. For hair, I found a fluff of black felting.  I played with giving him a beard. I used strawberry orange yarn for the lady's hair.  I made the native American faces.  I need to finish the bodies in the next eight months.  Plenty of time, right??!!!   lol  Here are the pilgrims as I packed them away for next Thanksgiving.

I'm quite pleased with my first endeavor to make figures! I'm open to any suggestions as to form, process or ways to form the bodies.

POLYMER TURKEY PIN

For Thanksgiving, I also fashioned this turkey pin to wear.  Rather crude, but he was loved by all.

I also wanted and had to have a straw turkey centerpiece as was so popular last year.  So I took my raffi and tamale wraps and wire and made this little guy.

I used polymer clay to make the head.  My turkey's seem to have goofy faces!!  I think, when he comes back out next season, I'll run some burgandy lines on those white feathers to pull it all together.  I took a Christmas pick with glittered berries to make the clawed feet.  What do you think?  Let me know int he comments below + or -?

I received glass paints for review and decided to paint a Dollar Tree vase with fall leaves.  Where did all this time come from???  I truly don't recall. lol  Here is the fall leaf vase:

It took a few layers of paint to get the fallish colors.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO CHRISTMAS. Well, I am sure you know that the holiday season has so very much to do as it is without adding crafting, but somehow, I fit a bit of it in. I like to make gifts as well as decorations and some are both!

This is a paper wreathe made from a purchased design and cut out on my Silhouette Portrait. 

 I also made an advent wreath cutting pine sprigs from paper and taping them to a wire wreathe ring. I did not take pictures!! So when I pull it back out, I'll have to share that with you.  The wreathe itself lies flat but it has burgandy ribbons attached to a small pole up the middle of the wreathe. The pole has a pinch clothespin at the top that holds the looped ribbons that drape from the wire wreathe.  It is topped with a handmade gold glitter start.

 I spent time redoing a small room tree.  I love Shabby Chic and had little pink roses that I added to a simple little tree. I did the same with a tired wreathe I  have had for several years. I added pink tiny roses to that as well and hung it in my room.

SHABBY CHIC ROOM TREE 

SHABBY CHIC CHRISTMAS WREATHE

PILL CONTAINER ADVENT WREATH

The pill container advent wreath was a real challenge.  I had kept the containers for years with this idea in my head.  The trick I think is to make the pill containers NOT look like pill containers so that children don't get any confusion in the future.  The above picture still isn't the finished product.  I will do that soon as I heard there is a contest out there for pill container use. The idea is to fill the containers with candy, erasers, charms, little things that a child of eight years old would enjoy finding inside and playing with until Christmas.  I will post an update with the details and finished product very soon.

The pill lids would also have a little charm, button or decoration glued to the inside. When it is opened, the pill lid is flipped over and replaced on the bottle showing a little tree decoration.  Clever?  what do you think?  I also toyed with the thought of using a longer pill container as number one and inside of that, the Elf on the Shelf! as a way to introduce the little guy!  However, doing that through off the balance of the tree and brought on a fail in my first attempt. 

Here is the fail:

FAILED PILL CONTAINER TREE YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT FROM THE SIDE!

 The key was to use containers of all the same size so that there is balance and symmetry. I knew that, I just got carried away with the idea.  Does that ever happen to you?!

WOVEN NATIVITY WITH ADDED LED LIGHTS

My sister sent me this woven picture of the nativity that she found at Walmart.  It is lovely in itself. I decided to add a set of led lights to punctuate the stars in the sky.  I also added one tea light for the brightest star. It's hard to tell which one that is in this picture.  I am looking for a frame so that I can hang this up next Christmas. 

Okaaaaaaay I think I have brought my blogging up to date on crafts for the past holidays.  I am currently working on Easter and will share those soon!  

Thanks for visiting, reading and commenting.

 ~~Marie

SAINT PATRICK'S DAY GNOME!

Well seems I'm jumping right from Halloween to St. Patrick's day.....at least with my blogging.  Today I have a St. Patrick's Gnome that I learned to make from Crafty Sher Cupcake on YouTube. Crafty Sher Cupcake's Gnomes Tutorial. 

Crafty Sher is a wonderful crafter, sharer of Dollar Store hauls, and just a warm sweet person.  I have been following her for a few months now, and I look forward to what she will share.

I absolutely LOVE gnomes. I collect the Klaus Wickl polyresin gnomes.  This gnome is made out of socks.  Sher used an orange St. Patty's day beard that she got from a friend that frequents the United States Dollar stores.  Sher is from Canada and they do not always have the same things in her stores.  I used what I had on hand, orange crimped paper that I got a few years ago and kept "just in case". Sher fills her socks with rice. I filled mine with beans that I know no one in this house is going to take the time to cook.  

I didn't have a green sock so I made stripes on my white sock with washi tape.  Then I took a green marker and made three dots close together to form a shamrocks all over the hat.  I had one in the shoe slipper sock and I cut the tip off and used that for the nose, with a stryofoam ball inside.  I glued a gold coin to the end of his hat for a tassel.  HERE IS MY FINISHED ST. PATTY'S DAY GNOME:

I used a rubber band to hold on the crimped paper that I folded in half over the band and then glued to the sock. I trimmed the beard so Patty doesn't fall over himself.  What do you think? 

   Thanks Sher for sharing. Please go see her tutorial and subscribe to her channel. #craftyshercupcake  She is also into many other crafts including fairy gardens. Why not, she is such a good fairy herself!

Luck O the Irish to yee! ~ Marie

A Peanuts Halloween

THE GREAT PUMPKIN IS COMING! 

This year I am going to do it!  I'm going to create my own pumpkin patch!  I have dream of this for years and years. This year it IS going to happen.  I looked all over and found the preassembled Peanuts Pumpkin Patch from $70 to $135. BoOOOOOoooo Scary!

It is work, but fun crafting. I have started to create the characters for my personal use in my yard. I found a picture online of the main characters at Halloween.  I started with Charlie Brown, the easiest, a circle with a white trash bag and black gorilla tap circles all over it.  Add a laminated brown bag with a "rock". I have yet to attach the grounding stakes.  

I drew Sally's face and painted it the closest colors I have, gave her a blue plastic bow from a black trash bag.  I will laminate or cover the painted face with packing tape and attach her to some kind of grounding stake.  

Next is Linus. I looked at his image online and drew him as best I could. Yes, this project does depend on your skills to copy the infamous characters, but they are rather easy with practice. I will cover his face as well with lamination or packing tape and attach a grounding stake. It is a month until the Great Pumpkin arrives but I thought I would share this early if you wanted to create the same scene in your yard.

HAND DRAWN LINUS

HAND DRAWN LUCY AS WITCH

The plan is to make Lucy with her mask, a witches hat and a cape made out of that black garbage bag mentioned earlier. There is one other character, PigPen as a ghost in a dirty white garbage bag and the pumpkins made out of cardboard,painted, laminated, staked. All with stakes and sun-powered lighting for the night time.  I will continue to add pictures as I go along.

What about Snoopy and the Red Baron? You say. I'm thinking of making the dog house, out of cardboard, Snoopy and Woodstock and a byplane to put in my front window above the pumpkin patch display, lit from behind with Snoopy's silhouette in front of the moon.  A lot of work? yes, but a dream come true.  I will share the progress as I move along. So far the cost of my project: $0 I recycled cardboard, got the paints from reviewing, tape and stakes that I had around the house.  Being a frugal crafter, you look to reuse almost everything and say "yes" to free supplies.

Here's Snoopy!:

I covered all the characters with laminate sheets and attached them with wire to garden wire fencing. Unfortunately, they did not get put outside.  I am temporarily disabled and my roommates poooed out on putting them up.   THE GREAT PUMPKIN DIDN'T BRING THEM ANYTHING!!!  See how that works!!  Stay tuned, next year...to see the whole display!

Happy Halloween ~ Marie
ps "curse you red baron"


THE TERRIBLE THREESOME OF WITCHES
I rarely work on one thing at a time. If you are a crafter you know, that while one things dries, the next thing can be worked on.  As the Peanuts characters were coming together, I started to work on my "Terrible Threesome of Witches" flying around a cauldron.  I spotted the idea on Pinterest and I really, really wanted to try it with what I had on hand.  

I had a deli muffin lid that I had saved. I sanded the outside and then painted it black.  I gave it a metal hanger handle.

How to make the witches?  I was sitting in the kitchen when I looked at a gallon jug of Arizona tea, and I saw a face in it. I turned it upside down, cut out a mouth, painted it green. I painted the face. Then I gave it a yellow pon pom for a wart.  The hair is yarn pulled through a cardboard circle. The hat, a cardboard circle with a cone on top and covered with a black garbage bag.  The google eyes worked well.  

One of the "Gruesome Threesome" witch heads

The other two witches were made in the same way, but they came out with characters of their own.  The bodies were fashioned from wire hangers for wide shoulders, the head attached to the hook of the hanger. The head and shoulders attached to garden spikes I found in the yard. I draped a black garbage bag over the shoulders.  I cut gnarly hands out of purple, green and yellow foam and attached them to the bag.  In their hands I placed "witches' brooms" that I had made.  They were to be put at an angle so as to look as though they were flying. These, too, were to go out in the yard, circling a cauldron of tissue paper flames with orange and yellow lead lights in the cauldron.  I added a bit of quilting fluff to the cauldron to look like steam.  I was thinking of using dry ice on Halloween to add to the affect.  

The brooms were made from real sticks or limbs I found in my yard.  The brushes of the brooms were made from two liter soda bottles. I cut the bottom off the bottle.  I cut strips of the rest of the bottle up to the top of the bottle, leaving the top in tack. The bottle opening became the hole for the broomstick. I may run a tutorial on the broomsticks on YouTube. I may run an entire tutorial on the entire brood on YouTube if there is enough interest.  Please comment below if you would like to see the tutorial.

Alas, I could not persuade my roomies to put them out in the yard. Darn party poopers!! So the witches joined us indoors much to their chagrin.  Next year, I swear! I will be on my feet or find someone just as spirited to put up my decorations.

As I worked on the witches, I saw another face. FRANKENSTEIN....I fashioned his face similar to the witches.  I did not complete Frankie. I am going to collect clothes, boots, etc. to finish his body.  Maybe I'll dig up a brain!  brewhahahahaha!

 I also did some candle covers cut out of patterns from Silhouette on my Silhouette Portrait, to decorate the house. I put together some jewelry for myself.  I had been hoarding the beads for years.

Halloween Pins

Halloween Earrings

Halloween Necklace

I just realized, I never took pictures of my potion and spells bottles and books.  Well I will l and post them next year along with my Peanuts and witches display and my store bought Peanuts Pumpkin Patch.

I HOPE THE GREAT PUMPKIN WAS GOOD TO YOU!

~ Marie

HOW TO MAKE WITCHES' SHOES FROM A PLASTIC WATER BOTTLE

Again, looking through my pictures, I spotted something I totally forgot I had done.  WITCHES SHOES!  I wanted to make the shoes to go with witches' brooms to go outside my front door with the sign that says "WITCHES PARKING ONLY! ALL OTHERS WILL BEe TOAD!"  

I made the shoes from a water bottle. I cut the foot hole in the side of the bottle. I cut off the top of another bottle and used it for a heel.  

I taped the heel on the side of the bottle, widening it with cardstock.  I put a piece of aluminum foil in the top of the bottle, bent in a hook.  From there I covered the shoe with paper napkins and newspaper, as it formed a covering for the shoe.  When it was dry, I painted and decorated the shoe as gaudy as a witche's shoe might be.  The tricky part was getting the second shoe to look like the matching shoe for the first shoe.

Here is the final result:

Don't try to wear them. Your feet will sweat too much! lol

DRAGON EGGS!

DRAGON EGGS!!!  FAIL  or I guess I'm not the mother of dragons.....

In the mode of Game of Thrones, I will continue with my fail at dragon eggs. Again, I watched a few YouTube videos to get an idea of where to begin. 

 I didn't have the large eggs that most had used. I used the smaller eggs of about four inches tall. I  cut my scales a bit too big/ and in my creative impatience, I continued.  I tried to use my cutting machine to cut more uniform scales, but it was an older foam and thicker than my machine could hand.  I cut them all by hand.

 I lost the line of scales and lost the general shape.
I asked my trusted friends what they thought of  my dragon egg. One said it needed gold touches.  So I added the gold brushing it on with a sock.  Another said it looked like a glorified artichoke.
OH GREAT.  I don't like it at all. Back to the drawing board and patience. 

Plans for change: Larger egg
                             Smaller scales
                             Give it the ability open
                             Put a dinosaur inside  
                           .
                             Take my time.

                               

IRON THRONE FROM THE GAME OF THRONES

THE GAME OF THRONES: IRON THRONE

My sons introduced me to the Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones at this point is an Season 8. I started at Season 1 and am now on 5. I thought how cool it would be to create the Iron Throne with my own hands. 

I go to YouTube for inspiration, and I watched several ways to make an Iron Throne.  Some used styrofoam, others popsicle sticks, others polymer.  Me, I used a combination of popsicle sticks and polymer for three reasons: 1) I had those on hand. 2) I have worked with those before. 3) I wanted my throne to be a little bit different.

I made the inverted swords from popsicle sticks. The other swords with polymer.  I started by forming a ball of foil and then pressingit into a square, one of the methods I saw on YouTube. Then I added a seat back, out of cardboard, covered with foil. Using some of the polymer, I stuck the inverted swords on the back of the chair. I placed strips on the seat and covered the sides with polymer swords. I made a nine inch circle out of polymer as the base for the throne. I baked the entire structure 210 degrees for 15 minutes.

 After I was satisfied with the sword coverage, I used acrylic paint and painted the chair black.  Then, taking a smaller brush, I lightly ran gray over the lines in the swords and wood. This gave it a dusted look.  Two days later, I decided the sword handles needed something to make the details pop. I painted the handles with brass color acrylic.

I always run my projects to my honest friends. One told me to add more gray, another said I nailed it. What do you think?  

IRON THRONE GAME OF THRONES

I plan to make a few more for friends and sell a few on ETSY.

Musicians Friend 2014 Firebird

                             2014 Firebird


The Musicians Friend has a 2014 Firebird for YOU! And
                                        HERE IT IS!






The Gibson SG Firebird 2014 Electric Guitar celebrates Gibson's 120th Anniversary in style. It has mahogany wings wrapping its multi-ply laminate neck through construction.  The bound rosewood fingerboard has undercut frets over the binding for extra playing surface and sports a 120th Anniversary banner at the 12th fret. Other key features include mini-humbucker pickups, max grip speed knobs, Steinberger tuners, Graph Tech nut and chrome tune-o-matic bridge.

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Go on, release your creative side through music!