Altered Boxes

Last week I showcased my Altered Vintage Watch Cases, so I thought why not, this week, go for some Altered Boxes, so here they are: This first one entitled "Sleepy Fairy" was created using a simple small card box that I painted and embellished with seed beads and a silver accent piece to which is attached a small key. Inside the box reveals a sleeping fairy that can be removed and held in your hand. Her wings are made from clear acetate so they give a thin gossamer feel and look to wings, which adds a touch of realism to her.

The same design principle applied to the next piece below entitled "The Twins" the picture decoration on the top of the box was taken from a vintage advertisement and the twins lay on a bed of moss inside the box.

I also really enjoy making little Gift Boxes to house hidden treasures, or to offer as gifts in themselves to friends and family and also for Christmas Wrapping, here are a few examples below:

The two smaller boxes above were created from boxes that housed Jewellery brought from a High Street Store, the boxes themselves were so pretty I just had to recyle them by altering them and these sold really well for me last Christmas.

Blog Giveaway..... And the Winner is!!!!!!!

Miss Matilda of Miss Matilda Dreams....Congratulations!! Your gifts of Whimsical Handmade Bookmark, Vintage Pocket Watch Case to alter and a Handmade Greetings Card will be winging their way to you very soon, I hope you enjoy them! (I opted for the old fashioned method of popping all the names into a hat and drawing one name as the winner, well actually hubby drew the name LOL!)

A huge thankyou to everyone who took part in my first Giveaway and for all your lovely comments and to all the followers to my blog, your support means so much.

Watch out for the next Giveaway..... I think at the 100th mark!!

Blog Giveaway - NOW ENDED

THIS GIVE AWAY HAS NOW ENDED, PLEASE SEE THE POST ABOVE FOR THE WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT!

Yay!!!! to celebrate reaching fifty followers to my blog I am hosting a blog giveaway as a thank you to my wonderful readers and any future readers out there. I found it difficult to decide what to offer, but after scouring through my studio I have put together the following bits n bobs.

Firstly one of my handmade book marks (shown above), these are very popular sellers and look real pretty amongst the pages of your favourite book.

Secondly, after receiving many lovely comments on my previous post "Altering Pocket Watch Cases", I am giving away a vintage case for altering (front and back photos below):

And finally, one of my whimsical greetings cards that is left blank inside so it can be used for any occasion.

All you need to do to be entered is leave a comment on this thread (and if you can spread the word to other blog friends that would be great also!), I will then be drawing the winner on Monday evening 30th March at 8pm GMT! If you do not have your own blog then PLEASE leave your email address so I can contact you should you be the lucky winner!

Altering Pocket Watches

I adore these old pocket watch cases and have so much fun altering them. I first came across the cases on Ebay and after finding them I just had to do something creative with them. I love placing my little vintage fairies inside the casing to create mini works of altered art.

This particular pocket watch I was so thrilled to find as it had such an elaborate outer casing, I called this piece, "Through The Looking Glass"

I still have a few more empty cases stored in my studio, just waiting for the fairy folk to inhabit them. As soon as I set to work on them I'll make sure the finished versions are posted here.

ATCs and Using Polymer Clay

Before I had my twin boys four years ago I enjoyed sculpting fairies and mermaids and working with Polymer Clay. But once the twins came along I couldn't devote as much time to sculpting as I needed to improve, so my vintage altered art took over to satisfy my creative needs.

As I love working with clay I wanted to incorporate it into my work on occasion, so I produced a few ATCs and made little clay toadstools for my images to sit on and it seemed to work really well.

I adore creating these little works of art, just having the clay toadstool, I feel, really brings the piece alive.

Maygreens World of Whimsy - New Vintage CD Collection

I have been working on this Collection for a few weeks now and it is finally ready, and I am so excited to be able to now offer this at my Maygreen Fairies Shop! The images contained in this CD are from my extensive collection of vintage photos and postcards, I have selected 280 images to share with you, some of which are showcased below to give you a flavour of what to expect with this CD....

The images available are of Vintage Ladies to include; Beauties, Show & Circus Girls, Brides, Mothers and of course a few of my famous Risque, Cheeky Ladies. PLUS, vintage children, men, vintage weddings and some wonderful vintage winter and Christmas images. The CD is available now by visiting Maygreen Fairies

Finding New Friends

Oh I soooooo lurrrve Blogging, it is such a great way to find new, inspirational, creative friends, and I have just found another!!! A delicious, creative blog and a very talented lady, who I can't wait to get to know better. And to top it all she is currently hosting a wonderful Blog Giveaway, so get on over there and check out ALTERED GEISHA

In celebration of my new found Blog Friend I have posted a photo of an ATC I designed with a Geisha theme, I adore Geisha!

See you soon! xx

Maygreen Fairies Route to the Carnival Soiree

The British Blonde Burlesque Troupe welcome you to the Gateway to Lisa Kettell's "Carnival Soiree", but before you are whisked off to the fun of the fayre, take a moment to wander amongst us and get warmed up for the fun coming your way at Faerie Enchantment...

The Circus Girl has put on her best glad rags to show off to you and help guide you toward the Carnival Soiree.... Whilst some of the showgirls are still getting ready a little late....

Now here come the clowns, all clambering for your attention before you leave us to celebrate at the Carnival Soiree....

And now, I guess it's time for you to move on and enter the wonderful world of Lisa Kettell and her Carnival Soiree, The Greatest Show on Earth.... click the photo below to be transported there and ENJOY!!!!

Easter Cards Now Available

After a busy few days in the Art Studio I have finally finished my Easter Greeting Card Collection for this year. I wanted to offer some traditional designs as well as something a little different from the norm, and the picture above is a sneek peek of one of the more unusual Easter Designs I have to offer, to see the full design please visit my website.

This card is so pretty, the fairy wing actually sticks out from the card to give a 3D type effect, the image itself is taken from an old vintage Easter Card, I had great fun playing around with this to get the right look.

I also have a couple of vintage bunny designs available, above is a sneek peek of one of the cards, if you would like to see the full design please visit my website.

Assemblage - Things I've Put Together

Creating little Assemblages is something I just lurrrve!! Over the past four years I have put together quite a few of these displays and I've got so many more ideas buzzing around my head that I'm yet to produce. Here are a few from the past that I wanted to share with you.

The Fairy Peep Show above was a cheeky bit of fun, I thought her provocative pose lent itself so well to this assemblage, the wings were printed onto acetate and stick out from her body to give a wonderful 3D type effect to her and as she is set inside the recess it adds real depth to this piece.
The Fruit Fairy above, is one of my favourite assemblages I've done so far, her upright position really shows of the transparancy of her wings and I adore the expression on her face.

I have many more that I have done over the years, these are just a few, but I will list more in future posts.

Spring Song

Now that the winter’s gone, the earth hath lost

Her snow-white robes; and now no more the frost

Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream

Upon the silver lake or crystal stream:

But the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth,

And makes it tender; gives a sacred birth

To the dead swallow; wakes in hollow tree

The drowsy cuckoo and the humble-bee.

Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring,

In triumph to the world, the youthful spring:

The valleys, hills, and woods in rich array

Welcome the coming of the long’d-for May.

Now all things smile: only my love doth lower,

Nor hath the scalding noon-day sun the power

To melt that marble ice, which still doth hold

Her heart congeal’d, and makes her pity cold.

The ox, which lately did for shelter fly

Into the stall, doth now securely lie

In open fields; and love no more is made

By the fire-side, but in the cooler shade

Amyntas now doth with his Chloris sleep

Under a sycamore, and all things keep

Time with the season: only she doth carry

June in her eyes, in her heart January.

"The Spring" by Thomas Carew (1640)

Blog Awards!!

How wonderful, I have been awarded two blog awards that I am excited to share with you; I want to say a HUGE thank you to two wonderfully talented artists who have sent these awards my way; Lisa Kettell of Faerie Enchantment and Nicole Merken of Girl from Standup Tubland, Lisa presented me with Proximidade Award and both Lisa and Nicole presented me with the Kreativ Blogger Award, I am so grateful to these truly amazing artists, you must check out their Blogs!

This award I received is accompanied by the following words: "This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this clever-written text into the body of their award." I now have to pass this award on to 8 fellow bloggers.

With this award I need to list seven things I love and then pass this along to seven very creative bloggers, so here’s my list;

1. I love my wonderful husband and twin boys

2. I love my extended family; Parents, In-Laws, Siblings etc..

3. I love my close and loyal friends

4. I love the beautiful home I live in

5. I love creating art

6. I love vintage images

7. I love Japanese food

I have decided to make this easier and send both these awards on to eight fantastic blogger friends and here they are:

1. Whymsical Musings

2. Debbie Overton Designs

3. Gail Lackeys Ghosties Fairys & Magical Things

4. Swan Bones Theatre

5. Whimsical World of Fairies

6. Zinnias Art

7. Izabella's Blue

8. Monica Zuniga

Enjoy!!

Bottled Fairies & Mermaids

Several years ago now I way lying in bed one morning with my head buzzing with creative ideas, as it often is first thing, and I wanted to come up with a unique way of "Bottling" my whimsical creatures so that they could be mounted onto a card or cardstock rather than bottling them in actual glass bottles, which I had been doing anyway. And this is how my Acetate Bottles became!

I first started selling them on Ebay and they were a huge success and I have not looked back since. I create both Fairies and Mermaids in these bottles using my vintage images which I then alter to either add acetate wings or a mermaid fin.

The little tags attached to the bottles read several things; For example; Bottled Mermaid, Dont' Tap on the Glass!; Bottled Fairy, Handle With Care!; Bottled Mermaid, Do Not Shake The Bottle!, to name but a few.

The embellishments on the bottles vary, from stick on flourishes to actual brass effect findings, the bottles are also filled with a scattering of fairy dust for good luck!

Back in 2007 I produced my first Bespoke Bottled Mermaid for a friend. I took a photograph of her daughter and altered her into a Mermaid (see the first photo below)! Since then I have received many orders for Bespoke Bottles, I have bottled children and adults as fairies, witches, wizards, sprites and mermaids. I produce them as mounted pieces of art on card for framing and also as Greetings Cards to give as gifts, see some examples below:

Bespoke orders are available through my website, drop me an email to discuss your requirements. As well as bespoke bottled folk I also can create bespoke cards, gift tags and digital art using your loved ones photos! Check out the bespoke section of my website!

Mothers Day Cards

After a busy couple of weeks I have now managed to complete my Mothers Day Card Collection and it is available now on Maygreen's Website Shop. Each of the cards are produced using vintage images from my collection and they have been altered to add embellishments, in some cases, wings and a bit of sparkle here and there.

The cards are approx 6" x 4" in dimension and they are left blank inside for your own message. They of course come with their own envelope and are sealed in a clear envelope for protection.

There are seven cards in this collection, to view them all please visit my Website Shop. You may also find a gift for Mothers Day in the Maygreen Shop, I have vintage inspired jewellery, bookmarks, journals and of course my lovely Boudoir Feather Dusters, take a look if you get the chance.

Weekly Showcase - Micro Slide Art

I adore working with these wonderful Micro Slide Books and altering them, they offer endless possibilities to satisfy my creative mind, here are a few that I have altered:

I love the idea of captured fairies and these two sweeties were just perfect for this particular altering project. But I didn't stop there, once I got the bug for altering slides I just kept churning them out....

This one was a bit cheeky, but a change from my sweet child fairies at least, my hubby particularly liked this piece (hmmmm!! I wonder why?).

I also love Mermaids and using them in my art, so my next slide was of the Mermaid Kind!, another one that is a bit cheeky, but lovely all the same...

These slide books are such great fun to play around with, I'm sure most of my readers out there, if you are into altered art, have either heard of these or worked with them before, but if they are new to you and you would like to know where to get hold of them please just drop me a private email, I'd be happy to point you in the right direction.

All of the above Micro Slides are from past creations, I must admit, I haven't worked with these now for a few months, but writing this post and going through my previous creations has inspired me to get the slides out again.... so I'll be sure to post my latest slide creation as soon as it's done!