Work in progress

This week started funny, no energy to do anything, no motivation. But somewhere around the middle of the week I decided to start finishing off projects. The birds were the first one, I settled on three designs and painted them, now all they need is a varnish :-)
I'm also working on another paper mache brooch, it's turning out to one of my most favorite designs!

Wishing you a lovely weekend,
Aleka

Trick or treat bags

I love working with paper so here's a tutorial for making monster and pumpkin trick or treat bags!

You'll need pva glue, two balloons and pieces of newspaper. You can either pick the balloon with the size you want and blow it up completely or just use the ones you have (I had big size balloons) and just blow it up to the size you want. Start gluing the paper on, cover the entire surface of the balloon leaving enough space at the bottom for your hand to go through. Let each layer dry before applying the next one, four or five layers of paper make a very sturdy bag. Once you have applied the final layer and it is dry pop the balloon, then cut the edge of your bag so that it's even. Apply gesso to the inside and outside before you apply paint. Paint it like a pumpkin or green monster. Make two holes at the side and tie your cord and you're done! My nephew loved the green monster, when he saw it he said "brains, brains" :-)

Tips:
Start with a layer of white wrapping paper (I have a lot of it from Ikea, the one you wrap glass and breakables) that way you won't have to paint the inside. You can also end with a layer of the same paper so won't have to gesso the outside before you paint it.
After you have done all the layers and popped the balloon hold the bag up to the light, that way you'll see the parts that aren't so thick, that's where you'll need to add paper to make them stronger.
Or you can alternate layers between newspaper and wrapping paper so it will be easier to see which parts you've missed.

Hope you like it :-)
Aleka

Linked to Whipperberry and LizMarieblog!

New in our shop

Paper mache pencil brooches

Purple clay skeleton key

Paper mache fish

Keeping up with our preparations for the nephews kindergarten party we used these paper mache fish I had made a while back. They were a sort of test to see how easy it would be and how they'd look, I never painted them so now was an excellent occasion to do it. Georgia painted them and she used colors that will pop against a blue background green, red and orange. I love the way they look and hopefully they'll fit right in the decor :-)

A lovely project: continue curioso, you can check out the previous clips they have English subtitles.
Wishing you a lovely weekend,
Aleka

Jellyfish

This is the project I was talking about:
Paper mache jellyfish! We used glass bowls (they are the ones we use when we make creme caramel), turned them over, covered them with plastic wrap (the one we use to cover foods) and then started gluing pieces of newspaper with pva glue. We did three layers so they are quite thin and lightweight. Once the glue was dry on the outside we took them off the bowls, peeled away the plastic wrap and let them dry completely, you can see in the third photo that the inside is still not dry so we waited a day to be sure.
The next day we painted them with gesso, then acrylics in pink and yellow and then glued yellow crepe paper on the inside. I'm still debating whether I should fill them with more crepe paper, I like they way they look now so I don't know.

The nephew's kindergarten will have a summer party when the school closes for summer and it's a sea themed one. The background the teachers have used is a deep blue paper so I'm sure they'll pop and since the party will be outside the jellyfish will be moving with the wind :-)
Wishing you a great Sunday,
Aleka

Recycling and Christmas

We thought it would be a great idea to make some Christmas ornaments from paper mache and then give them to our nephew's kindergarten. Using cookie cutters and pulp made from newspaper and envelopes from bills we made ornaments shaped like a boot, a star and a round bauble. Because of the envelopes they have a bluish hue and not the typical grey that you get from newspapers, there are also bits of other colors popping here and there which gives them a great texture.

We figure each kid will take a set of two ornaments so they can paint them themselves and put them on their Christmas tree. We are still in the process of making them while the first batch dries, we've been using the oven to speed up the drying as it's been a cloudy day today. Once they have dried we'll make a hole and tie a string so they can be hang on the Christmas tree.

Wishing you all a great day, 

Aleka

ps. You can see more creative spaces here!

Bunnies

For us (Greek orthodox) Easter is this weekend, today is the day we paint our eggs and on Sunday we have a big family meal. Most years we go back to our country home, it really is amazing spending Easter in the countryside with all our relatives but this year we'll be staying in the city and keeping it small.
I made these bunnies from toilet paper rolls and newspaper, today I've coated them with a couple of layers of gesso and then I'll paint a layer of white acrylic. I'm hoping to get my 5 year old nephew to paint them, I'm not sure if he can do it with paintbrushes, we'll try but if it's too difficult we'll use markers or crayons, they are much easier to handle. It's a project for the weekend, keeping him busy and making something too.
See more creative spaces right here!
xoxo
Aleka

Lazy Friday post

Well not so lazy really, I have been working on lots of things and I must start photographing them I guess. The paper mache houses are done, yay! I love the way they look all together, now I only have to glue the pin backs and decide which one to keep for myself :-)
Here's a bunch of links to keep you busy for the weekend:
a feature on us and giveaway of one of our brooches is here
another great giveaway of a little prince brooch
lovely printable Easter cards
Jasper James
decorate your Easter eggs 
Atelier Gilet, I love brooches and these are just my thing!
a guessing game with Legos :-)
and more creative spaces to see and be inspired right here

Have a great weekend
Aleka

Progress

Hello March, now that you are here won't you bring some sunshine I'm really tired of all the cold and rain. Thank you :-)
On my desk today working on some houses to be made into brooches, still to be painted are the roofs, windows and doors and also these earrings from colorful waxed cords. Plus there is one more project in progress that needs to be worked on a bit more before it's photographed :-)
Catching up with my reading list of blogs that I follow, I came up with this list of things I found on the internet:
 a lovely desktop calendar for this month
 the most amazing silver jewelry, really they are
 tell me a story, from Camilla Engman
 a wonderful DIY project making colorful chalkboard paint
 this song
See more creative spaces right here.
Wishing everyone a great day and a great month!
xoxo
Aleka

New things

Finally got around to editing some photos and listing two new things in the shop. The blue felt necklace and the pencil brooches from paper mache in blue, green and red.
I'm hoping to list more items in the following days, I'm in a very creative place right now! I've been writing down new ideas for the blog and the shop, taking photos and keeping busy. I'm really liking the way summer is ending and hope that I'll be just as creative when September comes :-)
Linked to zsazsazu, check it out for more Saturday shopping!
xoxo
Aleka

Taking more photos

The sun has been shining all week, it's the reason why I decided to re shoot some stuff from the shop. I really wasn't all that excited about the original photos but I think I have (finally) improved my product photography skills. I like these so much better! These are my green bunny brooch and the blue heart brooch.
Friday will be here soon and I've got a little road trip for the weekend, really looking forward to getting away from the computer for a couple of days :-)

Fish

My paper mache fish, I have only made three but I love each one of them so much! I wanted to paint them so that the illustration from the newspaper would be visible, I really like the result and will make more in the future!

Colored pencils

These pencils are made from paper mache, once I'm done varnishing them they will be turned into brooches. I'm still making things for the bazaar, mostly necklaces as I only had a couple at first, I have also started preparing my table. It's pretty important to have a pretty set up so I'm in the hunt for cute objects I can turn into decoration or a base to put my jewelry on.
A very busy creative space from me, so go on hop over to Kootoyoo's blog and see more!