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Broken China Mosaic Birdhouses and Design Inspiration

Hellooooooo bloggers and bloggerettes! Lovely to see you! So sweet of you to stop by for a visit! I hope that all is well (and warmer) in your world! It's been raining so much here in the SF peninsula, might need to build a boat! ha!

There is always a lot of talk about inspiration here in the blogosphere. We also have lots of before and after post.

For this post, I thought it would be fun to show you the inspiration behind the broken china mosaics I created.

I was looking for some inspiration for my mama's 75th birthday present (she will turn 85 this year). Since we are Russians, I thought it would be fun to create a design in the spirit of Russia.

Here, the inspirations...

The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia

and

Russian dachas

the birdhouses resulting from the inspirations....

Mama's Winter Palace Birdhouse

and Mama's Dacha

They sit on the pass-through from the dining room to the kitchen.

broken china mosaic

The perfect spot because we can enjoy the front and the back of the design.

It's hard for me to be impartial, I know the flaws and what I'd like to do differently. Even still, they are very pretty to look at. Just like their respective inspirations.

I have posted some tutorials at my How To blog for creating vintage china mosaics here.

Thanks so much for stopping by and for taking the time leave me your sweet thoughts!

Have a lovely, safe, warm (and dry) weekend!

Cheers!

I'm linking this post up with the following fabulous hosts:

Being Creative @ Gorgeous and Fun Things

109th Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on The Porch

Dazzling Holiday Banners and Glitter glitter Every Where.....

Hellooooo darlings! So sweet of you to drop by!

Holy Mackanolie! Is time flying by for you too? I desperately need it to slowwwww down a bit!

I'm no where near getting any holiday decorating done. Been much to busy with other things...such as....

The pink glittery ones are for a custom order, nursery rhymes with soft pink glittery edges.

It came out soooo pretty!

I also had a custom order (via email) for a christmas and a new year banner, hence the silver glitter florettes.

The sheet music is Auld Lang Syne. (how appropriate ha!)

One side, Joyeux Noel and the other, Bonne Annee. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to snap a photo before I shipped it off, but I do have pictures of this one to share.....

I just listed it on in my Etsy shop. I will be offering a few more, in french and english versions...

Not enought time so I'm only making a few, so grab em while I got em ha!

While I was at it, I made up another adorable banner...I can't show all of it because the customer hasn't received it yet (it's a surprise)...

I really wanted to do all white and silver for this holiday, but mama wants a tree and traditional holiday decor. What mama wants, mama gets! ha! She's 84, she's entitled to call the shots.

This is as far as I got yesterday.

Now I need to change my vision of white and silver to more traditional colors for the mantel. c'est la vie

I've seen so many lovely decorations going on in the blogosphere! I am so jealous you clever people got an early jump on it!

So tell me, whose's been naught and who's been nice? ha!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

If I don't get a chance to see you til next year, I'm sending you big hugs and smoochies and wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Linking up with:

Cheers!

MY SPIN ON A BOOK WREATH

Ellooooooo! So sweet of you to stop by! I hope all is happy and well in your world!

I'm sure you've seen the book wreaths that have been making the rounds here in our blogosphere. Well, I've finally gotten around to making one myself; but, with my own little spin on it ha!

BUT FIRST! let me preface that my photos are horrid! My terrible indoor light and my poor little camera was a bad bad combination. So why post? I dunno...ha!

Ok, here's the best photo I could get so far.

A close up

a futile attempt to show you the UNBELIEVABLE sparkle (with a blurred photo)

I even attempted a video to show how stunning it is...sad to say it failed miserable.

Ok, enough of my pity party. ha!

For those of you who want the nitty gritty behind the scenes stuff; read on!

I used a 10-in green styro wreath form and covered it with book pages

Ripped out tons of book pages (a romance novel from GW for $2.39)

Next, I got my handy dandy MARVY 3.5" scalloped punch

punched out loads of these

Glittered up their scallopy edges (first dipping the edges in glue and rolled them in fine German Glass Glitter glass).

WE INTERRUPT OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED QUICKIE TUTORIAL FOR THE FOLLOWING CONFESSION:

I was so anxious to see how the glittered book florettes would look I totally cheated, but just a wee bit...

Ha!

Ok, where was I?! oh yeah...

Here they are are drying and I'm waiting...waiting...waiting

waiting...

Once they were dry I folded (without creasing them) then and glued them on the wreath form with my trusty glue gun.

Originally I made 150 glittered edged book page florettes. Oddly enough...I didn't have enough. This is as far as I got

So I glittered up another 130 florette edges and called it a night.

Next morning, it took another 50 to finish the wreath.

Not counting breaks and drying time (oh and the burnt finger tips ha!) it took about 8 hours to complete. BUT, it truly is dazzling and therefore so worth it! I will be making one with red glittery tips, one with gold tips and green! Should be on my etsy in a few days.

So what might I be doing with the remaining 80 florettes you ask. Well, I did cover up this 3.5" styro ball with some pages...

If you are thinking ornament...ummm not this time. But here's a clue: pucker up baby! sookie sookie! ha!

I will be posting a more thorough tutorial in the very near future. I just need someone to take the picture of how I folded each florette.

I'm hooking up with these fabulous hosts!

Be sure to check out the other participants!

Have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for visiting! See you soon!

Cheers!

ANOTHER SILVER LEAF PROJECT ~ GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS!

Hi you! I hope all is well with your world! So sweet of you to see what I've been up to.

I'm still on my silver/silver leaf craze! Want to see my most recent transformation? Well, get cozy and read on then! ;)

When I was at Home Goods, I spied this piece....

Great antlers, love the form but the gaudy gold made him look so dated and I moved on.

A few isles later a vision suddenly *popped* in my head. Oh joy oh joy! Transformation time! I turned around post-haste and snatched him up!

When I got him home I gave him a coat of Kilz primer in white, let it dry and sanded down some rought spots and splatters (got a bad nozzle on this can! Don't you absolutely HATE that?!....grrrrrrrr!)

I though he looked rather nice all white with some "antiquing" and almost stopped there. But decided to press on with my original vision.

Here is his finished coat in Heirloom White.

Once he was dry, I applied Mona Lisa Silver Leaf....

I KNOW you are thinking...."she's going to cover him in silver leaf"

Sorry, no ha! Gotcha! haha! Just want his antlers to stand out!

Once the sizing was dry, I cleaned off the excess and VOILA! here he is in all his silver leaf'ed glory....

You'll have to wait until Christmas to see him in his holiday vignette.

I think he looks very cool; simple, sleek and sophisticated, don't you?

I've been thinking about giving him a red nose for a bit of whimsy, but not sure if that would be totally chic or totally corny ha! Guess we'll have to wait until I decorate for the holidays to find out! heehee!

I hope you enjoyed your visit! Thanks so much for stopping by! I'll be out and about to see your latest!

Wishing you and yours much love and happiness!

I'm hooking up with these fabulous hosts! Pop over and have a look at the other very clever bloggers!

Cheers!