Field Trip: Glitterfest 2014

16 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, DIY & Crafting, Field Trip, Glitter, Mixed Media, Paper Sculpture, Papercrafting, Soft Sculpture, Textiles, Vintage

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

anaheim, anaheim expo center, charlotte, crazy cat lady, Dianne, dotti cordell, Glitterfest, jlf design studio, jo lynch, Julie Haymaker Thompson, kristy lynn, leticia fernandez, Lisa Loria, little white farmhouse, lulu max jewelry, meyer imports, michelle hurtt, millinery flowers, oil painting, paper clay, paper clay doll, Sheryl, susans charming trinkets, sweet insanity bake shop, tara wilson, tiki ranch, tustin, velvet flowers, victorian scrap, vintage findings, vintage flowers, vintage millinery, Whimzy

This weekend was the much anticipated Glitterfest in Anaheim, CA hosted by Sheryl Simpson and Dianne White of Whimzy in Tustin, CA. They also have a show in the fall and I look forward to both every year. I have some good friends who bring their art and treasures here and each time I go I make new friends!

This year the Expo Center was decorated with a sweet candy theme and I just adore the sweet colors!

One of the vendors is my friend, Michelle Hurtt, selling some beautiful and truly authentic vintage millinery flowers and blooms. These flowers are from the 1930’s through the 1950’s and are virtually impossible to find anymore. The collection that she has is in amazing condition and what an extensive and beautiful collection she has! For this Glitterfest, Michelle wanted to share some of her treasures with the Glitterfest attendees and introduce everyone to her new business. Last week we chose the flowers from her warehouse and I put them together into color collections. I’m so proud of my friend for going out on a limb and pursuing her passion and I’m excited for her new business venture. I can’t wait to see what direction she takes with her incredible stash of goodies. Michelle is known for her exquisite attention to detail and her beautiful design sense and I know that everything that comes out of her studio will be stunning!

Here I am with sweet Lisa Loria in the photo booth!

Lisa is known for her whimsical designs and is going back to her artistic roots and spending more time painting. I am loving the direction she is headed in!

More of Lisa’s adorable work!

Have you ever seen a cuter necklace? These are made by Tara Wilson of Lulu Max Jewelry.

Tara specializes in mixing vintage pieces of jewelry with modern pieces and creates truly one-of-a-kind wearable art.

These gorgeous pastries are from Kristy Lynn of Sweet Insanity Bake Shop.

Here’s my favorite son, Trevor, trying on some spectacles in the Little White Farmhouse booth. Since he was with me and being so patient I tried to hurry through the show and didn’t get to spend as much time looking, chatting and taking pictures as I usually do. But, he was such a good sport and even carried a really heavy cement head to the car for me without me even asking!

Little White Farmhouse always has a wonderful collection of vintage items that I just love!

And then I saw two of my friends, Dotti Cordell and Jo Lynch! I was introduced to these girls through a swap hosted by one of my BFF’s, Julie Weller, and met them in person for the first time at Glitterfest a year ago. We keep in touch via Facebook and I just love them!

While walking through the aisles this table caught my eye. I saw some very familiar art work and did a double take. I had no idea that Julie Haymaker Thompson would be at Glitterfest!

I’ve always loved her art and can I just tell you how thrilled I was to finally meet her in person? Her art is cute, fun and whimsical and she is one of the most down to earth people I’ve ever met. I think I’ve convinced her that she has to come out to Orange County again in the very near future to teach a class. (I’m not above begging if I have to!)

I just love her style, the colors she uses and her paper clay dolls are just so fun and unique.

One of her dolls is holding a cat and since I have 5 cats and may have been nicknamed “Crazy Cat Lady” by my niece, Noel, I just knew Julie’s doll was destined to come home with me. This picture shows my kitties, Mr Darcy and KirJava, checking out the adorable doll.

One of my favorite booths is Tiki Ranch and they never disappoint with an extensive selection of findings, bits, bobs and doo dads.

Victorian Scrap? Tiki Ranch has it covered!

I found some fun treasures in the booth of Leticia Fernandez of JLF Design Studio. From Charlotte heads to paper clay creations she had a fun mix of goodies to peruse.

I found a bevy of beautiful jewelry in this booth from Susan of Susan’s Charming Trinkets.

Do you love miniature animals like I do? This booth from Meyer Imports had wonderful reproduction mushrooms, mini plastic animals just like you used to get in the cracker jack box and every color of German glass glitter that you can imagine!

Thank you so much for stopping by and reading my review of Glitterfest 2014. Have a wonderfully creative weekend!

xo,

Christine Barker

Crafting: Swaps featuring Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon

06 Monday May 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, DIY & Crafting, Lovebug Creations, Mixed Media, Sewing, Swap

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

art event, brass filigree mirror, bridal lace, cheryl stoneham, creative event, creative event swap, crepe paper, czech glass button, embroidered ribbon, enchanted affaire, enchanted memories photo album swap, fairest reflections mirror swap, fairy tale, gilding the lily, gold dresden, kim caldwell, LOveBug Creations, michelle duke, Mollie Makes, paper flowers, rhinestone broach, rub-on, Rumple Ribbon, silk flowers, snow white, swap, swap partner, table gift, The Duchess, velvet flowers, velvet ribbon, vintage gold leaves, vintage mushrooms

For the last three years I’ve attended creative events hosted by one of the sweetest people in the whole world, Kim Caldwell. Her art events are beyond belief. From the talented teachers, to the whimsical decorations, to the love and care that goes into every detail, Kim’s events are incredible! This years fanciful event was called Enchanted Affaire and it was based on a Snow White and Fairy Tales theme.

I’ll be posting pics from my amazing weekend soon but for today I’ll be sharing some of the beautiful projects that I made for the table gifts and swaps that I used Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon on.

Being new to the world of creative retreats, three years ago I didn’t know what a table gift was, much less that I should bring a gift for each of the girls at my table. This year I was ON IT and stitched up some cute apple pincushions since the theme was Snow White. I found the most adorable Seven Dwarfs fabric, and using a pattern from Mollie Makes, I created these apples that are finished off with a vintage button, a hand stitched wool felt leaf and added some beautiful Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon in “George”, from the “Oh Cecilia” collection.

The OTHER Grumpy Cat, Miss Charlotte Lucas

I like how these dwarfs are looking at each other

This is Miss Bella

Love these!

These fabric apple pincushions make me happy!

The other important thing I learned from going to creative events is that swaps are so much fun to make and even better to receive! I joined two swaps this time, the Fairest Reflections Mirror swap and an Enchanted Memories Photo Album swap.

I started with a vintage brass filigree vanity mirror and embellished it.

I tucked in some gorgeous flourishes of Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon in “Gentleman’s Jacket“.

It’s blooming with hand-dyed silk flowers, velvet flowers, vintage gold leaves, a rhinestone broach, gold dresden, petite vintage mushrooms, bridal lace, gold jewelry pieces, and paper flowers.

This is my friend, Michelle Duke, who made all of my hard work worthwhile. She was so happy to get my mirror and I was so relieved. There’s a lot of pressure when you go to an event with women of this creative caliber and especially when the swap hostess will be receiving your handmade item! I worry that my swap won’t be worthy and that the recipient will feel let down. Thankfully Michelle said that she loved my mirror and I was over the moon happy!

The other swap that I was in was the Enchanted Memories Photo Album swap hosted by Cheryl Stoneham.

I started with a leather-covered photo album from Target. Then I just started going crazy. The rule of thumb when making a swap gift is that if you don’t want to part with it, you’ve done a good job! I used a gold colored rub-on to make the album look like it came from the castle where Snow White used to live.

I added some blue Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon in “Ocean View“, along with some gold satin ribbon, velvet ribbon and some vintage-style embroidered ribbon. I absolutely adore petite vintage mushrooms, so they made an appearance.

I had so much fun decorating this photo album! I’m very lucky that I live where I do because we have a fabulous shop, called Gilding the Lily, that is full of the most beautiful vintage ribbons, trims, millinery and gorgeous jewelry findings that were perfect for this project. It took two visits for me to find just the right details.

My swap partner’s name was Stacy, so I had to use an S, and the locket was just perfect!

Tucked in there is a lace doily, vintage silk leaves, gold dresden, silk flowers, tulle, brass stars, wired pearls, vintage gold paper leaves, and a Czech glass button. I was very sad to give this album away, but I did receive a gorgeous album from my swap partner, Nora.

Thank you so much for visiting! I’ll be posting pictures and details from my lovely weekend at Enchanted Affaire soon.

And, if you’re wondering who won the Jenni Bowlin Border Punch in the National Scrapbooking Day Blog Hop, Congratulations goes to:

MIGDALIA!

I’ll be contacting you via email to find out what your address is!

The winner of the $15 Gift Certificate to Lovebug Creations has been announced! Is it you? Check it out here http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com/ to find out!!!

xo,

Christine Barker

Crafting: True Love Home Decor featuring Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon

02 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Cardmaking, DIY & Crafting, Lovebug Creations, Scrapbooking, Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Antique Chic, cricut, home decor, LOveBug Creations, Olive You, rhinestone, Rumple Ribbon, sparkle, True Love, Twinklets Diamond Dust, velvet flowers, Victorian Romance, vintage, vintage flowers, We R Memory Keepers

Hello Crafters!

How would you like to see dazzling Home Decor for this weeks Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon project?

I got the “Victorian Romance” cartridge from Cricut a couple weeks ago, along with a pack of “Antique Chic” paper from We R Memory Keepers and I couldn’t wait to play with it all. I may be living in 2013 but my heart is pure vintage!

Using my Cricut, I first cut out the shadow design from black paper. Next I cut out the Lady and Gentleman design from the Antique Chic patterned paper. I cut these out at 8″.

Then I cut out the “True” and the “Love” from two coordinating papers. The word “TRUE” is cut at 1 inch and the “LOVE” was cut at 2″. Once everything was glued into place, I applied glue onto the letters in the word TRUE and sprinkled Twinklets Diamond Dust finely ground glass. I used my styrofoam pop dots to raise the lady and her lover off the page.

Next, I glued some vintage flowers to her head and her dress. I bought these flowers at an estate sale several months ago for a mere pittance. They were actually part of a dilapidated hat, but I didn’t care, since I just wanted all these lovely velvet flowers for making craft projects!

Next, I created a loose foof out of Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon in “Olive You”. I have a special technique for taming this beautiful but wild and unruly ribbon and I’m going to let you in on my secret. I wrap the ribbon loosely around my fingers, this time it was 4 fingers, and I stop when it seems like I have enough fullness, which was after I wrapped around my fingers 3 times. I carefully lay it down on my table and then cut a length of the same color, or sometimes a contrasting color, of about 3 inches. I carefully slide this ribbon underneath the foof, put the ends together and tie it off. (It’s kind of like making a pom pom, but without the other 77 wraps around your hand, red, throbbing fingers and the loss of circulation). Finally, I trim upside down V’s into the ends of the ribbon so that they have perky edges. Since this is a dressy occasion, I added a vintage rhinestone broach to the foof and would you look at that sparkle?

I think this would look pretty framed in a black shadowbox.