Just Arrived From Germany ~ New Scraps for 2012!

At the beginning of year a select number of new scraps designs are released and added to the already-voluminous range of beautiful vintage images.  This year's designs feature a beautiful set of Jesus and Mary, flowers, veggies, Christmas themes like Santa and snow angels, guardian angels and more.  Offered in traditional sheet form as well as the popular large, thick single scraps, these scraps are 100% made in Germany. Please click HERE to see all styles. 

New Styles of Old Fashioned Favorites -- New Blown Glass Beads, Dresden Foils & Christmas Scraps

New Special Edition German Scraps

 We've just added several new styles of scraps to our website and etsy shop that are part of a special edition reprinting of images from the 1950s.  The scraps above are not part of this reprinting but are a new addition to our shops.  We love the image of the girl catching stars and couldn't resist sharing it with you!

 The group above can be found here, here and here.  Most of the images from this limited edition feature charming scenes of children and their pets.

Other images feature children in traditional German outfits, costumes and Victorian wear.  You'll find this group here, here, and here.

This is just a small sampling of some of our favorites -- we're stocking even more than what you see here!

Project Idea: Make a Hallowen Treat Bucket

With today being October 1st, we couldn't resist sharing a project for making decorative Halloween treat buckets. At just 3 1/2" deep and 4 1/2" across the top, these little guys work best as tabletop decorations as opposed to something to take trick-or-treating.

Tool wise, you'll need: glue, an x-acto knife, scissors, tape and a pencil.
And as for supplies, here are a few ideas:

Gilded Florentine paper from Italy, above, in festive harvest colors. I really like the middle one... reminds me of a pumpkin patch, and the one on the far right looks like a fall orchard. These are all available HERE.

You'll also need a selection of Dresden trims. The medallion shapes are for building the pumpkin medallion and the trim strips are for edging along the top of the bucket. You can find these same trims available HERE.

We also mixed in fancy fabric trims with our Dresdens. Wouldn't the ones below be lovely? You can find the fringe HERE, the pom pom & loop HERE and the lace HERE.

And don't forget the paper scraps! We used the large pumpkins from this German sheet, available HERE.


In addition, you'll need tinsel sticks, non-toxic paint, and sturdy paper board (like mat board used for matting picture frames.) We also used part of a tinsel garland to further embellish our pumpkin medallion. You'll need the following template, too:

Click on the template to make it full size, then drag it to your desktop and print it out. It fits on a standard sized sheet of paper. Next transfer it to your board, cut it out and glue the sides so you end up with a shape like this:

Once dry, we painted the inside of ours with festive orange non-toxic paint before covering the outside in Florentine paper.

With the paper on and dry, we next applied a tinsel stick handle, gluing it to the outside of the bucket then "hiding" it under rows of Dresden and fabric trims. Last but not least came the pumpkin medallion, which we made by layering part of a tinsel garland, a Dresden medallion and a pumpkin scrap. Our last step was applying the medallion to the bucket and, voila! finished treat bucket:


This is a fun and easy project that packs a lot of decorative punch. Try painting the inside a pretty fall hue like burgundy or sunflower yellow.... Make your pumpkin medallion a witch or cat medallion instead -- and you don't have to use paper scraps, different Dresdens layered also look great.

If you're keen to have a couple of these, but aren't feeling creative, we have the ones you see here available on our website HERE along with many more autumn inspired supplies and already made Halloween decorations.

Happy crafting! Hope you're all enjoying the fall!

Christmas is Coming!

This time of year, with our workshop in full swing and supplies all over the place, I start to get super excited about Christmas. How I'll decorate, when I'll do it, where the tree will go, and what gifts I'll make are all on my mind. I wanted to share a few of my favorite Christmas supplies with you, just in case you're also thinking Christmas.

Above, vintage mercury glass beaded garlands are a staple on my trees.


Above we have Dresden flowers, a vintage holiday pick from Japan with the most beautiful composite berries and a group of blown glass Czech beads.


Next are three of my very favorite sheets of Santa scraps.

Last but not least, we have a group of spun cotton mushrooms from Germany, a trio of multicolored bottle brush trees and lustrous embossed foil trim that looks so gorgeous lining shelves or on a mantel.

We're Having a Giveaway!

Journals in detail.

What's this mosaic, you ask? Why, it's a group of detail shots of the three handmade journals we're giving away!

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:
Please leave a comment telling us your favorite item in our etsy shop or on our website.

ENTRY DEADLINE IS MIDNIGHT THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2010 (Pacific Time) The three winners will be randomly chosen and notified on Friday, June 4th (be sure to leave a way for us to contact you if you win.) Please note that you must live in the USA to win.

The first journal up for grabs.

No two journals are alike. Each measures 9 3/4" x 7 1/2" with 100 sheets of wide ruled white paper made from 80% sugarcane pulp.

The second journal features pretty flower girls.

We created these journals using supplies offered in our etsy shop and on our website, which include authentic gilded Florentine paper from Italy, paper scraps from Germany and England and gold foil Dresden paper trims.

The third journal has an extra large pair of angels.

The inside covers are all lined with c. 1930s sheet music and the inside front covers each have a unique scrap or dresden as well.

A peek inside.

Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday weekend! And be sure to visit Mary at Little Red House for more mosaics.

New Shop Additions: Paper Scraps from Germany & England

It's no secret: we LOVE scraps! And we've just added new styles to both our website and etsy shop. Here's a peek at some of my favorites. Above we have a sheet from England of horses in various poses.

Above are three sheets of bright blossoms. I especially like the urn with roses in the middle.

Last but not least are three more new styles with a Christmas theme. It's hard to pick a favorite here, they're all so beautiful! The gnomes in the middle are unlike any other scraps we carry and have such a wonderful bright colors while the Victorian Santa and girls scraps are perfect for making Christmas cards.

To see all of our scraps click here or here.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Here's a quick sampling of a few of my current favorites from our etsy shop.
Above, a sheet of glittered German bird scraps.

A cluster of vintage fruit and berries, a shabby chic plant stand and orange paper roses.

Paper poppies in burgundy, gorgeous Italian manuscript paper and delicate rose trim.

Last but not least, I'm loving the soft hues of this steel blue Dresden trim, floral border scraps from Germany and pink Dresden flower trim.

What are your favorite things right now?

Mosaic Monday

With Valentine's Day behind us, our thoughts have turned to Easter and springtime. We love vintage images on chromolithographed paper scraps from Germany and use them in cards, decorations and gifts. More of our favorites are here.

To see more mosaics please visit Mary over at Little Red House.