Paper Tole Goose Egg

Well, here is another Goose Egg that I made. I made one like this a while ago which you can see here. There are 6 eggs to this set , 2 of which I have purchased so far. I hope they don't stop selling them before I get the other 4.

As you can see, my impatience got the better of me again and the Swarvoski crystal slid down the bow, lol. This is the first time I was able to make a multi bow with my bow maker. It never occurred to me to wrap the ribbon around the dowels in an eight pattern until my mother mentioned it. It really works great that way.

The image is made from 2 identical prints. The first is added to the egg flat. The next one is cut out to add the dimension. Each grass blade and flower petal have to be cut separate, giving lots of tiny pieces to work with.

This kit came with the image already to cut by pre-covering it with mod podge. I was a bit frustrated with this one because they added too many layers of it, which made it quite difficult to cut. Toling the pieces was another chore all together. I would tole them and they would just go straight again.

The first egg I made like this took only 1 afternoon from start to finish. This one took 2 afternoons just to get the image cut and toled. For the next kit, I am going to ask for the print not to be prepped so I do not run into this problem again.

Each side was pre-cut for the pattern. I will be purchasing the tools to learn to cut this spring. Until then, I depend on pre-cut eggs in the kits.

Each side is glittered and outlined with a thin gold cord. Before attaching the cord, I run it through some mod podge that I had on my fingers. This makes the edges not fray and much easier to make it "curve" around the pattern.

I am having a blog created, called Egg Transformer, of course. It should be ready next week. I am excited about it because the name and blurp under the header will make it come up when people do searches for egg art. I have tried looking for other blogs myself and could not find one! The only thing that came up were online stores which sell supplies.  I would love to see other blogs though.

I hope you will follow me there too.

HUGS

Wedding Doves Rhea Egg Art

I really need to get in touch with the person who designed my blog so that I can start a new "Egg Transformer" one. Until then, I hope you all don't mind me sharing my egg art with you.

Last Friday when I went to my mothers, we each made one of these eggs. The eggs came in a kit with everything you need to make it. The rhea egg came precut, which I think is just the best! I have yet to learn how to cut an egg like this one!

Another wonderful thing about buying kits is that you don't have to do the searching for matching hardware. And though they come with directions, you can basically make it anyway you want. For this one, I used everything in the kit but the outcome is vastly different from the photo on the directions.

The kit came with all the Swavoski crystals one could possibly use on this. Sadly, when I was finished the first time, I sprayed it with a sealer and the crystals were covered with a white film. All the beautiful shine was gone. I pried them all off, but the egg was a mess! I was so glad when my mother had an extra precut egg to match the kit.

Having to remove everything from the first egg caused some of the white paint to come off the hardware. The only solution for that was to spray paint them all again.

There was absolutely no way to remove the doves from the first egg. I am again sooooo glad my mother overbuys, lol. She had three other doves for me to choose from. What I like about these is that they are porcelain. When searching for figurines to add to eggs, I was suprised to find a vast majority of them are plastic, and LOOK plastic. Such a shame to spend all that time on a REAL egg and then put a plastic figurine in it!

Since all the Swarvoski crystals that came with the kit were gone, I chose to use pearls instead of breaking into the Swarvoki stash. I like the pearls better actually.

I decided to have the flouishes hang over the edge of the opening to add a little eye appeal to the plain edge of the heart.

You can see the pretty sparkle I added to the butterflies using the same glitter glue as the inside of the egg.  Even with eggs, I just have to add lots of bling, bling, lol

I chose to use 2 sizes of pearls on the lattice. Larger ones (3mm) on the outside to kind of frame it and smaller ones (2mm) inside.  I also used my copic markers to color the top pearl to match the others.

One thing I added to this egg is the procelain flowers. These were not in the kit, but added such a pretty touch and brought out the pink of the pearls. I also adhered the 2 extra flourishes to the base. People who put the kits together are often very generous with the hardware and embellishments which aids in creating a one of a kind egg from them.

Well....today I had 2 decisions to make. One was pretty easy. Should I clean or bloghop, lol? Though my house could use some, I don't miss cleaning (WINK)  I do miss my blogging friends, though.

The other desicion I need to still make is whether I should do some iris folding or paper tole today. I am thinking that which ever I choose I may add some paper stitching to it. I'll see what inspires me as I visit my blogging friends.

HUGS, Sandy O

Ice Fairy Gifts

I finally finished some of the gifts for my husbands family. They are for the nieces and nephews that have no kids. The ones that do have little ones, we just buy for them. What a huge family he has. Thank God I have a very small family or we would not be able to eat for a month, lol

They are made from real medium size goose eggs and are called Ice Fairy. I made 4 in blue, 1 in purple and 1 in yellow/gold.

I was only able to get the purple photographed and one picture of the yellow/gold before my camera battery died.  I do not have time to wait for it to charge to make this post, so perhaps I will posts the blue later (which happens to be my favorite)

Why? Well, I have the next 2 weeks off of babysitting my grandson so am planning to go through my house top to bottom. It has not been done since my illness last year! Yikes, I think it will be quite the chore, but a wonderful way to start the new year. I know my husband will be thrilled, lol.

In this photo you can see the icy snow around the opening pretty well. You will not believe what is used for snow on eggs. It is bath & tub silicone! I would never have thought for a second that this could be used on egg art! It works so well and dries completely in 3 hours if the correct one is purchased. Of course, a ton of white glitter is added to the outside and inside of the snow.

This is the very first egg I cut the opening out myself. Such a simple opening, I thought it would be so easy. But it is much harder than I ever thought it would be. The shell is thin then thick which makes the dremel tool kind of bounce around. So glad that the edges are covered, lol
This is a fairly good picture of the inside details. Isn't the fairy so cute. She is made out of porcelain and hand made and painted. A dear friend sent these to me for her cost which was $10.00! And then she added all the do dads needed to complete the egg. My mother has quite a supply of the eggs, so the final cost for this was the fairy, a tube of silicone and some glitter.

The back trees are in three layers, one layer in front of the other, getting smaller at the layers get closer to the front. It is hard to see but it adds a really nice dimension to the scene.

This kind of shows the pretty chain bottom decoration as well as the Swarvoski crystal beads for the top hanger. The ribbon is not part of the egg, I just used it to hang it on the stand.

Oooooo...Look at that glitter. I used micro fine glitter from the Art Institute Glitter called Lavender. What is so good about the micro fine glitter is that it covers completely with one coat. One 1/4 oz container completely covered 4 of these eggs. Just imagine how long a 1/4 oz would last using it for paper crafting.

Here is the one picture of the yellow/gold egg. You can see how they are the same but different. It is hard to see the glitter that covers the egg in this photo, but am pretty sure you can see it better if you click on it to see it a bit enlarged.

Thank you so much for stopping by!!! HUGS, Sandy O

Cards and Gifts

I have been so busy the past couple of days trying to finish my Christmas cards. Boy am I glad I decided to make them all the same this year. I really should follow others example of starting to make them in January.

I only made 34 of these, you can see the details here. I did make a couple of individual special cards, but that is it, you can see them here, here and here. I hope this is enough, lol. I guess I should have counted how many I needed before I made them. Certainly hoping my guess is right, lol. All I have to do now is sign them, address them and hopefully get them in the mail BEFORE Christmas!

I also made some bookmarks for my sister-in-laws. My husband has 7 older sisters, the poor guy, lol. They like to read, so I thought these would be nice to give. They are made with real quail eggs, so all are different sizes and shapes.

Here is one of them which I think you can see a bit better than the pic with all of them laying down.

The eggs are covered with 5 minute epoxy which has pearl-ex mixed in. I must say that it is really hard to get the epoxy to coat the egg evenly before the epoxy starts to dry, lol. Here you can see the glitter like sparkle the pearl-ex added.

The rim is a Swarvoski chain wrapped around the top thingy (for lack of being able to remember the name of them right now) that the jump rings are put on to make the egg hang.

These balls (can't think of the name of these right now either, lol) are also Swarvoski crystals. They are so pretty as they shine in different colors depending on how the light hits them.

I really hope they like these. I am not sure how to wrap them yet. I am hoping to have time to get to the craft store to see if they have some long skinny gift boxes.

Thank you for spending some time with me today...HUGS...Sandy O

Ladybug House

I have not gotten into my craftroom yet. The electricity is out and there is absolutely not enough natural light to craft with. Choosing colors would just be a nightmare. Sooo...I decided that I would show you my favorite project I made at the egg art show a couple of weeks ago.

This will give you an idea of how small it is. Isn't that just so cute? The egg is a real quail egg that I am sure mom quail gave up willingly so it could be craft with, lol The outer shell has only a couple of coats of mod podge on it so that the natural coloring of the egg shows.

Here you can see the mom talking to the baby. The flowers are made with what eggers call scibbles, but it looks and feels just like flower soft to me. I have no idea where the teacher got so many tiny flat stones for the walkway as there had to be 50 eggers in this class and she also sells kits on her website. And, wow, the doors were pre-cut in the eggs for us...she is one patient person!

I thought that the material to make the shrubs was really neat. Those pinecones are simply adorable. We painted them green and plopped them on with Aleene's tacky glue. I would love to know where she gets these itty bitty pinecones too!

From the top you can see almost the whole yard. I am not sure what the orange stuff used for trees is called, but I think it added some really nice color contrast to it. You can also see the lines and dots on the ladybugs. They were made with a sharpy marker. The mom was not to bad, but the baby, wow, I still don't know how I did it, lol

If you know anyone looking for a house, as you can see, this one is for sale, lol. What a fantastic touch it was to add that.

I hope you like it. Hopefully we will have our electricity soon (we are almost finished with day 6! YIKES)

{{{HUGS}}} Sandy O

What Has Kept Me Busy

Hi Everyone. WOW, it has been to long. I have finally finished the first item that has kept me busy the past couple of months. The first thing is the tiny paper flowers my mother and I made to sell at an egg art show. I have posted some of them before and you can see them by clicking flowers in the left column.

I have to say up front that I did not make the egg. The flowers inside, which are called punch flowers are what I made.

If you look closely, you can see the white trillium's scattered between all the roses. These are extremely time consuming, but are so very pretty. I am not sure if they could be used for cards, since they are so very small.

There was also an egg using the morning glories we made, but sadly I did not think to take a photo of it.

What else has kept me busy? Well this cutie has

This is my grandson. This photo was taken when he was 19 months old. He is now 22 months and his cubby cheeks have really slimmed down, but I just love this picture.

I babysit him for 11 hours on Mondays and Wednesdays. PHEW!!! It is so much fun to watch him as he makes me laugh so much (even when I shouldn't laugh at his antics) For sure, 11 hours does seem to really drag after the first 5 hours though...thank God for naps, lol

Now that the babysitting schedule is set and the flowers are finished, I can finally get back to my beloved card making, yeahhhhhh!

Thank you all for sticking with me through this time!!!!

{{{HUGS}}} Sandy O (grrrrrr...still have not figured out why me siggie is not working)

Trilliums and Morning Glories

My mother and I finally finished some of the itty bitty flowers we have been working on...phew...they are a bit of a challenge to work on since they are so very small. I have to wear magnifying glasses, lol. They are technically made to decorate eggs, but are the perfect size for inchies too.

Here are our first 2 Morning Glories. As you can see from the dime, they really are very tiny. We actually made 5 vines, but I took pictures of the first 2. The one on the left still has some glue to dry, but when it is dry, you can not see it.

These are the Trillium's we made. A dear friend that we met at the egg shows asked us to make them for her.  We never heard of them before so had to look them up on Google Images. There are a few varieties, so we ended up making 3 different sizes. It took us quite a while to figure out how to make them, which sizes, which punches to use and which paper worked best. She wanted white ones, so that is what we made for her.

Smallest size.

Medium size. 

Largest size is on the left.

Funny that my mother likes the smallest ones, while I like the biggest. We ended up making 110 of them.

You can see more of my itty bitty flowers by clicking the flower link in the left column. I made Lilly of the Valley and Dogwoods. The are smaller than these, lol, but I loved making them. They are my very favorite flowers after all ;o)

This is quite a different paper craft, I hope you like them.

Hugs,

To Many Flower?

I have been dabbling in some more egg art the past few weeks. Here is the one I made using a real goose egg.

The picture is a silk print. I got the tear drop pearls, cord and flowers from Pizzazz Aplently. The flowers really should be a bit smaller, but since I don't understand the mm sizing it is a trial and error thing when ordering them. I am loving this store. She has so many items for paper crafts that can also be used with the egg art.

I added some pearl swirls to the side for an added touch. These I bought from and egg catalog. I know that they can be bought from paper craft sites, but they were less money buying from the egg art place. It is funny that items that can be used for paper crafts also are less at the egg art stores. While the items that can be used for egg art also, are less at the paper craft stores. So weird!

If you look closely, you will see that the shell is not exactly smooth. This is how you can tell a real egg has been used. The shine is from the pearlescent paint used to add the shine as well as to give the egg some extra hardness making it easier to work on with out breaking it.

The back only has a simple butterfly. It seems to add the perfect extra touch to eggs when adding something small to the back.

I hope you like the different type of craft. I know for this egg there is no paper involved, but they are so much fun to make. It is like embellishing a card without have to match paper and image, {{{wink}}}. After all, embellishing is the best part of paper crafting, lol

I do have more egg art under the egg category. Some are chicken eggs covered with Washi paper and glitter. Very pretty.

Hugs,

More Egg Art

Yesterday I didn't feel like making a card, but did not know what to do. I decided to pull out some egg kits I bought at the egg shows I have gone to the past 2 Septembers.

This first one I purchased 2 years ago. I did not know how to do it and it did not come with directions. I guess they figured that if you came to the egg show you would already know. After all this time, I finally figured it out.

It is made with a real goose egg, a small one though so it looks like a large chicken egg. It is covered with 3 layers of fine glitter then the medallion is adhered with some E6000 as well as the top and bottom things with the loop (I forget the name of them so "things with the loop" will have to do, lol)

A little charm adds a bit of decoration to the back to which I added a Swarvoski gem.

I bought this kit last year. I am so glad that the eggs are already cut in the kits. There was a small hole cut in the front of these 2 so that the medallion would lay flat. This egg is made basically the same way but with a turkey egg. I left the egg naked except for a few layers of gloss mod podge to make it more durable.

Look at the lovely specks on this shell. Turkey eggs are so pretty. The back has the same charm as the first egg.

Finally I made this one out of a larger goose egg I just HAD to buy. It came with the sparkly finish already on the egg. I was not sure what I was going to do with it but figured I would think of something. I ended up deciding to add a silk print which I adhered with the glossy Mod Podge, ran the twine around it, added some tiny roses I just got in the mail and some glitter with Swarvoski gems.

They really were so easy, only taking about an hour each.

If you would like to start dabbling in egg art, these are the perfect kits to start with (as long as they come with directions, lol).

I hope you like them, even though they are not a paper craft. They are a nice craft to do when you want to do something a bit different. The hardest part is working with real eggs. I suppose you could use foam eggs, as some people do, but...they don't have the wonderful natural shape as real eggs. Real eggs are not perfectly symmetrical, giving each egg a unique look.

Thanks for stopping by. I would love for you to leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Hugs,

Paper Tole Egg

I love paper tole and am learning how to do egg art. That made this egg a must make for me. It actually came in a kit I purchases last fall at an egg art show. It came with the goose egg already cut with the intricate pattern (I certainly have not mastered cutting them, lol). One picture of the flowers was decoupaged onto the egg while another came on one sheet of paper.

First I added the glitter and gold twine. Then I proceeded to do the hard part, cutting out each leaf and flower petal. Boy, I really thought it would be incredably hard, but it was not to bad at all with the help of a couple of layers of mod podge.

Each leaf and flower petal were shaped then adhered to the egg using some Alene's clear tacky glue. Sadly, as the paper settled, some of the shaping flattened, but the toling still shows a little. With a couple of Swarovski gems and a bow (something I need to work on, lol) the egg came together quite quickly, only taking a couple of hours. Not bad for my first one. The kit came with the topper and base, and with the magic of E6000 the egg is firmly in place.

I think I am going to add a little gold butterfly, I just love them and did not think of it before I took the photos.

I hope you like this different paper craft/egg art. Have you dabbled into something new? Maybe stepped out of your comfort zone? I really would love to see it!!! If you can, leave me a comment with your blog address and I will certainly pop in for a visit. :o)

I am entering this in the following challenge:
Ginger Loft: use those flowers

Hugs,