OMG!

I have actually stumbled upon my blog .... yes, guilty again of blog abandonment .... just life getting in the way .... mostly in a good way!

I have been wanting to post this little project for a while now to the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge Blog ... they have a wonderful little challenge called "fold it"!

I made this lovely little domino book .... plenty of folding here!  The cover was made with a domino, painted and covered in paper with a small ribbon on the sides.

 The little nest is crafted from burlap strands and faux pearl beads ....

 I loved these bird illustrations the minute I saw them, they are made from vintage drawings.

The little prints are on the front and back of each of the folded pages so there are several images to see!

I hope you enjoyed this little post!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
peace love and paper
Jo

do you ever fall in love ....

with something you have made for a swap, or for someone else?  That's how i feel about this little swan.

I picked her up at an antiques market, though she looks to me more "vintage" than "antique".  And she was a wonderful price .... so how could i refuse!
I had entered into a pincushion swap at Mixed Media Artists Guild and had found a little mini tea cup to turn into a pincushion ... but as soon as i saw this swan, i put the tea cup aside and started on her!

She once was dusty and plain, but now she is  all decked out in satin fabric covered with a vintage style lace (i loved this lace, and would kill for more but Stampin Up no longer sells it .... grrrr ... okay ... enough of the rant) .... I also added some pink crocheted ribbon to the edge of the pin cushion, as well as some flowers and pretty little bits.

and the crown??? a wee tiny bit of crocheted ribbon, that i stiffened up with matte gel medium, and glittered with silver and sugar glitter.  The bling ... Swarovski crystals ... after all she is a princess ... right?

I also made the stick pins ... as soon as i saw the elephant i new it had to be part of her entourage ... as well as heart and floral pins ... and yes ... i used Swarovski, the good stuff!

I am entering her into the Ribbon Lace and Twine challenge over at Hoarders Anonymous Challenge Blog.  
As of tonight she will be off to parts unknown ... i hope that my swap partner loves her as much as i do!

Thanks so much for visiting
peace love and paper
Jo

mini ATC's ... a delightful little swap

So .... I did another spring swap over at Vintage Dragonfly ... The time my swap partner was JoAnne of Vintage Dragonfly, and our fabulous swap hostess!

WE each made a little matchbox chest, which is two matchboxes joined and covered together.  We filled one of the drawers with little treasures and the other drawer contained 3 mini ATC's.

I loved doing the matchbox drawers, such fun ... the ATC's were a true challenge ... i have not worked on something so small before.   This is the box JoAnne sent to me ... it was a joy to open!

 and the little chest, with its matchbox drawers open ... look at how pretty her project is, i just love all of the bits that make this chest up!

 JoAnne sent me adorable mini ATC's and lots of sweet goodies!

 Even more goodies came with the chest, i will have lots of yummy things to play with!

This is the matchbox chest I sent JoAnne ...

 It's funny that we were both thinking of nests, but it was a spring swap and nothing says spring like a nest!

 I sent her some goodies to play with and a few Purdy's eggs to nibble on.

 and these are the ATC's i sent to her.

I have to say, this is one of my favourite swaps to day ... it was fun, tiny and challenging ...

thanks so much for stopping by

Peace love and paper

Jo

#100happydays

well i am trying something new .... i usually like paper related challenges ... something i can scrapbook or paint or ink or just get messy with.

Today (well 2 days ago actually) I am joining the #100happydays movement.  I have started an instagram account and I will be posting daily ... for 100 days ... things or bits or something that makes me happy in the day ....

in all actually there are tons of happy moments in my days ... i usually just don't pay attention to them ... maybe this way i will.

So check it out if you have time ... my instagram name is paper_play ...  come see what makes me happy! and if you dare .... join the fun ... all you do is post your happy moments for 100 days to your favourite social media sign.  Just click on this link to join!

a tisket, a tasket .... a little peat pot basket swap ...

it's true, it's been a while .... and i have learned a lot lately .... about life, about death and about how truly miraculous it is that we are even here at all ... we are stardust ... having a very human experience ...

but enough about that ...

I recently did a spring peat moss basket swap over at Vintage Dragonfly's swap group ... I must admit, i do love this little group of swappers, I have received some fabulous swaps with the people there ... It is a lovely group!  do check it out next time JoAnne posts a swap.

I was oh so lucky to have Sandi as a swap partner ... she sent me this fabulous little basket ... look at all of the vintage goodies, like the doily and the embroidery piece that covers the peat pot ...

 love the fluffy shiny stuffing, the vintage flowers, and those adorable eggs ... i love this little basket!

and in return I sent Sandi this little peat pot basket.

 I love making this basket ... total fun ....

So I thought maybe I should make one for my parents ....

 here's a little close up of the actual pot

 I was luck enough to find these little ceramic chicks at Michaels and a great discount .... oh how i wish there had been more then three, i was totally inspired by them ... This is the little basket I made for myself.

 and my daughter and I enjoyed it  ...

the bird crowns???  just a wee bit of Graphic45 paper, from the Sweet Sentiments line ... just used a border bunch on some scrap and added a wee bit of glitter ....

Thanks so much for visiting, 

I hope to catch up on your blogs very very soon!

peace, love and paper

Jo

seeing red ....

okay, once again i am a day late on a' lilhoohaa's photo blog challenge ... but I am here just the same ...
the theme for February was "red" .... here are my contributions to the challenge

although the title of this tile installation in a sidewalk is called "yellow dog" it is the bright red eyes that got my attention.  This is located just outside of the Firehall Theatre.

I love these red doors ... and there are many more ... this is part of the Firehall Theatre ... the building was originally a firehall built in 1906 and it is now a theatre and arts centre.  It is located on the downtown eastside of vancouver in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the country (canada) ...

This used to be quite the grand firehall ... it has been put to a wonderful purpose

Next to the theatre sits the Vancouver Police Museum ... and right on the corner of that building this fabulous red fire sprinkler

and at the intersection ... a red light ...

Everything is from the same little corner and bit of street, it was a beautiful warm sunny afternoon ...

Thanks you so much for stopping by ... if you want to see more red just hop on over to PJ's blog.

peace love and paper
Jo

Another challenge!

Over at Simon Says, the Monday challenge was to create either with a cameo or use something that would make a cameo appearance in your project ...

So I kind of did both, but in doing both I also kind of did neither ... yeah ... one of those ....

I decided to use a vintage silhouette image from the Graphics Fairy .... I printed it out and then sat with it for a few days ... i decided to flip the page over and cover it with strips cut from a magazine ... I used a very victorian wall image as the main portion of her head, then a sea image and finally an image of an ancient brick wall ... Once i had glued the strips down, i let it dry (well almost dry) and then i cut out the silhouette image and adhered it to my background ...  I then added a lovely Jane Austen quote.

But then ...



...



...


I blew the quote ... i wrote down that it was from Sense and Sensibility  when .... *gasp* ...... it is actually from Pride and Prejudice ....

making a cameo appearance on my art journal page is the glaring quote error .... sheesh, i have lost all of my  street cred here with that error!

Thanks for stopping by ....
Peace love and paper
Jo

Simon Says - We Love Stamps Challenge

Today I am participating in the Simon Says challenge ... I do love stamps .... and I think that almost everything i do has stamping on it in some way ...

For this challenge i did stamping that is not very obvious ... but it adds texture and interest to the project as a whole ... I also used my two all time favourite stamps on this project, the French Script background stamp by Stampin Up, and the french script stamps that comes in the French Market stamp set by Tim Holtz ....

I started by stamping a piece of white cardstock with the spun sugar distress ink, I only used a small portion of this paper in a die cut,  but i have saved the rest for future projects.

 I also stamped an old piece of chipboard that has been painted and inked ... i stamped the image while the ink on the heart was still wet, and it all kind of smudged ... which was what i was going for ...

 and here we are!  the white paper is die cut into a snowflake rosette shape (this is one of my fave dies of all times) and i attached a little cherub that i printed, fussy cut, then glittered ... i then attached the whole thing to a lovely set of wings!

Not all stamping needs to be close up and in your face ... I love how this subtle stamping took the "whiteness" out of the white cardstock, and added some extra visual interest!

Once again, thanks so much for stopping by!  and make sure you stop by the Simon Says Monday Challenge to see all of the wonderful stamping art!

Peace, love and paper!

Jo

Grow Your Blog - my giveaway!

Hello everyone and a happy day to you!  I did a little random.org thing today, and the lucky winner of my GYB party giveaway is .....

....

....

... (so much drama)

... Tanya at Bead and Needle!!!!

You won this lovely set of vintage styled cards (found here) made by my wee little hands.

Please email me your details and i will get them off in the mail to you as quickly as possible.

Thank you to everyone who left a lovely comment and entered!

peace love and paper
Jo

What's my style?

arrrrg, if you follow my blog then you know that my style is a tad bit undefined ... I like bright, colourful, happy, textural, muted, layered, simple, easy, grungy, vintagey and kind of white .... yeah ...

so when i decided to join the "what's your style" challenge at Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge Blog  ... i grabbed an old battered bright pink heart shaped box and decided to let "my heart" do the picking ....

This is what happened ....

I covered the box top in patterned paper and layered it with doilies an image from Graphic 45 paper and some hand made flowers, and all things pretty!

This box wax actually quite high ... to get the texture i wanted i painted the box in clay paint (which is very similar to chalk paint) in an old white colour.  I trimmed the side of the box top with satin ribbon and then layered it with vintage white lace.

Just a wee close up of the top ... i like a lot of depth so the flowers  much higher than the surface heart box top.

So, apparently my style is layered, textural, vintage and kind of white .... or at least my heart said so in this challenge ....

I can only wonder what my style will be on my next project!
Thanks so much for stopping by
Peace, love and paper
jo

3 little houses ...

A big hello to you!  

for some reason, I have been thinking about houses and homes since the beginning of the year ... I have kind of made an informal plan to focus a lot of my art work around the them of houses this year.  I was thrilled when my brother cut me several, like many, little houses from scrap wood.

I have taken three of the houses with very short roofs and worked on them for a week or so ... finally they are finished ... well almost, i still need to sign them and finish the bottoms.

3 little homes, free hand cut by my brother.   The roofs have varied pitches ... each roof has a thick layer of texture paste, i used a dry brush to apple the paste and created a lumpy shingle look.  I mixed up black paint with a pear green paint to achieve a mottled black colour.  I also lightly swiped parts of the roof with green, then quickly wiped it off ... just to make them look a little dirty.

Each house was covered with gesso, white paint, tan paint and vintage paper in varying layers.  The windows and doors are cut freehand from illustrations from a vintage french encyclopedia ...

I actually love the way they turned out ... you can still see the grain of the wood through them which allows them to maintain a very natural feel despite the treatment given to them. I hope you have enjoyed them as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

peace, love and paper

jo

Grow your blog ... my gift to you!

Recently I took part in the fabulous Grow Your Blog party hosted by the fabulous Vicki at  2 Bags Full.  This was a fun blog party with over 500 blogs participating.  I was able to join some new blogs as followers and meet some wonderful bloggers!  I also have more people join my blog so it was fun all around.

I am offering 4 lovely vintage style cards with matching envelopes as a little gift in celebration of this blog party.   In order to be entered into the draw for these lovelies, please leave a comment on my original post, which can be found here.

All of these cards are made with quality products.  I used the last (whimper) of my Graphic 45, A Ladies Diary papers (oh these papers are sumptuous!)  I also use Very Vanilla card stock from Stampin" Up as each card base.  All of these cards are blank on the inside so you can use any sentiment you desire.

This card features a lovely little metal lock, as well as hand made flowers, fabulous lace and some ribbon.

Although somewhat simple, this is my favourite card.  Just a simple double bow and two pins.  All envelopes have a card stock centre for you write the name of the person you are sending it to.

Vintage millinery is attached to a petite ornate frame that has been inked and dabbed with a bit of paint ... a little attached to the flower stems.

The final card features two tiny buds and a wooden heart that has been glittered.  It also shows the inside of the envelope.  All envelopes were made with double sided paper so it is a treat both opened and closed!

Thank you so much for stoping by ... please remember to stop by my original post and enter this draw! The draw, along with draws from other participants in the blog party will be on the 15th of February.  These is still time to visit other blogs from the party ... they can be reached through the 2 Bags Full post here

peace love and paper!
jo

Photo Blogging Challenge - January

If you are looking for my GYB post, it is here!  Be sure to stop by an comment, you still have time to enter my draw!

okay, I am a wee bit late on this post ... i should have had this up on the 31st of January, but here goes ...  Our challenge for the month of January was the word "new" ...

What a fab word for a photo challenge ... i had so many ideas but as we just do 5 photos, i kept it simple (seriously you really did not want to see a photo of the gas pump putting "New" gas into my car.)

A new french Patissierie is getting ready to open ... I can't wait to see what they bring to the neighbourhood

I have made some wonderful new batches of soap ... several types, but my favourite is on the right, coconut oil with some organic honey (it is not sticky, and honey is a natural humectant)

A new blossom is opening ...

A new village in the making ... my brother cut these for me, I have finished 3, more to come, watch my blog for their finished state!

and finally .... a new line of our skytrain is being built!  I love the skytrain, light rapid transit in the sky!!!

and that's what i came up with for new!  Please consider joining us, we are a small friendly group of people who just like to take pictures.  February's challenge is "red" ... and you have the month to shoot it!  Join us at A'lil hooha's blog, and to see everyones January photos, click here.

Thank you for joining me on my interpretation of "new"!
peace love and paper
jo

Grow your blog!

Welcome to the "Grow Your Blog" party!  It's exciting to see that over 500 blogs are participating ... I am thrilled to be one of them!

My friends call me Jo ... and I write here in this little bit of space out in blogland ... my blog is called "My Paper Playhouse" due to both my love of paper and my love of play ...

I am a scrapbooker and cardmaker, who is also passionate about art journalling and altering objects ... to me there is nothing more fun than getting my hands inky and painty and sticky with glue!  Somehow from out of all of this chaos I manage to make a few projects I love!  I also love fabric and in the past have made clothes, quilts and dolls ... but right now my focus is paper.

I thought i would share a couple of little items i have altered in the past ...
I made this little vintage style spoolie for a "spoolie" swap ... i actually used a vintage thread spool ...

 and a little house, perched on a matchbox for another little swap ...

I love vintage and i also love spooky ... this is a little table, complete with a thick book of spells i made for halloween... the book of spells was carved from an old full sized book.

This is a fun little art journalling page i did for a challenge group!  The prompt was "somewhere, a simple place" and this is what I came up with...  I do love mixing vintage images into my art journalling.

For those of you that have read all of the way down to this point, i am offering a small giveaway to celebrate this blog party.  I am making 4 vintage styled greeting cards with coordinating envelopes (picture will be up in a couple of days ... yes i do procrastinate)/  If you want to be entered simply leave me a comment on this post.  I will do a random draw on February 15th and announce the winner at that time!  I will also add in a couple of little paper play goodies!

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Enjoy the blog hop ... just click the "Grow Your Blog" button up top right, to see all of the other participants!

peace, love & paper
jo