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

a little play time ...

I had time to play with some wonderful friends last week ... I started in on my new mixed media project ... a little book that i think i will call "empress jo's book of faeries" ... (the nick name was given to me by a good friend.)

I am altering an existing book, and it's my first time doing this so i am crossing my fingers that it will go well.  I am trying to marry a couple of my favourite things, mainly vintage, faeries and mixed media ... it's definitely a work in progress ....


It is always so much fun to craft with friend ... especially when we are enjoying a wee tipple of sherry after lunch! you can see my work in progress at the bottom of the photo.

 Sue makes the most wonderful cards ... so fab to see her in her creative zone!

My first page, finished .... I also did this page for an art journalling challenge ... the theme was "up, up and away" ... I used a vintage faerie image ...

My second page has a completely different tone ... when i saw this vintage image I thought that she must be high society ... yet very forlorn ...  no theme here, just my own tongue in cheek narrative ...

Thank you for taking the time to stop by for a peek!  You comments are always cherished!

peace, love and paper!!!

jo

the last of Christmas gifts ...

Here we go ... the last gift i made this Christmas.  This one was made for my Mom and Dad ... Growing up we always had large family and friend gatherings on the the night before Christmas ... food, fun and festivities and singing.  The hi-lite of these evenings was always The 12 days of Christmas.  My mom and dad would diviy up the group and assign numbers! and then the hilarity began as each little group stood up and sang their part.

So when i found this Tim Holtz configurations box with 12 boxes, and Graphic 45's 12 Days of Christmas paper, well I just had to make a memory gift for my parents.

The outside front cover of the configuations "book"...

close up of the dangling crystal and the hand died ribbon...

and a little close up of the flowers and buttons adorning the cover page ... i hand coloured and tinted most of the flowers and added wee bits of glitter to them...

 This is the book when it opens up ... I cut each image from the patterned paper and used a lot of dimension in assembling the little boxes ...

 A close up of the inside ... the lantern is also Tim Holtz and it really works ...  i used bits of glitter ... a vintage necklace, bottle brush trees, mini deer (okay i know there are no deer in the song but they were soooo darn cute!) and various other bits ...

Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a peak ... I really was thrilled with the way this piece turned out!

peace love and paper!
jo

The other side of Christmas ...

staring through the window of a local coffee shop i am reminded that we are now on the "other" side of Christmas ....

The tree is down ... and in the neighbourhood houses are being stripped of their bright lights ... the roadside is littered with dumped real trees .... all of my much treasured decorations are safely packed away ... and now i don't know if my house looks "crisp & clean" or totally devoid of personality ...

I love Christmas decor and crafts ... so this year I am aiming to create at least one Christmas gift, or decor item each month ... Yup .... thats my plan ...

but before i start ... i just wanted to share a few little Christmas projects from last year ...

I made loads of these paper ornaments using a Tim Holtz die from last year ... they were fun to make but time consuming ... each one was individually inked and then glittered ... but they made gifts or sat in the tree oh so pretty!

little tins decorated and ready to go ... and one sitting in the tree!

I also made loads of paper stars to decorate gifts .... also made with a Tim Holtz die

And finally a tiny altered altoids tin ...

and when the lid is opened ....

who doesn't want Paris at their fingertips!!!  ... a little "desk" gift for a friend ... I printed the little Paris from Made by Joel, which has other pocket sized cities as well as colouring pages for kids ... and hey, big kids as well ... and now ... Paris ... anytime, anywhere!

I have one more project to share with you  ... but that will have to wait until another day .... my pile of laundry is calling me back to reality ...

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Peace, love & paper!
Jo