Christmas Ephemera

In my opinion, Christmas is the best time of year to play with new craft materials and art supplies. Anything works if you just add glitter! Here is some supplies I am currently using for some of my projects and Christmas gifts. 

Metallic doily with twinkle strands and ice crystal twig.

Bubble sticker on burlap.

Metallic wired star garland.

Glitter, ribbon, glitter glue, mini tree, glitter dots.

Vintage Christmas Cards

Vintage postcards are an interesting item to collect. You can find them at every antique store in a variety of themes. Filtering thru a stack can be time consuming, but thrilling. I love stumbling across an unusual type styles, illustrations or unique printing technique. My favorite theme is a cottage or cabin in the wilderness, horse drawn sleigh or an illustration that tells a story. Even more exciting is a uncommon cut-out, embossing, ink color or language. Cards do not take up much space and you can display in a variety of ways. Here is some of my favorite cards I have collected over the years.

Winter Cats and Birds

It was a beautiful winter day today. An afternoon filled with animals enjoying sunshine & snow and listening to the birds singing. Here is my newest cat "Orangie" being mischievous. (I know, not an original name, be he showed up in my life unexpected- one of the sweetest stray cats EVER.)

Etsy - Fairy Eggcorn Ring

Newest ETSY store items added - Fairy Eggcorn Ring and Fairy Eggcorn Banner. Everything is handmade and very glittery!

Inspiration Book

I love the idea of creating inspiration boards. Many of the items I use on an inspiration board comes out of a magazine. So I thought, why not make an inspiration book that is the size of a magazine? It is portable, easy to add pages to and when it is full, you can start another edition. This is a sample of one of the spreads in my inspiration book. It consists of magazine ads and photos that I cannot part with, scrapbook paper, etsy products I love, stickers and embellished with glitter.

Seasons Change

With winter upon us, its a great time too look at old photos of all four seasons. Trees, leaves, bark and sunlight. Makes me feel grounded - even in the coldest season.

Keeping It Cozy

As the wind blew and snow fell today, I had a sense of urgency to create coziness at home. Turning off the main lights to save on electricity, lighting a few candles and turning on a few lamps did the trick. Now I have a sense of calm and warmth on this winter day.

An inspiring word enhanced by lighted background.

Decorative moulding accented by warm light from a lamp.

Lotus candle creating a sense of calm.

Before & After - Witch Hat

It never fails - every year I wait until the day before Halloween to plan a costume. Most of the time, all the costume stores are picked over. So I created an original costume out of an not-so original witch hat. All I need now is some glitter make-up, black cape and broom!

Before: boring witch hat

Witch hat supplies

Beforehand - paint glitter and gold paint on some extra silk flowers
- just to dull the color a bit.

Stuff  the hat with a bit of quilters batting - so it stays upright.
Wrap glitter tool around hat base.
Attach flowers to tool - I used some furry yarn.
You can also attach black tool the back if you want a darker effect.

After: finished witch hat

Witch hat close-up

Before & After - Halloween Treat Bag

Out of Halloween treat bags? Try embellishing paper lunch bags. Take out your stamps, ink, ribbon, glitter glue & tool, scissors and hole punch. Make any plain bag into an original treat bag.

Before: recommended supplies for Halloween treat bags.

Ink main stamp with black - stamp in center.
Using another stamp - stamp outer edges with a lighter ink color - I used lime green.
Embellish inked areas with glitter - I used purple.
I also dotted the spider with black glitter glue to make it pop out.
 Trim top of bag for finished top edge.
Fill bag with glittered tool - tissue paper works well too.
Punch hole at top center - tie ribbon to close top.

After: Halloween treat bag finished
Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween

Today has been a fun day - already filled spooky delights. Halloween is my favorite holiday - everything is decorated. Pumpkins, spiders, skeletons adorn every corner. And watch out - there may be a witch flying by - practicing for this evenings mischief!

Witch broom stuck in tree

Halloween Pumpkin

My black cat " Batman" already in costume

Skleton in chest

Scary raven silhouette on my Granfathers clock

Scary skeleton

Life-size skeleton sticker in foyer

HA - Halloween banner in foyer

Spooky raven on antique chest

Bottled Inspirations

If you did not already read from my profile - I am an artist, photographer and graphic designer. I try to make every day magical and take inspiration from nature around me and fairy tales told to me as a child. I love glitter, paint, stamping, papers, photography, any kind of crafting, and my new favorite thing: bottled inspirations.

I have just added new items to my ETSY shop. Check out Miafae Designs to see collage art, photography, fairy-eggcorns and miniature terrariums.

Fairy Nest Keychain

Fairy Egg-corns

Fall Inspiration

Welcome to Miafae Designs! 

Fall is in full swing and winter is on its way. The full moon is shining - shimmering against last nights snow. What a perfect time to start something new - a blog. I look forward to this creative outlet and sharing my creative adventures. Check in to see my projects, inspiration and never ending quest to find magic everyday!