Congratulations to Miss Flower Garden Troll of the Year

 

I couldn't resist altering another vintage troll before the Fall season is upon us. Her name is Rose, and she is a horticulturalist with a flair for fashion. She just won this year's Miss Flower Garden Troll contest (no such thing, I'm making it up. My blog, my rules). Here she is posing for her fans in a gorgeous wall hanging my daughter made for her room.

After removing her original hair, I used a lone red rose for her new "do". Its leaves form her dress. She has accessorized her outfit with red earrings and painted her toe and finger nails a matching red as well. The rose is for her Auntie Pearl, whom was featured in an earlier post along with Pearl's hubby of many years, Blue. They were in the audience with their foster daughter, Carroteen, the night Rose won her title.

She's now off on a world-wide tour, visiting trolls in many countries and making new friends. She hopes to bring back cuttings and seedlings of the various flowers she finds during her travels. If you see her on one of her many stops, please give her a warm welcome. She's left you an autographed copy of her photo below...

Busy as a Bee

 

My summer has been full of garage sales, decluttering, writing poetry, getting a new privacy fence, replacing appliances and electronics (out of necessity) and planning a trip to meet up with my sis-in-law and her spouse. In addition to that I just signed up for a craft fair and have been swamped with projects in preparation for that. The event is one week after vacay, and I want to be completely ready, down to packing, monies, layout, pricing, inventory, etc. And I'm one tiny step away from being ready. I just did a mock-up of my Halloween craft display and it looks good. Next is my Christmas display. I'm taking photos so I know where things go once I can set up...

So in celebration of my organization and focus, I took a break and crafted a few items that are not on my craft fair inventory list. Above is the wall decor I made for my daughter. Her emotional support dog, Honeycomb, is her love, and now she has a piece of artwork to remind her. I bought a grab bag of crafty leftovers and was able to come up with this sign. The piece of wood is from my garage. I used Tim Holtz Distress Stain to make it dark before adhering the banner flags and the honey bees. A quick, simple project (I love those).

What's on your calendar? I'm still decluttering and organizing. I'm still in the dark tunnel of too much stuff, but I can see light peeking though the piles of stuff I still need to find homes for. I wanted to be finished by Christmas but I don't think I'll make it. Ah, well, I can add it to my New Year's Resolutions for 2025!? LOL

Meet the New Family Member - Sweet Carroteen the Troll

 

My troll makeovers are continuing over the summer. Blue and Pearl, previously featured, have welcomed a new member to their family, Sweet Carroteen. She is one of three new trolls I picked up and the first of them to make over. 

I was inspired to recreate her when I was organizing my basement after last weekend's garage sale. I found a Dollar Store faux succulent and thought it would look nice atop a small vintage troll. I pulled out the troll's hair and it fit very well, reminding me of a carrot. And so the orange paint went on!

The succulent and the moss underneath it act as the greens of a fresh-from-the-garden carrot (use your imagination). At first I painted her body and dress orange, but her personality was lost in that wash of color. So I repainted her, giving her a paler skin tone. She wears a fancy orange dress that she blinged herself (with a little help from me).

Blue and Pearl have taken her in, as she was wandering around a thrift store without parents. She doesn't remember her name or  if she even has parents. So until she remembers or a troll couple come to claim her, they are fostering her, giving her love and guidance and 3 squares a day. She's a very happy girl!

I hope you like my newest troll makeover. I have two more vintage trolls to re-fashion in the coming weeks. It might take a while, as I have just signed up for a booth at a local craft fair to sell all my Halloween and Christmas decor I crafted last year. Wish me luck!

Peacock Feather Pens - So Cute!

 While shopping at a crystal shop with my daughter this summer, I spied the cashier using a pen decorated with a peacock feather. She offered to let me take a photo of it and I made a few of them to give out as small holiday gifts this year.

I removed the caps and ink cartridges from my pens before spraying them gold. When dry, I used air dry clat to affix the feathers into the pen tops. The tops appeared lumpy, so I would gold crystal-like ribbon around the clay after painting it gold to match the pens. I had more but I gave away a few of them before taking a photo  for the blog. People seem to like them...

The pens were from a Staples clearance sale, and I made sure they all still worked. The peacock feathers were from last year's thrift shop purchase. each pkg of three cost me $1 and held three feathers. I used two feathers on each pen.

I actually sold these at the craft fair in which I participated at the end of summer. I thought they'd make nice little holiday gifts. At the time, I figured if they didn't sell, U could always use them for little gifts as well.

Meet Pearl and Blue - Fun Vintage Troll Makeovers

 

While surfing a flea market last week, I came upon 2 vintage Trolls that were popular when I was a teen/young adult. They called to me, singing, "Buy us Pat. We need makeovers..." So of course I bought them and played with them. Their names are Pearl and Blue.

I've seen these trolls pop up on Pinterest sporting faux succulents for hair. I didn't have any plants that I liked, so I hunted down alternate "hair" for my little guys. For the old man, I found the perfect flower petal. I really had to work hard to give Blue an extreme haircut, but afterwards the flower fit perfectly on his head. Not pictured is the small butterfly that is resting on his flowers. I also gave him a bowtie and eyebrows.

I treated Pearl the same when it came to cutting off her hair. I have a huge collection of pearls and beads for crafting, so I wanted to make her sparkle. Besides her new do, I gave her a pearl necklace and earrings to match. 

Not a huge makeover, but one that I enjoyed doing. And Blue and Pearl seem to like their new looks, so it's a win-win...

Challenges I am ENtering:

Love to Craft - Anything Goes

Makers Gotta Make

 I was cleaning out my craft supply bins the other day and found treasure in my jewelry/beads bin. I pulled out stretchy string, beads, pearls, paint, wire cutter and a metal disc. It was a puzzle. The disc had holes enough to hang strings of beads and such from it and I sorted through the beads & pearls to get a nice colored assortment. I was on a mission...

I painted the disc on both sides in my fave colors-teal and aqua.. Those are the colors of my back deck. I attached tied a length of string to one of the holes and started beading. When I was satisfied with the length, I finished with some irregularly-shaped glass beads that looked like sea glass.

I did this until I had five lengths of shiny, colorful beads. I added a string to the top and made a loop for hanging and now I have a new sun catcher! I used hot glue on all the tiny knots I tied to keep them from pulling open and spilling my beads on the ground. My sun catcher looks awesome in the afternoon when the sun is on the west side and lights up my deck. Unfortunately I photographed it before I hung it outside...

Now that that bin is organized, I think I'll make a few of these. If I find the right colors, I can make one for Christmas and one for Halloween. Maybe I'll hang those inside...

Challenges I am Entering:

  Creative Artists - Anything Mixed Media Goes

'shrooms and Photoshop

I have a fondness for fungus in nature. I take photos of them in my neighborhood, in the woods and anywhere I can capture their beauty. While walking my terrier, Honey, I've taken loads of pics of mushrooms growing on my neighbors' front yards. The city replaced several trees on their parkways in the Spring, so it was a good summer to see a lot of different varieties. I captured the 'shroom above basking in the sunlight. It was a perfect angle for the shot.

I then went home and uploaded it to my laptop and played with it in Photoshop. I didn't need to enhance or change the actual fungus--it was perfect! But I added some "accessories" to my scene. With the first, I added more mushrooms from previous photoshoots and popped a fairy into the scene.  

With the second scene, I cropped it close and added a photo of a garden gnome from another neighbor's yard. The gnome in this case was pure white cement, so I colored in his clothes and  beard to make my fantasy figure a little bit more believable (that doesn't even make sense, but...).

You never know what you'll discover when you take a walk, whether it's in the city, the suburbs, the countryside or an island. Happy hunting!!