Peeps in a Box!

Peeps are marshmallow candies, sold in the United States and Canada, that are shaped into chicks, bunnies, and other animals.  They are produced by Just Born a candy manufacturer founded in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, by Russian immigrant Sam Born. In 1953, Just Born acquired the Rodda Candy Company and its marshmallow chick line, and replaced the process of hand-forming the   chicks with mass production.  

Soon Just Born, was considered the "largest marshmallow candy manufacturer in the world."   The yellow chicks were the original form of the candy, then new shapes other than the chicks were produced following a theme according to the season starting in the 1960s. Twenty years later, the Marshmallow Peeps Bunny was released as a popular year round shape of the candy.


I have been a long time fan of the kitschy sweet bunny peeps.  My Mom and Grandma would put edible German Easter Candy grass in a basket and fill it with peeps and other Easter treats usually from Woolworths or Newberrys Dept. Stores. 

As an artist and advid recycler I save everthing and try to reuse what I have in my projects.  Recently I came across a box filled with un-opened packages of peeps from last year.  I remembered buying them on clearance for 25 cents a box.  The pink bunnies are so cute and asking to be saved from snack time.  Each one looking like one of the chartacters from my art stories.  I knew they would fit in perfectly with my Easter projects.

The first in the series of projects is called "Peeps in a Box."  For this project I recycled last years peeps and their box  and turned them into a fun Spring assemblage.  I lined the peeps box with scrapbook papers, peeps, paper straws and shredded paper grass.  This project is perfect to do with your kids, with friends or yourself.  It teaches recycling, initiates crafting, and rings in the Easter holiday.  Best part of this project is you can make it within 15-20 minutes.

 Materials

• 1 box of pink bunny peeps
• Pink pom poms 
• Scrapbook paper 
• Scrapbook embellishments
• Shredded paper grass, pink
• Paper straws, pink/white striped 
• Pink acrylic paint
• Tools/Glue: scissors, hot glue gun, hot glue sticks
• Other: fabric spray stiffner, ribbons, wire ribbon, mini plastic chicks, wax paper

Directions

1. Remove the pink bunny peeps from box, separate from each other.
2. Place the peeps on wax paper and spray with fabric stiffner, let dry. This helps harden the peeps. For this project I used last years hardened peeps. 
3. Paint over any white areas of the peeps with pink acrylic paint, let dry.
4. Glue pink pom pom to the back of the peep, tilting to the left.
5. Measure the inside of the peeps box and cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit inside it, ahere with hot glue ot glue of choice.
6. Line the bottom of the peeps box with shredded pink paper grass, secure with hot glue or clue of choice.
7. Decorate the box with additional scrapbook paper embellishments, wire ribbon, paper straws, and peeps.

Tips/Tricks 

• You can air dry the peeps by cutting open the box and letting the air hit them for a few days or a week.
• Try photo copying your peeps and print onto sturdy weight paper and use them in place of the real peeps.
• You can use clay, paper mache or paper to make your own peeps. Coat the finished clay peeps in paint, mod podge and pink sand. There are some bunny type molds you can use to fill with plaster of paris for another version of the bunnies.

Company Products Used:

• I used Crate Paper for the kitschy tag cut outs, Clearsnap/Colorbox for the Party cut out and EK Success for the background Scrapbook paper in this project. I bought mine at ACMoore.
• I used pink acrylic paint from Plaid.
• Orange pom poms were dyed with petal pink and fuschia Rit Liquid Dye
• The thin shredded pink paper was from the dollar store.
• I used white floral wire to make my banner.
• The paper straws are from Michaels. 

Bunny peeps come in others colors besides pink. Blue, purple, and yellow are some of the other colors they come in.  This project can be made using any color or variety of peeps. 

I will be posting 4 peeps projects over the next few days to get you inspired to recycled and have fun using peeps.

xoxo
Lisa

 For more info on peeps visit:
www.marshmallowpeeps.com

To purchase items from my store visit:
www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/MoonfairesWorld

Design Team Project by Tanya Watts

Materials/Instructions:

Gather everything you can get your hands on! RAID your sewing box, button jar, garden shed, toy box, packaging, lace, old material, twine, Lisa Kettell doll parts!! Tim Holtz metal pieces,...

Canvas, gesso, acrylic paint, string glue, I used Ranger's Glossy Accents, spray bottle with water, perfect pearls, mini misters, distress re- inkers (there are a lot of pearlescent mists out there but I still love to make my own), cheap paintbrush with long soft bristles ( to get into the most impossible places), gilding wax, Tim Holtz distress paint, I used the metallic ones, Distress glitter or glitter of your choice

Start by painting the canvas with gesso, let dry or if you are like me grab your heat gun!

Using gesso, collage papers, lace, material, ... down to make your background, just for a bit of textured interest.

Leave to dry or... Yes! Grab your heat gun! Just be careful not to bubble up the gesso unless you like that look, which I actually do.

Start adhering all your precious finds, make a design that pleases you but don't overthink it! Go with your feeling! Remember to incorporate you Lisa Kettell Design doll parts, they give it that special touch!

Leave to dry! This time keep your hands off that heat gun! I leave it for a few hours or overnight because that way I can't get impatient!

Okay, if you are anything like me, get up at 5:00am to continue! Seriously I did!

Now cover everything with gesso, get into all the little nooks and crannies to get every little piece of surface covered. Now you can reach for your trusty heat gun or leave to dry.

Assure it is really dry, unless you want gesso in your paint ( yes, I got gesso mixed in my black paint, but it actually looked good because it gave it depth)

Paint the whole canvas with acrylic paint of your choice and color, I used Adirondack paint dabber black, but by all means experiment with you favorite color.

You really need to be patient, get into every single spot, turn the canvas around to see it from a different angle, tilt it now and again to find all the white spots that you missed!

Heat gun! Or leave to dry.

Now come the metallic distress paints! Shake well, the mixing ball is in there for a reason! Unscrew the top( dabber and all) there should be paint in the part you screwed off, this is all you need, shake the top to splatter paint onto your canvas, use one or more colours.

Spray with water to let the paints react, move and tilt your canvas for drip page effect. Dry with heat gun. If you see pools of colour you don't like then just dab with paper towel.

Pearlescent spray: put one dropper of Distress Ink re-inker into a mini mister, add perfect pearls, as much or as little as you like, I just use the tip of my scissors as a scoop and I usually add 2 scoops. Fill with water, not all the way up, leave a little space, it will help with the mixing.

Shake it shake it shake it ( like a Polaroid picture!)

Mist onto your canvas as you please and again move and tilt for  drippage effect.

 You probably will grab for your heat gun right now... Your good!

Who has time to let things dry??

Rub some ( dry) perfect pearls onto the raised areas, I used a few different colours, be sparse, you really need a little! I use my finger tips and just use what is in the lid.

Buff up with a cloth or piece of kitchen paper. You can also ad some gilding wax here and there.

Add a small word that pleases you, cover with Glossy Accents.

I glittered part of the moon. Glittered the pearl I put in one of the shells

I added a metal phrase at the bottom.

Et voila!

Love & Peace

Tanya Watts

Wattstanya@ icloud.com

tanyawatts.blogspot.com

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Hope you enjoyed Tanya's project for the LK Design Team as much as I did. Visit her site for more amazing works.

Percy's Magic House

Here is another altered art house assemblage I created using products in my line: Cupie-ology by Lisa Kettell Designs, I made this using a small wood doll house shaped closet found in the wood section of the craft store, layered w/scrapbook paper, trim, glitter and embellishments from Lisa Kettell Designs line of products. The main piece was the painted Bailey embellishment sold in a painted pack of three.

This is an updated project from my book, Altered Art Circus, Quarry Books, where I have some projects in there using doll house wooden closets and houses that are turned into circus carts like the cover of the book and assemblages.
 

The Story: "Percy Grimwald lives at the edge of Stony Brook Forest by Bluebelle Fields and Hickory Stone which sits beside the Twin Star River. Percy can be seen overseeing his garden filled with wiggly wots, piddlebat, tweenseed and licorice root. Every Tuesday he heads to the Twinkle Spat Farms for the weekly farmers market where you can find his latest crops, in addition to Tye Wiggs' Candy Stalks, Caramel Blue Raspberry Apple Sticks, and Peppermint Elixirs. Here you can by Cherry Doc Bulbs, Bat Dust and a variety of magical delights.

After the market Percy invites friends over for afternoon tea elixirs and treats made from delights in his garden, you never know what sparks are going to fly out his windows if the Twinie Pixies show up for tea and begin playing twizzle stixs, which light up and spread moon dust everywhere.....

 

Stay tuned for new carnival/circus carts using my latest products.


xoxo
Lisa

Carnival Mini Frame Assemblages

Here is a fun project I have been doing for ages, using frames of all sizes as the base for an assemblage. The frames in this post are smaller in size and available at Michaels Craft Store, if you don't find a color you like, paint it with a nice enamel or multi purpose paint, I like the consistency of Marth Stewart Paints or latex paints found in the discarded section of your local hardware or paint store.

The frames are then layered with scrapbook papers, trims and trinkets. The main embellishments are from my line: Cupieology, Lisa Kettell Designs.

The embellishments I used from the Cupieology line are;

•  XL Cupie Head, Candy Pink, 

• Mini Carnival Cupies.

I further decorated my mini frame assemblages with additional trinkets and handmade banners created from scraps of paper and floral wire.

You can purchase the Lisa Kettell Designs Embellishments to make your own mini assemblage frames and other projects at: http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/MoonfairesWorld/1/1/16631//

Along with other fun stuff to spark the creativity in you!

xoxo
Lisa

Design Team Project

 By Sherry Payne-Scott

 

Elfin Diorama Shadow Box

 

Materials

-Elfin parts, Lisa Kettell Designs  

-Recycled cake mix box

-Newspaper

-Decorative paper

-White birch bark

-Floral moss

-Tools: scissors, hot glue gun

-Glues: modge podge, hot glue

Directions

1.To create diorama start with a recycled cake mix box for your base.

2. Measure in a cut 1" in on both sides, folding the flaps in to make the inner depth. 
3. Decoupage the entire box with newspaper and modge podge.
4.Paint the shadow box black. cut decorative paper for the back side, hot glued it in place.

5. Take white birch bark tear it to size, place on the front edges and hot glue into place.
6. Attach loose moss, hot glue the bottom and bottom front pushed the moss into the glue (shake off any loose moss)
7. Then place 3 of LISA KETTELL'S Elfin heads and hot glued them into place.
8. Finally add a rock to make it look as if the Elves are peeking at you.



Princess Fish Media Mail Art
I cut an 8" fish shape out of chip board
I used LISA KETTEL'S pink swirl Cupie paper and tore little pieces to create the scales of the fish
I had an aqua paper and tore it into little pieces to add the blue for the fins
I decoupaged the pieces to create the scales and worked from tail to head
I cut the crown out of the paper, decoupaged it to a second layer to add structure to the crown , then attached the crown with decoupage glue
I attached a 1/2" google eye with hot glue
 

Enjoy!

Sherry Payne-Scott, AAS ID

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How fabulous are these fun projects, makes me want to go straight into the garden and build some enchanted and magical diorama's, tiny little homes for our Elfin and Fairy friends!
xoxo
Lisa

Design Team Project
By Amy Mayfield

The Fairy Follies: a how to-ish post

I’m jazzed to share my latest creation as a part of the Lisa Kettell Design Team. I can’t help it, I love to make little theatres and shrines and, again, I can’t say no to glitter.

Supplies Used:
Lisa Kettell Steampunk Moon Small
Lisa Kettell Fairytale Follies Collage CD
Square Shrine Opera House Digital Collage Sheet
Paper mache box
A smidge of acrylic paint
Stickles in a variety of colors
Scissors
Cutting Mat
Glue
Xacto knife
Small bits of adhesive foam
White cardstock

To start with my box was deeper than I wanted it to be and didn’t have a hole in the front. So I made the box shorter and used my xacto knife to cut a square out of the box top. (Do I need to remind people to cut carefully?) I used four different images from the Fairytale Follies CD and sized them down considerably.

The backdrop I printed at around 4 inches and the fairies inside were printed around 2.5 I glued the backdrop to the back of the inside, carefully cut out the fairies and attached them using the foam adhesive. I layered two pieces on the women and just one on the back of the couple so they’d have different depths. I painted the moon with gray acrylic paint, set him aside to dry and then smeared some silver Stickles on him. The “stars” are just dots of Diamond Stickles.

I can’t resist adding sparkles to everything and I love the way Stickles hold their shape and are easy to write with. The blue at the bottom was an off brand that didn’t work out well.

I didn’t completely cover the interior since my theatre facade has a good bit of overhang. To make it, I carefully cut out all the nooks and crannies, trimmed it in Gold Stickles and attached the fabulous fairy head from the Collage CD that I had sized down. Make sure you line up the bottom of the opera facade closely with the box top to avoid any standing issues or cardstock wrinkling.

I applied a little glue and slapped it all together:

I can’t get enough of the Fairytale Follies Collage CD. It will keep you crafting happily for a super long time. What are you working on?

Amy!

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Amy has me wanting to make some carnival or operatic, fairy theaters right now, I think I'll do just that! Thanks so much for sharing this fabulous project Amy, its over the top amazing, I'm so inspired right now!

XO

Lisa

Baby Bailey Baby Buggy Bumpers

Another Design Team Project
by Wendy Erman

Baby Bailey Baby Buggy Bumpers

Do you remember your first doll? Your favorite doll? Well, designer Lisa Kettell liked her childhood doll so much that it served as a model for the handmade, foam clay dollhead pieces she sells under the name Baby Bailey. I received one in my first design team kit, and I knew I had to make something with it.

If you know me, you know I like vintage ephemera. You probably also know that I'm somewhat intuitive. That is, one item suggests another, and another item suggests the next, and so on. So when I laid my hands on Baby Bailey, he told a story of a boy's childhood. I imagined a boy coming home from school, ditching his school work, and spending his time playing in his room or outside. Maybe he played cowboys and indians. Maybe rode an imaginary horse around the living room or yard.

I decided to make a wall hanging that such a boy might like. For my surface, I used the back cover of a vintage photo album. I then adhered a piece of Lisa Kittell's scrapbook paper. The paper has a worn leather look to it, and the script alphabet conjures practicing cursive. This led me to add a small square of brown lined paper, a wooden ruler, a piece of old book cover and its inside binding.

I looked through my stash to see what other sorts of doo-dads might suggest a boy's playthings, and I found an old broken metal horse. I adhered the horse with E6000. The horse suggested a western theme, so I looked through my old sheet music collection until I found "Night Herding Song," a cowboy's lull-a-bye. Keeping with the western theme, I added a chipboard star, to which I added a little bit of thread for the sake of authenticity.

While I knew that I wanted to work with Baby Bailey, it took me awhile to figure out how to make him stand out on my surface, which is a little more than a foot long. I painted an oval cardboard frame with Ranger crackle paint in copper. Behind the frame, I laid down a bit of tan scrapbook paper. Finally, I mounted Baby Bailey inside the frame and topped the frame with a watch face.

As finishing touches, I added big black snaps to the bottom of the wall hanging with E6000. Finally, I added the stencil B and the number 5, just to play on the primary school theme.

For more great ideas using Lisa Kettell products, visit her blog HERE and look for other fun projects by the design team.

Look for Baby Bailey Doll and other must-have supplies HERE.

Posted by Wendy

How fabulous is Wendy's Project?
Love, Love, Love

xoxo
Lisa

Ollie The Wizard!
Meet Ollie The Wizard!

Ollie lives in Pemberly Woods, 2 Hours North of London. Ollie is a young wizard who attends Pemberly School of Wizards...................
This piece is made from a doll closet I transformed into a shadow box, vintage fabrics, DMC floss, fabric Tac, German glass glitter, and my newest doll part: the Ollie Style, in the costume doll collection of doll parts. This doll part and the 4 others will be available this week in my etsy and artfire stores.I have always loved creating little magical worlds, the inspiration for this piece came from a project in my book; "Altered Art Circus", Quarry Books, 2009, the cover of the book showcases little circus cart assemblages made the same way only using paper images instead of clay dolls or figures. The unfinished version of the Ollie Doll is available and can be painted to your specifications its is labeled under the Bailey Style doll parts in my etsy, artfire online stores and at my store front: Piddlestixs!Ollie is currently spreading magic inside Piddlestixs, but I will be listing him in either my Etsy or Artfire Store tonight!

Ollie will also be available soon as a cake topper and cupcake toppers, custom orders can be made as well!

Magic and Joy,
Lisa!