Design Team Spotlight, Meet Amy Mayfield

Meet our new design team aka creative team for the 2013-2014 roster. Today I'd like to introduce you to Amy Mayfield

I'd like to introduce you to our returning team member Amy Mayfield. Amy's artful creations have an enchanted and whimsical feel which make her a perfect fit for many of the products within the Lisa Kettell Designs line. Her imagination comes to life in the work that she does and helps brings each of us to a storybook world  Amy is a fabulous designer and we are lucky to have her back again this term.

I can't wait to see what Amy thinks up in the coming weeks. Here is a sneak peak of some of her amazing works!

Did you notice that some of the products from Lisa Kettell Designs are in a few of these works by Amy!

A little bit about Amy:  

Amy Mayfield is a married mom of one who’s lived in the Rocket City since she was two. Prior to working as a columnist at The Huntsville Times, she spent several years working as an event manager for a computer company. She now works at the Huntsville Botanical Garden as the Special Events & Marketing Coordinator. Amy has served on the Design Team for Alpha Stamps and Lisa Kettell Designs. When she’s not working, she’s reading, writing, blogging at Amy’s Blam, spending time with family, glitterizing everything that’s not moving and trying not to set things on fire.

Visit Amy at: 

http://amyblam.com 

 

xoxo

Lisa

Design Team Project

By Amy Mayfield 

A fanciful fairy shrine

Summer is going by oh so fast that I can’t even believe it but I DID finally find some time to play with the Lisa Kettell Fairy Follies CD. This CD has more than 600 gorgeous images that you can print and play with to your heart’s content. I also used another marvelous man in the moon because I just love all their little faces!
So here’s my Fairy Whispers Shrine–if you listen closely, you might just hear their little laughter and whispered secrets.
Supplies Needed:
A Lisa Kettell Image CD
Moons
Gold tinsel
Xacto knife
Super fine gold and silver glitter
Paper Mache bird house
White glue
Rubber Cement
Clothespins
Teeny tiny wooden spools
Gold metallic paint
Hot glue gun
Star brads
I used bits of five different images and a paper mache bird house I picked up for 99 cents at Hobby Lobby. With an xacto knife, I cut out the front of the bird house to make a large, rounded opening. For the lady that lives in the little shrine surrounded by a sea of stars, I used some star brads to add a little dimension and placed a beaming moon, painted gold, to gaze down upon her. I finished off the interior with some glitter paper and a polka dot “sky.” To jazz up her crown, I added six-sided star brads in two sizes. For attaching paper so that it dries nicely and non-wrinkly, I’ve been using rubber cement with clothespins to hold them in place–a trick I picked up from Knickertwists over at Pixie Hill. It’s pretty much my new favorite thing.

I love tinsel so I trimmed the front of the shrine with several layers of gold tinsel applied using hot glue gun. I also covered the roof using white glue and super fine gold glitter. On the back, I used a clear stamp and some gold metallic embossing powder to overlay the Fairy Whispers onto this pretty picture. Because you can NEVER have too much sparkle, I added more tinsel to trim the edges and used teeny wooden spools, painted with gold metallic paint, as feet.

To finish it off, I printed a butterfly fairy that I sized down, cut out and coated the bottom with super fine silver glitter. I slightly scored the wings to fold them up and attached it with a line of hot glue down the “body.”

There you have it! Lisa Kettell Designs is having a FABULOUS June Sale in the Artfire Store so hop on over and don’t miss out on savings and super supplies! (I also can’t say enough about her book, Altered Art Circus. I picked it up long before I joined the Design Team and it has such wonderful inspiration and how-tos PLUS if you buy it on Artfire, you can get it autographed!)

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How amazing is Amy's project? I absolutely love it! There are so many possibilities with this project! Here is a similar one I made a few years ago:
You can create enchanted ornaments, mini vignettes, circus or memory fun with this project. I hope Amy and Lisa Kettell Designs inspires you to create a shrine of your own!
xoxo
Lisa

Design Team Project
by Amy Mayfield

Create a pretty pixie poppet

I had so much fun making today’s project. Lisa offers an AMAZING array of doll bits in her Artfire store and I had been dying to do something with my Charlotte heads. Using the small heads, I created a pretty pixie poppet. What is really wonderful about these is you could easily create your own parade of poppets and add a loop of ribbon to the back to create ornaments. For colorful trees, the assortment above is fabulous. If you want metallics or a more monochromatic look, the Fleur de Lis Flapper heads are a pretty choice and would make marvelous snow fairies or queens and I may have just convinced myself I need them…The set of basic Charlotte heads would be easy to customize for any color scheme–these pieces take paint and glitter extremely well.

For this project, you’ll need:
Your choice of doll heads from Lisa Kettell Designs
Doll bodies printed on cardstock (Mine came from Altered Artifacts on etsy)
Butterfly or fairy wings printed on cardstock (you could also use silk ones)
Crown paper punch
Adhesive rhinestones
Stickles in Diamond
Various fabric trims and ribbon
Thin wood craft sticks
Fine glitter (I like Martha Stewart glitters)
Glue, scissors, hot glue gun, etc

Directions:
I started by cutting out the doll body and attaching her head. I did sand the back of her head down just a touch to make it a little flatter. She was attached to the body using a glue stick and then I positioned the wings, legs and arms.

Next, I created her crown by using a crown paper punch and covering it in Martha Stewart glitter in Sterling. Shake off the excess and set aside to dry. I used a piece of trim for her skirt and held it in place with hot glue and accented the waist with a fun, fluffy bit of pink fiber. After this was attached, I outlined her wings and shoes in Diamond Stickles and created her a necklace with tiny silver adhesive rhinestones. Her crown is simply attached to the back of her head with a dot of hot glue and then it got accented with pink adhesive rhinestones. Once she was all together, I used hot glue to apply a craft stick–just to make her a little more sturdy. If you wanted your pixie poppet to be an ornament, just loop a bit of ribbon under the craft stick as you glue it in place.

This is a project that could easily be done with little ones–just help them with the hot glue gun and such. These would make great gifts for them to give for Christmas to friends and family. Here’s the finished project:

Doesn’t she look like she’s been sprinkled with a pinch of pixie dust?

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I love love love this project, so magical and enchanting I could see an army of these, a pixie army that is!, Love, off to make some of my own, thanks so much Amy! :-)

xoxo

Lisa

Design Team Project
By: Amy Mayfield

Let’s get crafty and go to the circus with a spoonful of stars–we can skip the $15 balloons.

Hey y’all! Today I’m tickled to show you a wood plaque turned into a marvelous circus as a project for the Lisa Kettell Designs Design Team. Get crafty, grab a spoonful of stars and let’s go to a circus where there’s no crying children or $15 balloons.

Supplies Used:
 
Unfinished Wood Plaque
Three Sheets of Scrapbook Paper from Lisa Kettell Designs
Lisa Kettell Fairy Follies CD
Lisa Kettell Sweet Shoppe Carnival Embellishment  (unpainted)
Bakers Twine
Fiskars Banner Punch
Pink Pom Pom Fringe
A Ticket
Scrapbook Paper: Music
Scrapbook Paper: Dictionary
Stickles in Diamond
Glitter or Glitter Paper
Tiny Star Sequins

Directions:

The first thing I did was to cut a piece of Lisa’s scrapbook paper to use as the background. I cut a crown from another sheet of Lisa paper and painted the Sweet Shoppe Carnival. Sadly, while I can paint many things a straight-ish line is not one of them. Ditto for cutting a straight line; paper trimmers are my friend.

I glued a piece of glitter paper to the back of the carnival after using a knife to cut out the “door” area, I wanted it to open to something full of sparkles. I glued music down the side, glued in the crown and glued down the carnival. I chose the word brilliant from a page of dictionary scrapbook paper, pinked the edges and glued it along the top. The fairy came from Fairytale Follies CD. I carefully cut her out and used adhesive foam to give her a little dimension and then traced her with the Diamond Stickles.

She has silver stars dripping from her hands; they were attached via glue stick and given a little extra sparkle with the Diamond Stickles. Using my hot glue gun, I bordered the box with the pink pom poms and added the ticket. Using my banner punch, I cut out 5 pieces from another sheet of Lisa’s and attached it to the bakers twine with my glue gun. A dot in each corner holds the banner in place and allows it to hang freely. Because I don’t think you can EVER have too many sparkles, I traced each banner piece in the Diamond Stickles.

I recently read “The Night Circus” and between that and Lisa’s magical creations, found myself very inspired. If you haven’t read the book, pick it up! Also, Lisa has added some NEW collage CDs to her Artfire store and has some very affordable options. I picked up the Halloween one and am eyeing the Circus one and the Vintage Storybook and Ephemera Disc.

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How amazing is this project that Amy did?, could have come straight out of a circus, I love love love it, Now to make one of my own, hmmmmmm, perhaps an elephant circus one!

xoxo

Lisa!

Design Team Project
By Amy Mayfield


I have been a bit obsessed with Halloween as of late. As of today, there’s barely six months to prepare! Where has the year gone?
I had another project all planned out in my head for Lisa Kettell Designs  when I was rooting through my craft supplies and came across these wonderful witches; the  Kewpie Magic Witches from Lisa Kettell Designs. These come in handy because capturing a witch of your very own is tricky, witchy business and even these little ones are full of tricks and treats.
Supplies Needed:
Kewpie Magic Witches
Mini glass cloche (I took apart some ornaments I got on Christmas clearance that I bought just for the cloches. You could also use a small jar.)
Printed scrapbook paper
Thin cardboard
Stickles in silver, black and tarnished brass
A  letter from scrapbook paper or cardstock
Moss
Hot glue gun
Tiny silver stars
Black pompom fringe
Some sort of little adornment, I used a brass moon
I jazzed my witch up using the silver Stickles because witches love sparkles. Honest. I also popped a tiny star on the tip of her pointed hat and made her a “top” with black Stickles. While she dried, I used a paper punch to cut out two circles with pinked edges to use as a base. I cut out a circle from the thin cardboard and glued them together to make a base. I covered the top and bottom of the cardboard with the printed paper–which is important if you plan to use her as an ornament. Then I made a ring of moss around the base, using the bottom of my cloche as a guide since I wanted the majority of it under glass. When the witch was dry, I made a big dollop of hot glue and dipped her feet in it, pressing lightly until she was “set.” Then I glued some tiny stars around the moss because, in my opinion, you can never have too many sparkles.

Once everything was dry, I ran a line of hot glue around the bottom of my glass cloche and, carefully but quickly, moved it in to place. Using the glue gun and my small black pompom trim, I made a border around the base of the cloche. I glued my W, for witch of course, to the top of the cloche using its ring as the base. If you are making an ornament, I would run my ribbon or whatnot through the ring before attaching the letter. Then I simply glued the moon to the letter and with a dab of glue, to the glass.

Now my tiny witch is spellbound and ready for happy hauntings and magical mischief!
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I love love love this project that Amy Made, how amazing is it? Love, now I'm ready for Halloween or some Harry Potter Magic!

Here's the link to buy some of the Kewpie Follies pieces so you can make this project too!
http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/MoonfairesWorld/4405535/Kewpie_Magic_The_Follies_Value_Pack_20_Lisa_Kettell/Dolls_Miniatures/Miniature/Other 


or this link:

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/moonfairesworld/2596104/kewpie_magic__kewpie_witches_set_of_5__lisa_kettell/supplies/handmade_supplies/doll_making


Magic and Joy,
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

Design Team Project
By: Amy Mayfield

Madame Mariposa Chaperones The Butterfly Ball

I am tickled pink to share my first project as a member of the Lisa Kettell Design Team. I love to create shadow boxes and I honestly don't know that I've ever made anything that didn't involve glitter. I was inspired by the countless wonderful images on the Lisa Kettell Designs Fairy Follies Disc but this lovely lady just sent my mind whirring.

Materials:

Lisa Kettell Designs Fairy Follies Disc
Craft Glue
Shadow Box
Stickles Glitter Glue: Platinum, Onyx and Diamond
Scissors
Sticker Pearls
White cardstock
Adhesive foam rectangles

Directions:

Creating your images: I used three images from the Disc; The Fairy Lady, The Butterfly Ball and one of the Fairy Sheet Music Pages. I had to play with the sizes on my printer a bit to get them the size I wanted--I used custom size and played around with different inches. Once I had the desired dimensions I printed them on white cardstock and cut them out.

I coated the back of The Butterfly Ball image in glue and applied it to the back wall of my box, using a plastic squeegee to lightly smooth it. Once it was in place, I outlined the border and highlighted Butterfly Ball in Platinum Stickles and used Onyx Stickles on "the."

I used about six foam rectangles on the back of Madame and placed her inside the box. Once she was situated, I outlined her wings in Diamond Stickles...even a chaperone needs a little sparkle. Normally I would do a patterned paper around the inside of the box but I knew it would be hidden by the top.

To cover the basic black front of my shadow box, I flipped the lid upside down and traced the outline on the Fairy Sheet Music. Once I cut it out, I laid it on top of the lid to trace where the glass was and the cut out the interior. Coated the back in glue, applied to black "frame" area and smoothed it with squeegee. I topped it with a random butterfly I found in one of my craft boxes and outlined it in the Platinum Stickles. Then I pulled strips of pearl stickers apart and placed them around the edge.

Voila! You can be sure that under Madame's watchful eye no butterflies or fairy folk were taking part in ANY kind of dirty dancing.

The customization possibilities are ENDLESS on these images. You can use any kind of glitter or ephemera or jewels you prefer. I'd love to see what you create!

By:
amy’s blam
General Foolishness
http://amyblam.com