A Summer Party!
Its that time of year, Graduations, Birthdays, Weddings, Showers, Circus, Carnival's, Fete's, Bazaars, Flea Markets, Festivals and Unique Events, it must be summer time.Let's not leave out the joys of summer camps and crafts, library crafts and lazy day fun. Do you remember heading out to that fave amusement park or carnival, collecting prize tokens and tickets, to trade in for the toy of your choice, years ago those toys would have been cowboy hats, toy sets, penny dolls, Kewpie dolls and carnival cupie dolls. These kitchy items have become quite collectible now and have always sparked my inspiration, something so unique about a cupie doll, which has lead me to create my own versions, which my customers have been enjoying for years. Each style in my line has been carefully hand molded, hand pressed and hand painted for you all to enjoy.

My pieces can be used in everything from doll making, scrapbooking, assemblage, altered art crafts, children crafts, party wares, party supply, jewelry making and more. Choose between, un-painted and painted styles, rounded or flat back depending on your project. Some designs come in paper mache, bisque, polymer, resin or foam body clay, and states that in each listing.For craft ideas using my products, please visit some earlier posts, my blog on Artfire and my other sites, stay tuned for some new ideas here on my blog. To purchase my products until my Etsy Site is restored to normal due to the hacking incident, please visit my artfire store, my websites or my store front in Lafayette, NJ.
http://www.artfire.com/users/MoonfairesWorld
http://www.moonfairesworld.com/curiosity_shoppe.htm
http://artoperanj.com/

Altered Art Circus Projects, Sneak Peak!
Altered Art Circus By Lisa Kettell, Quarry Books is a book filled with artful magic. Its not your A-typical art and crafts book, there is a lot more to it. Each project inside the book tells an actual fact or is accompanied by a story, a story of magic, whimsy, a story which takes you on a journey into your imagination.

The projects are simple and easy to complete, try them out with your children, your friends, family or make some of these projects for yourself, each one can be made simple or elaborate, there are no rules. I choose these projects as a way to spark your imagination and creativity, I didn't want projects that you would be afraid to try or had to go out and buy expensive materials for, you can recycle items around your home or pieces from left over projects to make these.


I include simple age and distress techniques/recipes using coffee, cocoa and tea, all items that can be found around your house including liquid starch and bleach.
Even old or recycled books, piano papers, newspaper and scrapbook papers, all inexpensive and easy to find. Recycling is good for the environment, perfect to teach children and costs nothing, I am a huge advocate of recycling and do everything I can to recycle.

Some of Lisa's Recycle Checklist include: Bottles, Jars, perfume bottles, Garden paper cups (peet pots), cigar boxes, books, ephemera and doll parts. The jars are used for captured glass fairies and scenes. The bottles for dolls and decorate, books for altered books, assemblages and for scrap.

To the experienced artist my book is perfect for inspiration, applies great techniques and brings you back to a not so serious world, a place we found in our childhood but might have lost as an adult, like trying to re-locate wonderland again.

Some of my favorite projects are the circus toys, the circus carts and the glass scenes. I'd love to know what your favorite projects in the book are? How have you used one of my projects or ideas in your work? I'm currently working on new project variations from the book. Example, replacing the paper doll in the Princess and the Pea Project with one of my handmade clay dolls and parts.

I'm creating other circus animal toys using hippos, birds and elephants, incorporating wizard and fairy themes to them, I'm creating newer circus cart assemblage examples, one is Ollie The Wizard which I blogged about a few days ago. For Ollie, if I wanted to turn him into a circus cart, I'd just add wheels and some ephemera.

The Jar projects are perfect projects to incorporate into party and favor ideas for weddings, showers and birthdays. Replace images with ones of your loved one(s) and personalize it, so many ideas.

I hope you enjoyed a sneak peak into some of the projects from my book and the new variations of them that I continue to create.


Magic and Joy,
Lisa!

Papier Mache Dollies!
Re-visiting a few old friends: My papier mache dollies! We all know how much I love vintage dollies such as carnival cupies, kewpies and charlottes. A few years ago I started playing around with various papier mache clay recipes until I found the one I liked, then used that mixture to fill in old tin molds and ones which I made to make some papier mache creations. These dollies are the result!Meet Sundae Sprinkleton!Meet Sweetie Candypops!Meet Polly Moonlight!Meet the Cupie of Love seen pictured with Polly MoonlightMeet Ginger of Ginger's Cake Party Box!Meet Misty Candyreef!
Meet Sugar Lemonwood!Sugar Lemonwood is the carnival cupie who stars along Candy in Circus Time Parade!

Hope you enjoyed my papier mache cupies!
Magic and Joy,
Lisa!

P.S. If you want to learn how to create your own papier mache dolls using vintage molds, made to look like vintage chalkware, and storybook enchanted, join us at Mid Spring Nights Dream in Historic Lafayette, NJ April 7-9, 2011 where Designer/Teacher Teena Flanner will be teaching a workshop on how to create your own papier mache creations! Visit: The Piddlestixs Website to sign up for Teena's class and the other classes being offered at this fabulous 3 day event!

Carnival Master Cupie Heads!

The new kids on the block, meet: Carnival Master Cupie Heads, the latest addition to my doll parts line, these new bee's are now available in my etsy store, moonfaires world website and Piddlestixs!

Like my other parts and embellishments, these are hand molded and pressed with clay, sanded and painted. This little guy compliments the other cupies/kewpies and carnival parts in my collection which are perfect for those fun circus, birthday, party and doll themed projects and layouts!

I hope you enjoyed the new additions to the line!
Magic and Joy,
Lisa!

The Wonderland Carnival Charlottes!
Welcome back to the Land of Charlottes with these new additions, meet the characters from Wonderland as they go to the Carnival! Everyone is going. Maddie the Mad Hatter's Sister and Mr. Hatter himself, Alice, The Queen, Mrs. Taylor Rabbit who is the white rabbits pink rabbit cousin, Ida the Caterpillar, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, Flamingo Sam, The Dutchess and many more. Meet Missy, the Lion Tamer Mouse who is ready to put on a show, see her publicity photo below, just released from the Wonderland Circus Photographie Studio!
Now look at sweet Alice in her favorite light blue and white dress, she is wearing her new ribbon headband from Oliver and Piddleson Millinery, Co.
The Queen always wearing her regal red best has incorporated some pink into her dress and has topped it off with her new crown from the Royal Hearts Crown Makers, exclusive to the Heart Family!Here is The Queen and Maddie walking down Stoney Bridge Lane on the way to the Carnival located just outside the Queen's Gardens!Look at Mrs. Taylor Rabbit in her Carnival best: Watch for more Charlottes and their many adventures.

Also take a visit to Creative Therapy and read my interview, see my charlottes and get inspired. These gals are wonderful and I enjoyed the interview process with them. I am Catalyst number Seventy Six, read the interview here:
http://creativetherapy.wordpress.com/2009/08/23/catalyst-seventy-six/

http://creativetherapy.wordpress.com

Polly The Pixie Wizard, Wine Glass Doll and Vignette!
I love glass, its just so magical when either left alone, colored or decorated, vignettes really can bring a fantasy world to life to enjoy anywhere, anytime. Glass jars, vases and cake sets can store memories from a trip such as an adventure at the beach complete with sand, shells, and sea glass, then add a tag describing the adventure.

Everything you have in the house can be transformed into a piece of art from A1 Steak Sauce, Heinz 57, Tomato Sauce, Pickle and Olive Jars, Yankee Candle Jars (de-wax the left over wax inside), Canning Jars, Jelly and Jam Jars, Baby Food Jars, Lanterns, Gumball Machines, Clocks, Pocket Watches, Clear Top Plastic Easter Egg Containers, Glass Bulbs, Candy Jars, Wine Glasses, Apothecary Bottles, Glass Soda Bottles, Champaigne and Wine Bottles, Liquor Bottles, Mayonaise Jars, Fish Tank, Glass Animal Displays or Small Green House Displays, Glass Beekers and Science Jars, I could keep going, so many of these items can be given a new life.For this project I used a broken wine glass, which Linda broke during her demonstration Saturday on how to break a wine glass and turn into a captured jar fairy or display. I was so taken by it that I decided to make a doll and vignette out of it, even buying a bunch more wine glasses this week! I call this piece: Polly The Pixie Wizard, Doll and Vignette. The picture above is Polly in her beginning stages, with her freshly molded and paint head on the wine glass.Here is Polly with her finished head assemble with vintage piano paper hat, velvet flowers, trims, charms and pearls.Here is a photo of her body base with the enchanted vignette, a cotton candy carnival queen, created with vintage doll image, lettering, crepe paper, trims, handmade wand, crown, rhinestones, glitters and more.
These two pictures show more of Polly's details and magic.Here is a full view of Polly completely finished!Here is Polly surrounded by her magical carnival chairs, ready for her pixie cabinet.The chairs pictured with Polly are the pieces for the poker chip swap on the faerie zine, My mom and I made the poker chip chairs together using poker chips, my clay parts, pearls, velvet trim, paper wire and more!

Project in brief:
1.The wine glass doll and vignette was made using a wine glass with stem broken off.
2.The wine glass Base is used to build the vignette on, gluing the image to the broken stem and coating with glitters. I recommend using glossy accents by Ranger (Linda's idea), or I love clear caulk or liquid nails to glue items to glass.
3.When satisfied with your glass vignette, glue the base rim to the wine glass rim using one of the glue's I mentioned above, let dry over night, decorate with rhinestone trims, and more.

Polly was also decaupaged w/vintage piano paper, a sepia decaupage medium, painted w/Claudine Hellmuth paints and lots of trims.

For similar glass projects, poker chip projects and images, read my book:
Altered Art Circus! http://www.amazon.com/Altered-Art-Circus-Techniques-Assemblages/dp/1592534872

Have a magical day or how my friend Marlene says it: "Have a honey of a day!"
xo!
Lisa!

Marionette Theater Workshop, It Finished the Candyland Theater!
Here are some previews of the finished Marionette Theater for my workshop at Zne Covenzione in California I call: Candyland Theater. My students will receive many of the doll parts needed to complete this project.

The only thing my students have to bring is a shoe box, we all have shoe boxes for our shoes right? I'll have a few extras on hand, not many, but some.

This piece is a normal sized shoe box, well I have big feet 9 1/2 lol, so its normal sized to me, then its completely transformed into a theater with movable parts and Marionette, the possibilities are endless and its a wonderful Green project using what you have around the house, in this case recycling a shoe box.I used loads of my hand molded embellishments such as my doll heads, and faux candies, sprinkled in sugary style glitters. Here is the back of the box, made with a sign template and homemade chipboard letters sprinkled with glitter.Here is Miss Nellie, ready to perform, along side of Plumette, her first performance at the Candyland Theater!Come Join Nellie, Plumette and Me at the Candyland Theater!
Magic, Enchantment and Joy!
Lisa!