Nov 16, 2014

Horn of Plenty : A quick, simple cornucopia tutorial

Hello folks!

I though I would show this quick example of a simple cornucopia that I am making for my daughters dollhouse, I have done a video on this years ago but since its close to Thanksgiving here in the states I though it might be useful for the blog as well ;)


You want to make yourself a tin foil shaped cone for the base of your basket. You also want to extend the cone rim out a tad so you can hold it when your wrapping string around it.

You then cut a small cone of paper, paper bag is what I used here
Place the paper over your tin foil cone.

Now you will smear a layer of tacky, wood, all purpose glue all over the paper cone, it will be messy but that is how the string will adhere.

For these first few wraps I have no glue but to show you different strings you can use. To start the wrapping you want to hold the string towards the end of the cone tip and loop from the small part up

Start from the point to the cone "mouth" You can simply tightly wrap the single string like I did.

Or use a braided string

 finer twine looped for different look.

Mine is messy with glue about because I am going to paint it.. but try to use clear glue or not mess up the surface of you want the sting color.

Let that piece dry a bit. As it is still a little damp you want to shape, flatten the base so it stands on its own.

Once it has dried you can simply slip the paper and sting cone off and add a decorative braided string edge to the face.

If you don't have leaf paper I would suggest looking through your local newspaper colored prints to find fall leaf colors like I did here: Soup, orange brown,yellow..all leaf colors

If you dont have a fancy leaf punch, just fold the snippit of paper so that you have a fan shape, then you can cut half a leaf out of that folded paper and you will have a stack of leaves..

I dent the leaves on a bit of foam board with a wooden tool to make them crimp a bit.

Then you can get fancy with your details, adding a bit of straw, your leaves, fruits and veggies.


Don't forget you can make other baskets, vases, bowls the same way and they can turn out pretty nice if you take time and switch up your braiding, or looping.

Happy crafting!!!
Hugs~J

Nov 6, 2014

Keeping up the blog: Things I am doing: Miniatures.com contest hint.

Good day good folk!

I thought I should show som more pictures of things n stuff and do a little update ;)

Working on projects for the craft fair:  I am going to try to just get things in peoples hands, I will accept any offers they make and while doing this keeping things cost effective is the way to go.

This is a little stone wall scene I created, for this craft fair, can you guess what 90% of it is made of?
  Hint: Rough line scraper was used

O ye bottom of the bin, thou does treat me so well...

I also decided a little fairy cubby hole would be cute for a bookshelf or desk 
Sleeping in her bed of mixed scraps, hey! It works ;)

I played around with a idea of little glitter houses in ornaments, this one is just a mock up but I like the idea and will prbably make a couple since its a Christmas Fair.

My woodland path box is finished, I still have to seal everything but I think it turned out nice for both a keepsake box and a example for a miniature scene. See the little deer hoof prints?

Here is another mechanical/steampunkery type box from metalic clays and bits

I started to throw together a few of the 1/4 scale buildings I got from my greenleaf set of goodies. I think this might be a nice old cottage... if I finish it..

I also decided to take another afterschool class for the local elementary, this season we are doing Faux Gingerbread houses, I will post more about this in a fucture post but here is the example of starter and a idea of the finished project..dont mind how crappy mine looks but I only had 1 hour to make a example for the kids..thiers will look much better!

I also said I would show you a bit of my on going Miniatures.com build..I will be realeasing some sneak peeks over the next couple of weeks but here is a piece I crafted that tells quite a bit about what the build will be..without telling exactly what it will be :)

Hugs to all and happy crafty days ahead!
~J