PixieNovie's Land

Decos that reached their destination

2009-10-02T19:46:00.011+02:00

Since today two swaps (looong awaited ones) arrived at destination,I thought to display some other few I made at the end of August. I was dying from the heat that period,therefore my creativity produced mixed results o__O'' Let me know what you think,if you want to.

Any kind of feedbacks is always appreciated.

Vintage Fairies.I loved working with these two colours.And I think a nice deco came out eventually,huh?;)

Vintage London. Averagely satisfied with the result though.I had else in mind but this is what came out from my hands instead,lol!

Vintage Angels.

Looks more like an Easter card but I like the combination of these two colours.

Road signs deco. It kinda turned into a "On the Road" deco,hee hee:) But I like it!

This is Gorjuss!I think I played too much with lilac,don't you think?;p

Going to a Craft Fair Tomorrow!

2009-10-02T18:15:00.020+02:00

And finally the much awaited weekend for the craft lovers arrives in Rome!!

It's the HOBBYSHOW Roma (another one will be in Milan shortly).

This will be the 3rd edition I go to. However I've been a lot disappointed when I read the names of the contributors. Two of my favourite stands & brands that sold mainly scrapbooking items won't be there this year:,(
I bought great stuff in the past two years from those ladies!!
But I saw already new names so I hope I'll be able to find something interesting there!

I won't miss the TOGA stand!!That's for sure:) They usually have lovely brand new items!

Then I will surely visit one called TIMBRI TINTI where they sell nice rubberstamps.I would like one with a fairy,like these showed in this link here

Apparently this year the fair is more focused on quilting,knitting,patchwork and home decorations. Something I'm not into at all. Not because I lack interest. It's just that I still see these arts more suitable for moms,old aunties,LOL!! No seriously,I really don't have a right place to do this kind of fine artworks.Otherwise I would love to try them all;)

Anyway,I do hope to find some of these items tomorrow:

flowers (papers or fabric)-especially black,dark colours and brownish
fibers or nice ribbons
some fancy scrapbooking paper
at least one fairy themed rubberstamp + new ink pads
decorative tags and embellishments
anything that would make my decos more interesting;)

Wish me luck with my shopping LOL!! Cheers!

Lovely mail!

2009-09-16T22:58:00.011+02:00

Isn't it always great to receive colourful,supercute and interesting mail??:)

Today I received this awesome letter from a Dutch friend!! We do have lots in common and I'm sure we'll enjoy swapping long letters.I was really looking forward for this letter to come as in the past month I exchanged nice email with this girl so she thought...why not switching to handwritten letters instead??Brilliant idea,LOL!

I will also keep the cute stamped image in my purse as a "friendly" gift.My wallet is full of tickets,cute things and nice stuff...but never money(hahaha)!!

My main concern was that something was missing from the letter as I found it opened on one side but I just got confirmation that I got all its original content,yay!

Random pics of decos...

2009-09-16T16:33:00.012+02:00

This is a Creepy Toys deco. I kinda like it.Spooky doll but with a vintage and nostalgic look.

An Elk themed deco I was quite satisfied with.

This is a Banshee deco.I liked to use nature looking material,to give this special creature a more mysterious effect.Artist is the well known Brian Froud,one of my favourite:)

I have been however misled by a site that quoted this picture as a banshee.Well it's not.But I discovered it too late!

I have made lots of decos in the past weeks. I didn't scan or took pictures of all of them.Sometimes I simply forgot.Some other times the scans/pics gave the booklets a totally different look (a worse one,of course,lol) and in other cases,I preferred to leave my eventual partner the surprise of the deco(s) she's supposed to receive. I thought in the meanwhile to post these because they make me think I'm probably shifting to a simpler or even darker style,what do you think?? Or maybe these themes didn't require special super cute effects so to speak,lol:) More will come soon however!

Another beauty and another beast;)

2009-07-20T23:45:00.012+02:00

Vintage pin ups deco made via group swap and sent to Austria.

I loved playing with lace,the heart shaped little charm...

Vampires Deco safely arrived in Uk. I didn't want to use an average blood sucker image,so I opted for Nosferatu from this very old and classic movie.Doesn't the open door give a 3D effect? I just noticed that now!:)

I like things that do not match.That are different. I seem to like all of them equally. That's why -as you already noticed- someone who has a passion for dark and odd things,horror movies,vampire & ghost stories,gothic style and you name it,also loves to wear Hello Kitty & Betty Boop t-shirts and has a Pucca mini bag!!And has no shame to reveal it,lol!

I never liked labels.Or dividing things in two colours only.Or it's black or it's white.My entire life is full of grey shades:)

Hmmm...what was this post about??Sorry,mind is far away already,lol!

Above there's two very random pics of decos made with the same enthusiasm and attention for the particular details.They may be not masterpieces but I enjoy passing from cute to creepy pictures...you do,too?;)

Latest obsession;)

2009-07-20T22:05:00.009+02:00

I assume many of you will be like "Uh!!And NOW she just discovered that??" I know,I know it,but I really didn't imagine these clear stamps would be so useful!!And fun,too!
I've always wanted to buy them but I thought they would cost too much.Then I realized that not only the price was average good...but that it worth it all!!!
One acrylic block and a kit of clear stamps...bam!Lots of interesting combinations,lol!! I think I bought all this stuff (and a part of it is not displayed in the picture!) a couple of months ago and I started practising first on average paper until I got some lovely envelopes..well...they look lovely to me,hahaha!
Some of you perhaps have already seen my first stamping attempts in decos I signed or I sent you;) Or you'll soon see them as I use the stamps now especially for entries in established decos;) They really work well,especially on vintage themes.Very versatile,I'd say.
I also love mixing up the inks to get a more funky effect!! My only regret is to have "discovered" them just too late;)

Part of the sets and ink pads (I got even two big size) I've been using pretty much lately

First experiments on envelopes;)

I'm back!:)

2009-07-07T23:49:00.012+02:00

Well,I'm back again after a week of absence. Ok,my life isn't always so crazy,haha:) But I got few pleasant surprises lately that I wanted to share.

In the meanwhile I want to thank all you ladies for the nice words you had for my blog:) It was nice to read your comments and your private messages!
I especially appreciated a lovely friend who said she found it "refreshing" ... I LOVED this definition!!!That was something that positively impressed me because I tried to make something a bit sparkling and lively. So...thank so much you guys!
**Smooches**

Yeah,I wear a hk t-shirt...adjust!!;)

Colourful Mail Day!

2009-07-07T23:15:00.011+02:00

Today I received some lovely mail:2 great deco swaps and 2 really cool letters:) I so enjoy reading & writing long & chatty letters. I could never quit penpalling...or writing anywhere,LOL! I have a bad compulsion!
Anyway I just got two precious Marie the Cat decos via groupswap from my very creative Canadian friend.Thanks so much sweetie!! I LO-OOOVE these decos and even the kawaii memo sheet you enclosed!
The other swap came from Uk,from another talented artist.Deco theme is Creepy Toys... which I suggested in deco group some time ago! ^___^,, I loved the way my swapper put all the supplies together,what do you think?

As to the mail,one is a long,chatty and deep letter from a lovely French gal.It's 4 pages front & back...it can be considered quite a good start for an intro,huh??I'm sure we'll be great penpals:)
The other comes from S.Korea and it's another lovely intro letter from a lady who found my name in a friendshipbook. The stationery looks to be handmade,but I don't know whether she made that herself or not.Very impressive,anyway!There were also few established fbs & decos inside.I'm happy she picked my name,she really seems a very interesting girl:)

This is a better close up of the Korean stamps...aren't they sooo colourful & cute?Another addition to my stamp collection,hehe!

Look who's here!!!!!!

2009-07-01T16:16:00.007+02:00

**Me & Tiia** (may 09)

It was SO great to finally meet you after our long email & text msgs exchange!Love ya!

**Me & Marthe** (sept 08)

Despite the tired looking and the hot,unbearable weather in the city,she still looks great!That day we had a blast,didn't we hun??Love ya!

I HAD to post these pictures here!I hope the two ladies involved won't be mad at me;) Two of the coolest people in the world (and by coolest I mean...they come from the Great North,hahaha!!!) came to Rome in less than a year and I had the lucky chance to meet them & spend an entire day with them! I feel ***so blessed*** in having these two great friends! Later tonight I will post more about them & our meetings in my other blog,so check there later for my "confessions",hee hee.

I wanted you guys to see in the meanwhile these lovely faces in case you have never seen them...and,nope...I'm not talking about me,lol!

Vintage look alike stamps?

2009-07-01T16:01:00.006+02:00

Aren't these stamps totally vintage looking?Love them!Except for the ones on the right (issued last year),the other were issued in the last 2 months here in Italy.I had to buy them;) And be prepared...you may see them on my enevelopes to you!

Flower fairies

2009-06-28T20:57:00.008+02:00

The two decos above were sent to Sweden.

These two above flew to Holland instead.

I made these decos looong time ago for two swaps in two different groups. The blue one on top has been also displayed for a little while on the webpage of the group it was made in. Looked lovely,hee hee:) It's such an adorable subject to make decos for.Let me know what you guys think!

Going kawaii...and broke!

2009-06-28T02:57:00.016+02:00

Here's the latest things I bought at the HK corner shop.I couldn't resist,silly me!
*The pink,summer theme note pad on the right is not this year's issue.But it was sooo cute that I couldn't leave it at the shop...c'mon Hello Kitty is tanned!!! >__<''
*The pink & red Geisha HK memo pad was something new (issued in 2009) and I fell in love with it immediately!
*The Red & Blue writing pad was something I was really happy to find!So great for writing letters! (Not really cheap but it was worth buying,lol)

This memo pad has 80 sheets,per 2 designs.This picture above shows the shaped sheets.

Here's the squared sheets instead.

The very handy writing pad! 100 sheets per 4 designs.

Very simple but really neat & useful for my correspondence.

Here's the 4 different designs of the sheets.Half of the sheets are ruled. It looks more like the first HK products released in the late 70s,huh? I love the simple style though.Each sheet has the HK logo on the back.The only dominant colours are.as you see,blue,red and white. Can't wait to start writing on it,haha!

Most part of my collection.These items have been bought in more or less a year,i.e. when I discovered they dared to open HK stores in my city,ouch!I do use the stickers (but not the oldest ones as they look more vintage!) and will surely use the memo sheets & writing pad but,trust me,it's hard to see these babies go away! o_O'' I adore the Kuromi items I found as it's such a terrific character,lol!

***For the record:in the meanwhile some of these items (especially those that appear more than once) have been forwarded to dear friends,penpallers and swappers.Check your mail from me then;)

The strangest thing is that I'm not what you would call a Sanrio freak and a Hello Kitty fan. But when I enter these stores I feel the compulsion to buy at least one tiny thing.Why??Why does it happen to me? Or it's just not only me??(Kind reader,please leave a comment if you experience the same so I will know I'm not alone o_O). Perhaps it reminds me of my early childhood when you could find only Hello Kitty,My Melody and Little Twin Stars items.Because these were the only characters available at the time!Or at least I don't recall any others in the early 80's (hell...time flies!!).

Going kawaii in Romeeee!!

2009-06-28T02:08:00.000+02:00

Entrance of the Hello Kitty & Friends store.Central Rome.

I guess this is the opening day last year

The colourful HK tram is ready to leave the station

A better close up for a charming HK

And now the tram leaves...for the pleasure of the citizens' eyes

I didn't take these picture myself,they come from the Sanrio Italy webpage here
Not only the Official Hello Kitty & Friends store in Rome is so cute and has lots of HK items to choose from,but there's also another paper store chain that sells official Sanrio products and that is where I usually buy the things I use for my letters/collection:pads,memos,addressbook...and a big bunch of stickers!!Help me!
BUT here's the COOLEST thing about this city:I swear I saw THIS tram (dressed like this for the reopening of the HK & FRIENDS store) with my own eyes travelling in central Rome area last year.It was passing slowly on the bridge over the Tiber at sunset time...beautiful frame,trust me.Isn't it cool??Kawaii cool,I mean,lol?

Decoing Process - Tear Drops

2009-06-25T02:31:00.020+02:00

Here's a deco I was particularly proud of. I think it was one of those times when you really feel the deco.Do you know what I mean? You feel you're in control of the materials,nothing goes messed or wasted and you can even hear the paper saying"Yes,just dress me and ornate me like this!"

Here's how I came up with it!

Step 1.

This step is usually the most difficult one...having something already clear in mind,lol! It seems obvious but you have no idea how many times my decos(especially at the beginning)change completely their look work in progress.

Last month I made a group swap with this theme:Tear Drops. I already had a vague idea on how I would have displayed the elements on the cover.I just needed to start;) And I wanted the perfect picture for it.

This is the image I found by randomly googling on the web.I liked it and thought it would fit my "project". No edits made.

Step 2.

Placed the picture on a non fancy background I started to think how to frame it.The silver borders seemed to work for the picture. The lace and rhinestones made good borders for the cover itself. The most important element,though,was the tear. I was *lucky* I found one bead-just one among all the confetti and other sparkly stuff I have- of the right size,colour and shape. Exactly the element I needed. The deco ACTUALLY was born when I found that plastic tear:) I added few tiny adhesive rhinestones on some lashes.Just to give a bit more light.

Step 3.

I had already used some glittery and metallic watercolors/paints in the past and I wanted to give the tears a special sparkly silver effect. So I used both the Metal Silver & Glitter Silver paint all below the eye contour and between every lashes.I felt like I was put the make up on my deco,lol.

Step 4.

Here's the final step.I dipped in blue ink a rubberstamp with a sort of vintage writing and I "decorated" the upper right and lower left side of the cover.

I also added some extra rhinestones on the lashes' edges.I really wanted it to be a sort of precious thing!! The deco has now pages,tied with two different fibers,and my address is on the back cover.And it's ready to be forwarded to my dear Austrian swapper.

This is a close up of this magnetic eye,all shiny in its silver tears.It must have cried its soul out...Intense,don't you think??

The Beauty & The Beast

2009-06-16T23:41:00.007+02:00

The essence of glamour: Audrey Hepburn

This deco was sent to my Canadian friend & swapper

Gangster Deco (showing Al Capone on the front. On the back cover there were newspaper images of the St Valentine's Day Massacre) . The deco arrived safely in Sweden.

I enjoy making booklets with famous people as main theme. But lots of swappers do not love the idea at all. I totally understand we all have different tastes. Luckily I have a few talented swappers who gladly accept these decos. Plus...look at these *two celebrities*...you have to admit they're out of the ordinary!! Sure,for different reasons,but both with powerful personalities,eh?

My next decos will surely be made displaying Marilyn Monroe,Bettie Page,Doris Day,Elvis,James Dean and many other vintage stars,so stay tuned if you like the subject!

Cute booklets

2009-06-16T21:55:00.007+02:00

I got quite recently introduced to CUTE decos and,after all I seem to like it. Don't get me wrong,I used to make some cute themed decos in the past but not so many and...not so cute,lol!! I still have a soft spot for more alternative decos;) Some themes I enjoyed making lately were Cute Baby Animals,Hello Kitty,Blue Nosed Friends,Penny Black.
Here's some results:

~It's All Vintage~

2009-06-15T23:10:00.017+02:00

Vintage Halloween

Vintage Cartoon Characters

(I picked two of my most favourite in my early childhood)

Pick-a-page Vintage theme

Vintage Bathing Beauties

(this one unfortunately got lost.I remade a similar one that arrived safely to Finland)

Making Vintage themed decos has become a real passion for lots of us. I think that the general theme allows you to be more creative than what you can think of. In the end...what is vintage exactly??How old something has to be for being defined vintage??It can be from the 20s or 60s as well,right? And if you want to be very original & make something unique,you don't have to buy specific scrap items at all. Because anything will do:buttons,old tickets,old postcards,pages from old books,pins,lace,maps,stamps,small charms,keys...you name it.Great don't you think?? I'm sure I will keep on making loads of vintage themed decos.Plus I do *enjoy* signing them:)

To be or not to be?

2009-06-09T02:26:00.011+02:00

Here's two decos I made for a swap last year.The theme was "Tales from Shakespeare".

I realized later it wasn't as easy as I thought,lol, but in the end I came up with two decos I was really satisfied with. As it happens to many of us,I had a completely different idea in mind when I started assembling things.I had colours matched,pictures dispalyed and sizes all well fixed in my brain but then these two booklets just came out of my hands pretty naturally.And so different from the original ideas.What do you think??

*One shows the "Three Witches",a famous painting by Johann Heinrich Fussli (one of my favourite painters ever!),witches that you find in the Macbeth.

*The other displays a beautiful painting by an extraordinary artist,John William Waterhouse.I chose his intense representation of Ophelia,from the Hamlet of course.

Both the decos flew to Sweden and I recall my swap partner appreciated them:)

Supplies - The Revenge

2009-06-09T01:42:00.008+02:00

Yes,new stuff.This time on sale! Two weeks ago I found out on the net that a cool shop located some km away from my city (and where I never succeeded to go to) just closed. BUT...they opened again *in* the city.And guess where in a city of 3 millions of people??My area!!!!It's just 3 bus stops if I'm lazy (or the heat is unbearable) otherwise it's 15 minutes by feet.
The ladies there are very nice and they told me they'll soon have lots of brand new stuff in their shop.
Anyway,last week I bought some scrap papers on sale,basically the remains of old collections.I was happy to find them because I needed some papers different from the stuff I usually buy at the Stamperia stores.
Below the papers you see a cherry themed rub-on (that I was happy to find as I'm making a CHERRIES themed deco!),several ribbons (that would probably fit with vintage themes) and...FIBERS!! That was the coolest thing to buy for me because I could find fibers only in online shops. And you don't see them here in the picture but few days ago I went back to the shop and bought other 2 bags of fibers....silly me!!! If it's not an addiction,how would you call it??? It's the Supplies Revenge,I told ya!!!

Supplies,supplies...

2009-06-09T00:30:00.019+02:00

I'm always broke as many of you know,hehe,but I can't help buying supplies,help!
Mind you,I never buy extra expensive stuff,plus the very cool things in my country (apart from few exceptions in Northern Italy) can only be ordered on the net from online Italian/foreign shops (something I haven't done so far but that I plan to do after this summer,hehe) or at the craft fairies.
My latest craft shopping comes from the Stamperia shops that sell mainly Italian stuff. Or better,it's an Italian trademark with its own designs for most of their items. But perhaps these items aren't exactly something unique(um..I don't know really!). I just guessed they adapted the average crafting/scrapbooking items to the Italian taste and preference.Pretty much what happens with pizza and coke around the world,lol.They always taste different wherever you go,just to fit the local tastes...didn't you notice??;)
I'm pretty satisfied with the Stamperia products,not only because I can buy them in real shops and therefore take all the time I need to choose and pick the things I prefer,but also because the items they sold are nice and not really expensive. Scrap papers have lovely and original designs,rubberstamps & pads are pretty good,ribbons & brads are cool and match with many colours,accessories are limited but very original.And there are also 3D elements,rub-ons,paper flowers,peel-off stickers,inks,shaped scissors,glues,unique decoupage design sheets,a do-it-yourself jewellery line and other things that go beyond my crafting abilities,lol!

Anyway,this is the result of my latest hunt more or less a month ago.If something looks familiar to any of you,well it's just because I bought the same thing again,lol!!:)

These are looooovely Vintage 3D elements that include alphabets in different size (small,medium,big) and lots of loose "accents" like vintage clocks,coins,plaques and decorations that look like gems or jewellery.All in thick and self-adhesive cardboard.Nice,huh??

This batch includes,as you can see:

-2 rub-ons (same design,one in brown and one in ivory)

-a pack of white lace (that I'll surely use a lot since I love the way it looks on some decos...a pity they do not make it in black as well,ugh!

-a box of pastel shaped brads in different sizes (shapes are big hearts,big & small flowers)

-2 bags of paper flowers (they also contain some paper leaves.Cute!)

-2 ink pads (ivory the small one,gold the bigger)

-2 medium size rubberstamps.I fell in love with these 2 designs and since I couldn't decide which one to pick...I bought them both! I'm not that good at rubberstamping so I'll try them first on paper samples before actually using on my decos;)

These are some pretty new papers (just a small batch).I like the vintage designs and the pastel colours. I have already used some of these pages in quite a few decos. All the papers are double face so you have two designs to choose from...which makes me even more anxious about which side to use and which one to "waste",lol!

Think Tink

2009-06-06T20:42:00.007+02:00

I looooove making decos starring the cutest fairy of the world!! She's tiny,she's jealous,she's clumsy and she pours fairy dust on you!! Who wouldn't love her?;) I felt compelled to use flowers,ribbons and shiny rhinestones.

Art vs Non-art decos

2009-06-06T17:57:00.024+02:00

Those booklets were made at the end of 2007. Theme was P-a-p Hot Males. I made a sort of artistic decos for my Finnish swapper & friend.She loves,among the others,Hugh Grant and above this text there's her deco.I loved the way it turned out.For being like the second artsitic deco I had made,I couldn't have asked myself more!

On top of it,instead,a classic tape-&-glitter kind of deco showing hottie George Eads from CSI. After all I was happy with this result too,but I believe it's been the last deco I made with tape & loose glitter!!

First "art" decos (2007)

2009-06-06T00:56:00.015+02:00

I still think that sometimes simplicity works better for some themes but...um...here you see my very first attempts in making artistic decos and with these I joined my first organised swaps...don't they look so poor,lol??? In my defence I can assure you I had very very few supplies at the time and I was still trying to find "my way" in the artistic deco world.Ok that was a lame excuse,lol.But I found this simple style could fit the theme;)

Let's get started!

2009-06-05T23:35:00.011+02:00

Um...ok I created this blog (and its mirror one) several months ago but never had the inspiration to start it.Or actually it was very little. But still...I felt the urge to write and post something -anything- somewhere on the net.Not caring if someone was interested in reading it at all,lol!!Then why not sticking to that old blogging idea?Writing just for the sake of it?
Nothing too fancy or extraordinary,I admit it. I picked a template I liked and added a bit of my personality,just that simple.I still don't know what I will post here and on its sister blog but...uhm...who cares in the end??:)

Enjoy the visit & the chitchats,you can listen up to some tunes as well and I hope you'll find something nice here.

Oh!And I would LOVE to see some of your comments,too!

***Hugs***

Pixe Novie