Crafting Beauty and Gorgeousness

I am still a bit numb from hearing about the madman, one of far too many, who killed those children. There seems to be a population of these men like him and Holmes who free-shot the theater, another the same day as the school incident was one in China who brutally knife attacked over 22 children with knife....all survived but severely hurt......and so many more everywhere all over the world who are killers waiting for a moment of weakness.......many  who volunteer in armies etc where more killing sprees of innocents take place.
My heart goes to those who are incapable of this and to the families of those children and the children themselves. I wrote about my many layers of sorrow on this planet here.

Does it EVER END ????







I must live on, in spite of it all and whether or not I want to, and use my body and do what needs to be done.

Today I got up finally able to move and to think of something aside from those kids and families.

I played a bit with what I have in the house and produced some beauty.....a balm for my soul.

So this post is probably 3 in one, about crafting, pictures of spontaneous beauty and Christmas ideas and gifts.

Crafting Gifts:

I took a photo of a silver leafed glass that I also frosted with epsom salts and glitter mixed together and used it as a gorgeous tea light holder. And of course, in this picture you cannot tell the rim of the glass on the outside is frosted and I no longer have it to photograph....but you can imagine.
What I did was pick up some of those mostly unused glasses at the thrift store, I think they're called brandy glasses, etc, and some of them have etching and are vintage from the  40's and 50's...no one likes them anymore.....But if you silver leaf them or gold leaf, whatever is your preference they become something new and beautiful! But once I did that, I didn't stop, it needed just another touch and so I rimmed the outer glass with glue and rolled it in some epsom salt and glitter mixed for a nice frosted edge, and put a candle in it.

Christmas Ideas for gift giving or not :-)

I think these would look lovely in groups, of different glass styles, all silver leafed and lit....looks simply beautiful because the leafing gives a texture and reflection and glow that is so uniquely special! Metal Leafing is simple but you must be patient.......Just follow the directions or watch this video.

With these glasses you can frost the edges and use them as tea lights.
But mine are actually going to be the bases of another project, for those elegant silver leafed display pedestals.

Look at the sheen and glow....

 


These are so cheap at thrift store at 50 cents a piece, they can become stunning in groups of different sizes and shapes.




They can actually be used for drinking too because only the outside is leafed, the inside is just plain glass.

 


Next is the other intention I had for them. Originally I wanted it for a base to make a beautiful silver leafed cake pedestal/display stand. Then I didn't like how the glass looked as the pedestal part and changed it for something else. That is when I frosted the rim and it became a tea light holder and a gift.

"The Gilded Chalice"   :-)

 

But the cake pedestal stands are precious and I think every woman needs at LEAST one of them in each room! :-)  The one I have I use for many things.....the last being used for displaying quartz crystals. Mostly flowers or croissants or such go in it. But its a favorite of mine.

 This is after I leafed the top and bottom but not yet glued together.

The glass side is exposed on top and good for food use.

But the gorgeous silver leaf and its textures are visible and very pretty on pressed glass.

What is in this pic was when I had made some Kim Chee and the ends of the napa cabbage were cut and because they looked liked white roses I saved them,


 

 

but then in a few days they began to regrow!! Can you believe that?

 

I took many pictures, but they grew so much that I planted them in the garden and they became fully grown plants which I then ate! How amazing is Mother Nature!!

Back to the cake/pedestal/display stand......You can silver leaf/gold leaf the plate and base or paint them or leave them as is because some of those glass pieces are gorgeous as is, especially the pressed glass ones. I silver leafed the bottom of plate and pedestal, which was originally a glass sherbert dessert glass, and used mostly silver and some copper flakes. I then glued the leafed glass sherbert base upside down to the leafed plate with E6000, added a cloche top and it is done.....a very versatile display piece for both foods and non foods.

 


I made a tiny one for a friend for Christmas, hope she doesn't get onto this blog all of a sudden and see it! :D

I added a bottle brush tree....yes I went there, and that is a post in itself, but I'll just say that though I'd seen bottle brush trees many times I've not been impressed because I'm a very Nature oriented lady and I don't like fake things or plastics etc, and so I never looked at these until for some reason, some of them this year caught my eye and took my breath away....then I HAD to pay attention. I still ignored them insisting I was not going to bring them into this house, but one day last week, in a weak moment, I saw some that again took my breath away and that is when I went back to Michaels, and bought the bag they had at half price that I did not get the last time I had that bag in my hands lol. I thought I won't be so hard on myself for $11.00! And fake or not, I'd make them into something beautiful and I did, like sooooo many others out in blogland who are making magic from the mundane. I played a bit with them today.
Soooo, my friend gets this, and I did not silver leaf it because I found it very enchanting as is! The bottle brush tree adds whimsy and fantasy...but this one is not done.

I know my friend loves pink too and I had to try dying this tree pink as I felt it would be the ultimate touch. I used Rit dye in Petal Pink, was done in 4 minutes. I loved it. I wanted it "flocked" and had to conjure a recipe myself because I couldn't buy any thing, so I had to figure out how to get that look so I mixed some baking soda with water, then added elmers glue to a thick consistency, some white glitter and this was the flocking or snow for the tree. I experimented with a tiny tree and it worked out. I added it with a paint brush, outside!, it splatters, and then rolled it in a bit of mixed glitter, and it shimmers so delicately. Love it. Added to the base some snow (baking soda with white glitter sprinkled on top) and a Dove of Peace at the very top.

And with the tiny cloche top. This "cloche" top is only about 5 inches tall.

Because of the many different textures in the pressed glass, it sparkles on its own quite a lot! Very pleasing! :D

But that is her gift and I don't see how I won't get an "awww" and sigh from her : D


A few pics of some extra things I did.....

Housemate has a cool Santa and I thought I'd give him another place of Honor this year. Last year I had trapped him in a jar!  ;-)

This year he gets more space.

I love having a light that lights up a dark wall, and some of the hallway, but there is something about a "direct hit in the eyeball'' that disturbs me. I like my light to be very diffused.....I finally decided to cover this one and I happened to have the perfect thing......some crushed tulle, softest I ever felt, and wrinkly and pretty. I folded it up and covered the lamp. Diffused light. Love it! Deco Fairy happy and clapping again. She loves it too.

I really want to Cancel Christmas right now. I'm just keeping busy with beauty in the only way I know how. Sitting or lying around in deep grief is terrible. I'm just keeping busy.

I wish peace in the hearts of all.