SALE! Découpage mirrors are now $6 off!

We really need to sell these adorable but somewhat bulky découpage mirrors, so we've taken an additional $6 off. At this price we'll just break even on them but they have to go.

Check them out now!

We are a Featured Artisan on Handmade News!

Felix and Paco are thrilled to announce that we are now in the Featured Artisan section of HandmadeNews.org. Many thanks go to Angelica Schaaf for discovering and featuring our store!

Read the interview here.

New item: Vintage glass Japanese cabochon earrings - Pale Blue

I adore vintage glass cabochons, particularly the cut-glass floral kind that were very popular in Western Europe and Japan after World War II. These pale blue earrings are very special, as the cabochons have aged differently, making one slightly paler blue than the other.

They'd be perfect for the vintage-loving woman who likes unusual and unique cocktail jewelry.

Buy them now!

New item: Ceramic hamburger earrings

Yes, you read that correctly. These are earrings that look like hamburgers. Why? Because I can.

Buy them now.

New item: Acrylic rose earrings - White

These white acrylic rose earrings were super fun to make and turned out very well, if I do say so myself. They're lightweight and very strong, but look like porcelain or ceramic depending on the light. They go with pretty much everything and are perfect for spring, summer, weddings--you name it. I love these and think you will too.

Check them out!

New item: Enamel rose earrings - Mustard

I found these adorable enameled metal roses on ArtFire and decided to turn them into earrings. A little non-toxic, permanent adhesive and some surgical stainless steel posts later, they were done. They're lightweight, cute, and sophisticated but flirty at the same time. I love these!

What do you think?

New items: Framed necklaces in Blue Sky, Forest, and Seawater

I bought a small sampler of blank, hand-painted pendants from ArtFire artisan, Virago Creations, and decided to capture a little bit of nature in each one. So I carefully cut measured pieces from a recycled travel magazine and adhered them to the frames using painstakingly applied layers of Diamond Glaze. Then I made bails out of ribbon and put them on ball chains in varying sizes and colors.

The results were very pleasing and I think this little set is my favorite series I've made so far. I like it so much, in fact, that I'm keeping the fourth necklace ("Smoke", not pictured) to wear.

Check them out and see for yourself.

Blue Sky

Forest

Seawater

New item: Decoupage vase - Blue Flowers on Flames

This repurposed glass vase came with a flower delivery we received many months ago. The original plan was the decoupage the flowers on and then give it a thick coat of acrylic paint as a background. That didn't work out, however, so instead of acrylic paint I used orange crepe paper for an interesting textured look.

I'm really pleased with the finished result and think this would make a cool accessory for any room.

Buy it now!

New items: Upcycled napkin rings - Beige Palm and Pink and Purple

We've made two more sets of upcycled napkin rings, in a soothing, tropical beige and palm tree pattern, and a purple floral and pale pink combination. The sets are very different but, as always, made of upcycled paper towel tubes, craft paper, and non-toxic glues and acrylics. They also come with a muslin storage bag to keep them safe when not in use.

Check them out now!

Beige Palm

Pink and Purple Floral

New items: Decoupage dish sets - Blue Urn and Green Orchid

We were shopping at a well-known big box department store for various things and I stumbled upon this set of children's play dishes. There were four sets in four different colors, and each set had a bowl, saucer, and plate. I thought that I could do something with it, and it was on sale and had no logos on it, so why not? When we got home I stuck it under some books and promptly forgot about it.

Recently I found it again and decided to practice decoupaging images onto the plates. Those turned out so well that I thought maybe I could sell the sets in my ArtFire store. They'd make a great gift for someone seeking a cool way to stash coins or paperclips on their desktop, or they could be propped on a shelf to add a splash of color to any room.

What do you think?

Blue Urn

Green Orchid

New item: Green decoupage mirror - Orange Blossoms

Like "Wildlife" and "Superhero" before it, "Orange Blossoms" was made using basic decoupage techniques. I hand-stained a raw wood mirror and then carefully applied hand-cut orange flowers and paisley pieces to the frame over a thin layer of adhesive. The whole shebang was then coated with thick layers of glue, over and over again, to help the paper edges blend in with their surroundings. The project took several days, as I had to be sure that each layer of glue was fully dry before applying a new one, but it was a lot of fun. The end result is quite pleasing, don't you think?

Buy it now!

New item: Red decoupage mirror - Superhero

This mirror was made in much the same way as my previous decoupage mirror, "Wildlife". I stained a raw wood mirror by hand and then painstakingly applied hand-cut pieces of a single ply of a colored paper napkin to the mirror, which was coated in a thin layer of non-toxic adhesive. Then, using decoupage technique, I delicately coated the whole thing in a thin layer of glue, being careful not to tear the napkin pieces. After the glue was mostly dry but still a bit tacky, I gently distressed the paper for a slightly aged, vintage look.

After that it was just a matter of applying a few more coats of glue. Time consuming but fun.

Check it out!

In the works: Decoupage glass vase, three more decoupage wooden mirrors

I've been working on this cylindrical glass vase for a while now. Originally, I cut pretty blue and gold flowers out of some handmade wrapping paper I had stashed and decoupaged them in alternating patterns on the inside of the glass. Then I tried to cover the whole background with hand-mixed maroon acrylic paint, reasoning that it would be kind of translucent and smudgy.

It looked awful.

Fortunately, acrylic doesn't bond to glass very well, so I was able to peel it off without damaging the flowers. After cleaning it well, I decided to use pieces of crepe paper to give it a sort of papier mache background instead of a flat matte color. It's working really well so far and I like the way it looks; it almost appears that the glass itself has swirls of color in it. As soon as the glue is totally dry, I'll give it a coat of acrylic glaze for extra protection, let it cure, and get some photos.

I'm also working on some more decoupage mirrors and hope to have those finished by the end of the weekend. Stay tuned!

Clearance sale! We're slashing prices to make room for more inventory

With lots of new ideas and tons of bulky supplies on their way in the mail, we need to move our current stock--and fast. So we've marked nearly everything in our store down significantly. Some items are as much as 80% off! We need to get this stuff out. Can you help us?

Check out our store now!

Now featured on ByHand.me!

Our découpaged apothecary jar was featured on the "All About Handmade" blog at ByHand.me. How exciting! Thanks, Rebecca.

In the works: Decoupaged napkins mirrors in red and green, decoupaged cylindrical vase

I've stained two more 10-inch x 10-inch mirrors and left a third one raw in preparation for another napkin decoupage project like this one. I've also been experimenting with applying images to a children's play tea set in four different colors and will see how they turn out and whether they meet my selling standards.

I tried using one of Durwin Rice's decoupage techniques to decorate an interesting glass vase, but since I used acrylic paint instead of latex, it didn't work out so well. The acrylic didn't bond with the glass well at all and was very streaky. I'll be working to remove the paint (leaving the images on, which still look great) and going for a new background.

Sorry there hasn't been more merchandise posted, but I've been out of town for pretty much the whole month of June and haven't had a chance to work much. Please stay tuned for more updates!

Still no response from Etsy, so...

We've officially flown the coop

The administration over at Etsy still hasn't responded to the revelation that they virtually destroyed seller traffic by tinkering with SEO settings, and have possibly jeopardized their current and future relationship with Google, among other search engines. It appears they attempted to drive more traffic to Etsy.com at the expense of individual sellers. There is also the disturbing implication that Etsy is sneakily attempting to rebrand individual artists' work as "Etsy product", which is simply unacceptable.

I opened an Etsy shop to sell things easily and quickly on a site with a very pretty GUI. As an Etsy newbie, I won't lose much by walking away. Since Etsy seems to have no intention of even responding to their rightfully angry customers (the sellers), let alone placating them, I see no need to stick around. Yes, the GUI is beautiful and fun to use--but the GUI wasn't making me any money. The GUI wasn't moving product.

So off to ArtFire we go, likely forever. I do hope you'll follow us there.

Felix and Paco are back!

Our store is back online! Order now and we will ship your item first thing Monday morning.

Check out our new look!

We are on vacation until next week

Due to a fortuitous change in schedules, we're on vacation for a while. Well, until next week. So our shop is in vacation mode and our items are not for sale until we get back. Bummer, but to be honest, we kind of needed this break!

Thanks for keeping up with us. We promise to have new merchandise listed and new updates very soon. And as always, you can still follow us on Twitter!

New item: Dainty Yellow mobile home collage

This collage is a little different than the others in the mobile home series, as it's a colored line drawing of a trailer instead of a photograph. The original image had adorable little white stepstools at each door and some wrought iron curlicue adornments in the back, but cutting those out proved to be impossible...or, at least, not entirely worth the major major effort it would have required.

One thing I love about découpage is you can change the source images to suit your purposes. The stepstools and wrought iron were cute, but they didn't work here. And that's okay. Dainty Yellow is still pretty dainty even without them.

Check it out!