Designer Day One ~ Birthday Princess Crown by Lauren Bergold

there are a great many benefits to being the aunt of three lovely and adorable nieces, but i have to confess that my favorite is having a really good excuse to make things like THIS:

yes, it's an official PRINCESS CROWN made entirely from the pixie dust anniversary kitBLUE MOON, which i had the honor of assembling with pixie-in-chief kirsty vittetoe! you may recall that i made a different crown in february with the MY FUNKY VALENTINEkit, for my niece riley. this edition will be given to her sister, lindsay marie.

one of my favorite ingredients in this kit is the vintage sheet music, something i use A LOT OF in my crafty life! i love the softly aged patina of it, and the way it adds a subtle festive feeling to any project. in this case i glued it to my crown's base, which is constructed from a double layer of 9x18" heavy duty cardstock cut into an appropriately fancy crown shape. to embellish the circumfrence i punched some long border strips from two of the gorgeous girls' paperie prints, AND the pretty pink packaging from the melody ross epoxy stickers! i overlapped these as carefully as possible and after using my xyron to adhere them, ran my sewing machine around a few times to make sure they'd be attached permanently!

you need a really good centerpiece to make a crown look seriously princessy, in my opinion! this one is made of fussy-cut doilies from pink paislee "dew drops" paper, a 2' circle punched from the packaging of the kit's prima gem flourish, and surmounted by a a sweet butterfly. i've embellished the area around this icon with the carefully cut-apart-and-reassembled gem flourish. i have to confess that this is the one place i CHEATED on this project: i added in bits of a second, similar flourish from my own stash. and really, one flourish was enough... i just couldn't resist going a little bit crazy!

i repeated the circle + butterfly + gem motif in a scaled-down version on each side of the crown. i inked the edges of each element with a subtly aging shade of distress ink to tie all of the colors and patterns together, and used layers of foam tape to give each element dimension.

to fasten the crown into a circular shape, i punched five holes on each end, set them with eyelets from my own stash, and threaded them in the manner of a corset, with pale tan seambinding that i tied into a double bow. along the bottom edges, for a final glamorous touch, i added a frothy layer of creamy tulle, that i gathered and sewed for maximum impact.

on the inside of the crown i stamped a random flourish pattern in a soft brown ink, just to alleviate the stark white of the cardstock. and thus my "birthday crown" is ready to bestow upon the beautiful princess lindsay! ♥

Kirsty's Note -

Oh my, Princess Lindsay Marie is going to be so happy with a princess crown crafted specially just for her, what a beauty!!! Thanks Pixie Lauren, not just for this lovely piece of work but also putting together this fabulous "BLUE MOON" kit together!

At The Pixie Shop

Pixie October Kit "Blue Moon" will be on sale at The Pixie Shop on October  5th, look out for this fun and fabulous kit!

We are celebrating our 1st birthday with lots of specials this month, do look out for *Anniversary Alert* at the Pixie Blog, you might pick up some really GREAT DEAL!!!!

Pixie September Challenge

You still have time to link up with our September Challenge (ends Oct 5)

Here's the sketch

Click HERE for details or to link your entry

Pixie October GIVEAWAY

Do you want to be the proud owner of this?

Pixie November Kit "SNOW SHOW" could be yours, click HERE to enter the GIVEAWAY!

Wall hanging + Card set by Kirsty vittetoe

My last project for Pixie June Kit "Summer of Love'

and it is all about 

PINK + BLACK

first up is this little tin case

MADE with LOVE for this little girl

her name is Waverly, and she was my little student when I lived in Manhattan, I met Waverly when she was 2 and a half, boy, this girl speaks Mandarin like a pro... of course, look who's her teacher, LOL!

I miss Waverly and miss my teaching job in NYC, so I made her this wall hanging

and of course it comes with a matching card....

we have a group project this month for Pixie June Kit "Summer of Love', be sure to come back June 29 to check that out!!!

At The Pixie Shop

Pixie's "Brown Bird" is retiring, this is the last lot I have at The Pixie Shop, when it is gone, it is gone forever, get yours now.

And how about a sales on our Signature Crinkled Ribbon?

Take 25% off all crinkled ribbon (excluding the bundle), use code Bye-Bye-Brown-Bird during check out to enjoy this special offer. 3 days only, hurry and SHOP NOW!

Pixie June Challenge

Join us for our June photo inspiration challenge

Click HERE to see the inspiration photo or to link your entry!

"maddie" gift bag by lauren bergold

i love presents! i love giving them as much as getting them, but most of all... i love ♥DECORATING♥ them! i adore giftwrap and bows and ribbons, and have been known to spend as much time wrapping a gift as i did shopping for it! :) luckily, i have three young nieces who are not at all opposed to receiving modest gifts in outlandishly fancy packages, so it works out quite nicely.

my niece madeline is just getting ready to turn seven. i have a savings bond for her, and a fancy letter "M" (made with the FLORABUNDA kit!) to hang in her room, so of course i wanted a pretty giftbag to hold them; and the june pixie dust kit had everything i needed to make one!


i layered the fabulous pink paislee birthday paper with the diecut edges of some of the sassafras paper on top of a border punched panel of cerise cardstock. this is the first time i've used sassafras' "foldies" but already i'm in love; they are diecuts that you pop out of their sheet, fold along the dotted lines and VOILA: you've got dimensional accents! i used them in the corners, with one of the gorgeous & festive self-adhesive cardstock banners from the kit. i did a little bit of inking and a whole bunch of sewing, and i was DONE! easy peasy!

in case you're wondering about putting so much work into ONE giftbag... as i mentioned, i *LOVE* making these, so i'd do it anyway, but also i have a tiny secret: i generally do all of my decorating on a panel that attaches to the bag with only a few pieces of foam tape. why?? because the day AFTER the party, mama can pop the panel off and the birthday girl's got a fun sign to hang on her bedroom door!


now that's what i call time well spent! happy birthday, miss madeline! ♥♥♥

Kirsty's Note -

Brilliant!!! who could resist present with such lovely packaging, love it! Thanks Pixie Lauren!

At The Pixie Shop

Last day - Lettering Delights

40% off all lettering in the store, use code lettering-delights during check out to enjoy this special offer, SHOP NOW!!!

Pixie is having a GIVEAWAY

Pixie December Kit "Times Square Twenty 11"

so you should go check it out!!!!

"Sweet Pea" Card by Kirsty Vittetoe

I just love these patterned paper in this month kit at Pixie Dust Paperie. The name of the Kit - Fall in Love..... don't we all falling in love with our little sweet pea? The soft and sweet colors, perfect for a baby album (as seen HERE,  HERE, HERE, and HERE by our fabulous DT)

I've decided to make a sweet pea card for a new mother

This little rose bud here is made with the trim that came with the kit

All the little stickers, the blue and brown polka dot frame are from the sticker sheet in the kit too, but in case you love it so much and want another one, you could get it at our Pixie Store as an add on too.

Get yourself a kit and start playing.....


Be sure to check our blog tomorrow for another beautiful project created by our fabulous Design Team

Click HERE to join in the fun ~ Pixie's Challenge