Little gifts for my belly dancing mates

As I mentioned that I am relocating soon, I wanted to give farewell gifts to my troupe friends.  This is how they ended up being:

Everything you see in the pics are printables from Vectoria Designs' shop.  The burlap bags come from a dollar tree store.

I used the mermaid tags because we played mermaids in our Summer performance last year. Along with all the wonderful printies come a pair of earrings from Alarde, a bag of Moroccan tea and the hand-made Egyptian magnets that I mentioned some days ago.

I hope everyone likes everything...

Textured rolls for crafting

I have been obssesed with Egyptian miniatures since I found out Lilliput's Treasure Egyptian collection.  

I wanted to craft an Egyptian tablet myself, just for the fun of it.  But I wanted it to have a 3D effect, instead of just doing a base with polymer clay and adding an picture on top.  Well, lo and behold, I found by chance a wonderful shop where they sell textured rolling pins with all kinds of engravings.  And to my surprise, they had an Egyptian roll too!

I could not believe my lucky stars, and I was quick in acquiring one.  I also got some Fimo in a soft beige color (the packet is called Sahara).  And today I got the time to use the roll for the first time, and the results are marvelous:

I am very excited about the possibilites.  I have not yet made the miniature tablet.  I am so happy how these two samples came out that I am turning them into magnets to gift to my classmates at the belly dancing academy.  I only need seven more, lol!  My mom says she wants one too.  I'll post pictures when they are finished.

Kassandra's Victorian hobbies

One of the things that I admire most about Kassandra is that her mind is always open to learn or explore new things.  Or sometimes, to rekindle some old interest of her and give it an space in her life again.

One of the things that has called my attention is that the console she keeps in the parlor is constantly changing in decorations.  What started simply as a piece of forniture to decorate, now is a cabinet of curiosities - or, as she calls it, a table of curiosities:

I asked her what a cabinet of curiosities was, and she explained that they were collection of objects that did not have their categorical boundaries defined when they were found.  Now we would place them in natural history, geology, archeology, relics, antiquities... The people who could afford to buy them and store them, made them into collections that were the precursors of modern museums.  They would put them into cabinets to show their friends, and they were a kind of stentation and status symbol.

She has been acquiring some objects that she displays proudly in her table:

The two domes with taxonomy items, as well as the bats and butterflies posters, the bat in the shadow box and the paperweights come from Easy Print and Cut; Kassandra says the lady that makes them, Ana, is very talented and oh so lovely.  The paperweights feature flowers and an Ammonites fossil.

The shadow box with the strange skeletons comes from Ever After Miniatures.  The dollhouse she made herself with a kit from Miniaturas M y E, and the tiny furniture is from SDK Miniatures.

The two shadow boxes with strange animals' fossils also come from Ever After Miniatures; and remember the papyrus collection she got and the Anubis statue?  She says she is wating for an Egyptian mural to be delivered to her; I can't wait to see it.

She also confided in me that she has recently acquired an stereoscope and it is due to arrive soon. Where  does she find all these things I do not know...

Egyptian miniature project

Kassandra was telling me the other day that a member of her family is a woman born and raised in Egypt.  Then confessed that for obvious sunny reasons she has never visited Egypt, but also confided that some of her grandparents were supposed to have acted as pharaohs.  I am not sure how that could have been possible, but she is quite sure about the fact.  She also pointed out that vampires have been using the Egyptian cross, the Ankh, for many years as a symbol of eternal life.

In any case, she has developed a recent interest about all things Egyptian, and has acquired some art: a statue of a lying Anubis, that came from Stewart Dollhouse; and a collection of papyrus.  She says she likes Anubis because he is one of the gods of the Dead.  She is not quite sure what to do about the papyrus, so she is keeping everything at hand in her table of curiosities:

Images found on Google

She is also reading a book about Egypt, and some guides to learn to decipher hieroglyphs:

I scanned my own book to make the cover for this.

And of course, a famous Hercule Poirot novel that is set on a cruise through the Nile:

She says she feels fascinated by Egyptian history and she must visit the country soon.

Oh, if you would like your own Egyptian minis, you should definitely check Lilliput's Treasures!