book board village
by ann mabee
We were tickled when 7gypsies artist Ann Mabee agreed to share her inspiration behind the amazing village she recently created using the new Off the Wall and Global papers!
Here's what she had to say:
This past June as the gypsies were preparing for CHA summer, we
artists were asked to come up with some inspirational projects using the
products from the new release. We were
asked to come up with projects that went beyond what we’d done in the past and ones
that were unique and diverse. They were
looking for several home decor ideas or things that weren’t the typical
scrapbook or papercrafting projects.
Lots of suggestions were given and one struck a chord in me as soon as I
saw it. The suggestion was a global
village. A couple of years ago I made a
house for another 7gypsies trade show release, but it was larger and had to be
made to collapse for ease in transporting to the shows! And on that one, the roof came off and housed
an album about my oldest granddaughter.
So I knew I could build the structures.
I have always admired and been inspired by Julie Van Oosten’s
work and I often go to her online gallery to just admire her many
creations. I have always loved her
little houses and house projects. So my
first idea was to do something with the new Global papers in a village type
setting. But when I saw the Off the Wall
papers, my mind spun in a whole new direction.
As a kid, I LOVED black Converse high top tennis shoes. And even now three of my granddaughters live
in their own black Converse high top tennis shoes! They are timeless to me. I knew I had to use that paper on the front
of a house. So that was the first one I
created. It’s an asymetrical building,
so I could accommodate the shoes. And
when I saw the zippers, I knew that had to be incorporated, as well. They just went together in my mind. The rest of the buildings just took off from
there. Each and every one of them has a
personal meaning for me and you can add your own personal touch to make your
village truly your own. Of course there
are seven buildings in the set...just had to be one for each of the
gypsies! Once I got started, it was easy
to find just the perfect 7gypsies embellishment to add just the right touch to
make each house unique, but cohesive.
When I sent my village in to gypsy headquarters, I joked with my sister
gypsy, Debbie, that I should have earned an engineering degree or something for
all it took to design and construct seven buildings!!
I was tickled when I watched the 7gypsies webinar that was shown
to retailers just prior to CHA summer this year. There were several comments from store owners
asking if the village was going to be a new kit! I never thought I would build another
village, but when my local scrapbook store saw the project and learned that I
was the one who made it, they asked me to teach a class there. Crazily, I agreed! So I’ve recreated the village using all Off
the Wall Papers in preparation for a class in the near future. Now the hard work comes....cutting the
bookboard and kitting the class. The
fun part is putting it all together, so I hope that the class participants will
get to miss the hard work and just have the pleasure to creating their own
little village to sit on a shelf or a table in their own homes. I am planning on using mine and changing the
decor around the village to coincide with the seasons/holidays.
I have a blog that I am constantly behind on updating, but it’s
more of a personal journal than one that I use to showcase things I’ve
created. I think that’s because I don’t
think what I do is all that great for people to fuss over or for me to toot my
own horn about. I do what I do because I
enjoy it and because it gives me a creative outlet to express myself and to
relieve stress. My greatest joys in life
are my family...my recently retired husband, my three children and their
spouses, my 10 (soon to be 11) grandkids and my siblings. And when any of the grandkids ask to come
over to make a craft project or to create a scrapbook of an event in their
life, I am thrilled beyond measure to accommodate their request. It’s mostly my granddaughters who want to be
creative, but I’ve made books about my grandsons and they are sheepishly happy
as can be to see themselves on paper and highlighted in an album or a book!
You can see more of Ann Mabee's work by clicking HERE. For more information about her class you can email Ann by clicking HERE.
You can see more of Ann Mabee's work by clicking HERE. For more information about her class you can email Ann by clicking HERE.
We'll be posting a DIY tutorial for how to assemble your own bookboard house on Thursday so make sure you stop by and check it out!
6 comments:
The houses are adorable and I loved, loved, loved that link to all the Gypsy goodness!!!
Stunning.... love these!!!
I made my own little village using the $1 birdhouses from Joanns. I just cut off the bird perch and papered over the hole. They look awesome too!
This little village is adorable! I've admired Ann's work for some time now. She creates beautiful things with 7Gypsies products.
Thanks, heidig!
where do we purchase the templates for the houses? have a great love for houses in my art and would love to plan my own little village. thank you
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